I absolutely loved the readings this week. Not only was I able to learn a lot from them, but I was able to connect with them since the majority of what we read is what I see in my field placement every week. I work with a classroom of second graders (and five 3rd graders) and ever since the beginning of my placement, they have been doing centers. It always seemed like a wonderful idea, until I began to worry about my students because I was not seeing them do anything else. They were ONLY doing centers, so I felt like they were missing out on explicit learning. This has been an ongoing issue for me, because I know that there is nothing I can do to help them. However, after reading the chapters and articles for this week, I feel a lot better about the entire situation.
For starters, I have always been a fan of center activities because students benefit from peer-interaction, and it is an easy way to keep the students engaged. Tompkins did a wonderful job at listing advantages of literacy centers. He feels that they teach relevant concepts and skills, and they can be simple or complex. I agree that they can be very, very helpful for students. However, just like I have begun to see in the field, I worry that students will get too used to the centers and activities. I know that it is because of this reason, that we alternate the activities and lessons at each station but, from experience, I know that students can lose focus and interest even if this is done. Therefore, I will apply what I have learned from the readings and the field to my own classroom, later on down the road. It is important for me to remember that I can learn from teachers, whether I agree with what they are doing or not.
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