Once again I thoroughly enjoyed the lesson plans that my classmates presented this week. It was apparent that everyone took a vast amount of time and effort to complete their units and they each produced truly fantastic ideas. I think each and every single one of my classmates will someday soon become fantastic teachers whose students cannot wait to attend their classes each day. They will create lesson plans that are informative, engaging, and applicable to their students' lives and their students will love them!
As I began researching for my second unit plan, I wanted to set the bar even higher for myself in relation to my first unit. In many ways, I believe that my first unit was well organized and if it would have been taught in the classroom I think it would have been an effective learning tool. However, there were some aspects of certain lessons that I thought could have been improved or conducted in different ways that would have made the lesson plans even better. My second unit is on the American Revolution and again I will not be able to teach it in my current novice teaching placement but I know I will be able to use it in my future classroom, perhaps even during my student teaching experience. I am currently trying to decide how to break up my unit into four lesson plans in an interesting and creative way. I could just break it up in terms of battles or in a chronological format, but I want to do something beyond the timeline method in order to more effectively engage my students in the lessons. I want to include aspects of the Revolution that most students will not have heard about before such as that Benjamin Franklin's son, William, was a loyalist and the war ruined their relationship or that Washington's son fought in the Battle of Yorktown and Washington was mourning his death while everyone else was celebrating America's victory. I think these kinds of stories will make the war come to life for the students. The American Revolution is filled with valuable primary source materials and interesting stories that I cannot wait to implement and try out in my lesson plans!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Week 9: Presentations of Unit 1
I thoroughly enjoyed being able to hear and see my classmates' lesson plans. Everyone did a fantastic job at creating lessons that were well structured and creative for their respective topic areas. It was clear that everyone spent a large amount of time creating and perfecting their lesson plans. I was also impressed by the wealth of primary sources that each person used within their lesson plans. Though the amount of time to research and find such sources might be exhausting, I think that it is obvious that such lessons will wow students and improve their learning and comprehension in the long run. Overall, I gained several valuable and practical ideas to use in my future classroom from my classmates presentations and I am excited to be able to implement them when the time comes.
I was really impressed by Chloe's use of choices within her lessons. In almost every one of her lesson plans she gave her students options on the activities that they could complete. Therefore, each lesson incorporates all learning styles and intelligences of the students. This is an area in which I struggle for I tend to create lesson plans that correspond with the way in which I learn, not the various ways my students learn. In the future, I need to think more deeply to create lesson plans that all students can learn from.
I was also excited by Kevin's hands-on activities in his lesson plans. Instead of just talking about Hammurabi's Code or cuneiform, he is having his students understand both concepts by creating their own laws and forms of writing. Every student, no matter what age, would prefer hands-on experience rather than being talked at for a whole class hour. Any time that a lesson can include a hands-on activity, I plan on using it in my own lesson plans.
I thought Katie did a really good job at integrating primary sources into her lesson plans. Since there is such a wealth of primary sources out there on the American Civil War, I cannot see how a teacher could avoid using primary sources in his or her lessons. I especially liked her lesson in which she was having her students write letters back home as if they were from the Civil War time period. She did not just verbally explain what life would be like back then, she included primary sources to actually show students what life might have been like. I thought that was an incredibly smart idea and I plan on using it in my own classroom as well!
The only issue that I had when reviewing these lesson plans was the time aspect that each unit would require. Excluding those lesson plans on wars, the majority of the topics for the units I feel would not normally be so thoroughly covered in a classroom. My current cooperating teacher, covers an entire chapter in a week. Such a schedule would not be able to incorporate my four days strictly on voting. The same applies to other topics like the West or Mesopotamia. I remembering covering those topics each in a day when I was in high school. So I am wondering if some of these unit plans are truly practical for an actual classroom? Or can only one or two of the lessons of the unit be incorporated into the curriculum?
I was really impressed by Chloe's use of choices within her lessons. In almost every one of her lesson plans she gave her students options on the activities that they could complete. Therefore, each lesson incorporates all learning styles and intelligences of the students. This is an area in which I struggle for I tend to create lesson plans that correspond with the way in which I learn, not the various ways my students learn. In the future, I need to think more deeply to create lesson plans that all students can learn from.
I was also excited by Kevin's hands-on activities in his lesson plans. Instead of just talking about Hammurabi's Code or cuneiform, he is having his students understand both concepts by creating their own laws and forms of writing. Every student, no matter what age, would prefer hands-on experience rather than being talked at for a whole class hour. Any time that a lesson can include a hands-on activity, I plan on using it in my own lesson plans.
I thought Katie did a really good job at integrating primary sources into her lesson plans. Since there is such a wealth of primary sources out there on the American Civil War, I cannot see how a teacher could avoid using primary sources in his or her lessons. I especially liked her lesson in which she was having her students write letters back home as if they were from the Civil War time period. She did not just verbally explain what life would be like back then, she included primary sources to actually show students what life might have been like. I thought that was an incredibly smart idea and I plan on using it in my own classroom as well!
The only issue that I had when reviewing these lesson plans was the time aspect that each unit would require. Excluding those lesson plans on wars, the majority of the topics for the units I feel would not normally be so thoroughly covered in a classroom. My current cooperating teacher, covers an entire chapter in a week. Such a schedule would not be able to incorporate my four days strictly on voting. The same applies to other topics like the West or Mesopotamia. I remembering covering those topics each in a day when I was in high school. So I am wondering if some of these unit plans are truly practical for an actual classroom? Or can only one or two of the lessons of the unit be incorporated into the curriculum?
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Week 8: Individual Conferences Regarding Unit 1
As I was preparing and creating my four lesson plans for our first required Unit for ETE 375, I was having issues creating lessons that went beyond what I like to call robot teaching. The teacher inputs data into the students (aka the robots) and they repeat the information word for word back to the teacher. I feel as if this type of "learning" occurs when students are not engaged in the topic of lesson and they are unable to find any meaning or relevance to their own lives. In my own lesson plans, I wanted to move beyond the PowerPoint presentation/lecture method with a random worksheet thrown in at the end of lesson. This is a cookie cutter type of method of instruction that students receive, at the high school level, about six times a day. It is a personal goal of mine to not add to a student's grief on a daily basis in such a manner.
I've noticed this type of traditional lesson plan in my novice teaching experience, but I do not necessarily blame my cooperating teacher for this phenomenon. In my opinion, my cooperating teacher is a brilliant teacher whom loves her job and gives 110% every single day to her students. The problem, I believe, is the lack of time rather than necessarily the actions of my teacher. She covers and tests on a chapter every single week. Therefore, students have very little opportunity once they have been taught the basics about a topic to explore it further. I had this exact problem as I was teaching this week since I had to cover a chapter on a week that began on a Tuesday, since they had off Monday for Columbus Day, and there was a shortened period on Wednesday because of a teacher's in service. As a result, I was forced to fly through this information at record speeds and honestly, I have little idea as to whether or not my students grasped the concepts that I wanted them to grasp.
I want to defy this traditional way of teaching, but I am still undecided on how to accomplish this goal. I dabbled with the idea of simulation activities, which I did include in at least two of my lessons. The first lesson deals with voting registration and the process of voting, so I figured why not let the students actually register to vote and to literally go through the process of voting. That makes sense. However, what about those lesson plans that cannot be so obviously simulated or literally role-played in the classroom? How can a topic like the powers of Congress be simulated? How can you create a lesson plan that goes beyond listing the expressed, implied, and denied powers of Congress on a PowerPoint slide and reading them off to students? Even if a topic can be simulated how can the teacher find time to actually conduct the simulation? Time is too precious for a teacher.
I've noticed this type of traditional lesson plan in my novice teaching experience, but I do not necessarily blame my cooperating teacher for this phenomenon. In my opinion, my cooperating teacher is a brilliant teacher whom loves her job and gives 110% every single day to her students. The problem, I believe, is the lack of time rather than necessarily the actions of my teacher. She covers and tests on a chapter every single week. Therefore, students have very little opportunity once they have been taught the basics about a topic to explore it further. I had this exact problem as I was teaching this week since I had to cover a chapter on a week that began on a Tuesday, since they had off Monday for Columbus Day, and there was a shortened period on Wednesday because of a teacher's in service. As a result, I was forced to fly through this information at record speeds and honestly, I have little idea as to whether or not my students grasped the concepts that I wanted them to grasp.
I want to defy this traditional way of teaching, but I am still undecided on how to accomplish this goal. I dabbled with the idea of simulation activities, which I did include in at least two of my lessons. The first lesson deals with voting registration and the process of voting, so I figured why not let the students actually register to vote and to literally go through the process of voting. That makes sense. However, what about those lesson plans that cannot be so obviously simulated or literally role-played in the classroom? How can a topic like the powers of Congress be simulated? How can you create a lesson plan that goes beyond listing the expressed, implied, and denied powers of Congress on a PowerPoint slide and reading them off to students? Even if a topic can be simulated how can the teacher find time to actually conduct the simulation? Time is too precious for a teacher.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Week 7: Chapter 9 Cantu, Scaffolding in Prezi
For the past couple of weeks, we have been reviewing different lesson frameworks and it got me thinking about how experienced teachers do not use formal lesson plans. My cooperating teacher's only responsibility is to type up a brief description of what she is going to do for the week and that is considered her lesson plan. For example, October 6th-ch. 6 quiz and debate topic. That can't even really be considered a description. I may be reading too much into this, but I feel as though the lack of accountability for teachers out in the field can become a serious problem. I know that teachers are extremely busy and writing out a formalized lesson plan for each week will only add more to their workloads, however, there are many teachers who are able to do the bare minimum in the classroom and get away with it and that is not acceptable.
I think that teachers should at least have to give more detailed explanations of their plans for the week. Instead of just listing that one is going to cover chapter 6, teachers should at least be required to write perhaps some essential questions or goals that they want to see resulting from the coverage of the chapter. These "lesson plans" then should be sent to the department chair to be looked over. If the department chair notices that the teacher is missing something or taking shortcuts then the appropriate action should be taken. It would be preferable for teachers to have to write formal lesson plans so that the students do not suffer from "teacher's rut," meaning teachers doing the same things every single day over and over again.
I have already noticed that my lesson plans are being adapted to fit my own method of learning and my own interests. I learn in a structured, formal manner and I tend to create lesson plans that fit that mold. This is so easy to do too. I had not even realized it until about my third lesson. It is understandable that teachers who have been in the profession for years can get into this same sort of rut. I do not believe that there ever comes a point in a teacher's career in which he or she has become all-knowledgeable and without the need for a mentor. Everyone benefits from conversing with someone who is in the same field. I think that every school needs to implement a mentoring program for teachers that exists for as long as the teacher is working in the school. This is another method in which teachers can be held accountable. Each year the mentoring pairs should change in order to bring in different perspectives and ideas for the classroom. Otherwise both teachers could fall into the "going through the motions" type of teaching. This mentoring program might alert more experienced teachers to that rut and convince them to change things up a bit.
My question for this week would be ... What are some other ways in which teachers can be held accountable for what they are doing in the classroom? Or what are some ways in which a teacher can become self-aware of his or her teaching "ruts" and avoid them?
I think that teachers should at least have to give more detailed explanations of their plans for the week. Instead of just listing that one is going to cover chapter 6, teachers should at least be required to write perhaps some essential questions or goals that they want to see resulting from the coverage of the chapter. These "lesson plans" then should be sent to the department chair to be looked over. If the department chair notices that the teacher is missing something or taking shortcuts then the appropriate action should be taken. It would be preferable for teachers to have to write formal lesson plans so that the students do not suffer from "teacher's rut," meaning teachers doing the same things every single day over and over again.
I have already noticed that my lesson plans are being adapted to fit my own method of learning and my own interests. I learn in a structured, formal manner and I tend to create lesson plans that fit that mold. This is so easy to do too. I had not even realized it until about my third lesson. It is understandable that teachers who have been in the profession for years can get into this same sort of rut. I do not believe that there ever comes a point in a teacher's career in which he or she has become all-knowledgeable and without the need for a mentor. Everyone benefits from conversing with someone who is in the same field. I think that every school needs to implement a mentoring program for teachers that exists for as long as the teacher is working in the school. This is another method in which teachers can be held accountable. Each year the mentoring pairs should change in order to bring in different perspectives and ideas for the classroom. Otherwise both teachers could fall into the "going through the motions" type of teaching. This mentoring program might alert more experienced teachers to that rut and convince them to change things up a bit.
My question for this week would be ... What are some other ways in which teachers can be held accountable for what they are doing in the classroom? Or what are some ways in which a teacher can become self-aware of his or her teaching "ruts" and avoid them?
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