Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Week 6 or 7?
I am definitely willing to try differentiation in my field work. I know that I will learn best from hands-on experience, and so it would be unfortunate if I didn't try. I am learning differentiaion better, but realizing it will require a lot of work like you said. I guess what I would like to know is if teachers ever get so good at differentiation, or if they know their students so well that it makes it easy for them to differentiate with a limited amount of time. Or if they could even differentiation on the spot.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Week 7
#1)
The four bullet points I would like to talk about are
1) Caring teachers who create relationships with their students enhance students learning
2) Caring teachers intentionally develop awareness of their students' cultures outside of school.
3)Teachers' enthusiasm for learning and for their subject matter is an important factor in student motivation that, in turn, is closely linked with student achievement.
4) Effective teachers know and understand their students in terms of abilities, achievement, learning preferences, and needs.
The first two are very simple to me. It important to get to know your students and understand the type of culture and environment that they come from. A key word in both of these bullet points is "caring". If students know that you care about them, they are going to be more receptive to your teaching. I think this requires a degree of selflessness on the part of the teacher as caring for another usually does require selflessness. But in return, the teacher and student alike will gain great rewards.
I wonder if I will be able to be be enthusiastic about the subject matter for all or most subjects. I enjoy math and always have, but I wonder about subjects such as science and social studies. I completely agree with this bullet however.
The fourth bullet seems much like the first two. It will require effort on behalf of the teacher to understand each student in all of these areas, but every child deserves a teacher who will at least try.
#2)
The metaphor that I would like to speak of is the one about Ray Mcnulty and his mom's "gravy" or spagetti sauce. I liked this metaphor because I can completely Identify with it on both ends. My grandmother loves to cook and she is good at it too. She always likes to cook every dish when we get together for family meals. I have often asked her for recipes that I could duplicate, but it just isn't the same. I know that my grandmother cooks because she enjoys it, but I think what she enjoys the most is making people happy and feel good. I know that she cooks these dishes out of love for her children and grandchildren. I inherited my grandmothers love of cooking. Although I feel I can't quite duplicate her dishes, I am slowly owning certain recipes myself. My family loves my cinnamon rolls and my spinach and sausage pasta. I too feel that it is rewarding to see the enjoyment on loved ones faces when they are eating a good meal. I too "find happiness in giving myself to this work". I only hope that the same will go with teaching. I feel like cooking is one of the only things that I have found in life that I just love and can't get enough of. I hope that teaching will become like cooking, I can't get enough of it because I love what I am doing so much.
The four bullet points I would like to talk about are
1) Caring teachers who create relationships with their students enhance students learning
2) Caring teachers intentionally develop awareness of their students' cultures outside of school.
3)Teachers' enthusiasm for learning and for their subject matter is an important factor in student motivation that, in turn, is closely linked with student achievement.
4) Effective teachers know and understand their students in terms of abilities, achievement, learning preferences, and needs.
The first two are very simple to me. It important to get to know your students and understand the type of culture and environment that they come from. A key word in both of these bullet points is "caring". If students know that you care about them, they are going to be more receptive to your teaching. I think this requires a degree of selflessness on the part of the teacher as caring for another usually does require selflessness. But in return, the teacher and student alike will gain great rewards.
I wonder if I will be able to be be enthusiastic about the subject matter for all or most subjects. I enjoy math and always have, but I wonder about subjects such as science and social studies. I completely agree with this bullet however.
The fourth bullet seems much like the first two. It will require effort on behalf of the teacher to understand each student in all of these areas, but every child deserves a teacher who will at least try.
#2)
The metaphor that I would like to speak of is the one about Ray Mcnulty and his mom's "gravy" or spagetti sauce. I liked this metaphor because I can completely Identify with it on both ends. My grandmother loves to cook and she is good at it too. She always likes to cook every dish when we get together for family meals. I have often asked her for recipes that I could duplicate, but it just isn't the same. I know that my grandmother cooks because she enjoys it, but I think what she enjoys the most is making people happy and feel good. I know that she cooks these dishes out of love for her children and grandchildren. I inherited my grandmothers love of cooking. Although I feel I can't quite duplicate her dishes, I am slowly owning certain recipes myself. My family loves my cinnamon rolls and my spinach and sausage pasta. I too feel that it is rewarding to see the enjoyment on loved ones faces when they are eating a good meal. I too "find happiness in giving myself to this work". I only hope that the same will go with teaching. I feel like cooking is one of the only things that I have found in life that I just love and can't get enough of. I hope that teaching will become like cooking, I can't get enough of it because I love what I am doing so much.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Week 5
The first bullet point that I would like to explore from Tomlinson's book is the very first one. It states: "The brain is inefficient at rote memorization and seeks instead to make meaning of information. If we don't make meaning of what we study, we are likely not to remember it, be able to retrieve it, or be able to use it".
From some of the readings in our math class, we have learned about how children can learn that 2+2 is four, but it will only be useful to them if they understand that it means that two of something plus two of something else makes four things total. They also mentioned that using manipulatives isn't necessarily enough. We need to know in what context these things can be useful. Knowing how to calculate percentages would be useful in the context of calculating a tip at the restaurant, or shopping for sales, and etc. You can teach children concepts, but without providing your students opportunities to apply their knowledge in a cotext makes this knowledge seem hollow.
The secon bullet point I would like to talk about is the fourth bullet point. It states "...it is the role of Educators to 'uncover' what is essential to know, understand, and be able to do in the disciplines. Experts of a field value such knowledge, understanding, and skill as essential to productivity in their discipline. Teachers must tstruggle against 'coverage' and strive for 'uncoverage' of meaning-distinguishing between what is essential to the discipline, what is important, and what would be nice to know if there were time to do so",
This is what I think will be difficult for a teacher - to be able to distinguish what is most important for our studnets to know, and teach it in an effective way. I how Tomlinson used the word "struggle" as it will be difficult to be sure that we are always covering the right topic in a way to "uncover" their meaning. We will not have time to get to everything, but what is most important is that our students understand what we do get to.
From some of the readings in our math class, we have learned about how children can learn that 2+2 is four, but it will only be useful to them if they understand that it means that two of something plus two of something else makes four things total. They also mentioned that using manipulatives isn't necessarily enough. We need to know in what context these things can be useful. Knowing how to calculate percentages would be useful in the context of calculating a tip at the restaurant, or shopping for sales, and etc. You can teach children concepts, but without providing your students opportunities to apply their knowledge in a cotext makes this knowledge seem hollow.
The secon bullet point I would like to talk about is the fourth bullet point. It states "...it is the role of Educators to 'uncover' what is essential to know, understand, and be able to do in the disciplines. Experts of a field value such knowledge, understanding, and skill as essential to productivity in their discipline. Teachers must tstruggle against 'coverage' and strive for 'uncoverage' of meaning-distinguishing between what is essential to the discipline, what is important, and what would be nice to know if there were time to do so",
This is what I think will be difficult for a teacher - to be able to distinguish what is most important for our studnets to know, and teach it in an effective way. I how Tomlinson used the word "struggle" as it will be difficult to be sure that we are always covering the right topic in a way to "uncover" their meaning. We will not have time to get to everything, but what is most important is that our students understand what we do get to.
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