Reflection 12

A few items learned throughout the semester that I want to remember from this class now that it is over:

"I believe that there is no greater call in the church than to be an effective teacher." (not sure who said that)

Avoid using the phrase "Any Questions" - instead check for understanding as you teach so you don't get far into the lesson with the kids so confused they don't even know what question to ask.

When teaching a new concept have the students Hear it, See it and Do it.

Experiential learning is the process of enlightenment.

Use mixed methods.

Reflection 11

Our last class was interesting to me. We began by watching the videos of our teaching to the 6th graders. While watching, I noticed a few positive things that my classmates were doing that I need to work on. One is proximity. As Tahna was trying to teach the kids in one side of the room were chatting while another student was trying to speak so she just stepped over and said "shhh" without even taking her eyes off of the student talking and the noisy students quieted up real quick. Another was student participation. Braden had all the student chant "buoyancy." I usually like to have the kids involved but don't usually think about having them chant. I think it is a good idea especially when it is something that we want the students to remember. But there were also areas of needed improvement. One of which is to speak clearly and not stumble with my words. I need to know the material so I'm not butchering the information. I also need to be aware of the students. I thought that everyone was grasping the concept until I found out later that a classmate of mine said she had to help a student do the formula one on one and quite frankly, I never saw her doing that and had no idea that people were confused by my instruction in doing the formula. I think that sensing this will come with experience and simply getting comfortable with teaching in front of a class. Experience is the key to to greatest improvement I believe.

Reflection 10

This last week we went and taught the 6th graders about bouancy and why things float. I have not had a chance yet to watch the video of myself but I loved it and think everything went well. We ran into a slight difficulty when, according to our formula, a block was supposed to sink when instead it was floating. This wouldn't have been much of a problem if I had planned and tried out all of the blocks beforehand but I didn't so I panicked. I was frantically looking at my teaching helpers for help but once I calmed down and thought about the situation (reflected while teaching in a way) I realized why the block way floating and then explained it to the class. I know that in my teaching future I am going to run into problems so I need to remember to calm down and think about the situation and maybe ask the class if they can figure it out - if neither of these things work then I will figure out the solution/reasoning and explain it the next time the class gathers.

Reflection 9

Good teaching includes reflecting while teaching. This means that I need to make sure I listen to the kids comments and use what they say to tie in to the lesson or go off onto a "tangent" to teach them other important things. Another reason why I need to reflect while teaching is so that I can take teaching opportunities that arise and run with um.

Clear board display is definitely something that I need to work on. But I think I will get better the more I write on it but I also need to plan ahead of time the general format I want it to be.

Try to remember to have everyone involved. If doing a hands on demo- have them all do it.

Reflection 8

More tidbits of things I have been learning and want to implement into my teaching style:

Rather than calling out names of random people for the fun of it I should have rationale such as: they have previous knowledge in the subject and could perhaps explain it in a different or better way, they are not paying attention and I want to get them involved into the discussion again, or if they happen to know the answer (raised their hand). There are all types of rationale but I also agree with Geoff that some type of rationale needs to be included when calling upon a student to answer a question (brings me back to a main emphasis of mine - justification)

Although Geoff probably doesn't agree, I believe that in order to excite the students and clearly display the objective - examples of assignments should be shown to the class before or as the assignment is being assigned. I think these can be assignments that other kids have done along with ones I have done to show a variety. I know that this doesn't need to be done with every activity though. I agree with Jason's method where he had us design a watch then he showed us his at the end. I think this is good for little activities and projects every once and awhile, but with big projects the kids need to know what they can and are trying to do and showing examples is a good way of doing this.

Junior High and High School students need lots of movement from the teacher - agreed.

Although it may appear difficult - It is a great idea to have the kids learn two things at once - just like we did in our summary/internet safety activity. It gives more purpose to assignments and the kids in turn learn more.

Reflection 7

Informative feedback and justification are very important. This became evident to me today while i observed one of the teachers at Wasatch High School. The class had just finished a set of commercials and so he had them up and playing on the projector for the kids to see. After each video he gave specific feedback on each commercial mainly pointing out the things they did wrong or didn't "look good". For one, I know that feedback is better if you tell only the individual or group alone rather than to the whole class unless there is something that you want to point that the whole class is struggling with or that they can all learn from. Secondly, he gave feedback such as: "choose a different song, someone else already used it." The kid responded "I know I had it on there first." Teacher said "yeah but that song doesn't fit your cross country movie, it fits the other one better" (That wasn't word for word but it was very similar). The teacher also gave feedback such as: "add a drop shadow on the text" and other almost rude comments. The positive feedback he gave included "that was good" and "that looked good." He never gave feedback on how well the angles were or any other film composition. If he thought it was "cool" then they got a good grade. I firmly believe that informative feedback is very important and should be detailed in that the teacher analyzes according to such things as: camera angles, types of shots, principles of design and other standards you are trying to effectively teach.

Reflection 6

While watching the recordings of myself teaching I am learning that teaching is indeed a mastered profession. Some may be given the talent to teach well but it still takes practice. It's interesting to hear both Geoff and Shummway speak of the mistakes they made during their first few years of teaching. Although we may have lots of practice and get pretty good at teaching in front of a room, it doesn't become reality until you are indeed the teacher who makes the decisions and in turn learns what you can and can't do- which depends on where, what, and who you teach. Although I feel like I have gotten a very little bit better at teaching, I know that it will be many years until I become a fantastic teacher. There are just certain things that you can't learn except by experience.

Reflection 5

Something particular that stuck out to me while observing Centennial Middle School in Provo was the huge amount of energy it takes to be a good and effective teacher. Jared is student teaching there and he had Matt and I walk around and help the students with the building of their paper rockets. I only did this for an hour and I noticed it drained my energy. I now know why many teachers like to sit behind their desk while the students work on projects- they are tired and don't feel like being on their feet, crouching down helping kids for 7 hours. Noticing this helps me create goals to go to bed early as often as possible and eat breakfast every morning so that I will have enough energy to teach like I would like to. I know myself pretty well and I do not do well when I don't get my sleep or breakfast.

Reflection 4

Something that I have been thinking a lot about lately is PURPOSE. When planning a lesson to teach I believe that having the purpose in mind is vital. It is very important to figure out what you REALLY want your students to learn and revolve your material and assignments around that. Because there is not standardized testing for the subjects that we teach - we pretty much get to choose whether we are going to have our students mindlessly performing busywork or if we want to teach them values and skills that will last their life time and help them in their other subjects. The Gong book that we have been reading also mentioned this. It reads " We need to demand more and less. We need to focus on the important and central ideas and really ask the students what it takes to learn them . And we need to cut out any busy work that doesn't contribute to our focus. " As teachers we set the bar that we want our students to reach. It is our obligation to keep the most important things in mind and expect the best out of our students. We must earn their respect and in turn expect more from them so that they reach their highest potential.

Reflection 3

I really enjoyed and would love to implement a few things Geoff taught us today in class. It was about how you learn by teaching (specifically when teaching a tech class). So I just want to include the tips Geoff taught us along with a few insights or things that I thought of on my own.

Step One: Teach the class (Sometimes use a student as the driver)
-Always ask follow-up questions to make sure the students understand (check for understanding)
-Make the assignment requirements clear.

Step Two: Have the students get into pairs with one of them driving and the other one instructing. The driver must not do anything except what the instructor tells them.

Step Three: Switch. Have the driver instruct and the instructor drive.

Doing this has the students learn by listening, teaching, then finally learning because of the rule of 3.

Reflection 2

We learn of Moroni’s deep desire for the freedom and liberty of the people as he raises the Title of Liberty in Chapter 46 of Alma. Later, in chapter 49, Moroni outsmarts the Lamanites with the building up of dirt mounds, works of timber, and picket fences as a way of protection from the invading Lamanites. Chapter 50 speaks of the great prosperity of the Nephites and gives the reason for the success and prosperity of them at this time. It is because they kept the commandments of God and thus had His Spirit with them always. This led me into thinking about the Moral Dimensions of Teaching and other things we have been discussing in class. Over the last few weeks I have come up with a few ideas as to the goals and things I want to accomplish during my teaching career but I have been having a hard time figuring out how to do it. These few chapters in the Book of Mormon have pretty much given me the answer of how. The answer is to first make sure I constantly have the honest and true desire to make a difference in the lives of my students and am willing to do whatever it takes just as Moroni did by creating the Title of Liberty and rallying up people for support. I also need to keep the commandments of God so that his spirit can guide and inspire me day by. Just as Moroni was able to protect the armies of the Nephites and their families with new inventions and war tactics, I have faith that Heavenly Father will give me daily insights as to how to effectively teach my students. I will be able to invent new teaching styles and methods that use the best of my personality. With the inspiration of the Holy Ghost I will be able to notice the students who need my help and find ways to effectively reach out to those individuals. But I know that I will not become a fantastic teacher in one day. It will take time and experience just as with Moroni.

Reflection 1

As I have been thinking about the things I have learned the last few class periods I have decided that one of the most important things that I need to do is write things down. I am realizing that as Geoff has been teaching us and calling to our attention the many different teaching styles and methods, many different high school and junior high teachers of mine have come to mind. Some of them were good and some of them were bad but I realized that I can use them as "real life examples" to prove certain teaching styles as effective or ineffective, but I will forget them if I do not write them down before I forget what it was like to be a junior high or high school student. I believe that very often the teachers that did not like their job and did not have good teaching styles were the ones that forgot what it was like to be in high school and could not relate to us in any degree. Recently I have been remembering some specific personality traits some of my teachers had that I want to emulate.  Some of which are to get everyone invloved, know my students by name, be clear and descriptive when teaching new concepts, check for understanding by asking questions, use mixed methodologies daily, always be positive, search and see the potential in each of my students, create a happy atmosphere in the classroom and acknowledge the hard working students in the class. Another thing I want to make sure I do is motivate the unmotivated students. I think I could do this by first getting to know the students starting day one and eventually somehow incorporate their hobbies into the subject matter if possible. For example, if I were teaching film, I would show video clips of some of their favorite movies or sports while teaching a certain concept. Or if I were teaching design I would use skateboarding adds as examples (this depends on the students specific likes and hobbies of course). Here is a list of a few things that I do not want to forget about some of my past teachers.

-I grew to love teachers that I knew appreciated the hard work and effort I put into their classes.

-I loved the teachers that knew I could and expected me to get A's in their classes.

-Good teachers constantly encouraged my entire class to do well on tests and assignments because they truly wanted us to learn the subject that they loved.

-I appreciated when teachers gave me informative feedback (told me the things I did well and in what areas I could have improved on the assignment).

I think my next step is to continue remembering past traits but more importantly figure out how to incorporate and actually emulate all of these positive traits I saw in my teachers.