Module 1 - A whole lot going on!

The term good teaching seems so nuanced. What does it really mean to exhibit good teaching? Woolfolk says good teaching is able to combine teaching with research (pg. 9). In my opinion and experience, it feels as if this idea stops once a teacher becomes a veteran. After a few years of teaching the same curriculum, one can get complacent. Are we serving our students to the best of our ability then? I do not think so. Work that is being done through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation I found to be extremely beneficial. A qualitative, ethnographic and longitudinal type experiment that really focuses on the students and the way they are being taught can show meaningful data that is hard to argue. Opinions of what to do or how to do can be difficult to grasp on to, but numbers and research is hard to argue.

There are multiple kinds of development that occur at different stages. Education should encompass all the types of development: physical, personal, social and cognitive. The term lateralization is introduced, which I found extremely helpful. Instead of hearing that one person is more right brained or more left-brained, lateralization focuses on the specialization of the two sides. (pg. 35). The left hemisphere focuses on language while the right is focused on spatial and visual processing, but the brain works together as a whole. Incorporating multiple instructional strategies and assessments that can be utilized to ensure a better understanding of all students’ development is crucial.

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development I find to be very useful. It makes sense to me that people create knowledge based on their experiences and the world around them. This can cause differences in the classroom in more ways than one, but one that sticks out to me is cultural. A student is in the class I observed has moved to the states from Honduras and has moved constantly since her time here. The experiences that this student has encountered has greatly influenced their education and development. One issue I raise with Piaget’s Theory is that not everyone develops at the same time or in the same way. It is not fair to the students or the teachers to explain that they pass through the four stages at specific time periods. Some may experience development faster or slower than others. Scaffolding is one tool that really stuck out to me as being useful. I have seen effective teachers do this and I do not believe it to be an easy task. This tool requires the teacher to know his or her students in order for this to work appropriately.

Bullying is so prevalent right now it seems, especially with media being at the forefront of most of out students’ lives. The idea of academic caring and personal caring were both very well explained by Woolfolk. The different type of student, academically, socially, and emotionally, all affect what type of caring he or she may need. Knowing the research behind bullying and different upbringings is important as we, the future teachers, experience a generation that has had technology since they were born and bullying is at the forefront. How can we combat this and not make it present in our classrooms? I do not believe that we can turn a blind eye to it any longer. All students may have something going on, whether it be controlling parents, divorced parents, economic situations, feeling unwelcome, whatever the case may be, there is always something. If we as teachers can get to know our students and care, maybe we have a chance against bullying altogether.

Comments

  1. NickwinninghamJune 14, 2019 at 11:03 AM

    Yes, bullying is something that has gotten more intense and easier to due since the dawn of social media. I believe that we should try our best to suppress bullying within our school system. I have seen it become so much worse within my field placements, it made my stomach hurt to see how poorly some students are treated. Most of the time the teachers did not notice because they were busy helping other students or doing work at their desk.

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