Thought I Knew It All...Then I Went to Class.

Your teacher asks, "What is learning and what is teaching?" Pretty simple questions, right?

Before class I would have said you learn something when a teacher provides facts, and teaching is when you lecture to students and provide them with resources.

Um...turns out I didn't know the half of it.

There are so many different styles of learning. There's visual, auditory, tactile, and MANY more. Everybody learns in a different way.

Teaching is so much more as well. Teachers are there to arrange the conditions in which students can actively learn. Teaching is not just standing in the front of the room and talking. Teaching(effectively)requires a number of different strategies used within the class in order to reach each and every student.

Micro-teaching...Don't Let the Name Fool You

The other day, I was the first to go for a micro-teaching lesson in my curricular planning class.

My mission: Five minutes to open the class in an interesting way and with an activity that would prove to be useful to the whole class full of future educators.

OK. How hard could this be?

I have to tell you...don't let the word "micro" fool you. There's nothing micro about it. It was more work than I thought it would be. I thought I would be able to quickly put something together.

Wrong!

I spent most of last weekend preparing the lesson. I created a KWHL chart, found a video clip, and wrote out everything I would say.

Well, the big day arrived and I got to campus early to meet with my professor for a quick "dress rehearsal". Turns out I wasn't as prepared for the lesson as I thought. My delivery of the lesson was not all that spectacular when I practiced.

I'm not the biggest fan of public speaking. It's a little nerve racking to stand in front a group of people and talk.

Thankfully, my professor gave me some tips that I think worked really well.

The lesson went, for the most part, as planned (There were a few technical difficulties...darn computers!). Once I started, I began to feel comfortable with what I was talking about and demonstrating, and my nerves calmed.

The best part...everyone seemed to learn something, including myself!

School Just Isn't What it Used to Be

When I was in school, there were blackboards, chalk and books. Today's students have SMART boards, magic pens and computers. While I think the technology in today's classrooms are amazing, it's a lot to take in.

I am taking a curricular planning course and a major aspect of the class is technology. I'm hoping that by the end of the course, I will be able to operate at the same technological level as my first or second graders.

I am a substitute teacher, and it always amazes me when I'm in an elementary school classroom and the students know how to work the computer better than me. The SMART board throws me for the biggest loop. It was always somewhat embarrassing when I had to ask a first grader, "How do you write on this board?"

While my skills have improved, at the end of most days I still think about all of those old blackboards from my school days (which were not all that long ago). Nowadays, if they haven't been thrown out, most are used by teachers as a place to hang posters, create word walls, etc.

Today's students will never get to experience those boards. Getting chalk dust all over your favorite outfit after providing an answer on the board. For the younger kids, the competition at the end of every day to be the one to wash the board (always an exciting job for some reason when I was in elementary school).

Technology today makes me a little nostalgic I suppose. Kids today don't know what they're missing. At the same time, if I don't start embracing technology, I may be missing out even more.