Reading Reflection 5: I'm thinking...

Preface:
In light of discovering previously unannounced work to do on Monday morning, the accompanying frustration, and the sheer amazingness of one single hour spent hearing from students in last night's class all spurred me on to express these thoughts.

I'm thinking that no matter how many books I read, or blogs I post I will not become a teacher simply by pondering or reflecting. I think the discussion we had with the GSA students from Carlsbad was by far the best class we've had all year long. I think what would really benefit teachers in a program like this would be to have more of those kinds of activities, where we get to hear straight from the students what they look for in a teacher, how effective group work is for them, how effective teacher websites actually are, and what they think of all of the stuff we've been going over.

(You could consider this to be the "comments" section of the evaluations we'll be doing for the last class meeting about the program)

I think in our EDSS 530 class I would much rather not be thrown into a last minute "create a mock-up of a website you might use" assignment, and much rather hear how to make the lame websites we already know how to make "superb!". In addition, having an assignment that challenges my brain more than reading and regurgitating in reading responses, journals or on a blog would be really motivating (ex. "Find a way for students to take their quizzes on their cell phones this week", or "Learn how to use Skype this week and chat with a teacher from overseas", or "write a grant for updating the computers or technologies at your school and submit them"). I feel much like Tiffany does, I don't feel challenged, or that I'm taking much new material in.

I also feel "overgrouped" to make up a word. I literally have had trouble keeping track of the groups I'm in, and the tasks for each project. In my personal opinion, group work is not always the "go-to" for learning, and should be sprinkled in as needed. Also, because of programs like GoogleDocs we really don't need to do much face to face, and with all our assignments piling up there was no feasible way to coordinate a meeting with 4 busy student teachers for every project we had. All that is to say, most of my group work so far this semester has been individual work.

I realize as a teacher myself that creating engaging lessons is difficult, and you're dealing with some very bright young individuals determined to be teachers, so I couldn't understand the pressure on your end to live up to those expectations. I do, however, think some class time to really discuss these issues would be beneficial, not a 15 minute chat so we can move on to a jigsaw reading, but a real sincere look at how to inspire us as teachers.

I think this is more than 300 words, and I hope it comes off in a respectful manner. But I am glad Tiffany opened a door to really voice some healthy critiques of the program, because we all want to be stellar teachers, and we all want to see this program produce even better educators in years to come.
Thanks.