This week’s readings were quite informational for me in the
sense that there were lot of things that the readings highlighted that I was
unaware of because I never paid attention while my teachers in schools/colleges
used to do same exact things in the class. For example, the concept of
“freewriting”, “field trips”, “trials”, “dealing with incivilities” and so
forth. While going over this week’s readings, whole time I was sort of relating
and picturing it to how my teachers used to practice this in order to make
better understanding out of it.
In Chapter 11, Davis provides some of the general strategies
that a teacher can certainly use in order to maintain the decorum of the class.
One of the strategies that I really liked was “define and distribute policies at
the start of the term” (p.48). This strategy will not only provide the clear
definition of the acceptable and unacceptable behavior to the students but I
think it will somehow also help me to develop my authority in the classroom.
Davis also provides some of the ways to handle the incivilities (p. 49). In the
text, she references Downs suggesting to “look for common ground in terms of
the student’s interest and the reasons the student is taking the course” (p.
50). I think that might be an effective strategy to handle the situation. One
suggestion that I think seemed hard for me to follow was “try to take any
negative comments with good humor” (p. 50). I think I mostly struggle with
handling negative criticism because I don’t consider myself to be that happy-go-lucky
sort of person. I totally agree that criticism is part of life and I can’t just
escape it but it is hard for me to deal with it and especially with the
negative comments/criticism. I really
want to listen to other people comments or experiences on dealing with
disruptive students. What others have done in past that has worked well? How do
others deal with negative comments?
I really enjoyed reading the strategies that Lang mentions
for busting out of the doldrums especially the five pedagogical strategies that
he covers which he particularly calls “experimental strategies” (p.234). One of
the five experimental strategies is “field trips” (p.237). My history teacher
in high school used to take us out for the field trips. I personally used to
enjoy these field trips because they really helped me to understand some of the
concepts easily and helped me to retain that information as well. For a change
I guess field trips might be an interesting strategy to include in my
curriculum. I also liked Lang’s “inkshedding strategy” (p.239). I particularly
liked the example of “freewriting” that
Lang presented quoting Dan Cleary. I literally
laughed out loud after reading the name that Lang gave to one of his strategies
for staying fresh which was “be nosy” (p.247). In my opinion, I think learning is a process that never
ends; a teacher should continue to learn and advance his/her knowledge in order
to impart best and current knowledge to the students. For the class discussion, I would like to hear other ideas in order to
see the excitement for learning in the students?
Finally, I would
like to have discussion on whether we should let students make choices
about the assignments or not?
I know that we already discussed about the idea of “cafeteria” but I think I am
still not sure if it is good idea or not? While I agree with what the excerpt
from learner-centered teaching mentions, “if students are engaged, involved,
and connected with a course, they are motivated to work harder in that course”
(p.31); however, I am still not sure that giving
students the opportunity to be more involved in the planning process of the
course will be a good idea or not? Do others think the same way?
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