Engineering

Last week in my education class we had a guest speaker about engineering. I thought it was very interesting because she was talking about incorporating engineering in classes. Many people do not think of going into engineering. Only 15% of Americans go into engineering, which i thought was very interesting. Engineers need background in math and science, so in school we should be introducing engineering in these subjects. We did an activity that could have been done in all grade levels. We had to make folders with construction paper, rulers, staples, and a piece of white paper. We had to make as many as we can in five minutes. We then realized it would be easier to make more folders if we worked together in an assembly line. This turned out to be true. This was to show how engineers are always thinking of different ways to improve their process.
After we did our activity we talked about how to incorporate this activity into a math class. This was good for me because I want to be a math teacher and I could definitely use this activity. It was good for learning measurement, finding your rate in a certain amount of time, or even graphing. But it also shows how math is used in everyday situations. I know my class had so much fun with it and we are in college so just imagine middle school or high school students. Hopefully, if I could connect this in my class students would want to look into engineering in their future.

Teachers

Today when I was in my philosophy class my teacher made a very interesting comment. He said even though he was a professor he would not be able to last two weeks as a high school teacher. The other students laughed and asked why. His answer was that being a teacher is a lot of work and he doesn't think he would be able to handle all the work they put in. I thought about this because so many people thinking teachers have it so easy. They always ask what is so hard about being a teacher when you have off summers and holidays. Teachers work so hard to prepare for classes the next day. Sometimes you will be up all night trying to put a lesson together or grade tests/papers. I wish people would understand how much work we are going to put in. I know this profession is not a high paying job, but it should be with all the work we will be doing.
While my teacher was talking about how much work a high school teacher has, he was also saying how much he admires high school teachers. Even though he doesn't think he could do it, he thinks its amazing that we can. We are making a difference in student's lives and it makes me so happy to become a teacher. This is definitely the most rewarding profession I think.
Last class we were talking about our dreams when we were little. I used to want to be a dolphin trainer, but I also wanted to become a teacher. I only wanted to be a trainer because I love dolphins and I thought it would make people happy watching me. But as I got older, I would take home my books at the end of the school year and I would pretend to be a teacher and my brothers were my students. I loved it and I loved helping them with their homework. Especially when they would do good on a test and I helped them. It is the best feeling in the world. I am so happy I chose this profession. I am excited to teach and help students!

Lesson Plans

I was just writing a lesson plan for another education class, and I was just thinking how detailed we make our lesson plans. I know that since I was in Aims I always learned to have every single detail in our lesson from the NJCCCS, materials, procedures, to the assessment. But all I have heard and even experienced, the public schools do not require such detailed lesson plans. I don't know about every school, but just schools I have been to and my friends have experienced. For example, while I was student teaching I asked my cooperating teacher how her lesson plan is set up, and how often she has to turn it in. For that school, each teacher is required to turn in one lesson plan for each month. On the lesson plan they just have to address the NJCCCS and what chapters they hope to cover. They also have to write the accomadations, and for their assessment they usually just write a quiz, and test for each section or chapter. It was nothing like what we had to write. I just thought that was really interesting.
Also, while I was student teaching Saint Peter's expects a lesson plan for each day, but that is also not a formal lesson plan they expect. They just wanted the topic, standards, procedure, and assessment, but this could all be written by hand. It didn't have to have a certain format. And I never had to show my cooperating teacher my lesson plan I wrote. We would go over the lesson the day before, but she did not need me to hand it to her. The principal didn't even look at any of my lesson plans. I am mentioning this because my roommate is student teaching now and she is basically taking over the class now and her school expects her to turn in a formal lesson plan for everyday. She has to show her cooperating teacher and give it to the principal, but this is a private school. I guess there is just different expectations when it comes to lesson plans for each school. So I would advise everyone to know their schools lesson plan formats when they go into student teaching. You do not want to get caught with no lesson plans and that principal is expecting them each week. You have to be on top of what that school wants.

Ok, so I was in class today and we were asked to do a few problems and raise our hands when we are done. It made me think of what we discussed in class yesterday about raising hands when you are done. I felt like I was pressured to finish my assignment fast and if I wasn't done and raising my hand the other students would have just stared at me waiting. I did not like this at all! I like the idea that you do something subtle so that you are not noticed if you did not finish.
It made me think about the way I would assess my class. I would not make them raise their hands I would probably do something like thumbs up, or cross your legs. Because I think that even when a teacher says when your done raise your hand, some students may not even finish their assignment and just raise their hands because everyone else is already done. They might just rush through it and not understand it because they don't want to be the last one. I do not think this is good. But doing something subtle would be better. I just thought I would tell you about my experience with it today and how I did not feel comfortable at all!

Make a Difference

The video we saw in class today got me thinking. Teachers are not there just to throw out the facts and make you memorize the material, teachers are here to help make a difference. The video shows us that as teachers we have to really know our students. We shouldn't favor anyone but sometimes we will have to give more attention to that student.
In my other education class, we just had a discussion on teachers getting to know their students the first week of class. Teachers should give surveys out or do something to see what interests the students. This is good because it gives the teacher an idea of the students personalities and that could affect how you teach. You can make your lesson around the students interests and maybe they would be more excited to learn. They also will realize that you do care about what they like.
At the end of the movie it shows that the teacher made such an impact on the students life just for paying attention to him. You could make an impact on a student but never even know you did until years later if he/she comes back to you. My middle school math teacher made an impact on me. She was the reason why I went for teaching math. If I needed help I knew I could go back to her. She didn't realize that she made a difference in my life until my senior year of high school when I told her. Teachers make differences.

Lock Down

Yesterday was one interesting day for Saint Peter's College. At first I thought a friend of mine was joking around about the lock down because he got a text message. I guess I should have read my email from campus safety to put my phone number on their list to get these kinds of text messages. I honestly did not even know that they did this. But anyway, my friend got this message but my teacher had no idea what was going on. Then I just thought it was another threat like last year where we had to go outside. That was the one thing that kept bothering me, that if it was a bomb threat why weren't we leaving the buildings. I realized then it must be something more. That's when I started to worry a little. I felt a little better knowing that the police were there and our school was taking such high precaution. I am actually happy it took a long time before we could go back to our rooms! It just amazes me what people are thinking when they make these threats. Why? I just don't understand how much anger someone has to do this. At least we are all safe now.
It never really hit me that this could happen to me or my school until now!! When I was student teaching we would have lock down drills, or evacuation drills to help the students incase something like this ever happened to them. You just never know.

Reducing the size of the classroom

I was just reading an article about classroom sizes. I thought it was kind of interesting because I think it is true that the size of the class can benefit the students. The NEA is trying to reduce the classroom size to make it a 15 to 1 ratio. I think 15 students in a classroom is better than having 25 because the smaller the classroom, the more students you will be able to reach.
As a teacher, you can spend more time with each student. The article also mentions that smaller classroom is better disciplined, and the students will learn more. I think that is why I wanted to go to a small college. I never liked the idea of being just another number in a class. I like the fact the the teachers here know their students. I also think that in a large classroom, students will try to hide from answering questions because they know it is hard for the teacher to call on every student if there is so many of them. A smaller classroom with be better for more interaction. I just thought this was interesting topic, and I believe that samller classroom is better for the education of our students.





http://www.nea.org/classsize/index.html