Education Through the Eyes of a Middle School Teacher

It is so difficult to follow your own educational philosophy wile designing good instruction for kids, and also adhere to educational standards. Discover that each and every one of those can live in harmony with each other as you implement different modes of instruction in your classroom with the standard being the goal and your educational philosophy boing the motivation.

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“I’ll Do Better Than My Best, I Have Confidence.“

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A Little Push to Success

Sometimes creative lesson plans are not quite enough. Some students need a little extra push to get them where they need to be. As teachers, part of our teaching philosophy must be inclusivity. Students that need extra help should receive it. Outside mandates say nothing bad about helping students along in the process through accommodations or modifications, in-fact they encourage it, and teachers find them helpful for student success.

Accommodations include a variety of different ways that you can help students effectivly achieve greatness in your classroom. Giving a student a note sheet that is partly filled out so that they can keep up in class is an accommodation, and it is so simple that it does not interfere with outside mandates or the lesson that you had planned. Another accommodation a student might have is getting their test read to them. Homework accommodations can also be arranged, sometimes something as simple as reminding students to turn in homework at the beginning of class in a certain way might count as an accommodation for a student. Feel free to be creative, any student can receive an accommodation, and many times accommodations can help the whole class. Your teaching philosophy of inclusivity will shine through, and you will still be following outside mandates.

Modifications are a little bit more complex, because they involve IEP’s and goal specific learning. This is an outside mandate that can sometimes be even harder to be creative with because there are certain modifications you may have to make for the students within your every day lesson plan. Some modifications can benefit the whole class as well. However, most of the time they are only given to the person who needs them. An example of a modification would be that the student gets a test where some of the questions are varied a bit from the other students to help make them more comprehensible for the student with the Modification.

There will always be students in your class that need a little push. Follow some of tips for seeking help, and these students will be learning in no time from your creative tricks.

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When you have to agree to disagree

There are so many obstacles that teachers encounter during their educational career. Outside mandates don’t always allow for teachers to teach in the way that they want to teach. State standards dictate what material must be learned for what grades. School curriculum dictates what books must be used, and what information must be taught when. Sometimes this is not the information you want to teach your students.

When you dont agree with the way information must be taught it is hard to put your whole heart and soul into a lesson. The students can sense that. There are so many decisions you are going to disagree with as a teacher, and they are just going to have to be things that you agree to disagree with and move on. This is not a fake it till you make it job though, again, students are very perceptive. So here are some tips on how to agree to disagree while still being enthusiastic about the information you are teaching.

1. Ask other teachers. This may seem obvious, but there is no better way to brainstorm than to bounce ideas off of teachers that have a different perspective. It is hard to humble yourself and ask for help, but this can be the best way to get ideas that might work better for one of your classes that you never thought about.

2. Do your research. There have been hundreds of teachers before you, and much research done about how to teach students tough material in an interesting way. It is a lot more hard work for you as a teacher, but it will pay off because the kids will enjoy instruction better with more creative methods, and you will be less stressed about teaching mandated material to students in a boring way. Especially if you have a more fun loving teaching philosophy.

3. Take a break and walk away. Don’t stress so much that you are dreading teaching the material. Walking away from material is the same as an artist walking away from their painting to try and get a different perspective. Start early, and just take a break from the material if you need it.

Show your students that you persevere and that you care enough about them to work hard on their lessons. Put your teaching philosophy on the wall somewhere in the room, or write up a personal mission statement for your students to see. This will give students the ability to watch you carry out your success and help you up when you stumble. When students see you following through with perseverance when challenges present themselves, they are more likely to mirror that behavior and have a positive outlook on approaching obstacles.

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What is “Good for Students”?

Learning Strategies are key to success. Student success is dependent on how much effort they put into the work, but also how the information is presented for the students to learn the information in the first place. Students that have information presented to them in the way they learn best are often the students taught do better in the class and in school as a whole.

Most students learn through four different modes of mediation, kinesthetic, visual, auditory, and read/write.

Teachers need to plan their education within the outside mandates they are given, but they also need to keep students in mind with the way they plan. The information presented in class can be the information needed in order for the curriculum to meet outside mandates, but presented in a way where students will learn the information best.

Kinesthetic: Get the kids up and moving. If you are a science teacher, have groups act out the function of a cell through a paper model. If you are a history teacher, have the students put on a play and act out the scene of history that you are learning at the time. Have students stomp to during words of emphasis, or have hand motions that go along with the lesson. Students that move their body to associate with information will recall that memory very easily. Whenever students come across the information again their body will want to do the motions, and their brain will remember the information.

Visual: Show the kids pictures, have the students draw, give the students graphic organizers, and demonstrations. Using this mode of instruction for students with a photographic memory will prove key because they will be able to picture whatever it was that help teach the information. They will picture that demonstration and remember that “one object stops when it hits another object, and the next object moves because the first object transferred its energy.” Students with a visual learning ability will be able to play this demonstration in their mind, or re draw a picture in their mind, and remember the information that they learned.

Auditory: Show the kids a video (will touch on visual and auditory learning), have the kids listen to a podcast, have students explain something to one another. When students hear information, their brain automatically stores it in their social part of their brain. Conversation encourages memory retention because many times, auditory pathways are associated with emotion. A memory stored with an emotion will stick around in a brain much longer than if a memory is stored without an attached emotion. Human interaction or voice inflection will cause whatever is being said to be connected with an emotion. Find creative ways to present information through auditory pathways....songs are great!

Reading/Writing: if the kids listen to a podcast, have them summarize it on paper, have the students read a passages and compare the two by writing something down. Be creative. These are quick assignments that touch on both reading and writing where students are able to process through words on paper.

Each class will have different students in it with different needs. All students learn through each of these methods. No matter what method you choose, you will help each student in your class. Varying methods from day to day provides a variety for students and it gives them equal opportunity to learn the material for an environment that is inclusive and friendly to all.

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Attention all In-Service Teachers!

Do you often times find yourself struggling to keep balance within your classroom? Or are you ever stressed, confused, or overwhelmed with what your job as an educator demands from you on a daily basis?

Well... look no further for tips and suggestions on how to effectively teach your students and create a classroom environment where learning is enhanced.

As an educator, you must follow external mandates, prepare lessons based on state and district standards, and include instruction that consistently keeps the physical, mental, and social needs of your students in mind, which will then allow you to implement a healthy philosophy that is appropriate in a school environment.

The image we would like to create in this campaign is the idea of balance.  Teaching is all about balancing everything that goes into making instruction effective for your students. You must find ways to either add or limit certain ideas so that your instruction flows in a way that is understandable for each child in your classroom.

The goals of this campaign are as follows...

1. Allow teachers to understand what is appropriate to teach their students based on the philosophy or purpose they may hold as an educator. With this we hope to point teachers in the right direction for balancing outside mandates and inner philosophy.

2. Describe approaches to incorporate outside mandates into daily instruction, like scope and sequence.

3. Construct creative ways to hold true to personal teaching philosophy. We hope to provide tips for teachers so that they can effectively implement these ideas in their classrooms.

Throughout this campaign, there will be four different posts that follow our initial launch. Those posts will focus on...

Day 2 Post: Defining “Good for Students” This post will provide information on how to define and put into action good instruction for students that will effectively benefit them in the classroom.

Day 3 Post: Articulating Obstacles On the third day, we will explain what kind of obstacles you may run into as a teacher and how to push past them in order to continue creating instruction that is “good for your students”.

Day 4 Post: Hopeful Solutions Day four will consist of a post that informs teachers that they should have a hope for what their instruction in the classroom will look like. We will be sure to explain how to have a hope that holds your personal philosophy and purpose at the core of your instruction.

Day 5 Post: Multimodal/Aesthetic Reflections

On the very last day of our campaign, we will individually be posting a visual reflection of what our campaign was focused on and how we plan on incorporating our own personal philosophy in the work that we do.

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A Blessing in Disguise

Teaching students within certain standards that the state ad schools set up is quite difficult enough. Now picture yourself just getting the hang of teaching a certain group of students and you gain a new student. This new student is not just any student, it is an ELL student. There needs to be ways right off the bat you need to do in order to prepare the classroom for this student, even on short notice. Keeping a warm climate for everyone in the classroom is necessary, talking with the important people in that student’s life, and planning ahead for different instructional strategies than you had planned would be helpful as you delve into these culturally rich student’s lives. These students should feel welcomed as the first level of support. If a student does not initially feel welcomed, they will lose interest and attention really fast. Using a visual activity to engage the ELL students that didn’t involve too much language, and a word bank on the board would be two very feasible and doable goals in the classroom. Teaching an ELL, even if you don’t think anything is getting through, is a tough job because it requires a different type of scaffolding.

Ell’s are also coming from a different place that some students may not know about. This student is a great opportunity to create a more diverse classroom. There are so many things both you and your students are about to learn.

ELL students may be hard to teach at times and also frustrating, however they are each a good way to gain experience and knowledge about other cultures. They are also ways to grow in patience and understanding with students, because these students are likely going to need a lot of  patience and understanding.

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Technology in the Classroom [The Doodle Pen]

Teachers are expected to use technology in the classroom. Outside mandates require teachers to be up to date so that they are showing their students how to use modern technology because these children will need to use technology in their careers. Teachers are looking for helpful technology in their classroom every day. The Dr. Murk Technology Grant (DMTG) will allow my classroom to make an investment in a technology that I believe very useful for student instruction. I have chosen to buy a 3D doodler for my classroom.

This pen is an innovative technology that encourages creativity in learning that has never quite been possible before. Planning instruction for children with a 3D doodler allows me as the teacher to think of something to show the kids and execute it in my own way. If I want a child to be able to pass around a part of the cell, but I don’t know how to do that without a picture, I am able to doodle it! Now students can hold the part in their hand and kinesthetic learners are now able to take something visual and manipulate it. In theory this could also help students express a process or picture they are thinking of that they may need to reenact. This fosters learning, inclusivity, creativity, capability, and functionality. This pen could be a huge asset to my classroom instruction.

Technology can be used for purposes that are not good but I believe it is important to show kids the good about technology. This grant will allow me to implement good changes to technology in my classroom that the students can use head on and see the power of technology, not only see technology as an object but rather as a tool. Which keeps true to my education philosophy as well as covering the academic standard needed to keep a technologically relevant classroom.

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Can You Be a Good Teacher With Outside Education Mandates?

How do you design good instruction for kids, while remaining faithful to your educational philosophy and the state standards?

Teachers have the unique challenge to be creative under strict and guided mandates. There are tricks and strategies teachers have been using different methods for years to accomplish their creative instructional goals while sticking to the mandated standards.

The Danielson Domain Framewok helps teachers to plan and prepare, create a positive classroom environment, instruct, and implement professional responsibilities. This Framework gives teachers a framework in which to teach to the mandated standards, but also gives them room for their own input. Within the framework of planning and instruction, there is essential content. A teacher that lays out his or her essential instructional content, including the mandated standards, is going to cover required material and also have time for their own educational creativity. Setting instructional goals with the mandated standards in place will create room for a teacher to apply context, evaluate performance capability, performance action, and the quality of the instruction.

The performance capability states the exact goal of instruction, and the context is where instruction will take place. The setting is something teachers have more control over because it includes the place and materials students will use for the instruction period. The performance action and quality is what learners will do and how they will show they understood or mastered the material.

Gaps in this framework provides a chance for a teacher to plan in their own educational philosophy. The way teachers can be "good” at what they do and “good” at instruction, is to use these gaps to provide a way to bridge student knowledge of the standard material and material applicable to everyday life. A great teacher will be able to do this seamlessly, creating a fun environment for the kids based on their educational philosophy; while also implementing the standards set by the state.