Reflection 12

As we come to a close this semester I have realized that even though I have learned a ton I have only scratched the surface to becoming a good if not great teacher.  There are so many different things to learn and understand about, from managing a classrooms behavior, to lesson plans, to knowing how to get resources from administrators.  But besides all that I realize one of the greatest things of being a teacher is just providing opportunities for their students to test and create something with their new knowledge.
 I know I have not been the greatest at teaching.  But I know a few more techniques then I did before.  Some techniques are telling students what to look for while watching a film or clip.  Another is don't pass out materials till until you have given all instructions and answered any question.  Also I found it very helpful to memorize names.  Not only does this make your student feel more valuable but it also helps out a lot when you are trying to manage your classroom.  Their are many others but these ones are some that have really stuck with me.
Even though the semester is ending I still plan on working and taking more classes on how to be the best teacher I can be.  I know it's not going to be easy but it will be worth it. 
 

Reflection 11

Yesterday I went with my group to go and teach at a sixth grade class.  We taught them the elements of design, more specifically layout, shape, color and texture.  It was a bit hard to find how to teach these because to me the elements of design are almost like a "no duh" topic.  I was in charge of teaching color, so at first I made a lesson plan on primary, secondary and complimentary colors.  But then I talked with Geoff and he told me that colors can play psychological role in our lives.  I had herd about this already but I just didn't connect the two and two.  So I also thought that maybe this "no duh" topic would actually be like the experience I just had, which is just to put the puzzle pieces together.
So I decided I would work on my specific lesson plan for color.  I looked up different colors and what the statistics were for each color.  And I found some interesting stuff that I hadn't heard about before.  Like football coaches will paint their opposing teams locker room pink because psychologically it makes people feel tired, making the opposing team tiered before the game.  So I gathered all of these statistics, printed out some colors and went to go teach.
And I thought it went really well.  I taught them about colors and how they effected people psychologically and how they could play with peoples psychology to make the best marketing ability to sell the most product you can.  And it was great! They understood that red was the most exciting and most appetizing color and when they made their final product they had red in their cereal box plan! I really had so much fun doing this.  It makes me excited to become a teacher.

Reflection 10

Today we had a speaker come in and talk to our class about his different ways and forms of teaching and I loved it.  I can just tell by the way that he acts and by the way that he presented him self he really touches students lives, which is the whole reason why I want to be a teacher,
First he told us to document our classes through teaching.  And not only through written documentation but through actual photos.  And I really liked that because through out his presentation he showed pictures of things that they did in his class room and it just looked like fun and it made me excited as a student to become a teacher and teach these different technologies.
Secondly he gave a great idea to invite your administrators to join your class and get involved with the projects of the class. I think this is great because not only are you gaining a personal relationship with your administrators but the administrators are getting involved with the students.  And now the students won't only look at say the principle as a disciplinarian but they will look to him more as a fun leader.
Lastly he also talked about in the class room while we are teaching kids how to do something, don't skip steps.  Because a lot of kids have never done certain things that we have done our whole lives.  We can pick on me for example, I grew up in a small town in California where we didn't get any funding and my schools were very academic (math, science, english) thats it.  I had a technology class out of all four years in high school and it was just a learn how to type fast my freshmen year.  And it only lasted one semester.  So when I came into the TEE major I had no idea what flash, photo shop, illustrator, how to sawter something together, how to cut wood on a saw, any of that I had no idea how they worked. I new of some of them and that they existed but never saw them in person till this semester.  And that is why I feel so strongly that you need to show your students every little baby step because the students don't get it if you just throw them in there and say go do it, they are so over whelmed that they don't even know how to start.  So in my classes I am going to make sure every student feels comfortable and confident in what they are doing.

Reflection 9

I was reading about how to be a good teacher and I reolized that the best way to get an enducation is to have a great teacher.  It is the teachers that seem to make the bigger differences, not the school, not the atmosphere of where you live but the teachers.
As I think about this I  wonder, how are you going to know if you are going to get a good education? I believe that is is true through out all levels of education, from elementary through college.  Most of the wieght is on how well a teacher teaches.  If a teacher doesn't make any thing clear to how is the student going to learn.  Yes I do know that some students will not put effort into learning the material and so they like to blame the teacher on how horrible they teach.  But there are also those teachers that say, go read chapters on through five and we will have a test on them tomorrow.  I know for me as a learner I do not understand information from a book.  You can't ask a book to restate what it said but use a different example because you didn't understand the one you just read 30 times.  But you can ask a teacher to reexplain things and you can keep asking questions and get a faster more efficent answer from a teacher then from a book.  Teachers do make a difference in students education.
Becauseof this knowledge that I have, I want to be the best teacher I can be, because if I can't get the information across to my students clearly enough then they will not learn as well or get the proper education that they should.

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.