thoughts on lecturing

I think it is ironic that the teaching method I am the most comfortable with is also the one I most despised as a student. This method is lecturing. I have had plenty of opportunities to lecture to students this semester in my 450 class. I like opening with a lecture to get attention and then move into some kind of cooperative learning activity. I think I can also use inquiry in combination with lecturing to make the lecture more meaningful. I wonder if the main reason I am so comfortable with lecturing is because as a college student, I endured a lecture at least once a day. And have seen many good ways to lecture as well as poor. I also think I am comfortable with lecturing because I am intimidated when all the students are talking at one time, which is possible during group work. I need to not be worried about my classroom appearing chaotic because when students are talking about the subject, which is a whole brain activity, the learning takes place. Learning how to control the chaos by directing dialogue towards the material is a goal I have for student teaching, and ultimately my career.
Here is a website that has some good advise on lecturing:
http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/delivering.html

Photo taken by John Naccarato (http://www.flickr.com/people/naccarato/)

teaching resources

Teaching in the age of information has benefits for teachers. There is a plethora of lesson plans and resources available on the Internet to use for teaching history. One website I found is certainly useful for anyone teaching history. This is a great resource for finding information pertaining to history and recommend it highly.

http://www.besthistorysites.net/LessonPlans.shtml

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. " Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the most important things I learned this semester is about teacher voice. At the beginning of the semester I kept hearing about this "teacher voice" thing and was confused about what it meant for me as it translates into my teaching. Fortunately I was matched up with two teachers at Fort Collins High School with two very different "teacher voices". Although they were different, since every teacher should find their own voice, they were similar in the sense that they were communicating the same thing. This similarity that they both communicated was that they wanted the students to achieve. I one heard that students don't care what you know until they know that you care. This concept has helped me form my teacher voice more then anything because that is the message I want to communicate to my students. I believe that if the whole class knows that the teacher cares about their their success, then they are more likely to be on the same side as the teacher. This plays into a variety of issues like classroom management and disciplining, to the way I prepare my students for a test. Even to the way I relate to my students through my conversations with them in class. Using my former student lenses, I think that communicating this is the most important thing a teacher should do at the beginning of the year. I remember the teachers that I had who struggled with classroom management did not communicate this point very well and as a result, had students in their class who were not on their side. Taking off my student lenses and putting on my new teacher lenses, I realize that students will not always understand what truly looking out for their best interests means. This includes expectations for good behavior, that home work is turned in on time, and that they come to class prepared every day. I think that teachers take these issues too personally, and are not interested in developing, or more realistically realizing that students are not perfect when they come into the class, and need patience in this development. I think it is valuable to define more closely what kind of patience I am talking about. One definition I have heard is "long suffering". As an emerging teacher, I want to be prepared for this idea of "long suffering" when dealing with students who need this kind of commitment to their development.

School Choice: still an issue? Cutting back the over growth of skepticism and doubt.

"Ideologically inspired lamentations about the parlous state of American education mask the much more complex truth" Quote from Peter Schrag on School Choice.
(http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97oct/fail.htm)

The article that I got that quote from is very interesting because the author claims that all the worries about how bad public schools are today are boarder line myths. He points out areas of achievement like one in every four Americans has a college degree, which is the highest in the world. He also points out that the comparisons to other industrialized countries in terms of achievement are not valid because for example in Britain and Germany, by the time students are of age to take achievement indicator tests like SATs and ACTs, they are already weeded out and into more specific job training programs. Basically, students who do not do well in school are moved into trade schools, and are not included in comparisons with the United States in terms of achievement. In the United States all scores are included since every citizen legally has the property right to an education and this fact brings down scores that are used to compare the U.S. to other countries.

So what are the implications for me as a future educator?

I think that despite the good statistics and the bad, which I am not denying but just sharing positive statistics, that there is hope for public schools. Sure, there are un-questionably bad public schools out there, but that does not mean that the entire system should be thrown out with the bath water. (I am entirely way to young to use that metaphor, haha...) Public schools are making a difference. Imagine if schools were entirely privatized. This would mean that in the process of the schools improving, like business do in a competitive market, tuition would be high at first while the market eventually lowers prices because of the concept of supply and demand. For a time, education would be to expensive for low class Americans. This is ok in the business world because this usually applies to products that are not necessities like food and water. Allowing education to be privatized is like treating a basic commodity like bread as if it were the newest mustang model. Education is a basic necessity and if it was allowed to be privatized, it would undoubtedly become exclusions, even if for a brief time, and this would be at the cost of our children. The beauty of the American Public School system is that all citizens are entitled to it, even of they don't want it. We believe in valuing the individual, no matter their socio-economic status.
School choice is a great way to keep the government accountable to their own system, and a great way to value the individual in allowing them to go to a better school. However, school choice is not in my opinion the solution exclusively, just another piece to the puzzle of a solution.

I think that the public school system is getting lost in an over growth of skepticism and doubt.

Interesting Quote

"German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1960), himself a very self-disciplined personality, cautioned educators, “But on the whole we should try to draw out from their own ideas, founded on reason, other than to introduce such ideas into their minds.” This notion drawing out reasoned thought appears again and again in the literature still today(Cahan,1994,p.158) To Tolstoy and Kant both the notion of a hired gum approach to education would be an anathema. There is as Robin Barrows (1984) explains a sharp difference between principles of classroom management and control and principles concerned with developing the mind. In an educational institution, all principles should be subordinated in the end to those which develop the mind." taken from http://cie.asu.edu/volume9/number2/index.html

I like this quote because it deals with balancing classroom management and activities that develop the minds of students. I have had teachers who because of students who constantly mis-behave, could only focus on managing the classroom. As much as I believe in educating every child, every day; I don't want what happened to me, happen to other students. There doesn't seem to be a solution to this problem in public schools. I have a feeling that if I allow myself to get worried about problem students, I will probably get burned out of teaching quite quickly. Learning how to balance this problem, and allow for learning to take place in my classroom is one of the goals I know I will have to be commited to for my whole career.

Constructivism and democracy

"Education agencies, therefore, must create environments where students can interact and learn to participate in a democracy, not schools where control is the dominant theme(Sehr, 1996)." taken from http://cie.asu.edu/volume9/number5/index.html
Teaching is evolving and it is exciting to be part of a more student centered movement in American education. I am interested in how teaching constructivist lessons can encourage students in participating in a democratic society. Constructivist teaching is all about according to wikipedia, " values developmentally-appropriate facilitator-supported learning that is initiated and directed by the learner. This is the path through which educators (facilitators) wish to approach students in constructing meaning of new concepts." Basically, this means that unless the student finds meaning in the topic or lesson, and if the teacher can allow the student the freedom to create their own meaning, then students will be life-long learners and engage in the material during class. An article I read mentioned that constructivist lessons takes away behavioral problems because the students are constantly engaged in meaningful activities. This is how it can connect to democratic values. In order for a student to find their own meaning and direct their own learning, a dialogue must take place between the student and the teacher. To get what the student wants, a democratic process has to take place between the teacher and student. This is valuable for a Social Studies Teacher because demonstrating the democratic process in a constructivist way will better communicate these values then any lesson.

Another awesome quote from the essay

"Expectations affect students in many ways, not just
academically, but in the form of mental and social deprivation which
causes a lack of self-esteem. When educators receive information
about students, mostly even before the student walks into their
classroom, from past test scores, IEP’s, and past teachers, it tends
to alter the way we look at the students potential for growth. This
foundation of expectation is then transformed on to our method of
instruction.
One basic fallout from these expectations is the amount of
time educators spend in communicating with students. We tend to speak
more directly to students who excel, talking in more matures tone of
voice, treating them more like a grown-up than we do to the students
who are already labeled underachievers. This can give the student an
added incentive to either progress or regress due to the amount of
stimulation that they receive.
As educators we tend to take the exceptional students "under
our wing". We tend to offer knowledge in situations to help push the
good students, in comparison to moving on to the next task for the
others. We also tend to critique the work of our god students more
positively than the others, offering challenges to the answers they
have given.
The most obvious characteristic that educators present to the
students is in the area of body language and facial expression. We
tend to present ourselves in a more professional manner to our good
students, speaking more clearly and with a stronger tone of voice. We
tend to stand more upright, in a more powerful stance, than to the
slouching effect we give to the underachievers. The head shakes,
glancing with our eyes, hand gestures, and posture all contribute to
the way we look at certain students based on our first impressions
which came before we even knew the student."
Taken from http://www.cyberessays.com/Politics/31.htm

It's crazy to me how even the most subtle body language can send a message to students showing favoritism. Teaching is one of the most difficult forms of communication, in my humble opinion.