THE END....

Wow, it’s hard to believe that this is the end of another semester. Only one more semester (PSIII for me) and then I will once again be finished my post-secondary career (hopefully this time for good…unless in the future I decide to do a master’s program). I can’t wait to see what the future holds and where I might be teaching next year.

This blogging assignment was pretty interesting. It was definitely a different type of assignment than what I thought I would ever complete in university. I used a blog a few years ago to keep my family and friends up to date on my travels around New Zealand and Australia but have never written about my classes or readings so this was definitely a new experience for me. I really enjoyed writing the blog as it helped me develop my opinion regarding certain subjects and helped me to see what other people thought about the same subject. I thought it was really neat that we were able to read and respond to other classmates blogs. I tried to comment on at least one person’s blog a week and enjoyed that it led to some conversations in our class or in other classes. I really enjoyed reading everyone’s blogs and thought that I learned more about each individual as the semester went on. The blog also helped me learn about some of the current issues in education that some classmates read about in the paper or heard about in other classes.


Overall I really enjoyed writing this blog and reading everyone else’s blog too. I hope everyone enjoyed blogging as much as I did and I wish you all the best in the next semester.



Merry Christmas!

Relationships

Brandie had this quote on her blog that I thought was so great I had to steal it.

"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel” – Carol Buchner

In PSI, we were told to “beg, borrow and steal” from other teachers and I just couldn’t let this one slip by. I think it is fundamental part of teaching but sometimes people forget about it. We teach children, not robots and how we make them feel could impact them for the rest of their lives. I find it amazing what people remember from their early school years. I don’t remember much of what we learned but I sure do remember my teachers. I think I remember the nicer ones more than the ones I did not like too much. This semester one of my prof’s asked us to remember a teacher that made you feel bad. She said “I’m sure you’ve all had that experience” but I could not think of a teacher that said something to me that make me feel bad. I’m sure that would be one thing that would stick with someone forever. I’ve recently heard that when my dad was in school his teacher said that no question was a dumb question. So my dad asked a question because he wasn’t sure about something and that teacher made some comment about his question and basically really embarrassed my dad. This memory has stuck with him forever and impacted his life. I think for a long time he did not want to ask a question for fear that his teacher would make fun of him again. It also impacted how he treated his kids in that he made sure we knew that we could ask him anything and he would never consider it a dumb question. I know people say things sometimes that they don’t mean to be hurtful and end up hurting others but I think it is really important to consider other people’s feelings when you make comments.

I think this quote also shows how important it is to establish relationships with the students. Students that know you have an interest in them outside of the classroom walls often show more interest in you as a teacher and often show more respect as well. I think it is really important to spend the first few days of school learning about the students and finding out about their hobbies and interests. That information can be used in the classroom to make lessons more meaningful to the students.

I’d like to thank Brandie for sharing this quotation and reminding us that teaching is not only about the “stuff” but more importantly about the individuals we teach.

We can make a difference!

I was thinking about that school that a group of U of L grads went to teach together that Robert mentioned the other day in class. How great would that be? For a group of graduates that have formed a bond in university being able to teach together. I think that school would be a great place to attend as a student. Sure the teachers wouldn’t have the experience that older teachers would have and they may not know how to deal with every situation that might arise but they would be full of new ideas and an excitement of their first job and first time being on their own.

I think the students at this school would benefit enormously. There would probably be a great feeling of community in the school, I’m sure the teachers worked together and collaborated on ideas and strategies to improve their teaching and improve the school. Robert said that this school had a lot of school spirit and I can see why. I think it would be great to go to work with your friends every day. Yes, you can get that at any school. You can develop those relationships over time but in this environment you wouldn’t have to work to start those friendships. You already have the beginning and you just have to build on it. I have to say that I think that would be fantastic! There are many fellow classmates that I have gotten to know over the past year and a half and I would love to work with them. I think having someone else at the same stage as you to bounce ideas off would be very beneficial. I’m a little disappointed that I’m the only one at my school for PSIII for this very reason. I really like talking to others on my drive to and from school and discussing the school day and what classes went well and what didn’t. I guess I’ll have to pester people when I get home instead.

This also made me think about Robert’s brother who was a very eager teacher out of university and was given the class of “left behind” students. He taught those students and they learned. He gave his students the desire to learn, not only in his class but also in their other classes. I think this is an inspiring story of how one teacher can make a difference. The only problem was that the other teachers in his school did not like what he was doing. They did not like that they actually had to teach this group of students. It’s hard to think of teachers not wanting to teach but that was the case for these teachers. I would think it would be difficult to be in this type of school environment. If you let the negativity in, your desire to teach could be affected. I was inspired that he kept teaching and did not listen to the rest of the staff at the school. I’m sure it would have been difficult for him not to have support from the rest of the staff, however I also think it would be incredible to see the difference he was making in the lives of those students. I think making a difference is one of the most important roles of a teacher, however you do it. It does not have to be an academic difference at all, it could be increasing self-confidence or helping with some personal issue. Whatever it is, I think it is important that the students know that you believe in them and are there to help them in any way you can. This is why I think new teachers could make such a big difference if they are grouped together. The new teachers could feed off each other and inspire each other to make a difference in their students lives rather than been told to forget about a certain group of students. I know I don’t have years of experience behind me to know how difficult it might be or how over time you get worn down, but I just hope that I am able to keep my spirits high and remember that I can make a difference in the lives of my students. I never want to be that teacher that says there is no hope for a child to learn something. If I ever get to this point (which I hope I never do) I hope someone tells me to get out of the profession so that some new, young, eager grad can work their magic.

IQ tests and intelligence

In Tuesday’s class we discussed IQ tests and their accuracy of testing intelligence. I do not think that IQ tests can accurately test intelligence, or rather they test one form of intelligence, book smarts and that’s about it. We’ve all heard about Gardner’s multiple intelligences which shows that there are a variety of different abilities and talents that can constitute intelligence, such as bodily-kinesthetic, those that are good at sports and dance; visual-spatial, those that are good at art or solving problems; and musical, to name a few. These kinds of intelligences cannot be tested by a simple paper and pencil test, so what are IQ tests really testing? They test book smarts, people that are well read, and that’s about it.

In class, we looked at a couple examples of test questions from an IQ test from the 1920s. To begin with it appeared that the first question was related to harvest and farming, which I thought was appropriate for the time, however the question really had nothing to do with farming and was once again testing book smarts. So are IQ tests created to make those in the upper class and read literature have high IQs and those in the lower class have low IQs? Is a farmer that can grow his own food and fix machinery any less intelligent than a lawyer? I actually think the farmer is smarter because he would be able to survive on his own; grow his own food and fix things when they break. The lawyer would be able to argue that he deserves the food more than anyone else but would he actually be able to do anything to successfully acquire his food? But mostlikely the lawyer would have a higher IQ than the farmer. As mentioned in class, the IQ tests may be creating the differences that they are pretending to measure. I think it would be interesting to see an IQ test that a farmer created and to see how someone with a “high” IQ would do.

I think one of the most important things for us as teachers to remember is that everyone is different and is intelligent in a different way. This is very important when we create our own methods of assessment. I think most of us have been taught that we should create different types of assessment for the different types of learners in our classes, however I wonder how many of us actually know how to do this. I was thinking about this for my PSIII. I am mostly teaching math and wonder how I could differentiate the assessment methods. Traditionally for math, tests are written and students are expected to show their work for how they arrived at their answer. I suppose I could have some students explain how they would answer the question orally but it could be tough for students to create a dramatization for math…or maybe I just need to think a little more outside the box. We’ll see what I come up with. Any suggestions?

Teacher Preparedness

Last week we had a presentation on the correlation of post-secondary grades to teacher success. One of the interesting parts of the presentation was the questionnaire of preparedness felt by student teachers. I thought that for the most part I felt quite prepared to teach but there were definitely a few areas that I felt could use a little more focus in our school. I found it interesting that many of my classmates did not feel that they were prepared with technology. I did not find this to be of too big of concern for me. Before starting my Ed degree last fall I had never heard of a smartboard but both my PSI and PSII had smartboards and I simply played with the program and figured out how to use it. My PSI TA had been to a seminar on using it so she showed me how to do a variety of different things. I suppose if I had not had the opportunity to work with the smartboard, I would probably feel fairly under-prepared to use one. But I think the biggest thing with technology is not to be scared of it. Simply try different things and see what happens. In one of my classes this semester we had a brief introduction to Imovie or Windows movie maker and we were allowed to play around and create a small movie. One of my classmates mentioned that she would have liked the instructor to have provided a little more instruction about some of the features that may have been a little more obscure because what he had us doing, we probably could have figured out on our own. So I guess for technology, it all depends on how comfortable you are with playing and trying new things.

One of the areas that I thought possibly could receive more attention would be working with parents. I know it would be hard to teach such a thing but it would be nice to receive some tips or suggestions for how to approach or talk to parents. I sat in on parent-teacher interviews in my PSI and saw how my TA interacted with the parents, and how she addressed the parents with concerns she had with certain students. It was very helpful but I think until we are in that situation, it’s hard to know how we will react. So having some suggestions for terms to use could increase our confidence in this area.

Related to the topic of parents is the changing nature of families. I think it is important for us to remember that not every student will have a mother and a father at home. Some of the students will come from single parent homes or some might live with their grandparents. I think it is important to get to know your students and their backgrounds and know if certain subjects are touchy subjects.

I know the Ed program can’t teach us everything we need to know because some things have to be learned on the job. I think the U of L programs gives us a pretty good opportunity to experience the real world of teaching with all the practicums and internship. I think I will be much better prepared once I set foot in the school…..but I know I will learn more and more every day of my career.