April 08, 2011
Refreshing
I had such a wonderful learning/teaching experience today in my GED class! One of our students who graduated from the program last fall came to visit because she needed some guidance on an essay. She is now enrolled in the local community college and stops in every once and a while for some help. A year ago she had not yet finished her high school education and she is now just about to finish her second semester of college on the Dean's List. She is the epitome of a success story. I had a Social Studies lesson planned but she ended up helping lead a discussion on some tips and tricks for taking the GED. As much as I can talk and try to convince the students how important these classes are, hearing from a peer that has just recently passed the tests speaks volumes. We ended up having a great talk about how and why people make the choices that they do. I always try and stress the fact that we all complete our education in a lot of different ways - but that the important thing is that we continue learning. The students I work with find themselves in the positions that they are in for an incredible variety of reasons. What we try and focus on during class is a way to validate all of their experiences, while still moving forward. The visiting student had great advice for everyone in the class and the students had so many questions for her. It was a really interesting learning opportunity for everyone. It also reminded me of my limitations as a teacher, and how my students can be experts at things I never will be.
April 06, 2011
Questions, Questions: Part 2
This will make more sense if you read this first!
As most things regarding education seem to do, the more answers I hear, the more questions I end up having. Recently, I was able to sit down with my host teacher and have a discussion about motivation. Most importantly, I was interested in seeing what she had to say about how she motivates her students, and how effective those methods seem to be. According to my teacher, the easiest and most prevalent way teachers motivate students and show progress are through grades. She explained that she feels that most students at our school feel that just passing classes is enough, and that there doesn't seem to be much of a desire to excel beyond that by the majority of students. In our class, her policy for late work is much more lenient than some other teachers in the school. My teachers allows students almost the entire trimester to get homework assignments turned into her for at least partial credit. According to her this, coupled with a regular email update to parents every week, encourages the students to finish most of their assignments. Her most salient advice to me was the importance of follow through. She said that whatever policies I establish need to be adhered to in all cases, and similarly at all times. I think this is great advice because it allows to establish a precedent within my classroom.
An interesting thing that my host teacher brought up is that she tries to use positive encouragement sparingly. Her reasoning was that if a student answers a question and you tell them that it was a "great answer", then it discourages other students from answering, or from that student pushing past their initial answer. I have very mixed feelings about this approach. I can see what she is saying but I feel like you can still validate and praise all answers, while still pushing students. I personally am a very positive person, so it would be difficult for me to take this approach. I have noticed that she does not use positive verbal encouragement very often with her students and have wondered how it effects her relationship with them.
Something that struck me during our interview that my teacher said several time was that, "we don't have kids that go to Harvard" when talking about the student population at our school. There is a very wide economic gap within the community, but our school has honor roll, AP classes, honors credits, and National Honor Society just like most other high schools. She also mentioned that her own children who attended the school were part of groups of friends that were very academically gifted and high achieving. That being said, she meant that even the smartest students do not attend Ivy League schools. This comment really confuses me because I don't understand how there could be a vacuum of Ivy League material students in this one community. Both of these comments make me wonder more about how my teacher actually views her students. I don't get the impression she thinks of them as adults (or at least on their way to being adults). It is hard to tell whether this is from the community, her age difference from the students, or her personal style.
As most things regarding education seem to do, the more answers I hear, the more questions I end up having. Recently, I was able to sit down with my host teacher and have a discussion about motivation. Most importantly, I was interested in seeing what she had to say about how she motivates her students, and how effective those methods seem to be. According to my teacher, the easiest and most prevalent way teachers motivate students and show progress are through grades. She explained that she feels that most students at our school feel that just passing classes is enough, and that there doesn't seem to be much of a desire to excel beyond that by the majority of students. In our class, her policy for late work is much more lenient than some other teachers in the school. My teachers allows students almost the entire trimester to get homework assignments turned into her for at least partial credit. According to her this, coupled with a regular email update to parents every week, encourages the students to finish most of their assignments. Her most salient advice to me was the importance of follow through. She said that whatever policies I establish need to be adhered to in all cases, and similarly at all times. I think this is great advice because it allows to establish a precedent within my classroom.
An interesting thing that my host teacher brought up is that she tries to use positive encouragement sparingly. Her reasoning was that if a student answers a question and you tell them that it was a "great answer", then it discourages other students from answering, or from that student pushing past their initial answer. I have very mixed feelings about this approach. I can see what she is saying but I feel like you can still validate and praise all answers, while still pushing students. I personally am a very positive person, so it would be difficult for me to take this approach. I have noticed that she does not use positive verbal encouragement very often with her students and have wondered how it effects her relationship with them.
Something that struck me during our interview that my teacher said several time was that, "we don't have kids that go to Harvard" when talking about the student population at our school. There is a very wide economic gap within the community, but our school has honor roll, AP classes, honors credits, and National Honor Society just like most other high schools. She also mentioned that her own children who attended the school were part of groups of friends that were very academically gifted and high achieving. That being said, she meant that even the smartest students do not attend Ivy League schools. This comment really confuses me because I don't understand how there could be a vacuum of Ivy League material students in this one community. Both of these comments make me wonder more about how my teacher actually views her students. I don't get the impression she thinks of them as adults (or at least on their way to being adults). It is hard to tell whether this is from the community, her age difference from the students, or her personal style.
April 04, 2011
Questions, Questions: Part 1
A large portion of one of the classes I am currently taking revolves around our time spent placed in a local high school. For five hours each week I observe and participate in a classroom with high school Juniors and Seniors. With respect to everyone's privacy, the name of the school, students, and teachers will be left out. For an assignment, we had to act as a 'participant observer' to further explore an aspect of the school that interested, confused, or concerned us. I decided to interview my host teacher and some of our students regarding questions I had about motivation.
The reason I chose the topic of motivation, and how it is fostered, is two-fold. First, the atmosphere regarding motivation and enthusiasm about schoolwork was very different at this school than anywhere I had personally attended or observed. To me, many of the students were not passionate about school or interested in their classes. Having worked and tutored in mostly urban schools prior to this placement, this attitude was not completely new to me. High School is a difficult time for students for a host of different reasons. Unfortunately, popularity and personal issues often get in the way of education. That being said, the students at the school I am currently placed at were very different to me. There seemed to be a greater deal of apathy and disinterest than at other schools. In an urban setting, there are great amounts of passion, it is just usually not placed towards school. At my current placement, students didn't seem moved one way or another. They showed up because they 'had' to and for no other reason. The second reason I chose this is because, as a teacher, it is the aspect of classroom management that scares me most. How do I encourage students and convince them how important education is?
To keep my own thoughts organized, I plan on completing this analysis in three parts. This first entry being my intentions and thought process, the second will be about my discussion with my host teacher, and the third will be about my interview with students. Hopefully I can shed some light on this complicated issue.
The reason I chose the topic of motivation, and how it is fostered, is two-fold. First, the atmosphere regarding motivation and enthusiasm about schoolwork was very different at this school than anywhere I had personally attended or observed. To me, many of the students were not passionate about school or interested in their classes. Having worked and tutored in mostly urban schools prior to this placement, this attitude was not completely new to me. High School is a difficult time for students for a host of different reasons. Unfortunately, popularity and personal issues often get in the way of education. That being said, the students at the school I am currently placed at were very different to me. There seemed to be a greater deal of apathy and disinterest than at other schools. In an urban setting, there are great amounts of passion, it is just usually not placed towards school. At my current placement, students didn't seem moved one way or another. They showed up because they 'had' to and for no other reason. The second reason I chose this is because, as a teacher, it is the aspect of classroom management that scares me most. How do I encourage students and convince them how important education is?
To keep my own thoughts organized, I plan on completing this analysis in three parts. This first entry being my intentions and thought process, the second will be about my discussion with my host teacher, and the third will be about my interview with students. Hopefully I can shed some light on this complicated issue.
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