Coaching

For sure I know I don't want to be a physical ed teacher but it would be so awesome to coach a soccer team! Not only fun but I would get paid for it. Right now I'm looking for an intramural team I can play on to get into shape and just to have fun. And the coaches I have respected most were the coaches that worked with us on the field and actually knew what they were talking about. So thats a new goal I'm shooting for is to be in great soccer shape. Ha no, being a soccer coach isn't my goal, but right now is just as good a time as ever to gain more knowledge and skill in the sport. Plus I'm afraid that if I take too much time away from the sport I will loose the skills I have already acquired. And if sometime down the road the opportunity presents itself to coach I'll be ready.

The observed lessons

For thanksgiving weekend we didn't have class but I have been thinking a lot about the lessons I have learned through observing. I made a trip to Saint George where the whole family was gathering for the holiday, and just being around my family has shown me how lucky I am to have such great teachers as parents.

Growing up our home life was far from perfect but my parents were always striving to make our house a place of refuge and a place where the spirit could reside, even when making that possible required some very hard decisions. They taught me how to spot negative influences for what they really were and they taught me the importance of the gospel. This lesson wasn't something that we sat down and talked about but it was just something they emanated in their actions and decisions for the family. Obviously I hope that this is something I can channel in my own family but beyond that I think that some of the most important and most valuable lessons learned are the ones that are not taught in a discussion but that are seen in actions.

Earlier this year we talked about setting a good example for the students by doing things like using appropriate and respectful language, talking about how important our families are to us, and even just picking up trash around campus. One thing I want to try and emanate in my class room is the value and enthusiasm of learning. There have been rare occasions when I realize just how important knowledge is and how exciting it can be to learn new things. I think that it is this attitude that drives me to learn more then just the curriculum but to apply the subject and use the class as a foundation of where to start learning more. Its this attitude that makes classes influential. I'll be the first to admit that this time of year my enthusiasm for learning is waning. I need to work on changing this attitude, because knowledge is power and if I expect to have this atmosphere and lesson in my classroom I need to have it in my own studies.

teaching 6th grade!!

Finally we taught in front of some real live kids! thank goodness we were prepared and there were four of us to help each other out. These kids were a little talkative and just antsy, which I think might be more like teaching 7th graders, but lucky no one was sassy or anything. What we did was we taught them the elements of design and had a competition with who could make the best cereal box design. They totally loved showing their projects and I could see that method, of hands on work or end products that they can display, as being a great teaching tool. All in all it was a great experience and I feel like it was awesome because we prepared so throughly for this lesson.

Also this week at seminar we had some student teachers come in and talk to us about their experiences and how they are handling different situations. It was really helpful to hear from their opinion. For a little while I have been thinking I should get a job that is related to the type of teaching I want to do and since one of the student teachers mentioned that would be a good idea I'm going to make it a priority for the next semester. Also I am going to organize my notes really well for the classes that I have take so far and keep them on file to refer back to later. I think student teaching is super difficult but really rewarding and I really look forward to it!

Grading

One thing that was funny to me this week was the discussions we had about the different formats for grading and different tests. Geoff was very adamant about tests being based on the actual knowledge the student has acquired but we as students wanted a different type of test. For instance the tests that Geoff was suggesting would definitely test our actual knowledge but as a student those test are the hardest to take. Also as a student right now when we study for tests a lot of times we are just trying to memorize as much information for the test as we can and then we forget it with in 24 hours after the test. This means we weren't actually learning the information. Geoffs approach to test taking was, "let me show you what I know", because he is actually trying to obtain and retain the information in the classes. This is what we all need to be doing because we need to know this information, not just memorize it, in order to be successful in teaching!

2nd High School Visit

So far this was my favorite class to shadow. We shadowed a juniors and seniors photography class and even though they were working on individual projects and there wasn't much lecturing going on I loved to see the creativity of the kids and just the various projects they had going. Photography and media arts is what I am most interested in for this major, even though I am just barrly starting to acquire experience for this field of work I feel like I am learning more every day and this class made me even more enthusiastic about up coming projects and even just about gaining new knowledge on my own.

while we were there it was also club day, in which every student in the school went to at least on club activity. We were right in the middle of the photography club and everyone went outside to take pictures of a classic cheve truck. Just the flexibility of the subject makes it such a fun subject to teach. Think of all the different subjects for photography and in each subject everyone has their own interpretation. One tool that the teacher used that I liked was he took over every students screen when he was lecturing and every computer was showing his screen so you know that the kids weren't on the internet just messing around as the teacher spoke to himself. With this tool every kid was paying attention and could see more clearly what the teacher was talking about.

Teaching STL's

For the past couple of weeks we have been having students teach STL's and one lesson that stood out to me was Lindsey's lesson on Thursday. Like Geoff said she did an awesome job at layer teaching! She never had to tell us directly what her STL was she just "teased it out". Like when we did a couple of equations on excell she never said we are learning about the different computer programs, she just taugh about one and got her point across. Also it made the lesson so much more interesting and she was really confident.

One thing that I noticed about some students as they were teaching, even myself, is that we are self conscious when we teaching up infront of everyone. As a result of that we are thinking more about what other people are think and not focusing on what we are doing at the moment. We sit there and critic eachothers lessons and know what would have made other students lessons better, but when it comes down to it some of us find it hard to apply good teaching methods.For example we forget to check for understanding or we say umm a ton, or we even end with the forbidden, "any questions"? I previously have this problem with preforming and one thing that helped me in those situations is the frase,"Be present in what ever your doing". Not just physically present but mentally be intune with what you are doing and trying to accomplish in that moment.

High school!

When I was a teenager I knew I loved high school more than junior high and I guess some things never change. Not that I didn't enjoy my observations of Junior High but this week, when I went to Salem High School I had so much fun.

We observed a broadcasting class and it was a blast! The kids were getting ready for the morning announcements that they have turned into a type of news show. I was really impressed with how much responsibility the students had and how much initiative they took. Not to say that the techer didn't have enough to do but the kids were really enthusistic about the show and were constantly suggesting new ideas for improvement. This is where the teachers' job came into place. He created an environment where his students could come up with new ideas and incorporate their own individual style with some respectable limits. Also he spoke nothing but positive things about his students and i realize that keeping your students self-esteem up might be half the battle of getting them to be enthusistic about their education. Also one thing that I noticed about high school is the students are there for 4 years, not just two, and they gain a better relationship with their teachers during that period of time. Which I feel like mad the teachers a huge influence in the students' lives, if the teacher put forth the effort. I could definitely see myself being in this type of teaching position and loving it.

Vista Heights Jr. High

I think that Gongs book "Learning and Teaching for Exponential Growth" has been my favorite reading so far. From the beginning when Gong explains that learning is a three person situation with the teacher and learner gaining knowledge from eachother and then teaching someone else their new knowledge, completing the triangle, I felt I had already known these theories. How many times do we hear speakers at church express that they feel they learn more as the teacher than as those who are being taught because they have to study the material more carefull? It's very true that if we all were to take the knowledge that we gain in the attitude of teaching someone that information later we would research it more thoroughly and retain the information more completely. My only problem is that it's hard for me to be that compassionate about everything I am learning.

Also this week we had our second Jr. High visit and I feel this experience was almost contrasting to the experience I had last week; aside from the diversity in kids. This week I observed Jay Anderson and another techer who I can't figure out how to spell, but his students call him Mr. B. Both teachers were very organizeed and even though they joked with the kids it was in a much more structured situation. Mr. B had a layout of the next 5-6 projects for the kids so they knew what to expect and Mr. Anderson had a similar schedule with different projects planned.

I noticed that each teacher did something to inspire thinking at the binning of class that was just a little fun for the kids. Jay Anderson puts a riddle up at the beginning of everyday and Mr. B puts a geometric type of brain teasser up to get the kids attention and to get them to start warming up their thinking caps for class to start. It's a good and effective routine and I also noticed that it took some of the potential monotony of the class.

American Fork Jr. High

Going to American Fork Jr. High, home of the cavemen, was awesome this week! First of all I forgot how much of a variety there was in students that age! From the time I was in elementary school to freshmen year of high school I was at least a head shorter than everyone else in my classes, and never thought anything of it. But now I realize just how little those kids are, and at the same time how tall some of those kids are! Mr. Carter, the teacher, told us that one of his students, Who was absent, was 6 foot 3 inches! That's an inch taller than BYU's basketball all-star Jimmer Fredette; and this kid is only in the 7th grade! I'm still not a very tall individual and i'm sure that at least half the students in high school will be taller than me; which I guess is nothing I can change. Also so many kids are trying to figure out where thye fit in. On one hand you have the little boy who wears a tucked button up shirt with his hair neatly combed and on the other his buddy with saggy jeans and a XXXL shirt on. So many of these kids are just figuring out where they belong.

On another note I really enjoyed seeing how Mr. Carter interacted with the kids. Most of them considered him a friend but at the same time they respected him. I can tell that's a hard balance to maintain because some of the kids that were really cool with Mr. Carter respected him but still had to be told a couple of times to do something before thye took him seriously. But when class was in session all the kids were attentive and motivated to finish the assignment, mostly due to the project and the enthusiasm Mr. Carter put into it. As we went around and helped the students I noticed none of the students really talked to me unless initiated the conversation, then I realized that there were no girls in the class and that these adolescent boys were very aware that I was a girl. This might be even more awkward because they didn't know me as well as they would know a regular teacher but I guess thats something I have to take into consideration when teaching these subjects, and I hope I get the opportunity to observe a female teacher.

When kids are in this stage of their life i see now how a teacher can be so influential! Mr. Carter let it slip to his students that he was a "Star Wars" fan, and since these kids look up to him so much now they have adopted the hoppy and have competitions, such as wookie calls, daily. Being a moral teacher is everything because with the right relationship these kids will pick up on even the little things the teachers do.

I look forward to more chances to observe and even practive different teaching styles and I'm mostly grateful for this initial observation because it has made me more confident in my abilities to become a great teacher.

"We shape our environments, there after they shape us."
- Winston Churchill

As teachers it is our responsibility to provide the right kind of environment for learning and teaching, and hopefully this is applicable to the lives that are in the class room and not just the curriculum taught there. In my high school there were all different types of teachers, sadly a lot of them were not ideal.

I had this history teacher that, on the first day, we sat down at our desks, and he stated that he was handing out a piece of paper with the syllabus, class room rules, and that there was no need for talking in his class. If I turned in all my assignments and did not disrupt the class I would get a good grade. From that day forward he put notes up on the projector for us to copy while he lectured from the notes the whole class period. My impression from the first day was accurate; this class was a waste of time. As blunt as my teenage self could be I was right in this assumption. The most I took away from that class was a grade; no lasting impressions besides boredom, and no life lessons besides how not to teach.

Obviously teaching shouldn't feel like babysitting but it definitely shouldn't feel like prison; for the teacher or the student. I really liked what we discussed in class with the moral dimensions because its such an obvious, but understated thing, that teaching is a moral endeavor. Teachers are the ones that walk the halls with the students and see most of everything that students encounter every day. Also every moral dimension could be applicable to any type of class.

"How do you bring in Faith, without bringing in faith?"

This balance is difficult for some teachers but my most influential teachers were the ones that were solid moral examples in their class rooms. And as we discussed in class, example is the best way to demonstrate faith without talking openly about it. Teaching faith doesn't have to be a discussion on the Bible but any moral dilemma can be solved with standards many Christians would deem acceptable. As Later day saints we are told to live in the world not of the world, and as a LDS teacher this has to be more prevalent in places like high school when kids are just figuring out where they stand on moral issues. I know that teaching is a moral pursuit but as i say it I wonder what percentage of teachers actually realize their position of influence.