week4thought

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This week I took a different approach to the videos I watched as part of my weekly progress towards my masters. As I watched I kept a running document of all the thoughts that came to my mind as I watched. It is truly amazing to go back and read the notes and impressions that came to me from watching the videos. Below are the sections of notes. Every time I had a new idea come to me I skipped a space. Now it would have been very difficult to document all the thoughts that crossed my mind during my instruction but the ones I choose to include I feel were the most important impressions. Enjoy.

They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care- I heard this in church when I was 19 years old and working as a missionary. It would be pertinent remember this as I teach my students. Caring is not limited to the religious world but pertains to secular teaching as well. Students want to know you care about them.

Science fair was always my favorite part of the class for the year. I now teach in the district I grew up in but there are no science fair projects. Yet when watching one of this weeks videos “The Collaborative classroom” with Linda Hammond, she spoke of the importance of using project based learning. To me projects make so much sense because they employ so many different skills. Not only content-based skills but also real life skills like cooperation and delegation of assignments and responsibilities. I wonder when did it become novel to have projects in school because I remember using them often. Yet now they seem to play a less important roll in schools. I believe this is probably due to the increased importance placed on standardized testing. You see often the skills in projects will not necessarily lead to finding the correct answer on a multiple choice test regardless of greater depth of content one learns from the project.

Based on the videos this week I am more convinced then ever that true learning is experienced outside in nature and not in a traditional classroom. Using computers we can give students a window to the outside but nothing will replace the hands on experience outside. I see one of my missions, as an educator will be to incorporate field trips. Currently my employer frowns on field trips. Yet when working with inner city students one must provide them a chance to experience the many wonders around them. Wedding the pedagogy of tech with the content of academic is the true goal. Larry Rosenstock said this in an interview called the “Taking the Lead”. When I was working my way through college I did so as a construction worker. As I recall my time in college I remember that presentations and organizing projects were so much easier for me then other students and I attribute this to my time in construction. Because of my real world background I was able to take on a leadership roll in my academic experiences.