Workshop and Class Synthesis EssaysThese essays are written based on what I have learned during Seminars offered through NC State University, as well as during my Teaching in College Course.
Fundamentals in Teaching: Introduction to Teaching
I took this seminar because it is a good way to go back over the big points of teaching that I went through in my Teaching in College course. A lot of the things we went through I had done in my course, but it is always nice to hear things from another person’s point of view. A big part of this lecture and my course was creating appropriate lesson objectives. And then how to plan out each lesson plan start to finish. One part that was added in this seminar that we hadn’t touched on in my course that I found interesting was thinking about the time of day or year. Teaching a course at 8:00 am might be a bit different than 10:00 am when everyone might be more awake. Or the after lunch crowd that might be tired or unwilling to go back to class after a break. Although I think it is important to get students involved in all classes, some days might be more important than others. If students seem to be struggling on a Monday when they normally don’t, maybe tweeking the lesson plan a bit if you can to be more engaging and energetic. In forming appropriate lesson objectives, I think it’s important to know it is achievable and measurable, but also varied in difficulty. It is very possible to have a higher level critical thinking skill applied to a basic introductory course. And sometimes people, myself included at one point, think that just because its dry facts being presented, it needs to just be painfully handed out to students. For example, learning about the bones and muscles of the body in Exercise Physiology last year was rather dull to sit through. But I knew the teacher had to go over them, and what else would he do but point them out and what function they serve. We had to get the basic information first before we could use it. So after 3 straight lectures of bones and muscles, we finally were able to go home and memorize them. Which was especially important since no one had gained anything from sitting in class dozing off. However, while in the teaching course I took, I began thinking about it from a personal training perspective. And during my lesson presentation in class, I took part to go over bones and muscles, but I used most of it for problem solving. During the dry point out of muscles, the students were involved in labeling and doing things with their hands. And afterwards we worked through the motion of the body and how that related to position of the muscle and movement of the joint. Then I gave them an open ended muscle imbalance problem I frequently see in personal training. This way they could see a real world situation and how different muscles being short or long could affect the body’s posture and movement. Having gone through undergraduate I can surely attest to the 30 minute rule. I’m not even sure it should be that long. The rule states that after 30 minutes you lose the attention of your audience if you are just lecturing. As a graduate student, my ability to study for longer periods of time, and focus on the lectures I take, has improved as I get more interested in my courses. But as an undergraduate, I often struggled with staying awake in classes. And I know many others do as well. I think as a teacher it is hard to tell if your students are learning if you just lecture. Some might have gotten lost hours ago and are now so confused they can’t even ask questions. And others might have tuned you out from the get go, so you’re almost wasting time. So splitting the lecture up with questions, activities, or even quizzes every 10-15 minutes helps keep students on track and everyone focused. Fundamentals in Teaching: Classroom Management
I chose this seminar because as a young female instructor I want to know how to effectively command respect and still lead a productive class. I’ve also been in large classrooms where all the teacher does is lecture, and I always wondered how this could be changed in such a large room where people can quietly squeak by without participating. In this seminar we discussed methods for establishing ground rules, such as producing a going over a good syllabus. As well as managing time and different styles of classrooms. Getting students to participate in class can be a struggle sometimes. Sometimes it’s due to the physical setup of the class, and other times it’s unfortunately due to students not being involved. And just because someone isn’t speaking up doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t involved. I’m actually the kind of student that likes to sit in back and quietly absorb things. And I’ve had a couple students in my classes when I’ve taught that want to sit in the course and not speak up. I can’t blame them for not speaking up, because I wouldn’t, but it would be easier on me if all my students were to speak up. We spoke about several ways to get students involved, which I’ve practiced a couple times, because they’ve also helped me feel better about speaking up. I have found students are a little more willing to talk if it’s just them and one other person talking about a topic. Then when I ask for an answer to a questions, I have a greater variety of students answering, not just the same students again and again. I’ve also seen this work in the discussion course I TA for. Each class they are split up in different groups based on random things, like wearing grey vs blue, so they get experience working with a variety of people in the course. So then when I went over a quiz a few weeks into the course, almost everyone spoke up at some point. Now that they’ve worked with everyone at least a couple times, they are more willing to venture out an answer. And during a series of less complex questions, usually review questions, I have gone around the room asking each student in the order they are sitting. I have tried to emphasize that a wrong answer is ok. I am leading review sessions after all, and if they don’t know an answer, we will work together to find it. If they had come to the review session knowing all the answers, we wouldn’t need to do anything. And for the most part I’ve had students willing to work with me to get to the answer they are looking for. This way I hope they, and those students listening, can hear my associations and thought process, so they can remember it better next time. I’ve also experienced the physical barriers of managing classes. In one particular class, with fixed seats, it was harder to form groups unless people sat that way. However, I was able to use the white board and the screen at the same time. So I formed the review session around doing a traditional PowerPoint with questions. But also supplemented a whiteboard drawing to go over the answer, and allowing students to come up and draw. But the next day my assigned room had a projector screen that I knew would cover the white board. So I had to use more animation on the PowerPoint to help them see a movement of ions. Fundamentals in Teaching: Effective Teaching with Technology
I love being able to use technology in the classroom. It is better on the environment, because I don’t need to print off a lot of handouts, and it can make things easier to explain. Some students, including myself, learn better if they can see things happening. Especially since I teach review session for Physiology, it helps to see things move, to see a process going by step by step. I have used a few videos in class, but for the most part I like to use step by step slides or animation that I can click through. I have found that if I draw things out on the whiteboard, and need to erase part to show the next step, I go a bit too fast. And because I’ve erased it, students ask more questions and need to over it a few more times. However, when I am able to use a powerpoint I’ve created beforehand, I slow down between each click. And then I don’t have to erase things, I just copy and paste it to its new spot. Students follow along better when I do this and have fewer questions, although it is more work beforehand. I have been in courses that use technology in great ways to help the course progress outside of the class. Having a flipped course is starting to become more popular and I really like the idea. Students are able to go home and watch videos on the basic concepts of the course, and can rewatch it as many times as they need to grasp the concept. This way they fully undestand a basic concept before they have to use them or build on them, and hopefully people don’t get left behind. And being able to use the concepts in class and discuss the topic in depth will allow students to remember it better, and know how to apply the knowledge. The ability to actually apply what you have learned is very important to me. I see students in our Physiology courses that are so use to just regurgitating tiny details on tests they don’t know how to think through processes on tests. I also like the idea of using technology to do quizzes in class. Students sometimes think they are just expected to just know the material on the test, then move quickly on to the next topic. And sometimes they end up cramming for that test, not really learning the material. If students know they will be quizzed in class, they are more likely to pay attention, study throughout the course, and retain things from the preview test. I like using technology to do this because you don’t need to waste and collect tons of paper throughout the weeks. And it is quicker to hit a button and move on to the next topic of discussion. Creating a Teaching Portfolio
Although I had learned about teaching portfolios in my teaching course, I like being able to hear other people’s point of views on what is good to add and what they like to see. In this seminar since we talked about using a website, we were a little more flexible with what we could add. In class we used a lot of mock pieces of artifacts, such as a fake syllabus, to practice those skills. It was a lot harder to add extra things, such as actual lessons we had taught, or student evaluations. This allows you to expand and make it your own a lot more. The idea of using a webpage to display your portfolio is greatly useful to me. More people can look at it without having to ask for a printed off set. You don’t need to waste paper to print it off. And having your pages organized into different types of documents allows for an easier navigation for people to pick and choose what to look at. It also allows for more freedom in design and selection of teaching examples. Especially since it can be hard to display something like a PowerPoint or recorded lecture on a printed out sheet. This way you can give a really interactive form of your teaching style for others to view. Navigating the academic job search
I attended this seminar because I wanted to hear about the application process for a professor position. Especially since I am graduating with a masters degree and didn’t know where I could teach at this level. We talked about not only the process, but who we could talk to along the way to make sure this is a good fit for us. This gave me another view point on my teaching portfolio. As an applicant I would be able to give an example lesson where people could judge my teaching in person. Therefore, my teaching portfolio would demonstrate one level of my abilities, but I would be able to physically demonstrate a whole other level. It also gave me more to think about as far as accepting the right place to go. I am limited on the locations I am willing to move for the time being, but just because I get an offer to teach at a school, doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for me. Talking to current teachers, administration, and current students is a good way to get a feel for the university or college. That way I’ll have a better understanding if the school mission statement and goals fit my own. It also gives me a chance to see if I agree with how the school is run, how teachers are treated, and how students feel about the school. Teaching Philosophy Peer Review
I took this seminar because it was a required course and a good opportunity to get feedback on my teaching philosophy. Even though it was required, I’m glad it was. I thought I was done with my philosophy, but this gave me more to think about. We went over the key points of what a teaching philosophy should look like and what are somethings to look out for. This was a good seminar for me, because although I had taken a college course that included writing a philosophy I was still unclear as to what it should look like. Our class took the philosophy more as a free form, make it how you see fit, sort of paper. But having guidance on how to set it up helped me out. This way I could make an outline and form it from there. We also didn’t have a page limit in my course; however, that led to me rambling a bit about my passions and views. And I noticed a difference between me preaching about my view points and actually pointing out a way to help students. It was also nice for people to pick out parts of my teaching philosophy that I had not realized, like using ‘you’ for the students and teachers. This was a bit confusing to readers. And since I talked about teachers from the view point of the student it was even more confusing and from the wrong view point. |
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