After the first night of EDUC 337 Teaching Language Arts, I felt like we reviewed a lot of important information that will definitely be useful to us throughout these eight weeks. First of all, it is really hard to get into the mindset that the words 'summer' and 'classes' can go together. Anyone else struggle with motivation on summer classes? I am trying my best! Dr. Steffes is awesome for those of you who have not had her yet. I am looking forward to this class, but maybe next week I will nap beforehand. :)
Since I usually attend the residential campus in Columbia, MO, I found that many of my classmates there took EDUC 337 in seat. Personally, I chose to take Environmental Science Lecture and Lab online during that time (yikes) in order to get it out of the way. I think this hybrid course will really be engaging and help us to learn how to teach language arts to our future students effectively.
As far as resources go, I feel like we are already well on our way to being prepared for the integrated unit plan. We now have the two websites (I made sure to bookmark them!), our thorough syllabus, PowerPoints, our textbook, and email communication for further help. Moreover, I am glad that there are ten students in this class, as it will help us to be more engaged, learn from each other on a greater level, and have more time to discuss our lesson plans as a class.
When it comes to teaching language arts, or really anything, it is critical for teachers to have a wide depth of knowledge about the subjects they are teaching. We cannot expect our students to reach the mastery level on the content if we, ourselves, have not mastered the content. The more time and effort teachers put into learning the material and teaching a variety of concepts to students, the more likely the students are to learn the material and master it. We have big shoes to fill, guys.
Mollie,
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to meet you! I agree that "summer" and "classes" don't seem to mesh well together. I am also finding motivation hard to come by lately. I'm trying to be intentional though, and work ahead and do my best so I pray it works in my favor.
I agree that when teaching language arts, we as teachers must be proficient with the material we are teaching our students. Students model after us every day and we can't expect them to truly learn if we, ourselves, are not strong in the subject.
I currently work at a school as a paraprofessional and I am doing summer school with them, so it just seemed natural to take a summer course here. Plus, I am so excited to finish my degree and be able to teach on my own! Language Arts is one of those classes I usually dread so hopefully this one isn't too bad. Our teacher seems great so I'm sure that will help. Hope this class is great for you too!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the vote of confidence! I hope we will gather a lot of language arts eggs for our baskets! I have a feeling this class will be fantastic, due to our classmates and you!
ReplyDeleteMollie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing some information about yourself. I have to agree that summer school is hard to get motivated for but it helps get schooling done quickly.
I have to agree that teachers need to be knowledgeable of the material or lesson they'll or we'll be teaching to our students. Being able to provide information and answer questions that students ask is very important.
I used to struggle with the concept of summer school but as an adult with multiple degrees looking to make a career move, I relish the opportunity to finish as soon as possible so I can make my move. I agree with you, Dr. Steffes is great!
ReplyDelete-Darrien
I took the science class too! Yikes is right, it was very time consuming! I also like the hybrid classes and I think we can learn a lot from them as well. I could not agree more with you that we have big shoes to fill. Being a teacher is a hard job and takes great knowledge. I think knowing how to incorporate all strands of language arts will only make us better teachers to our students.
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