Learning to Teach

I can’t believe 5 weeks has already gone by and how much I’ve learned in such a short amount of time. This week has been kind of hectic and a challenge for me. I thought I was supposed to post a blog of an old paper I wrote and mark the subject-verb-object in each sentence. As it turns out, that isn’t due until week 11! So I have been stressing out for two days because I didn’t know if I was doing the work right and realized this morning I am just supposed to blog about what I’ve learned this week. So now that I’m back on track, this week I would like to talk about teaching grammar.
Our assignment this week was to read part of an essay about Dora, a first grader who is learning to write. Dora first starts learning about periods, which for her is a very interesting and complicated process. At first Dora does not use periods at all. To some, reading a paper with no periods or spacing between words would be very frustrating, but for Dora’s teacher it was inspiring. The teacher was very patient with Dora and would point out how writing looked in books and ask Dora if her paper looked like the books. Dora had to think for herself and decide how to edit and revise her writing. Step by step Dora slowly began to learn what a period was used for and where to put them in her paper. Along the way the teacher would help her along, sometimes giving direct instruction, and other times giving hints. This way Dora was never given answers directly, she always had to figure it out for herself.
The most important thing to learn from a lesson like this is that as a teacher you must find a happy medium between direct instruction and guiding words. If students do not learn information for themselves they will not remember it as well. That is why Dora’s teacher made sure each step of the way Dora was finding out the answer for herself. This took a lot longer of course but it is a learning process that teachers must understand. I never knew that children wouldn’t fully understand the concept of periods so this lesson is very helpful to me. I know as a teacher that I must never assume something of my kids. I should always believe that they can do something but never skip over a lesson because I assumed that they already knew it. Taking students step by step through every part of learning is very important and making sure to help them along when needed is also important. I think too often teachers will get frustrated and just give out answers when they should take a step back and watch the brilliant mind of a child at work. Children can do a lot when given the chance. Most importantly is that no matter who we are, a teacher, friend, or parent we must always encourage students to keep working and give them positive feedback. By doing this more students will have the confidence to learn and try new things.

My question this week for everyone is about subject verb object. Since I had started on the assignment that is not due for another 3-4 weeks I got very confused. Looking at one of my old papers and try to identify the subject-verb-object in every sentence was very difficult so I was wondering if someone would identify them in this sentence to make sure I’m doing it correctly.
“Brothels were old houses that the owners would turn into living quarters for the prostitutes to work out of, and saloons were town bars that women would perform in”