Spring+Semester+Reflections

Micro Teaching Reflection
As far as my microteaching went, I came away with several impressions of my performance. Positively, I believe that I came into the microteaching with a strong, confident teacher voice and presence. Even in my delivery I was able to establish some interest in topic that I think few were excited about right off the bat. In addition, I was able to deliver the content in a narrative fashion, which I supplemented with good primary source documents. My delivery was largely teacher-centric in nature. However, students were required to be engaged with the content with interspersed leading questions in addition to silent and audible interactions with primary text. My instruction was varied- covering several different learning styles. All considered, I would consider my microteaching to be quite effective in meeting its goal of delivering the Crimean War content in a relevant, interesting way.

Despite the many positive impressions that I was left with in the aftermath of my microteaching, there were still a few areas that I would choose to change. In my narrative, teacher-centric style in this lesson, I could have capitalized even further upon the impact of stories. My lesson was set up to be largely lecture. This format could be greater served by using more stories and asides to make content more relevant to students’ lives. In addition, I may have increased the scope of the primary source investigation by adding several more sources and creating a student-led investigation. This would have remained true to the lesson objective while incorporating a more kinetic approach. These changes would be easier to implement if given the full hour of a usual class rather than the 20 minutes allotted me.

There were also some negative aspects of my microteaching experience. The largest negative that I experienced in the microteaching process was not in the delivery, but instead in the preparation. One of my greatest weaknesses as a teacher is my overall content knowledge. In fact, in the preparation for my microteaching on the Crimean War, I mainly used information from Wikipedia. Although Wikipedia is often a good starting point, it is not a source from which one should validate information. Thankfully, I did find a primary source and another website to gather information from. Nonetheless, I was left feeling somewhat insecure about my ability to prepare content. I look forward to having resources like the teacher guide and textbook, but realize that I will need to be more resourceful in supplementing these sources with additional resources.

Week 14- Teaching the Terrible

 * How will you handle 'Teaching the Terrible'** **(In your placement/practice/curriculum)?**

====One of the major pitfalls in teaching the terrible is failing to address horrible truths in an effort to save our students from dealing with pain or evil in the world. Instead, we as teachers should seek to make the classroom a safe place for these difficult issues to be dealt with. As we have been discussing in the unit, often times learning about atrocities and terrible events in history often hits home for students struggling with the terrible in their own life. It is crucial, therefore, to provide students space to process events of a more evil nature and not to push through them in haste.====

====A comment that was shared during this unit implicated a high school student suggesting that Nazi medical experiments were justified. That situation saddened and scared me. Students may say or do things entirely inappropriate during the context of a class focused on the terrible events in history. Some students may be sincere, others just rude or downright offensive. A teacher must balance between allowing students to be free to speak their minds, while maintaining a safe learning environment for the entire class. Some of these potential issues may be circumvented if the right classroom norms and expectations are delivered consistently and early on in the school year.====

====Another issue that we as teachers will face is the inevitable presence of issues and events outside the classroom that distract from student learning. This is another crucial area in which teachers' ability to read their class and respond appropriately is pivotal. Some of these distracting factors may come from terrible things in students' lives that work their way to the surface in the context of learning about the terrible. When a teacher begins to notice the signs of these distractions, coming alongside the student and encouraging them to use their resources in the counseling office is very important. However, there are also other distractions such as drama with peers or sporting events that are just as real to students. In this instance the teacher may seek to awaken students to the realities of pure evil and their implications for citizenship both domestic and international.====

The situation the I am most anxious about in dealing with teaching the terrible is one in which most students are actively engaged in the content, but the apathy of a few threatens the learning of the rest. This may be a social leader in the class that invests nothing in a discussion or activity. This students actions have the potential to draw others in the class to check out of avoid the weight of what is being addressed. Again, a great way to begin to confront these issues is to establish early on a classroom dynamic that is intolerant of aggressive passivity. Instead of ignoring student comments about the uselessness of content, address the comment and connect the learning with current events. However, regardless of how relavent a teacher can be, there will still be students that scoff at serious content. In this situation I think it is okay to address the class and indicate that a serious tone of discussion is necessary for the given topic.

Week 13- Reflection on the Panel
 A - On an EMOTIONAL level, what especially comforted, troubled, excited, frustrated, or (other emotion) … you? Emotionally speaking, the panel was really encouraging. I walked away with an experience of the realities of the career in terms of the spokespeople on the panel. In every question I was able to think of myself in the position of the teacher and challenge my thinking of how I would handle the different situations that were posed. I think possibly the most prominent emotion that I felt throughout the process of viewing the panel was sense of anticipation. In part this anticipation is the uncertainty of the unknown. Will I measure up? Is my content knowledge sufficient? Will I have the energy it takes to perform at a high level day in and day out? The other part of this anticipation is an eager longing to get my feet wet in the context of the internship year. The panel did excite me for the daily reality of what life will be next year and in the years to follow.

 B - On a PROFESSIONAL level, what insights especially stood out to you? The panel had numerous insights into the professional aspect of my practice. Probably the biggest personal insight that stuck in my memory was joel's discussion on time management. I find myself becoming increasingly more organized as I try to prepare for full adulthood and responsibility. However, time management still seems to be an area that I must grow in. Joel's insights showed the benefits of paying the cost up front and creating manageable work loads for yourself in order to most effectively teach. I also enjoyed the dialogue on interactions with parents. I think the prominent advice to be respectful and thoughtful as well as bold and assertive was quite valuable. All in all, the panel was extremely encouraging in the professional advice that they prescribed.

 C - Making OBSERVATIONS, what traits did the panelist appear to have in common and/or differ on? The most consistent trend throughout the panel was the underlying confidence and assertiveness that each panelist showed. Each teacher had established a teacher identity and system by which they could confidently stand behind in a professional manner. Each panelist was able to stand behind their practice in interactions with parents, students, and even administration. Each promoted a open, honest, and proactive approach with students, parents, and administrators. This confidence allowed them to concentrate more on the art of their craft rather than the administrative details of the job. Yes, each panelist accomplished these administrative details; but their proactive approach allowed for an easier long-term relationship with the mundane things, freeing them to be more creative and effective in their teaching practice.

 E - RELATING: Who did you most identify with/relate to or aspire to be like and WHY? The two panelists that I connected with the most were probably Andy and Allison. Andy's coaching background and upbeat personality reminded me of myself as well as what I aspire to. Andy seems to be a teacher that makes content relavent and exciting to students. I desire to bring the same vivaciousness to my practice. I am also curious as to how my coaching background will play into my role in whatever school that I may be placed or hired into. I feel as though Allison's teaching background in the Michigan State program immediately created a connection in my mind between our teaching. I can relate to Allison's experience with fighting the 'older sibling' stigma that I felt in large part through my coaching experience. I appreciated her insights into becoming a professional and aspire towards this transformation in my own practice.

Week 12- Cultural Relativism
A. What is the difference between cultural relativism and ethical relativism? Give an example of each.

Cultural relativism refers to the subjective nature of cultural norms. One example may be that the idea of what a 'good' house is varies widely across countries and people groups. In Papua New Guinea a living shelter looks far different than one in a Chinese urban area.

Ethical relativism refers to the subjectivity of moral codes and what is right and wrong. Ethical relativism could be explained by the coexistence of two moral ways of thinking in which one believes that cheating on an exam is wrong and the other does not. These beliefs coexisting with each other would support the idea that ethics are indeed relative.

B. In a pluralistic society such as ours, why or why not is ethical relativism a desirable way to think about ethical issues?

In pluralistic society in which countless world views interact and attempt to coexist, the perspective of ethical relativism is a very attractive one. If right and wrong are relative, then my right can be my right and some one else can ascribe to their own sense of morality. In our self-esteem generation in which everyone gets a trophy, the atmosphere of ethical relativism has taken a more center stage. To problematize this ethical relativism it is helpful to look at a book like Night in which the depths of human cruelty are experienced first hand. There must be some absolute morality. Genocide is objectively evil. There is nothing good about it. If someone were to make the claim that genocide is not evil, I would push back 100% and confront him or her on this belief.

C. Specifically thinking about “teaching the terrible” in social studies classrooms, how might ethical relativism prevent (or enable, if you can make the argument) a meaningful analysis of events such as the war crimes of the Nazi regime?

In an ethically relative culture there can be no absolute rights and wrongs. The moral code is relative, so things such as evil become more blurry. This atmosphere hinders us in our delivery of "the terrible" because in an ethically relative culture "the terrible" may or may not be terrible depending on each perspective. When discussing the war crimes, for instance, is ethics are relative, then each member of the Nazi party that committed these acts was just operating in their sphere of morality and cannot be held accountable. However, if indeed there are absolute truths regarding ethics, then these individuals can and should be held accountable for their crimes.

Week 8- Assessing Teachers
Prompt//:// //We’ve been talking about assessing students, but what about teacher assessment? Our assignment this week is our “Ideal ‘SIRS’ form’ – pretend for a moment that you are one of your future students. You are to write an assessment, like the open-ended 'SIRS' form format you fill out about your instructors, from the perspective of one of your (observant, articulate, and mature) students being asked assessing you, his or her teacher. What would you hope for this fictional student to say about you on your SIRS form?// //Thus, in three paragraphs write a sincere and open-ended fictional assessment of yourself as a teacher. This is your chance to cast vision and consider the outcomes and reception of your craft. I really look forward to reading these and hope we can dialog around this in the future!//

Answer: Mr. Whelan did a wonderful job of making each day fun. Every day I walked into his classroom and there was energy right off the bat. I always looked forward to his class because he used lots of different methods to help us learn the material. I also learned a lot about the world and how different people and cultures interact in global contexts. I loved the time that he brought in the guest speaker to talk about Asian culture and its more collectivist background which is different from our capitalist influence in broad American culture.

Another positive thing that Mr. Whelan did was to provide lots of different ways of testing us. I really don't like multiple choice tests so it was good that his exams were varied in format. Also, the assignments were better than others that I've had in social studies classes. We still used the text book and worksheets, however, group and individual projects that tested our understanding of concepts were always fun and preferred to basic worksheet assignments.

Finally, he is a great story teller. I loved the fun, interactive stories that he shared that related to class. My favorite classes were when Mr. Whelan used several different stories to illustrate the concepts in class. In addition to these things, Mr. Whelan also helped develop me as a persuasive writer which is gearing me up for the A.P. class next year. Overall, I really enjoyed Whelan's class and would recommend him to my friends.

Week 7- Vietnam Lesson
a) Highlight 2 specific teaching strategies/techniques that were used to teach content

Cuong used many different teaching strategies in delivering the content on Vietnam. Two specific strategies that I remember are cooperative learning through visual media and debate. The visual media used was a video detailing the events and timeline of the war in Vietnam. He then had groups cooperatively learn by analyzing the war from a given perspective. students had to use the content provided in the video clip to reach conclusions about their given people group. After cooperatively learning about a given group, he drew out our higher order thinking by placing us in the role of that same given people group. We were instructed to debate from their perspective which required a certain level of higher order thinking.

b) What do you think was effective about the teaching methods and activities?

The lesson was content packed (we covered the entire war during the class period) but still very interactive allowing students to interpret and apply knowledge. I really liked the way that the debate was formated in a free way giving us the ability to be creative with presenting our knowledge. The teacher made connections with students and spoke with authority having experience with not only the content of Vietnamese history, but also the realities of it.

c) What adaptations could have been made if this lesson is taught to different groups of students (college students, middle school students, etc)?

One of my favorite parts of the lesson was the debate based on the different perspectives that we were given to represent. This activity would have to be slightly modified in order to be taught in high schools. Based on this demographic, the debate would have to be much more structured in order to make sure that students participate frequently enough. In a high school setting, I would make sure that students have access to the content while discussing in groups, force them to write things down to draw upon in the debate, and structure the order in which groups talked. All in all, I loved the lesson and thought that it was quite effective. I think that it was also a great example of multicultural education and broadened my thoughts about the possibility of bringing in guest speakers to my classroom.

Week 5- Teaching Across Cultural Gaps

- Gloria Ladson-Billings' conception of a Culturally Relevant Pedagogy:

a) Briefly summarize Gloria Ladson-Billings' conception of a Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.

 Ladson Billings conception of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy is wrapped up in the good teaching. She noted the surprised reactions to her pedagogical approach when noting, "my audience are shocked to hear what seems to them like some rather routine teaching strategies that are a part of good teaching." Her focus is in successful techniques in teaching African American students by structuring the learning environment in which they are placed in such a way that a cultural gap is breached. Her theory is that if African American students learn in an environment where their culture is utilized rather than diminished, the students will be more successful.

In my opinion, one of the most poignant observations made by Ladson-Billings involves language. The author observes that the language that many African American students speak at home and in social interactions is different from the language that they are expected to communicate in academically. Her antidote to this issue is not to dismiss and discourage African American language at all. Instead, she asserts that teachers must affirm and teach this language alongside standard academic English. Thus, students will be able to translate for themselves between the two language forms. It is important to note that teachers are not to avoid teaching standard academic English, but instead teach both forms.

b) What do you find especially helpful or troubling about the claims being made?

I think these observations are extremely helpful. The cultural gap born out of America's disgusting past in the institution of slavery followed by a period of institutionalized segregation is immense. Although many like to believe that we have arrived in a post-segregation era, all one must do is look to the public school system to find flaws in that assertion. It is important to acknowledge this discrepancy in order to take social action. Ladson-Billings' language ideas are both routine and revolutionary. For example, many products of the post-institutionalized segregation era will claim that ebonics are an incorrect form of language. However, if African American language can be encouraged and celebrated, it is possible to teach both forms of language. This is a crucial and necessary step towards equality in our education system.

One clarification that is necessary is that standard academic English must be taught through African American language and should not be abandoned. 'Playing the Game' is an important step towards having a platform to influence change. African American students must learn how to utilize standard academic English to achieve their goals in academia. At some point in the future, we may find ways to avoid this direct inequality. But for now, that is the reality. We must teach to give every student the best chance at success.

=Week 2- Cooperative Learning=

Create an accountability/assessment piece for the Cooperative activity on the candidates/election we started in class. The activity should simple hold each group member responsible on some level to ensure that all students work together and see the Cooperative Learning as a valid lesson that is worth participating in and perhaps even worth a grade.

In similar fashion to the jigsaw activity, I would implement an expert system. For instance, as we started on Wednesday, I would divide the class into groups and give each person in the group a different candidate. Then I would ask each student to prepare to present their candidate to the group. They would get 15 minutes to utilize resources to learn about their candidate and then they would meet again in their groups. Then, I would hand out a sheet of paper that would be double sided. On the front side there would be a space to take notes on each candidate. On the back side there would be a peer evaluation form. Thus, students will listen to presentations and then be able to rate their peers on whether or not they contributed significantly to the group. The double sided sheet will be turned in to the teacher and handed back to the students after grading as a resource. The double-sided sheet provides accountability in two ways. It allows students to be motivated by their peers being their judges as well as to be motivated by the knowledge that the teacher will look at the notes to make sure that accurate information was provided.

The key ingredient in cooperative learning is individual accountability. If this element is present, cooperative learning opportunities can be a great means of learning and developing collaborative and relational skills which are somewhat undervalued at times. So my lesson would have several components: Introduction, Investigation, Presentation, and Evaluation (Teacher to student and peer to peer).

Week 1- Media and Film in Education
1. How specifically does the text establish the significance of Media?

In the first few lines the article draws out the point that from the birth of our nation, the framers of its foundation established the media as a key aspect of citizenry. The media was viewed as a vein through which a citizenry may become informed. The text asserts that an effective citizenry relies on the process of widespread media literacy. The goal of the article is to equip individuals with tools that will allow them to instruct in such a way that fosters critical analysis of media products. Teachers are encouraged to utilize the TAP method for critically analyzing media. The approach focuses on determining and analyzing the type of text that is being examined, critically thinking about the audience that the author is intending the text for, as well as analyzing the significance of certain aspects of production. This is certainly a lens through which to view and focus on media literacy.

2. Develop an idea to share of a lesson you would like to teach that uses/presents a film (of any genre) to explain (a) a time period; (b) a cultural/social/political point; (c) a biography; or (d) an idea or concept.

I would love to bring in the film Ghosts of the Mississippi to talk about not only the civil rights era, but also the lasting effects that this period has had on our society and culture. This film details the life of Medgar Evers, a significant martyr of the civil rights movement. The film is constructed through the angle of the trial of Evers' assassin with flashbacks to the events that occurred in the 1960's when Evers was shot. I would use this film to spur a full class discussion on the manners in which the problems of the civil rights era are still occurring. I want to challenge students' potentially pre-conceived notions that we as a society have "arrived" in any way, shape or form in the areas of human equality within our society. I would then transition into a short (if possible) computer lab activity in which students will write a short essay on a leader or mobilizer of the civil rights era and how they or their actions have and are affecting today's society.