Week 2...There is so much to reflect on this week! We did our first Twitter chat and that was definitely an experience! One thing that stood out to me in the Twitter chat was the question " When hear the question “Do you want to be great?” do you have trouble answering it? Why or why not?" This really made me think and reflect on my teaching and what I think about my goals. I answered, "I definitely want to be great. I think that sometimes I am scared to fail though, so I stick to what is safe... :/" I think this comes from being a fairly new teacher and being unsure of myself.
I'm thinking of my current teaching situation. The firs two years I taught with 6 students on my caseload who had very high needs. I mostly worked on behavior and would push-in to the classrooms. This year, I have 11 (going on 13) students on my caseload. Many of them only need help in reading/writing/math. I feel like I am in my first year again. When I think of being a great teacher, it feels like such a far far thing away. Part of me feels like I can hardly make an impact in these sweet little students that I have. The reading Burgess's text, part 3 talked more about being great. He talked about how we need a mighty purpose in teaching to not get dragged down by the exterior pressures. I read Jim's post and he talked about the statistics show how dissatisfied teachers are. He then went to share how we need to be driven from within because it likely will not come from outside the classroom. I furthered Jim's post by adding an article in my comment about reasons why teachers stay. One part that resounded with me is that your co-teachers attitudes about wanting to be there make you want to stay. I can be that for someone else!! Natalie shared about being excited to teach but the struggles that go into it, like time. She talked about how we can better ourselves through professional development and trying to focus on what we are passionate about. Natalie and I had a conversation about PD and how to use the district initiated days that may not be exactly what you were wanting or something that doesn't directly relate to you. We came up with having a proactive mindset and trying to take away something to use in our classrooms. Jule and Josie both wrote about how teachers can be dissatisfied when they get stagnant and aren't trying to better themselves anymore. I found an article from edutopia that talked about teacher needs in different parts of his or her career. I think this is important for others to know and how they can help those teachers no matter where they are in their teaching experience. This week I am really excited to take what I have learned and put it into my teaching. I have already put work into my practice to try to become a more effective teacher. I switched around my academic time so that I can focus more on areas in reading and writing that pertain to each students specific needs. I also created time for a math group where I can work with students on their specific goals. These small groups have been an area of struggle for me this whole year. Taking the time to think about how to be effective and find the resources and make time for the students. I'm sure this will be an ongoing conversation within my blog posts for the semester! MENTOR PROJECT: I've found a mentee for the technology mentoring project. There is a student at my school who has very low language and accuracy in body movements. They have tried to use proloquo to go with this student, but she is too young. What they have found is a device called the Dynavox. It is in the form of a tablet and has a communication system on it. There are categories for the student to choose from and then lists of questions, statements, positive comments, and negative comments. The student got this device on Wednesday. I fell into this project by asking another special education teacher at my school if she needed help learning any technology. She talked about the Dynavox instantly. I told her that I would help and she was very grateful. The person I am actually mentoring, however, is the speech language pathologist-assistant. She is setting up the Dynavox for the student and I am going to help with the process. I am also going to help her implement the device and have conversations with her to talk about what that will look like.
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Week 2: What role does professional satisfaction play in the effectiveness of a classroom?1/27/2017 This week, we were challenged to think about our "mighty purpose" in the classroom. When I hear that, the first thing that comes to mind is from when I did my special education student teaching. My mentor said over and over again, "All kids can learn, just maybe not in the same day or way." This has stuck with me throughout my career and has been my slogan as a teacher. I think sometimes with the day to day routines, it can be easy to just go with the flow and forget about the inspiration that makes me love teaching. I think often about how all kids can learn, but I think that a “mighty purpose” may go deeper than that. Professional satisfaction plays into that “mighty purpose” and keeps us going for effectiveness in the classroom. In his book Teach like a pirate: increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator (2012), Dave Burgess challenges the reader by asking them “Do you want to be great?” It is a question that many people struggle with. Teachers are often hesitant to say that they want to be great, but Burgess (2012) says to teachers that “Your greatness only enhances the opportunities and possibilities for others. By being great, you are raising the bar and providing a model for others to emulate. Being your best possible self contributes to the school culture necessary to create the environment for greatness to flourish” (145-146). In our pursuit of greatness in teaching, we need to find our “mighty purpose.” What else would keep us going in this pursuit? This “mighty purpose” that Dave Burgess speaks about is something that brings us joy and has such a high calling that other things cannot drag us down. This question has really made me think about what keeps me going and what my “mighty purpose” is. An article called “Great Teachers Don’t Teach” by Ben Johnson talks about how inspiring students and letting them take the driver’s seat allows for experiences they will remember. Giving students authentic learning experiences and skills they will remember is a mighty purpose to have. Allowing them to explore and see them light up is inspiration for any teacher and the students will want to come back to school. An example of this is in the form of inquiry based. A video from Edutopia in 2015 follows a school in Colorado that school is inquiry based, so the students are asking questions that drive the direction of their learning. The teacher’s guide them through the curriculum and know the general results the students should come to, but they let the students learn for themselves. An example of what this school does is allowing the students to create their own paint in art class. This is not only bringing in the topic of science, but it is also using math for measurement. The students have to problem solve if the texture is not correct or if the color they got is not what they wanted. Part of this inquiry process is teaching the students to ask questions that are appropriate and also teaching them to think deeper about problems. Allowing ourselves as teachers to take the leap and pursue our mighty purpose towards greatness will not only be beneficial to the students, but to ourselves and other teachers. Greatness in teaching is not something that only one teacher can have, all teachers can be great. This is an attribute to strive toward because our students will be getting all of what we can give them. Helping each other achieve this creates a community that is centered around and geared towards educating the children in the best way possible. As a special education teacher, I share all of my students with other teachers. I think that my "mighty purpose" is to educate them in a way that creates lasting experiences. Knowing that not all students "learn in the same way or in the same day." I think that through collaboration with the general education teachers, I can use my time with them not only to reach their IEP goals, but do it in a meaningful way that connects with the rest of their educational experience. In the past, I have been nervous to achieve greatness. This may come from the part of myself that is scared to fail, but Burgess says that, "self-defeating attitude and lack of self-confidence destroys all forward progress. You can’t grow, advance, and move forward without repeatedly stumbling and falling on your face" (p. 182). He says that starting can be the most difficult part of becoming great. Even though it is difficult because I don't have students for a long period of time, I can make their learning meaningful and by doing this it completes a circle of professional satisfaction which then motivates my effectiveness in my own classroom. Resources: Burgess, D. (2012). Teach like a pirate: increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc. Edutopia. (2015, December 16). Retrieved January 26, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAYh4nWUkU0 Johnson, B. (2013, June 28). Great Teachers Don't Teach. Retrieved January 26, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/great-teachers-do-not-teach-ben-johnson
This week, my post focused on the relational aspect of engaging students. Essentially, if you know your students and what they enjoy, you can engage them in lessons catered to their interests. I was challenged by a classmate to think about larger schools and how difficult it can be to have a relationship with all of your students.
As I read others blog posts, I saw some inspiring ways to keep students engaged. One blog posted a video of a TEDx by David Burgess who speaks about teaching like a pirate. He demonstrates an absolutely engaging example of how to keep students engaged. His enthusiasm is enough to make you excited about anything he were to share. I saw this concept of passion in multiple classmates blog posts. Passion will make others listen! In reflection of my blog post and others, I still believe that it is crucial to have a relationship with our students. To know them and them know we care about them will create a relationship of trust and increase engagement. However, engagement requires more than just a relationship, it take thought, innovation, and passion to keep the interest of our students.
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One section in the reading this week from Teach like a pirate: increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator was the section that talked about rapport with your students. It talks about behavior and how students misbehave when they are disengaged. Burgess (2012) specifically says, “Misbehavior usually indicates boredom, overwhelm, or lack of connection to the material being covered” (p. 20). He then talks about how difficult it is to motivate and engage students unless you know what motivates them. By having a rapport with your students and learning their interests, he says that you will spend less time trying to get them interested in what you are trying to present and more time connecting ways to what they are already interested in.
A video from edutopia that was posted in August, 2016 highlighted a school in Nashville that has an advisor program for the high school students. Each student is placed in an advisor group of 15 students and they stay in that group for four years. Each student works closely with his or her advisor. The advisor develops a strong relationship with the students and identifies their interests to personalize their learning. The advisor makes a connection with the family and community of the student as well. The students are engaged in the learning through the strong relationship that the advisor has built with them. Another aspect of engaging lessons is making them exciting for students. One hilarious example within the Burgess (2012) text outlines his first three days of class. On his first day, he gives high school students play dough and asks them to create something to represent themselves. The second day consists of him fainting and pretending to be stranded on an island. He gives characters to the students and asks them to figure out who should be rescued and who should survive on an island. One the third day, he “sells” his class to the students to motivate them for the year. This well thought out engagement shows that he cares about his students and wants them to be excited to learn. To keep our lessons engaging, we need innovation. A way to think about innovation comes from George Couros. He uses Carol Dweck’s “growth” mindset as a springboard for the idea of the “innovator” mindset. He talks about how we as teachers need to have a “growth” mindset, but when we work with children, we need to go beyond that and create new knowledge. Couros says, “It is not simply about being open to growth, but focusing on what new knowledge you can create with that growth”(Couros 2014). Using this idea as educators forces us to think about what is best for the student. In summary, to have engaging lessons, we need to know and have a relationship with our students. This requires innovation for us as educators to continually challenge ourselves to grow and do what is best for the students. References Burgess, D. (2012). Teach like a pirate: increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc. Couros, G. (2014, September 11). The Innovator’s Mindset. Retrieved January 20, 2017, from http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/4728 Edutopia (2016, August 17). Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/practice/advisory-22-ways-build-relationships-educational-success |
AuthorAndrea Colvin Archives
April 2017
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