Since I have started my teaching career, I have only ever worked at one school. This school, a private, faith-based community school in New Jersey, is a k-12 institution that boasts just under four-hundred students. The majority of the students are in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and the numbers dwindle from there. Most students leave the school at the end of eighth grade. This year, there are just twentyeight students enrolled in our entire ninth through twelfth grade high school program. This is because the school’s surrounding community has the belief that the quality of my school’s high school education is not up to par with those of other schools in the area. This viewpoint could have resulted for a plethora of reasons, but …show more content…
In particular, I feel that the mastery learning approach developed by Benjamin Bloom which “requires students to achieve a certain level of mastery of a given concept or skill” (Character Education Partnership, 2008) will be integral to the development of effort, initiative, self discipline, perseverance, responsibility, and scholarship in my classroom. I had a brief encounter with this approach a few years back. At the end of the school year, I conducted a review of all the topics we learned using the concept of mastery learning. I saw success using this approach and students of all levels ended the year with with a solid foundation for next year’s studies. This time around, I intend to start the application of the mastery learning approach with major assignments and tests throughout the course, instead of at the end of the year. I am hoping that, if given the opportunity and proper guidance, students will place a great deal of effort into attempting to improve their understanding of a concept and keep trying until they perform better and improve their grades. I will work to push them and provide them with appropriate practice material and extra help sessions and I hope they will be able to see the results of their hard work. Another method stated by the Character Education Partnership is to “develop a culture that encourages feedback and revision” (2008). I believe I have already established this culture in my classroom, but will work to solidify it by incorporating more small group collaborative assignments and whole group peer review. Additionally, the mastery learning approach supports this culture because it will require students to go back and review their work and correct their
During Teach For America's first year of operation, the organization received applications from 2,500 candidates and chose 500 of them to become teachers for the program who began their two-year teaching commitment in low-income communities all across the cou...
Only now is evidence emerging testifying to the fact that much of the criticism leveled at public schools is exaggerated and misplaced. It is easy to forget that schools reflect what is happening in society, not cause it. Schools of today have recently shown that they are performing better than ever. Unfortunately, the traditional challenges confronting schools have increased dramatically and broadly as the world and students have changed. Now schools are facing drastic change -- necessary change that must take place quickly so students are able to cope in a dramatically changing world of the future. All of the criticism creates fear in teachers and administrators rather than a desire to embrace change.
After reading the book “Perspectives on Learning” I have gained an enormous amount of knowledge on not only how to become a teacher, but what it takes in order to become a successful teacher. The biggest message I gained from the reading is that there is more than just one type of learning style. This book has taught me many theories, strategies, and skills that are useful in the teaching field. The book gave multiple perspectives on learning and encouraged different types of facilitated learning. Every student learns a different way and there is not one way that works best for everyone. I feel prepared when it comes to understanding students mindsets and the different styles of learning kids may
The area high school had undergone a large amount of change in the last seven years and has continued to revamp their current curriculum to meet the recent changes in the education laws. The previous administration had been in office for several years and had a track record of being well organized and supportive of their staff. Seven years ago, the majority of the administration retired/left along with a bulk of the tenure faculty, causing a number of inexperienced individuals to take over key positions. Therefore, the faculty left to replace the head of the science department lacked the inexperience and may not have been the best person for the position.
At one time there were only three high schools now there are six, three of which have been built within the last fifteen years. There are several large housing communities that feed into the local schools and these communities, the majority of the people who live in these communities have relocated to the area. With that in mind certain schools are perceived as better than others. Two of the local high schools consist of students whose parents attended the same high school, therefore the schools have strong family ties and a large number of students who happen to be related. Within the last five years there has been an increase in the number of apartments being built in the area that feeds into Northwest Cabarrus Middle and Northwest Cabarrus High, therefore the demographics for the schools have changed. Even as the demographics change the parents and residences of the larger hosing communities continue to have a huge influence in our local school more so than the media. Cabarrus County has several successful businesses that were started by people who were born and raised in the area, therefore those people have a huge influence on the schools, whether it is because they support the local athletics programs or they have children or grandchildren. The Cabarrus County Schools and the school board are influenced by the members of the larger more affluent c and older
Current interests in reducing high dropout rates and closing the achievement gap across many United States high schools have resulted in a major education reform. According to Durden (2008), with the passing of the No Child Left Behind legislation in 2002, national officials authorized the Comprehensive School Reform program to support low performing schools as they struggled to improve student achievement. As a result, a wide range of approaches have been considered to help solve this nation-wide concern. Durden (2008) discussed as a result of this national effort, an increase in implementation of comprehensive school reforms is occurring in schools serving predominantly diverse student populations in urban areas. Kemple et al., (2006) stated that while many different targeted programs and comprehensive reform strategies have been proposed as strategies to counter these problems, small learning communities (SLCs) or freshman academies have been incorporated. . Freshman academies or small learning communities (SLCs) are defined as small self-contained groups of students who take classes together from interdisciplinary teacher teams. (SLCs) have emerged as among the most common and potentially effective response. With the incorporation of small learning communities (SLCs) or freshman academies, there are other areas of importance needing change in addressing the problems of high dropout rates and the achievement gap. Important areas in need of change includes how we assess our students, preparation of America’s teachers, and development of appropriate curricular materials, policies, and practices for diverse students.
This paper serves to exemplify how character education is an integral component in the elementary school social studies class and how it relates to the success of students in elementary school as stated in research. According to the U.S. Department of Education, character education is defined as, “… a learning process that enables students and adults in a school community to understand, care about and act on core ethical values such as respect, justice, civic virtue and citizenship, and responsibility for self and others. Upon such core values, we form the attitudes and actions that are the hallmark of safe, healthy and informed communities that serve as the foundation of our society” (U.S. Department of Education, 2005).The review of research literature has given valuable insight on how character education is defined, how it is used in the elementary classroom, and the benefits and challenges of character education programs. After examining various research articles, I found that there were significantly common themes that were found amongst some character education programs that will be explored further as well.
Education is an integral part of society, school helps children learn social norms as well as teach them how to be successful adults. The school systems in United States, however are failing their students. In the world as a whole, the United States is quickly falling behind other countries in important math and reading scores. The United States ranked thirtieth in math on a global scale and twentieth in literacy. This is even more true in more urban, lower socio-economic areas in the United States. These schools have lower test scores and high dropout rates. In Trenton Central High School West, there was an 83% proficiency in literacy and only 49% of the students were proficient in math. Many of these students come from minority backgrounds and are often from low income families. There are many issues surrounding these urban schools. There is a severe lack of proper funding in these districts, and much of the money they do receive is sanctioned for non-crucial things. Schools also need a certain level of individualization with their students, and in many urban classes, this simply does not happen. While there are many factors affecting the low performance of urban schools, the lack of proper funding and distribution of funds, the cultural divide between teachers and students in urban districts, along with the lack of individualization in urban classrooms are crucial reasons to explain the poor performance in these districts. Through a process of teacher lead budget committees and further teacher education, urban schools can be transformed and be better equipped to prepare their students for the global stage.
Lang, H., Evans, D.(2006). Models, Strategies, and Methods for Effective Teaching. USA, Pearson Education Inc.
In order to be an effective teacher there needs to be an understanding that we all learn differently, this means that no single teaching strategy is effective for all students/learners all the time. This makes teaching a complex process because you need to understand and meet the requirements of all of your learners. Students learn best when they aren’t asked to simply memorise information but when they form their own understandings of what is being taught. When a student has successfully learnt a new idea they are able to then intergrate this information with their previously learnt information and make sense of it. To be an effective teacher you need to work jointly with students to asses where they are at, be able to give feedback on how the student is going and ensure that they are understanding the lesson (Killen, 2013) According to Lovat and Smith (2003) students learning must result in a change in a student’s understanding of the information being taught. In order to show understanding they must be able to share this information with others and want to learn more (Killen, 2013). In order to have a deeper understanding of what is being taught they need to be aware of the relationship that exists between what they knew previously and the new information that is being learned (Killen, 2013).. Students need to be given goals that they can achieve in order to feel a sense of mastery over their own learning, this gives students motivation that they are able to complete tasks and to keep going.
The basis of good character involves being respectful, honest, hardworking, responsible, caring, and understanding. Parents and teachers alike wish for their students to possess good character; but what does “character” mean in the realm of education; and whose responsibility is it to ensure that students do in fact develop good character? The Character Education Partnership (2003, pg. 1), defines good character as involving “understanding, caring about, and acting upon core ethical values”, and thus takes a holistic approach to the development of character in students by developing the “cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of moral life.” Through character education, students can grow to understand core values, learn to develop caring relationships, and grow in self-motivation; thus students grow in character as their understanding and subsequent commitment deepens through varied opportunities to apply values through everyday interactions (CEP, 2003). In theory, a student who possesses good character is a more productive, responsible, respectful, and caring student; yet the question as to whether a student with good character is a better student academically remains.
Students need feedback, clear expectations, and a schedule to follow throughout the day so that teachers spend less time directing behavior and more time is spent actively engaged in learning. There should be more time consumed on strengthening positive behavior and fewer on the negative.
Assessing student understanding is important but as a teacher you need to provide feedbacks to the students. During my lesson, I allowed the student to ask questions and tried to answer each individual’s answer right away. Since my students are not able to read or write I had to provide feedbacks by verbally.
In this course I experienced an important change in my beliefs about teaching; I came to understand that there are many different theories and methods that can be tailored to suit the teacher and the needs of the student. The readings, especially those from Lyons, G., Ford, M., & Arthur-Kelly, M. (2011), Groundwater-Smith, S., Ewing, R., & Le Cornu, R. (2007), and Whitton, D., Barker, K., Nosworthy, M., Sinclair, C., Nanlohy, P. (2010), have helped me to understand this in particular. In composing my essay about teaching methods and other themes, my learning was solidified, my knowledge deepened by my research and my writing skills honed.
Our nation’s education system strives through the hard work and dedication of its educators. Often great teachers, principles and supporting staff are drawn to the profession because they possess the desire to empower, inspire, nurture and watch young people grow - not only academically, but also emotionally. These people are there because they want to make an impact upon our society and the lives of whom the reach. Highly effective teachers are those who have taken learning to new heights by accelerating student learning, closing achievement gaps that persisted for decades, and promoting a mindset of change. Moreover, the presence of highly effective teachers in classrooms today continues to manifest as a result of the support from strong school leaders (U.S. Department of Education, 2013).