What a Mess!!

Teaching at the middle school was an exhausting experience! Much of it went according to plan, but there were still some exciting surprises!

The biggest surprise for me was just how much of a mess our activity made! We anticipated the excitement and the chaos, but we were surprised to see the trash left at the end of the assemblies. As a result the clean-up time had to bite into our time to review what the students learned and check their understanding.

I was also surprised to find when it was time to race the cars that a great majority of the students did not understand how the cars worked. They were putting them down backwards and not understanding why some basic parts weren't working. It would have been well worth the time to go over the car and how it's made and how it works before allowing the students to form their assembly lines.

One other thing we could have done to make things go better would have been to have a pause in the assembly line process to get the students to analyze their method to see if there was a way to improve their process. I think it would have been easier to check for understanding midway than any other time.

It was an exciting lesson. I think I learned as much from the students as they learned from me.

Teaching History

I've been struggling lately with planning my portion of our lesson on the assembly line to teach the 6th graders. I have to teach the history of the assembly line. I'm finding two main struggles with this section:

1) History is really hard to summarize in an interesting way so that you can teach it in only 5 minutes.

2) By nature of the subject, it is a lot less hands-on and more difficult to use various types of pedagogy to teach it. I find myself just resorting to the standard powerpoint show and tell method. Luckily I thought of semantically encoding some of the information to make it easier to remember.

Finally after getting frustrated as I was trying to magically make the history more interesting I realized that I was trying too hard. I find the information I was sharing to be inherently interesting. I think I was trying too hard to make it interesting when it ALREADY is. It made me realize that sometimes a teacher just has to appeal to the natural curiosity within the student.

A consideration of my past teachers

I've decided that much of what I qualify as "good teaching" comes from the practices of teachers that I had through the years. I've decided that I want to take a look at their pedagogical styles and analyze them and why they were so effective.

Mr. Sivertson

Mr. Simmons

Mr. Hodur

Mrs. DesRochers

Accurate Assessment

With Geoff's lecture on Thursday I've discovered something very important about my teaching strategy. I've been very "anti-test" all along, thinking that I could discover how well the students are learning without having to test them on it. While this may be true, it's still necessary to provide assessments, if for no other reason than to be able to justify my grading systems.

The one problem I see is that when I sit down and try to write an assessment for any of the lessons I've taught thus far, I find it very difficult. My instruction isn't at all assessment based. As a student I hated when teachers would obviously just teach toward the test, but on the same regard, I hated when the teachers gave a test without adequately preparing us for it.

I think that the key to this balance is not to design your lesson for the test, but to decide what you want your students to understand from your lesson. If you already have teaching goals in mind, they will be more clear-cut in your presentation and writing the assessment will naturally ensue. The lesson won't be built for the test, rather the lesson and the test will be built for the reassurance of the learning process.

Preparing Students for the Work Field

In my last couple of visits to high schools it has occurred to me that tech teachers are some of the few teachers that have the most vast range of teaching responsibilities. In teaching pre-engineering classes tech teachers try to help prepare students for college. They promote problem-solving, engineering skills, mathematics, physics and other collegiate level work. On the other hand, a welding teacher or auto shop teacher has to focus on preparing students to enter the work field upon graduation.

These two tasks can sometimes be far removed from one another. So how does one find the balance when, inevitably, there will be students who want to go to college in some "work field" classes and there will be some people who prefer to go straight into the field in some "collegiate engineering" classes. It's a question of not only teaching implications, but of moral implications as well.

I think that the solution lies in approaching every problem from two perspectives at the same time. Here at BYU I had a math professor who always labeled his lectures with two parts, the "mechanic's point of view" and "the engineer's point of view". The first point of view was an expository on what knowledge would be required if you merely needed to fix a part; the latter being a point of view exposing the knowledge that would be required if you needed to design the part. This juxtaposition always left me wanting to be more like the engineer, but allowed me to feel capable, like the mechanic. I think this is a viable strategy in tech classes.

I think that using the mechanic vs. engineer point of view helps us both prepare students for the workforce while also pointing students to the virtues of higher education.

The Promotion of Independent Learning

I was really fascinated that Lindsay was able to use the simple idea of going back to the future mixed with a few old ads from the 80's to put a desire to learn in me. Before that day I hadn't had any desire to see old commercials or even to figure out how much various products would have been in a certain decade. After having this promotion of my own learning kindled within myself I wondered how to put such a practice into action myself, as a teacher. After much pondering, this is what I've decided you need to perform the following steps:

1)Be excited. No one will be interested in Bubblicious if you aren't yourself. Sell your topic.

2)Show applications to the topic in pop culture, media and practical application.

3)Teach in such a way that there are open-ended questions that naturally occur inside the learner. For example, a student will be more likely to identify with and autonomously research electromagnets if the end of the lesson steers toward the question "How could YOU use an electromagnet to simplify your life?" rather than the question "What is an electromagnet". In order to answer the first question you have to understand the second question.

In the long run, presentation is key, but the depth of question is the solution. I think that as I develop more lesson plans I'll have to build them around the question that I want the students to naturally wonder at the end. Insodoing I think I can increase the autonomy of learning in my students.

A Thought on Modules

As a student I struggle with the system of "module" learning. It's too chaotic and unpredictable for me, and i've always felt that the teacher was too far away for effective instruction so I just had to make up want he or she wanted. I struggle with all of the same things as a teacher, but I now see that there are things that make module-learning better. The main bonus of module learning is that it's easier on the budget. Rather than having a classroom set of hardware or software, you may only need 3 or 4 seats, making modules more affordable. Having discovered this, I've decided to set for myself some perimeters on how to most effectively teach in modules.

#1-- Give adequate instruction.

I've never been one to read directions or even to read through a packet or textbook to figure out how to use something. If I was learning how to use a robot I just pushed buttons until it worked. I hated modules because usually packets are your only source of information for any given unit. I would want to give adequate classroom instruction time before the class breaks up into groups just to use other teaching styles to help students understand the material and what is expected of them

#2--Checking For Understanding

Along with worksheets that are well-written to be sure that students understand key principles, I feel that my involvement would be essential in the modules. I would want to be actively roaming and checking up on students and their projects just to be sure they are not completely off course. IT would certainly be helpful if I could get other student TA's to do the same thing. I think that student TAs are much underused in schools and that they should be expected to help other students rather than simply play games or do homework during their help time. If they want it on their resumé, they should have to work for it.

#3-- Student Sharing

I think one thing that would greatly help students' understanding is to turn each module into a 3-person problem by having me first teach toe module and then have each group share something, a "learning secret" that helped them accomplish the module. This gives the students an opportunity to be proud of their work and to teach one another. It would be helpful to encourage the groups to ask groups that have already done that module for help, if they get stuck.

I think these things would help me more effectively use the necessary evil of modules in teaching.

A Three Person Problem

Early in the Gong book the author establishes learning as a three-person problem. After reading this introduction I began to look for instances of it in my own learning process. The ever-illusive third person truly is key to the learning curve. I, for one, cannot store information in my mind for a long-term basis without first teaching it to someone else.

Often the person I teach is a classmate or even my husband. I've always done this. Once I finish homework in class I generally look about to find someone I can help. I don't think this is simply out of the charity of my heart. I actually think it's because subconsciously it made me more confident in my own answers if I was able to explain them to another.

I think a great contributor to the fact that information is better retained if it is taught is simply the fact that teaching promotes a personal ownership of the information. Everyone knows you can't give away something that wasn't yours in the first place. If a student is 1)understanding the information and 2)excited about the information enough to teach it you can be assured that it will be retained.

As a teacher, of course it is important to inform the students about the three person problem, but I think it is more important to structure the classroom in such a way that doing so does not seem immoral. Group work, seating arrangements and other factors can all work together to help a student feel as though instructing a classmate is not cheating. Organizing activities so that teaching becomes a built-in part of your curriculum will better help students take advantage of all aspects of the three person problem.

Building Bridges Across Learning Styles

Last week I learned something very interesting about my learning style. As Geoff taught about the various philosophers he organized them on the board under their respective fields: constructivism, behaviorism or cognitivism. The following week, he did the same thing, but he inadvertently switched their locations on the board. My visual/spatial awareness was thrown out of whack and for a brief moment I was panicked as to how to effectively take notes.

The thing that really surprised me was that I actually thought to myself, "Don't panic, just take a new set of notes and make a mental note that these two things switched." I had to remind myself that I was a responsible adult and that I could find a way to avert disaster.

It's important that teachers use a variety of teaching techniques in order to reach a greater number of students. I think that it is equally important to also instruct students on how to adapt an teaching style to their own needs. Helping students to build bridges from one learning style to another will help them know how to cope with situations in which their particular learning style is not being utilized. Because I had had ample opportunity to build those bridges, I as able to overcome the visual hardship and continue learning virtually uninterrupted.

Respecting Cognitivism in Constructivism

After Geoff's lecture on the various theories of teaching I came to a realization about how I came to learn of the world in general.

As a young child, I was under the impression that there was nothing outside my hometown. My family didn't travel much and the only television shows we watched were Star Trek, and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. Star Trek was obviously fictitious, even to my young mind, and Dr. Quinn took place in my hometown of Colorado Springs. As a result my belief that Colorado Springs was the entire world was augmented.

Although this concept is obviously false to an outside observer, it was a strict reality to me. When I learned that Joseph Smith went to a grove of trees in New York to pray I immediately assumed it was the grove of trees near my house and that the hill on which that grove stood was called "New York".

When I learned about the Eiffel Tower I refused to believe it existed because I had not seen such a structure in my world of Colorado Springs. To me, Paris had to be fictitious because it did not fit into the parameters of my definition of the world.

As I got older I began to realize that the world was much bigger than I had initially imagined. It soon grew to be the state of Colorado, then to become the Mountain West, the United States and finally the World in general. The World in its entirety existed all along, but in my own mind the world did not exist. One cannot teach or learn about something that does not exist.

My reality of the world was strictly cognitive. There was much wrong with my cognitive, but there was also much right. My view of the world was skewed, but it was accurate to me. If we leave cognitivism alone, it can mislead us. But if we respect the fact that the world is what it is to us at the moment then we can learn and progress and adapt our cognitive process. Since then I have been to the Eiffel Tower, but it had become a reality to me much earlier than I actually experienced it. I had simply learned to see the world on a larger set of terms.

As a teacher, I think it is important to give cognitivism credit where it is due. Whether the student's personal reality matches truth or not, it is still real to them. My job as a teacher is to take advantage of what cognitivism did right for the student and then find ways to build upon it. There is no need to shatter the figurative world they live in, only to give it a different vision to be thought upon. That is when the Eiffel Tower will become real to them, and they will have increased understanding.

Expectations

One of the principles taught in the Wong textbook is the idea that an effective teacher communicates positive expectations. Reflecting upon my years of experience in school I see much evidence to support this idea. Every subject in which I felt successful was supported by a teacher who vocally supported the students and showed confidence in their abilities.

As a student, one of my favorite "first-day" activities (whether it be first day of school or first day of a unit) was for the teacher to show successful displays of students in former years. Seeing that other students just like me had created such effective work gave me confidence in my own work.

I recently saw this in action in TEE 125 when Geoff assigned us to make a communication collage. He showed an example of a student who went above and beyond the year before and made a soccer ball which had images of various types of communication. Before he showed that example my ideas for the project were small. I was thinking a poster-board with magazine clips cut out. Once I saw the example he gave, I suddenly thought much bigger. It enabled me to think outside the box, simply seeing that a student at my level had accomplished so much. It literally added a whole new dimension to my project, bringing it from a flat collage into an three-dimensional object.

I feel that if I strive to show my students successful examples of great work they will feel more capable of success and therefore put forth better effort, which in turn increases learning.