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.