I didn’t end up doing a C.F.E., so for this assignment I will be focusing on what I unlearned during my Practicum. Prior to this experience I was able to basically always get by on two things: The strength of the ideas behind the gibberish that generally pours out of my mouth, and my ability to apply my sense of humor to the process of making that gibberish coherent. I truly and firmly believed that I could get through most experiences with these. Although they can often complicate a situation, everything tends to come out alright in the end.
I very, VERY quickly learned how wrong that belief was. Prior to the first week I learned just how much I needed to develop my ability to think, and in turn express myself, in coherent and direct lines of thought, state my purposes clearly, and cut the fat from any kind of communicating I was doing. Did I have extra, but ultimately irrelevant, information on a topic? Tons! If I tried to add that in at any point did it distract my students from the focus of the lesson and confuse them about what I wanted them to focus on learning? Oh my goodness, yes!
What did I unlearn: Pretty much my entire method of trying to communicate ideas to other people, students or otherwise.