INTASC 3 part 2

All students are different and their approach to learning reflects this. Students learn differently due to their individual experiences in life. One of the contributors to how students differ in learning is culture. A students culture can effect the approach students take towards learning, while one students culture might emphasise stead-fast studying for hours on end, another student's culture might express little emphasis on education and studying. Students can also differ in learning abilities. All students can learn but some have to work harder at it than others due to learning disabilities these disabilities could affect how a student comprehends math or reading. These can be addressed by the teacher by providing extra help or by differentiating the instruction (as presented in part 1). Another way students can differ is their understanding and comprehension of the English language. ELL students struggle in classrooms because they are learning a new language. This is an issue in the classroom because that language is used by fluent speaking teachers as well as students. The other, and more prominent issue is that content area have content language or jargon which complicates things more. One way to counteract this is by having ELL students work with more advanced ELL students or other native English speaking students to get more experience with the English language. These are just a few ways in which students differ. Their differences are due to their own personal experiences, where they come from, what language they speak how well they do in a subject or how much they struggle. All of these differences can be accommodated by the teacher with appropriate activities and instruction, and all of these students can learn, it just might take a little creativity on the part of the teacher.

How I Meet Standard 3

INTASC 3: I understand that not all students learn the same way. I address this issue by creating lessons that appeal to a wide range of learning styles and approaches. I do this by mixing up my lessons and allowing students to work together and collaborate as well as using a variety of techniques to teach lessons. These techniques range from group discussions, to short 5 minute or less lectures, to Powerpoint, as well as the use of music in teaching lessons. I also address diverse learners by circling the room during work time, giving students support and one on one help as they need it. 
INTASC 4: Similarly to standard 3 I use the same strategies and teaching methods to encourage students to critically think and problem solve as well as create skills that they will need to successfuly preform in class as well as prepairing students to successfully preform in their future endeavors such as college or the work place. The main way in which I get students to critically think and problem solve is by creating a classroom environment in which the students are comfortable sharing and participating in, as well as questioning what they are learning and its significance. Students are more likely to participate if they feel like their responses are heard and valued and that the teacher actually cares what they think and how they feel about issues. I do this by giving everyone a chance to speak and participate. If the student responds too quietly I have them repeat what they said so I do miss interpret or appear too autocratic. Students seem to respond well to this and participation has gone up from the time I began using these methods until the present. Another way to encourage problem solving and critical thinking is by asking questions that do not have a yes or no answer, questions that cause the student to think before responding such as "Why do you think it people thought it was important to create the story of John Henry"? For thought provoking questions such as that students can talk to their partners to collaborate and formulate an answer. This method teaches them that if they can not think of an answer entirely on their own that another person may be able to help or add in an angle that the other student hadn't looked at. One way that I plan on teaching students performance skills, but have not had the opportunity to do in actual practice, is by teaching them note taking and study skills. A student is far more likely to succeed if they now how to study as well as take effective notes that they can understand later. These skill are especially important for college as well as the work place and can be taught in any content area. I would accomplish this by modeling ways to take notes as well as how to study and what to look for. This can be done within a lesson and will not distract from the learning of the unit or lesson.

The Lesson

One thing that this team teach lesson plan emphasized was the conflict that can arise when there are an excess of group members. This excess made it difficult to execute the lesson. One person ended up completely dominating the lesson while the rest remained hidden somewhere in the background. This proved to be difficult and frustrating. How does a person interject seamlessly into a single person dominated lesson in an effort to participate short of cutting them off? All in all things did not go well for our social studies group. The idea was too abstract, the numbers too numerouse, and the time too short to go through the workings of WWI into the lead up to WWII. I guess it is important to put more focus into the lesson plan that the happenings of the crack house down the street. Life is not perfect, and neither was this lesson.

Blog about Anything

I have my first meeting with Kruse tomorrow and I'm not sure how it will go, nor what to expect. Kruse was quite mysterious and vague about the whole ordeal. I would like to say that I am behind this reasoning 100 percent, but that is just not the case. I like to have freedom of creativity, and am a fan of the abstract, but some structure is always welcomed as it has a habit of easing anxiety. Preparation is proved difficult with limited direction of what to expect and what to know. I like to be able to measure where I am at and not live in a state of perpetual anxiety that I am completely off course. In the spirit of optimism tomorrow will be the tell tale and hopefully great clarify-er. All I can do is lie in wait assuming that this will all be cleared up tomorrow.

How do the standards fit together

The standards fit together by creating a manageable classroom environment in which the ultimate goal of getting students to be active, critical, thinkers can be fully realized. 

Some of my goals for my students

- to show respect for each other and each others' ideas
- to understand others' point of views
- to be better problem solvers
- to engage themselves in discussion and learning
- to create good study habits
- to gain and understanding of where they stand on issues

Challenges with a class featuring different content areas and how they relate to my philosophy of teaching.

Some of the challenges of a class such as this, is that the teacher must relate the material in a way that takes into account the varying backgrounds of the students. This is really true for any class though and is not exclusive to Edu. 132. The real key is making sure that all the students are engaged and get out of the class what the instructor wants them to. I think the idea is to either find commonalities amongst students or speak in generalities that could be easily comprehensible by varying degrees of students.