Links that could help beginning teachers

This first link is a website called inspiring teachers.com. It has many articles for all types of teachers from substitute teachers, to administrators that will help inspire and answer many questions that are brought up in the classroom  and faulty rooms.

This second link is by a different teacher named Mandy, but it has some really great tips on reading strategies, grading, materials, lesson plans, and journal topics for beginning teachers. It is also a very user friendly tool.

This third link has great ideas and tips for handling THE PARENTS during parent-teacher conferences including a step by step play of how this teachers runs her conferences and how she deals with hard issues such as talking about students "acting up" in the classroom.

Summarizing two TE 150 Theories that are related to teaching in a very concrete way

Two theories that I feel are directly related to teaching in a real classroom are first Bandura's Theory of Observational Learning. The theory is basically about the notion that learning is created by the learner observing a model's behavior and imitating it, "we learn by what we see and hear." Bandura also agrees with B.F. Skinner in saying the reward and punishment are incremental in learning but Bandura also splits from Skinner in saying that learning by observation and cognitively storing the info are ALSO a part of the learning process. But also another important point in the theory to be noted, is the fact that learning can happen even without the performance of the learned topic. In my classroom when I become a teacher I will use this theory to get my students imitate good behavior from other students in class. For example when I see a student working diligently during quiet work time in class when the other students are talking and "horsing around" more than working, I could say "Billy you are working so hard and acting like a mature 4th grader, would you like to be line leader as we go to lunch today?" Here my students will learn thru observation of Billy's "work ethic" and the reward that came from me the teacher, to use Billy as a model of how to act during quiet work time. I would hope that then my students will perform the learned behavior of "Billy's good work ethic" and work diligently the next class day during quiet work time.   

Another theory that I will use in a real classroom is Vygotsky's Theory of Sociocultural learning, specifically the Process of Internalization. The steps of Internalization are 1. Imitation with out understanding-basically parroting the behavior, 2. Self guidance- self talk or walking thru the steps of the behavior, and finally 3. The act of internalizing the behavior-being able to mentally represent the behavior and conduct it with little effort. The reason I chose this topic is a personal one. I Mandy, am going to be a special education teacher one day and I am going to specialize in cognitively impaired students in a specialized school setting. These specialized schools are for children with IQ's lower than 70 and focus on lifeskill development more than academic achievement. With these children activities like tying their shoes, learning the steps of doing laundry, and how to maintain a schedule, are going to be a challenge. As the teacher I could adapt the Process of Internalization to something like laundry steps. I could first get the student to imitate me sorting the piles, turning the dial, and putting in the laundry soap in the washer. I then could make up a song or saying while doing the laundry, that will help them remember what to do like: dark colors means cold and light colors means warms and bleach means whites. This saying could be the self talk or self guidance used so that the student will be able to walk themselves thru the steps of laundry. My hope would be that in the end the student will be able to do laundry independently and with little effort, and have pride in their ability to be independent.  

Advice to Future TE students

My advice to future TE 15o students to be able to learn the most would be to think of every topic learned in class or in the book in the context of the classroom. Every topic learned in the class has some real world application, and even though you may not remember every stage of development or all the many terms you learn when it comes to memory, the overall lessons offer informative issues that would come up in a real classroom. Issues such as creating inventive ways to get your students behaving in the classroom, finding the best ways to get your students to remember long term what you have taught them, to even the kinds of "life problems" your students may be going thru at this point in their daily lives as they attend your classroom. Honestly the terms and theories learned in class may seem abstract and "just talk" at first. But talking from personal experience I thought this at first but then I began working in a classroom as a teacher's aide the semester I took TE 150 and I would have to stop myself because of something I observed in the classroom and think OMG the teacher just asked the students what they knew about how about drinking water, where does it come from, and where does it go after it goes down the sink. She was assessing their Zone of Proximal Development by getting them to brainstorm about the topic and answer questions based on their back round information if any, on drinking water. It was the topic discussed in TE 150 right here in use in the classroom, I was impressed. So in conclusion thinking of everything learned in the classroom as a real usable tool for your professional career, showing up to class, paying attention, and actively engaging in the topics presented will most likely lead to academic and personal achievement success in TE 150. 

Two Most Important Take-away messages from TE 150

I personally think that the two most important take-away messages that I have learned from TE 150 are first that as teachers we should praise the effort a student gives more than the actual grade. I found this advice to be so important because growing up I remember like a lot of kids having the mentality of "it's all about my grades and nothing else matters." I also remember a lot of teachers and my parents even sometimes reinforcing this mentality. Growing up it made me feel scared and upset if I didn't get a ninety or better in every class I was in. I also remember thinking that if I had to work hard to complete a project or put a lot of effort into a test I was preparing for then that must mean that I was "stupid".  I think that praising the effort that the student has put into a project will instead of the letter grade will create a new mentality for kids to realize that hard work and effort is also valued out of them. It will also encourage them to not feel panicked because they made need extra help on hard topics in the future, because they have seen in themselves previously that good things and improvement come from being actively engaged in their schoolwork. This will also help kids to not base their self-esteem on whether or not they are "intelligent" grade wise. Many kids these days have a very black and white feeling towards their grades. Either "I am smart" or "I am dumb when it comes to school." I think that if teachers and parents alike keep reinforcing the praising of effort, then kids will be more likely find pride in their ability to be a hard worker over getting an A in every class.

Another important issue I learned from TE 150 was the Zone of Proximal Development, or the area between what a student can achieve and what they can't quite achieve yet without help. As a teacher you will have new students every year, and one of the most important questions you will be asking yourself is "what do my students know and what can I teach them?" I think that this tool is soo important because it has direct use in the classroom. With every new topic you will teach in the classroom you will be assessing what your students already know about it and how much of the topic you need to cover so your students master it. I can think back to many ways that my teachers have used this technique to find out what I know. Examples that come to mind are things like those first day tests on history facts that aren't graded for correct answers but just to let the teacher know your back round information on the topic. Other ways of assessment my teachers used were like having the class brain storm about how drinkable water ends up in our sinks. I can now see how much this tool is effective for the teacher to utilize so that they can custom fit their lesson plans to what the majority of the class needs to know to successfully understand a topic. ZPD is great benefits not only the learner to get usable information on a topic but also for the teacher it is an efficient way to teach.