Maybe we're all being a little harsh on Mrs. Fairburn? (I think that's her name), but I really don't think so. Like Diana said in her blog, she started off the class by making us feel unintelligent when she explained why Prof. Kruse was absent.
She read off of a powerpoint the whole time and had us fill in blanks on copies of the powerpoint that she handed out to us. She didn't really teach us anything other than how to fill in a blank in my opinion. Then both of the activities she had us do she had us work in groups to come up with answers to do nothing but shoot most of our answers down. I know that when she put my groups example of directions for a short answer question on the Elmo she basically crossed out everything we wrote and started over. Why have us waste our time if she was going to do it her way instead?
The thing that really got me about her, though, was the fact that she honestly admitted that she makes tests so that they are easy for her to grade. I was astonished. She didn't even try to beat around the bush about it. I really wish I would have had the guts to say, "So do you think that these matching, T/F, and multiple choice tests are teaching your students anything?"
In a way I'm glad that we have had this experience, because it gave us a concrete example of exactly who we don't want to be when we're teachers. She was everything that Kruse always tells us not to be, so now we know exactly how we don't want to teach our students. So, for that I suppose we owe her a thank you! HA!!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Motivation is everything
As you can tell by the title of my blog, I believe that motivation is everything. For example, I am writing this blog post instead of writing my 8 page paper that is due soon because I have more motivation to work on Ed 107 than I do Feminist Theories. Why, you might ask, am I more motivated for this class than others that I am enrolled in? The main reason is because of the relevance to my life. Even though I am second guessing my decision to continue on in the education field, I still feel that everything I learn in this class can be put to use in my life. Also, I know that Professor Kruse holds us to high expectations so I have more motivation to do the work for the class even though it isn't technically assigned or graded.
After skimming over Alexa's post on motivation, I came to a conclusion of why I feel motivation is so important. As she said, she always felt motivated by herself and her parents more than she did her teachers. I feel that I am in the same boat. I think that this should change, and I plan to make it change in my classroom. I want to motivate my students to do well by setting high goals and differentiating my teaching to each individual student instead of having a set goal for the class as a whole. At the beginning of the school year I will have each student set a goal for themselves, either in the classroom or in life in general (I'm secondary so I feel that sometimes older students should set higher goals for themselves than simply doing well in a class). Each month I will have them do an evaluation of how they are progressing on their goals and what steps can be taken to help them reach those goals. By doing this it will help students learn how to be self-motivated because I won't be walking them through each step but it will still let them know that I am supporting them and there for help when they need it.
Along with goal setting I will also hold my students to high expectations, even though I might not come right out and tell them what those expectations are. I feel that by not telling the students word for word what I expect from them it will keep them motivated to keep trying harder because they won't know if they have met my expectations or not.
I also plan to make my class relatable to students. I don't want them to feel as though their time is being wasted in my class, I wan them to feel as though I'm teaching them important life skills along with my assigned curriculum. When a student feels that they are learning concepts that will help them in later life it keeps them actively mentally engaged because it relates to their life.
Motivation is a very hard concept to integrate into teaching because it is something that has to be brought out from inside the student. I can try my hardest to motivate students and there will probably still be some that will not be motivate no matter what strategies I try. Since I feel that motivation is something that has to be differentiated for most students (something that one student finds interesting, thus motivating, might be insanely boring for another student) it is hard to pinpoint exactly what I will do in my classroom to keep my students motivated. My main goal will be to not only motivate them to do well in my classroom, but to do well in life, by showing them the importance of hard work and dedication and give them examples of how rewarding reaching goals can be.
After skimming over Alexa's post on motivation, I came to a conclusion of why I feel motivation is so important. As she said, she always felt motivated by herself and her parents more than she did her teachers. I feel that I am in the same boat. I think that this should change, and I plan to make it change in my classroom. I want to motivate my students to do well by setting high goals and differentiating my teaching to each individual student instead of having a set goal for the class as a whole. At the beginning of the school year I will have each student set a goal for themselves, either in the classroom or in life in general (I'm secondary so I feel that sometimes older students should set higher goals for themselves than simply doing well in a class). Each month I will have them do an evaluation of how they are progressing on their goals and what steps can be taken to help them reach those goals. By doing this it will help students learn how to be self-motivated because I won't be walking them through each step but it will still let them know that I am supporting them and there for help when they need it.
Along with goal setting I will also hold my students to high expectations, even though I might not come right out and tell them what those expectations are. I feel that by not telling the students word for word what I expect from them it will keep them motivated to keep trying harder because they won't know if they have met my expectations or not.
I also plan to make my class relatable to students. I don't want them to feel as though their time is being wasted in my class, I wan them to feel as though I'm teaching them important life skills along with my assigned curriculum. When a student feels that they are learning concepts that will help them in later life it keeps them actively mentally engaged because it relates to their life.
Motivation is a very hard concept to integrate into teaching because it is something that has to be brought out from inside the student. I can try my hardest to motivate students and there will probably still be some that will not be motivate no matter what strategies I try. Since I feel that motivation is something that has to be differentiated for most students (something that one student finds interesting, thus motivating, might be insanely boring for another student) it is hard to pinpoint exactly what I will do in my classroom to keep my students motivated. My main goal will be to not only motivate them to do well in my classroom, but to do well in life, by showing them the importance of hard work and dedication and give them examples of how rewarding reaching goals can be.
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