Great comments and insight throughout this blog!
Please take the time to complete the assignments located in your course syllabus you have until August 20th.
Remember that you may send them to me via email or snail mail. I look forward to seeing your ideas for this course and creating action in your classrooms.
Please comment in this blog entry on how your classroom will be a better place for learning after taking this class.
If you have any questions please give me a call at (920) 540-2538
Laugh Often,
Dan Slowey
6 comments:
My classroom will be different this year because my attitude will be different. For as many years as I have been teaching, I have struggled between doing things the normal way and doing things the way I instinctually knew they should be done. One extremely important thing this class, and another I took this summer, have taught me is that I am on the right track. I already do many of the things I have been reading about.
Should I have needed this validation? Probably not! But, I am an externally-referenced matcher (chapter 3) so, for me, this class has finally let me completely trust what my “teacher gut” has said all along.
How will my classroom be different? It will no longer have a teacher who wonders if what she is doing is, in the long run, what’s best for the kids. The atmosphere will be much calmer because now there is a teacher in that room who knows what she does is what’s best for the kids!
What a great video clip and how inspiring! It gave me goose bumps!
As a result of this class and my own personal growth, my attitude will be charged up right away this year. I enjoyed the book and learned some new things along with re-learning some new things. This class has also reinterated how I am an advocate for ALL students and am meeting their needs simply because I continue to learn right along with them professionally and personally, support them and meet them where they are at, and help them open their minds/hearts to see their strengths/challenges and better themselves as a result.
I too have questioned whether or not I am effective to my students in the long-run. Instead of wasting my time and energy wondering, I will be secure knowing that I AM helping them simply because I truly care about each and every one of them and will continue to provide an environment where all students will be able to learn.
I am glad I took this class during the summer and am finishing it up with just a couple weeks before school starts. My classroom will be different this year because I will be more aware of my actions. Like Darcy said, I have been doing things that I knew in my heart were right. Now I am going to do those things while being totally aware of my actions.
My classroom will be different this year for the simple fact that I know that what a student sees, feels, and hears in the classroom (Chapter 8) effects their learning. I will be aware this year of the learning environment; how warm it is, the colors in the room, the external noises.
THIS CLASS HAD A BIG IMPACT ON HOW LEARNING WILL BE AFFECTED THIS YEAR IN MY CLASSROOM. I THINK I WAS A GOOD TEACHER BEFORE THIS CLASS BUT I WILL BE EVEN BETTER NOW. I WILL DRESS BETTER TO LOOK MORE PROFESSIONAL THAN LAST YEAR. I WILL PUT STUDENTS' WORK ON THE WALLS ALONG WITH SOME INSPIRATIONAL POSTERS. I WILL GREET EACH STUDENT AS THEY COME INTO MY CLASSROOM. THE BIGGEST CONCEPT I LEARNED IS THAT WHEN DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS OCCUR ,IT IS A SYMPTOM OF A TEACHING DEFIENCY SOMEWHERE ELSE. THESE ARE THE MAIN AREAS THAT WILL HELP MY ROOM BECOME A BETTER PLACE FOR LEARNING THIS YEAR.
After taking this class, I expect my classroom to more student-oriented and a more energized place to learn. The three areas I focused on for the Integration Project were: 1) Involving students in making a classroom agreement. I like the idea of giving them the power of setting classroom guidelines (with my guidance of course:) 2) Incorporating more Music into my Classroom. Using an I pod, I can see using songs to energize students as they come through the door, as well as during transitional periods. 3) Incorporating more Energizer Activities into my Classroom. The five that I hope to use right away are the Birthday Line, Expert Interviews, Humor Break, What’s in the Box? and Frisbee Review. Have a good rest of the summer everyone!
I hope to implement many of the teaching strategies from this class and plan to continually use Super Teaching as a resource. The text and articles from class were great, as they all promote meeting the students’ needs and providing a positive atmosphere to encourage learning and participation. This has been my philosophy, and as several class members commented, I appreciate the confirmation that I am on the right track. This class has provided me with the courage, motivation, and strategies to be more effective in making a difference in the lives of the students and families I work with. I will try to provide “flexible teaching” respecting the individual strengths and needs of each student.
Building positive relationships with the students and their families will be a top priority. I strongly believe feelings can impact learning and hope to provide a relaxed, positive environment. Adding more music to the school day and limiting unnecessary distractions should help the students stay more focused and calm. As Howard mentioned, I will look to the students’ behavior as a way of communicating if I am successfully meeting their needs, as discipline problems typically indicate their needs are not being met.
The brain research information has also confirmed how important it is to provide students with a variety of meaningful experiences, exploration, and creative insights. Learning how brain structure differs in boys and girls explains the discrepancy in how they learn. I will use fewer words, and more visuals and hands on activities to increase attending and verbal processing especially for the boys. Lastly, I will work to implement intrinsic motivation techniques such as offering more choices, creating meaningful learning situations, and building the children’s self-concepts.
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