Post 12: More to do

This class was too much is a great way. It's nice when a class ends and there is more you want to know. It's frustrating, but it's much better than better than realizing you just learned a bunch of material you don't care to know. This class made me more aware of what I don't know and gave me many opportunities to prove it.

I liked all the observing and teaching opportunities. This class displayed both the practical and theoretic aspects of education, but I would have preferred a little bit more time on the theory of it all. There were occasions that I found myself preparing a lesson without a focus on the foundation, but that sounds like more of a problem with me than the class.

Thanks.

Post 11: Fear and Horror

I've been teaching in a class of a former student of this program and a former attendee of the same class in which I will student teach. I chose the teacher I will student teach for because of his attitude and dedication to his students. He really loves his job and his students. I'm excited to work with him and learn from him, but I'm fearful of losing myself in the process. I have a teaching philosophy and many standards I want to hold myself to.

My fears come from the observation of his former student teacher. Not that this teacher is not excellent or doing wonderful things. My concern is that his style is so similar to his mentor teacher that I'm concerned I may follow. Not that it's the wrong path, but it's not mine. Does student teaching overwhelm any and everything learned up to that point? Will I set aside the foundations of education to follow a guide? If I do so, I may be an adequate teacher, but I will be limited because instead of knowing my foundation and theory for action, I will be say things like, "I do it this way because that's how my mentor teacher did it." So the action may be excellent, but the reasoning is horrendous.

Post 10: 6th Grade

When my group taught a sixth grade class, we focused on their social studies curriculum and taught a lesson on invention and innovation. As a team, we has three sections. Jessica M. and I taught about the assembly line and had an activity in which the student created their own production plan. We gave each team unassembled pens and some paper to insert a logo. We gave them time to come up with a plan, then gave them one minute to put their plan into action, then some more time to fix their plan, and finally three minutes to make as many pens as possible.

It was fun, but I could also see that the students were making connections to real life applications. One student used the term "assembly line" before we did and another student brought up Henry Ford before we did. The students made it clear that the content we were teaching was not new to them, but the activity was well received although they were familiar with the material, the practice was worthwhile.

Post 9: Teaching Noted

One major mistake I made in this teaching exercise was during a class discussion. I was doing a pretest to determine what the students understood as reasons for maintaining equipment and I did not record the responses I was collecting. I should have written the correct answers on the board. I did go back over the list with the students orally, but it would have been more clear if I had written it down.

I don't like it when teachers do this. I have a tendency to ignore the comments of my peers. (I find it obnoxious when students constantly raise their hands to tell stories. This is hypocritical because I often make comments or ask question in class, but I don't find it annoying when I do it.) If their comments are relevant to what I need to know, then I often miss it. I need the teacher to authenticate students' observations as valid.

Post 8: My Week

I will teach this week.

At first, I thought the best route would be to try something that is the complete opposite of what I would initially be inclined to do in front of the class. I could take advantage of this opportunity to try and be a completely different teacher than I am naturally and hopefully I would learn a few things while out of my comfort zone.

Although I still see some merit in that tactic, I think the more useful plan is to do the best I can get notes from the professor and peers of what to improve.

I'm spending a lot of time with the educational theorists we discussed in class and going though my lesson plan line by line, identifying the theoretic source of the practical teaching methods I have been taught or observed.

Post 7: Time for Fun

I am slowly learning how important time management is in the classroom. I am working with a teacher preparing lessons for a project I am doing in his classroom. As I excitedly told him about my unit plan and gave some sample lesson plans, he told me I was boring.

At first, I was thinking that I was treating the students like adults by not trying to "entertain" them. But, if I'm an adult, then my experience in 276 has taught me that I need to be entertained a little. Three hours of direct instruction is difficult to get through and any sliver of "entertainment" is welcome.

The class I observed was 90 minutes of the teacher standing in front of the students and talking at them. I may have been able to handle it better if the information was interesting or pertinent to me, but as it was, I was struggling.

It's easier to learn the information and recite it to the students, than to incorporate multiple levels and dimensions of learning.

I am going back through my lesson plans to develop activities that teach or support the material. Wish me luck.

Post 6: Assessing Sarcasm

TSA

Last week were the Technology Skill Assessments. I passed, but I didn't really feel all that great about it. I went in thinking the tests were a waste of time, but a couple of the tests took me nearly to the limit of 30 minutes to complete. That's not right. My ego was fairly bruised by the end.

I'm a student of both the Technology & Engineering Education and Media Education programs. The assessments should have been easy for me, right? Should I drop out because it takes me nearly 30 minutes to make a poster in Word?

I took a class this summer in the education department and once the instructor found out that I was in the Technology Education department she had me sitting on the front row. She asked me to get to class 10 minutes early so she could go over what media she was using during class. I did, but I'm sure there were students in class that were much more adept at troubleshooting her computer problems than I.

I'm going to cut this conversation off shorter than it deserves. I suppose I just wanted to spend a little time reflecting on the differences between what is being taught and what others think is being taught. What am I expected to know? Will my Principal be disappointed when he realizes I'm not going to double as the IT guy?


SARCASM


Since the conversations in sarcasm in this class, I've been much more aware of my own sarcasm and the sarcasm around me. I have a friend that has been pointing out when I'm sarcastic, which is interesting because I'm much more sarcastic than I realized. I don't have very positive notions of sarcasm because when I think of it, I think a couple of people I know that use it so often that it is obnoxious. It's impossible to have any sort of conversation with them because all they want to do is be sarcastic.

In the classroom, I thought sarcasm would be fine until TEE 200. I am terrible in this class. I might fail it.  I have no idea what's going on and even when I do, I'm terrible at it. I need to be walked through every single step. The TA's sarcasm is not helpful. It seems less like humor and more like sadism.