As a future elementary (K-6) school educator, I will have an important role and responsibility in teaching and caring for my students. I started my education courses this semester, so I have become a little familiar with the “life” and work of a future educator. Although I will have guidelines to follow when it comes to what I have to teach/ follow, I believe as long as my units/ lessons are grade level appropriate, engaging, and enjoyable, any topic should be fair game. Since designing a few unit/ lesson plans for the first time this semester, I know how time consuming and sometimes frustrating it can be to come up with a topic and ideas to teach it. However, by the end it can be rewarding if the teacher and students enjoy the process and results
I would like to put this semester’s unit/lesson plans to use on world languages and culture, fairy tales, and the human body. Even after some tweaking, I would prefer to put the hard work I have done in coming up with content for lesson/ unit plans to use. As I progress in my courses, I will try to continue to come up with lesson/ unit plan ideas that can be used in the future by either me or other educators.
I believe all students can learn if they make the effort to and realize the importance of an education. Multiple intelligences should be in the back of a teacher’s mind when brainstorming ideas, teaching, and interacting with students. Everyone has all of the nine multiple intelligences, but also strengths and room for improvement in different areas. I think a mix of both authentic and traditional assessment in class would work better. Everyone learns in different ways, so catering to those needs in as many ways as possible will allow for a better idea of progress/ evaluation. Students should be given occasional quizzes/ tests instead of heavily focusing on just those for evaluation while still being assigned bigger, hands on, real-world experience assignments where students learn on their own instead of always relying on the teacher.
I believe all students can learn if they make the effort to and realize the importance of an education. Multiple intelligences should be in the back of a teacher’s mind when brainstorming ideas, teaching, and interacting with students. Everyone has all of the nine multiple intelligences, but also strengths and room for improvement in different areas. I think a mix of both authentic and traditional assessment in class would work better. Everyone learns in different ways, so catering to those needs in as many ways as possible will allow for a better idea of progress/ evaluation. Students should be given occasional quizzes/ tests instead of heavily focusing on just those for evaluation while still being assigned bigger, hands on, real-world experience assignments where students learn on their own instead of always relying on the teacher.
Educators have a responsibility in getting knowledge and skills across to the students under their care. Using a variety of techniques and materials to present information in an engaging and enjoyable way for both students and teacher will allow for a more meaningful and memorable experience. For example, I have noticed when volunteering at a school that using technology enhances the classroom. A 5th grade English teacher from whom I was learning techniques had her class do presentations using PowerPoint and Prezi on vocabulary words. This had the students up on their feet, let them develop speaking skills in front of an audience, gave them an opportunity to work with computer software, and be creative. The students seemed to enjoy seeing their classmates work and their own presented with graphics and audio. This would be a good idea to have my future students do to acquire similar skills instead of the teacher presenting information all the time.
I learned something useful about maintaining an effective classroom while completing my 20 hour observation this semester. I felt the teacher I was observing was hard on the students. Generally, the students were extremely quiet and didn't look like they were happy to be in class. From an outsider's perspective, it looked like they were more afraid of their teacher who dealt with her class as if they were in boot camp. If the teacher is too friendly and easy going, some students might take advantage of them and not take the teacher seriously. However, if the teacher is too strict, students will hesitate to interact with the teacher, not ask for help/ questions, etc. Being too nice or too strict has problems. I would take a middle approach and keep things peaceful during most of the class time and when necessary, make it obvious to students that I am serious and that they need to get their behavior/work together without yelling.
Overall, I have learned a lot with regards to being a future educator. Nonetheless, there is much to learn, understand, and experience to make my teaching and student’s learning experience as best as it can be. This is just the beginning of a lifelong mission to teach and teach well!
