Our last class of EDUC 504 was an interesting one. During the first half we spoke with MAC alums and it was really interesting to hear some of the things they said about the array of schools they were working in. One of the teachers was a Spanish minor and now she's a one-woman department as the only Spanish teacher at her 1,200 student school and to complicate things she doesn't even have a book! Needless to say I was thoroughly impressed that she managed to figure out how to manage her situation and how she seems genuinely happy with her situation. One of the teachers was a math teacher and it was refreshing to hear that he still grapples with using technology in class as a lot of the things just aren't applicable in that environment a sentiment that I had been feeling for a while. He did have some good ideas though about playing music before tests and having students answer with cellphones in a polling type of format. One of my biggest takeaways from the discussion wasn't actually about technology or their situations, but the fact that they all very strongly suggested that I ask and/or steal (if left in the copy room) material from other teachers that I find interesting or useful. Not only material from my mentor teacher or other math teachers but also from other disciplines because maybe I'll need material to fill time or new ideas that I can connect to my area.
The second half of class was well... interesting. But it was good to hear some different ideas about technology. As this is my final blog post (for now...) I think I'll keep it short and move on to the fun stuff.
Since I'm now on vacation (Title Reference).....
(Things start getting ridiculous around 1:17 so definitely worth a viewing)
Smorgasbord Fun Fact: Fellow MACer Kevin's children taught 6-time Olympic Gold Medalist and 11-time Olympic Medalist Allison Schmitt (she has 3 Silvers and 2 Bronze) how to swim!
Thank you for that fun fact! My sister played water polo with Betsy Armstrong in high school! (I haven't had the pleasure of catching up on USA's water polo standings yet or if they have even played as of yet!) After reading quite a few of other people's blogs on the last 504 meeting, I find it awesome that you decided to include how one of our guest speakers made the strong suggestion of "stealing" leftover papers on the copier. (I wonder if she was a clepto in a previous life?) I too thought that was a very interesting suggestion to make to us! It also seemed sad how very limited all of our guest speakers were in terms of teaching with technology. Didn't it seem as if they had let their leader (Jeff) down, when he asked them to explain how they implemented technology in their courses?? It was somewhat uncomfortable for a few minutes there...
Since I am minoring in math, I also found the math teacher's suggestions of playing music and taking polls with cell phones very applicable to my future classroom! I don't think I spoke to this particular point in my own blog posting but what did you think about Valerie's point about getting certified in as many areas as possible to make yourself more marketable? I thought it was crazy how hard she had to fight UM by providing old syllabi as proof, and back then they didn't have CTools! What do you think?
That spanish teacher was impressive. I thought the same thing about how difficult that would be and how it was encouraging to see how she got by. And I too think about how I don't see alot of technology working into my classroom, but I've seen a lot of things this semester that would help. Also I think playing music in class is sweet idea for a math class; I had a teacher who used to play like classical music or jazz while we were working, and the students really liked it.
Wow! I didn't know where you were going with that story. I know there's a connection in that my kids taught swim lessons at the same place where she started swimming as a young child, but I don't know for sure if they worked with her. Oh well, maybe you can cite your source.
Michael:
ReplyDeleteThank you for that fun fact! My sister played water polo with Betsy Armstrong in high school! (I haven't had the pleasure of catching up on USA's water polo standings yet or if they have even played as of yet!) After reading quite a few of other people's blogs on the last 504 meeting, I find it awesome that you decided to include how one of our guest speakers made the strong suggestion of "stealing" leftover papers on the copier. (I wonder if she was a clepto in a previous life?) I too thought that was a very interesting suggestion to make to us! It also seemed sad how very limited all of our guest speakers were in terms of teaching with technology. Didn't it seem as if they had let their leader (Jeff) down, when he asked them to explain how they implemented technology in their courses?? It was somewhat uncomfortable for a few minutes there...
Since I am minoring in math, I also found the math teacher's suggestions of playing music and taking polls with cell phones very applicable to my future classroom! I don't think I spoke to this particular point in my own blog posting but what did you think about Valerie's point about getting certified in as many areas as possible to make yourself more marketable? I thought it was crazy how hard she had to fight UM by providing old syllabi as proof, and back then they didn't have CTools! What do you think?
That spanish teacher was impressive. I thought the same thing about how difficult that would be and how it was encouraging to see how she got by. And I too think about how I don't see alot of technology working into my classroom, but I've seen a lot of things this semester that would help. Also I think playing music in class is sweet idea for a math class; I had a teacher who used to play like classical music or jazz while we were working, and the students really liked it.
ReplyDeleteWow! I didn't know where you were going with that story. I know there's a connection in that my kids taught swim lessons at the same place where she started swimming as a young child, but I don't know for sure if they worked with her. Oh well, maybe you can cite your source.
ReplyDelete