Practicum In Retrospect

In The Beginning… I believed that all students were capable of learning, but I wasn’t sure how. Now I get it. I understand that different students learn in different ways. I also know that as I teach my enthusiasm for the subject will help make it easier for my students to learn. They will learn if I teach them correctly.

A Student Who Learned Just saying that all students can learn means little to nothing without backing it up, so here is the story. There once was a student, and he shall remain unnamed. He would pay attention in class, but would refuse to do the work. Then one day, when the teaching style was changed he did his work. It turns out he knew what to do all along, he just needed a different style to prompt him to do it.

Why Learn Now? The reason for this sudden display could be anything.  MIs  A compatible style of teaching  Perhaps even discipline. Whatever the reason, the proof is in the situation. If anything that scenario proves a concept that we have learned, that being all students can learn.

Remembering the Nights Practicum Nights were two things, neither of those being relaxing or restful. The coffee helped though. I must say that even though by the end of this semester I am having a hard time remembering what sleep is I can fill out a unit and lesson plans using the backwards design model. I can also taste the difference between French Pressed and Dripped Brew coffee now too.

Why The Nights Were Late Me: Alright lesson 2 is finished all I need to do is upload to the wiki. *Beeeuuuu* (Power goes out and internet connection fails) Me: NO! I hit submit and I lost it! I lost it all! Lesson Learned: Save and Save Often!

Excuse me, but You did That Backwards In the beginning, I admit that the idea of designing a unit backwards seemed somewhat silly to me. That changed when I designed my formal evaluation lesson. It was the most difficult task that I have faced in this course was designing a lesson without designing a unit. So yes we do it backwards so it turns out right.

Backwards Cont. By designing the units and lessons in a back to front manner it allows us as teachers to streamline and focus a lesson without missing the big picture.

What Difference Does it Make? Differentiation is a very important part of a classroom, but it is an idea that still meets with some resistance. Differentiation is important because it allows all students to learn to their full potential. The story of the student that suddenly did work is an example of differentiation, albeit, an unplanned one. The important thing is that the content of the day was modified in a variety of ways, and one reached him.

Assessing Learning Assessing can be a tricky part of the teaching process. Issues ranging from what a grade means to what constitutes a good assessment. A good assessment is one that is designed to assess knowledge, not to see how many trick questions a student can answer.

Assessments From my Past In high school I had an English teacher that was fond of true or false questions. The problem with this was she didn’t know how to create effective ones, and there was one question on each test that could go either way because it was essentially an opinion question. Her true and false questions were, and most likely still are example of a poor assessment.

Proper Assessment True or False: Animal Farm is regarded as a allegory for communist Russia. = proper question True or False: In To Kill A Mockingbird Scout is Racist. = poor question because while it is unlikely that she truly is she grows up in a society that is, and is just at the point of life where she is questioning the world around her. This would be more appropriate as an essay question

A Man in Transformation I am a man in the midst of a transformation. I imagine that this transformation will continue throughout my time at UMF and realistically throughout my life as a teacher. It was this year with practicum that this transformation really began to take place.

At the Beginning of the Semester  All infractions must be disciplined  Grades reflect learning  Differentiation is unfair to all students

Now  I’ve Learned to Pick my Battles  Grades do not always reflect learning  Differentiation if done properly is fair to all students

Process of Change It was my time in the field that really changed my opinions. Seeing some students that needed to move about the classroom to stay focused really helped me change my opinions about discipline. Grading papers and observing students changed my opinion on the effectiveness of grades and differentiation.

A Look Back at my Fears At the start of this crazy process, I was afraid of failing. More than that I was afraid of failing the students that I am charged with. After having some really good teachers, as well as some really bad, I was afraid of being a bad teacher.

As I Stand Now I still have a fear of failing my students, but not a fear of failing myself. I know now that I have what it takes to be a teacher. I have experienced the class from the other side of the podium. Armed with the theories I am set to educate the minds of tomorrow. While educating my own.

My Grade I feel that I along with all of my practicum peers deserve at least an A. We have all poured our lives and sanity into the work. So if As are given for effort we all deserve three.