2.2 Effects of Teaching about the Holidays on Students

Introduction - 3 Sentence

As the holidays surround us...Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years...students may feels as if they are learning as much about the holidays as they are their curriculum contents.

Con 1

Con 2

Pro 1

Pro 2

Conclusion

2.1: Teaching in a Pandemic

Introduction:  From the perspective of a Teacher Cadet...

Face-to-Face

• Advantages:  The main advantage would be that these students' grades remain higher than those who choose to go online. In addition...
• Disadvantages:  

Online

• Advantages:
• Disadvantages:  When those amazing teachable moments happen in class, when the dynamics of student-to-student and teacher-to-student conversations sizzle, these moments are not captured in a Google Meet. Not once can I testify of such epiphanies ever occurring.  Plus, online students miss out on so much of the social skills learned in a face-to-face setting.  Finally, the data shows that online students (at least 70%) do not score near what they did within the classrooms.

Conclusion

4: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

 Introduction

• Physiological
• Safety and Security
• Love, Affection, and Sense of Belonging
• Self-Esteem
• Self-Actualization

Conclusion

2: Banned Book Week

2020-2021: Teaching Teacher Cadets...Again!

Initial Thoughts on Being a Teacher Cadet Teacher

Exciting!  I so enjoy working with those who aspire to be teachers.  This, I have been privileged to do for several years, first, working with students through Lyon College in the Secondary English Methods class and now through our high school and local community college UACCB via the Teacher Cadet/Introduction to Teaching Class. 

Why I Want to Teach

Not until my second semester of senior year did I ever presume to be a teacher, hoping to one day be one of those ladies that sit in the windows at banks and receipt money.  Then, about springtime in 1985, the idea was planted, cultivated, and came to harvest with my receiving the first of three degrees in education.  That fall, I began what has now become a 29 year career in education, having now taught English, journalism, debate, drama, and now this Teacher Cadet class to what must be nearly 3000 students.  Very awesome.  Very blessed to have been able to accomplish what I was born to be.

I teach to better prepare a person for life after me, whether that be high school, college, or on the job, as I also teach teachers in professional development classes.  I teach to inspire all of them to be more than what they were before they entered my class.  I teach to ensure success in their literary endeavors and with working with students using accomplished and mastered methods.  I teach to encourage all to be better writers and more avid readers than they once were.

Please go here to read more about those who inspired me to be.

Initial Thoughts on Education

Trends come.  Trends go.  In my previous  school, I witnessed at least a half a dozen shifts in curriculum.  Thus, one must be willing to change. To give up.  To expect less.  To never give up.  To expect more.   I appreciate the continuity I sense here at Southside!  Much!

Here's what I know:  Education should be a blend.  When one goes too far to one side or the other, yes, the other side gets left out.  I firmly believe that no one method will ever solve any problem or concern. 

Here's what I know:  No one teacher style is ever the right one.  I do firmly believe that a teacher should always be striving to learn what his/her style is and then always, always, always work to better that method to ever become who he/she was born to be.

I am living what I was born to be.  I am beyond blessed.

Thoughts about Returing to Teacher Cadets

When I learned Dr. Dowdy was going to retire, I began to hope and seek out those that might confirm my teaching this class again.  Yay!   While this year will be full of further learning of methods as we continue to live amidst this pandemic, this year will also prove to have added learning opportunities for these teacher cadets that previous one did not experience.  Through all, though, these young people will learn more about who they are and what their future stories entail.

Self-Esteem: All about the Earned

Intro

In the article entitled "Phony vs. Earned Self-Esteem" by Joel Wade, he states, "fkdkajfkljfdkl."

Within my brain, I see myself as having an earned self-esteem.

Conclusion

Nice to Know You

This past week, the Teacher Cadets have worked on a few "get-to-know-you's" under the disguise of Welcome Back activities.  During one of these such events for the BHS faculty during our in-service days, Arkansas' Teacher of the Year Randi House encouraged all teachers to take ten days and do just that...get to know students.  Later, that day Mr. Campbell supported that thought...just with fewer days.  I agree...especially at the high school level.  Why all this emphasis, though, on such activities?

Taking the time to chat and listen and engage allows greater opportunities to get to know one another.  Many educational leaders argue that this should be the primary purpose of all teachers.  Hummm...I do agree...(to some extent...more about this later), for teachers do impact lives, often becoming the person/role needed in a student's life.  For instance, just this week, I heard a student say about her third grade teacher, "She was my mom when I did not have one."  Ahhhhh...that is inspiring.  Truly.

Another reason for such activities...one I have never heard mentioned...is that students need to know one another and make connections with each other's backgrounds.  These conversations may be the beginning of a friendship that will develop throughout the year.  If nothing else, empathy...sometimes sympathy...may increase as students share the good...and the bad...and ugly...about their "real" lives outside the walls of this institution called Batesville High School.

Of all the activities, two have tied for my attention over the last week:  the Appositive Poems with my English classes and Life in a Bag.  (Or, at least thus far...as we have more scheduled for class tomorrow!)  Through these small glimpses into their lives, I begin the journey...sometimes a roller coaster ride!...to getting to know each of my students.  More than just their names...why they are who they are.  Always interesting.  Always a journey.

So...ten days?  Less?  The message remains:  time spent getting to know your students is valuable...and a lesson I am still learning (yes, here in year 28!), for as a secondary teacher, I tend to want to dive into the curriculum areas I love and allow those discussions to start that way.  But.  I am still learning...to slow down...and chat...and listen...for I do believe the payouts will be beneficial.

Soooo....

Hello.  How are you?  Which "Get-to-Know-You" have you most enjoyed...either in this class or in another...?