Monday, February 11, 2013

Clarence Fisher

Even though our session with Clarence Fisher was short, it was jam-packed with information. He gave me a lot to think about, way more than I am going to mention here.

1. Education is changing. It is not static.
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      When I think back to my days in high school. there are a lot of differences, the major one being technology. As I graduated, my school was receiving their first Smart Board. It was utilized by only one teacher in the entire school, and was only for the last few months I was there. It was a very abstract concept to some teachers as they had been in the profession for 20+ years already and did not like the idea. Now, in 2013, If we are given an opportunity such as that to try a new device, we must take that and run with it. We must change our game plan to accommodate the changes that come to the system, the curriculum, the devices we use, and anything else that may effect our teaching.



2. We need to focus on two big ideas behind education:

  • Engagement: Students need to be kept engaged during a lesson to make it effective. If the student is able to shut their brain off at any point, or stop listening to the teacher, the teacher has most likely lost them for the remainder of the class. If the student is kept busy (not just with busy work, but with meaningful tasks and assignments), their brain will not get that chance to turn off and they will be able to learn much more than they think they are able to.
  • Passion-based learning and teaching: This really stems off engagement for me. If a student is engaged while learning a concept, they may consider that to be more favorable than if they don't care about it. By engaging the student, they will be able to learn better what is being taught and connect it with real life as well (they might need a little prompting for this part). The teacher also has to be passionate about what they are teaching. Students will pick up on if a teacher is fudging their way through a topic or an entire course and will give up on it to. It will be another classic case of monkey see, monkey do. But if the teacher cares about that topic and puts some effort into their lessons, the positive energy will rub off on the students (even the unmotivated ones) and they will do better.



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2 comments:

  1. Lisa LanganFebruary 12, 2013 at 10:07 PM

    Thank you for the great summary Steve. It is so true that students will know if we are flubbing are way through a unit. If we are having a hard time staying focused, our students will have an even harder time staying engaged. It is a lot of pressure to keep them ALL engaged ALL of the time, but it is so worth it when you see the enthusiasm of the students. I think we will get out of it, what we put into it.
    I'm looking forward to getting back into the classroom in a few weeks, so we can implement all we have been learning in this course.

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  2. Erin DuchartFebruary 17, 2013 at 8:26 PM

    I agree that engagement and passion are so important in the classroom. We have all had those teachers that we know do not want to be in the classroom. . .they are neither engaged, nor passionate about what they are "teaching"the students. I am a firm believer of modelling and that is not different in this context. If educators are not engaged and passionate they can not expect the students to be and as a result, quality learning will never take place. I also think that students (I know I do) form an oppinion of their teacher early on. If a teacher can show the students that they are passionate about what they are doing at the beginning of the year, the student will be engaged from the onset and excited to learn all that the teacher has to offer.

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