As I reflected on some of my “ah-ha” moments of teaching and learning I could think of many incidents in my academic career, but soon realized how much of my life the teaching and learning philosophies I’ve been studying flow through my day-to-day activities at work and home. One of my most memorable teaching moments was teaching my infant son basic sign language. When he was about nine months I learned a handful of signs to help us communicate with each other, I had no idea if he would pick up on them or if they would even be helpful. I started with the sign for “more” and began using it when I would give him more of something; I would use the word and the sign. I did this for months and it seemed as if it just was not clicking. Finally, about three months later I asked him if he wanted more milk and he looked at me, put his fingers together and made the sign for more. I was so excited that I nearly cried. It was such a fantastic feeling to know that for all of these months he had been listening and observing. Once I started making connections for my son to what he was familiar with, such as milk he started to respond. The sign language enabled him to realize that he needed to evaluate a situation, think about what he wanted to communicate and use the appropriate sign to “talk.” The sign language served as a building block in how he began to see and make sense of the world.  He went on to learn several more signs and teach the kids at his daycare sign language. He is nearly two and still uses signs with his words.

As I watch my son interact and grow, he is quickly becoming his own person with his own set of opinions and points-of-view on how the world operates. What I am learning through this class will not only help me as I teach, but as I raise my son. I want to be able to teach him how to be an effective communicator, critical thinker and thrive on learning.