Looks like I’ll be required to make more blog posts this semester for my one graduate class.
So, for all my fans out there, you get your wish. There will be a weekly blog (or vlog) post on Fridays this semester.
As always, any feedback, suggestions and thoughts are appreciated in the comments.
Filed under Blogging, Class assignment, Education, Personal, Student Teaching, Teaching
I was going to title this something like “Who to blame when it comes to student motivation,” but the word “blame” seemed too negative. And I couldn’t think of anything creative because I thought it might take away from the seriousness of the issue: student motivation is tough thing to master. That is, if it can ever be mastered.
Note: this entire post is going to be sporadic and jumpy because I can’t even begin to grasp the concept of student motivation. This post is merely just a way for me to complicate and problematize my understanding of student motivation.
Been awhile since my last post, but things are going great. I’ve been observed quite a few times already by both my university supervisor and my mentor. And they both thing I’m progressing at a rapid rate, which is a good thing. I’m getting more comfortable in the classroom, the students are actually enjoying my lessons and I’m starting to feel more accepted with school faculty. Needless to say, it’s going great – even if it is overwhelming at times.
But there’s something that I’m pretty sure got brought up in my practicum class this week. And if it didn’t exactly get brought up, I was thinking about it during one of the discussions. Basically, the practicum class is designed for us pre-service teachers to learn, talk and discuss about high-leverage practices (HLPs) in the classroom. We learn about 4 throughout this fall semester and are responsible for implementing it into our classroom, videotaping the lesson and sharing it with our peers. The four are “building a literacy community,” “accessing prior knowledge,” “collaborative learning,” and “modeling.” A lot of these practices should be intertwined with each other and carried out throughout the school year, not necessarily implemented once to try it out and forget about it.
Recently, I did a lesson aimed at accessing prior knowledge (APK) in students.
But let’s get back to the question that I haven’t even mentioned yet. These HLPs deal directly with student learning. We, as teachers, use these practices to maximize student motivation, learning and achievement. Most of the time, the students don’t even know the specifics of how they are learning. Yes, they may get that feeling that they’ve learned something or, as I’ve seen plastered throughout English education books, “made meaning.” But do the know the process that went into learning (or meaning making)? Continue reading
Today, I had this tweet about my students not doing their homework and reading. A little background: it’s a college in the high school classroom. So, basically, students are expected to do the college amount of reading (say, on average, about 7 pages, single-spaced on printer paper) 3-4 nights per week. Then, the class is supposed to hop into good, informative discussion that promotes high-level thinking for the students. You know, like those good literature classes you had in college.
And right now, the students are in the classics. They just finished Homer’s Odyssey and are now working on the Iliad.
That discussion, then, where students are complicating their thoughts and clashing and sharing ideas with other students doesn’t happen often. If they don’t read, then there is nothing to push them to think about the text. And if they’re not thinking about that text because they didn’t read, then they’re not going to be able to complicate their classmates’ ideas. It’s a sad cause-and-effect that I’m sure tortures many teachers who run into this problem.
But what is the solution? Continue reading
If you’re following me on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed a hashtag I’ve been using lately. The #pitt_enged tag is a result of one of my classes, where us English education MATs and PYs are supposed to chronicle our thoughts, feelings, dilemmas, ideas, problems and everything else into a daily tweet. For the first time ever, it actually makes Twitter feel like a mini-blog to me. I like the idea of a daily mini-reflection online, which gives me an idea about the need for teachers to embrace social networking and take control of their presence online…
In the meantime, I’m going to a weekly reflection on Fridays on here, most likely building off what I post on Twitter.
And I’ll leave you with this video about Twitter in the classroom one of my instructor’s shared with us: Twitter in the Classroom
Filed under Blogging, Class assignment, Education, English, Media, Personal, Social Media, Teaching, Twitter
If you think teaching is hard, try being a student-teacher – or as Pitt likes to call us MATS, interns. You’re the one who is hovering around the classroom, not saying much and trying your hardest to both fit in and earn respect as teacher. I’m pretty sure that’s the definition of impossible. It’s also pretty nerve-wracking and frustrating. There’s so much you want to do or say to get involved and have the students love you from day 1, but that just doesn’t happen.
And that was me for a couple weeks. I just stood and paced around the room during class and got to observe a few other classes. But for the most part, I was just that guy, who dressed up, and didn’t do much during class. I was even having trouble with names (and to be honest, I’m still only at about 50% right now).
I feel like most beginning teachers, especially those who are maybe new to a school district or haven’t been around long enough to earn a reputation among students, have a hard time connecting with students. But they’re luckier than us lowly student-teachers. They get to talk from day 1. It’s their classroom. They’re the teacher. And the students are the students. They are no longer that sideshow student-teacher.
That, then, was my biggest hurdle in these first few weeks. I needed to get over the fact that I was an intern and still learning about how schools work, let alone how to be a teacher. I had to make connections with students, but it was tough.
That all changed, however, yesterday. Continue reading
I came across this video today about what teacher’s make.
It’s a good start for me to get back to blogging.
A 23 year old student at the University of Pittsburgh, earning my M.A.T. in Secondary English Education.
