Letter from the Editor

Yes, I am posting quite a bit! So much is getting put up, maybe it is because I am living on the computer for my finals. I was woken up this morning by a phone call from one of my professors at 7:30, I forgot to email her the list of articles that are supposed to go into the magazine that I am the editor-in-chief for our final project... here is the rough draft (oh, Under Construction is the name of the magazine):

There’s a challenge when entering the teaching profession: endless articles scrutinizing teachers for not being effective enough with the students, not understanding the students’ needs, the teacher is the fault for the digressing test scores of the students. As a major force, throughout the semester, as a class have been searching for answers and ideas to attack these issues in the classroom. The magazine Under Construction is attacking the issues in the way to be beneficiary to all students, the forever changing classroom and society, and critical thinking to apply to their lives.

It is hard to venture were teachers have not gone, especially stepping outside of the box where no traditional teacher has dared not to go. Under Construction has identified new techniques that steps outside of the box, enough, to create the critical thinking to analyze information/ text and understand new English concepts (even dreaded vocabulary). Under Construction covers diverse aria of activity types: vocabulary, pre-reading, and Socratic seminars, just to name a few. These ideas are just the groundwork of where these ideas can initiate into something bigger, something that will blow your students out of the water.

We don't believe that the spigot of innovation suddenly turned off with the specific requirements we must put into the lesson. Although requirements do create a road block, but it can be moved out of the way. In fact, it has morphed into many new streams of creativity, although at times it can be difficult. We see many new centers of innovation emerging in each classroom. As a class, we feel strongly that the classroom is forever changing, hence the name Under Construction. There are no set rules, guidelines, or plan to apply to every single classroom, each lesson, student, school, everything about teaching is unique. Elements must be adapted while teaching. A solid foundation can be laid to start the building blocks for the students, however, will it ever be complete? Learning never stops, so perhaps now, but as teachers we can continue to build upon the previous phase that the previous teacher left off.

At the same time, we know that Under Construction needed to evolve the changes of the time and reflect those changes in the classroom. Since creativity and critical thinking has become far more necessary - so must we include these in the classroom. Each individual classroom remains an important epic center of innovation, but as teachers we need to share these developments in all other classrooms (even globally perhaps) with the same passion and commitment as if it was our own. And that is where as teachers, we can start the change for the better.