Friday on Tuesday

Section 3 is what got me most perplexed, so it is where I want to start. I read through the transcript of the “Don’t Lecture Me” series (since I’m better with the written work than the spoken word) and thought that this really illustrates the push-pull of high school teaching. I am supposed to get my students college ready with reading and writing in my subject area. There are curriculum topics I have to get to and assignments that must be given. I know that what college is like for a learner. At that same college I studied what it means to teach. These are not coordinating or collaborating ideas. They are currently at fundamental odds with each other. So I have tried in my 6 years teaching to mix it up. I lecture. My students would say a lot. I also try to ask them to peer review, find their sub topics in a unit to write their papers on, find more interesting books or articles as well as create projects and visuals to use different parts of their brain. I’ve seen it as 60/40 mix. In ninth grade, 60% of what I do needs to be about them as learners and about 40% needs to be about where I need to get them to get through high school history content and ready for the next grade, whether they like it or not. In 11^th grade, it is already shifting. 60% is about being college ready and maybe 40% about them as learners because from what I saw when I was there and hear from former students, college will not care. They will spit out information and expect you to do the rest on your own. If my job is to teach, then I should not care about what college looks like. Just teach the bright and shiny kids I have in my room. But if my job is to at all bridge that gap, then some of what I do needs to be like what college does. Otherwise, the bright and shiny kids will not be prepared to figure out how they work in this system. I wish this was shorter. I may look into adapting it to use with my juniors because they are caught in the middle. I am sure that they wish they could experience more of that kind of teaching because these are not AP classes that I am teaching. But the reality is the next academic world they go into will not be that kind, so how should we operate in our classroom? Teach them in the more peer review method or more like college or something in between? The people advocating this change at the college level follow their beliefs with the expectations that change is not coming that soon, so my current students are going to need to continue to deal and be prepared for this imperfect system

Section 2: I found the website very user friendly and good to know for the future if I have questions, but nothing popped out at me. I clicked on a few different things and skimmed through. I feel like it is a great place to send parents, especially of younger kids.

Section 1: I was pleased I was able to do some real concrete work for class. I was able to integrate a potential blog into my class as a landing pad for my student choice book reviews, with the potential for more tech in video minis to go with it if I can get to the technology to do that. Blogging book review I know I can make happen with the labs my school currently has. I spent a lot of time writing out a proposal attempt so I can talk with my principal about begging and borrowing my way to increases computers in my room up from one. I have one very active plan for going forward into the school year and that makes me feel much, much better about things.