Blog #1: Expectations during Senior Block Experience (due Monday, 1/16/12 by 8 AM)

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Richard Barrett on January 14, 2012 at 3:13pm

I guess the main thing I want to get out of this class is to how to be a better, more effective teacher of foreign languages.  One of my goals is to be that teacher that fosters an excitement and hunger for learning in the kids I teach and to give kids more initiative and independence when it comes to their learning; I think I might best achieve this goal by being a role-model for learning and sharing my passion for it with the kids.  In other words, I think instilling the initiative for autonomous learning starts with showing kids that learning can be fun and enjoyable and that it doesn’t have to be boring.

In terms of pedagogical skills I would like to refine, I would like have more capacity to use examples and practice activities to help my students better understand what I’m teaching them.  However, instead of just having to look up activities on the internet or in books or relying on my fellow teachers for ideas, I would like to be able to create my own activities by basing them or pulling them out of the theories we will have studied for the teaching and acquisition of foreign language.

It is my hope that through my teaching, my students will have an appreciation for languages and cultures (specifically) and language and culture more generally.  I would also want them to know how best to approach, think about, and view the general phenomena of culture and language.

Permalink Reply by Ben Campbell on January 15, 2012 at 9:17pm

I guess I'm suppose to reply to one of the posts...Hopefully I'm doing this right!  

Richard,  I really like your goals.  I think it is important for us as teachers to really want for our students to find enjoyment in learning because if we don't I think we have failed as teachers.  Not very many students, probably none would enjoy a class where the teacher doesn't (as you stated it) "foster an excitement and huger for learning...  With regards to the pedagocial skills i have the same hopes.  I think the best way to improve our skills is through experience of trying it and by taking in the advice from each other and our professors.  

One thing I will end with is this (and I've had to constantly remind myself of this too):  Chances are no matter how good of a teacher we are there will be a student or a few students who will not find an appreciation for Spanish, and who might not treat us the way they should...but don't let them keep you from teaching.  One or a few students who don't like our class or who say bad things about us doesn't mean we are bad teachers.  So be encouraged when it comes to the time when we will all hopefully be full time teachers I'm sure you and everyone else in our class will be making a difference in the students' lives.

Permalink Reply by Jessica Richardson on January 15, 2012 at 9:25pm

I totally understand about generating content! I don’t want to be giving myself more work than I need to, but I feel like without all these resources and people around me that I would never be able to come up with materials. Being a teacher requires such creativity, authority, people skills, knowledge, composure, caring, organization, patience, and so much more! It’s just a bit overwhelming to think about!

Permalink Reply by Stephanie Knouse on January 17, 2012 at 7:47pm

Sounds like good goals and ones that you'll be able to start on this semester.

Permalink Reply by Stephanie Knouse on January 17, 2012 at 7:48pm

Yes, you will learn a lot from your students. Trust me, you guys teach me so much every day!

Permalink Reply by Ben Campbell on January 15, 2012 at 9:00pm

Where do I start...So much is going through my mind as I count down the days before I take over the classroom.  How will I manage to get up at 6:30 every morning?  How am I going to keep 30 plus students' attention for 55 minutes? What do I do if the students don't listen to me?  How do I teach a successful lesson that engages the students?  Where do I even start with creating a lesson?  These are just a few of the questions that are going through my mind that I hope to find the answers to through my furman classes and through my experiences inside of the classroom.  So from this class and from my time in the classroom I hope to learn how to better teach Spanish effectively and how to get students to really enjoy learning and speaking Spanish.  Now I know I can't force the students to like Spanish class, but I hope to be that teacher that makes Spanish as enjoyable as possible.  So as my top teaching goal I want to be an effective teacher that stimulates the student's desire to learn.  First step towards achieving that goal is learning as much as possible from my Furman classes and from my co-operating teacher and then by taking all that information and seeing what works for my specific classes and what doesn't.  I know achievement of this goal probably will take time but I'm willing to do what is necessary to become the best teacher I can possibly be by trying and taking the advice from my future colleagues, professors, and hopefully my four classmates (Richard, Katie, Sarah, and Jessica).

Regarding my pedagogical skills, I think the biggest thing for me is just to really take in the advice that my professors and my cooperating teacher give me.  I really hope through my experience, my supervisor and cooperating teacher will help me figure out how to really be unique in my lesson planning and activities I give to my students.  I don't want my class to be boring. I want my students to enjoy being in class.  I want them to learn.  So how long do I lecture for?  Do I lecture at all?  Should I use group work? Should I use activities from the book?  Should there be no talking in my class at all?  So I guess my hope is to figure out how to answer these questions and others like them and effectively teach Spanish and connect the subject to things the students can relate to.  One other thing I hope to learn from my supervisor and cooperating teacher is how to manage my classroom and minimize the distractions in the class.  How do I deal with the three students who are singing in the back row, the five who are asleep, the one who is on his/her cell phone and meanwhile effectively teach the subjunctive?  These are just a few of the many thoughts that I have.

Lastly, by teaching spanish, I'm positive I will learn so much from the students.  I can read lots of texts books and get lots of useful information from people, but I think what will make me a better teacher will come from my experiences within the classroom with the students.  The students will allow me to see what works and what doesn't work, they will teach me to be patient, and will teach me to be a more gracious and forgiving person.  Ultimately I think the students will help me become a better person and a better teacher.

Permalink Reply by Ben Campbell on January 15, 2012 at 9:01pm

Sorry...didn't realize it was so long...i apologize i guess I had to much to say.

Permalink Reply by Stephanie Knouse on January 17, 2012 at 7:46pm

I loved reading it all; say all you want!

Permalink Reply by Jessica Richardson on January 15, 2012 at 9:24pm

This semester I want to learn how to communicate effectively with students in the classroom. I am passionate about Spanish and children and I want to use both of those passions well. I think my general nerdiness about Spanish just shows through without me even trying, but I want to strike the balance of showing these kids they are important and capable people that can use their interests in the classroom and outside of it. I’ve been in a camp counselor position, but I want to have the same care coupled with respect for me and for learning. I want to learn to be a respected and respectful teacher but still be myself. I suppose that is developing my teacher identity. I think that being intentional with my teaching and interactions every day plus this experience of this semester will help with this. Also learning more teaching techniques will enable me to communicate with students more effectively while recognizing and meeting their needs in the classroom.

 

I want to learn in class and through my co-teacher how to keep kids engaged. I understand that often they just want to check-out in school. I don’t want to just employ strategies to keep them from doing that, but to also have them enjoying the learning process. I want to end the year with students that not only learned in my class but did it in an interested way instead of just begrudging.

 

I want my students to learn the importance of other perspectives and modes of communication. I want them to have the tools to use Spanish but also the confidence that comes from achieving a difficult goal, such as learning another language. I want them to explore different areas and find meaning in the diversity of the community at large.

Permalink Reply by Stephanie Knouse on January 17, 2012 at 7:51pm

A sincere love for the content does shine through in one's teaching. This will definitely help with keeping students engaged; but, as you know it's just one piece of the puzzle. I look forward to seeing your teaching!

Permalink Reply by Stephanie Knouse on January 17, 2012 at 7:54pm

You already had a good start to practicing good classroom management with your little discussion with the students who made the 'cutie' comment to you. Collaborative learning is an important tool in teaching, but especially in FL classrooms.  

Permalink Reply by Richard Barrett on January 19, 2012 at 7:39pm

Sarah, this is only somewhat related to this post, but in a previous reply you said, "I'm nervous (and almost sad) about having to create a stricter, firmer version of myself in which I require students to demonstrate respect at all times."  I have the same concern when it comes to be told by standards what and how exactly I have to teach in the classroom.  (I know that these are pretty different situations, but we are sharing some of the same feelings.)

In regards to how I come across to the students, I haven't "figured out" anything, but I've decided a couple of things which you might should think about for your class.  I'm a pretty laid-back person in about everything that I do; I don't get frustrated or aggravated very easily; I'm generally not an ornery person.  Now, to be honest, I can't exactly say the same about my cooperating teacher; she's a good person and she doesn't get angry, but a lot of the times, she seems a little uptight and maybe a little unnecessarily strict..  Now, being practically subordinate to her, at the beginning of the experience I found myself feeling obligated to imitate her behavior.  However, after some time, I realized that it just didn't feel right; it wasn't me, and looking back, I realize that I didn't like it.

Now, from this anecdote, what I'm trying to get at is that it is important to demand respect as a teacher and act like a mentor instead of a friend, but you should also be yourself.  I wouldn't try to put up some sort of strict facade just so you can look like "the responsible adult."  Your choices (i.e. going to college, going into education, etc.) as well as your appearance (your attire, the way you carry yourself) will already be saying that.  (Let's face it, we are few years older than our students, as well as taller than a good number of them to.  This fact alone is likely to incur inherent respect.)

If you are to take anything from this, it would be to simply be yourself; demand respect, but be yourself.  You have such a wonderful personality and I would hate to see anything get in the way of that for your students.  Do you know how they say that dogs can smell fear?  Well kids can smell bull****, and they are allergic to it.  And I think they are likely to respect you more if you are yourself and stay away from bull.