Course Review - Teaching Methods

This was the first class that I took in my college career, so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Those old high school emotions came rushing back. Starting a new school, new people, and new experiences, after so long out of school I was unsure of how my brain was going to react to the new information coming so fast. The class was easy going enough, teaching us several different learning and teaching methods, from note writing techniques to understanding what it takes to run a schedule and keep it on track to reach the specific goals that were set forth by the individual student. The teacher was helpful and never too slow when considering the questions or comments of her students. The feedback was usually helpful without making the student feel overwhelmed by mistakes. The TA, or teacher’s assistant, handled the longer written assignments for the class and did a great job helping us understand the fundamentals of each assignment before we began. The feedback that the TA gave us very useful feedback to use and exploit on the future final, telling us what needs improvement for the best grade possible and what has been done correctly needing no further changes. The class, overall, gave me a greater understanding of what I need to do, personally and in general as a student, to achieve my academic and life-long goals. I would recommend this to any and all students attending or even thinking of attending college.

I have also had a few classes that the teacher really had no business as the teacher and could have done much better as a teachers assistant rather than the teacher. It seems like the teacher you experienced influenced the class a little too much. Your view that she was entertaining but not very informative may be very true, but one can only hope that the class usually has a different outlay and this will be isolated incident. A little asking around to your advisors may help to figure out if the class is meant to be this way, or if the teacher is negatively affecting the class structure One ingredient to a good instructor is the ability to listen to the students and answer questions promptly and with confidence, but just one. Organization is beyond important, and at times when I read others posts and reflect on my own experiences, I wonder why so many bad instructors slip through the cracks or are actually thrown into to fill the cracks. The confounding thing you mentioned about the class, is that the teacher had the students create a few lesson plans... it seems the teacher had a problem making lesson plans of her own. Good post and thank you for the honesty.

Management of Instruction can be considered the place where I learned the most about education and how to manage a classroom.  Run by Professor Judy Davison, every question that every beginning teacher had could be answered through this course. Mrs. Davison knows how to teach in a way that relates her personal experiences to the field without going all over the place.  We had several simulated projects to help prepare for talking to students and parents alike.  For example, one assignment was to get a partner and act like a parent who is upset that their child got into trouble.  That day was fun, because my class contained all of the outgoing students.  Some really got into the activity, such as one classmate who began yelling at his partner and criticizing her teaching.  He was a bit hurtful about the whole thing, but that was the whole point, and it's realistic because most parents who end up having a conference with the teacher are going to be upset and willing to side with their student. This class aimed to show us how to handle these types of situations through watching videos and discussing textbook chapters that highlighted these issues. We also talked a lot about how to handle the classroom, from the very beginning to the very end.  For example, we learned various methods to keep students on task throughout the lesson, how to call on students and by what means we should use our power of authority.  It's real tricky to learn what works best, so Mrs. Davison was sure to share all sorts of techniques so that we would be able to decide for ourselves when we began to teach. There really aren't many tests and quizzes in this class.  I don't recall ever studying for them, if only because the lessons were so interesting and beneficial that I remembered most of what we discussed.  Also, I want to note that this class is also extremely useful in that we practiced with different case studies, analyzing fictional students and how to help them with their problems.  This work is essential not only in the field of teaching, but when you end up taking your Praxis exams.

EDU 101 Foundations of Education is a class offered by Finlandia University.  Its basic content is the introduction of the process of teaching and what the profession entails.  As an introductory class, for students who are interested in the teaching profession this is an excellent course to get the basic understanding of what one has to do to be successful in that particular field of expertise.  During the class we discussed the educational process of the teacher, what is required, the laws and regulations of teachers and what is generally expected of them.  We also discuss the role of the teacher in the professional world, the role of the teacher within the classroom as well as their role in the school system in of itself. We also touch upon the techniques used by teachers in order to present each subject to where the student can best absorb the information, as well as brush upon the areas of how students learn and what the pitfalls and struggles the teacher has within the classroom.  Gaining an understanding of the history, laws, and regulations of American education is also an integral part of this course which gives the student  the proper information to make a concise decision on whether or not to pursue teaching as a career. In my experience this class offered a significant amount of information pertanent to the decision making of having an Education major and for those interested in going into the Education field should first start by taking this course so they know what they're getting into.    

My sophomore year I took Math 106 and Math 107 which were two math classes for elementary teachers.  They were basically classes on how to teach math to elementary school students.  These two classes were pretty bad, though.  They were taught by the same professor and she was not a great educator.  She did not explain things wells and, instead, simply read right from the book (word for word).  She also did not speak English very well and so it was often difficult to understand her.  Every class had the exact same formula.  She would tell us what page in our workbook or textbook to turn to and then she would read every single question and answer (which could both be found in our workbooks).  She never explained how to get to the solution and when we would ask she would attempt to do it but would often make mistakes and get the wrong answer.  To say that the class was a bit frustrating is an understatement.  This class truly was a waste of time.  We did not have a great teacher.  Therefore, how were we expected to be great teachers?  How were we expected to teach math to kids when our teacher could not even teach it to us?  Skip this class if you can.

One of the biggest problems I find in Education classes (be they Secondary Education, English Language Learners, or Early Childhood Education) is that a large number of the instructors have not been in a classroom in several years, if at all. In one course I took, the instructor was a graduate student who had never taught a single day in a public or private school. She did not know how to compose herself or instruct her college students, let alone handle younger students. Her syllabus was jumbled, her assignments did little to either assess our abilities or teach us something, and she continually called on students in class who were given to rambling/getting off topic/generally not furthering the classroom experience. Professors who have not themselves been teachers can be useful, but be wary. Make sure your professor does not pretend to know things without experience. Be careful of professors who base everything on theoretical posits and idealogies, as well as those that put a ton of emphasis on learning by rote- most likely these people will not embrace the practicality of classroom teaching.  Most of all, though, remember that you can learn something from every class. What I learned from that class was tha I needed to know what I was talking about before I got in front of class; it was a huge lesson in humility. Joshuah Tiesman wrote: I have also had a few classes that the teacher really had no business as the teacher and could have done much better as a teachers assistant rather than the teacher. It seems like the teacher you experienced influenced the class a little too much. Your view that she was entertaining but not very informative may be very true, but one can only hope that the class usually has a different outlay and this will be isolated incident. A little asking around to your advisors may help to figure out if the class is meant to be this way, or if the teacher is negatively affecting the class structure One ingredient to a good instructor is the ability to listen to the students and answer questions promptly and with confidence, but just one. Organization is beyond important, and at times when I read others posts and reflect on my own experiences, I wonder why so many bad instructors slip through the cracks or are actually thrown into to fill the cracks. The confounding thing you mentioned about the class, is that the teacher had the students create a few lesson plans... it seems the teacher had a problem making lesson plans of her own. Good post and thank you for the honesty.

This is another class that I took as a requirement for a teaching degree. Because I am no longer pursuing that degree, it is no longer of practical use to me. However, I will say that I enjoyed this class regardless. The instructor was a seasoned veteran of the teaching profession. As a result, she had many many stories to tell us about her experiences working with special needs students. In fact, I came to look forward to this class, because almost every session, she spent at least a few minutes telling us a legitimately interesting story that somehow related to our class discussion for the day.  In the class, we learned all about the different provisions that are set up to help students with special needs. We learned about legislation related to special needs students, and we learned about some of the struggles they face trying to get through school.  The requirements for this class included writing three take home tests, doing several group projects and presentations, and writing several papers. Additionally, we had a final project that was basically a "map" of all the things we had learned in the class, which allowed us to show our understanding of all the things we had learned that semester, and to discuss how they relate to each other. Overall, I would say this is a very easy class. It's definitely worth taking.

I am just starting my teaching methds courses. It is interesting to me to see how my philosophy of education colors the way I utilize different teaching methods. Of course, I realize that there is not any one method that is going to work for every student, so varying the ways I teach will be important to the success of the overall classroom. One of my favorite teaching methods is through games, so the kids don't even realize that they are actually learning a skill or two. For the children who are struggling learners, pairing them with a couple of stronger learners is also a good technique. I check with the stronger learners and let them know that they are not to do ALL of the work in group sessions, but they are to integrate as much as possible by giving suggestions to the struggler. I have found that with the right groupings, the strugglers tend to try to work up to a higher capacity than he/she thought possible. I find it so rewarding when the kids who are strong get a sparkle in their eye as they learn the intrinsic value of helping others. Of course, it doesn't always work exactly as planned, but if you know your kids, and can creat the right group setting, having a struggler with a strong is a great way to help the students help themselves.