Brain Development Presentation

The presentation on brain development was very informational. It was interesting to learn the different developmental stages because I did not know that your brain developed for a while then stopped, then develops more later. I always thought our brains were continuously developing. This presentation also makes me never want to go near alcohol in my entire life. It was really scary seeing what alcohol can do to your brain development. I knew the effects of alcohol when you are pregnant, so that was not surprising. It was just astonishing what alcohol can do to your brain. I also thought it was very interesting to hear the facts about men and women reaching maturity. 30% of women mature by the age of 23 and 30% of men mature by the age of 30. This explains why people always say that women mature so much faster than men. I never thought that was actually true, so it was interesting to learn about. Overall, this presentation was a good experience.

Role Play

I thought the role playing activity was very interesting because scenarios and questions were brought up that I have been curious about. However, it would have been nice to role play for a half hour and then have discussion about points that were brought up. I had some questions, but it was hard to ask them because we were acting for the duration of the class. I thought Dr. Knick and Dr. Langholz did a great job of bringing up issues that we would most likely be dealing with in the school(s) that we teach at. Dr. Knick was intimidating at first because he disagreed with many people's thoughts on the group and topic they were representing. However, this was what made this role playing beneficial to participate in because it was real life like. This activity made us think about real issues that teachers deal with every day.

Chalk and Wire

I have seen many presentations given on Chalk and Wire so I feel pretty comfortable with using it. The only thing I feel a little uncomfortable with is writing rationales. I have already written about 6 or 7, so I am getting the hang of it. I think having online portfolios is very helpful because it keeps all of our artifacts organized and you don't have to worry about losing any of your work.

Culture and Education in Vietnam- guest speaker

I thought it was very interesting to hear learn about the culture and education in Vietnam. I thought the most intriguing part of the whole presentation was the part about taking an entrance exam to get into a university in Vietnam. I did not know that it was so competitive there. This strategy does not give many people an opportunity to become educated and strive for a better life. I am not a good test taker, especially when it comes to standardized tests, so I know it would be hard for me to score a 28-30 on that entrance exam. It just seems that people who are very intelligent, but poor test takers may be overlooked. I think to require an entrance exam is an appropriate requirement, but I do not think it is fair to require such high scores on the exam.

Chalk (last half)

I thought the best part about Chalk was the Spelling Hornet part. Although, something like that would probably never take place. I think it was a good way to show that the teacher's were trying to get to know their students on a more personal level. That is an important aspect of teaching because teachers need to make those connections with their students. Overall, I thought the movie was really funny, but at times it was very unrealistic. The conflict between the administrator and the gym teacher was not resolved in a professional way. Also, the way the teacher discussed the "Teacher of the Year" award with his students was very unprofessional. However, those little incidents are what make the movie very entertaining.

Chapter 8

During our group discussion, we looked at the question, “What is attention?” To pay attention in class means to stay focused and concentrate on the subject matter that is being taught. All teachers have a different way of teaching lessons. In general, elementary teachers use a lot of hands on activities, whereas high school teachers use more of a lecture-based approach. We discussed how it is easier to pay attention when different approaches are used throughout one lesson. We agreed that when we were young students, we were more likely to pay attention for a longer period of time because elementary teachers must use many different approaches when teaching a lesson because they are dealing with young children because their attention spans are much shorter. It is much harder to pay attention for long periods of time in higher-level classes because many teachers use the lecture-based approach. We agreed that in lecture-based classes we would pay attention for roughly the first ten minutes, then our minds would wander for most of the remaining time in class. High school teachers and even college professors could change this by using more hands-on activities in their classrooms. I think many teachers see hands-on activities as juvenile and the lecture-based approach as a more mature way of learning. Personally, I have had two teachers at Luther use the hands-on approach to teaching and I have retained more information from their classes than I have from the classes with professors who simply lecture.
Developmental changes also have an effect on attention. As we get older, the more we are able to pay attention for longer periods of time. Young children spend little time focused on any one object or event and like to move from one activity to the next. Santrock’s textbook talks about a study that was done on young children’s social skills and how their social skills are related to attention. This study suggested that, “young children who have difficulty regulating their attention are more likely than other children to experience peer rejection and engage in aggressive behavior” (267). We were not exactly sure as to why this was, but we though maybe it was because children are judgmental at that age. We all talked about experiences that we had in elementary and/or middle school that were related to kids being mean to other kids because they were “different” or “not normal.”
Our group also discussed the question, “What is memory?” We thought this went along with the topic of attention because in order to retain information, one must pay attention to the information being taught. If lessons are not taught in a way that will capture the attention of students, then they will most likely not remember much, if any, of what was taught. Capturing the attention of students is more easily done by using the hands-on approach to teaching.

Guest Speaker

The guest speaker on Monday night was very beneficial because it really opened my eyes to other opportunities that are possible through obtaining a teaching license. However, my dream is to be a teacher and change the lives of young children. As of right now, I am not very interested in doing anything other than teaching in an elementary school classroom. Our guest speaker only taught in the classroom for one year. I want to be the teacher who teaches in the classroom for my entire career, but also try to seek other positions on the side. I could not imagine only teaching for one year and then moving on to other things. But, what is right for one person may not be right for the other. I know that being a superintendent or a principal still allow you to change the lives of children, but I feel that it is different. I want to be able to connect with my students and build lasting relationships.