An Anti-Climactic Breakthrough

From this weeks experience I wanted to sum things up from our observation in Skyline. I was so set on going to observe teaching in a multimedia class. I didn't even know what was included in multimedia. So despite our group being 5 (when it should have been 3) I went. We woke up super early so we could get there on time. The school was old. But unfortunately we caught the teacher on a "B" day so she wasn't teaching multimedia, she was teaching business tech. aka word processing. But I did learn some valuable things. I saw that it really takes a lot of preplanning to have learning activities and tasks ready for the class. Alicia did a mostly good job at this. I only saw one problem. When students finished their tasks, Alicia had to come by each student and check off their assignment, but it was a big time waster because lots of students finished at the same time, and we watched one particular student wait for 15 minutes for the teacher to come verify what she had done. Perhaps she could have had a list of non time-pertinent tasks which students could do while they were waiting, which maybe weren't required but which further enhanced learning. I think a big problem in education is that because teachers must in part wait for everyone to catch up, the students with greater potential and capacity to achieve faster are held back. I experienced this in 8th grade science. I went and complained to a teacher that we weren't learning enough. She actually said well I"m sorry the other kids are just dumb and can't keep up. As teachers we should look out for all levels of achievement and help cater to their needs and wants.

Case in Point

For this week I wanted to tell the story of my Sacrament meeting experience this past Sunday. In the first of three talks, the girl speaking had no direction or purpose to her talk. She had mixed thoughts, unrelated stories and ended without a recap or emphasis. The second speaker began her talk and within 30 seconds she lost me. She wasn't a speaker, she was a reader. Even though her talk was laced with jokes and one-liners, she lost my respect and my attention. This iterates again the importance of being a good teacher and reaching out of her normal zone to hit all types of listeners. Granted I should have used the techniques of CETE (Wong) but lots rests on the leader of discussion, the person who has the floor.

Aims of an Education

I've had somewhat of a rough week. We had a "tiff" in our apartment which left me in some distress, yet gave me some time to think about things that are going on around me.

I love this major, and I think the things I'm learning prepare me so much better than could any other filed of study. We are becoming well rounded in technical literacy while also learning differences in learning and teaching styles. As such I am beginning to find more purpose in listening to lectures and more effectiveness in conversing, speaking, and teaching others with whom I speak to. I ask more pointed and guiding questions. I use scaffolding in conversations when I need to persuade others to see something my way. I sometimes don't answer questions directly but ask questions in return. I'm even giving better attention to my own hierarchy of needs. This knowledge and learning even benefits me at work as a supervisor, where I deal with hot heads and misunderstandings in Intramural Sports. Before I used to get sucked into arguments and rushed into making judgments. But now, because of the things we learn in 276, I approach my work in new, seemingly more effective ways.

Week 4

As I was reading the Gong book this week, I came a cross what I think is the core message and key to the purpose of the book-How to be an effective Teacher/Learner. When teaching and learning one must ask the four questions, Why? What? How? So What? The why is the core purpose for the subject being taught. The what is the meaning of what being taught. How is the application of what is taught. So what identifies the values and morals. I think I came across a tool for better learning and retention. Not that this is necessarily ground breaking but that I've personally identified it is what matters. I want to try to making a 4 squared box at the top of each page of notes per class, and in the box, throughout a lecture I could identify the 4 questions of effective L/T's. This will help by clearly identifying the subject, identifying application, why we're learning it and how we can use it in future teaching, and the hardest, to then identify values within what is taught. This technique will serve as a mind mapping tool. By giving a visual organizational graphic to our learning opportunities, we are better prepared to remember the things we learn and apply them across disciplines.

Teachers vs. Learners

This week I relearned what it is to be a teacher and good learner. And they key to being an effective teacher is to be a lifelong learner. Students who earn a PhD do so by much study. The PhD degree translates into a love for knowledge. In order to a good teacher you need to ever be a good learner and vice versa. As we teach we learn new ways in which we can deliver information and problem solving techniques. If a teacher never learns these new ways he isn't a teacher. For to be a teacher implies that one is learning from what comes from your mouth. To learn we must be able to teach what is given to us. Otherwise it is simply stored away perhaps for a moment in life but over time things left unshared go unremembered. In order to be a learner, it implies knowing a matter well enough to teach it to another. Additionally this act serves as a technique for planting ideas more firmly in your brain's memory. Teachers-Learners, Learners-Teachers: Nothing without the other.