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Friday, January 6, 2012
Chapter 13- Introduction to Teaching-Kauchak ,Eggen Instruction in Today’s Schools
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In Chapter 13, it talks about instruction and effective teaching. It discusses motivation, modeling and questioning. It goes over the different ways teachers can teach like lecture, guided discovery and cooperative learning. I've always liked cooperative learning until I started taking online classes. When we were given groups online, and were to finish projects together, I have had to do all the work because I couldn't get my "group" to do it, and I wanted to get a good grade! So, in that scenario, cooperative learning really isn't a good tool.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with your cooperative learning in online classes. It's extremely hard to do group study and oftentime confuses me. It makes me feel like I have to do even more work. It makes no sense to me to do this in online classes. It's also hard to get all the information with out doing even more research. In other words it is even more time consuming. Not saying I can't do it, It's just frustrating.
DeleteI agree with you on being frustrated when you are in a group that you have to do all the work. I think that is the teachers job to make sure each person is involved and if they aren't then they get graded down. I know when I was in high school we use to have to give a grade to each person in are group so the teacher could see what each person did. I think cooperative learning is better at a younger age but it can work at the high school level.
DeleteI totally agree, group projects online can become a total mess, and I personally had to just complete the work. I would have been less frustrating just to work on the project alone, in stead of spreading it thin between group members. In one of my classes, one person never did anything, and the other group members had to split the load between them, way too close to completion date. However, the teacher provided anonymous questionnaires to fill out, and rate the rest of the members' performance. Thus, the project grade was not evenly distributed in the end. Which makes total sense to me.
DeleteIt sounds like you guys are expressing some genuine frustration with group projects, that I've not yet experienced and hope I don't have to. I wonder if what you're experiencing is the pitfalls of poorly structured group work as opposed to actual cooperative learning. I've included a quote from Spencer Kagan's well circulated book " Kagan Cooperative Learning".
Delete"There are four basic principles of cooperative learning: Positive Interdependence, Individual Accountability, Equal Participation, and Simultaneous Interaction (PIES). If PIES are in place it is good cooperative learning; if not, it is group work".
Each of the cooperative learning structures in this book are designed to ensure these basic principles, which it sounds like your frustrating group work was not. Of course, how could an assignment include all of these principles in an online format. A format for which, I should add I'm quite thankful.
Aaghhh....groups! Great idea in the younger grades but college classes, I say forget it! As I am an older, non-traditional student, I have had my share of "kids" trying to impress each other with their weekend stories while the instructor allows it. Having said that, cooperative learning can be effectively used in the elementary grades, especially in math.
DeleteI simply wanted to say I really agree with you Madge re: groups in college and especially as a virtual student. I had a class where we had to group up with a partner. As a distance learner we are never on the same schedule and if there is a difference in age, forget it. I think it is best to work alone. I do appreciate the recorded lectures and discussion boards. It is always nice to read others ideas, especially those who are already in the classroom.
DeleteChapter 13--Introduction to teaching. Essential Teaching skills are the abilities that all teachers, regardless of topic or grade level, should demonstrate in their teaching. This means that a teacher should be able to adjust their teaching methods to whatever subject or grade level they are teaching. This can be quite a challenge considering the levels and age groups that a teacher can possibly be confronted with. Every teacher has different instructional strategies that they must be able to adjust to provide their students with the proper learning environment. The reading and notes in this chapter help provide a variety of ways to think about this. There is a lot of information to sift through and think about the way it would make you perform your adjustments. What you teach a first grader will be much different from what you teach a high schooler or college student. Strong teachers know how to reach a student on any level. I guess expierience is the most important thing. Also, asking for help from your piers. As with students, teachers are also on a learning curve to do their best.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, with such diversity in the classroom, plus the various levels of ability, teachers have to be very creative, patient, and ready for the challenge. Like you pointed out, experience in the field would definitely help, but for a first year teacher, the challenges of the job seem immense. I think you are right to say that asking for help from other more seasoned teachers would be one way to relieve some of the pressures of first year teaching. Lots to think about, definitely.
DeleteExperience makes the difference, I agree! One can have all the plans in the world but just having been there is a great help! I'm sure it will be an adjustment from grade to grade as well as from class to class but that keeps things interesting and us on our toes.
DeleteIn Chapter 13 it talks about how students become motivated in school to learn. There are different types of motivation such as extrinsic and intrinsic. Motivation plays such a key role to the success of students in school. When a teacher is effective they can do a lot of things to motivate a student such as creating interesting lessons. Every teacher needs to be able to have essential teaching skills for when they manage their own class room. Technology is a way that a teacher can provide students with the opportunity to develop in skill levels. It talks about cooperative learning and how social interaction are ways to learn in groups. Cooperative learning is used in elementary schools a lot to help students learn.
ReplyDeleteI would question some classes in how they use cooperative learning because if it is not planned well then it could lead to less learning for some.
When I am at the schools now I see how some of the elementary teachers motivate the students to learn. It takes a different way to motivate some students then it does others. Also, it is the same with high schools students. Teachers really have to adapt to their students and get to know them to find what works best.
I agree with you, any type of instructional strategy can back fire if not planned efficiently. Simply putting students in groups and telling them to work together in elementary grades may lead to a chaotic situation, where nothing gets done. On the other hand, when instructions are clear, and the teacher is taking the time to visit with each table, younger students can learn the basics of group cooperation.
DeleteChapter 13 focuses on everyday effective instruction in the classroom. In order for students to be better learners, there needs to be a certain level of motivation present, so that students are excited to participate in the lesson. In addition to motivation, effective teachers have to follow some instruction guidelines, such as planning for instruction, finding or creating high quality examples, as well as first interpreting the standard which the instruction material has be be properly aligned with. Instructional strategies illustrated in the text were direct instruction, lecture-discussion, guided discovery, and cooperative learning. My favorite was the guided discovery example, where a teacher introduced the topic of arthropods, and by guiding the students with hands on examples, as well as raising questions, was able to get the students to come up with the characteristics of an arthropod. The teacher could have just presented the information in a lecture style format, by simply outlining the characteristics for the students in a slide show, but I think the guided discovery prompted a lot more thinking out loud, thus developing her fifth graders' processing skills. Of course, what works for some, may not work for others, so I think it's important to recognize that different students learn differently, and all instructional strategies may have to be blended to insure effective instruction for all.
ReplyDeleteI also liked how the teacher used hands on examples to come up with characteristics of an arthropod. I feel like anytime teachers use hands on examples, it focuses the students more and gets their attention, which in return, they learn more!
DeleteIt's kinda crazy this is already the last blog! Chapter 13, like all of the chapters, was very interesting to me. Student motivation and effective teaching on page 376 of the textbook was insightful to me, because, yes the student has to have motivation in the subject they are learning about. Chances are if the student does have that motivation, he will do good in the class. I find this very true in my own personal life! When I'm motivated and enjoy the subject I'm learning about, I'm excited to start my homework, its when the chapter or class in itself doesn't peek my interest, I can't get into it. The book also talked about Planning for effective teaching, and how effective teaching doesn't just happen; it needs to be carefully thought about. (as states in the book!) Some steps that the book described are: Select topics, specify learning objectives, prepare and organize learning activities, plan for assessment and ensure instructional alignment. These points are highlighted in my book for future reference!
ReplyDeleteChapter thirteen briefly surveys the ins and outs of effective instructional techniques. The topic that I would like to study in more depth is that of motivating students. Fostering a sense of “want-to” in one’s students seems to be the difference between a classroom buzzing with excitement and enthusiasm for learning and a classroom with a ho-hum feel where getting kids to much of anything feels like pulling teeth. Providing extrinsic motivation is simple enough, all one needs is to provide some sort of meaningful incentive. Given that extrinsic motivation is bound to be short lived, and the research suggesting that it can actually erode intrinsic motivation; it seems that one is better off focusing on developing intrinsic motivation……But how? Our text suggests the most important thing to do is engage students in interesting lessons that connect to their actual lives. I’d love to find a resource devoted to this topic to study more deeply. If anyone’s come across one let me know, would you?
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to watch this Tuesday's class now! I liked how the text said to use an object and plan your lesson around it. I think that was great advice. We all get pictures of things that related to the content we are teaching and that can be the best 'real life' examples ever! We just did a plant series in our language arts class and planted a garden with our 5th graders. I brought in homemade jalapeno jelly from my kitchen for them to try. Great ways to connect to their world.
DeleteI agree with you Jared! I would love to find ways to help interest students and motivate them. It's true here in the middle school where I work, when a lesson can truly be applied to their real life, they are more interested. I also believe that over you build up a motivation expectation with students. If you constantly present the material in the same "ho-hum" way then the day you decide to be motivational may not go over as well as you hope. I think if you keep them going once you have the motivation train rolling, then it will be easier to keep them going. They will constantly come to class with high learning expectations. At least that's my opinion. Now let's see if I can actually apply my own opinion in the future!
DeleteTune in to class on Tuesday!! I think we have a topic you may be interested in Jared!
ReplyDeleteI so wish I was able to watch while the class is actually going on!!!
DeletePage 403 talks about cooperative learning and I have seen it used effectively in teaching math in the elementary grades. However, the teacher has to circulate and see what the groups are really talking about and if each one is doing their part.
ReplyDeleteMotivation and attention are two key words in a classroom. As a para, I am continually reminding the students to sit up, heads up, listen, etc. After lunch has to be the worst time to teach math! The kids are just ready to take a nap! I like the time in the example on p. 387 from 10 to 11am. I agree that organization is very important and when the teacher can transition from one subject to another with little effort, the students are more likely to be interested. Organizing the students is another issue and an effective teacher can train her class so that when it is math time, they will have out just what they need rather than wasting time trying to find supplies in their des.
I liked the idea of cooperative learning. If I had to guess I would say my third grade teacher used that frequently in our class and it did seem to work well. It might have been because she always had intersting things for us to figure out. I think if possible I would try not and do math classes after lunch and maybe do an art project or science project instead. Something that might be a little more interesting and enjoyable so the kids might want to stay awake when they are feeling sleepy. Then again, since I would like to teach kindergarten, maybe my kids would be napping? Do they still do nap time in kindergarten? Anyway, I think it would be a great idea to keep an interesting subject for after lunch.
DeleteMotivation is an outward as well as inward thing for students. Some things teachers can do to add motivation to learning is Attracting and Focusing their attention by using concrete objects, photos, and maps; Personalizing Content by showing them real world applications; and Involving the students in instruction. Selecting topics, having specific learning objectives, being prepared and organized, planning for Assessment, and Ensuring the instruction aligns with standards are all Basic Steps of Instruction. Skills that are Essential for Teaching are believing in yourself and your abilities to teach, expecting the best from your students, and being enthusiastic. These were all very useful for my future classroom. The instructional strategies represented a variety of classes I have attended as well as ways I see myself instructing in the future. I particularly like the Positive Expectations section that referred to the self-fulfilling prophecy where students rise to the level that is expected of them. Thinking the best and striving for the behavior and results you desire to see out of your students is a great way to help them to see themselves in a positive way and make changes in that direction. Starting on time, smooth transitions, preparing ahead of time, and having routines are all very important aspects the teacher needs to have in order so that instruction time is maximized. In youth ministry we have to have all these aspects in line as well to make services run smoothly. You almost always get what you prepare for. Building lessons around examples was brilliant!! This way there will always be an attention getter for them to focus on. I will most certainly refer back to this textbook and my notes when preparing for my first classroom.
ReplyDeleteChapter 13 discusses the way teachers instruct and effective teaching. It teaches us about motivation in the classroom and how to construct and learning environment. Chapter 13 also goes over effective ways to lecture and provide a cooperative learning environment. I see that cooperative learning strategies are good in my son’s classes because it help to break down into small groups to learn due to the many different disability levels that there are in his class.
ReplyDeleteCooperative learning is a great tool! I see it used all the time where I work. However, the groups have to be carefully matched or nothing is accomplished. What's neat is to see cooperative learning in action and see it do what it's intended to do. I have been amazed sometimes at what students can come up with as a collective working together.
DeleteChapter 13 is about several things. How to motivate student, how a teacher can be more effective and what skills a teacher should possess, and finally it describes several different learning strategies. As I went through this chapter I kept thinking how much I wished I had read this before doing my teach-in. I found a lot of the information extremely helpful and interesting. A couple points really stood out to me. One was personal teaching efficacy. I think this is vital to any teacher new or veteran. The other was self-fulfilling prophecy. I learned about this concept in other classes, however, I have never seen it applied in this manner before. Normally self-fulfilling prophecy is about yourself and what you believe regarding yourself. This time it’s used as an outward tool, a way of projecting your inner beliefs to those around you, namely your students. I had never thought of that before. But it seems logical, if you treat them like you think they can’t do it, then guess what, they can’t. I know it sounds silly, but I think the chapter should have started with this and then moved on to motivation, and then planning. If you don’t believe in you can teach them and you have low expectations of your students then why are you in a classroom? I think that needs to be firmly established in a teachers mind-set before stepping foot in the classroom. I like the example that the book gave about Shirley and how she never gave up on improving her students’ scores no matter what. In addition, I believe if a teacher has that enthusiasm entering the classroom, then the tools for motivation will mean more to the teacher and they will give more effort to motivate and find more and new ways to motivate if one doesn’t work.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in the fact that the teachers mind-set should be firmly established before ever stepping foot into the classroom. Having low expectations can be toxic. There is a need for true belief in ourselves and students.
DeleteChapter 13 was all about different ways to instruct. Creating motivation, planning for effective teaching, teaching skills, and instructional strategies. Motivation comes from extrinsic and intrinsic values. A student may be motivated to do well because they are interested in the subject matter, which is intrinsic. They might be motivated to do well because they have studied really hard for a test and that is extrinsic. It's the teachers job to help motivate their students, which may not always be an easy task. Getting to know the students as individuals and learning how they learn best will help. Planning for instruction seems to have an approach. Select topics, specify learning objectives, prepare and organize learning activities, plan for assessment, and ensure instructional alignment. There is a lot to learn from Ch. 13 about different teaching styles and what might fit best for one student is different than another. It's important to try to implement several teaching strategies into my own classroom in the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is imporatnt to implement several teaching strategies into the classroom since each student learns differently and at different levels. As with all the chapters, each provide something I can take away and this chapter I enjoyed the sample lessons provided, like using pizza (a kid favorite) to learn fractions. I don't recall ever learning fractions a fun way. . .which is probably why I still to this day do not like them.
DeleteChapter 13 was all about student motivation, effective teaching, implementation and strategies of instruction. This to me was a “nuts and bolts” of instruction in the classroom. I particularly enjoyed the various ways of motivating students as I know I want my students to be interested and motivated in my classroom but it all starts with careful planning of your lessons. As someone who at this time wants to teach kindergarten, motivation is important because it sets the state for future success. What we instill in them at an early age could possibly follow them throughout the rest of their education. This is a big task. I like the idea of hands-on projects, letting the kids “get their hands dirty” and explore what they are learning. Again, this all starts with effective planning. I liked Figure 13.1 on page 380: we must first select the topic, then specify the learning objective, prepare and organize the activities, plan for assessment and finally ensure instructional alignment.
ReplyDeleteNot only should our lessons be interesting and motivating but we as teachers need to have characteristics that are conducive to learning. Being a caring educator is essential for creating productive learning environments and effective classroom management as well as having positive expectations and modeling enthusiasm. I myself have been told and feel I am a very caring person with lots of enthusiasm. Does this mean anyone with these characteristics will be a great teacher? Not necessarily but in my case I certainly hope so.
I really enjoyed the various examples and strategies provided in the text on lessons. I appreciate these ideas as it helps me think deeper about where I would like to head in lessons in not only making them interesting but also educational. . .which is what we are hired for in the first place.
I recall my third grade teacher, Mrs. DeAngelo. She was my favorite teacher. She always made learning so much fun and allowed us to dig deep into our projects. I think the more hands on time I had the more I learned. I also liked group projects because we got to talk to one another and hear different ideas. She always gave us questions we would have to answer and why we came to the conclusion we did. I found those types of assignments so much fun that it didn’t feel like learning. That is what I want kids in my class to remember. They had fun but didn’t feel like it was a burden of learning, memorizing and repeating the information back.
I agree that motivation is a very important concept that teachers must learn to master in order to become the best possible teacher for their students. Motivation at the elementary school level is especially challenging but if you can set the standard at that level, it will lay the foundation for those students for years to come. For myself, going through school I was not particularly motivated to do well until I met my third grade teacher. She motivated me to do well and I became a much better student because of her guidance.
DeleteChapter 13 was a very interesting read in that it addressed a number of different issues related to different teaching strategies and implementation. Student motivation was also another topic discussed that interested me the most out of this chapter. I believe that student motivation is one of the most important aspects of teaching. There are two different types of motivation: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the type of motivation that comes from within. Students that are intrinsically motivated are motivated to do well because of there own will and desire to do good in school. Extrinsic motivation is the type of motivation that comes from the outside. Students who are extrinsically motivated are motivated by things that come with doing good in school, such as extra free time or some sort of extra incentive the student receives for doing good. As a teacher the motivation for students should be of an intrinsic value if possible. It is the job of the teacher to not only motivate them to do well when the teacher is watching, but the goal of the teacher should be to motivate the students to perform well when the teacher is not watching over.
ReplyDelete