colored picture mosaic

Capture 12

The final Reflection!
We had class again. I liked that Shum had the oppertunity to teach us today. He always connects information together really well and it is easy for me to understand and remember. We talked about TEE and how it developed over time by different philosophers and different Government funding. The highschool I went to was a public school in Tennessee it was very liberal arts orented we didn't have any vocational classes and I wasn't aware of any TEE classes. English Science and Math scores were high at the school school but I really think it is important for students to do hands on acitivies. From the highschool experience I did have, I know that when I took anatomy it was much easier to understand when we had cats,rats, lambs, and pigs to disect. Hands on discovery helps people understand in a different way.
There is a dicotomy of thought. Some people believe things should be taught for the general benefit of learning, others believe it should be taught to be mastered and applied only. If you aren't going to master it don't learn it.
I think my personal philosophy is that it is important to be exposed to many different fields of learning. Learn about all fields and learning will enrich learning.
To me liberal art teach us how to think and improve things. Science, Math, and Teach teachs us how to interact with the world around us. When we combined the two we can become the ultimate innovators.
I wish there was more Math and Science and a little more liberal arts in the major. I think that would be vastly benefical.  When I teach my goal would be to incorperate more math and science and liberal arts into the Tech curriculm.   

Reflection 11

This week our class was preparing their teaching presentations for the Elementary school. My group already presented so we did not have class. This leaves me with little to reflect on for TEE 276. I still need to get the video of our teaching and review it through MEDIA NOTES. It was a good oppertunity to teach at the middle school.
I am interested to hear how other groups did and what they thought of the experience. It was interesting that we were sent to an elementary school instead of a middle school or high school. I wonder if middle or high school students would have enjoyed the project more. It would be interesting to compare the two experiences.
It would be nice to have more opportunities to teach kids. It is definately is different teaching someone your own age than teaching younger children. I wonder how much different it would be teaching highschool vs teaching middle school.
Next to observing in the classroom i think this was the second most helpful activity. I didn't get very much out of teach other student in this class. Most of then know more about what I was teaching than I did. It will be nice to get more experience in the classroom later on.

Reflection 10

My group went to the Elementary school today! It was interesting. I feel like the teacher was very patient and helpful, qualities an Elementary school teacher should have. We did a series of activities with the students and talked to them about innovation and the design process.
We started out by telling them today they would be inventors. Emily asked them what an inventor is and if they have ever invented anything before. Garrett explained to them the design process: ask, imagine, plan, create, improve, all oriented around a goal. I told them their first challenge was to pair up and use a bag of supplies to make a robot that moves around and scribbles on paper. We gave them the bags which contained markers, a paperclip, popsicle sticks, a penny, a plastic cup, a motor, a battery, tape, a rubber band, and eraser, and a pencil. The students worked on their robots for about 30 minutes. The were coming up with some great designs and we went around the room observing and asking them questions to get them thinking. Such as, how does a car move? What acts like a wheel for this robot?
After us Jessica and Jeff did an activity about assembly lines. Afterward they did a good job discussing with the students the why of the activity but the logistics before hand could have been explained in greater detail little rocky. The activity was pretty fastpaced and several of the students were confused.  But the last activity the students were pretty tired but still working hard. I think we tried to pack in too many activities. The students were a little rushed and I wonder how much more they would have gotten out of the activities if we had taken more time to talk about them. I feel like the students understood the activities on different levels. Their attention spans were shorter than we expected.
Anne suggested afterword that we spend more time on explaining the activities before they engage in them.

Reflection Capture 9

We enjoyed the last 2 days of STL teaching. I presented on Earthquake technologies on Tuesday. I started with an internet research activity. Students broke up into groups and researched the Jan 2010 Earthquake. Then we discussed earthquakes, mercalli's scale of intensity, and the impact of earthquakes on buildings. The students broke up into groups where they discussed how an earthquake would effect buildings with poor siesmic designs: too many large windows, complex geometry, etc.  Dr. Wright and the class provided me with feedback. One student said that I gesticulate too much when I teach and she found it distraction. Dr. Wright mentioned that part of my powerpoint was distracting because I had a picture of a dinosaur in there, just for fun. He said that he wanted me to write new taxonomy on the board. Another way I could have improved was to set up the activities better. I should have organized the students into groups for the Internet research activity.
Some feedback that he gave students today was to focus on eye contact. It's helps to engage the students and we are teaching students not material. The missionaries at the MTC often mention that. They really like it when teachers make eye contact with them when they teach. Doctor wright also recommended more fully utalizing resorces. If you write somethign on the board take the time to go through it. This suggestion makes me think that I try to pack too much into the lesson. I tend to rush through things and we don't get as much as we could out of each activity. THis would help me set up activities better and focus more on the purpose of each activity.
Another way to improve teaching is to  assess during the demo. Check for understanding along the way of explaining the process. Ask questions right after explaining step one, then step two, step three etc.
One last point that Dr Wright said was important was to hit the "why"! Why are we learning this? Tell the students why we are teaching it and why they should learn it. I think this applies to what I talked about in Capture 8. If students see how the topic relates to something they are intrested in they are more likely to pay attention and learn.

Capture Reflection 8

It has been really intresting watching the other students teach. Some lectures have been really boring and I almost fell asleep. There are definately a few things I will try to never do. I agree with Dr. Wright powerpoint presentations are less effective when all they have is words on them. It is so much more intresting when there are pictures and the teacher explains the pictures. Also presenting information is not signigificant unless it applies to the people who are watching the presentation. I think as a teacher it is important to apply the subject to the students. When I saw how the subject applied to me and my situation it was much easier to pay attention.
I also agree with Dr. Wright about the importants of activities. Dr. Wright said that it is important to be a teacher not just a presenter. He wanted us to practice the different learning philosopies and to try out different techniques. The students should learn not just be exposed to information. What fosters learning? Thought! What can teachers do to help students think? I think one thing teachers can do is to ask questions. I loved having group discussions. Another things a teacher can do is talk about things, as I mentioned before, that already intrest the students. I was going to present on Earthquake technologies and as another students was presenting it was easier to pay attention because I kept thinking about how earthquakes would effect the technologies he was talking about. It is important to make the link. I think teachers can help link the subject to something that intrest students. I had an english teacher in highschool that related every topic to something in pop culture. Maybe the students won't get what you expected out of the lesson but they may learn something more valuable. But atleast they won't be asleep.
I really liked the lessons about communication technologies. I think that was easy to relate to, everybody talks. The power lectures where some of the most boring. I think that if I thought more about application it would have been more intresting to me. I also liked talking about ethical issues. Those discussions fostered talking and thinking about application.
Activites were most effective when we understood the purpose of the activity and made the connection between the activity and the lesson. The best activites were those that communicated knowledge without having to have the teacher explain. Like is says in John7:17 if we will do it, we can know it. Hearing alone isn't enough. .

Reflection/ Capture 7

Last week during class I got sick and I ran out so that I could throw up in the bathroom. But I am sure all the presentations were amazing. As far as observations went I had a great time at the autobody class. I wish I could have taken this class in highschool. It was very infomative. The teacher was great and really knew what he was talking about. I think that is the hard part about this major. We seem to learn a little bit about everything but I don't feel like an expert of anything. I feel like I want to learn about everything but when it comes to teaching something I need to be an authority on it. The teachers of the classes we've observed knew a LOT about the subjects that they were teaching. When I am a teacher I want to be like that. It's hard for me to pick the subject that I want to teach. I am fairly intrested in everything. That is why I chose to go to the Auto class because I don't know very much about auto shop, and I wanted to see how I liked it. It was intresting for sure but I don't think I am qualified to teach a class like that.

It seems like most of the classes I have observed are taught by teachers who worked in the industry and did not study teaching. That makes me wonder if I need to modify my course of study. Over all I am really glad we had the oppertunity to go and observe in classrooms. That was the most informative activitiy I think we could do as TEE students wanting to be future teachers.

This week I also started a teaching job. It's been a great experience working with the students. It is a wonderful learning experience. I love doing it and I am sure I will continue to improve and learn a lot about writing lesson plans and teaching methods. One thing I really like is that in our training meetings we are taught to focus on activities where the students can practice what they are learning. We are advised to have half the lesson be an activity where they can do what they learned. This helps the students really learn and makes the instruction more focused on preparing them to be able to do something. It also provides a grea oppertunity to encourage them as they practice. I think it applies very much to our major.