The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate "apparently ordinary" people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people. ~K. Patricia Cross
Reflect over the past eight weeks and thing of the things you have done to stimulate your students.
4 comments:
There has been a lot I have done to encourage success in my classroom. My whole philosophy is on giving my student’s opportunities to be successful/ I think mainly what I try to do is give them plenty of opportunities. This means I need to be diverse on my teaching methods. Since all students learn in different ways I try to use everything I possible can to help them with a higher level of thinking. In my portfolio I listed different methods I have used so far to make sure I’m meeting all my student’s. Here it is listed....
*Technology: PowerPoint’s, Movies, Smartboards
*Group as well individual activities
*Essay’s (with higher level thinking prompts)
* Bookwork
* Presentations
*/Discussions (also with higher level questions)
*Homework
*Art activities
*Brainstorming
*Note taking guides
* Movement activities
* Scripts and acting
*Music
*Rubrics
As a teacher it is my responsibility to make sure all my student’s are getting what they need to be as great as they can be. Sine I have all different levels in my class I have to find a happy medium. I also make myself available for questions. We have something called tutoring time here at CDO. I always tell them they can come to me during that time and I will help them with whatever they need. I do not except late work. This is hard for some freshmen to deal with. Therefore, I have to make sure I give them opportunities to make points up. I have given an extra credit paper. It takes higher level thinking and it is worth 30 points. It is due March 8th. We will see how many students take advantage of it. Now that I’m taking over intermediate as well I have to really focus on their lesson plans with them. This is interesting because I have to think about the preschool children in this case. Over the past 8 weeks there has been so much that has been done to stimulate my student’s. In our middle childhood unit I asked them to relate back to when they were children. I like to relate everything back to real life experience. In the content area I’m in I’m lucky because I get to use real life experience./ I also think the example I set for the students will stimulate them. If I come in clean, positive, professional, and relatable they will notice. Today one of my students who is a little bit harder to deal with asked if she could talk in front of the class about a fundraiser she is doing. She was collecting money for her church. I let her talk in front of the class before we got started for the day. She has progressively gotten better over the semester. Then I donated to her cause/ She was so happy and it gave us some common ground. Now she does not just see me as her horrible teacher, but that I’m on her side.
Ok I am soooo sorry I have not been able to get on the blog I have not ever been a blogger and with such a busy schedule I do not think of the blog. I am trying to get better at remembering though. I would say that I use pretty much the same things in my classroom. We do a lot of cooking labs so I try to have them see what it would be like in a restaurant, by grading them on their team work, final product, and how well they clean up because in the real world they do not leave for the night until everything is cleaned up! I have also spent some time talking to them about right they should have as a worker such as breaks, access to a restroom, things like that so that they can start to think about what a work environment should be like. They may think it is a little early but I do not! It really opened their eyes....I hope.
Danielle, I like that you use a variety of methods to teach. Also the importance of helping your students achieve a higher level of thinking. Thanks for sharing, I'm sure they appreciate you diversity in the classroom. Great assessment of your skills.
Christina,
You bring a fresh approach to the classroom and your skills are evident in watching you in the lab.
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