My MEL Experience

The following are eperiences of my own that I had as a child:

• Student/Teacher Relationships: In the twelth grade I had a physics teacher that opened up to the students, talking about their experiences in life. Up to today I still go back into this teacher for advice on advice every semester before the semester begins. I look up to him as a role model, and this is the type of teacher I wish to be.
• Hands-On: In the tenth grade in biology we had to continue disect frogs so that we could see all the different parts of the frogs. I had always done diagrams of animals and their parts, but seeing them gave me a whole new feel on what exactly is occuring inside of an animal.
• Autonomy: In tenth grade in a math class we each had to choose proportion of each of grades goes towards the final grade. This made students choose what they knew they would excel in, a student that excelled in logic would put most of their points towards tests. Yet on the other hand they would put more points towards a notebook if their math skills were not top notch.
• Helping Students Succeed: While during Odyssey of the Mind in high shool I helped set up and produce spontaneous days where we helped students improve their quick problem solving skills. The students used these to help them succeed in the state competition that we would hold about 2 months after this training period.
• Connections: While reading Romeo and Juliet the class was asked to watch a modern day version of the play, during this play students were asked to make connections from the orginal Romeo and Juliet to bigger meanings they could have in the real world. Through these connections we were able to figure out more and more on how Shakesphere is still relevant today.

Blog about a Blogger

Wesley Fryer is a educational blogger that blogs about all of the technology that he and his students bring to the classroom. He talks about the new abilites the new technologies that are coming up will effect the stuff that occurs in his classroom. His main point is that technology can be used in the classroom in an efficient manner such that it brings the student a better understanding of the subject. He also talks about what ways you can use a old technology in a classroom so that it is not the same and old way. In one of his blog postings he actually talks about a youtube video his daughter had created in class. This is a very good use of a technology in the world today it makes the classroom meet the Web.

Type 1 and Type 2

The difference Type 1 and Type 2 technolgies is how you use the technologies. If a teacher teaches a lesson plan on a iMovie but just uses it in a boring way, compared to using all the different features of iMovie, than they are using Type 1 technology. Using it in an advanced way, cutting adding, splicing, extracting the music would be considered Type 2. All technology has the option to be Type 2 as long as it is used in a reasonable manor. Type 2 technologies would be considered iMovie, Garageband, and Comic Life. Type 1 technologies would be considered word processor for essays, iTunes for playing music, and iMovie if used in a way that does not require other things in the iMovies other than the orginal video feed.

Chapter 2: Respect, Liking, Trust and Fairness

The part of this chapter that jumped out to me the most is the part that state whether or not a teacher should like students. All that really matters is that everyone is treated fairly, it does not really matter how much a teacher likes a student.

I always thought teachers were mandated to like all the students, this is not necessarily the case. It is very important that students feel like they are being treated just as well as all of the other students. On the other hand though as long as a teacher does not cue off whether or not a teacher likes or dislikes students more or less it does not matter. The most important thing in teaching is as long as all students are treated fairly. I like this idea I know that I can be friends with most people but up to now it has scared me that I am going to dislike a student, as long as I do not treat them differently it does not matter.

Chapter 1: Getting to know the students

The part this chapter that jumped out to me in this chapter is the part that told teachers to have students keep journal entries, even in math classes. It said that it would be a useful tool that would allow the teacher to get to know the students more.

I have never thought about using a journal in math class as a use to get to know the student. I could use the weaknesses and strengths that I can learn from the students in the journals to better know how to teach them. If a student believes that there is a better way for me to teach a subject it would be great for them to voice their opinions through the journal. This also gives them a useful and silent way to voice their opinions to me without everyone else knowing.