28--I smell bacon!

Yes Geoff, I do have unoriginal blog titles. I use to name them according to the entry subject, but to make things easier for you and me, I decided to use integers.
I am very excited to eat a nice brunch in about six hours; I am hungry and very exhausted. I could use some good 'ol cookin' right about now. Burning the wick from both ends to get semester projects and assignments done is not the way to go. I prefer the "get it done on time and the right way the first time" idea, but it seems to just be an idea at this point. Anyway, as I sit here thinking about this semester and all the things that I have learned and accomplished, I ask myself if I really want to be a teacher. I ask myself if I am in this major because I like to have hands-on classes, including wood shop, or if it is because I have no other idea for major--come to think of it, I am not so sure anymore. Maybe it's just because I am tired, but even though I love this major's courses and that is helping me to like school again, I seem to doubt what I am suppose to do in life. I still feel that I am suppose to be a teacher, and I want to be one, but the issue of lower paid wages and demand for continued education (for potential salary growth) haunts me. I just want what is best for my family. Maybe money isn't everything. Maybe being happy with my occupation and my life is what my family needs the most from me. No one wants a grumpy head of the house. So, I have concluded that this semester's learning has helped push me to want to be a technology teacher. Because of this class, I can now see why that position is important to have and why it is good for me.

27

Well it is definitely a close-to-home feeling for me with this lesson plan assignment. In that I mean that if feels like I have to make a lesson plan for a class that I will actually be teaching. In other words, I am getting the butterflies in the stomach. The idea of having to make several lesson plans that must correlate with an entire unit is much more overwhelming than just coming up with something for an afternoon's junior high class. It is also close-to-home because I am in charge of the manufacturing weeks. This is right up my alley with teaching hands-on assignments and building all kinds of things. It is beginning to scare me though; I never really thought about teaching so many different hands-on subjects at once. I also never really realized how it would be to try to demo, teach, and supervise 30 students efficiently all at once. Even though it is just for an assignment, therefore I won't be teaching it any time soon, I get scared to think that I will be responsible not only for the education of the students, but also for their safety. I get scared that I will get a bunch of students who don't really want to learn, but would rather goof off and mess with the tools incorrectly. I don't anyone getting hurt. I also don't want to worry about those who don't listen during demos. I get it down. It will be okay. I guess that these are issues that I must consider in my lesson plans. I think I need to premeditate about would I could do and would do under certain circumstances. We shall see what happens.

26

I think that this new idea of having the entire class come up with a unit of lesson plans, collaboratively, is a good idea. I think that is it going to let us come closer together as a class, feed off of each other for better suggestions and actions, and get a chance to see a fun and complete unit plan. I am excited about the idea of making a plan for a tech 1 class. This choice has given us as a class the opportunity to include various fields within technology teaching. It has helped multimedia coordinate with engineering, who in turn coordinates with manufacturing. I think it was a great idea. I do wish that we had more than a week to come up with this unit plan. I am afraid that it is not going to be enough time to do a good job. My goal is to efficiently incorporate my area with the other two areas of our class.

25

Private schools versus Charter schools--

I didn't really know the difference. I thought that charter schools were private schools. I thought private schools were only those like you see on Dead Poet's Society. All in all, I thought that they were all just meant for the rich kids who had to wear funny uniforms made with plaid fabric. I thought that I didn't like charter or private schools and I know that I was definitely pro public schools. I wanted my children to have the same experience as I had, growing up in the public schooling system, being around a diverse demographic, and getting a chance to be on a big school sports team.
I had an uneducated bias opinion. After Thursday's class and debate, I learned quite a bit about the difference between private and charter schools. I had a chance to learn about the pros and cons of these schools versus the pros and cons of public schools. I must say now that I am totally against charter schools. I do want to look into these school system more closely for the sake of my children. Charter schools are in fact public schools; they just have their own charter. Because of this custom charter, or rule book, they don't have to abide by (except for a few) the state rules. Typically these schools are more accelerated in academics, versus the normal public schools, and can also be found to focus more strictly on a particular discipline. For example, the charter school in Spanish Fork, Utah is geared towards engineering.
Of course there is always the issue of money. Many people like the idea of charter and private schools, but cannot afford the tuition. They are then forced to send their children to the public schools where they feel that their children are not getting the better education. Other parents are not so excited about the charter schools because they do not supply a mode of transportation for their children, like school buses.
I think that I like the idea of charter schools. My bias opinion is slightly changing the more that I learn about them. I want my children to have the best education that I can help them receive, but do want them to be just like everyone else. I want them to get a public school experience with lots of weird students, big sports teams, dances, assemblies, detention, and fun.

24

I really enjoyed class from this last Tuesday. Geoff enlightened us with information that was more than valuable. No matter what major, or desired career choice, every career-seeking individual is interesting in how much money that specific career is going to offer them. I had a ball park figure in mind with teaching at a secondary level. I knew that it wasn't a wonderful number compared to what other careers can pull in. I didn't know, however, how one is able to move up in pay scale in the teaching world. I didn't know that every school district has steps and lanes. I also didn't know that every teacher's steps are negotiable upon hire; an experienced teacher can loose all of his honored years of teaching (in pay) if he tries to hire on with a different school district. I think that is outrageous and not fair. You know what it seems like to me? Teachers are needed more now than ever, with a higher demand for those who are highly qualified, but they have to continually jump through hoops and blow whistles just to try to earn some kind of a descent living salary. I guess it is all for the passion and reward of teaching. I guess I can't change the politics of it all, all by myself, but I can make sure that I do the best I can for those that I teach.

23

So this teaching class is beginning to rub off on me. On Sunday, I was in front of a group of young Primary kids, trying to give a Sharing Time presentation. I don't know why, but right from the beginning of the presentation out from my mouth came the stupid and open-ended questions,"Does that make sense?" and "Any questions?" As soon as I said those questions, I immediately felt ashamed of myself. I was suddenly hit in the head with my own guilt, labeling myself as a "bad" teacher. From then on I found myself trying to overly concentrate on my teaching style and ability to use good questions. I found myself getting self-conscious and nervous--in the front of a bunch of little 3 to 7 year-olds!! I don't know what got into me, but I learned from that experience that it is very important to some kind of lesson plan, included with prepared questions, even for the Primary.

22

Thanksgiving was great! We ate lots of food and had a good time with the whole family. Vacation is always too short though. It should definitely be longer...

21

Okay, that experience teaching on Thursday was really cool. I think that because we were the second group to teach and that we were able to observe the behavior of the students prior, we were able to create and modify our lesson plan to best suit the class. I think that this was a real plus for our group and made me realize the importance of communication with the students on their level and mine, as a teacher. I was satisfied with the way that our group executed this teaching assignment; of course there is always room for improvement, but that is why we are students. I think it was a good thing to have an attention getter with the familiar media clips at the beginning of class. I think it was a sure connection with the attention of the students, they being at the junior high age. I think it set a precedent. One thing that I would seriously consider taking out of our performance was the issue of discipline. I know that I carried on about it in my previous blog entry because I was negatively observing the students while the first group was teaching. I noticed, however, that the students responded boldly to discipline. When we were handing out candy and the students were excited, one of us spoke out loudly, telling them to be quiet, which was done in a demeaning voice I think. I noticed the immediate response of the students; it wasn't positive. I think that having parameters and class discipline is good to a degree, but I must remember that it will always have an impacting impression on the students. So, if I decide to include it in my classroom, I think it must be done fairly and respectfully and in a teaching way. I think discipline can be a great teaching moment instead of a negative connotation. It might even be able to be fun or funny. Who knows, but I do know that our form of it was not good in our situation; we lost the excitement, enthusiasm, and attention of the students.

20

So, is it illegal these days to discipline in any form in the classroom? I think a couple of us wanted to discipline those students on Tuesday's junior high visit. I think that there are too many teachers that are too afraid to do anything, whether it be an enforcement of a citizenship grade or loss of privileges, to help the students maintain respect and task. It seems, as I was observing the students on Tuesday, that they know what they can get away with, and that there are not going to be any real repercussions for their behavior. I noticed at the end of the lesson, the teacher was signaling to one of his students to turn around and pay attention. The student did not comply. If I were the teacher and visitors were coming to my classroom and my students were rowdy, I would interrupt the visitor's' presentation and readdress the fact that their behavior was not satisfactory. I need to observe more teachers and their students to learn more, but from what I have seen so far, not many teachers stand up and hold their own floor.

19

You know, it's kind of funny that the world tells you to follow your dreams and that it's best to have a career that you enjoy. It's funny because the whole idea is conditional. If one tells you to follow your dreams and then critiques and criticizes your choices, then I guess he or she is not really supporting you. The thing is, everyone these days is expected to become who they want to become, but then when the career path is chosen and it doesn't have a common white collar title next to it, it is looked down upon. The world should appraise those who can become who they want to be and become successful at it. I find this observation to be true for my major. I use to be in the mechanical engineering program. I thought it was boring. It wasn't me. Then I switched to TEE. When I did and people found out, when they asked me what I was going to do and I replied that I was going to be a wood shop teacher, they gave me the,"oh" answer. I realize that teachers don't make a ton of money, especially in Utah County, but it is an important job to have, if not one of the most important. Everyone has to go through school. Everyone has to learn. If there are not any good teachers, then how will we learn and by whom? I think test scores are dropping every year not because No Child Left Behind needs to be stronger, but because there just are not enough teachers with a passion to teach. I think teaching is an important and applicative job; sitting in a cubical for some random company doesn't amaze me. I think teachers should be moved up the social pedestal and get paid more for what they do; teachers go through a lot of schooling and don't get much of a reward financially. I think that my choice to teach people how to become well-rounded, learn about nature, and use their hands is a note worthy job. It is my dream.

18

I normally do not agree with group work. I find that it takes longer to make decisions, ideas clash, there is lack of time to meet, and there is a lack of communication. Anyway, that has been my experience with group work in the past. So, over the years I have become bitter to the whole thing and preferred to get things done on my own. I will tell you that now is different. I am really glad that I was able to study up on some of the STL's and then teach them for our class. In those STL's, I learned about and realized the importance of group work and group collaboration. Even though this semester in my other classes I am still trying to get use to the concept, I find myself enjoying group work more and more in 276. Tuesday's class was beneficial. I think that I wouldn't have been able to come up with a teaching rubric on my own for a communications class; I just don't know enough about computers and videos. However, being able to use the enthusiasm and experience of others in my group, we all came up with an idea that I think will be great. I think that the STL's are more than just number and sometimes boring information. When applied, they are extremely useful.

reflection 17

Even though I wasn't able to make it to class on Thursday because I had to go to work for a special project, I was able to learn a little more about democratic classrooms. Something that stood out in my mind was that "students who are strongly motivated to learn do not need a manager." What I caught from that was that if a teacher promotes individual thinking and student interaction, along with a positive atmosphere, then the students might be more self-motivated to learn. In essence, the students will not need nor want the traditional teacher, or classroom manager, who tells them exactly what to learn, do and expect. From this newer theory of self-motivation, the old authoritative teacher is out and the new teacher allows the students to help govern the way the class is run. I think this promotes the students' will and desire to learn and be a part of the class; they feel like they are part of the class. When I become a wood shop teacher, I am going to have to be authoritative at the beginning and throughout to a degree; I need students to practice safe techniques and behave around heavy equipment. But if I can promote student motivation to want to learn how to efficiently design and woodwork, then I think the students will naturally want to behave and be safe.

Reflection 16

I hate computers. I feel like I am the slowest in the classroom because I don't know how to use a computer. Maybe it's because no one ever showed me how, or maybe it's because my family didn't get one until I was 18. Who knows. All I know is that it took me the entire class period today to get word processing and excel done while everyone else was complete with all four tests an hour early. Why do I feel stupid? I want to just be done with it.

Reflection 15

With passion comes great learning. That it my way of saying, "Interest proceeds learning." And that is exactly what I observed during our visit to Heber high school. What I saw was a teacher who loved his subject matter so much that his students and technological availability excelled. He was adamant to keep pushing the school board to let him purchase bigger and better material; he was also determined to to dedicate much of his free time. These two things along with a love for seeing students grow in learning assisted him in developing one of the coolest high school programs that I have ever seen. Not only was it a complete television and production class, it had professional technology that I know BYU would love to get its hands on. It seemed that the teachers pride and joy was being able to see the students grow and become self-sufficient; over a short amount of time, he didn't even have to tell the kids what to do. They just did it on their own with efficiency.
I want to be able to love my students that much. I want to be able to excel in teaching woodworking just as much or more than this teacher has in his field. I want the school systems to continue granting the educational inclusion of technology classes such as wood shop and not dispose of it because of the override of computers or core classes. If my field of woodworking can still be taught in the schools, I will prove to the school board that it is a fundamental course to take to help students in wide variety of achievements.

Reflection 14

Class was really awesome on Tuesday. I do have to admit that doing more than one or two presentations in a day can be overwhelming on those who are sleep deprived, but they are always good. I liked the little "5 minute" game that we did. I say "5 minutes" because it was only supposed to take a couple minutes and turned into a half hour, just like all of the presentations. Making a game review of the things that we learned was a good move by Geoff. I needed it. I tend to forget things or space them out when they are being taught, so going over those qualities of a good teacher, Teacher A, was beneficial. It made me realize how much a teacher needs to pay attention to when he or she is teaching. There are so many things to consider when coming up with a lesson plan, and then so much more to consider when actually teaching. The one thing that stood out to me the most was that it is important to like what you teach; it makes you want to teach better and more effectively. That's why I am going into woodworking teaching. I don't care so much anymore about earning money, but rather influencing lives with the passion and talent that I have. Plus, I will want to go to work every day instead of dreading it when I get out of bed. My goal is to know the qualities that we put to Teacher A, apply them, and like what I teach.

Reflection 13

Observations are always interesting; every one of them is different and is a learning moment. Amanda, Meagan and my experience on Thursday was definitely one of those learning experiences. We went to Lone Peak high school, and were a little late because I happened to sleep through my alarm clock again--go figure, but it didn't matter; the teacher forgot we were coming and he was testing. However, he was very apologetic and quickly showed us to a few more classes that we might have been interested in. We ended up in a multimedia class with twenty students. They were developing individual movies and announcement videos. Half of the class was goal oriented and hastey to go outside and get the work done. The other half stayed in the class room and messed around with the idea for while, but were mostly disruptive. What I found very interesting was the fact that the teacher was so interested in the subject matter and tried hard to push his students to making a better product. It showed me that it is a crucial thing for the teacher to have a love for his work. His most excitement, I think, came from showing us the tiny school radio station in his room. There students were able to add to and DJ the radio station. He was super excited that the school was thinking about upgrading their watts for the radio so that its broadcast could go farther than the perimeter of the school. I hope that I can continue to persue the field of work that I am headed toward and maintain the love for teaching and woodworking that I have. I hope that I can have a huge desire to help students learn what I know, just like the Lone Peak teacher.

Reflection 12

I must say that I was not able to make it to class on Tuesday because of a family situation that arose. I wasn't able to be there to participate with the presentations, but I assume that they went well. I would like to talk a little about the moral dimension talk by Gordon B. Hinckley. I liked what he said about trying harder to breath a little more testimony in all that we teach. I think it is getting harder and harder to comply with that suggestion in our day of living. Too many civil rights movements are taking place and politics are just in the way of anyone breathing the name of God in any school. So I guess in order for us to incorporate our testimony into our teaching, we need to be good examples. I guess living our testimony and being good examples is all that we can do for now.

Reflection 11

Even though it might have put some of us in a slight mode of discomfort for the time being, I think it was a great thing to receive the feedback handout of our last STL presentations. I think that receiving that handout, and then hearing Geoff review with us individually and as a whole what the handout said, helped me to understand what my goals need to be when I teach. I learned that I had some okay points in my last presentation, but that I need to eliminate my open-ended questions and also do better at assessing my students learning. It was good for me to read and hear what areas other students in the class need to improve on as well. I was able to learn from their feedback results and apply and reflect them to how I teach. I am going to attempt to remember these important points of review from my feedback sheet and do better in my presentations and teaching in the future.

A mixture of things

Thursday's visit was short and sweet. We went to Timpview high school and observed a group of 22 students learning how to use a wood lathe. Many of the students were very creative in their designs and it seemed that a handful caught on quickly to the dynamics of the tooling with the machine. They impressed me. Furthermore, the shop impressed me. I think it was a wood shop comparable to the quality of our university's, and in some cases even better. I think that the kids there have a wonderful opportunity to learn a lot about woodworking from a highly qualified teacher and also get the chance to use a handful of great machines. They are more lucky than I was at their age. I am beginning to realize how hard it is to teach a large group of young students such a discipline that has so many dangerous aspects. I learned a lot in our little visit about some things that I would like to include in my teaching styles for the subject. I know that not all of the students are going to be as curious or interested in the subject as I, but I learned that it is important to ratify that interest, at the most possible, so that they can bring out different personal characteristics and skills, and so that they perform safe procedures. I am going to have to make a log of the ideas that I have concerning these things.

Today's class was good. I got the chance to learn more about Dewey and his fatherhood to teaching theories and strategies. It helped me to understand more today about the importance of scaffling, or recapping material previously learned by students to get their minds to make connections. I also enjoyed learning a little more about the importance of a lesson plan. I think that lesson plans are a great way to keep yourself organized and on task. It also helps you to make yourself know the material better because you can't just follow the plan exactly; students' learning or questions may invoke something other than what's on the lesson plan. So what I really learned from this was that I need to be organized, but not be too sticky about following the lesson plan directly. I hope to learn Geoff's lesson plan better (cause it is the best one out...) and how to apply it to my teaching so that I may get better.

Reflection #9

Okay. I don't think that any one of us in the class is going to fail this whole teaching prep stuff. From what I can see, we are all doing a good job. The STL presentations have shown me that we are beginning to grasp the concept of teaching and with the help of our teacher, we are gradually applying great tactics. I noticed that on Tuesday the lessons taught were very good. They involved the students, provoking more thorough questions, and got the message across well. I noticed that we still had some gitter bugs (like me) but we are doing awesome. Once again I am impressed with the intelligence of my peers. There is one thing that I think we could improve on when we present and learn to be teachers; I think that we should know our presentation well enough that our heads and eyes can be more attentive to the students. There were several times that I noticed that a student had a question and was raising his or her hand and the presenter or teacher had their head down, looking at the computer power point. I think that I will try to learn my material better next time so that I will be able to get more involved with the students and maybe have to change my lesson plan on the spot. ??