Teaching Learning Foundations

Day 1 - Introduction

“Don’t let what you can’t do interfere with what you can do.” John Wooden

Being a teacher requires an enormous amount of time, organizing, management, flexibility, structure, spontaneity, and emotional bonding (Detroit Public Television & Mort Crim Communications, 2012). It requires an abundant amount of time to balance all the academia with the emotional connection in order for students to thrive and prosper in their learning environment (Moore, 2012). Therefore it is a continuous process of constantly learning to try and improve as a teacher and to create a fun-loving, yet highly structured and strict classroom setting. Some days are more successful than others. When you have one of those days where nothing seems to work, the good news is that you can discard those unsuccessful lessons that do not work and try again the next day.

Getting Back to Basics

What makes a good teacher? It is a broad question that encompasses many factors but it begins with the basic knowledge of how learners learn (Detroit Public Television & Mort Crim Communications, 2003). Focus on what you can do and remember as a teacher, it is vital to remember and understand how you as a teacher learn in the classroom and then understand how you can implement that in the classroom in order to build meaningful learning opportunities for your students (Pritchard, 2009).

The developmental needs of children are multifaceted; not limited to ethical linguistics, but also include physical, social, psycho-emotional, and intellectual-cognitive which all need to be nurtured and given the opportunity to grow (Detroit Public Television & Crim Communications, 2003). Furthermore, it should be noted that most developmental stage theories accentuate the process of growth in a natural way, but also have the possibility of arrestment or slowing down of growth, and accommodation is necessary if children are to reach higher levels of development (Joyce, Weil, & Calhoun, 2009).

Activity 1: Take about 5 - 10 minutes to think and reflect how you learn. Think back to a time when you learned something that you really enjoyed and describe the intelligences you used to achieve that goal. Normally, when you are done reflecting and writing, you would use a Think/Pair /Share for 10 minutes to discuss your reflection with a teacher partner. If you have nobody to share with you may email me at DrPattiMartin@gmail.com

Look for my next post about Language & Literacy and how you can do well when it comes to interview time.