Reflection 13

Capture:

This week I would like to reflect on having confidence in yourself and others in life as well as in teaching.


Analysis:

Confidence is a choice. Confidence is chosen when we build and strengthen our talents to help others. Confidence is found by fulfilling your deepest desires and needs. Fulfilling your deepest desires and needs comes from a feeling that you're valued as a human being and that your contribution with your talents and time mean something to the world. It is easy to feel like you're just one of the 7 billion people on this earth. It's easy to feel like you aren't unique. Over time, if you tell yourself often enough you don't matter, you'll really begin to believe it. But you have to keep choosing that belief each and every day in order to get to that point. You can also choose to do what you can where you are with what you have and begin to develop your talents and abilities in the best way you can to help others. If you do this, you'll find that you are unique. You'll find that your contribution matters to those that are closest to you and those are the people who matter. As you do this consistently and CHOOSE confidence, you'll find that your deepest desires and needs are met, that you're even able to help those around you meet those same deep desires and needs for themselves. And THAT is what matters.


Action:

I will do my best to foster confidence in myself and by so doing help my students build confidence in themselves.

Reflection 12

Capture:

This week I would like to reflect on my group's 6th grade teaching experience.


Analysis:

I felt like we worked well as a group. I felt like we were able to communicate the instructions for the activities clearly and easily. That said, we could have had more specific instructions for creating their cereal box/commercial. However, I felt that the students were able to grasp the concepts and accomplish the tasks we gave them. While there were lots of things we did really well I think there were a few things we could have done a lot better. We spent 20 minutes at the beginning of class the first day the telling the students that the only difference between generic brands and name brands was the advertising and branding. But then our activity wasn’t too strong of a follow up to that anticipatory set/activity introduction. Instead of having the students come up with their own type of cereal, what may have been a more powerful teaching activity would have been to tell all of the kids that they all had the same type of cereal and they task was to brand it the best out of everyone in the class. That way we would have driven home the point that it doesn't matter if your cereal tastes the same, it's all in the branding. Also, I felt that our time management was thrown off by technical difficulties. It would have been a good idea to test our powerpoints and videos before class to make sure that they worked. It would have also been a good idea to have back up activities planned in case technical difficulties occurred. Also, a better voting system for the student’s presentations could have been devised before hand.

Action:

Each time I teach I think it would be a good idea to do a mini-reflection on how class could have gone better and then apply those improvements the next time that lesson is taught. If I ever teach a similar lesson to this week's I'll apply the changes/improvements listed above into my teaching.

Reflection 11

Capture:

This week I would like to reflect on the power of having a vision for each student as a teacher.

Analysis:

Having a vision often means seeing the potential of what something or someone can become. Vision can be applied in any aspect of our lives. In our family lives, our business lives, and in our lives as teachers. In our families we can have a vision for what our marriages will be like, how our children will grow and develop, and what kind of lifestyle we will have. If we own a business we can visualize what kind of product we want to have, the kind of message we want our customers to receive, and the kind of profits we anticipate having. In our lives as teachers our vision is just as vital. As teachers we can have a vision for each of our students success, our curriculum, our classroom layout, and our progression in our skills as teachers. Having a vision can help us put our priorities and actions in line with our vision. As we consistently do this, our vision becomes realized. That said, there are some of our visions that just won't happen. There will always be things that don't work out the way we anticipate. Students will fail our classes no matter how hard we try to help them, we'll have off days when we teach, but that doesn't mean we have to lose the vision.      

Action:

I will have a realistic vision for my students and their performance, as well as my own abilities to help them perform.

Reflection 10

Capture:

This week I would like to reflect on creativity in the classroom.

Analysis:

Across the nation, and around the world there are rules to be followed. There are rules and regulations in society at large, their are national rules, state rules, family rules, company rules, religious rules and family rules. Rules are meant to keep us safe. Rules are meant to keep us in line. There are many rules that are there for those that just don't know better. If we were to keep track and execute all of the rules we're expected to follow, we would all be robots. We would be robots with slightly different personalities. In my opinion, some rules are meant to be broken. Too many rules can put us into boxes. There are some basic and general rules that are better to keep than to break. But if we're not careful keeping all the rules all the time can lead us to suffocate our creativity. If we accept the boxes that society gives us, we can find ourselves encased in "should do" boxes and "safe boxes" where all we ever do is think about what we should do according to the rules or what we should do to stay safe. Unless we, every once and a while, venture out of our "should and safe boxes"we'll find our selves safe and ready for our next set of rules, unable to even think of breaking out of the way we've always done things as rule keepers. To be creative we must be willing to sometimes do what society says we shouldn't and do things that might not be 100% safe. That said, our classrooms should be safe places but they should also be places where basic and fundamental rules exist but also places where creativity can be developed and sharpened within students.

Action:

I will have a classroom where creativity can grow and expand. I'll have basic fundamental rules but creativity will be the ultimate priority.

Reflection 9

Capture:

This week I decided not to continue my post from last week and instead reflect on desires and the realization of desires in the context of teaching.

Analysis:

We all have things we desire. How much do we really desire these things? For many of us, how badly we want to see the realization of these desires is pretty apparent. If we really want something, we're going to be willing to work for it. If we really want something we're not only going to be willing to work for it, we're going to be willing to give other things up. We will be willing to sacrifice what we want now for what we want most. We will make things happen. We won't wait around asking others for permission, we'll give ourselves permission and make whatever we want to have happen, happen. But how many of us are willing to do that when it comes to being a teacher? How much are we willing to do to help our students? How much are we allowed to do to help our students? These are all questions to consider when deciding the desires and expectations you have for your students. Once you have decided those things you can begin to see what you're really willing to do for those students success. Some teachers are willing to give their all, others are only willing to collect their pay check. Many of us fall somewhere in between. Granted, a majority of the responsibility falls on the student and their willingness to learn. We can desire the best for students, but if they don't act on what we've tried our best to give them to succeed, the fault is their own. That said, we as teachers should still do all we can to have strong desires for success for our students and be willing to do what it takes to make those desires reality.


Action:

As a teacher I will work to have realistic desires for my students and I will work to help them see their potential and allow them to accomplish it. I will make all that I can happen, happen.

Reflection 8

Capture:

This week I'd like to reflect on the fear of failure in learning and in life and the effects it has on our ability to perform.

Analysis:

Failure. Failure is unacceptable in our society. Growing up, what happened if you got a score below a 50 on a test? You got a failing grade. You get enough failing grades and you wouldn't graduate high school. Not only in learning do we 'fail' but socially too. We fail if we say the 'wrong' thing at school. What ends up happening? We don't say anything at all! There is something wrong here. Failure in this context, in society's context of failure as a whole, has an extremely negative connotation. It becomes feared and avoided. Failure boxes us into what we think is acceptable by society, so we produce anything and everything else so long as we don't fail in our society's eyes. Fear of failure eliminates creativity. What is creativity? One form of creativity is doing things that have never been done, thinking in ways that have never been thought, going place that have never been gone. The notion of doing something that hasn't been done before becomes insurmountable with the fear of failure.Thinking like this trains us to think that failure is an unbearable  and therefore you shouldn't try new things because you might fail. Not only that but it leads us to believe that we must do everything perfectly, that there is no room for error, which is completely unrealistic. By trying to avoid failure, we set ourselves up for failure by always falling short of what we see our potential as being.You shouldn't start a business because it might fail, you shouldn't get married because it might fail. The reality is failure is meant to happen. Failure is meant to be learned from and celebrated.

Action:

I will create an environment in my classroom where failure is acceptable (in certain forms) I'll elaborate on this subject more next week.

Reflection 7

Capture:

This week I'd like to reflect on how skill sets, divided up and awarded as badges, are my favorite way of measuring achievement and learning.  

Analysis:

I love small steps. Each small step you take up a staircase brings you that much closer to the next level. Small steps make huge leaps more manageable. In learning new skills sets with badges it's the same way. A skill set is what I consider a full 'set' of badges for any given subject. In the analogy of the stairs, the 'next level' is a full skill set and each individual badge is a 'stair'. Making individual badges basic, small and accessible steps toward achieving a skill set allows students to constantly feel successful. As the basic skills are taught, similar to Gong's exponential learning, they can be internalized, applied and passed on quicker. Skill sets are a great way to track progress. When applying for a job employers don't ask, "Hey, what'd you learn in your 8th grade history class" or "Did you memorize the periodic table in 10th grade?". Employers are interested in your skill sets. What can you DO? What are you good at? If there was a way to connect mainstream education with the concept of skill set based achievement, the transition from high school to college and out into the workforce would be much smoother. For example, if the skill set method was implemented when children were in elementary school for skills like design, computer programming, management, etc. students could begin to experience, on a more basic level obviously, skills that they could build on through high school, college and then the workforce. I'm not suggesting, however, that we starve children of their childhood's either. The skills taught in elementary school would allow them to be as creative and imaginative as ever. With the skill-set approach, innovation could take place at an exponential pace as students begin to understand the basic of real-world skills early on.    



Action:

In my class I would like to implement the skill-set/badge approach. If I had a way to do it, I would love to reinvent the entire education system to gear towards this idea of skill-set based learning and assessment.

Reflection 6

Capture:

This week I’d like to talk about how learning to love learning can change your life. I'd also like to talk briefly about how learning to love learning will lead you to love teaching.

Analysis:

We learn new things everyday. If we don't love to learn, life can easily become pretty boring and safe. Not that safety is a bad thing, but that safety due to complacency and an idle mind can completely change what you're willing to learn and accept as knowledge. If we don't love to learn, each new topic we 'have to' study or test we 'need to' prepare for becomes nothing more than just that, "have to do's and need to do's" which causes us to perceive learning as a chore rather than the adventure it can be. However if we 'want to' or 'get to' learn about a new topic or skill, our approach to learning completely changes and we find our lives open to change and new experiences. (Not so sure anyone will ever 'want to' take a test though) If you love what you are learning you'll want to share it with others, plain and simple. Sharing knowledge solidifies it in our own minds and helps others have the opportunity to accept and understand new things that can be life changing. That could be one of many reasons why missionaries go out for two years to teach the gospel, to solidify it in their own hearts and minds as they share what they've learned to be true. 

Action:

I'm trying my best to love learning so that I can grow in all areas of my life. I know that as I truly love learning that I'll truly love teaching and that as I come to love both, each will cease to be a chore and become a 'want to' or 'get to' in my life. 

Reflection 5

Capture:

This week I’d like to talk about the difference between living life by going through the motions and living life by loving life and how that relates to teaching.

Analysis:

Humans are creatures of habit. We wake up, we eat breakfast brush our teeth, and hopefully put on deodorant at some point. Each day we do things out of habit. Habits are good, but if we forget the why of our habits, life becomes awfully boring and, at times, lacks depth.  Habits like going to church, saying our prayers, reading books for classes, typing up reflections each week for this class, and a billion other tasks we do on a daily or weekly basis can become meaningless is we simply go through each task only to check off our to do list. In teaching, if we as teachers clock in and show up, throw up some powerpoint slides and give out an assignment we’ve failed. We’ve missed the point. If we just do things to get them done, we have no reason to be doing them. In order to get anything valuable out of life, we must show love in everything we do. The more we give and show love for what we’re doing, the more meaning it will have in our lives. This is especially true in the classroom. If we love our students and love what we teach, we’re truly living life rather than just going through the motions.

Action:

I have been trying and will continue to improve my perception of life in terms of not just going through the motions but sincerely giving and loving what I learn teach and experience on a daily basis.

Reflection 4

     Capture:

     This week I want to talk about how we view ourselves as individuals and teachers and the role that our perception plays in deciding the kind of individual and teacher we will be and become. 

     Analysis:

      As we go through life we have all sorts of experiences. Good, bad, ugly, all of these experiences lead us to create beliefs about the world, ourselves, and those around us. Those beliefs become the lenses or paradigms through which we view our current life experiences. As we built up our "belief lense", if we're not careful, we can discolor the world around us through untrue or negative beliefs about ourselves or others. For example, if we believe that we are miserable, we will be most likely be miserable. We will look for ways in which we can justify our belief. Negative beliefs about ourselves and others can be particularly problematic when we apply it to classroom situations. If we as teachers believe that our students don't have potential, and wont succeed, we'll teach to and look for ways to justify those beliefs about our students. Those beliefs are transmitted to students as expectations and they will perform accordingly. The opposite is true if we feel positively about ourselves and our students. Ultimately the way we view others comes down to how we view ourselves.  

    Action:

       I will view myself as a child of God or, in school terms, someone with infinite potential and create an environment where my students can come to have a firm belief that they too have infinite potential as contributors to the world.   

Reflection 3

Capture:

During class we talked about morals in the classroom and the responsibility we will have as teachers to create an atmosphere where those can be taught and applied.

Analysis:

The bottom line is that many of the kids we'll teach won't have the strongest moral backgrounds, the greatest family life or a role model for good values in their lives. That means that some of the kids we teach will need us to be the good examples. They will look to us for the "why" behind morality. We will want to be ready with an answer. Without a strong family, or moral role model to look up to in their lives, kids will easily gravitate to their friends' level of morality, or even use what they see on t.v. as their moral compass. This is why it is so important to know where we as teachers stand with our own personal morals and our commitment to creating a positive morally enriching atmosphere within the classroom. Not only can we make a difference intellectually in the lives of the kids we teach but also morally as we strive to be a good example of the morals that they need in order to be productive and knowledgeable citizens in society.  

Application:

As a teacher I will do all I can to be an example for my students of someone they can look to to model their values from. I will find ways in which to balance course material with underlying moral lessons and be watchful to find moments in the classroom environment where I can present them in a non-invasive way.

Reflection 2

Capture:

After reading Wong Part One I wanted to reflect on the importance of first impressions.

Analysis:

Wong relays the importance of first impressions in the classroom in creating both an efficient and effective classroom. First impressions are apart of our everyday lives. When we first meet someone, that person only knows what they've seen of us in the few seconds they've known us. Yet, those that meet you will hold you to the expectations they create for you when they first meet you. This can be problematic, especially in the classroom. If a teacher comes into their class on the first day of school and announces games and fun activities for the first day of school, students will expect games and fun activities are what class will be each day and their overall productivity during the year will be substantially decreased. Students will live up to the expectations you give them, and convey through your actions and attitude. 

Action:

As a teacher, I will do all I can to create an a  strong positive, hopeful, productive and effective impression and first few days of school so that my students can grow to their greatest potential during their time in my class. I will then continue to reinforce that initial impression throughout the semester by remaining true to the initial impression and set of expectations that I gave to students on the first day of class. 

Reflection 1

     Capture:

     Two key concepts that I've observed in this class so far are: 1) We get what we give. 2) Learn for Life, Not a Grade. 

     Analysis:

     Upon reflecting on these two concepts I've found several key differences in how I was taught growing up and how I would/will teach now and in the future. In high school my biggest frustration was going to classes where the material had hardly any real-world application. I've felt that my high school education, and even my college education to an extent, hasn't really carried over into real-life application. Let me explain. For example, there is no class taught in high school on how to get a job,  basic communication/social skills, how to do basic finances/ budget, or other essential and even foundational life skills. These skills are left to be taught by Boy Scout troops, Church or Religious organizations, and in the home. That said, I feel that these things should be taught in these places, but what about the students who have awful home lives, don't go to church, etc. I guess what I'm getting at is the importance of having real-world application for the information being presented within the classroom being paramount above the information itself. There needs to be more Learning for Life, Not Just Learning for a Grade. With that in mind, even if you do create a class where real-world application is paramount, it ultimately comes down to what each student and teacher gives to the class that determines the final outcome for all involved.  

    Action:

     As I begin my teaching career I will do everything I can to have real-world skills incorporated into whatever lesson material I present. Ideally, and ultimately, I would love to be an educational entrepreneur and create/launch classes/schools that teach real-world skills along with specific core classes that teach and prepare students for their college and real-life/workplace experiences.