Which is my reflection for class on last Monday. Throughout the class I was trying to see how Dr. Smidt's activities were enlightening the class as compared to my activity (and a couple activities I wanted to do but didn't have time for) on the same chapters. One thing that I noticed was how she engaged the class by taking advantage of the ways we learn (Visual, Kinesthetic, & Auditory). I should give this subject a rest, right? Wrong, I just want to use the last class as a good example of what I was talking about previously. Particularly in the activity where we wrote down our thoughts and stuck them to the chalkboard for peer assesment: I thought that this activity was well done since it allowed for group socialization and communication, but at the same time it allowed students to work independently AND it was visual, we were allowed to "work with the text" by writing down our own ideas, & we had a discussion about the 12 principles prior to the activity. Of course it wasn't a perfect activity: we could have been told that what we were writing down was going to be scrutinized (but not harshly) and we could have been given a little more time to come up with more creative thoughts. But for the most part this activity was pretty well rounded.
The other difference in presentation that I'll briefly mention is that there was no lecture about the material. Not even for 5 min. In a class where we're learning how to teach it makes sense that we are learning by doing and I think that helps a lot as long as the activities don't get too repetitive. Since the purposes are to reinforce the material, giving us teaching tools, and trying to enjoy it at the same time I think that activities like this have been engaging and teaching the class much more than a simple lecture might.
2 comments:
Actually, I think learning by practicing and doing, is the thing that makes this class the most effective one. Otherwise it wouldn't be that helpful. All theory is good. But you can't teach students using only the knowledge of theory. You need practice. And it won't be good if your students will be the ones you practice on first...
Thanks for your analysis. Your critique was particularly welcome :)
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