Brandon

Observations and Teaching Unit notes go here


 * Week 1 **

College - Philosophy class and power teaching (whole brain teaching) [] What tools for engagement do you observe?
 * Teacher gives brief explanation on material and then asks individual students to recite back what he just taught.
 * This holds studentsindividually responsible for learning the material.
 * Teacher also asks students to turn to their neighbor and give an explanation of the material being taught.
 * The fact that the students must teach each other the material holds everyone accountable and allows students the chance to clarify with each other if they are unsure about something.
 * Teaching is often the best way to learn, and this strategy allows students to do just that.

What strategy for encoding does he use most?
 * Teacher has students explain to each other the concepts covered in lecture, thus allowing them to encode the information by expressing it in their own words.
 * Teacher also uses a visual continuum that places the different theories in spatial relationship to each other.
 * Teacher asks individual students to give an explanation for bits and pieces of the material that he has just taught, and then has a special visual and verbal gesture that he utilizes if the student is correct and a separate one if the student is incorrect.

College – Aristotle’s Four Causes [] What do you perceive to be one of the essentials of power teaching from observing this clip? <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">High School Math on Slope <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">[] <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Make two more observations about the “essentials of power teaching”
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Power teaching moves away from instructor-centered teaching and places more responsibility for learning on the students.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Power teaching also pairs physical gestures with mental ideas, thus using a broader spectrum of brain function to learn a specific task.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Power teaching also incorporates a lot more interaction between students and the teacher. For example, the teacher begins the class by “calling” the students and getting their attention.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Power Teaching also has automatic responses by the students that are elicited by the teacher in certain situations. For example, when the teacher says class, the students respond by saying “yes.”
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Power teaching also allows the students to do comprehension checks by having the material explained to them by their classmate and by having to explain the material to the same classmate.
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Often times students are too shy to speak up and ask questions when they do not understand something. In Power Teaching, the students are more likely to clarify something they do not understand with their partner during the one on one interaction.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">6th Grade Math Class Operations <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">[] <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">How long does she talk before she expects the Ss to review?


 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">The teacher has the students review the material almost immediately after she teachers it, which is really only a few seconds.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">What role does positive reinforcement play here?


 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Positive reinforcement helps the students feel confident about exploring uncharted territory.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">4/5th Grade Teacher is 11 years old here <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">[]
 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Very impressed with the maturity level of the students here.


 * <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Interesting how they use peer examples to discuss openly as a group.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Critical Thinking Skills in 4th Grade <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">[]


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 15px;">Unable to view page.


 * From EducationWorld site:**


 * "Curriculum mapping is a process for collecting and recording curriculum-related data that identifies core skills and content taught, processes employed, and assessments used for each subject area and grade level. The completed curriculum map then becomes a tool that helps teachers keep track of what has been taught and plan what will be taught."


 * Other two links to teaching videos were very inspiring and uplifting. I particulary enjoyed the starfish analogy to teaching and making a difference in student"s lives.


 * Chapter 3: "Developing Objectives" Teaching Notes**
 * Interdisciplinary Thematic Units are designed to spread out across the curriculum and combine the different subjects together in order to learn a common theam threaded throughout all of them. This approach is more holistic in nature and allows students to use different skill sets and parts of the brain to achieve a variety of taks.
 * In chapter 3 of the book, the authors begin to go over the logistics of designing and teaching an ITU. Goals are broader in scope than objectives and vaguely describe what the aim of the lesson is.
 * Objectives are more concrete and explain in specific detail specific actions students must perform in order to prove their proficieny of the subject.
 * Objectives can be covert or overt with respect to measurable behavior.
 * In order for assesment to be authentic, it must be compatible with the objectives.


 * Week 2**
 * What kind of teacher do you want to be today?**
 * This video brought up a lot of very interesting points on the importance of a teacher's personality and attitude.
 * A teacher should be open, honest and have a high degree of integrity.
 * If a teacher is a clown or is too nice in the classroom, the students will eat him up alive. If a teacher is too mean the students will fear the teacher and lose respect for him.
 * A teacher should just be him or herself in the classroom and hold students to high expectations.


 * Boldly Go Where No Teacher Has Gone Before**
 * Great video, I love the latin music.
 * As secondary teachers in specific content areas, it is very important for us to guide the students through content specific text.
 * These types of texts can be a bit overwhelming for students. In Spanish, the language used to describe grammar can be very convoluted.


 * Blooms Taxonomy and and Lesson Planning**
 * Taxonomy describes the diferent levels of cognitive functioning.
 * The hierarchy goes from more simple cognitive tasks to more complex modes of thinking and analyzing information.
 * Teacher should understand where the students are at in this taxonomy and adjust curriculum accordingly.
 * Intro to Assesment and Bloom**
 * Bloom was an educational psychologist who pondered the different ways in which students learn.
 * Described three domains of learning: cognitive, affective and psychomotor.
 * The cognitive domain describes how students intelectually process information in their brains.
 * The affective domain describes how students react and feel with respect to the information learned.
 * The psychomotor domain describes how studens use the information to take action in the real world. In other words, can they "do" it.


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">Vella’s 12 Principles __**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">Teamwork is very important. Without teamwork students will not be successful in the academic nor professional world.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">Safety and respect are also huge. Bullying, and especially cyber bullying, is becoming a very big problem in schools and is hindering student learning.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">Accountability is also a very valuable skill to teach students because in this world you must be held accountable for your actions.

__**Week 3**__

 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">MLK **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">Great to have students study the like of Martin Luther King. It is important for students to have good role models.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">It is also important for students to learn the history of their nation.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">Figures like MLK went against the dominant class and mainstream values to stand up for what human and civil rights. Very important lessons to be learned by our youth.


 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: -0.4pt; line-height: 115%;">Teaching, Writing & Books : How to Make a Lesson Plan Book for Your Teacher **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">Lesson plan books like the one in the video keep teachers organized and on task.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">I would be very happy to receive this gift as a teacher and probably would use it every day.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">I like the idea of adding an artistic touch to the book, this makes it special and will also make the teacher more inclined to use it.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">How to make a portabello mushroom cheeseburger **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">This burger looks super yummy!
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">I think that I will try this recipe at home.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">Presenter has a very clear and articulate voice.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">Great example of a good presenter.

=__**Week 4**__=
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">Kahn Academy **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">I was not able to find a clip for a Spanish lesson.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">I did, however, watch a History clip on the Cuban Missile Crisis.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 115%;">Great video, very informative. I loved all of the maps, pictures, photos and other visuals.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Week 5 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Very creative and artistic video that showcases some of the revolutions in communication that teens are at the forefront of.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Teachers need to understand that teens are going to be communicating a lot with technology.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">There are several issues that arise with this new form of communication, many of them are good, some of them are bad.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Great example of a communicative team builder.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Students learn valuable communication skills that are useful in other areas of their life.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">If youth can be better communicators, then they will be better students.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Great video that gives us adults some perspective on what teens are thinking.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">As teachers we need to understand how teens communicate with each other.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Some of the responses of what teens look for in a friend are very insightful and mature.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Week 6 **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I went to [|www.wiki-teacher.com] and joined the site. I was really excited to see a variety of lesson plans in Spanish. Many of the lesson plans are available as power point presentations. The one that I chose to open and critique pertained to learning the different body parts in Spanish. The power point had wonderful concrete visuals that could be used to generate a lot of discussion in class and create many teachable moments.