July 8th, 2011 Class - EDUC 504

Each paragraph below are separate, disconnected ideas that were depicted about our first 504 class.  Each of them were areas of interest to me.  I invite you all to read them, analyze them, and give me some different points of view to expand my thought processes about each topic. 

Jeff's active group discussion style was intriguing to me.  He put a lot of time and effort into listening to everyone who spoke, and to physically move towards the person that was talking.  Some of it was probably to hear quiet talkers, but it seems to be a developed skill.  Jeff let everyone who was interested in speaking have the floor.  He encouraged other discussion from classmates to chime in and related to the comments made by other students.  He probably didn't realize, but the personalized environment he created helped some classmates who do not speak up often contribute a substantial amount of content to the discussion. Surprisingly enough, when I talked with other students in the classroom about this style of teaching, not everyone liked it as much as I did.  Some people felt uncomfortable being physically approached like that.  I think that is probably because there are not many teachers who do that.  Anything that is different can be uncomfortable.

It is greatly appreciated to have two teachers in the classroom together.  Probably not realistic for most of our teaching when we are done, but seems to be extremely beneficial.  If you can increase your teacher to student ratio, more students can get individual attention.  More individualized attention can help get everyone in the classroom up to speed, less students falling behind.  It can make it easier to move on if more students in the classroom have similar prior knowledge base on subject matter.  It would be a clear choice to me to have duel teachers per classroom.  If you could advertise, or have the reputation, or more than one teacher in a classroom, it would be a way to recruit more students for the school.  If I had any type of choice as to which school I could attend, I would definitely choose a school with more teachers per classroom.  Having duel teachers could also assist in incorporating lesson plans with multiple classrooms.  When you are a single teacher, you are isolated in a classroom.  Since you are responsible for the safety of the students in your room, you cannot leave.  If one teacher can be responsible for the class, the other teacher can be freed up to trouble shoot problems, or communicate to other teachers, etc.  It would help link the school together in several ways.

Ask three before me is a great teacher tip!  You would have to be okay with an interactive, chatty classroom for it to work.  I would love to put this into action.  I suppose it would take a lot of reminders for the students to get used to this policy.  I had to change my natural habit of asking the teacher and engage with more students before asking a question.  For how ofter I ask for clarification in class, I think that I didn't ask another question to the teacher in general until class was on break.  I also had more interaction with my classmates than normal.  Because it is ask three before asking the teacher, I had to ask more than just the person to the left and right of me.  Someone five students away from my seat asked a group of people out loud for clarification in a mass group.  That was an interesting approach.  I only thought to ask one person at a time.  That was much more efficient.  Who knew, other that freeing up the teacher to be more productive with her time, it also helped to build the community in the classroom. 

Today is the first time I have ever had a blog.  Welcome to the now.  Part of this standoffish approach has been my closed door policy.  I am unsure about how to allow public information related to a classroom and keep it a safe environment.  Because of this, I have not incorporated it.  It is easier to draw a black and white line, than make the gray area work.  I am open to suggestions.  How does one deal with inappropriate public information.  Once something is out there, and viewed, it cannot be forgotten or erased.  That could cause some serious damage to an individual's feelings.  Also, what one person thinks is something OK to say, even with their good judgment, doesn't mean another student will interpret it the same way. 

Looking at wiki as a teacher instead of a student was useful.  I can see how overwhelming it can be for younger users.  The verbiage could be very difficult for someone to understand unless they are an expert in that area.  It is useful that a student can click on hypertext to clarify each key word in a passage, but if you keep clicking links to more links to more links, it gets difficult to stay on topic.  If a student isn't curious about learning about each word, then as displayed in class, they could just find it easier to cut and paste information into a project or paper that they don't understand.  This does not lend itself well to the student actually learning the content of an assignment.  On the positive side, there is a list of quick facts on the right hand side.  I can also see how useful it can be as a portal to other places that could be more appropriate.  It could be a good jumping off point in general.  There were all kinds of links on the bottom of the passage to inspire different leads.  Another feature that I saw before, but didn't think about the benefits as a teacher, was the different language options on the left had side.  If you are living in an area where there are students who's primary language is not English, they can click and view the exact same information in a language that may be easier for them to comprehend.  Also, even if English is a students first language, they may be isolated from their parents help if their parents do not have English as their primary language.  Anything to help encourage parents to be involved with their kids is a bonus!  What other features did my classmates find helpful as a teacher about wiki?

Who knew that letting everyone in the class explain why they want to be a teacher could be so in depth.  It was a fun way to get to know classmates, and to make links with people on the other side of the room with areas of interest.  I find when questions are asked, and everyone rotates in a circle and is required to give a response, the anxiety builds up as my turn is approaching.  Not that I mind sharing, but when I have longer to think about what I am going to say, I make more connections in my mind, and have to hold on to those emotional thoughts before sharing with the class.   I think this exercise worked will in our setting, but that it would be a bad idea to ask a group of students in a public school.  Many of our classmates had inspiring answers to give.  In a public school, there could be one or many students who are there because they have to be, not because they want to be.  This would not be a very productive use of group sharing!

Looking forward to hearing responses from classmates.  It is enjoyable to have an environment where we can all learn from each others different points of view.