Lit Circle #1... Today's lit circle group did a really good job, it would have been really tough to be the first group to go not knowing what all to do and have to be in front of the class. They all seemed to know a lot about what they had read and you could tell that they felt comfortable with the material and sharing it with the class. They did a great job of answering questions that were asked of them which they would not have had a chance to practice with what they would respond. I thought that what was talked about fits in perfectly with the class discussions as well as the philosophy of edcuation papers that we had just written. I think that Mc Laren made some great points about what should be incorporated into the classroom. I feel that giving the students a little bit of say in what they are goign to be learning about and how they are going to be doing so is a great idea because then they will know that the teacher respects them in a way to ask for their opinion instead of acting like he or she is better than someone else just because of the title they have. I also believe that having a critical pedagogy will be a way to start making school fun for students and not the typical methods which focus on memorization and regurgitation which are when you will lose the interests of the students and not be as effective as you could be. I think that if I was going to be in a classroom then I would want to use some of the same principles as were talked about in this presentation to allow the students to have ownership in what is talked about and the methods that are being used. Even though I can see how this book would be one of the most difficult to get through and then talk about I feel that all the members did a really good job. Talking about the different pedagogys and methods of teaching has really opened my eyes to school and edcuation in general in a different way. Even though I am not going to be going into a classroom setting, there are ideas that I am learning about which I will be able to use in my field of work as well which I am excited for. I will be honest I was very cautious coming into the education class knowing that I was not going to be teaching and having to observe and learn about things, but i have found that there is a way to apply this thoughts to what I will be doing and am excited to know things to make me a better person when I work with children.