Blog Posting #4

A-1) I absolutely love morning meetings. When Principal Allan came in to speak to us, I just felt so overwhelmed with joy and comfort. What she had to say was personable and very meaningful. Just like she constantly kept saying, "I don't know how this works, it just does" that is the base of what made me drawn to morning meetings. It works because kids feel valuable. They feel that someone cares to listen to them and that they have a family or community that feels very similar to them. Morning meetings allow students to say how they feel which sometimes that is all they need and all that may be missing. I absolutely loved the class creed. I felt it was so powerful. It gave students hope and power in themselves and that they can achieve and conquer anything! Principal Allan was so powerful and influential to me. She made me really excited to start teaching and incorporate morning meetings from the first day on. Her stories were real and the feeling I had was most likely the same feeling those kids have as they think back to their morning meetings. I do believe they work and I do believe in the power it has in the classroom. I will definitely use morning meetings because it just makes you feel good and it helps all of us to see that we do have a voice and we will be leaders! There are some things I am worried about such as knowing when to stop a conversation, how to handle hard topics and conversations, and how to get around the administration if they do not approve. After talking to Sylvia, she implanted hope into me and made me realize in time I won't have those thoughts. Things just flow and you just have natural instincts to handle the difficult situations. Just like she said, "Do what is right for the kids, NOT what's most comfortable to you!" I LOVE MORNING MEETINGS!!!!

B-1) The five specific ways teachers can respond are, Invitation, Opportunity, Persistence, Investment, and Reflection. The invitation response made me think of morning meetings because it talks about getting to know your students and learning from them as well. The invitation is what brings a class together as a community and it is what develops a strong teacher/student relationship. I think the response I like the most is Persistence. It is important to realize that students are growing but they have so much more to grow. In the book it states, "The teacher helps students realize that the quest for quality nervier ends. If they quest ends, quality ends with it -- and so does the growth of the individual." (Tom. Pg. 33) This is so important for us to motivate the students to keep the quest going so they can continue that journey. Just like the book says, "we are all on a journey." (pg. 33)