Blog 8

Learning Experiences: I really enjoyed the guest speaker Jenna Hallman. Her lesson was so engaging and really interesting. She presented us with a ton of great techniques shush as using the colors red and yellow to help students remember the material learned. The brain based learning that Jenna presented to us gave a fresh insight to learning that I would not have thought about before. I thought it was awesome when we did the little test to see if we were auditory or visual learners! By being able to mix auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning I was truly engaged and learned a lot from her presentation. In the class room we learned about the different learning styles and techniques as well as the best way to present your test to students: start with easier questions, be grammatically correct, and have consistency in your answer choices.

Current Event: In Maine all school faculty are required to attend a teaching, administrative, and technology conference in order to better prepare the staff for the classroom. I think this is a positive implication while many teachers who are required to do so are not happy about the additional meetings to attend. In these conferences they allow new ideas and techniques from other schools to be presented in order to create the best learning experience for their kids in the classroom.
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/10/11/news/midcoast/school-district-sending-entire-staff-to-technology-conference/

Quote of the Week:
" The best teacher gives you something to think about at home besides homework." I like this quote because if teachers were not so focused of doing the most amount of worksheets then they would be able to take more time to communicate and share meaningful ideas with their students.

Observations: From the presentation that the guest speaker shared with us as well as the activities we have done in class I noticed that teachers and students both benefit from interactive and engaging lessons. The students are more willing to learn and listen and the teacher does not have to fight to keep the students engaged. This technique could be useful in a lot of my classes right now since seniors are starting to get senioritis and are becoming more interested with the upcoming months than what is going on in the classroom.

Reflections:  I can already tell that I am getting senioritis. Every week I am doing something to prepare for my upcoming year at CofC. I am still itching to hear back from the Honors College but until then I am getting my housing and everything ready for next year. I have already even found a roommate. I am beyond ready to graduate.