Chapter 10: Going Beyond the Classroom

One of the best ideas of chapter ten is setting up internships for student to see how the skills they are learning in school will impact their working career. It would also help students develop new skills and habits that might tie into schoolwork but they would have been unable to attain these skills in a class.

The best use of this that I have seen is in Mt. Blue High School, they actually have a branch of Franklin Savings Bank in the school that students can work at to learn bank telling skills. That is functional use of math and computer skills as well as professional social interaction. People will be in the work years of their lives for much longer than they are in high school so it is important that they leave school with the ability to perform a job.

Chapter 9: When Things Go Wrong

The eye popper in this chapter is an idea that we hear a lot. It talks about the young teacher learning to balance that desire to be liked with the authority of being a teacher. Basically a teacher cannot be the student’s friend. You need to be an adult that kids respect and trust, not their best friend they gossip to.

I feel I have a slight advantage over the traditional college student in this aspect simply because it has been more than ten years since high school. I do not feel I need to be friends with students but I do think it is very important that you develop a relationship with your students so they know they can trust you. Not just trust that you are looking out for their best interest but also that you would not take advantage of being in a position of power.

Chapter 8: Teaching Teenagers Who Are Still Learning English

Although there were many parts of this chapter that teachers should be aware of about English Language Learners, one of the most important was the section about mental fatigue. Students will become mentally tired by being in classes where they do not understand the language. Trying to learn the language and the material will wear down even the strongest students.

This is important to me because I went to school in a semi-private high school that had 16 different countries represented. I know that the kids are just other kids trying to fit in, but not understanding conversation speed English makes it really hard for them to follow along. I will always have a spot in my teaching heart for the Language Learners and try to make their experience the best I can.

Chapter 7: Teaching Difficulty Academic Material

The section about walking the students through the material first is important in this chapter. The students do not want to struggle through the subject and then get the teacher’s input later.

This would be an easy trap for a lazy math teacher to fall into. Assign some work from the book, let the kids figure it out, the next day go over it to check for concerns. The students cannot teach themselves, if they could we would get them all a library card and there would not be a need for teachers. Learning how to do something as a class and then individually trying it is by far a more effective approach.

Chapter 6: Motivation and Boredom

Another student quote jumped at me in this chapter, this time by Vance. “My math teacher keeps trying to connect with me using formulas and problems… if he could connect geometry angles to my interest in art of being an actor that would work” (pg 105). The quote comes in reference to connecting the curriculum to the real world.

This excites me because I have future visions of polling my students to see what they are interested in and then designing math tests with questions related to areas they are interested in. I know this will take a lot of time, but it will help the students see how math will be used in their life. It is a preemptive strike to the question of when am I going to use this.

Chapter 5: Teaching to the Individual, Working with the Group

The eye popper in this chapter was a quote from Montoya, “If a teacher sees a quiet kid like me raise their hand, the teacher should call on that person right away” (pg 89). It is referring to how a teacher needs to be in tune with how all students act on a daily basis.

The reason this caught my eye is I always get a smile on my face when a quiet student actually wants to participate. I think it is important for the teacher to know what students always have their hand up and when a new hand is raised. This will let the quiet student get a chance to participate.

Chapter 2: Respect, Liking, Trust, Fairness

In this chapter the eye catching moment was where it talked about caring what is going on with the students.
I have started conversations with the quiet kids in class and with some coaxing they will come out of their shell. It is nice to see a student warm up to you as a person when you ask about them and actually listen to the answer. They all have something going on and sometimes they just do not have anyone to share it with.

Chapter 1: Knowing Students Well

The part of this chapter that was important to me was connecting the material to the interests of the children. The students will learn better if they feel that the material is related to something they are interested in.
This jumped at me because I have always thought I will ask students what they are interested in and then develop math tests targeting those subjects. It will be time consuming but eventually I will have a pile for people who like sports and a pile for people who are into theater, and any other thing the students are passionate about. I believe math is everywhere and this is a good way to show that to the students.

My MEL Experiences

• Hands On-While in technical training for my career in the Air Force we split time in the classroom and actually performing some of the parts of the job that we would eventually do. The blocks of the course that involved touching the bombs and working hands on were easier to test out of. Some of the blocks required simply to read and try to remember. It is much easier to remember the safety aspects of an explosive when you have had it in your hands.
• Learning Styles- Last semester with Dr. Sue Thorson I saw first hand how to run a class that allowed all learning styles to succeed. She had a grading system based on points, 1200 points would get you an A. At the beginning of the semester we received a list of all the possible assignments we could do and their respective point values. As the classes went on when she was hit with a good idea she would add an assignment aimed at different types of learning. It allowed everyone the freedom to only do the assignments that they were interested in doing, creating a sense of ownership that resulted in a higher quality of work.
• Context-While I was stationed in Korea I taught a 3 day course to all the AMMO troops on base that was their yearly requirement to stay qualified. Most of the students were airmen that had been in the service for years, and many of them had more experience with some of the munitions than I did. I was able to keep them interested because I tied in how the material we were covering was the same information that they need to know everyday in their job. When you work with explosives everyday it is very easy to forget that they are dangerous. By covering the safety guidelines and regulations in class I was able to keep them interested in the material.
• Avoid Rewards-As a long term sub in a resource room I saw first hand a reward system that I thought was a terrible idea. There was an 8 minute timer and every time it went off if the student was good he got a sticker. At the end of the day he was given rewards for his sticker accumulation, including playing soccer with me. The problem was that some days the student would know that his morning was so bad there was never going to be a reward that day so he did not need to act right in the afternoon either.
• Student-Teacher Relationship-In child and adolescent philosophy I struggled to care based on my preconceived ideas about philosophy, however Dr. Joel King provided a witty and humorous approach that grabbed my attention. If you were listening closely he would include all kinds of little sound bites that seemed specifically designed for my sense of humor. That made it easy to stay alert in the night course even on the most exhausting days.

Learning Style Inventory Results

Your overall scores:
Visual Style 10 / 20
Aural Style 7 / 20
Verbal Style 13 / 20
Physical Style 14 / 20
Logical Style 14 / 20
Social Style 12 / 20
Solitary Style 13 / 20