Personal Learning Network
A Veteran Teacher - A Sobering Lesson Learned by Grant Wiggins In Grant Wiggin's article, A Veteran Teacher he transcribes the dialogue of a veteran teacher who changed careers to a learning coach at her school. Her new job was to work with students, teachers, and admin to make learning a more positive and better experience. Her first task was to follow a 10th grade student for a day and "shadow them" completing all of their tasks that day. She then followed a 12th grade student the second day and "shadow them." The article reflects the teacher's shocking revelations from the days she shadowed students. She discovered how draining, and frankly boring a school say was. The article focuses on things she would have done differently had she shadowed her students years prior, and how she would have changed her teaching in her classroom to make learning more active, engaging, and fun.
One of the first revelations the teacher makes, is about how students sit all day. In the classes she went to, she sat teh whole time and was lectured at all day. She felt lethargic and exhausted after just one day and dreaded the next. She stated how if she were to do it again she would have her lessons be more engaging and would have students moving around more, talking more, activiley participating more. She realized that she hated the lectures and felt that that was not fair to her students. These are just some of the many things the teacher experienced, and did not enjoy. I found a lot of confirmation in this article. During my first semester of student tecahing, I have prided myself in not lecturing and coming up wiht new and engaging ways for my students to learn. When I decided I wanted to be an educator, I promised myself that I would not be one of those boring teachers that I hated so much in both high school and college. Many of the revelations and ideas that the teacher in the article discussed are similar to the same thoughts I have had on my own about how I want to run my classroom. I believe the days of lecturing and no student engagement should end and a new age of collaboration, student choice, and engagement should begin. Read the article here! @grantwiggins. "A Veteran Teacher Turned Coach Shadows 2 Students for 2 Days – a Sobering Lesson Learned." Granted and. 17 Oct. 2014. Web. 26 Oct. 2016.
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Redifining Teachers with a 21st Century Education 'Story' by Thom Markham In Thom Markham's article Redefining Teachers with a 21st Century Education 'Story' he discusses the differences between successful schools in the world to unsuccessful schools in the United States. He focuses on the incorporation of culture, work, and engagement and how those three focuses lead a school toward success. He then discusses how the US only focuses on memorization of facts versus relating education to real like scenarios. He also claims that students that are put through a US education and pre-determined and selected to recieve a particular educaton that will allow them to recieve a white collar job. This differs from successful schools that allow students to choose what they are interested in and can expand their knowledge in that particular chosen field.
As an educator, I found Markham's article very interesting. I personally maintain a progressive educational philosophy, meaning that I believe that teacher should focus on individual needs rather than just teaching a designated subject matter. I find myself agreeing with much of what Markham presents. I believe that a student's education will be much better served and received if a student has a choice in what they are learning. I also agree that all lessons should in some way, shap, or form, be related and adapted to real life scenarios and situations. Students should be able to use what they learn today, tomorrrow, next week, next year, and five years from now. I completely agree that the US education needs to have some serious changes and reforms and I believe that that change should start with the teachers. I only hope that by including choice in my classroom I can provide a successful education for the students I have in my classroom. Read the article here! MindShift, By. "Redefining Teachers with a 21st Century Education ‘Story’." MindShift. Web. 25 Oct. 2016. Create your own Classroom Puzzles!Below is a video tutorial that I created through ScreenCast to demonstrate how to use the site puzzlemaker.com. As a teacher I have found great use in this website. I ofter create crosswords, missing pieces, and word scambles as a fun activity to utilize in my classroom. Check out my tutorial if you want to learn more! |
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Teacher candidate at CSU, San Marcos. Archives
February 2017
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Below is my educational Pinterest Board. Check it out to see where I get some of my ideas! |