The most memorable thing from class was the 3/4 student from the recipe. The visual image of that is still funny.
This is my 3rd or 4th methods class over the years. I've had methods of theater, of speech, and of English prior to this. In the past 20 years things really haven't changed. I continue to wonder about the purpose. There are very few things that are different in the areas I've learned about. It makes me think that there has to be a better way. Why are so many professors forced to teach virtually the same class? Could this be rotated so that departments can offer other topics? In talking with other teachers, teaching longer than I have, their theories and methods were similar as well. The biggest changes come in what new policy is being recycled currently. Nothing that is new will last long enough to truly prove it is a good way of teaching. Things take time to train and implement and are taken out before this happens.
More time should be spent in the classroom. There should be laws for licensing that are different than they are now. MN teachers used to get a 2 year provisional license and when they got their first teaching contract they could then get a 5 year license, with additional training. Now teachers go immediately to a 5 year license, whether or not they've had a job or training in current research in their field. I believe no teacher should be able to get their own classroom on their first license until they've done a year of subbing. Student teaching and all the practicums before that do nothing to truly train someone for a classroom. Substitute teaching takes away the safety net of having someone check on your plans. You get to test drive someone else's plans and decide which things work and don't work for you. I've worked with many student teachers from the MSU English/Speech departments and only 2 of them were prepared to teach in the high schools. And only one of them would I consider truly ready to take it all on, the other is currently a successful teacher and I'm very proud of her. The rest of them have jobs and I pray for the education of their students. They did not get the course work they need to teach English in the high schools. Of course this has nothing to do with ESL, but I was on a roll.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Reading
Peanut Butter chapter 3
I found much of this so basic! For example, in the science lesson they have 7 techniques.
1. Org. around cognitively demanding content--in a science lesson should they just say this is an owl? No, in order to teach science it should be cognitively demanding. The book implied that it would be a carefully thought out plan to teach about owls...it probably fit in the curriculum.
2. Explanation of purpose and attention to understand what is to be done.
If any teacher did not explain why they were teaching something (to the students) and make sure that the S understood; then they should not be allowed in front of a class without a supervisor.
3. Building background-um...really? Museums, stories, movies...they all lead to teaching. If you jump into the technical parts there will be little learning.
4. Careful use of instructional lang (repitition and definition)-OK-more often in an L2 situation, and with younger learners. But one should never use a lot of new vocabulary without helping students understand it.
5. Acting out/paraphrasing-again, I maintain that an instructor who does not do this should never teach!
6. Use of direct experience-in a science class this is great. Many people learn better from hands on. This is more difficult in a class focusing on non-tangibles (literature, psychology, philosophy) but good teachers jump at the opportunity.
7. opportunities for students to help through cooperative group work-duh...the things we know best we've taught to someone else. On the other side, sometimes an explanation from a peer sinks in better than the "all knowing teacher." The key is not to be afraid to let students work in groups.
It was interesting to suggest implementing group work slowly. I would think that if it is part of the class from the beginning students would accept it. Also, with migrant populations would you have to start over every time a new student came in? You'd never get to really use groups. Every time groups are used it's really the first time, because the goal is different. If a teacher is circulating they can hear if the groups are on task, understanding, have the same confusion etc.
Thematic learning seems the most natural. I'd imagine giving students more input (as in a cycle) is difficult. Teachers are so bound to the standards from the government that they have a hard time seeing the freedom they have. To let students help choose what to learn may be difficult for some to see how to reach the standards without having complete control.
I find it difficult to express scaffolding. Because the lessons build on each other it seems redundant to explain how they build. It is obvious.
I think it is important to remember that culture can affect assessment.
I found much of this so basic! For example, in the science lesson they have 7 techniques.
1. Org. around cognitively demanding content--in a science lesson should they just say this is an owl? No, in order to teach science it should be cognitively demanding. The book implied that it would be a carefully thought out plan to teach about owls...it probably fit in the curriculum.
2. Explanation of purpose and attention to understand what is to be done.
If any teacher did not explain why they were teaching something (to the students) and make sure that the S understood; then they should not be allowed in front of a class without a supervisor.
3. Building background-um...really? Museums, stories, movies...they all lead to teaching. If you jump into the technical parts there will be little learning.
4. Careful use of instructional lang (repitition and definition)-OK-more often in an L2 situation, and with younger learners. But one should never use a lot of new vocabulary without helping students understand it.
5. Acting out/paraphrasing-again, I maintain that an instructor who does not do this should never teach!
6. Use of direct experience-in a science class this is great. Many people learn better from hands on. This is more difficult in a class focusing on non-tangibles (literature, psychology, philosophy) but good teachers jump at the opportunity.
7. opportunities for students to help through cooperative group work-duh...the things we know best we've taught to someone else. On the other side, sometimes an explanation from a peer sinks in better than the "all knowing teacher." The key is not to be afraid to let students work in groups.
It was interesting to suggest implementing group work slowly. I would think that if it is part of the class from the beginning students would accept it. Also, with migrant populations would you have to start over every time a new student came in? You'd never get to really use groups. Every time groups are used it's really the first time, because the goal is different. If a teacher is circulating they can hear if the groups are on task, understanding, have the same confusion etc.
Thematic learning seems the most natural. I'd imagine giving students more input (as in a cycle) is difficult. Teachers are so bound to the standards from the government that they have a hard time seeing the freedom they have. To let students help choose what to learn may be difficult for some to see how to reach the standards without having complete control.
I find it difficult to express scaffolding. Because the lessons build on each other it seems redundant to explain how they build. It is obvious.
I think it is important to remember that culture can affect assessment.
Monday, November 10, 2008
In the reading it talked about natural and instructional settings. We've talked in many of my classes about the need to be as natural as possible in the lessons we present. In the chapter I noticed that a natural setting doesn't have direct instruction of the L2. I would think this would be really difficult to learn. I like to have direct instruction to get the basics. I would expect there would be many things that are too complex to understand that way. I think the repetition in a class dedicated to language learning is essential.
Class Week 11
My attention was divided because of the choir concert. We had an interesting conversation about what it means to be a licensure student. We didn't actually come to any final conclusions but Jodi, Mitch, Brian and I had some interesting ideas. We determined that we were unaware that there were different requirements for those who are already licensed in the state of MN and those looking for initial licensure. We also discussed that we had come into the degree for very different reasons.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Reading week 11
I enjoyed having my feelings against rows/columns in the classroom validated. To encourage communication in the classroom and avoid students hiding I used squares in my room (with middle school age kids circles are difficult). I found the "square" to give a little structure to the set up, with the benefits of the circle.
The section on discipline is difficult. Obviously if things aren't working students need to be rearranged. The set up of the room has a big impact on student behavior as well as achievement. However, the same thing doesn't work for every class. It's just like everything else in education. You really need to know the specifics of the class you are working in and the individuals in the class as well.
The section on discipline is difficult. Obviously if things aren't working students need to be rearranged. The set up of the room has a big impact on student behavior as well as achievement. However, the same thing doesn't work for every class. It's just like everything else in education. You really need to know the specifics of the class you are working in and the individuals in the class as well.
Class week 10
Rachel and I worked on our lessons together. We spent a long time talking about the parts that did or did not work. For both of us it was interesting that the plans made perfect sense, but the other did not know what we meant until we showed her. It was not a case of bad plans, but a problem with wording. For example, I knew "write a paragraph as a class" meant that the teacher would ask for ideas and then form them into sentences on the board as a practice for the assignment. This was not clear to Rachel. This way when I revise I can add details to my description in the lesson plan.
We also talked about whether this was a lesson we would ask a sub to do. We agreed that for both of our lessons that we would have subs do parts of them, but not all of them. There are things that we need to make sure are learned in a specific way to ensure understanding (vocabulary etc) but some of the background work is more flexible. A sub could talk about pets with the class and ask them to bring in an object or picture of a pet they have or would like to have. Then the regular teacher would be able to focus on the body parts.
We also talked about whether this was a lesson we would ask a sub to do. We agreed that for both of our lessons that we would have subs do parts of them, but not all of them. There are things that we need to make sure are learned in a specific way to ensure understanding (vocabulary etc) but some of the background work is more flexible. A sub could talk about pets with the class and ask them to bring in an object or picture of a pet they have or would like to have. Then the regular teacher would be able to focus on the body parts.
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