Maria Ricchio-Week 10

This week I have realized that teachers have to pick and choose (prioritize) what really needs to get done versus trying to get EVERYTHING done. A teacher has to roll with the punches and be able to adjust to her students. Not every classroom is alike, therefore you can't treat every class the same. This week in writing, I taught my students a lesson on punctuation and capitalization, which I thought most would have had a good grasp on. I modeled different sentences and then did more together as a class. Once I went around to check on students during their individual practice, I noticed many students still not understanding fully when to capitalize (I used the acronym M.I.N.T.S. (Months, I, Names, Titles, Start of a sentence/Special places-a fun way to remember when to capitalize) I was planning on working on a new topic the next day, but when I saw that many students were still leaving out punctuation and capitalization in their writing, I knew we had to take an extra day to review and practice. This helped me realize that teachers know what's best for their students, not a book. It makes me think of the quality versus quantity notion....would I want my students to fully understand the concept and be confident or try to push through as many things as possible in a short period of time because that is what the state expects of me? This was a great learning experience, because it helps me see that things are not always perfect...and that's okay. Sometimes great growth can come from setbacks.