Early in my married life when I had young children, I remember complaining to my father about how my children were not cooperating, they would not listen to me or do their chores without a fight, and we were all just grumpy and miserable.  He shared a piece of wisdom with me that I have found invaluable.  He said that thirty minutes of play is worth two weeks of cooperation.  He had learned in raising us children that when we were uncooperative, feisty and hateful, it was because he had not been spending time with us, in just playing.  So he would take time to play a game of basketball with us, or roll around on the floor wrestling with us, or take us each of us on a date to get ice cream or just drive around and talk. I put that into practice with my children and found that it works.  This semester has been a great one for me and it is because we have played together as well as worked together. And so the theme for this semester for me has been Building Relationships through play.   

 I realized early on the importance of building a relationship with the students that I work with at Apache Elementary.  I needed to spend time getting to know them and playing with them, so that we could work effectively to accomplish the task that had been assigned to us. I developed a game to play with my students to have fun and to get to know them.  It worked.   

It has been important to me to build relationships with my fellow students.  I have learned a great deal from them, what they have shared and what they have sought to teach me.  It was important to have relationships of trust with these students in order to discuss the topics that were brought before us, and in order to share my feelings, present my Chautauqua character, and to present my chapter.  It takes courage and confidence to step out of my comfort zone and participate, but it was because of the trust and relationship that I have with those students that I was able to accomplish it.  I have had many of these students in other classes but I think that it was different this time because of our field trips.  We got to meet each other in a variety of situations where we could laugh, talk and learn together. 

It has been a blessing to me to build a relationship with my instructor.  I feel that I can approach her with questions and concerns and they will be handled appropriately and professionally.  I truly appreciated that she recognized my interest in Socratic Seminars, and gave me a chance to practice.  That has perhaps been the best thing about this semester.  My instructor was paying attention to me, and my interests, and found a way to incorporate that into the class so that I could learn and grow.

As I have studied the text and participated in the chapter presentations, I again saw a theme of building relationships.  It is vital that we get to know our students. I am quite certain that I will not be able to make a lesson plan without considering all of my students.  I will use hands on activities, visual aids, art, drama, music, small groups, discussion, technology, reading and writing.  By incorporating all of these skills I will be able to learn more about my students, build relationships with them, and teach them. 

It was a pleasure to meet Dr. Peele-Eady and learn from her what she is learning about teaching, and building relationships.  I would like to get to know her better and learn from her.  I am just not sure how to do it yet. 

My biggest struggle this year was to understand how to accept all children, their cultures, their personalities and needs, and still teach what I need to teach.  I could not comprehend how I could possibly accept the differences of 30-180 personalities, and still accomplish the goals of learning  that the education field requires of me.  I came away this semester finally, with the answer. I spent quite a bit of time reflecting over how I taught and raised my children, what the textbook was telling me, what my instructor and fellow students were sharing with me, and what Dr. Peele-Eady taught us. It finally came to me in the form of scripture from the Old Testament:

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep , and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-7, KJV)

 When my children were young, I had a procedure that I followed anytime that we went anywhere or did anything.  Before we left the house, or before we got out of the car, I would explain to the children what the event was, and how they were expected to behave, whether it was a concert, eating out at a restaurant, attending a funeral or wedding, or appearing before a judge for a speeding ticket!  It seemed to help them feel comfortable in the situation, so we could all relax and accomplish what we had gone there to accomplish.  I was showing them that there is a time for laughing, for reverence, for speaking out, for participating; I was giving them tools to use to be successful in whatever situation they may find themselves.   

 Dr. Peele-Eady talked about the African American child’s learning experience in church.  It is very vocal, it is call and response, and it is positive and moving. While this is acceptable at church, all of those things tend to be negatives in the traditional school culture, and so students are punished for it.  I notice that Native American Students tend to be very quiet, they like to work together, and they do not look you in the eye, or speak up in class. As a result they are overlooked as being dumb or uncooperative and they suffer.  Hispanic children are very family oriented; they do what they do because the family requires it of them.  Second language learners have quiet times and vocal times, times when they need to speak their own language and times when they need to speak the language of the school. Teachers have times when they need to allow the students to learn in their own way, they also have times when they need to require the students to learn it in the teacher’s way. There is a time when the curriculum should address Hispanic children, Native American children, African American children, Asian children or white children. There is a time to read, a time to write, a time to dance, a time to draw, a time to use technology and a time most of all to build positive, trusting relationships with students.  

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, and building relationships of trust is my philosophy for teaching. This has been a remarkable semester.  Thank you.