Michael

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Observation notes

Week 1:

College - Philosophy class and power teaching (whole brain teaching)

What tools for engagement do you observe?

//The teacher shows excitement and an understanding of the material in his delivery. He engages his audience by bringing many different class members into the discussion and asking for them to recite his teaching. The students eventually engage each other through recitation of his delivery.//

What strategy for encoding does he use most?

//The teacher draws a diagram of what he is attempting to describe. Within a minute or so he covers several different philosophers. The students are able to collect this data by referring to the diagram. A large amount of information can be remembered through the use of a visual outline.//

College – Aristotle’s Four Causes

What do you perceive to be one of the essentials of power teaching from observing this clip?

//One of the essentials of power teaching is learning through teaching. The teacher asks his students to "Teach" and then each student turns to his/her neighbor and teaches the lesson. Teaching forces a person to concentrate on their own understanding of the material. One must know in order to teach.//

High School Math on Slope Make two more observations about the “essentials of power teaching”

//In power teaching both student and teacher are required to use hand gestures and body language frequently. Students will be able to remember the ideas they have learned when they can associate a concept with a physical memory that they themselves have constructed.//

//In power teaching the teacher calls the students to attention by using the word "Class". The students respond together as a group "Yes". The interplay between the two function as a cadence to learning. The teacher delivers, the students teach each other what they have just learned and the group is brought back together.//

6th Grade Math Class Operations How long does she talk before she expects the Ss to review?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">//She talks for a very short period of time(15-30 seconds) before letting the students review. By giving the students short intervals of teaching they are able to retain more information.//

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">What role does positive reinforcement play here?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">//Students are required to participate enthusiastically in order to get happy faces. Once they get a happy face they are required to respond with an "Oh Yeah". Through this positive reinforcement students are required to celebrate their learning.//

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">4/5th Grade Teacher is 11 years old here <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> How does she outline “expectations” or “standards” for participation?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">//The Teacher requires all students to teach their partners with hand gestures and excitement for extra credit and with no hand gestures and low excitement for dextra credit. She is clear on the expectations of her learners.//

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">How does she keep the discussion open ended?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">//She keeps the discussion open ended by calling on several different people in the audience with different opinions of how the paper can be improvised. They feel free to take their comments down any path because she does not criticize towards a right or wrong answer.//

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Critical Thinking Skills in 4th Grade <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> What impact would this style of teaching make in the schools you have seen?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">//I think that through this method students have the ability to focus longer. Power Teaching literally puts learning into the learners hands. It is also very kinesthetic and gives students tools to retain information through movement. I think that when students are more engaged and active during learning they will show more commitment to it.// <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Teaching Unit Discussion Notes

Week 2:

What kind of teacher will you be? I'd like to start out by addressing the final question posed in the clip: Who are your heroes and how would they accomplish the goals that you set out to accomplish in your classroom? I really struggled with this question and realized that I have not read enough biographies in my life. I will come back to this one.

Boldly Go Where no Teacher Has Gone Before. I liked the the music that played throughout the clip. It seemed inspirational. I also think that the extended metaphor that was used was accurate to teaching. Teachers lead students on journeys of learning and function as guides. The metaphor enforces the idea that the students are the active learners and the teacher is there to expose them to the things that they can learn from. The final key in the guides mission was quite accurate. Teachers must include application in their teaching. How are the skills I learn now going to be effective in my life? This is an ever present question in the mind of the leaner.

Bloom's Taxonomy and Lesson Planning Clip 1 The presenter comments on the difference between surface and deep learning. Surface learning involves short term memory and for lack of a better word regurgitation of facts. Deep learning involve long term memory and occurs when topics are taught in a logical manner. Deep learning is often the cause of association. When student can associate the things that they learn to multiple aspects of their own lives they will develop deeper understanding by exploring the topic on their own.

Intro To Assessment and Bloom Clip 2 In Bloom's taxonomy there is a clear ladder of that builds up toward higher level thinking. Knowledge and comprehension in the lowest rungs of the ladder involve a student's absorption of the material and then understanding what it means. Without this rung there is nothing to build from. The next rungs of the ladder are where self learning and exploration take place. These are the rungs that we want our students to get to.

Bloom's Taxonomy Clip 3 While teaching are there ways to skip steps in the order of taxonomy. I feel that creation is the ultimate purpose of any teaching. Having students create original ideas that stem from the things they have learned is to me success. Creation being at the top of the Taxonomy do we have to keep all steps in the process or can we skip?

Vella's Twelve Principles of Good Teaching Clip 4 Developing sound relationships with learners gives students the ability to see their teacher as a real person that cares for their success and can act as a role model. Learners must be accountable for what they are doing. They need to know what is expected of them and the standards that they need to meet. If a student is not accountable he or she could be completely successful in every class and never do any self learning outside of class. Accountability is about having students engage the material and think outside of what they have been taught in class.

Week 3 Observations:

Martin Luther King Lesson Plans -That guy was pretty goofy looking. His facial mannerisms were hard to look past. -Writing a Birthday card is a great idea for an assignment because it requires that the writer research into Martin Luther's interests and establish something that may pertain to him. Birthday cards also very creative. -Having students discuss their own dreams is a very effective way of boosting inspiration and interest. This is something that we need to do with our younger students almost every day. -Practicing public speaking from the modeling of Dr. Martin Luther is a great tool to really have students find something they believe in and be forced to express it to an audience.

Making a Lesson Plan Book for a Teacher -It is nice to have personalized books to keep your lesson plans in. After working on so many different lesson it is cool to look back at something that has so much thought, history and hard work in it. -Lesson Plan logs are nice because as a teacher you can go back and make notes on what worked and what didn't. -This seems like a fun and creative assignment.

Salad Making Ehow -The two use the basketball technique of teaching at first in their dialogue. Take turns. You go, I go, You go,..... -The demonstrate a way to grow and make a very easy recipe. While this seems kinda elementary it feels really good to construct your own things as opposed to going to McDonalds. -The meal that they make is very healthy and seems like it would be quite tasty. -Their segment is short, clear, and effective.

This is my excel sheet that outlines the a select set of California standards for Geometry that I will write my lesson plans around.





Week 4 observations: Kahn Academy- -First I wanted to start by saying oh my gosh. That is a ton of videos. The videos literally cover every topic I have ever taught. I guess I can hang it up and just Kahn Academy every class. -In the two videos that I watched the man is definitely doing some "shooting from the hip" if you will. He is extremely informed and is a great teacher but his lessons dont seemed to be planned. I dont think they are meant to be however. -The teacher focuses on a logical understanding. Instead of memorizing formulas he gives students ways to derive answers themselves. Instead of scripting fifteen formulas he describes one logical method to recall them all. While I completely understand this type of teaching, it is lost on many students. Some students just dont have the logical ability to derive formulas. I dont blame them their written by a learned mathematician for a reason. -The teacher also uses applets that allow students to mess around with ideas before they are formally taught how to use them. This type of exposure is brilliant. Let students develop schema before even teaching them about the topic. Well Done! -I think that these videos could be used to supplement almost every class I teach. I am excited to give my students another voice.

Week 5 observations: Communication skills videos-

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This video is a demonstration of two people conducting a conversation. The woman shows up to get information on what colors to paint the lower level of her house. It is a good example of two using clear questions and effective listening to get a solution in a prompt manner. The video shows the woman scan the man’s face as he talks. They both use active body language. Most importantly they are courteous to each other and listen attentively.

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This video demonstrates the use of courtesy and positive language. The woman acting as the clerk in the video is forced to tell the customer news of higher price. The cashier is extremely nice and gives the other woman the best, most cost effective option available. This video shows teens how positive language can resolve an awkward situation.

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While the man in this video is extremely formal and not all together appealing to a younger audience he says some really intriguing things about ways to communicate. The most interesting thing that he says is that when conversing, a person should respond to the other by matching mannerisms, tone of voice and overall presence. I think that this can be a very good technique as long as a person responds with sincerity. Communication skills are contagious and mimicking responses is way to show that you are truly interesting in what a person is saying. A mimicking response that is not sincere can feel like mockery at times.

__**Six Youtubes of Math Teachers:**__

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This guy is real clear. He uses good hand gestures and has an animated face. I think that one of the things that he does best is present factual information. His content knowledge is great and he uses very clear vocabulary. I think that one important thing to note in this presentation is how much can be achieved through a white board and direct instruction. Direct instruction is a vital part of mathematics.

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This video comes from mathtv. This man is quite clear. He does move very fast though. I think that it is difficult to gauge a good speed to talk as an instructor. I get exactly what he is saying but will a student that is learning understand at the same speed. Probably not. While he is quite clear I find his voice to be a little monotonic. He definitely could use some alterations in his tone. This really important to remember as teachers. We have to keep our audience entertained. You have to continually change your pace and executions to keep students interested.

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While clear, this man is just plain boring. You can almost hear the white noise in the video as this guy demonstrates how to solve a quadratic. He is a great example of the need for animation in your delivery. Im not saying that you need to dance on the table but a change in vocal volume and facial expression is necessary.

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This lady shows a classic example of over explaining a simple process. She proceeds to talk about how to square root a number. While all of her information is correct she says so many different words and explains this short skill in so many ways that her delivery becomes very confusing. As teachers we need to find the balance between explaining things in many different ways and not confusing students with to many processes.

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I like that this video uses a type of power point with a narration. I think that the benefit of this is that students are able to see different parts of the presentation pop up as the narrator talks about them. There is no delay in the writing. I also think that it is beneficial to be able to see pictures and videos within the power point to help narrate and keep the students entertained.

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This is lecture in vector fields. This professor has no place anywhere near high school. He is a classic example of a college math professor that is way to smart for his own good. He spends his whole lecture saying words that don’t make any sense in most languages and looks at the board the whole time. Its almost like he is having a monologue with himself. Someone of his caliber of thinking can only be observed and engaged in direct conversation. As teachers we need to understand that there will always be a class in front of us and no matter how difficult the material you still need to engage them with eye contact and dialogue. I think that this group might potentially have questions but the professor would not know.