Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
EDUCATION REACHES A Y IN THE ROAD
After reading "Education needs a Digital-Age Upgrade" I am sort of left feeling neutral. It seems that it is essential that Education keep up with modern times but I do not think that that makes earlier methods of education obsolete.
Quote
To take an example of just one classroom convention that might be inhibiting today's students: Teachers and professors regularly ask students to write papers. Semester after semester, year, after year, "papers" are styled as the highest form of writing. And semester after semester, teachers and professors are freshly appalled when they turn up terrible. (Heffernan, 2011)
Reaction
I strongly disagree that professors are appalled with our "papers". I would like to think that some of the papers that I have wrote were somewhat inspiring. I know I've put a lot of thought and heart into them. The biggest obstacle for students writing papers is the time restraint and that they have to be a certain length. I know that papers do not turn out so good when you start them a day before they are due. Also when you are using "filler" to make them long enough. There are always a lot of specific guidelines you have to follow when writing these papers: what to write about, how many citations to use, what types of references to use...ect. All these rules make it hard to be creative.
When corresponding online with peers you have more freedom. There are no guidelines to what you must say and you can write as much as you want to get your point across. Even though I believe "papers" should have less restrictions, I do not believe you can replace writing lengthy, thought out, inspiring papers with blogging...ect. If these types of papers were not created then what would we ever reference?
References
Heffernan, V. (2011, August 07). Education needs a digital-age upgrade [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/education-needs-a-digital-age-upgrade/?hp
Related Articles
Reasearch Papers vs. Blogs
Quote
To take an example of just one classroom convention that might be inhibiting today's students: Teachers and professors regularly ask students to write papers. Semester after semester, year, after year, "papers" are styled as the highest form of writing. And semester after semester, teachers and professors are freshly appalled when they turn up terrible. (Heffernan, 2011)
Reaction
I strongly disagree that professors are appalled with our "papers". I would like to think that some of the papers that I have wrote were somewhat inspiring. I know I've put a lot of thought and heart into them. The biggest obstacle for students writing papers is the time restraint and that they have to be a certain length. I know that papers do not turn out so good when you start them a day before they are due. Also when you are using "filler" to make them long enough. There are always a lot of specific guidelines you have to follow when writing these papers: what to write about, how many citations to use, what types of references to use...ect. All these rules make it hard to be creative.
When corresponding online with peers you have more freedom. There are no guidelines to what you must say and you can write as much as you want to get your point across. Even though I believe "papers" should have less restrictions, I do not believe you can replace writing lengthy, thought out, inspiring papers with blogging...ect. If these types of papers were not created then what would we ever reference?
References
Heffernan, V. (2011, August 07). Education needs a digital-age upgrade [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/education-needs-a-digital-age-upgrade/?hp
Related Articles
Reasearch Papers vs. Blogs
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
TEACHING NEXT EXIT
I am very happy to be on the road to becoming a teacher. I am currently at Fairmont State University studying Secondary Education specialization in Math 5-Adult. I would like to teach high school Algebra.
I believe that the most valuable lesson that I can teach my students is how to "learn". Students should learn how to create their own "A-HA" moments without the constant guidance of their instructor. The biggest obstacle in education seems to be the lack of interest of students. When curriculum is relevant to students it becomes something that they are interested in learning. It will be my job as an educator to inquire and research my students' interests and use my creativity to incorporate these interests into the curriculum. Activities that are out of the norm and encourage group participation are engaging to students. Also activities that challenge students and are competitive are a fun way to learn. Developing a curriculum around student interests motivates students and stimulates a passion to learn.
I believe that the most valuable lesson that I can teach my students is how to "learn". Students should learn how to create their own "A-HA" moments without the constant guidance of their instructor. The biggest obstacle in education seems to be the lack of interest of students. When curriculum is relevant to students it becomes something that they are interested in learning. It will be my job as an educator to inquire and research my students' interests and use my creativity to incorporate these interests into the curriculum. Activities that are out of the norm and encourage group participation are engaging to students. Also activities that challenge students and are competitive are a fun way to learn. Developing a curriculum around student interests motivates students and stimulates a passion to learn.
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