Reflection 8

I went to go and visit Springville High to see how Braden Boss handled his class and to tell you the truth I was a bit disappointed when I walked in the room.  First off he was not doing much as a teacher.  We came walking in and he was passing out cameras or talking to us.  The only time he was with a student was if they had a question. Other than that he was talking to us which I appreciated, I learned more about the administrative level of teaching, but I kinda felt ripped off a bit because I did not see him actually teach.  I know he was having a student work day, but not a lot of students were working.  Most of them were just playing some game on the internet or talking to friends.  I know he had given that day as kind of a catch up day but he should have had his students who were caught up and gave them another assignment, and he did give them an extra credit assignment but no one was doing it.  So I think for me in this circumstance I would tell them its not extra credit and have it just be an assignment as well.  This way they don't get board. Because for me, I got incredibly board that I wanted join one of the students with there internet game of chess.
So what I learned is don't give a work day if all or mostly all students need it.  Because if you give a work day but five out if thirty are the done ones they will disturb the other twenty five and then those students still wouldn't get their assignments done.  Unless you can insure that every one  can do something don't have just a work day.

Reflection 7

This week we have been watching our peers teach lessons on the STLs.  I have learned a lot from them by how they do things well and how they mess up and how they could fix their method of teaching.  First off there have been my peers talk just 100% off of a power point.  And yes this is a nice way of teaching because it keeps the teacher on track and helps the kids stay on track, or get them back on track if they were off, but the problem is, I feel like I am a passive learner when their is a power point in front of me. And after the first three minutes I get into the mode of listen as much as you can but if you already know this let your brain take a nap.  Also what I have noticed is with power points the teacher can go at an accelerating pace, and I want to write down the information in front of me and take those notes, but some times I can't because the teacher is going through the slides like crazy fast so I have blanks in my notes, which is frustrating during class because I'm trying to get what the teacher said in the last slide, while listening and taking notes on this slide, then when I go home to review my notes there are gaps of information that I don't have, so then I freak out because I feel like those sets of notes were important and so since I don't have them I'm going to fail.
So how I would fix this problem is if I do have a power point only have the key short things on them, and as few of slides as possible. Or I just wouldn't have a power point and have a large class discussion.
Things that my class mates have been doing well I think are activities.  Activities engage me because I am a hands on learner.  Its really hard for me to just watch something happen, I need to do it a long with the teacher or else I get lost.  So I am proud that my class mates have been doing activities! This just shows me that I want to put together an amazing activity, and not just a boring lecture of power point.

Reflection 6

I would like to reflect upon the things which I have learned so far about becoming a teacher.  First off I thought it would be a piece of cake to be a teacher.  You go into a class room, just tell your students what you know and then end the day y going home and spending time with your family.  Well I was clearly wrong.  Being a teacher takes a lot of effort and care towards those who we are teaching.  And I think what makes the best teachers are those that actually reach out to all their students.  When I was in high school and even in college I have had some teachers who pay attention mostly to only a few of their students, and others fall behind because those students feel like there is no point in trying to do good because the teacher doesn't care if I succeed or don't. 
As a teacher we need to be open to all students and at all the levels of learning they are at.  Teachers who only focus in on the overly smart students and only grade according to those students will have other students feel like there is no hope for them.  Something I also realize with this is the fact that some students take a lot longer time to learn certain things.  And I feel like as a teacher we do need to accommodate for those student to make sure they are learning to their best abilities and that we do our best to help them as much as we can.

Reflection 5

So today I went to observe an auto shop teacher, it was actually really interesting.  He had the students get together at the beginning in a class room setting then he brought them out to the actual shop.  The only problem I think that the teacher could change is about how he should organize his class.  I really think he should have half  the class in half, had one part do a work sheet or some other project and then take the other half of the class and take them out to the shop.  Then switch the class during half the class.  I think it has actually been a really good idea that I went and talk with different teachers and learn about how I would like to manage my class room, what I would like to do when I am a teacher.