Taking this class has really made me think about how unnecessary grades are. When I think back over my education, I realize that most of the time I haven't been striving to learn more, but I've been striving for a good grade. In this class, however, I feel myself trying hard not to earn an A, but instead to learn how to become the best teacher I can be in the future.
Because of this, I feel that the best type of assessment is one that actually assesses exactly what the students have learned and understand about the concepts being taught, which means not assigning grades or points to assignments. I have realized that grades are technically an extrinsic reward that teachers tend to use to motivate their students. While motivation is key to education, I feel that if students have to intrinsically motivate themselves they will have better results in the end.
Even though tests aren't always the best way to judge a students understanding of the material I still think they are important because test taking is a skill that is very useful in life. I think that selected response assessments can be useful if they are done in a way that doesn't give the answer away. As long as the student has to know the material to answer the question and can't guess by process of elimination I consider that a good assessment of the student's learning. Constructed response is a better type of assessment, especially since I plan on being an English teacher, but sometimes it is impractical to assign all constructed response questions because of the amount of time it consumes to grade all of the questions fairly and accurately.
I definitely feel that the best way to test a students understanding of material is through performance assessment, whether it be a paper, acting out a skit, or drawing a picture that shows their understanding of the topic. I think that it is important to assess students in the way that they learn the best, meaning if a student is very creative and can draw a story or collage describing the material then it is best to let them do that rather than forcing them to write an essay which may be very difficult for them even though they fully understand the material.
The only problem that I have with allowing students to chose the way they are assessed is that other teachers may not give them this option so I feel that in that way I might not be teaching them the skills that they need to be taught in order to be successful in other classes. Because of this I may assign a few essays that everyone must do to be sure that my students are proficient in the areas that are important for the rest of the education.
Some other problems that I will definitely face with the type of assessment I would like to implement is resistance from the students. Just like most of us were, my students will be reluctant to the idea of not being assigned grades because grades are something that are so engrained in their schemas that it will be hard to convince them that they will still be rewarded for their learning, just not by the grade they will be receiving. Parents will also be slow to warm up to this idea because they also aren't used to it. To ensure parents that their students are still learning I will send out a narrative report to all parents sporadically during the semester. This report will include what the student is doing well on, what they need help with, and how the parents can assist their child with their learning.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Concrete example of everything a teacher should not be
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!!
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 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.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Classroom management
I think that classroom management is something that a person can have a good concept of before entering a classroom to teach for the first time, but I also feel that in order to fully understand how to best manage a class a teacher must take the time to get to know their class.
To me the most important part of classroom management is being approachable and making the classroom as comfortable as possible. The reason that I feel that this is the most important is because it is crucial that your students respect you and your authority and I feel the best way to do that is to make sure they realize they can be comfortable around you and don't need to feel intimidated when they walk into your classroom. The more comfortable the students are in class the easier it will be for them to learn. I would connect this aspect of classroom management to behaviorist learning theory. Through repeated behaviors and actions I will be able to show my students that they can talk to me and that the classroom is a place to feel safe and to grow as an individual.
I also think it is very important to set high expectations for the class and help them attain those goals. If your students don't feel that they have expectations to meet then they will have less motivation to work hard in the class. I don't plan on coming out and telling them my expectations, but I will show them what I expect from them by treating them as adults and not letting them give up. I think that this would also fall into behaviorist learning theory because I will have to show them repeatedly what I expect from them and I will reward and punish them when needed. This could also be explained by developmental learning theory because I will be giving them concrete examples of how to succeed, not only in my classroom but in the future, also.
When it comes to whether I want to be strict with my rules or more lenient, I think it is important to have a good mixture of both. Teachers have to be strict when it comes to actually teaching to ensure that the students learn the material, but I think it is also important to be flexible and lenient with the students and the pace that they are learning. If one topic takes more time than originally thought, it is important to not move on if the students aren't prepared. This may mean taking less time on another area or maybe even cutting out some things, but I think it is better to understand a few things really well than to kind of understand a lot of things.
I know I wil need a lot of work on actually disciplining my students, but I feel that is a skill I will develop through practicums and student teaching. One thing that I have learned thus far in my practicum is that I don't want to be "that teacher" that allows their students to do whatever they wish and talk over me. My practicum teacher has rather poor class management, so I feel that observing him will give me a great understanding of the things I don't want to do in my classroom.
To me the most important part of classroom management is being approachable and making the classroom as comfortable as possible. The reason that I feel that this is the most important is because it is crucial that your students respect you and your authority and I feel the best way to do that is to make sure they realize they can be comfortable around you and don't need to feel intimidated when they walk into your classroom. The more comfortable the students are in class the easier it will be for them to learn. I would connect this aspect of classroom management to behaviorist learning theory. Through repeated behaviors and actions I will be able to show my students that they can talk to me and that the classroom is a place to feel safe and to grow as an individual.
I also think it is very important to set high expectations for the class and help them attain those goals. If your students don't feel that they have expectations to meet then they will have less motivation to work hard in the class. I don't plan on coming out and telling them my expectations, but I will show them what I expect from them by treating them as adults and not letting them give up. I think that this would also fall into behaviorist learning theory because I will have to show them repeatedly what I expect from them and I will reward and punish them when needed. This could also be explained by developmental learning theory because I will be giving them concrete examples of how to succeed, not only in my classroom but in the future, also.
When it comes to whether I want to be strict with my rules or more lenient, I think it is important to have a good mixture of both. Teachers have to be strict when it comes to actually teaching to ensure that the students learn the material, but I think it is also important to be flexible and lenient with the students and the pace that they are learning. If one topic takes more time than originally thought, it is important to not move on if the students aren't prepared. This may mean taking less time on another area or maybe even cutting out some things, but I think it is better to understand a few things really well than to kind of understand a lot of things.
I know I wil need a lot of work on actually disciplining my students, but I feel that is a skill I will develop through practicums and student teaching. One thing that I have learned thus far in my practicum is that I don't want to be "that teacher" that allows their students to do whatever they wish and talk over me. My practicum teacher has rather poor class management, so I feel that observing him will give me a great understanding of the things I don't want to do in my classroom.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Presentations on 10/14
Group 1-Healthy Living
-Interesting use of technology... www.pollseverywhere.com
-Not much use of social learning theory
Overall I thought you ladies did well. You had a concrete example with the powerpoint and also had examples of foods off the food pyramid on our tables. Since your lesson was about healthy living the candy might not have been such a great idea, but I'm not complaining! I thought you did well and the image of the fat from the rat was definitely a good image to get across the idea of how bad fat really can be for you.
Group 2-Homophones
You had us work in groups right away after you told us what your lesson would be about. I liked the way you used riddles to get us to think of new homophones that we couldn't come up with on our own after you told us to make a list of all the homophones we could think of. You did a great job of utilizing SLT.
Group 3-Reading/Active listening
For this group we were told to pretend as if we were fourth graders. They had us sit on the floor while they read us a story. Before reading the story we discussed ways to be respectful as a class. They asked questions while reading the book aloud which is a really good technique to keep students actively mentally engaged while listening to the story. To us the questions seemed silly but they would have been very good questions to use for the age group you were targeting. I really enjoyed your presentation.
Group 4-Alphabet
I liked the game. It got us up and moving and would be a great way to get younger students involved and excited about the lesson. You used concrete examples by having the letters written on pumpkins for us to go to the back of the room and find. You then moved to abstract when you asked us to read the words on the list that started with that letter. This would definitely be a great lesson for kindergarten age children although they would probably need a lot more instruction on how to play the game than we did.
-Interesting use of technology... www.pollseverywhere.com
-Not much use of social learning theory
Overall I thought you ladies did well. You had a concrete example with the powerpoint and also had examples of foods off the food pyramid on our tables. Since your lesson was about healthy living the candy might not have been such a great idea, but I'm not complaining! I thought you did well and the image of the fat from the rat was definitely a good image to get across the idea of how bad fat really can be for you.
Group 2-Homophones
You had us work in groups right away after you told us what your lesson would be about. I liked the way you used riddles to get us to think of new homophones that we couldn't come up with on our own after you told us to make a list of all the homophones we could think of. You did a great job of utilizing SLT.
Group 3-Reading/Active listening
For this group we were told to pretend as if we were fourth graders. They had us sit on the floor while they read us a story. Before reading the story we discussed ways to be respectful as a class. They asked questions while reading the book aloud which is a really good technique to keep students actively mentally engaged while listening to the story. To us the questions seemed silly but they would have been very good questions to use for the age group you were targeting. I really enjoyed your presentation.
Group 4-Alphabet
I liked the game. It got us up and moving and would be a great way to get younger students involved and excited about the lesson. You used concrete examples by having the letters written on pumpkins for us to go to the back of the room and find. You then moved to abstract when you asked us to read the words on the list that started with that letter. This would definitely be a great lesson for kindergarten age children although they would probably need a lot more instruction on how to play the game than we did.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Lesson Plan Presentation
I felt that we did a good job of utilizing DLT, but we may have not done as great of a job applying the other theories to our lesson. By providing an example of a good and bad speech we allowed the class to have a concrete example of what we would be discussing. I feel that if we would have discussed what our goal of the lesson was from the beginning then our activity of having the groups discuss the topics on the board would have been more successful. It was a good idea that we had but we didn't quite think it through fully to be able to successfully accomplish the goal of social interaction.
We also didn't move around the room to listen to whether the groups were actually discussing the topic or not, which was not good on our parts. I didn't even think of doing it until I saw a member of the group after us do it. This would have helped to keep the students more actively mentally engaged and would have kept them from straying from the topic.
By asking the class what were some good and bad points from both of the speeches we hoped to keep them engaged in the topic, which I think was successful. If we would have simply stated the ways to give a good speech the class would have gotten bored and uninterested in our discussion.
We could have made the lesson more relatable to the class by simply focusing on speaking in a classroom setting, which isn't something that I thought of until writing this post. The class would have been interested in that because it is something that we have to do now and that we will have to do in front of a class eventually.
All in all, I felt that our group did a fairly good job for the amount of time we had to prepare. The candy may have been overkill, but it's almost Halloween, and who doesn't like Reese's?! =]
We also didn't move around the room to listen to whether the groups were actually discussing the topic or not, which was not good on our parts. I didn't even think of doing it until I saw a member of the group after us do it. This would have helped to keep the students more actively mentally engaged and would have kept them from straying from the topic.
By asking the class what were some good and bad points from both of the speeches we hoped to keep them engaged in the topic, which I think was successful. If we would have simply stated the ways to give a good speech the class would have gotten bored and uninterested in our discussion.
We could have made the lesson more relatable to the class by simply focusing on speaking in a classroom setting, which isn't something that I thought of until writing this post. The class would have been interested in that because it is something that we have to do now and that we will have to do in front of a class eventually.
All in all, I felt that our group did a fairly good job for the amount of time we had to prepare. The candy may have been overkill, but it's almost Halloween, and who doesn't like Reese's?! =]
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Class Critique
When it comes to the way Professor Kruse runs class I can't say that I really have any complaints (and I'm not just saying that because I know he will read this). I like the way that Professor Kruse introduces us to new topics without always specifying that we are moving on to a new topic. I feel that sometimes when a teacher starts off a lesson with "And now we're moving on to...." it leads to the students feeling anxious about the new material and can hinder their learning because they are so worried about not missing out on important information. Professor Kruse, however, let's us decide as students what is important out of his lectures.
Sometimes I can feel a little overwhelmed in class but I think that is simply because the way Education 107 is run is so much different than anything I am used to. I am being required to change my schema because this way of teaching conflicts with my previous schemas about class and teaching.
I am also not sure about the not being graded system, but this is also probably only because once again it is requiring me to change my schema and previous idea about the concept of a grade. This way of being assessed requires that we actually learn the material instead of simply being able to regurgitate it on the test or "BSing" our way through 10-page paper.
I think that by the end of this class I will be more accepting of this new way of teaching and I will be able to go into other classes that I may have with Professor Kruse with a more open mind. I definitely know that I am learning a lot more than I do in normal classes because of the fact that we are asked to actually understand the material, not just learn it.
Sometimes I can feel a little overwhelmed in class but I think that is simply because the way Education 107 is run is so much different than anything I am used to. I am being required to change my schema because this way of teaching conflicts with my previous schemas about class and teaching.
I am also not sure about the not being graded system, but this is also probably only because once again it is requiring me to change my schema and previous idea about the concept of a grade. This way of being assessed requires that we actually learn the material instead of simply being able to regurgitate it on the test or "BSing" our way through 10-page paper.
I think that by the end of this class I will be more accepting of this new way of teaching and I will be able to go into other classes that I may have with Professor Kruse with a more open mind. I definitely know that I am learning a lot more than I do in normal classes because of the fact that we are asked to actually understand the material, not just learn it.
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