2 posts tagged “teaching”

Wow, shameless and lame.  He doesn't even say that, that I know of.  But if he did, that would make it even funnier.. or maybe funny at all.  I'm sorry, Jeremy.

I've really enjoyed having Jeremy as my TEAM teacher.  He is very approachable and I never felt uncomfortable around him.  I also think he's pretty funny and has a great outlook, which helps me to put his comments and suggestions in context.  He has a very laid back attitude and style, which I think cuts back on being able to easily identify things that he's taught.  However, I have picked up some valuable lessons from him.

First, break it down.  Jeremy gave us some lesson planning tips at the end of June, which all involved simplifying information and hammering into the kids' heads.  Coming from the college lecture background of "look at these powerpoints and listen to me read them or maybe even rehash them in my own words while you furiously write notes, sleep, talk online, or maybe glance at the copies of slides you have in front of you if you were lucky enough to get a copy from me even though you don't really have to pay attention because the notes are all online" teaching, I have struggled somewhat with really simplifying information to the basics to maximize retention.  Jeremy's tips have helped me improve in this area.

The second thing I've learned from Mr. Fiel is to find what works for me.  In the role plays and his general advice about classroom management, he often will point out how what he does in practice differs from what many of the other teachers do.  He is conscientious about warning us of this, but he also talks about how what he does is effective for him.  The lesson I've taken from this is that even though his methods may not be "by the book," he still is able to accomplish what he wants to accomplish.  His recommendation to start out doing the things we're taught and diverge as necessary is probably how I'll try to survive this year.

Related to the above, Mr. Fiel has taught me so adjust to my administration and school temperament.  In pointing out how his style differs from others, he also points out how his administration differs from that of others.  He and Ashley Johnson have very different teaching styles, but both are effective.  Their schools have different temperaments and administrations, and they would probably not be able to swap strategies and survive.  This year I'll need to come in with a plan for management and instruction, but also be prepared to adjust to the policies and temperament of the school.  I may have to take more crap than I'd like just to keep control, or I may be fortunate in being able to discipline more sternly and frequently.  Either way, I'll need to adjust.

See, Jeremy?  You did teach me some stuff.  Thanks.

I still feel that there I have a great deal of improving to do before I can say there is only one thing left to improve on.  I know that this blog is about the single thing I most need to improve on, but I feel like its nearly the same questions.  Singling one aspect of my teaching out as the worst is difficult.  So many choices.  I'll pass on things like varying my questioning techniques and classroom management (I haven't really had much practice in this, so it very well could be awful...) and talk about lesson planning.

I have noticed that I have become increasingly efficient in my lesson planning, and am able to write better less in far less time than was required a month ago.  However, I still think that it takes me quite a bit of time and would like to reduce this as much as possible, without sacrificing the quality of the lesson.  The quality of the lesson, is the other issue I would like to improve on.  This, too, is better than a month ago.  However, there is certainly room for improvement.  I need to differentiate my modes of instruction more and find ways to students to teach themselves while I watch.  I'm still stuck in the "college lecture" format of teaching, which is terrible, especially when you're not teaching college.  Eighth graders can take about 10 minutes of lecture before coma.  I've also fallen into a rut of showing video clips in almost every lesson.  While I think that using media is generally good, I need to mix it up more and include different forms of media.  Beyond the fact that I think variety is better than the same thing day after day, I  don't even know what kinds of resources I'll have at Chastain, so I can't rely on having a projector.