Refelction 8

I just finished my last observation this week and I have learned some good things.  During the class, I talked with the teacher about grading and he makes half of the students grade based on being on time, participating, and cleaning up.  I thought this was great for tech teaching because if the majority of their grade consists of these aspects, the will have to participate, and when you participate you learn and begin to enjoy learning. So it is a crafty way to help students get envolved in their learning.

Reflection 7

Teaching for knowledge is not what I want to teach for.  I wan t to teach for application and evaluation.  Teaching towards application of principles will help kids grasp the concept and the knowledge will be gained through their own evaluations and experiences with applying learning.  I need to stretch myself to plan lessons this way and innovate new ways to engage students to learn.

Wasatch High Observation

For my first high school observation I went to Wasatch High School in Heber City, UT.  It was a great experience to see the great video and broadcasting program that Jon Moss has established.  His pedagogy was very simple.  He tells each student to treat his class like a job.  He give out projects and assignments that need to be done, and expects the kids to help each other to get it done.  he had a fun atmosphere in his classroom which helped kids learn.  Even though I don't want to teach broadcasting, I learned the value of passion.  Mr. Moss is very passionate about his teaching and told us that in order to teach kids what you want you need passion, and a long term plan of where you want your curriculum and teaching to be.  It is inspiring to see someone start with just 2 cameras and a vcr, go to a class full of computers and high end broadcasting equipment.

Jr. High Experience

Last week we were able to wrap up our observations with the Jr. High Schools.  I had a great time learning from the kids as well as the teachers.  I was able to observe a variety of subjects and ways to teach them.  One thing i noticed is that teaching in the Jr. high's is like organized chaos.  Kids are younger, less mature, but still eager to learn.  from talking with the teachers about what they like and what they would like, it was easy to see that the passion was there for that age group.  I like the Jr. High's because there is a wide array of topics that can be taught to help kids figure out what they want to do in high school.  Helping kids find a passion for something at a young age would be very rewarding.