How do I start thinking like a teacher?

Take everything as a learning experience. Map out how I would do things and see what could be done differently to make it more productive. Some times I think that I think like a teacher but many times I wonder if I’ll ever get that skill. Often I’m worried I won’t be able to teach and reach everyone and get them to reach their goals. In the summer I teach swimming lessons and only have to worry about getting them to improve in small increments. Usually there are no more then 10 in a group and it’s very easy to see who’s not getting it and will need more help. In a school environment where kids are learning facts and knowledge how do you know if everyone is getting it especially if the student themselves doesn’t know they aren’t getting it and do not ask for help. I’m hoping the more experience I have and the more knowledge I gain will help me become more comfortable in changing my way of thinking from looking at things just from a perspective as a student into one of both a student and a teacher.

Which theories and historical influences should most impact the schools we'd like to have?

This varies from person to person depending on what their own theory of education is. In our SED class we wrote our beginning philosophies of education which will evolve with the more we learn, and learning about theories and historical influences can help strengthen them. In the research we did on educational shifts not only did we get to learn about educational shifts that interested us and most likely mimicked part of our beginning philosophies but by review others we were able to learn more about other shifts and their influences. Though I did not do this I think it would be interesting to look at theories and influences that are against our philosophies. Sometimes finding out what you believe is helped by learning about what you don’t.

How can I use knowledge of the learner to be a better teacher?

Every time we step into a classroom we see a different teaching style that we either like and want to mimic or one we disagree with. Also in this class on the first day we discussed room arrangement, I had never really thought about how much the way a room is set up influences a student. By being a learner ourselves we can see what works and what doesn’t. When we become teachers we can put our selves in our students shoes and understand what will work better for their learning styles.

How can I be successful at UMF?

In order to become successful at UMF you need to know what tools are available to every student and who to talk to in order to get what you need. In class we used schedule builder and had to find out how to contact our advisors, who are some ways our life line and first link to the rest of the UMF community. Other tools were brought to light and such as Everyone’s Resource Depot, and an important one the Media Lab. Until this semester I hadn’t realized the different programs available down in the basement of Robert, because of the blog we wrote on Symposium Day I was able to see ways to make projects look more organized and professional. Also using resources such as a wikispace or a blog for projects or class organization are helpful tools that I have never used that make it easy to collaborate on work at both UMF and to use in a teaching career.

How do I become a teacher?

First, have the want to become a teacher, if you don’t want to do it what’s the point. Second, graduate from UMF, or any other accredited college. In order to do this one must learn how to be successful at UMF and use resources to our advantage. Next follow the steps to get certification in the state you want to teach in. Just because you have a degree doesn’t mean that you qualify to teach in every state. You still must apply, pay, and then spend the next few years proving that you deserve this job. The assignment on how do you become certified to teach brought to light so many things I did not know about becoming certified. I hadn’t realized how hard it was, how much paperwork their was, how much money was involved, how many tests I would have to take, and how much work and learning I would have to do in order to stay a teacher.

Campuswide Interventions That Improve Student Achievement

Setting up goals and benchmarks that all teachers on campus must have the students reach is key. In order for students to reach their full potential they need to be able to have clear guidelines and goals that do not change drastically from class to class. While everyone’s teaching style is different teachers must talk to one another to make sure they are striving towards the same goal. In the article it gave a plan of attack on fragmented sentences and what they want to achieve and when. Each teacher would have to follow this but how they went about teaching it would be up to them as long as the reached the ultimate goal. Communication between teachers is key to student success whether it be from grade to grade or subject to subject.

Working With Students From Poverty: Discipline

Kids learn earlier on that the every game has different rules they must follow in order to win. “Likewise, they need to learn to use different rules to be successful in the setting they are in.” All students, not just those from poverty, must learn that there are different rules and ways to act depending on if you are in a classroom, out on the playground, or at home. While something might be appropriate in one of the settings it might not be in the other. Students must learn to judge what behavior is appropriate and to do so without being told. Much of going to school is not just about learning the facts but also learning how to socialize and become a productive and valued part of society.

Building Learning Structures Inside the Head

“Every individual has a brain but not everyone has a developed mind.” This might not have been the main part of the article but this quote jumped out at me right away. I don’t know what hit me first the odd humor I found in it or the obvious truth the quote possessed. I see this quote as trying to say that every student has the machinery to function and understand, they just need to be taught the owners manual. As a teacher one is given a variety of different students with different learning abilities and it is their job to give each of them a chance to learn. Teachers must not only give the chance to learn but to also teach the students to learn, just because someone has a brain doesn’t mean they know how to use it.

Understanding and Working with Students and Adults from Poverty

The part the jumped out at me the most was about hidden rules and the way to learn from them is understand them. “One key resource for success in school and at work is an understanding of the hidden rules. Hidden rules are the unspoken cueing system that individuals use to indicate membership in a group.” I thought this was interesting because it relates to other things one would have to deal with in the classroom not just poverty. Understanding the background that your students are coming from is key to relating the knowledge to something they can understand. Also it can help you as a teacher understand and anticipate students reactions to certain situations. Hidden rules are not just economically based, hidden rules can be found in social, academic and athletic clicks as well.

NYT Middle School Article

The two sides of the middle school debates agree on one thing, the classic separate middle school does not work. A separate school for middle school children has been showing a “slump” in learning in recent studies, and educators are looking for a way to increase learning at this stage. Not only are the students changing schools, but they are also coming into their prepubescent years, a hard time on any kid. The two different sides have different approaches on how to increase learning and minimize the slump each getting rid of the transition into a separate middle school. One side has schools K-8 where students stay at the same school with their K-5 peers but are in a different part of the building with separate teachers for the different subjects. The other side of the debate has schools being 6-12, where middle school students are integrated into the high school setting in sixth grade. Keeping the kids at the same school setting during their middle school years offers them stability and familiarity. While moving them up to high school keeps them moving forward and gives them the goal of learning to move on to college. Teachers now have 7 years to get them ready for college and not just 4. The problem that both of these options face is that the age level of the students is very wide, the first option has kids around the age of 6 to around the age of 14 in the same school while the second option has kids from the age of 11 to the age of 18 in the same building.

I agree with the first group that kids should be in a school that has students K-8. I might be a bit biased as this is the type of school that I went to. In these schools, the students are changing in to a different setting as they no longer just have one teacher, but they have the same surroundings and are in a class with the same people they grew up with. I think that 11 would be a very young age to start in high school and would be quite traumatizing to be growing up both physically and mentally around students that are so much older then you are. I starting kids off in high school so soon makes them grow up too fast; isn’t 11 a little to old to be worried about college? K-8 offers a safe and known surrounding and yet it’s change of environment and class set up gives a change that students can look forward to. As a teacher in high school I think if would be easier if the school wasn’t 6-12 because there wouldn’t be a dramatic change in learning and maturity levels from class to class. Keeping kids in the same school for 9 years gives them one less transition and change to deal with while their bodies and minds are growing up.