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What makes great teaching?

 What makes great teaching? Personally I would say the teacher is what makes great teaching. I say this because teachers are given a long list of items that need to be taught to students each year. As years go on the list changes and so do the students. Great teaching comes from a great teacher. Teachers have a difficult job for creating lesson plans that help each student learn the material, providing a safe space, and many other task that can go unseen. Teachers make an impact each day on the next generations each day. Great teaching comes from teachers who love their job and can not wait to see engagement in their classroom. Teachers that take the time to get to know their students also plays a role in great teaching because if you know what is interesting to a student that might not be engaged in class you can alter the material. In reading small groups if you know a student is interested in dance you could find a book to read about dance to help the student become interested i...
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How do we talk about issues that matter?

 A golden line that stuck out to me in the first reading of this module was "We may be able to share our views easily with those who agree with us, but how do we express our options while leaving room for someone eles's viewpoint?" I thought this line was a perfect representation of life. I understood it as it is easy to discussion with someone who has the same view pints but hard to hear opinions that differ from your own. This weeks question is how do we talk about issues that matter and in my opinion the short answer is respect. Talking about controversial topics in and out of the classroom can me made easier on a difficult task if everyone has respect. By this i mean respect for the teacher teaching the topic, respect for classmates who engage in the topic, and respect that others are entitled to their own thoughts. Teaching is tough because history involves talking about controversial topics and so does the present. By having respect facts can be taught and children ...
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How Is teaching portrayed to the public?

 Due to the media, film makers, and stereotypes the population of people that are not teachers have a picture of what teaching is that is false. Movies provide a false image of teaching such as in "Bad Teacher" the beginning of the movie starts out with a woman who would not care less about her job and was waiting to marry a rich man to then retire from teaching.  This movie at least in the beginning showed viewers that teachers do not care and are just trying to survive the days of teaching. "Bad Teacher" portrayed teachers as people who are crazy and have an easy job. This could not be further than the truth but because tons of people watched it may have influenced their opinion on teachers. Then we have movies that portray teachers as super heroes. In a movie i watched recently called "Stand and Deliver" the teacher in this movie was portrayed as a super hero. The teacher took seniors in high school who could only do second grade math and turned them in...
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What is worth learning?

 What us worth learning to you? Some would say this question is controversial or that it is impossible to answer. I would say everything is worth learning because everything has a lesson behind it. In my opinion it is important that children are taught the whole truth behind history so that going forward new generations do not make the same mistakes that historical figures did and learn from the actions of historical heroes such as Martin Luther King junior.  I also believe it is important for children to learn about present issues and todays news to become informed on what is happening in their world.  I feel that many times people do not think it is important to inform on present day issues but the truth is it is just as important as the past.It is important as future teachers to have a well rounded curriculum to make each student is learn and in an equal environment. I recently learned about three types of curriculums in schools explicit, null, hidden. Explicit curricu...
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How can schools be more equitable ?

 How can schools be more equitable? First let's talk about what equitable means, and that is it means fair. When I think of how my past schools could work on being more equitable I think of the dress code policy. Growing up I came from a small town with a very strict dress code that seemed more targeted towards females than males. The male dress code was no facial hair, no long hair, and no piercings. While the females had a long list of restrictions. For example no shorts, shirts had to be past your finger tips when wearing leggings, no tank tops, dress/skirts had to be past your finger tips, and the list goes on. Being a female who lives in Texas having to wear jeans everyday for eight plus hours in the august heat is unfair. My districts administrators said they had a strict dress code on females because female clothes is distracting to others. I personally think that all genders should be taught that people can were whatever they feel like wearing and to not be distracted by it...
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What rights should be protected for students and teachers?

     What rights should be protected for students and teachers? The answer should be that everyone no matter their profession should have the same rights. That being said, it should be no different for a student or a teacher. For example the first amendment of freedom of speech, religion, protest, and press is not an amendment that most teachers or students would say they have. Most teachers are not allowed to voice their thoughts in the classroom without parents or the district getting upset. For protest many students and teachers could risk getting in trouble or fired for participating in a protest because it may be frowned upon. If you look back at court cases in our country's history, many have to do with rights being taken away from students and teachers in the educational system. For example the court case Westside Community School vs. Mergens of 1990 was a case about a group of students who got denied for trying to start a religious school club. Religion is a ri...
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How Can Instruction Be Differentiated For Diverse Learners?

     Why are diverse teaching strategies a must in every classroom some might wonder? Multiple strategies for teaching students lessons is one of the most important factors in a classroom because no two students learn the same. In your  classroom you could have a student with a learning disability or students who do not have learning disabilities but it is important to be able to teach each type of student. By only being able to accommodate students who do not have learning disabilities a teacher will not only be providing a classroom that does not have equal opportunities for learning but creating an even larger struggle for students who have a form of a learning disability. Some students learn better with visuals, some learn through examples, and some can pick up the material with just following along in a book. When a teacher gets a new roster of kids each year that teacher is going to have a mixture of students who all learn differently. It should then be that te...
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