Blended Learning in Action Application Paper The demographics in my classroom consist of students that range in age from around 11 to 12 years old. They are divided gender-wise into a group of 4 and a group of 7, with the female students almost doubling the male students found in the classroom. Around 98% of the classroom, school and community, have a ethnic background that is Native Alaskan, specifically Yup’ik. They are also dual-language students, speaking their native Yup’ik language and English, and participate in a dual-language program from Kindergarten to 5th grade. I am a first year teacher, however, I have been working in schools with students for several years in a variety of positions, such as aid. The school I am …show more content…
Once the assignments have been adjusted based on each student’s needs it will create a higher level of engagement in the classroom. When in class we discussed the connect between engagement, learning and curiosity. Learning is connected to engagement and is gained through curiosity. It relates to the idea that students may be learning information and concepts, but what we are truly teaching is how to get students to be generative learners that are independent and want to continue setting learning goals. It is related to the idea of growth mindset and how students need to build a positive mindset that allows them to not view mistakes as something “wrong” but instead another learning opportunity. Another area we want to grow in students is having them reflect and build on their higher level thinking skills. In my classroom, I have been working with the students to set not only short term goals for each part of their education, but also long term goals for the months and years that follow. This changes the idea of learning shifting and transforming the culture of how education and school is viewed. These changes are made through increasing risk-taking, collaboration and trust by the students and educators guiding through their learning. During the course, we discussed different forms of blended learning, among those are whole-group rotations, a playlist model, and station
Another way to build student motivation and engagement is to give them real world problems to solve. By doing this, natural conflict arises, and students have to work together in order to resolve the conflict and continue developing a solution to the problem. When this happens, students learn so much about the problem they are trying to solve, but they also learn skills that will help them become successful in life.
Teaching is not merely about methods used and material presented in the classroom, but about shaping students’ lives to help them construct a firm foundation for a successful future. I desire to teach my students basic life skills as well as challenge them to set and reach their highest goals.
After reading “On Becoming a Better Student” by Donna Farhi Schuster, I started to think about some of the idea she mentioned. I have always been a curious person. I have always wanted to learn more about what I was interested in, but that stopped in high school. Expressing interest in something in high school was not something I did often. I was so overwhelmed with busy work in school that I was exhausted by the time I had time to actually sit down and research something I was interested in.
It is my sincere hope that every student should look forward to coming into the classroom ready for new adventures and a whole new world of information every day. Education continually brings us new adventures just waiting for us to experience its wonder and possibilities. I believe that students, when presented with a wide variety of interesting lessons, can become interested and motivated in a way that they never have before.
I love working with kids, I have my Elementary Teaching Certification for grades K-6 from Ramapo College of New Jersey. Similarly, from July to August 2014 I worked as a Teachers Aide at Ramapo Explorers: STEM CAMP, providing a positive and supportive classroom management system for middle school students. From March 2014 to August 2014 I worked at Golden Steps Learning Center where I was a Teachers Assistant. My responsibilities included: composing a lesson plan and assisting the teacher on their lesson. Then from June to August 2015 I was a Teachers Assistant at the Goddard School. I experienced solo class time and improvised in order to keep class running smoothly and stay on a tight schedule. Then from September-December 2015 I student
Engaging students in the classroom can be a difficult task. Understanding the process of how students learn can help a teacher adapt the lesson to meet the needs of all students. I will encounter students that are not intrinsically motivated so I will need to find different ways to motivate each and every student. Understanding how my students learn can provide me with insights as to how to help each student learn which will minimize classroom management problems.
According to the book "Making Thinking Visible” students who are engaged in their work are motivated by four essential goals: success, curiosity, originality, and relationships. Teaching mathematics through critical and creative thinking allows us to
Lastly, by actively engaging students in a variety of interesting activities that encourage critical thinking and discovery, time misbehavior is minimized. The key is preparation and participation. Having activities and lessons prepared will negate the acts of sleeping, misbehavior, and/or sitting idly for the bell to ring. Furthermore, collaborative strategies can be used to help students become self-reliant learners that take responsibility for their own learning. For instance, when students explain the purpose of learning the material, they can assess their own progress and the relevancy to their lives.
Currently, I am starting my sixth teaching year at an alternative high school as the math instructor. Additionally, I am also a home instructor for this district, as
One day while surfing the internet I stumbled upon a simple video that would have tremendous implications for me. It was tagged on my feed #YouCanLearnAnything. The title piqued my curiosity so I decided to go in for a closer look. In this video, Carol Dweck talks about how some students have a “fixed mindset”, believing their abilities in certain fields are limited; others have a “growth mindset”, believing their abilities can be developed. She explained that students with a growth mindset have the ability to learn immensely more than others. So if I thought I could learn something, I’d be able to? Wrong. Mrs. Dweck says, with studies to prove it, good grades and test scores are a natural byproduct of students with both a growth mindset and a deep engagement into a learning process. That’s when I understood: it wasn’t just the mindset I needed to learn anything but also the engagement. I never expected social media could lead to such a monumental discovery. I now understand having a growth mindset also means you’re open to developing your abilities anytime.
I still find ways to show my students that they can succeed. My goal is to help facilitate my students’ pursuit for knowledge and help them acquire the communication skills, problem solving skills, and critical thinking skills which will enable them to be life-long learners.
Cumberland Elementary is a very diverse school. The current enrolment of the school is 673 students according to Compass. The students range from thirty-one different countries and include seventeen different languages. Only about half of the students are Caucasian and the rest are of different ethnicities. The second largest race in the school is Asian. As a teacher, this diversity means that I will have to make accommodations for students who do not speak English as a first language. This can also give me opportunities to discuss the different cultures in
They can also help motivate student’s desire to learn by being engaged with both the content and students themselves.
students are composed of many diverse groups of people together, which is a problem for teachers when providing lessons. However, engagement is best method or way for people to acquire knowledge. In schools, engagement is an important way that students acquire their education. When students and teachers are highly engaged in school, teachers are able to help students improve their learning. In the article "Student Engagement", the author pointed out that highly engagement between teachers and students help to reduce dropout rates and increased levels of student success. Also, the author believes it motivates the students keeping them interested in school and their education. (Sadker, M) The action of engagement it benefits both students and teachers. From the schools, teachers and educators point of view, it is important for teachers to engage students in the learning process, because it helps teachers to know and make sure the students are learning. In the "Teachers Engagement" article, the author explain the idea of teachers engage students in learning help students motivated and interested in school. Also, in the article, the author pointed out that most students are do not know purpose why they are in school, and teachers by engaging the students in school help students realize the purpose of education. (Kennedy, C) With those reasons, it shows that engagement it important for students and teachers in
My observations has taught me the importance of engaging students. I am now able to recognize when a student is not engaged. They seem distracted and are not paying attention to what the teacher is saying. Whereas an engaged student is alert, discussing the material, and asking questions