Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Reflections on Reactions

Below there are two quotes that generated a lot of thoughts in class last week.   Read through the reactions, and then reflect on what you see.  You could pick a thought that you agree or disagree with, or something you want to ask back about. 


1) In the absence of useful feedback, most teachers’ performance plateaus by their third of fourth year on the job. – MET White Paper.

“Useful feedback will definitely help a teacher’s success and improvement.  Without useful feedback a teach might create harmful teaching habits.”

“With this quote, it shows that good, constructive feedback is necessary and imperative for a teacher to increase their performance each year, not plateau or decline.  Everyone, including teachers, can always improve and solid feedback is the way teachers can see what can be improved.”

“Feedback is important but more importantly, teachers will grow more with workshops and ways to keep teaching them and inspiring them.  Teachers never need to stop learning either.”

“(response to above) I agree! I think workshops are an awesome idea.”

“Every person in every career field benefits from useful feedback.  It is necessary.  It doesn’t matter if someone is a teacher a McDonald’s employee, or the President.  Feedback is crucial, especially from those with plenty of experience and those in this scenario being taught.”

“Without outside feedback, teacher’s ideas can’t grow.  They are only left with their ideas.”

“Without feedback, it can be hard for teachers to learn and grow as educators.”

“If we are giving feedback, teachers need to know what to do with it.  I know many who do not.”

“(response to above) If teachers never see evaluations or if they do, they are given to them after the fact and the feedback isn’t given.  Why would someone need to change.  Why fix what isn’t broken?”

“I can see where this could happen.  Teachers are human and crave a response on their hard work.  Furthermore, if no extrinsic motivation is given, there certainly won’t be intrinsic motivation to do better.”

“(Response to above) I find this in a way true and agree there must be some sort of extrinsic motivation to increase intrinsic.”
 
2) Research has long been clear that teachers matter more to student learning than any other in-school factor.  Improving the quality of teaching is critical to student success. – Gathering Feedback for Teaching brief

“Well I agree, I think the quality of the teacher is EXTREMELY important to student learning.  I think materials are important too.”

“Communication is pretty important in any school environment.”

“I agree 100% but I also think that time is extremely important.  A quality teacher who doesn’t have quality time to spend with the students loses their power.”

“While technology is great in aiding the learning process, there will never be a replacement for a great teacher.”

“I agree with this.  I think more value money is used on technology that might be used once a year that could be better spent educating teachers.”

“Teachers alone are simply not enough to ‘fix’ schools…there are other factors to consider…”

“Teachers are important but there are other factors like materials, location, peers, etc…”

“Teaching is by far the most important factor to student success.  If that weren’t so, then students would learn from a computer or robot.  It’s not necessarily the information that is given, but how it is given to students.”

“I would agree that the guidance of the teacher is the most influential factor in student learning and success.  The materials, environment, student’s peers are all managed by the teacher.  The teacher makes them what they are.”

“I think teachers are very important to student learning.  A teacher’s enthusiasm and overall love for teaching is way more positive to a student who is probably more willing to listen in comparison to a teacher who doesn’t care all that much.”

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Fall 2013 PLE Prompts 1 - 5

Blogs:  Fall 2013

The answers you provide to these questions will form large components of your major paper in this class. You may answer the questions as we have written them for each chapter OR if you prefer a more self-directed learning approach then answer the following questions for the chapter: (1) What elements of this chapter align with ideas you have had about teaching and learning? (2) What elements contradict ideas you have? (3) What elements of this chapter inspired new ideas about teaching and learning for you?  

Unit 1

Post 1 (Introduction):   To be completed by Tuesday, August 27
Take a moment to look at the syllabus and reflect back on our first class session.  What are you interested in learning about? What do you want to get out of this class? How do you think this class will help you in your future profession?


Post 2 (Chapter 14): To be completed by Tuesday, September 3
Looking at the diagram on p. 505 in Ormrod’s text, write down an idea for an assessment for each of the five categories.  Be sure to explain why you would use the assessment within the context of your lesson. Then, consider norm referenced assessment and criterion referenced assessment. Are there advantages to both? Are there disadvantages?



Post 3 (Post for Field Trip): To be completed as soon as possible after attending the field trip.
Reflect on what Barb and Lois (or your chosen speaker shared). What surprised you? What did you find beneficial to apply to your own teaching context?  



Post 4 (Chapter 11): To be completed by Thursday, September 12
Consider the theories of motivation that we discussed in class.   Which theories of motivation are most helpful and instructive for you?  How can they enhance motivation and affect your students? Please give at least one example of how a theory of motivation could be used in your future classroom.


Post 5 (Chapter 13): To be completed by Thursday, September 19 (note: there are two parts to this question)
Based on our readings and class discussion, how will you create a learning environment that is conducive to learning?

Now consider your CSEL case study.  Develop a full continuum of responses for dealing with the misbehavior of your case.   

This will be something that will be used in your CSEL artifact.  You may want to refer to the guidelines for how many levels you may need to create. Those guidelines will be found in Part II of the CSEL Artifact Guidelines.



Thursday, May 30, 2013

Summer 2013 PLE Prompts 1-4

Post 1:   To be completed after class on Thursday, May 30

Take a moment to look at the syllabus and reflect back on our first class session.  What are you
interested in learning about? What do you want to get out of this class? How do you think this
class will help you in your future profession?



Post 2: To be completed by Thursday, June 6

Consider the theories of motivation that we discussed in class.   Which theories of motivation
are most helpful and instructive for you?  How can they enhance motivation and affect your
students?   Please give at least one example of how a theory of motivation could be used in
your future classroom.



Post 3: To be completed by Tuesday, June 11

Based on our readings and class discussion, how will you create a learning environment that is
conducive to learning?

Now consider your CSEL case study.  Develop a full continuum of responses for dealing with
the misbehavior of your case.

This will be something that will be used in your CSEL artifact.  You may want to refer to the
guidelines for how many levels you may need to create. Those guidelines will be found in Part II
of the CSEL Artifact Guidelines.



Post 4: To be completed by Friday, June 14

Which of the learning theories that we have discussed seems closest to your personal theory
of learning?  Think about one or two examples from your own life that reflect this theory of
learning.  Make sure to be specific, and to connect these theories to what we have learned in
class.