Week 7 Reflection - Revised Philosophy

As with all philosophies, they are subject to change from external and internal forces. Creating and maintaining one with ties to two incredibly large areas like education and technology is an impressive and demanding feat. From my own experiences and interactions I have only begun to formulate mine.  Throughout this course I have only begun to tap into the incredible multitude of applications and apparatuses that can further my own ability to teach and learn, but it has already started to enhance my future plans of teaching.

The purpose of education is to introduce those involved to new information, concepts, and the relationships between them. By helping a student develop a useable bank of knowledge and how to apply it, a full and complete picture of any type of subject matter can be made clearer. Looking back, I can see that two particular teachers helped me to reach this conclusion. My favorite and best teacher, my ninth grade geometry teacher, taught me the importance of learning the “rules of game” as he called it. After learning these rules, or the basic concepts of geometry, I found that playing “the game” was much less difficult and that I could rely on certain facts when trying to further my understanding. Helping to solidify this concept, but in a less attractive way, my high school physics teacher decided that “the basics” were common sense and made little effort to establish their importance before delving into the chaotic world of physics.

 

These two experiences also did much to help me identify what role teacher and student should play. I can honestly say that my approach to teaching shows my understanding that baby steps, topic connections and relationships, real world examples and context clues are part of not only the way I want to teach, but they’re also in the way I approach everything. I take my physics teacher’s open ended class and pulled a need to prove and test for understanding and not just assume it. I need direction in my class. I can’t see myself allowing much of a “discovery” method of teaching to occur. This is because I know the feelings of being lost and confused, and I feel that being the source for those feelings would be infinitely worse. I guess that’s why I’m always checking myself and my lessons for confusing tidbits and tangential statements. I believe a teacher needs to aim to be slow and steady, and not fast and heady. Concerning students, I want learners to not only take away the basic knowledge from my lessons but also how that knowledge interplays within itself to form their resulting concepts. More importantly still, I want them to take away that they are responsible for 99% of their success, and I am only teaching them how to be responsible for that last percent. They need to be held responsible for their own improvements and understanding.  This goal is something that I now realize to be obtainable through multiple media and assessments that can range from being communal to individually self-reflective.

From this I find that I am a follower of realism. I believe in the necessity of measuring understanding through assessment. I understand the need for developing assignments based on the levels of ability present and how each individual’s ability helps to represent their role in the assignment. I believe that this all stems from the understanding that instructional environment that arms the students with the core knowledge needed to perceive more advanced information and concepts is key. I find that there is a need for accountability in the classroom and this method clearly supports it by have the student display their knowledge through in-depth and varied assessments. The way in which you teach to this method, lecture and guided practices, is an efficient means to move through various concepts while being able to make the needed connections between them. I choose the methods I use because they make use of my own way of thinking. How could I teach art to someone if I myself don’t understand it? I also find that making adjustments to my methods, for the sake of my students’ understanding, is much easier when I understand them best at their most basic parts. I can tell and show my students how I see it if I teach them how I was taught. I can always try different less familiar methods.

            The inclusion of technology into my classroom is made fairly easy by its saturation within the system already. I would make heavy use of the burgeoning norm to supply class internet home pages for each class. These home pages give students access to everything concerning the class such as lesson outlines, homework assignments, and procedural examples. I’d also be able to supply feedback and support as well as an area for students to share ideas and questions over the material.  The same could be said for the individual blogs I intend to utilize where students can answer prompts by any means available and without worry of peer disapproval.  The class wiki, where all relevant course information is sorted, linked to related information, and useable as a means to judge participation and expanded interests, would only work towards a better informed and communal understanding of our goals in class.

            This philosophy is in no way concrete in its formation or its durability. It is not only subject to change but attracts it due to its dependence on the ever changing world. The only way for it to be plausible is for it to be pliable.

 

Week 6 Reflection

Concerning the future of podcasting in education, I can honestly say that the outcomes and applications are all inherently positive and beneficial.  The teaching with podcasting article made mention of the various ways that podcasting would add to the educational experience for both students and teachers.  The ability of producing lectures that are downloadable could theoretically expand the classroom infinitely.  The possibilities of distance education are more likely and accessible to anyone that has an internet connection.  Misunderstanding during class would no longer hinder students’ learning.  Sick days would no longer cause a student to fall behind.  The creation of supplemental material that’s as easily accessible would help students follow up on interests and further establish what the lecture material aimed to teach.  With the new type of student, those who laugh at focusing attention on a single piece of information, having access to this largely expansive collection of information would not only help to hold their attention to the subject at hand but create a more complex collection of information-based relationships. 

In my math class, the assignments would no longer be focused on conceptual and procedural knowledge.  I would finally be able to assign activities that are easier to promote logic-based learning, a huge component in mathematics, and help me in assessing them.  As of now, most education systems are actually restricting this focus due to time constraints.  Logic-based proofs, a fantastic assessment of logically reasoning, could simply be spoken rather than mapped out.  This in itself is another form of logically reasoning that could be strengthened.  Additional assignments given through podcasts would allow for students to play to their strengths which might just be the spoken rather than written word.  Understanding would be easier to convey when using a media format that they tend to be more proficient in.  The whole technology would just make things easier and more effective for everyone.