Final reading reflection!

 The time has come for my final reflection on the last lecture.  This book was very good. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants a different perspective on life .  While reading I had a few questions that came to my head that I wish to propose to my mentor team. The questions are as follows:

 1.)Do you think as teachers we should let our students have dreams? If so, should there be some confinement of logic you should guide them with? 

2.) Are there nitpicky things that you have ever gotten hung up on in the classroom? What did it take for you to realize your frustration was silly and you should just let it go? 

3.) Would it be okay to make a deal with your students if it meant reducing conflict? Just as Randy did with leaning back on the chair at his moms house. 

4.) When things get tough, how do you move forward and avoid complaining about it? 

5.)"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."  What does that mean to you? 

6.) Would you b willing to put your career on the line if you knew a student was in the right and your higher up was in the wrong?

7.) Do you think it's  good to teach simple social skills subtly to your students? For instance, teaching them how to apologize properly?

8.) How have you helped students to conquer brick walls? How have you yourself conquered them?

 One thing that stuck out to me was when my mentor Matt Eddy said in response to question five that this isn't like any other job, in that the technical aspect is minor compared to experience, as there will always be new situations.

 At the very end of Matt's response he said something that really stuck with me, that the beauty of this gig is you almost always have another chance tomorrow.


I hope that the questions proposed allowed for people to reflect on what they have read, and that the questions might promote inward thought even without the context of the novel.  My blog is open to comments and whoever wants to discuss further please feel free to leave one!

I hope to one day apply what I have learned from this text to my classroom, and to utilize a growth mindset.  Alongside the characteristics of effective teaching, I hope to help myself and my students achieve the best we can together in our program.

Effective teaching reflection

With every profession there are characteristics that make people great. A big characteristic of teaching is how effective you are at it. To be am effective teacher there are some key things that not onky researchers have discovered make a great teacher, but students themselves have even said when proposed the question, what do you think makes a good teacher? These are just some of the things (also the top things) that make an effective teacher:
1.) clarity 

• It is one thing to know the content you are teaching, but it's another thing to teach in a way that is going to be clear to the students. Just because you know something really well, does not mean your students are going to get it right away. As a teacher I am going to have to realize this and be sure that every student has a clear understanding of what I'm trying to say.

2.)variability 

• It is important to mix up your teaching styles not only from lesson to lesson, but within one, that way students will be able to keep focus and not lose interest in the subject.  

3.)enthusiasm 

• Even though for some subjects it might be difficult, you should maintain enthusiasm in the subject, because enthusiasm is contagious and will bleed over to your students and keep them engaged. 

4.)business-like behavior

• While it is good to show enthusiasm, it is important to maintain a professional environment as to allow for structure and order in the classroom.  

5.)opportunity to learn

• There is always room to grow, so you should make sure to learn new things as you go to provide new insight into your teachings and to grow alongside your students.

With knowing all of these, thanks to rosenshine and furst, I will strive to meet these to become the best teacher I can be for my students.

The Beginning of something great

Every adventure starts somewhere and this past week my final year for my #PSUAgEd19 adventure has began. It’s crazy to think that after this semester I will be in the classroom teaching students at the amazing Juniata Valley High school with Ms. Raylene Russell. I’m nervous and excited.

With this past week there was no messing around and we dove right into having to teach a lesson right out of the gate. I had to teach the locations of the Central American countries and the mottos that they had with them. I had NO idea how I was going to do it. When I got back home I was able to do some research and found an awesome video that helped me rem the countries. I give credit to this video for allowing me to easily and accurately teach the locations of the countries. If you want to watch it here it is:

It was a little nerve wracking to go up and teach because I don’t have really any formal teaching experience, however once I got up there and started teaching I gained a comfort and that comfort allowed me to gain trust in myself to deliver the lesson that I needed to from the parameters I was given and I did the absolute best that I could.

At the end of the lesson we were asked to give 2 gems and 2 opps.

My Gems:

-Speaking clearly, so students can understand what I was talking about.

-making connections so that students could remember things easier.

My opps:

-I should have allowed my students to immerse more while I was teaching.

-ask questions that involve more thought.

Throughout this semester I not only hope to work on my 
opps, but also my gems. Because even if you think you’re good at something there is ALWAYS room for improvement and I’m ready to improve in everything I do. Not only professionally, but personally as well. I also want to improve not just for me, but for my students and the people I interact with on a daily basis. I just have to keep on keeping on and take everything one step at a time... and you know what? I’m ready! #AEE412