Monday, April 5, 2010
blog posting April 5,2010
My experiences with 21st century West Virginia have been quite in depth. First off as a West Virginia resident, I spent three out my four years of high school I experienced these standards first hand every day. However, I have not had a great deal of exposure with these standards in my classes so far in the Benedum collaborative. I have used some technology as a tutor, almost exclusively with the interactive white board. Obviously I have also had a lot of experience with powerpoint and so on. I think there are alot of intangibles that make a great teacher. First and foremost, I think that a good teacher needs to be able to make the material exciting and engaging to the learner. If a student is not engaged and/ or excited about the material the student is probably not going to learn the material and if they do, then they will probably not really learn it, they will just know the material long enough to take a test. I think that a teacher must also be understanding. In no other career I can think of is understanding as important as it is in education, especially when discussing younger students.
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I think you have a benefit over many people by going to high school in West Virginia three years. It is hard to keep students constantly involved in the material especially after many teachers use PowerPoint almost every day during their lessons. I agree a teacher has to be understanding because I'm sure people around our age can think of times where school work and assignments interfered with home life, work, ect. The younger kids are also not old enough to take responsibility for themselves for everything so I also agree teachers have to be understanding with them.
ReplyDeleteWhat you have partially discussed here is differentiated instruction, that is making sure you accomodate the learning styles of every student on your classroom. In the early days of education, when a teacher just "taught to the middle," the students with above average abilities got bored and the students with below average abilities fell behind. Sometime later, educators figured out that students learn in different ways and at different rates. Voila, differentiated instruction evolved. Lesson plans need to include a variety of activities that give every student a the best chance to do his/her best.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right about caring for and understanding children being of the utmost importance. I can't imagine anyone going into teaching if they didn't genuinely care for children. Good teachers learn all they can about their students, from the type of home life they have to their learning styles and everything in between. When children realize their teacher cares about them, they are more likely to respond to what that teacher presents to them in the classroom.
Chris, great blog. We were instructed to deduct points, however, if you hadn't followed the instructions about putting your name first on your blog title. Sorry.