As I begin reading the second half of Teach Like A Pirate, I start in a section titled “Positioning and
Reframing”. Most of my questions that I
have in the classroom have to do with how to teach in the classroom and how to
keep control and respect in classroom settings. This section discusses how to keep and retain
attention in the classroom. As a high
school student just a few years ago, I was almost always engaged in my
agriculture classes. For agriculture
classes, almost every single student wants to be there, so engagement and
keeping that focus come easy to agriculture educators.
As I continued reading, Mr. Burgess talks about
personalizing material to students. As a
future educator, I love this! I even remember being in school and having exams with
problems that mentioned students in the classroom. From giving examples to students that can
relate in real life, or just adding their name in word problems, you can
definitely have students immersed in what they are learning about. Mr. Burgess brings up LCL’s, or life changing
lessons. I wanted to take a brief moment
to talk about how excited I am that I have the opportunity to conduct a lesson
to students, and I could easily change their life in a positive way. This ties in my teaching philosophy how I
would like to make a difference in peoples lives for the better.
I have been that student and I know I will` hear students
say how boring or lame something may be.
A lot of students will say how they will never use some material they
are learning. Mr. Burgess states that
students do not hate math, they hate the way it is being taught. I’m going to get this off my chest and flat
out say it. I don’t agree with Mr.
Burgess on this one. I have been taught information in high school, and have
never used it. I hate certain types of
history to do with the Civil War or the Battle of Gettysburg. I had no interest and still am not interested
in war history. Now that I have that off
my chest, I can agree with that to an extent.
Teachers play a huge roll in keeping material interesting and more
applicable so students can use that knowledge in their future.
Excellence as a teacher starts with a passion for what you
do, whether that is the entire teaching aspect, or teaching students about FFA
and leadership. Passion is a natural occurrence
in every individual, while enthusiasm can be faked until you get your desired
result. Enthusiasm is more important than technique when in a classroom
setting.
Another good tip that Mr. Burgess adds in is that you should
have self-confessions. What are you good
at, what are you not so good at? For me,
I can be good at organization, giving 100% at work for my students because this
is their education, and I put a huge amount of stress on myself, to make sure
that they achieve their goals and will pass their classes. I am not so strong in the point of actually
teaching in a classroom, because I have never done so; also creating lesson and
unit plans because I have not been completely taught yet.
Along the next section titled, “Transitions Will Kill You”,
Mr. Burgess begins to explain how magician’s transition from one trick to
another, and that teachers should do the same.
I remember being in high school and having teachers with 25 plus years
under their belt who could make a class transition and flow from one subject to
the next. I also distinctly remember my
English class with a student teacher who barely knew what he was doing, let
alone teaching a classroom of 30 students.
Not only did the content not make much sense, but also the transitions
were extremely rocky. During those
transitions, that is why you lose the focus of your students. You need to continue to keep your students in
a go-go environment. When students get bored or if they may have down time, is
when you lose their prime focus. Personally, I am a go-go-go person; as I can
never say no and I never sit down to make time for myself, so I am hoping that
I can make this an easy task for me at McGuffey.
The next chapter I started reading was “All the World is a
Stage”, and in this section, Mr. Burgess describes different ways to change the
setting of a classroom. From changing
the seating arrangements, temperature, and lighting to creating space and
making the desks into a certain form.
The opportunities in a classroom can be endless as to setting that stage
for you and your students. I plan to use these techniques in my classroom at
McGuffey.
My next topic was not exactly brought up through the book,
but I have thinking about it a lot recently. I wish I were a better public
speaker. In high school, Mr. David
Bittner made me complete in my first public speaking contest. Once I passed the first and scariest part of
public speaking and emerging myself into it, I became very good and then went
to college. To be honest, college has
been a fun and wild ride so far, but I feel less prepared for my future when I
graduate. I have a better feel of different people through internships and my
personal connections, but I feel that I have not made that many strong ones
through Penn State. I don’t know if I
have myself to blame or what I could have done differently, but everything
happens for a reason. So back to my
public speaking, I am somewhat nervous about teaching a classroom, but I am
sure after the first few days or week, I will back in my comfort zone and help
others have a positive experience in the agricultural classroom.
Q’s for Mrs. C:
If you loose focus in your class, how do you bring it back?
Discipline, just talking to get their attention, or switching gears to make a
new topic? What works best for you?
How do you do your transitions from subject to subject, or
unit to unit?
What do you feel is your strongest point in the
classroom? Where is an area that you
feel you could work on to improve in the classroom?
So far working with me, what do you think my strengths and
weaknesses are? Or is it too early to
tell?
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