Monday, January 10, 2011
Friday, December 3, 2010
Teacher's that have inspired me
Sorry Geoff, but if I put your name on this post you'll just think I'm sucking up, and if I don't you'll think I don't appreciate your teaching, so I'll just tell you ahead of time that whether or not you inspire me, which you do, I won't discuss it here, but I did want to mention some of the teacher's I've had and explain what it was about that teacher that I enjoyed.
Mr. Parson - A PE teacher in my middle school. There are some teacher's who inspire us because they like us and though they may have a rough attitude you still know they think highly of you. Mr. Parson was one of these. His attitude was Be hard and stern, yet energetically encouraging. One large part of why I liked him was because I was one of the more athletic kids my age so I received a lot of compliments and praise from that man.
Mrs. Rothrock - a freshman math teacher in my high school. She was crazy! but it was a good crazy. She had an excitement about her and was able to teach extremely well. She remembered her students long after they left the halls of her school and greeted her students that would return to visit her with a smile that let you know that you have been missed.
Mr. Kirkwood - A computer science teacher in my high school who focused on preparing his students for college and the work force. He sought ways to improve his program as well as increase the number of minorities in his class, and by minorities I don't only mean racially, but he sought to increase the number of girls in his class as much as Mexicans. He didn't favor anyone, he was stern and was so into teaching that 1/2 way through every lesson he'd be sweating. He had an excitement about him that made you want to learn what he was teaching. He encouraged his students to take tests to help them skip certain classes in college, as well as introduce students to internships for various State Departments.
Mr. Shumway (he doesn't need to know I wrote this about him) - Electronics teacher in the TEE Program @ BYU. He reminds me of a more likable Mr. Kirkwood. Shumway's goal is for his students to succeed. He has a plan and will do everything he can to help those students meet his expectations. He's not afraid to hold things back to help further understanding, and he gets excited when he sees people go beyond the expected work. Shumway is a lot of the type of teacher I want to be because he loves what he does. When I teach people things I love the "Aha" moments where the figure something out, do it, and find it to be fun and exciting. Shumway is a lot like that.
Mr. Parson - A PE teacher in my middle school. There are some teacher's who inspire us because they like us and though they may have a rough attitude you still know they think highly of you. Mr. Parson was one of these. His attitude was Be hard and stern, yet energetically encouraging. One large part of why I liked him was because I was one of the more athletic kids my age so I received a lot of compliments and praise from that man.
Mrs. Rothrock - a freshman math teacher in my high school. She was crazy! but it was a good crazy. She had an excitement about her and was able to teach extremely well. She remembered her students long after they left the halls of her school and greeted her students that would return to visit her with a smile that let you know that you have been missed.
Mr. Kirkwood - A computer science teacher in my high school who focused on preparing his students for college and the work force. He sought ways to improve his program as well as increase the number of minorities in his class, and by minorities I don't only mean racially, but he sought to increase the number of girls in his class as much as Mexicans. He didn't favor anyone, he was stern and was so into teaching that 1/2 way through every lesson he'd be sweating. He had an excitement about him that made you want to learn what he was teaching. He encouraged his students to take tests to help them skip certain classes in college, as well as introduce students to internships for various State Departments.
Mr. Shumway (he doesn't need to know I wrote this about him) - Electronics teacher in the TEE Program @ BYU. He reminds me of a more likable Mr. Kirkwood. Shumway's goal is for his students to succeed. He has a plan and will do everything he can to help those students meet his expectations. He's not afraid to hold things back to help further understanding, and he gets excited when he sees people go beyond the expected work. Shumway is a lot of the type of teacher I want to be because he loves what he does. When I teach people things I love the "Aha" moments where the figure something out, do it, and find it to be fun and exciting. Shumway is a lot like that.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
What I learned from teaching
I use to work at a cubscout camp, so teaching today was like a blast from the past, the difference being that these kids were roughly a year older than the kids from cub scout camp, there were no parents to help the kids out, and we had to create our own lessons as oppose to having a lesson given to you and being told to do it. I enjoyed teaching today, though I wish I could have taught the ice cream portion with groups of 10 as oppose to the group of 31. Getting the kids to shake up a storm is really difficult in such a large group, and maybe that's true in teaching overall. Perhaps that's the real reason deacons quorums are suppose to be no larger than 12, because any larger and they become unmanageable. I enjoyed the group of 10 because it was much easier to maintain control and keep students on task. I can see why so many teachers fight against the growing number of students per classroom.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Break it Down
How do we as teachers who have studied something for several years and have become, or are working towards becoming, experts in particular subjects, stop ourselves from over teaching something that seems so simple to us, or prevent ourselves from going on to tangents that are beyond what the students are ready for?
The above question is one that until recently I felt I was great at doing. Relating to the current level of understanding of an individual to help them grow from their current state without referencing material too far ahead and without teaching things they are already well acquainted with. As a CS142 TA I quickly realize I'm not as good at it as I thought. Though I do have to also admit I'm better at that than many of the other TA's or even professors (who are 20+ year professionals in their field, speaking specifically about many of my CS professors). This is something I recognize now I need to work more on.
I attempted to teach a few people about how to use an exported movie clip in Java and make it appear on the screen without having previously been on the stage. I think with a bit of a better intro into what I was doing I'd have done a better job, but I am pretty sure the person I was helping was lost beyond retrieval and it was my fault as the tutor than hers as the learner.
Similarly I attempted to teach someone about nodes and classes and retrieving info from one class to another and all sorts of complicated programming stuff that has become for me a type of second language that I can speak now as fluently as English (to carry on with Geoff's language analogy). After losing this person completely I finally went up on the board and rather than drawing a picture myself I had the individual draw what they thought was happening and then I drew what was actually happening and they began to understand what I'd attempted to teach. This is my goal, to be better at teaching a person at the level which they are at.
The above question is one that until recently I felt I was great at doing. Relating to the current level of understanding of an individual to help them grow from their current state without referencing material too far ahead and without teaching things they are already well acquainted with. As a CS142 TA I quickly realize I'm not as good at it as I thought. Though I do have to also admit I'm better at that than many of the other TA's or even professors (who are 20+ year professionals in their field, speaking specifically about many of my CS professors). This is something I recognize now I need to work more on.
I attempted to teach a few people about how to use an exported movie clip in Java and make it appear on the screen without having previously been on the stage. I think with a bit of a better intro into what I was doing I'd have done a better job, but I am pretty sure the person I was helping was lost beyond retrieval and it was my fault as the tutor than hers as the learner.
Similarly I attempted to teach someone about nodes and classes and retrieving info from one class to another and all sorts of complicated programming stuff that has become for me a type of second language that I can speak now as fluently as English (to carry on with Geoff's language analogy). After losing this person completely I finally went up on the board and rather than drawing a picture myself I had the individual draw what they thought was happening and then I drew what was actually happening and they began to understand what I'd attempted to teach. This is my goal, to be better at teaching a person at the level which they are at.
Visual Examples
In high school I had a computer science teacher who was all about Drawing pictures. So much in fact that I have to draw myself a picture for every computer program I write. I didn't realize how important of a tool that was, and how much of a blessing it is until I began TAing for the CS142 and CS235 class. Students in these classes do not know how to draw a visual representation of their programs, and because of that they find themselves stuck frequently, questioning why their code won't work, but unable to figure it out. When they ask me for help I look @ their code and draw a picture of what is happening, and right as I begin to approach their issue they stop me and tell me they found the problem. Why? Because my drawing helped their brain to acknowledge the problem before I even got there.
I brought that up while finishing up the "Classroom Instruction that Works" book I came across the chapters that talk about note taking and non-linguistic representations. Drawing a picture for understanding is the best non-linguistic representation one can make. Drawing pictures plants an image in our minds that we can reference. In programing lots of things are happening in quick succession. Code is jumping from function to function, loop to loop, and class to class. Without a visual representation of what you're trying to do, you'll probably crash and burn.
I brought that up while finishing up the "Classroom Instruction that Works" book I came across the chapters that talk about note taking and non-linguistic representations. Drawing a picture for understanding is the best non-linguistic representation one can make. Drawing pictures plants an image in our minds that we can reference. In programing lots of things are happening in quick succession. Code is jumping from function to function, loop to loop, and class to class. Without a visual representation of what you're trying to do, you'll probably crash and burn.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Learning From Your Mistakes
I had a great opportunity to teach this week. It was a good learning experience. I've had teaching experiences in the past, but usually the topic is broad. This time I was given 20 minutes to create a lesson plan based on recognizing that new technologies introduce new words, icons, images, acronyms, and sounds. It was a long time to talk about such a simple topic. That's where I had the hardest time. How do I make this lesson last 20 minutes? I went to school scared to teach because the lesson plan I originally made involved a fun activity that I realized had nothing to do with my topic and more to do with Amy's topic, and try as I did, I could figure out how to twist the topic enough to involve the activity still, so I scrapped the activity 12 hours before the lesson and had an incredibly difficult time preparing the lesson from there on. minutes before I was to teach I threw a few more ideas on to a piece of paper and did the best I could. It went much better than I anticipated but not as good as I'd have liked.
Feedback:
1. Stick to a central purpose/topic. I introduced a few things that had some relevance, but distracted from the central purpose.
2. use the room. It was pointed out that I used the computer kind of like a crutch, and it's true. Though that wasn't my intent, I definitely was close to my notes because I wasn't adequately prepared.
3. "We Got It". Later that day someone in the class asked me if I wanted a little more advice, I welcomed it and she said something I said to myself on my mission "We Got It", or in other words, move on. I have a tendency to hit a point several times and repeat my self over and over again. With this lesson it was more because I didn't know what to do with it, but still, in my normal teaching situations I tend to say something several times... I don't really even know why, I just do. Kind of like umm's, people often don't even know they're doing it.
Feedback:
1. Stick to a central purpose/topic. I introduced a few things that had some relevance, but distracted from the central purpose.
2. use the room. It was pointed out that I used the computer kind of like a crutch, and it's true. Though that wasn't my intent, I definitely was close to my notes because I wasn't adequately prepared.
3. "We Got It". Later that day someone in the class asked me if I wanted a little more advice, I welcomed it and she said something I said to myself on my mission "We Got It", or in other words, move on. I have a tendency to hit a point several times and repeat my self over and over again. With this lesson it was more because I didn't know what to do with it, but still, in my normal teaching situations I tend to say something several times... I don't really even know why, I just do. Kind of like umm's, people often don't even know they're doing it.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
3 fold mission of a teacher - insite and venting on teaching
I think teachers have a 3 fold mission:
1 - To Teach
2 - To Inspire/encourage
3 - To Prepare
These hit me really hard the other day because I've reflected on the teachers I learned a lot from and the teachers I didn't learn anything from and these 3 things are what really sets them apart.
To Teach - Specifically the things the students expect from the class. There is nothing I hate more in school than to sign up for a class and then find out the class isn't following the course requirements. Happened to me in a Book of Mormon class. When you sign up for a Book of Mormon class you expect to spend a lot of time studying the Book of Mormon. We read maybe 30 verses from it the entire semester. The remaining time we read from the old testament and the doctrine and covenants. If a teacher is not going to teach what the course info says he will teach than the teacher either needs to change the course info or stop teaching the subject. The teaching methodology isn't as important to me as teaching what you say you'll teach, because if a student is not learning what he/she felt they signed up to learn, the student will stop paying attention to the class. I do however believe that the teacher should enjoy what they are teaching. There are a lot better paying jobs out there and if a teacher doesn't enjoy what they're doing, that teacher needs to do something else for the benefit of everyone.
To Inspire/Motivate: The best teachers I've seen have been those who made their students want to learn and know more. There's usually some anticipation "I can't wait for friday's class when we learn about ...". The teacher may not be best friends with the students, but he/she should know all the students by name and be interested in the progress of the students. When a teacher is excited about my progress I'm more excited about going further in my studies. When a teacher encourages me to do some difficult assignment I'm more likely to get it done on time and with a better outcome. When a student likes a teacher the student yearns for praise, for recognition, not to boast or brag, but because a pat on the back physically, mentally, and with real excitement is better than a candy bar any day... though candy bars are good too.
To Prepare: I feel a purpose of teachers are to prepare students for what is coming next. If a first grade teacher is not preparing students for the second grade I don't feel he/she is doing their job. Elementary school teachers should prepare students for middle school, middle school for high school, high school for college and college for the work force. But there is more to it in high school than simply preparing students for college. I feel high school is where students really need to get an idea of the possibilities that are out there. I think schools need to do better at preparing high school students to select a major by introducing them to more subjects. I've never been a fan of the rediculously large number of required courses that high schools require because of those classes most do not prepare the students for college. I think the individual subjects are important, but not so important that a student should have 4 years of history, 4 years of english/writing, and 4 years of science. I would put math up there, but I do feel that math is so widely used in college that a student should have gone through everything needed before pre-calculus before they graduate. But even that is 3 years for most. In college you are required to take a certain number of general credits, and I'm fine with that, in fact I think it's wonderful, but it's only 1/3 of your overall credits. In high school that percentage is more like 3/4ths of your classes are general required classes, most of which you'll forget before the next semester starts. If a high school's purpose is to prepare students for college, where 2/3rds of your classes are geared towards a specific goal (teaching, programming, electrical engineering) and the courses specific to that purpose (certain math and writing skills), why don't we do more of that in high schools? Is it so incredibly important that a student memorize all the rivers, counties, mountain ranges, and lakes in Oregon? Are students ever going to be hired as an electrician because they were able to memorize the names of every signer of the Constitution and identify from which state the representative came from? I believe we do need to make our students well rounded, and I don't think we should ignore these classes all together, but I do think we should do more college preparation, and I don't feel that the number of history and geography courses most high schools require does that.Of the 2 history courses I took at BYU, none of the information touched upon previously learned ideas in school. Most of the names were not taught in high school. If the courses are not building upon that which was already learned, then was the previously learned information important enough for college prep?
1 - To Teach
2 - To Inspire/encourage
3 - To Prepare
These hit me really hard the other day because I've reflected on the teachers I learned a lot from and the teachers I didn't learn anything from and these 3 things are what really sets them apart.
To Teach - Specifically the things the students expect from the class. There is nothing I hate more in school than to sign up for a class and then find out the class isn't following the course requirements. Happened to me in a Book of Mormon class. When you sign up for a Book of Mormon class you expect to spend a lot of time studying the Book of Mormon. We read maybe 30 verses from it the entire semester. The remaining time we read from the old testament and the doctrine and covenants. If a teacher is not going to teach what the course info says he will teach than the teacher either needs to change the course info or stop teaching the subject. The teaching methodology isn't as important to me as teaching what you say you'll teach, because if a student is not learning what he/she felt they signed up to learn, the student will stop paying attention to the class. I do however believe that the teacher should enjoy what they are teaching. There are a lot better paying jobs out there and if a teacher doesn't enjoy what they're doing, that teacher needs to do something else for the benefit of everyone.
To Inspire/Motivate: The best teachers I've seen have been those who made their students want to learn and know more. There's usually some anticipation "I can't wait for friday's class when we learn about ...". The teacher may not be best friends with the students, but he/she should know all the students by name and be interested in the progress of the students. When a teacher is excited about my progress I'm more excited about going further in my studies. When a teacher encourages me to do some difficult assignment I'm more likely to get it done on time and with a better outcome. When a student likes a teacher the student yearns for praise, for recognition, not to boast or brag, but because a pat on the back physically, mentally, and with real excitement is better than a candy bar any day... though candy bars are good too.
To Prepare: I feel a purpose of teachers are to prepare students for what is coming next. If a first grade teacher is not preparing students for the second grade I don't feel he/she is doing their job. Elementary school teachers should prepare students for middle school, middle school for high school, high school for college and college for the work force. But there is more to it in high school than simply preparing students for college. I feel high school is where students really need to get an idea of the possibilities that are out there. I think schools need to do better at preparing high school students to select a major by introducing them to more subjects. I've never been a fan of the rediculously large number of required courses that high schools require because of those classes most do not prepare the students for college. I think the individual subjects are important, but not so important that a student should have 4 years of history, 4 years of english/writing, and 4 years of science. I would put math up there, but I do feel that math is so widely used in college that a student should have gone through everything needed before pre-calculus before they graduate. But even that is 3 years for most. In college you are required to take a certain number of general credits, and I'm fine with that, in fact I think it's wonderful, but it's only 1/3 of your overall credits. In high school that percentage is more like 3/4ths of your classes are general required classes, most of which you'll forget before the next semester starts. If a high school's purpose is to prepare students for college, where 2/3rds of your classes are geared towards a specific goal (teaching, programming, electrical engineering) and the courses specific to that purpose (certain math and writing skills), why don't we do more of that in high schools? Is it so incredibly important that a student memorize all the rivers, counties, mountain ranges, and lakes in Oregon? Are students ever going to be hired as an electrician because they were able to memorize the names of every signer of the Constitution and identify from which state the representative came from? I believe we do need to make our students well rounded, and I don't think we should ignore these classes all together, but I do think we should do more college preparation, and I don't feel that the number of history and geography courses most high schools require does that.Of the 2 history courses I took at BYU, none of the information touched upon previously learned ideas in school. Most of the names were not taught in high school. If the courses are not building upon that which was already learned, then was the previously learned information important enough for college prep?
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