Looking back on the summer sessions and the work after makes me very excited to be a teacher. I haven’t had professional development where I felt I was surrounded by motivated, interested teachers in a few years since a similar summer program through Depaul University. At the school I teach at, I don’t feel that same desire to improve one’s craft that I felt from the rest of the Fellows. The fact that they were all CPS teachers was great too, I have come to think negatively of CPS teachers as a whole based on previous professional developments.
Another aspect I enjoyed was to see instructors who started and ended on time, respected viewpoints and put the onus of the work on the fellows. It was a terrific example of how people want to be treated whether adults or children. So many great embedded tricks were used that many might not have noticed but I tried to pay attention. Switching up instructors halfway through, giving quickfires with very little instruction, having us produce slides, books, and websites to help make our learning public. All the things we were learning were effective in high school classrooms we were doing ourselves. The two weeks were impressively put together and the act of going through them was the most valuable aspect of the program to me. Seeing good teaching is something that I rarely get to do. Many PDs have us read articles or discuss pedagogy, but those activities are so general that I don’t think I get as much out of it as the actions of good teaching. For example, in the article about the atmosphere pushing down on the students when they laid outside and the students visualizing it and “feeling” it, I loved the real life connection that teacher created. But, I am not teaching earth science. I cannot take my students outside and lay in the grass and say, “solving equations is all around us”, when honestly, it is a gateway that high school students must pass through to unlock what vocation they are being trained for the rest of their high school career. So while I was encouraged to read and learn about how creative and interesting some epic teachers made their teaching, I felt a bit depressed about how I don’t see Algebra in real life situations I can easily relate to students like the atmosphere example. I also was a bit frustrated with how few interesting math examples there were. It sounds like Missy does amazing things in her geometry class, but I did not get much for my Algebra class other than the general ideas of how education should be. So again, it was really great to see excellent teaching modeled and to be energized to create things and interact with others to make songs or design a google slide or play with Maker’s instruments. But, the doubt in my head of how the heck this would look in my classroom still haunts me. How do I use these techniques to get my students to learn to solve equations or understand which method of solving quadratics is best for a certain equation?
Looking forward, I think I need to begin by modeling to my students what was modeled to me. Start on time, even the first class of the day, and hold students accountable for the assignments and activities they are expected to complete. I do a pretty good job of this, but I can and will do better as it creates a seriousness about the learning that otherwise is lacking. I also want to incorporate the creation aspect of the summer into my class, but I fear that taking the technology out of it will stifle the excitement. Asking someone to make a video in 3 days in a little more intense and exciting than asking a group to make a poster during class group work time. Maybe I need to push my students to do the same things we did this summer? I would love to get them making videos explaining how to solve problems or taking a story problem and acting it out. I am going to overcome my fear of the unknown and what will happen and push my students this year to create things.
So it seems as if my time this summer has given me many tools in my toolbox as a teacher, but I am a bit nervous to use them. I don’t know if others feel that way (or will admit it), but I still have the concern of where the learning comes out of this. By creating things, it seems to solidify ideas and concepts that they are presenting or sharing with others, but how does the original knowledge get there so that these videos and slides or journals be made? It sounds so basic when I type it out, but that is the hard part at my school to be honest. It seems that is where the TPACK comes in and trying different pedagogical approaches as students discover the material I need them to do to meet the school’s expectations.
Bibliography:
Teaching for Aesthetic Understanding, Mark Girod, 2001
Another aspect I enjoyed was to see instructors who started and ended on time, respected viewpoints and put the onus of the work on the fellows. It was a terrific example of how people want to be treated whether adults or children. So many great embedded tricks were used that many might not have noticed but I tried to pay attention. Switching up instructors halfway through, giving quickfires with very little instruction, having us produce slides, books, and websites to help make our learning public. All the things we were learning were effective in high school classrooms we were doing ourselves. The two weeks were impressively put together and the act of going through them was the most valuable aspect of the program to me. Seeing good teaching is something that I rarely get to do. Many PDs have us read articles or discuss pedagogy, but those activities are so general that I don’t think I get as much out of it as the actions of good teaching. For example, in the article about the atmosphere pushing down on the students when they laid outside and the students visualizing it and “feeling” it, I loved the real life connection that teacher created. But, I am not teaching earth science. I cannot take my students outside and lay in the grass and say, “solving equations is all around us”, when honestly, it is a gateway that high school students must pass through to unlock what vocation they are being trained for the rest of their high school career. So while I was encouraged to read and learn about how creative and interesting some epic teachers made their teaching, I felt a bit depressed about how I don’t see Algebra in real life situations I can easily relate to students like the atmosphere example. I also was a bit frustrated with how few interesting math examples there were. It sounds like Missy does amazing things in her geometry class, but I did not get much for my Algebra class other than the general ideas of how education should be. So again, it was really great to see excellent teaching modeled and to be energized to create things and interact with others to make songs or design a google slide or play with Maker’s instruments. But, the doubt in my head of how the heck this would look in my classroom still haunts me. How do I use these techniques to get my students to learn to solve equations or understand which method of solving quadratics is best for a certain equation?
Looking forward, I think I need to begin by modeling to my students what was modeled to me. Start on time, even the first class of the day, and hold students accountable for the assignments and activities they are expected to complete. I do a pretty good job of this, but I can and will do better as it creates a seriousness about the learning that otherwise is lacking. I also want to incorporate the creation aspect of the summer into my class, but I fear that taking the technology out of it will stifle the excitement. Asking someone to make a video in 3 days in a little more intense and exciting than asking a group to make a poster during class group work time. Maybe I need to push my students to do the same things we did this summer? I would love to get them making videos explaining how to solve problems or taking a story problem and acting it out. I am going to overcome my fear of the unknown and what will happen and push my students this year to create things.
So it seems as if my time this summer has given me many tools in my toolbox as a teacher, but I am a bit nervous to use them. I don’t know if others feel that way (or will admit it), but I still have the concern of where the learning comes out of this. By creating things, it seems to solidify ideas and concepts that they are presenting or sharing with others, but how does the original knowledge get there so that these videos and slides or journals be made? It sounds so basic when I type it out, but that is the hard part at my school to be honest. It seems that is where the TPACK comes in and trying different pedagogical approaches as students discover the material I need them to do to meet the school’s expectations.
Bibliography:
Teaching for Aesthetic Understanding, Mark Girod, 2001
