And Furthermore

In reading the Wong book I relearned some of the things I had observed throughout my Secondary School experience. That many teachers fall into a trap, becoming bitter and cynical. I again saw that when I went to observe for the first time in a Junior High. Wong taught about having a yearly renewal of enthusiasm and excitement towards teaching and students. And somehow I have to do it. I believe a way to do that is to have you fingers in different pies. I think that teachers and people in general become oblivious, when they get caught up in their own little world, when their life only consists of teaching or whatever endeavor it be. We are alive and energetic when we have balanced lives full of activities of different sorts. So I think a way to keep renewing enthusiasm for teaching self awareness and ability to correct your ways is to be active in life's bounties.

Seven Intelligence Elements

We went over over the seven elements of learning/ or different ways in which students can learn. It's a funny things to learn because it puts words to the things I see myself doing already when I interact with others. Many times I arrive in a conversation and tell another about something new that I've experienced. But sometimes they don't understand and so I break it down into simpler elements and make comparisons when I can. I use logical intelligence and Constructivism. When I was sitting in a Moral Leadership lecture learning about the different learning styles as set forth using the Kolb model, I became perplexed because I thought because of the different learning types I would always alienate a large part of the class. But knowing now the 7 intelligences and 3 areas of educational psychology, I am more able to use these to better reach my future students. Bro. Wright said that if we use at least 4 of the different intelligences we'll always touch our students.

Week one

There are two things I want to reflect on as my first blog.

1. Dress. 2. There is no one recipe to become an effective teacher.

1. I was a little skeptical about the need for me to dress as professionally as I should. But after reading the "Wong" book and the things written about dress and class respect and also by seeing it hold true to me, I decided that I should dress better. It's true though. From moment one Dr. Wright had my respect because he dressed appropriately, and even more because I like his style. It's quite dapper. And because he had my attention I payed attention to his authoritative lessons which were great as well.

2. As part of the first day we did an activity where we hoisted students on a trampoline into the air. We launched a girl about 6 feet into the air. the point is that in the Wong book it says not to do activities on the first day. And activities for activities sake are useless. Well yes, don't just do things to keep kids occupied or quiet, but let it carry a purpose. Also i think the two opposing schools of thought-to activity the first day or to not-shouldn't be subscribed to every time all the time. As teachers we should be able to think on our feet, and able to change lesson plans according to the different learning styles, paces, and needs of your class. If a teacher always teaches one way, they alienate the portion of the class who doesn't learn by the sector in which you teach. (Kolb Learning Styles)

My teaching philosophy is echoed in the teachings given in class by Brother Wright. This theme is what Brigham Young taught the saints. Teach principles and let the saints learn for themselves. Brother Wright also used this same example when recounting the story about fishing with his son. Teach and then let students figure it out. This I think was illustrated on my mission. Sometimes when we walked long distances from appointment to appointment, I would talk with my companion about different types of technology and inventions. In one instance I though about how cool it might be to have a magnetic suspension on a car. Fast forward to the last few years-Audi and many other companies are using electromagnetic technology in their suspension systems to give a wide range of handling characteristics to their cars. The thoughts and inventions I had on my mission were able to be realized because principles about the physical world were taught to me and then when I had the time I was able to imagine solutions. And that is my philosophy in teaching. Teach in a way that informs students in the way things work and guide them to solutions to problems which are then solved by those basic principles.