Post 4: Observing Jr. High Round 2

This classroom observation was a much different experience than last week's observation. Both were good experiences. Last week I saw a side of teaching that was a little mundane. I saw well behaved students taking notes. It was procedurally fine, but I wasn't sure if it was the most effective because I saw little feedback from the students. I think I want a class with more going on.

This week, I got what I wanted and observed a more participatory classroom. The students were moving between three classrooms (a class with desks and a projector, a computer lab, and a shop). They were learning about alternative fuel sources and CO2 cars. There was a lot going on, and more than I could handle. I felt uncomfortable in the classroom. The students were yelling out and the teacher's tactic was to ignore it and move on. The teacher responded once with a snide comment. The teacher has a policy to not give out homework, so everything had to be finished while they were there and in front of him. As a student, I think I would have preferred to do some research on aerodynamics and get different ideas for car shapes on my own before designing my CO2 car, but the plans had to be finished in class. Everything was such a time crunch there there was little conversation about the "big picture" of the projects they were working on. We came on a transitional day between two units, so that may have been the source of some of the confusion on my part.

The teacher has the curriculum that I want to teach and he has access to all the resources, but not the sort of classroom management that I want. There were about a half dozen really aggressive students that were constantly talking. They were disrespectful and almost offensive at times and the rest of the class was silent. The aggressive students were participating. This is where is becomes a little tough for me because although it was loud, the students seemed to be participating. Granted there was zero participation out of some, but my point is that perhaps the behavior should take a distant back seat to education. Maybe this teacher has learned over the years that if he disciplines the students, then they stop listening and then they aren't excited about the projects.

I think I am realizing a major flaw for me as a teacher. I don't think I will be very patient with behavior issues. I will send the students to the office. I will address every issue. One thing that I learned in a classroom management class is that ignoring the problem is an acceptable tactic. If you can ignore it and it goes away, then addressing it in front of the class is only causing more problems. That will be difficult for me. After class, I asked the teacher we observed today how his teaching style has changed over the years because I wanted to talk about behavior and he said, "I'm easier than I used to be."

His easy going nature is impressive. No matter how loud or rude the students were, he never deviated from the lesson. It was like he was going to teach it no matter what. I worry about the students that quietly did the work. Perhaps he speaks with them one on one or they get more time on other school days, but there were some students who stared blankly, trying to tune out the aggressive students, waiting for the bell to ring.

Post 3: Teaching and Observing

On Tuesday, we split up into groups for a teaching exercise. Each member of the group had 12 minutes give a lesson on anything relating to technology education. I felt comfortable writing the lesson and it seems to make sense when read, but I don't seem to be completely clear when I teach. I appreciate being given the opportunity to practice in the class and I hope to find more opportunities. I'm interested to read the feedback from my peers as well as Dr. Geoff Wright.

The most memorable moment of the activity was feedback from Dr. Wright following one of the teachers. He asked what the purpose was. Why did you teach what you taught? It seems to be a trend to teach specific technological tools or skills without theory. It seems backwards to teach how to use a hammer before teaching about architecture, style, and developing an appreciation and love for the craft. Tools should be available to aids us in producing what we want and we should be skilled enough to find and learn how to use the tools we need. It seems odd to pick up the tools in front of me, and then decide what I can make. Teaching how to use a piece of technology should be less about that specific tool and more about how to learn new technologies and find those tools that will help you produce what you have created.

On Thursday, we observed Junior High technology courses. I observed a 7th grade CTE Business class, the morning announcements, and a 9th grade computer class. The teacher did a lot of great things. She was organized and very clear with all the students. It was easy to see many of the things that we have talked about in class. She gave a pretest and went over the instruction and objectives so that everyone understood. All the students participated. The students were given the opportunity choose the specifics of what they were doing. I could go on and on. She was a pitch perfect teacher. The problem is I was bored.

During the 9th period class, she was teaching Word. They were taking notes on "Save." We came on a less exciting day because the entire period was note-taking. The teacher would give a vocabulary word, read the definition, and the students would write it down. It was good that I came on this day because perhaps that is the harsh reality of teaching, although I still believe it isn't. 

One criticism was that the teacher seemed to be giving the lesson despite the students students questions or concerns were brushed aside to get through the content. It's true that if she had addressed every question, then she wouldn't have made it through the lesson and it's probably a pretty safe bet that their question would be answered eventually or their question didn't carry much importance. One example: A 7th grade student asked if the border of the word art could be blue and black. The teacher responded that it could. "You may choose any color you want." He was actually asking how to use two colors, not if the colors he wanted were acceptable to her. She moved on with the lesson. Does it matter? Is he worse off for not knowing how to use multiple colors in his word art? If she would have stopped and tried to understand his question and then explain how to do that, it may have caused the other students to lose interest and stop listening and maybe she wouldn't have finished her prepared lesson.

Post 2: Three Primary Domains

Behaviorism

The concern of behaviorism is that the students are performing for a reward and are neither retaining the material nor learning to learn without extrinsic motivation. Some behaviorism techniques were not effective for me when I was a student because I was not particularly competitive and candy was not motivating to me. The aspect of behaviorism that was very motivating for me was when the instructor would explain the outcome and it was interesting to me. Then I would be motivated to succeed and reach that outcome. Grades were motivating to me because I had a positive impression of college and believed that I needed good grades to attend the university of my choice.

Thorndike's experiments concluded that once you take away the rewards that mark the path to a larger reward, the subject will continue on the same path because of the knowledge of the larger reward. The importance to this is that students must be aware of the larger reward. Those rewards along the way need to be reminders of the big picture and why the students are on the path you are leading them.

Constructivism

Jean Piaget

Paulo Freire

Constructivism lends itself to technology education because of the emphases on hands-on learning and problem solving methods of teaching. There are many aspects to constructivism and hope to utilize many of them in my teaching. One of the philosophies of Paulo Freire is that students are not empty vessels. This is particularly interesting to me as a teacher in this field because I teach such practical skills and knowledge that many of the students will have already had many interactions and ideas that may be right or wrong. In the educational documentary Minds of Our Own the filmmakers show examples of students coming into a situation with a preconceived notion and after learning the correct way, still hold to their original beliefs or after a short time revert back to incorrect beliefs.

It is important that the educator realize that students are walking into the class with thoughts about the material and those thoughts need to be addressed early and often. 

Cognitivism

Noam Chomsky

You mentioned a "Chomsky" as a philosopher we need to know and the only "Chomsky" I know is Noam Chomsky, but I know him as a linguist turned political activist. I Googled him with cognitivism and discovered that he wrote a paper in response to B. F. Skinner's study on behaviorism, but I'm not sure what I should know as far educational cognitivism goes. What do you think?

Cognitivism is the ultimate goal. I will do everything else in my class as a way to lead them to higher levels of Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy. What I teach in my class will be for naught if the students are unable to reflect upon what they are learning. My goal is not to teach specific skills, but to teach the ability to learn and understand what is being learned and how it is being learned, so that it may be replicated. 

Week 1: The Wong Book

The first lecture of the semester was centered around an early assignment to write our philosophy on teaching. It was thought provoking. I haven't written my philosophy yet, but I have two ideas that I think I am going to focus on. The first is access.

I want the students to learn all I have to offer and the opposition to that is lack of access. Access can be denied or less available based on many factors, and for my paper I will try and find those factors and come to some conclusions and develop a philosophy for creating the least restrictive environment possible in my classroom. This is particularly interesting to me because of my investment in media and technology. I want my students to have every technological advantage available to them. Access is an issue that I've heard teachers complain about at conferences and in my own program. Lack of funds may make it more difficult to provide all the technology I want to, but even with a limited budget I believe I can find a way to get the media and technology into the classroom and students can have a hands on experience. I need to rework this idea because it sounds more like a challenge than a philosophy. I just don't want to be a teacher claiming that I would do more, but I don't have the funds. I want to give my students everything with what I do have.

The second part of my philosophy that I want to address is teaching storytelling principles, media effect on society, and film theory in conjunction with video production. My high school experience in media classes would have be better had my teacher focused on more than just the technology tools.

I've read 220 pages of our first text (pictured above) and initially I was skeptical. I kept wanting the author to stay on one subject longer and go into more depth. It jumped around and every section seemed incomplete. On page 19 there is a story entitled "If Only Someone Would Start the Class" that seems incomplete. The author is repetitive. I'm pretty sure I have read the phrase, "You manage a store, you don't discipline it" a handful of times. But all those are dumb little complaints compared to the benefits. I spent a lot of time with this text and it has brought to mind more than expected. By addressing so many aspects and bringing up so many questions, it inspires more contemplation and discussion than I would have thought. Great read.

Feathers McGraw