Ben and Adam's presentation was really good. I think that discipline is one of the toughest things in a classroom. Nobody wants to be the bad guy but then again nobody wants to get walked over all the time. Therefore, there has to be a balance and some discipline. However, I cannot believe that corporal punishment is still allowed in 23 states! That is almost half of our country that thinks that it is ok to beat students. There has to be a better way then beating students for not listening.
I didn't really learn any ways to discipline my students from this presentation, but it did leave me with a really good question at the end, what is a model student? My model student is much different than every other teacher's. This has to be tough on the students because each classroom that they walk into thinks that a certain type of person is the ideal student. I know that my ideal student is much different than that of my peers. I don't really want to teach kids that are just like me. My ideal student is somebody that doesn't want to be in school and I actually have to do my job and teach them something instead of just reading from a book. All the AP and honors kids want is to be told what they need to do to get an A and I don't really think that any learning or teaching is going on in scenarios like that.
I think that discipline is a tricky thing and it is going to be different for every teacher. I know that there are teachers out there that don't use discipline and they're students walk all over them, but that is the way that they have decided works for them. It is all a matter of opinion for the teacher and hopefully the teacher and the students can all live with whatever discipline ideas that the teacher comes up with.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
educational beliefs
Classroom organization:
I like groups of students but it is important to make sure that every student can see the board at all times. However, sometimes rows are good too. Of course my lesson plans will align with the MLR’s and my school districts, if not than I probably won’t have a job for very long. I will look at all of my students with special needs IEPs and those that don’t have an IEP I will give them a student identity survey(SIS) in order to get to know them and their learning styles. With the information that I gather on the SIS, I will use that to see how the students learn best and I will change my teaching technique to fit the learner. Also, the SIS and the diversity shield will help me to gather information about the multiculturalism in my classes and it will help me to teach those students better. I would love to try to fit in at least one interdisciplinary unit each semester, they offer so much more to the students than just a thematic unit. However, I think that a thematic unit, if done properly, can be very powerful and teach a lot. Assessment is tricky for me because I believer, as a poor test taker myself, that tests do not prove whether you know the material or not. They just prove that you can memorize information. I do not want to test my students’ memory; I want to make sure that they are learning something of value in my classroom. I like performance tasks for the end of the unit, but I think that weekly quizzes are good, in different formats, to check for understanding on a more frequent basis.
Motivation:
Motivation is a really tough thing for me because I was always motivated by grades, but that is not a good way to be. Also, I can’t expect that every student is going to care about their grades. I think that extra-curriculars are good motivation. I will probably push all of those activities to my students not just the sports but everything because it is good to be involved in something. I think that I will be responsible for motivating my students and I hope to learn good ways to do that when I do my student teaching.
Discipline:
I will set out rules that every student must respect the other people in the classroom and I will respect all of them. I like to have fun in the classroom; I think that is very important. I don’t think you learn very much when everybody is uptight all the time and just focused on learning. However, I do not like the idea of not learning anything and just wasting everybody’s time. I have a good sense of the middle of that spectrum and it has worked for me so far. My students will always know where they stand with me, and if I have to I will send them to the principle’s office to make sure that all three of us are on the same page.
Classroom Climate:
I really think that the Student Identity Survey (SIS) is a great way to start making connections with the students. Students respect their teachers until the teacher gives them a reason not to. The teacher has strong influence over the students. Hopefully my lessons will be interesting enough that my students will want to learn and enjoy coming to my class. That would make my job a lot more fun and it would definitely make the climate in my classroom a happier place to be. I love parents. Parents know their children very well. Knowing my students parents will only help me to be able to make personal connections with my students. I will most likely be teaching in a school with power grade and other technology pieces like this. This will give me a chance to email parents if their child is having difficulty. Also, I like the idea of the phone or even face to face if it is possible. The parents of my students will be brought in. I hope to be able to do a few projects that involve the parents and have them be honored and brought into the classroom to celebrate their children’s accomplishments.
Learning Focus:
People acquire knowledge at all times. There isn’t a specific amount of time that can be allotted to getting more knowledge. Once you have learned a skill, it will still take some time to master it. There is not a recommended amount of time for this either. It depends on the person that is trying to master a skill or concept. Assessment is very important and a lot of time should go into preparing an assessment because this will show the teacher if they are doing a good job in the classroom. The classroom is a great place to stick in a few little, miniature lessons about morals and values. There should not be huge units on it, but while studying a certain person you could spend a day talking about their morals and how they affected their life.
Teaching Styles:
I like lecturing for a few minutes at the beginning of class to get out the main idea of what the student need to know. Then I like to move on into asking the students to think about a certain topic of the day and then proceed on to a project for the day or the week, depending on the topic. I also like to do some moving during class instead of just having the students sit in their chairs for 80 minutes. I love group discussions and debates. I enjoy getting all of the student’s opinions on any given issue. I like to walk around and check on a rubric what they are learning during the class period. I hope to be teaching in a smart classroom and that I will have access to computers for each of my students so that we can do a lot more with technology. I think that each teacher should have their own sort of discipline and other methods like that, but the school should have a big cap of general rules that every teacher has to follow.
Leadership Styles:
I think that I am a leader. I started a club sport at UMF and am the president of it. I am one of the older students in my residence hall and all of the younger students look up to me. In high school I was in quite a few clubs where I was on the executive board. I love to be tested and put in leadership positions. I think its great, but it is always better if I have a team of qualified people to back me up and help me with the tasks.
I think that Ms. G's secret sauce is really great. Some of her ingredients are self explanatory to me, while others are things that I would have never thought of that would be problems in a classroom. I never thought that celebrating success was something that had to be thought of before. i just kind of go with the flow and congratulate students individually. However, my big thing is believing in all of my students and that is Erin's number 1 ingredient. I think that if I can have that ingredient than I think I will have a lot more than I realized.
I like groups of students but it is important to make sure that every student can see the board at all times. However, sometimes rows are good too. Of course my lesson plans will align with the MLR’s and my school districts, if not than I probably won’t have a job for very long. I will look at all of my students with special needs IEPs and those that don’t have an IEP I will give them a student identity survey(SIS) in order to get to know them and their learning styles. With the information that I gather on the SIS, I will use that to see how the students learn best and I will change my teaching technique to fit the learner. Also, the SIS and the diversity shield will help me to gather information about the multiculturalism in my classes and it will help me to teach those students better. I would love to try to fit in at least one interdisciplinary unit each semester, they offer so much more to the students than just a thematic unit. However, I think that a thematic unit, if done properly, can be very powerful and teach a lot. Assessment is tricky for me because I believer, as a poor test taker myself, that tests do not prove whether you know the material or not. They just prove that you can memorize information. I do not want to test my students’ memory; I want to make sure that they are learning something of value in my classroom. I like performance tasks for the end of the unit, but I think that weekly quizzes are good, in different formats, to check for understanding on a more frequent basis.
Motivation:
Motivation is a really tough thing for me because I was always motivated by grades, but that is not a good way to be. Also, I can’t expect that every student is going to care about their grades. I think that extra-curriculars are good motivation. I will probably push all of those activities to my students not just the sports but everything because it is good to be involved in something. I think that I will be responsible for motivating my students and I hope to learn good ways to do that when I do my student teaching.
Discipline:
I will set out rules that every student must respect the other people in the classroom and I will respect all of them. I like to have fun in the classroom; I think that is very important. I don’t think you learn very much when everybody is uptight all the time and just focused on learning. However, I do not like the idea of not learning anything and just wasting everybody’s time. I have a good sense of the middle of that spectrum and it has worked for me so far. My students will always know where they stand with me, and if I have to I will send them to the principle’s office to make sure that all three of us are on the same page.
Classroom Climate:
I really think that the Student Identity Survey (SIS) is a great way to start making connections with the students. Students respect their teachers until the teacher gives them a reason not to. The teacher has strong influence over the students. Hopefully my lessons will be interesting enough that my students will want to learn and enjoy coming to my class. That would make my job a lot more fun and it would definitely make the climate in my classroom a happier place to be. I love parents. Parents know their children very well. Knowing my students parents will only help me to be able to make personal connections with my students. I will most likely be teaching in a school with power grade and other technology pieces like this. This will give me a chance to email parents if their child is having difficulty. Also, I like the idea of the phone or even face to face if it is possible. The parents of my students will be brought in. I hope to be able to do a few projects that involve the parents and have them be honored and brought into the classroom to celebrate their children’s accomplishments.
Learning Focus:
People acquire knowledge at all times. There isn’t a specific amount of time that can be allotted to getting more knowledge. Once you have learned a skill, it will still take some time to master it. There is not a recommended amount of time for this either. It depends on the person that is trying to master a skill or concept. Assessment is very important and a lot of time should go into preparing an assessment because this will show the teacher if they are doing a good job in the classroom. The classroom is a great place to stick in a few little, miniature lessons about morals and values. There should not be huge units on it, but while studying a certain person you could spend a day talking about their morals and how they affected their life.
Teaching Styles:
I like lecturing for a few minutes at the beginning of class to get out the main idea of what the student need to know. Then I like to move on into asking the students to think about a certain topic of the day and then proceed on to a project for the day or the week, depending on the topic. I also like to do some moving during class instead of just having the students sit in their chairs for 80 minutes. I love group discussions and debates. I enjoy getting all of the student’s opinions on any given issue. I like to walk around and check on a rubric what they are learning during the class period. I hope to be teaching in a smart classroom and that I will have access to computers for each of my students so that we can do a lot more with technology. I think that each teacher should have their own sort of discipline and other methods like that, but the school should have a big cap of general rules that every teacher has to follow.
Leadership Styles:
I think that I am a leader. I started a club sport at UMF and am the president of it. I am one of the older students in my residence hall and all of the younger students look up to me. In high school I was in quite a few clubs where I was on the executive board. I love to be tested and put in leadership positions. I think its great, but it is always better if I have a team of qualified people to back me up and help me with the tasks.
I think that Ms. G's secret sauce is really great. Some of her ingredients are self explanatory to me, while others are things that I would have never thought of that would be problems in a classroom. I never thought that celebrating success was something that had to be thought of before. i just kind of go with the flow and congratulate students individually. However, my big thing is believing in all of my students and that is Erin's number 1 ingredient. I think that if I can have that ingredient than I think I will have a lot more than I realized.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Theories
The two educational theories that most represent me are humanism and constructivism. I don’t agree fully with either one of these, but these are the two that match me the best. The humanistic approach matches me because I think that students should be active in their learning and make choices about how and what they learn in school. These are two important pieces for me.
Also, the constructivism piece for me is the hands-on learning. You can’t learn as much if you just sit in a lecture hall. The constructivist also believes in having the students shaping their own learning. Not all students will learn from these two ways, but I feel that these are the best ways to start off teaching and to build from there.
Also, the constructivism piece for me is the hands-on learning. You can’t learn as much if you just sit in a lecture hall. The constructivist also believes in having the students shaping their own learning. Not all students will learn from these two ways, but I feel that these are the best ways to start off teaching and to build from there.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Voices article
I'm still not sure what my educational philosophy is, but reading all of these different ideas I am starting to figure out the types of things I believe in and those that I am very against. I started off this packet by really agreeing with Confucius. I really feel that being the teacher doesn't mean that I give the answer but that the students need to take some of the initiative in their own learning process. I also believe that education is important to the improvement of society.
The next philosopher that I agreed with was Augustine. We agree that teachers should help students understand by teaching and not just memorization. Especially in history classes, most of what teachers want is memorized fact, but there has to be a different way to learn facts besides just cramming all the knowledge into your head and forgetting it 10 minutes later. Also, teachers should be building upon already learned information and going into deeper thought with the students. Augustine also says that motivation and speaking in positive tones helps students be able to learn.
The next person I share opinions with is Comenius. I agree that everybody deserves a chance to be in school and excel. Having experienced a lot of children with disabilities in my education already, those people have just as much brain capacity and intelligence as everybody else. I fully agree with this: "Teachers should encourage, be kind,give individual attention to students, and be open to all learners, creating a non-coercive atmosphere in which the subject matter is presented with variety and practicality."
http://froebelweb.tripod.com/web7005.html
Herbart has a few things that I agree with. Students learn moral standards from within their family, but some should be pushed in the classroom as well. For example, having the student know how to write a paper only using their own ideas and not stealing from the internet or their friends. Also, that teaching conveys new knowledge and doesn't mean that the teacher force feeds them the information. It is still important to come up with fun and interesting ways to get the knowledge across.
Piaget is the last guy that I agree with. We both think that higher level thinking needs to exist in order for the students to get anything out of the class. Also, it is important to know what kind of learners are in your classroom. It is hard to teach students if you don't know how they learn best. That is where learning about your students the first few days comes into play. Also, not all students are going to be at the same level of development, so you need to be able to accommodate them all and teach them all.
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-piage.html
The next philosopher that I agreed with was Augustine. We agree that teachers should help students understand by teaching and not just memorization. Especially in history classes, most of what teachers want is memorized fact, but there has to be a different way to learn facts besides just cramming all the knowledge into your head and forgetting it 10 minutes later. Also, teachers should be building upon already learned information and going into deeper thought with the students. Augustine also says that motivation and speaking in positive tones helps students be able to learn.
The next person I share opinions with is Comenius. I agree that everybody deserves a chance to be in school and excel. Having experienced a lot of children with disabilities in my education already, those people have just as much brain capacity and intelligence as everybody else. I fully agree with this: "Teachers should encourage, be kind,give individual attention to students, and be open to all learners, creating a non-coercive atmosphere in which the subject matter is presented with variety and practicality."
http://froebelweb.tripod.com/web7005.html
Herbart has a few things that I agree with. Students learn moral standards from within their family, but some should be pushed in the classroom as well. For example, having the student know how to write a paper only using their own ideas and not stealing from the internet or their friends. Also, that teaching conveys new knowledge and doesn't mean that the teacher force feeds them the information. It is still important to come up with fun and interesting ways to get the knowledge across.
Piaget is the last guy that I agree with. We both think that higher level thinking needs to exist in order for the students to get anything out of the class. Also, it is important to know what kind of learners are in your classroom. It is hard to teach students if you don't know how they learn best. That is where learning about your students the first few days comes into play. Also, not all students are going to be at the same level of development, so you need to be able to accommodate them all and teach them all.
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-piage.html
Sunday, October 28, 2007
experiential learning
The main idea behind experiential learning is that it should be hands on. This has been proven over and over again throughout these presentations. The students need to be using their hands and their hands and their minds at the same time in order to get the most out of the education. All that this presentation did for me was to tell me once again how important that it is to not just stand in front of a classroom and lecture.
I really enjoyed making a lesson in class though. It was good experience stepping out of our concentrations and learning how to think on the spot how to make everyone a hands on learner. I liked having a health topic because i don't think we spend enough time on health as secondary education majors unless our concentration is health. Also, it was good to have a chance to make a lesson because my partner and i made an integrated unit. It is good experience to have, so all and all i enjoyed the presentation and the experience!
I really enjoyed making a lesson in class though. It was good experience stepping out of our concentrations and learning how to think on the spot how to make everyone a hands on learner. I liked having a health topic because i don't think we spend enough time on health as secondary education majors unless our concentration is health. Also, it was good to have a chance to make a lesson because my partner and i made an integrated unit. It is good experience to have, so all and all i enjoyed the presentation and the experience!
the end!
Erin finds out about her father’s death, and she is able to continue on with her goals and ambitions. It is good to realize that even though somebody that plays a huge role in your life is no longer there, you can still follow through with you dreams. Erin continues to show her students that they can overcome anything that life throws at them. That is a truly amazing person and teacher.
She was able, through every aspect of her life, show the freedom writers how to become better people and interact with anybody that they want to. Also, after the loss of her father, Erin talks to her students about it, and since they were all so close and Erin had let her students get a little too close, they were able to comfort her and help her with her big conflict. Her students were honored to be able to give this back to their teacher that helped them all turn into better human beings.
She was able, through every aspect of her life, show the freedom writers how to become better people and interact with anybody that they want to. Also, after the loss of her father, Erin talks to her students about it, and since they were all so close and Erin had let her students get a little too close, they were able to comfort her and help her with her big conflict. Her students were honored to be able to give this back to their teacher that helped them all turn into better human beings.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Nation at Risk
Our schools need to be updated and upgraded. There are a lot of things that need to be changed to improve our students. This article talks about a lot of changes that need to occur while our students are in high school. There need to be more requirements for graduation. The sad thing about this article is that it was written over 20 years ago and many of these changes still haven't occurred.
Maybe if teachers were treated with more respect than more people would want to be teachers. If there were more people in the teaching profession than it would be a more competitive field. This would weed out the not so good teachers and the students would benefit by having a well qualified and good teacher. This could also help make the graduation requirement more tough than they are now.
Maybe if teachers were treated with more respect than more people would want to be teachers. If there were more people in the teaching profession than it would be a more competitive field. This would weed out the not so good teachers and the students would benefit by having a well qualified and good teacher. This could also help make the graduation requirement more tough than they are now.
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