Seminar 11/17: Chalk

Wow, what a great way to tell us how not to be a teacher :) At first I thought a couple of the teachers were alright, especially the energetic history teacher. That is until he explained he was only competing for the Teacher of the Year Award. I was shocked when he pulled a couple of his students aside after class and told them to act dumb. I also disliked the gym teacher with the attitude. It was very rude of her to tell her colleague that she could use some exercise. I don't know what to think about the uptight history teacher. His teaching methods were extremely dry and he had no authority over the class. All in all, these seem to be extreme cases of dysfunctional teachers, but I'm looking forward to seeing the last half next Monday!

Seminar 11/10

I thought hearing parents' opinions was very beneficial. First, I was glad that this did not turn out to be a panel of parents telling future teachers (us) how to treat their children. To me, it was informal and they provided good examples which implemented suggestions about the do's and dont's of teaching, with respect to their children. It was extremely powerful to listen to two of the parents with children who are exceptional. I think it is this style of parents who are the most competent in relation to effective teaching. They also understand the importance of the connection between the teacher, student's parents, and the student.

With all do respect, I wasn't impressed with Mr. Belay. His attitude toward teachers and education appeared very negative to me. I can think of an example when he said he stopped going to P/T conferences because they were a "colossal waste of my time." I agree that numerous charts and graphs don't say much, but it still seems important to me to attend the conferences. Also, his profession doesn't seem very realistic with respect to normal education. As a lawyer, I can assume that his family is financially competent. I would liked to have seen a parent who struggled (or struggles) financially, and hear their side of the story.

Overall, I understand that parents have a very important role in their childeren's education; however, with no reference to any of these three parents, it is important that all parents at times should realize that teachers are not to be held accountable for everything [exs: a faulty curriculum, lame education pacts (NCLB)]. I agree with an important comment brought up at seminar prior to this one stated by Mr. Roush. He told us that in order to be a good educator you must work as a team with your students, and the students' parents. This is an important basis for effective educators.

Last Child In the Woods

I enjoy this book. It discusses some great advantages for environmental-based education. Richard Louv's main point is to reconnect children with nature. According to Louv, nature plays an important role in a child's educational experience. I agree that our connection with nature is slowly diminishing and it is important to reincorporate nature into education. The outside activity our class did yesterday reminded me of how beautiful nature really is. Also, Louv mentions a third frontier with a shift from "biophilia" to "videophilia." This is true; however it is important that we focus more on the nature aspect. It is horrible to learn how constricting we are on children's experiences with nature and that we now go to the biggest extreme of GPS trackers. Overall, the book covers a very important issue of children's reconnection with nature and how we can take little steps to bring into our education system.

Seminar 11/3

I found seminar tonight very helpful. It's very reassuring to know that there are current teachers who were as nervous in their first weeks of teaching as I feel to be a teacher. Almost stating the obvious, I found it helpful to get to know other colleagues and students well. While the panel of three teachers tonight seem to get stressed out at certain points, it also sounds like they have a lot of fun with their students. This is why I am very much looking forward to having a class of my own.