Can you believe another semester has come to an end? Or that this is your final semester at Salem State? I know I can't because this semester just flew by. I took this class to fill requirements for my elective courses and was almost scared away by the amount of work that was going to be involved with it, but I am happy I decided to stay because I was able to learn so much from the course material that was provided and from the discussions that we took part in on a weekly basis.
I was tempted to not purchase the books, just because I wanted to save money and a lot of the time teachers don't even use them. The books required with this course were user friendly; they didn't confuse you or over analyze certain topics and even gave examples for the majority of the topics. I think that reading real-life situations about the topics helps understand the topic more clearly. For example when we learned about banking concepts before you read into what the concepts were the book gave two scenarios; one of a teacher using banking concepts and one using involvement, and asked which you preferred. Being able to see other students thoughts and ideas about topics allowed me to see it from different perspectives and helped understand it better.
My favorite lesson in the class was when were discussing inclusion. Throughout my time in school I don't remember having any students in my classes that had a disability or needed assistance from an aid. All of the students with disabilities were set in a small classroom size together. I was so intrigued by inclusion because the classroom I was observing had a student with Aspergers. After my observations and the readings we discussed, I believe very strongly that students with disabilities should be included in regular classroom settings. Although, I'm still not sure where to draw the line of how severe a disability should be before it's decided to include or not include the student in a regular classroom, I think that each child should be looked at on a individual basis because no two people are the same.
This class is completely different from my major of accounting but the way the class is setup, especially being able to go into a classroom and see the students and how they look up to their teacher, made me consider teaching. Teachers have one of the most rewarding jobs because they get to pass on their knowledge to young minds who look up to them. When I enrolled in this class I wanted a basic understanding of teaching and some effective methods that are used, and I think that I can walk away saying that's exactly what I learned. I wanted to find a quote that would sum up teaching and how I felt about it, and I found this on a website filled with a bunch of others.
"By learning you will teach;
by teaching you will understand."
