Final Synthesis Blog

Most people find the most common known idea of what a teacher does is basic, they follow the curriculum in place and make sure they hit the mandatory topics. Teaching goes beyond just the “simple” task of following a curriculum and in order to be a great teacher, you have to be able to not only hit the major topics but be able to dive into them with making sure the students are grasping and retaining the information. Each and every student learns differently and as an educator, your job is to know your classroom dynamic and what works best for those students. Throughout this course, we learn different skills and tools on how to do exactly that. The phrase “time flies when you are having fun” was created for a reason. Learning does not have to be dry and repetitive. Having different strategies in the back of your pocket while teaching will always keep the students involved and interested.

 As a future educator, you are always learning how to be a better teacher. Being in class, you learn a lot about what other teachers have experienced and how they have learned from their students. It is from this that you realize, as a teacher everyday brings a new challenge and not matter how in depth your lesson plan is or how much you think you have prepared, a curveball will be thrown your way. Being able to understand and accept that is important. Middle grades are an important year for students because they are figuring out who they are as individuals and are taking more of an interest in subject material. Learning about strategies such as sketch the text or role play and how they can create the students to be more involved and hands on during a lesson is crucial.
Knowing how to keep students interested in learning is not always an easy task. In the book, How to Teach so Students Remember, it takes you through steps on how you have learned things in the past and it all starting with the conscious decision to learn that one thing. In order for your students to make that conscious decision to want to learn what you are presenting to them, as a teacher you much engage students in order for them to retain the information. In this course we learned that strategies, such as sketch the text and role play, are exactly what tools we as educators can incorporate to engage the students.

Through learning about these different ways of teaching and the importance of them in order to be a great educator, I have slowly developed and idea of what I want my classroom to be like. A classroom is supposed to be a safe place for students to express their thoughts and ideas but it is the teacher that creates it be that. This class in particular has taught me that most. The first day Brad made a point to shake each and everyone of our hands to show that he was there to get to know each and everyone of us and by doing that, it allowed for us to feel like we have entered a room where our thoughts and opinions mattered. This small act made the classroom environment different from any other classroom we had walked into prior. Teaching is a very difficult profession that comes with so much more than teaching a subject. The most important thing I have taken away from this semester is that, as a teacher, you are always learning and it is the experiences you have and what you take away from them that make you the teacher you want to be.

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"Large Sea Street" by Joseph-Jean Charlemagne

Joseph-Jean Charlemagne painting this view of Saint Petersburg, “Large Sea Street” with the building of the headquarters of the Chevalier Guard Regiment. At first glance, it is a very stiff and simple picture of just a street and buildings but taking a step closer and a more in depth look, the detail within the picture is outstanding. With the consideration of all the detail, this picture would be a great one to bring into the Math classroom when discussing shapes. Just look at the road itself, it is made up of a repetition of circles. Not only can you talk about that but the detail within these circles. Each one is a specific size allowing for there to be as little of a gap possible for the horse carts to be able to go down the street with ease. The buildings are made up solely of different shapes. Form cylinders to rectangles, the importance of what shapes can do to make up a city is presented in this picture. Student tend to spend a lot of time wondering and asking how math relates to the real world and creating an activity, such as having them pick out as many shapes as possible from the building and then discussing how every building is just made up of a combination of shapes would allow the students to connect more closely to the material.
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The opportunity to do book clubs in class was a great way to better understand the pros and cons to it. I really enjoyed this because it not only allows for students to include more reading within their classes but you can add different strategies and class topics relating to the book. The great thing about book clubs is that it can teach students how to work together and accomplish the task at hand. With other subject aside from Language Arts, having book clubs or a type of reading club allows for the class to incorporate the skill of reading comprehension. The important thing to note is that reading an entire novel takes time. When incorporating something like this into your lesson plan it is important to schedule properly. Learning about different ways like reading certain parts of the novel or splitting it up between students could be very beneficial. The downside to book clubs is that not all books are written in a way that could be sectioned. I will be using book clubs in my classroom because I think it brings a lot of beneficial things into the class. A math class especially because it will  provide not only more opportunity to include literacy but a different way to present the material.

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