Week #3 Free Post: What Students Remember About Teachers

Someone sent me this article about what students remember most about their teachers.  It is a letter written from an experienced teacher to a new teacher as she watches the new teacher stress about lesson plans and all the things she has to keep up with.  The more experienced teacher's purpose is to help the new teacher step back and realize that students aren't going to remember lesson plans or crafts, they are going to remember personality.  They will remember their third grade teacher because she was caring and compassionate and available.

As I reflected on this article, I realized that the author is right.  I remember excellent teachers, not necessarily because of their lesson plans, but because of their personalities.  Interestingly enough, if I liked a teachers personality, I almost always thought of them as good teachers as well. 

What do you remember about your good teachers? What made them great?

Citation
Gard, Lori. "What Students Remember Most About Teachers." The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 11 Dec. 2013. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.

Week #3 Prompt: Interview a Professional

This week I am supposed to interview a professional in my field and ask them what they write and how they write it so that I can compare it to what we are learning in our writing class.  I interviewed my third grade teacher who has been teaching for 32 years.  Here's what she said:

What do you write?

• Report cards
• Weekly newsletters
• Notes home
• IEP's
• Lesson Plans
• Classroom Website

How do you write it?

• Think about the audience and the message that needs to be conveyed
• Outline what needs to be included
• Revise/edit to make sure it is professional because it is a reflection of me as a teacher, and one of the only ways parents know me

How does this writing process compare to what we talk about in class?

• Audience and purpose are taken into consideration
• Outlines and summaries are used
• Revision/editing 

Week #2 Free Post: Does Learning Require a Personal Relationship?

I watched this TED talk called Every Child Needs a Champion by Rita Pierson.

In the talk, Rita argues that students need to have a personal relationship with a teacher in order to learn. What do you think?  Can you think of an experience where you learned but didn't have a relationship with a teacher/professor?

She also talked about writing +2 instead of -18 on a quiz with a smiley face.  What do you think about that?

Are relationships really that powerful?


Resource:
Pierson, Rita. "Rita Pierson: Every Kid Needs a Champion." TED. Ted Conferences, May 2013. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.

Week #2 Prompt: Comparing Scholarly Article to News Article

This week's assignment was to find a newspaper article or blog and compare it with a scholarly article taking a careful look at delivery and style.  I chose two articles that had to do with teacher testing and certification requirements.

The Newspaper Article uses language that everyone can understand to communicate recent issues with the Professional Readiness Exam that the state of Michigan uses as part of the certification requirement to be a teacher.  The state and testing company just made changes to make the test more difficult so that we don't just have anyone teaching future generations.  According to the article, before the test modifications 82% of the teacher candidates passed.  After the modifications, that rate dropped to 26%.
In terms of delivery, the article was originally published on a Dean's blog and then made it's way to the Michigan news website as a news article.  I also know the article has been shared on social media websites by teacher candidates effected by the changes in the test.  The style is consistent with the delivery when considering the target audience.  It captures feelings and struggles teacher candidates are feeling while also explaining the need for a more difficult test.  It uses language and style appropriate for the online blog/news delivery.

The Scholarly Journal is clearly geared for people doing research on the relationship between teaching requirements and teacher quality.  It is structured much differently than the news article because it has an abstract, introduction, and multiple pieces of data to support research that was done.  The use of the scholarly style gives the audience a more credible lens to view the information with.  It also helps the author relate with the reader because the reader is likely reading to gain factual supported information regarding the relationship between teaching certification and teacher quality.  The reader is looking for the answers, and the author uses a scholarly style to relate to them by giving them credible answers.
In terms of delivery, this work is accessible on the internet through Science Direct.  This delivery method will attract the right audience because it is not a scholarly website rather than a blog or news website.  It was also published in a book called Economics of Education Review which makes the information even more credible and once again, focused on the intended audience.

Resources:
Heller, Donald. "Donald Heller: Restructured Professional Readiness Exam Means Changes for Michigan Teaching Programs (Guest Opinion)." MLive.com. N.p., 14 Jan. 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.

Angrist, Joshua D., and Jonathan Guryan. "Does teacher testing raise teacher quality? Evidence from state certification requirements." Economics of Education Review 27.5 (2008): 483-503.

Week #1 Prompt: Asking Questions

Below are 10 questions I have about education and some answers I found by looking in a textbook.  I was unable to find answers to all of my questions using only the textbook, so the answers to remaining questions will hopefully be found later during the research process.  There is a lot of information online that will answer a few of my questions.  The remaining questions are more opinion based and will have to be answered in a more round-about way through a combination of experience, and research. 

1.      Where are teachers in high demand? Urban? Suburban? United States? Other countries? Certain States?

There is a projected growth in the demand for teachers in the United States.

2.      How does the United States education system compare to other countries? What can we do to improve?

3.      What role does politics play in education?

4.      What are the requirements for becoming a teacher in different places?  Are there different requirements to be certified between cities? States? Countries? Is there a universal certification that is accepted everywhere?

There are two accredited teacher organizations on the national level.

·        National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)

·        National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) 

5.      How can new teachers be better prepared for their first day and what resources do they need to be the best teachers for years to come?

6.      What makes a teacher the best?

A good teacher:

·        is enthusiastic

·        loves learning

·        treats each child as an individual

·        is willing to take risks

·        seeks to make the world a better place

·        is kind

·        is considering

·        is patient

·        is fair

·        has a sense of humor

·        has wide interests

·        has a skill at presenting subject matter

·        is willing to accept responsibility for his/her actions

·        passes along compliments

·        is flexible

·        demonstrates good citizenship

·        keeps accurate records

·        makes an effort to know parents

·        knows what is going on in the community

·        likes children

7.      What purpose should a teacher have?

8.      Why is teaching math important?

9.      How can a teacher engage all students?

10.   What summer internships for college students will be the most beneficial in preparing them for their teaching careers?

Citation:

Fine, Janet. Opportunities in Teaching Careers. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005. Print.

Week #1 Free Post: How a Teacher Makes a Difference

As I start a new semester, I am realizing how much of a difference a good teacher makes in what students get out of a course.  Last semester I was dealt quite a diverse hand of teachers that made my classes, overall, less than enjoyable.  I was really looking forward to coming to college to network and connect with professors and last semester I wasn't able to accomplish that goal as I had hoped.  I hate to say it, but there are some people that are just really bad teachers.  At the same time, there are teachers out there that aren't necessarily bad, they just aren't going to click with everyone.
That being said, I'm not willing to let the cons outweigh the pros.  Having to deal with bad professors was a good learning experience for me as a pre-teacher and it makes me more appreciative of the professors I have this semester.  I was especially worried about all the general education classes I had to take this semester (writing, some sort of insects class...) but they have all turned out much better than expected thanks to the professors.
As I mentioned this to others, almost everyone I talked to can relate.  Everyone has had a bad teacher at some point and everyone has had a really good teacher.  In almost every case, the student has been more motivated to learn with the better teacher.  I have even known college students to change their field of study because of a teacher.
When I am a teacher, this is an important lesson to remember.  I will be the one that makes a difference in my students' learning.  It is my job to engage them and make them interested in the subject.  It is my job to make the material relatable and present it in a clear fashion.  Teachers have a large influence over students, so being the best teacher I can be at every given point is extremely important and probably equally challenging.