Wednesday, January 13, 2021
1/13/21; Week 02: Response to "Is the Great American Teacher Dead?"
After reading this article I have been reflecting on my own education, both from years ago and now my recent studies. I have also been pondering over my children's education. I have had several classes in my lifetime where the teachers droning on lulls me into a sleepy state. I am sure that they were full of knowledge and wanted to share it with me. Many were probably even passionate about their class's content. So, as I think about the classes where I have gotten the most out of them there are a few things that really stand out. For starters, the teachers desire is really for the students to learn. They care about their students and it shows. Feedback is given in a manner that demonstrates that the teacher only wants to help the student improve not take marks off of assignments. Recently, I have really begun to recognize that the teachers whose classes I really enjoyed, the lessons were more interactive. They were not necessarily interactive every day but it was not the same routine day in and day out. The teacher had us doing various activities to help us learn. The teacher had us learning from each other. The class was dynamic. We were eager to take on projects and excited to share our learnings. As I read this article and contemplated my education, I recognize that these are the qualities that make a great teacher. These are the qualities I need to accumulate.
How do you measure whether or not your students are happily engaged in your lessons? After that, how do you determine that, as engaging as your lesson is that, it was effective?
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Those are complex questions. Education in the United States has suffered a lot in the past several years. Being the wife of a teacher, I have pretty strong opinions that law makers have pushed school districts to "perform", which translates into teachers creating "performance based cirriculum." They have robbed our teachers of the joy of sharing knowledge! Assessments are important, becuase there has to be an effective measure of retention. However, it would be nice if there was a little more wiggle room for teachers in how they assess. I think the best measure of whether or not your students are happily engaged is simply by observation. If you are teaching in front of the class, give opportunities for comments and questions. If the class is working in groups, walk around taking note of any students not participating. I think a lot of teaching is trial and error!
ReplyDeleteI think one of the best ways to measure your lessons is by receiving feedback from students and by observation. I don't have that big teaching experience, but I can almost always tell if my lesson was boring or not. You can see it in students reactions and enthusiasm (or absence of enthusiasm). Talking to your students and finding out their interests and concerns will improve relationships and class atmoshere.
ReplyDeleteHi Missy, thank you for your thoughts. I completely agree with you about performance base curriculum. I have seen in in my children's school district and even went so far as to put mine in a charter school hoping to avoid a lot of that. Even then, there is still quite a bit of control.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of making sure there is opportunities for comments and questions. There really is a lot that we can do to engage our students.
Dear Megan,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the good and bad memories of our teachers based on how they could engage me in their classes. Because most of the classes were not interactive, the interactive one was the exception, and I think I was a little shy and insecure.
As a teacher, one of my main aims is to make my students feel comfortable and create an atmosphere where all ideas are important and we learn from anyone.