Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography/ ED 101

Brittany Jacobs visits teachers’ classrooms and gives them advice on how they can improve their teaching methods. She believes that “what you see from the students can give you even more information about the teaching in the room than the teacher’s actions do”.

The first question she asks herself is, is everyone in the class focused on a clear learning goal? For example, do the students know what they’re doing? The next one is, is there full participation in which all students are participating? In addition, she asks are the students on task and thinking with care, such as thinking critically throughout the lesson (“are they being engaged to do so”). Lastly, she asks is nearly all of the class time used for learning activities, and is there a positive energy within the room?

I believe that these are great questions and hope to ask myself them in the future while I am teaching to further evaluate myself. I think that evaluation and constant feedback for a teacher is very important in order to be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses and what needs to be done within the classroom.

"What Does Great Teaching Look Like?" TNTP. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

Dannae Earwood the author of Effective Teaching: What Does it Look Like believes that as a teacher, their job is to learn as well. She states quote from Yount “The day I stop learning is the day I stop teaching”. She also believes that a teacher that is effective is human, meaning they are willing and determined to develop positive relationships with their kids and want to get to know them. By also showing interest in their non-academic lives they can discover the strengths and weaknesses and it will develop their self-concept as a learner. She also believes that they must be “human with the parents” and must be familiar with the student’s family background and the parents’ concerns. Moreover, she believes that they must be mature professionally, academically, and spiritually. Young believes that for a teacher to be mature academically they must be mature in their particular academic field as well as supplementary subjects such as literature, painting, and music in order to relate to a variety of students.

She believes that these aspects are very important

-Accommodates the needs of all learners

-Practices good classroom management

-Discipline of behavior

-Routines and Procedures

-Uses appropriate Instructional strategies and Methods

-Questioning students

-Motivation in students

-Variety

One of the most important aspects that I took out of this article was that a teacher’s job is to not only teach, but to learn as well. As a teacher you must be constantly learning in order to grow along with your students while getting to know them.

I also strongly agree with this article in the terms of building strong relationships with your students. The impact of a close positive relationship can last a lifetime. Due to a teacher I had my freshman year of highschool, until now has constantly been there for me and has always made an effort to ask me how my life is in and out of the classroom. Knowing that she genuinely cares about me not only motivated me as a student but has inspired me to become the teacher that I want to be.

Earwood, By E. Dennae, T "Effective Teaching: What Does It Look Like." (n.d.): n. pag. Aacs.org. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

In the article “To Teach Facts, Start With Feelings” it talks about the importance of tying emotion into what you are teaching in order to make the information more memorable. It emphasizes that making basic connections from lesson to lesson is not enough and that storytelling is an effective tool. It explains that the reason why students don’t need flashcards to remember the plot of their favorite movie or most embarrassing moment because it consists of a balance of context and emotional.

I believe in this immensely because the classes where I could relate to the majority of content I did the best in. Teachers, in addition that make the information more memorable or exciting are definitely easier to remember or recite. As a teacher I hope to present all information in a memorable and exciting way, as well as adding an emotional aspect.

"To Teach Facts, Start With Feelings." Edutopia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.

In the last article it stressed the importance of these 5 benchmarks in order for class participation.

1. Level of Academic Challenge
2. Student Interactions with Faculty Members
3. Active and Collaborative Learning
4. Enriching Educational Experiences
5. Supportive Campus Environment

This article had reminded me of the discussion that we had had in class about the rate of students speaking up and taking intellectual risks. I think it is crucial for kids to have a safe, supportive environment in which they feel comfortable among their peers and teacher. Without a supportive campus environment, students are censored and learn to be passive and may lead them to think that their thoughts are not important.

"Five Benchmarks For Student Engagement." Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.

Blog post 10

           Over the past few weeks, many of my thoughts and opinions on certain issues within the educational field have grown and are still developing. The most important thing that I have learned is that being a teacher will never be easy but it will always be worth it and rewarding day by day. This class has truly motivated me to stop and think about the specifics of how I want my classroom to be like one day.

           I have learned that every kid is different and therefore it is important that the subject at hand is taught in many forms. For example, if I am teaching a high school English class and am focusing on vocabulary, I could have the kids read the words out loud, write the words on the chalkboard, use white boards or technology, or lastly play an interactive game. It is very important that I change my lesson plan up daily instead of just teaching it how I would learn best. Although this is a fairly simple concept I think it is an issue that many teachers still today overlook.

          Another important strategy that I have found useful is knowing that students will learn better if you incorporate something they are interested in within the lesson. As a student in high school, I have no doubt that I would be even more excited to learn if my teachers really put in the time to make the information connect to us in a more realistic way. For years I was always use to my teachers answering with the same answer to the why are we learning this question by replying "because you have to or it is on the test". Regardless, of what my kids are interested in and no matter how creative I will have to be, I look forward to tying in their interests with the criteria.

         Lastly, I really agreed with the idea that in order to be the best teacher one possibly can, they must know their students. I found this topic to be something that I can greatly relate to. I have had numerous teachers in high school that had taken the time to get to know me and it made a tremendous impact not only on my grade, but on my life. When teachers have a strong and supportive relationship with their students, students are more likely to reach out and take intellectual risks. Due to a teacher forming an incredible bond with me, she is the reason why I want to become a teacher, and thus be just like her one day. Getting to know each and every student should be a priority for every teacher.