Lesson Plans

The seminar this week as well as the lesson prep for the sixth graders has been a real eye opener. Now I know why every teacher that I have visited and talked to has told me to steal as many lesson plans as I possibly can. It takes a lot of work to write one from scratch and have it be good. Then there is always the test period where your first two periods have to be the dummies so you can get all the quirks out. A lesson plan that is already made and tested on students that you can tweak to your students specific needs sounds better and better every time we make one. One thing that Shum has done that has been really helpful is he had everyone is his class get a Dropbox account so that he could just put all his hand outs and power points there for us to take and save.

One thing that is comforting is that all the other teachers at the schools around where ever I end up will have had to go through the same thing already and will probably be more than willing to share around lesson plans to just make everyones life easier.

Something I believe Colin mentioned was to get a job now doing what you want to teach. This is something that I have always tried to do, sometimes with better luck than others, but it is very important. With having to have the work experience in order to get the endorsements you need to teach what you want to it becomes critical or you will end up teaching something else because there is someone else more qualified.

I also liked the idea of pretty much getting a lot of the first time teacher stress and problems over with during your student teaching. If you can put everything into it you will get everything out of it. Figuring out the working of a classroom and development of lesson plans for an entire class is something you can get a hold of while you have help. It sounds a lot better to me.

You know I think this becoming a teacher thing will work out.

Lesson Plans and Reality

This week has been a really good experience. I have really enjoyed the group project of combining everyones ideas and ways of thinking and teaching into one lesson plan. We have come up with things that I never would have thought of or at least it would have taken me a whole lot longer to come up with and even then it wouldn't have been as good as when we are all working on it together. One of the hardest things is to get a good anticipatory set that will draw the students in and then lead them into your lessons smoothly.

It has been really great this week to go over the reality of teaching with Geoff's thoughts as well as a guest speaker (I really wish I could remember his name.) I had been worried a little about income mostly because once I told my mom I wanted to become a teacher she flipped. She kept going off about how I wouldn't make enough to support a family and I would have to have two or three jobs on top of teaching, etc.... It came to the point where I decided...OK great. I will just have to work another job. Now that we have gone over that part I will probably still have another job for at least the start in order to stay on top of things and so that we can have what we need especially with my wife and myself being from different states and there going to be a lot of travel happening. But really I don't need to be a millionaire. I never have been and I don't know how much I would enjoy it if I was. Actually if I had that much money I would spend it on farmland and start an Adventure ranch or something with my brother so it wouldn't be a bad thing but it just isn't a priority for me to make more money than I could ever need to spend. I grew up in a small town and I learned how to work and live with what you have and I enjoy living that way.

I feel what makes the biggest difference in my decision to become a teacher is the same as most... I just want to help people. I love the age group that we will be working with and I honestly want to help them through a very difficulty point in life as far as self worth, personality, and future.

I'm sure I have talked about him before but I had a Drivers-ED teacher in high school who taught us a whole lot more than drivers-ed. He was a teacher who took the moral dimensions of teaching to the maximum potential without any of the students knowing he was doing it because he just lived it. His life was teaching. Having lost his own, he treated and made his students and, being a coach, his athletes his family. He is one of the biggest reasons I want to do this and for the same reason he did it. He cared about the students and knew he could have an influence for the best in each and every one of them if he put in the effort to do so... and he did. I will never for get that. I just wish he was still around so I could learn more from him.

Being a teacher isn't easy. But I think it will be worth it and that I will enjoy doing it. That is what matters most.

Why Tests?

I have been thinking a lot about what we went over on Thursday about test writing and test taking. I have never understood why someone would write a test and then teach you how to take it without learning any of the material. I have known people who have spent more time studying how to take tests than study the material they cover and quite often they would do better on them than most. So how can a teacher really test what is being learned?
Putting the ideas together that we brainstormed and reviewed in class I have come to the conclusion that the only way to really test a students knowledge is to have them apply it. In math this wouldn't be a given equation but a story problem where the student has to desifer the information and from it deduct what to do with it. In technology it would be an assignment given with specific criteria with out a step by step manual how it needs to be done. Dr. C's woods class I feel did this well. Dr. C was always giving test on the different types of wood and the machines but they only showed how good the students were at quick memorization. It was teaching us how to use the equiptment and then turning us loose to build something that we could only imagine and create it using those skills he taught. We learned not so much from the lecture but by putting the lecture into action and helping one another in the process to remember and perform as needed.
This takes us back to Gong's idea of a Learner/Teacher. As far as I can understand it is the best way to learn and the best way to teach others is by being teachable.
It has been interesting to look back on teachers I have had in the past and see their personalities and their desire for our learning show in how they acted and how they taught. It would always drive me crazy when I would have a teacher who acted like they hated their job. They wanted nothing to do with the students and only looked forward to going home at the end of the day. I try not to be so harsh knowing how hard a teaching career can be but as Geoff said at the beginning of this class being a teacher is either what you want to do 100% or not at all. If you are not all there for those you teach than you would be of more benefit somewhere else.
I cant think of any place I would rather be and that dose seem weird to me but I know of no other place that allows me do have the impact on others lives for the good as being a teacher does. I really just want to help people. The schooling wont do it for me I have to be the one to teach them more than just technology but to teach them how to BE and to truly live happiness. I might sound a little preachy right now but its the little things like respect for others, kindness, patience, diligence, motivation, passion, and love. That is what makes all the difference in someones life and what needs to be learned. Understanding the inner workings of a computer or the structure of an atom is something that life can be lived without but history has proven that happiness only comes from wanting the same for all around you.
I am excited to have the opportunity to teach the 6th grade class I hope we can teach something that will be of benefit to them in their lives.