June 29

For this class I learned a lot about the different expectations for the different grade levels in health. I thought that this was very interesting. The way that these expectations and EALRS are presented make me question who actually came up with the order? And also, what if things need to be changed?

I am always learning that there are many topics that need to be covered in health. I also see that it is crucial to know who your audience. How do you teach students in a way that fits their understanding?

June 23

One important concept I learned in class was the importance of lesson planning and the order in which you plan your lesson. This is something that I have thought of but not deeply analyzed like we did today. It really does put things into perspective and it helps to see what the state standards in health are as well. It helps to put all teachers on the same page and have some what of a unified goal.
I noticed that these standards are very broad and general; does this have any affect on what may not be covered?

The Beginning of learning Health and Fitness

The most important thing that I learned in class today was that Health includes a lot of topics. Our small group struggled in putting all of the different subjects together. We realized that health is a huge part of all of our lives and it affects a lot of what we do in terms of physical, mental and emotinal.
I am excited to learn more methods and ideas/facts about health. I find this subject very important because it is really learning about how to take care of oneself and the people around you.
The questions I have now are...
*what are some ways or practical methods to teach health?
*what is included?

always willing to learn

"Good teachers are those who know how little they know. Bad teachers are those who think they know more than they don't know." - R. Verdi

*thought this quote said it all.. we should always be willing to learn more and strive to learn more

Creative Environment

I was looking around and found this article. A school makes an outdoor classroom where students can get hands on experience. I thought this fit well with this week's topic in changing the environment of the classroom. :) (Video is also included in the article).

http://myarklamiss.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=82846

Community

I really enjoyed last week's class discussion. I enjoyed building the community in our classroom. What brings people together? I think in any situation it is getting to know that person better. So I enjoyed discussing about that. I am one to observe before fully letting go. I think it is because I want to make sure that it is a safe environment.

One thing that was really challenging was talking about students with different learning abilities (I really like that term). As we were talking about this, I was a little intimidated and worried about how I would work with these students, especially because the topics we have talked about this quarter are so heavy. I was glad that we were able to talk about it as a cohort and come up with things that we might do.

The reason I bring this up is because I was actually able to talk to a first grade teacher the other day. She was telling me about one of her new students. She was explaining to me that this student had autism and reacted in very different ways and even began to hide under desks and not show up to the classroom. When I first heard this, I was reminded of our class discussion and of course even more worried. This teacher explained to me that at first it was really difficult but she was able to recognize patterns and begin to talk to this student the way she understood. It was definitely an encouraging to listen t how she was able to tget to know the student better and help her.

I am excited to see what we as teachers can do to build our communities in the classroom. It's comforting to know that there are so many resources and blogs from other teachers. I can see that there is a bigger community than once thought. :)

Tracking and Standardized tests.. really?

Last week's discussion about tracking and standardized tests and also the No Child Left Behind Act brought up a lot of questions, yet again.

I can't help but to ask if the people that are on the Education Board understand what schools are like.. The more I learn, the more I am convinced that they have no idea what is helping students. I feel like everything that they are doing is hindering the student's future. If we know that students learn better in a more creative environment, why do we require these standardized tests that take away from true learning. Come on now, do you remember those silly facts from your standardized tests? What I remember in the classroom is the more creative things and that is what I know I learned.

How do we bridge that gap between those who are controlling and enforcing these ridiculous acts? I feel like there is a definite disconnect between them and students and of course teachers. It just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe it's because I'm a pre-service teacher and I am not aware of everything in education, but as of now, I just don't get why teachers/students and the board are going in opposite directions.