I decided to watch the movies Stand and Deliver and The Ron Clark Story, featuring Jaime Escalante and Ron Clark as high school math and middle school teachers, respectively. They both have very different styles, but they are both considered very effective (both are true stories). The two student bodies are vastly different as well--Clark teaches in Harlem, while Escalante teaches in intercity L.A.
Escalante holds his students to a very high standard. In fact, the big theme of the movie is his challenge for the school to carry an A.P. Calculus class. He wasn't necessarily polite, but the students knew he put his heart and soul into the class.
Ron Clark was about giving students hope. He had fun with his students and praised them a lot, contrary to Escalante who, even when his students succeeded, did not show any public support. He believed in his students and while he had high expectations, he did not push them as hard as Escalante did.
Both, however, pushed themselves to the max. Both showed scenes of having to go to the hospital because they worked too hard.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Tech Set Backs
Technology is great when it works, and a huge devastation when it isn't. In the teaching world, this can be especially hurtful for each day's lesson when a server goes down, the smartboard pen breaks, or maybe just the calculators need batteries. Sometimes we can get more dependent on it than we need to be.
For example, in my big lesson at Finneytown (the one for which my evaluator was present), the powerpoint turned into Promethius presentation had trouble opening. I had counted on the powerpoint to help keep me on track and to have examples for the students to work on. However, because we checked before class began, I had time to improvise. I still used the Promethian board, but came up with the examples on the spot, and got the students involved. My evaluator, my cooperating teacher, and my students all thought it was part of the plan.
In this case, you can see I was not incredibly dependent on technology. It would have been helpful to have it, but I was flexible enough in the creation of my lesson for something like this to happen.
For example, in my big lesson at Finneytown (the one for which my evaluator was present), the powerpoint turned into Promethius presentation had trouble opening. I had counted on the powerpoint to help keep me on track and to have examples for the students to work on. However, because we checked before class began, I had time to improvise. I still used the Promethian board, but came up with the examples on the spot, and got the students involved. My evaluator, my cooperating teacher, and my students all thought it was part of the plan.
In this case, you can see I was not incredibly dependent on technology. It would have been helpful to have it, but I was flexible enough in the creation of my lesson for something like this to happen.
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