Blog Post 11 - Teaching & Learning

As future educators, it is important for us to keep up with the ever-changing methods of teaching and for us to never stop finding new ways to teach material. Whether it means assigning "odd" projects or even collaborating with other teachers, like some of the teachers in this week's videos did, we should never give up on trying new things. In every day life, it is easy to become jaded and feel like there is no reason to do something any differently than you have done it for the past five years of your life...until you have to. Will our students really keep learning if we never evolve with the new curriculum?
In my interview movie for this week, the teacher I spoke with-JulieAnna Lindsey-talked about how she is having to adjust her teaching because her school is incorporating more of the Common Core Standards. She has been a teacher for five years, but she said she feels like a first year teacher this year because she's going through a testing phase with her students and having to figure out what works all over again. Does this mean the ACCRS is helping or hurting teachers in our school systems? For Mrs. Lindsey, this new phase of learning while she teaches is a nice way to mix up the monotony of teaching middle school. Maybe the board that made the decision to change the standards this year should take into consideration that not every teacher can adjust as quickly as she did...or maybe this will make struggling teachers rethink their teaching methods that may have gotten stale. Perhaps it's a great thing!
I really enjoyed watching these videos because it opened up my eyes to an entirely new world of teaching styles. For instance, the teachers in Canada who combined their English and History classes because they felt their students could learn better this way completely blew my mind. Why hasn't everyone done this?! These kids were learning so much more because time was no longer an issue and they were able to have quality work because they had multiple teachers with them at all times. There is nothing that excites me more than thinking about my future as an educator and I know I will always try to stay creative with my teaching and always keep my students on their toes. Below is my group's slideshow presentation of what we learned from the blog assignment this week. Enjoy!