Old School Teaching

Being in college I am exposed to many different teaching styles. Each professor brings different styles into their lectures. Since I have become an education major I have found myself picking up on bad teaching techniques as well as good ones. Currently I am taking chemistry. The class has a very traditional lecture. My professor is very old school in every sense of the word. He uses PowerPoint, but writes most of his notes out on the white board for us to copy down. I have found that I actually learn so much  more form him when he does this. He'll write out problems and walk us through how to solve them, instead of just lecturing off the PowerPoint he has. I think this is a very effective way of teaching.  When I come to class I have to actually actively pay attention and copy down notes as opposed to just downloading his notes later from blackboard.  Even though this professor has a very traditional style of teaching he still incorporates technology. Each week we have assignments that are due online. We also get points from participating in clicker questions. I like the way he teaches and runs the class. It is a good teaching model. I think that when I have my own classroom I will probably be incorporating technology in similar ways while still keeping it old school and simple.

Maker March

This month is Maker March in class. This means that our class is focused on new technology and new ideas. This week in class we were assigned to create something that would be helpful to education. My group decided that since we are science majors with one social science major we should obviously focus on a science related creation. We had issues coming up with an idea at first. We started out by determining if we wanted to make an app or some physical type of tool. We quickly realized none of us had the skill set to make an app. So then we started talking about what we could make. We came up with the wonderful idea of board games. We had issues determining how we wanted to pursue a science board game. At first our board game was just going to be a psychology related one, then it expanded and kept expanding. Finally we nailed down that it would be a series of board games. One for each subject within the science field. We thought this would make it more marketable to schools. Then we determined we wanted the boards to be a candyland style. Lastly, we talked about question types and rules. Ideally the questions written for the board game will follow the Core standards for science education.  If I were assigned to create something individually instead of as a group, I think I would still take the board game route for my creation. I really struggle with understanding technology so creating an app would be hard for me. Also as discussed in previous blog posts I like the idea of bringing games to the classroom. I think it makes learning fun and interactive for the students.

Finals Week - Spoken Word by Stefan Vandenkooy from Daniel Robinson on Vimeo.
This week I wanted to share this video. I think it has a really good message. It says a lot about the values of our current society, as well as teaching. In class we have been talking a lot about teaching for understanding. I think this video calls us out as college students for doing the very thing we want to avoid our students doing. Instead of just memorizing to get a grade, to pass a class, to get a degree we should be absorbing everything. Our education now is what is going to prepare us for the hard decisions and situations we face in the classroom. Another key message I love about this video is it hits home talking about the self centered society we live in. As teachers our jobs our to help others. I know personally if I were going to school for a job that would make me rich, I wouldn't have chosen teaching. I chose teaching because I want to impact others. I want to make a different in each of my students lives. I want to invest in students the way  my coach and teachers invested in me. Even though it's not finals week, I constantly find myself being too busy to invest in others. I should be taking time to be pouring into my friends lives and getting to hear about their struggles. I think that maybe taking time to get experience and knowledge of the way other people live and invest in them would help prepare me to be in a classroom. Every individual in a classroom brings in their own story and influences. Being able to relate and understand students and their life situations will make me a better teacher. Investing in people now when I am busy will help me be able to invest in my students later when I have five thousand papers to grade and lesson planning to do.

TOW- Kahoot!

The tech of the week is Kahoot! It is an online quiz/survey/discussion generator. I am not a huge fan of this site. I would rather just create a quiz on paper. I personally take tests better on paper than on the computer. So as a teacher most of my tests will probably be given this way. I could maybe see using Kahoot! as a fun assignment for students to make their own quizzes over material I have taught them. I tried Kahoot out and made a quiz over information about myself that I have put in my blog.
See how well you know me!
Kahoot! Quiz

Sunny Day Sweeping the Clouds Away!

So I'm sure everyone who lives in Nebraska has noticed the beautiful weather that we have been having lately. This weekend I had a blast with a friend going down to Pioneers Park and blowing bubbles and just exploring. It was so much fun to just relax and act like a kid without a care in the world. This past week as been a relief to me homework and studying wise. I didn't have any tests this past week and there are none this coming week. So that is a very very beautiful thing! As I have been enjoying the nature I've been thinking about how to break away from traditional classroom settings. I keep thinking about how as I biology teacher I really hope I find ways to get my students outside during some class times. I think that a change of scenery is a wonderful thing for students. I know for me when I am trying to learn something I sometimes just need to get up and change the room I am in, the newness helps refresh my brain Also taking students outside to actually explore nature helps apply different things they may have been learning in class. In teaching and technology we have talked a lot about the idea of teaching for understanding. I am really excited about having my own classroom and trying out different ideas!

Why Teaching?

This semester has been one of those draining semesters that is starting to make me burnt out on being a science major. I've found myself completely bogged down with homework and studying. I've just been crazy stressed out, and then I start to wonder if teaching science is meant for me. These thoughts pop into my head as a struggle to understand my current chemistry homework assignments. So I've been thinking why did I choose Biology education as my major? Now I am going to refresh my own memory as to why I am passionate about teaching science, as well as enlighten ya'all on the journey that has led me to this major. When I started school  I was pre-med with the end goal of being an occupational therapist. I've always had a knack for science, especially biology and anatomy. When I was a freshman in college I felt very uneasy about my major. I just knew that occupational therapy wasn't for me. I then applied to work at Timberlake Ranch Camps. My first summer at camp turned into a life changer. I was a cabin leader that summer and spent my entire summer hanging out with awesome kids of all ages. This job helped me come to the realization I love to teach and have a passion for youth! Before taking this job at camp my interactions with youth had mainly been young kids at my local church. When I worked at camp I got to work with middle school and high schoolers as well. I absolutely loved working with that age group. I began thinking that maybe teaching is a career choice I should consider. I picked up a few teaching classes my sophomore year which helped me confirm what I already knew, and that was that I am meant to teach.  I returned to camp the following summer as the first aider. Which is so much fun! I get to combine my passions all together. I love children, Jesus, medicine and teaching. This job allowed me to interact with kids more on a science side of things. The thing about campers is they get really paranoid about everything when they are away from their parents. So I spent a lot of my summer calming campers down and explaining to them that they are okay and why the cut they got on their big toe actually won't kill them. As I continue on in my career at Timberlake Ranch Camps God continues to show me that teaching is something that I am called to do with my life.

Evernote

Alright, So this week our tech of the week is Evernote. I can see how it could be super nifty in the classroom. Having students use this to turn in notes they've taken in class would save paper and things I would have to take home to grade. It also would be an easy way for a teacher to share information or notes with students. The thing that I don't like about it is I was taking notes over chem and to me it's a lot easier to write out formulas and equations by hand then trying to make it work on a computer. I also know that I am a lot less likely to be distracted if I bring a notebook and pencil to take notes with as opposed to a laptop.  You can take a look for yourself at a few notes I took! The notes I took are pretty brief. I was just reviewing information and I omitted equations from my notes because I wasn't sure how to enter all of that into the computer.
 Chem 109 Notes