Introduction to Education Homework # 2

  Not in anyway giving anyone permission to plagiarize or copy this and also not verifying the authenticity of any of the information. Also note that there are probably no sources listed and I am not one myself, so don't quote me. This is just some of my homework; thought it might be interesting to someone:

View the video 16  “Teacher’s Discuss Their Methods of Effective Teaching”  

What makes these teachers so engaging?

                 The main things I identified that made these teachers engaging were that they were excited about their material, they were teaching younger students (the older teacher was probably teaching 8^th or 9^th grade), and they were teaching in the early 1990s. The video was definitely filmed before the No Child Left Behind mandate and it was a lot easier to entertain kids when an overhead projector was about as cool as anything they had at home. Those obvious points aside though, the teachers did discuss some of their methods, mainly the two points of varying instruction and creating clear rules.

                About the first half of the video was used to discuss varied instruction. The teachers talked about maintaining student attention, starting with not losing it initially, and keeping students involved in the activities. The first teacher’s strategy was shifting activities, on the spot if necessary, at a pace that could keep students’ attention. The second teacher discussed using group work, like group answers and group activities, which would keep all students involved and allow students to move around the classroom. I think that both teachers seemed like good teachers with tried-and-true strategies, but teachers of today, especially in higher grades, have to do a lot more than what they were doing.

                The teachers also talked about clear rules and how much students supposedly like them. I have never understood when adults said that kids want rules; when I was in the Army they would always tell me as a Sergeant that Privates want rules. This may be childish of me, but I can never recall “liking” rules when I was a student or a Private, as they said I did in the video and in the Army. I think that there is some merit to a clear, concise rule system, especially for young kids, but it diminishes as you get to higher grades. High school students do not need to see “do not hit, curse, etc.” on the wall to know that they are not supposed to do those things and I doubt they will be enthused to “create their own rules” if they are taking you seriously. I think that when you get to the point that kids want to be treated like adults, which is around 8^th grade, you are not going to relate to them by pointing to a list of rules on the wall. I completely agree with the importance of high standards.