In chapter 12 I learned about the importance of motivation. There are many things that motivate students. Some are external motivators like rewards and grades and affirmation from peers and family members. Other motivators are internal like the want to succeed, pride in work, self-worth and confidence, etc. One thing that stood out to me was that students who typically have a lot of self-motivation can be deeply effected by emotions, anxiety, and other distractions like problems at home or how they are feeling. As a teacher, I think it is important to meet a child's emotional needs before meeting their academic ones. Even if you have the most motivated student ever, but they are having anxiety and stress, their work will also suffer and they will lose motivation. (pg. 451)
In chapter 14 the topics of direct instruction and differentiated instruction are discussed. (pg. 531) Direct instruction is not something I am fond of, although, I know that in some situations, it is best to teach material directly. The times it is best to use direct instruction is for teaching basic skills and also explicit knowledge. I have not seen direct instruction very much in my placement, but I have seen a lot of differentiated instruction. In special education classes, differentiating instruction is something that takes place almost all the time. For example, the teacher I was observing was teaching about whether an animal is a carnivore, omnivore, or herbivore. Instead of teaching each student this information the same way, she would say the information differently for each student or use visuals for some and text for others. When I am a teacher, I hope to be in a small enough classroom so that I will be able to teach information to all my students on an individual level so that they can learn in the way that fits them best.
In chapter 15 the issue of standardized teaching was hit on. Before I get into that, I want to talk about grading rubrics. Something that was very rewarding for me to see in my last observation placement was when I taught my cooperating teacher about rubrics and how giving students what they will be graded on before they are handed the assignment really helps them know what they need to do and motivates them to do well. She implemented this strategy into her classroom and gave rubrics for her projects and papers and saw her students respond really well. Their grades improved and she had less questions about how to grade them and why students received the grade they did. (pg. 560) Standardized tests are something that I feel like most teachers hate, but know that they are needed in order to get funding for their schools. I personally do not think that standardized tests are the best way to show a student's knowledge, but I know that they are needed to show that students are learning and gain funding for schools. (pg. 576)
Jessica, I think it's wonderful that you were able to share your knowledge of rubrics with a cooperating teacher, who then implemented this strategy and saw students' work improve. I'm also a big fan of showing rubrics to students before they do the work as a way to guide them. That's why you have the rubric for the test analysis project, so make sure you refer to it often.
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