Reflection #4
We created our lesson for the integration project around students’ interests that we learned from the student shadow day back on Tuesday (6-1-2019). We came up with a few options of what to do for the lesson, but we had decided to go with the spaghetti tower building project. The original idea was to do the paper tower competition but since we wanted to incorporate math skills into the lesson, we switched it to the spaghetti tower project. We got a solid lesson plan and I believe we did great executing the lesson. We just need more time for students to build their spaghetti towers/buildings, which is the meat and the fun of this lesson. We got through the introduction and the end, but students didn’t really have time to build their project. One way to modify this 30-minutes lesson is to cut short of the introduction and the end to 5 minutes. This would allow students 5 minutes to plan and 20 minutes to build their projects. My point is to give students more time on the building of their spaghetti towers/buildings. Action Plan When I first heard about blended learning, I thought it would just be incorporating technology into lessons and using a variety of teaching strategies. I was wrong. Blended learning is a teaching-learning model in which students learn in part face-to-face and other part online, and learning is personalized. It is set up like the Apple stores in which students will learn in stations and the teacher would be the facilitator. Blended learning is what I plan to implement in my class. In order to make blended learning possible, I will use the tips I learned from the group activity (“ignite” presentation sides) that we did in class. I will set up my class in three stations: one station is where students will meet with me; the second station is where students will collaborate and work together; and the third is the station that students will work independently online. I can see the challenge of implementing blended learning in my class since the school that I’m at we have a student population that isn’t well behaved. I will use the “ignite” presentation slides that my group created in class to assist me to make it work.
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I had been cited online sources in APA format, especially websites for a while, but I still have a lot to learn. The APA poster activity that we did (with the guidance of Mr. Griggs and the APA book) in class on Thursday, June 20, 2019, has helped me a lot to cite a variety of sources, including journals and magazines. For the Annotated Reference Project, I was clueless on how to write the APA annotation and was eager to learn how to write APA annotation. The examples of previous students’ work helped clarify my confusion of the APA annotation. I am good to go and ready to do the Annotated Reference Project as homework over the weekend.
In regards to the Integration Project, my team and I had decided that we were going to shadow the students at French Camp Elementary School first, then we will decide what to teach based on the students’ interests. We had discussed a few options on what to teach to the students and had decided that we are to go ahead and teach students about building projects, especially tall buildings or towers. Chapter 5 Reflection
Link: https://www.aeseducation.com/career-readiness/what-is-career-readiness
This career readiness article is good in explaining what it is and how to teach it. If you're searching for information on what it is and how to teach it, this article may be helpful. Chapter 3 Reflection
1. What would a school that was “a little more human” look like to you? “A little more human” school is a school that put the needs of students and school staff at the center. It is true that school is running like a factory, where teachers and students have to follow the bell schedule. Many times, I heard teachers and principals said that “we’re here for students” but not never put that in practice. In practice, students aren’t allowed to voice their opinion and there was no show of care by school staff. There should be positive interactions between school staff and students on a daily basis. School staff should greet students with a high five or a handshake if hug isn’t allowed. 2. Do you and your colleagues share the same philosophy or vision about your school or workplace? Why or why not? How does this influence the way you work together and think about your work? My colleagues and I do not share the same philosophy or vision at my school. Some got burnt out after many years of teaching or being mistreated by the boss. Some don’t care much about doing their best at their jobs anymore. They’re only there for the time and collect their checks at the end of the month. This makes it hard to collaborate and work together toward a common goal since they don’t want any participation. Chapter 4 Reflection 1. How do you get a student to want knowledge? Once you get them to want it, what are the best ways to help them get it? Before you can get someone to do anything, it all begins with motivation. A person must be motivated first. In order to get a student to want knowledge, first we will need to create interest. For example, if a student is interested to know about his/her rights when they are being stopped and questioned by the police, then (s)he would be willing to listen and learn. The best way to help students learn something is to engage them in a process to solve a problem in which it would require them to search for more information. As they search for the best possible solution to the problem, they will learn new information along the way. 2. Tell about a time when you were in school and your learning matched your interests. How was that experience different from times when your learning didn’t match what you were interested in? There was a class I took in college that taught the history of my people. I had been learning about others’ history and I had been wanting to learn about ours since most history classes didn’t cover our history. I was thrilled when I took the class and participated more in the class discussion than any other classes. This experience was different from the time when I took an art history class that I had no interest in. I had no interest in learning the information rather than just completing the class assignments to pass the class. Reflection on Day 2
I enjoyed the outside circle activity with Mr. Griggs’ Big Box of Fun items today. This circle activity can be used inside the classroom during a break, especially schools that have 90 minutes period block schedule. It can be problematic if real items are used since some students aren’t responsible and can harm others when throwing an object. This activity should be fine with students who have behavioral problems since they would just have to do a lot of pretending to toss things around. The real highlight of today was the student shadowing at French Camp Elementary School. A lot of times, we as teachers walk into classrooms and just teach what needs to be taught and don’t get the opportunity to learn about our students. This student shadowing opportunity allowed me to learn about the students we’re going to teach next week. To my surprise, I felt like I was a dinosaur when I was talking to a little boy, who is going to be in 4th this coming new school year. I asked him what he was creating with the construction paper because he created a smiling face with no nose. He said, “Marshmello.” I thought he said, “Marshmallow.” But then he started talking about Marshmello’s music and I was like what. I got no idea what he was talking about and then I asked him what Marshmello is. He told me Marshmello is a DJ and he is popular on YouTube. That got me good. I really felt that I’m so behind and outdated. Chapter 1 Reflection
1. What are your “real goals of education”? As a teacher, I do have my own goals of education for my students. Of course like others, I want them to be life-long learners and be able to solve their life problems. But really at the end, the students/learners should be the ones who get to decide what the real goals of education are for them personally. For me (speaking from a student point of view), the real goals of education are to improve and transform myself to be a better person, who can tackle my own life problems and have a better life than my parents. The goal is to be better than the last generation. 2. Do you agree that “learning is personal”? If so, how would you go about explaining the concept to someone who may not be as convinced? Learning is personal. Yes, it is. It is really up to you to decide whether you want to learn something or not. This goes the same to taking a class. Some might just want to get the assignments done so they can pass the class and it wouldn’t matter whether they’ve learned or not. On the other hand, there are some who actually want to learn and not just pass the class. If you don’t make learning personal, then you wouldn’t want to apply what you’ve learned or might not even want to pay attention to what is being taught. Chapter 2 Reflection
2. Why do you think kids drop out of school? If you have known a high school dropout, what was his or her experience after leaving school? What do you think needs to change in the way schools and society deal with dropouts? There are various reasons why kids drop out of school. Some drop out because they don’t have a stable family and don’t have the support at home. Some drop out because they do drugs or join gangs. Some drop out because they have no goal and no hope for the future. Some drop out because they hate school and don’t see how school is going to help them in life since there are successful people who were dropouts. I know someone who was a dropout because he was in a gang and caused many troubles with the laws. He had been in juvenile hall for a while and was released. He later had to go back to school to get his GED. There are ways that schools and society can deal with dropouts. Many kids who succeeded in school have stable and supportive families. If we as a society can produce more stable and supportive families, then we can have more kids succeeding in schools. Schools can only control what happens at school and can not control what happens at home. What happens at home does affect how kids would perform at school. However, school should be the second home to the kids so that they would want to be there. They would not be dropouts if school is like their home because as we know there’s nothing like home and kids would want to be there. Reflection #1 of First Day
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