Another theory, another set of questions from me. This one was nearly impossible to wrap my mind around but after chatting with previous graduates of the program and googling the theory name, I think I finally figured it out, and the solution was a let-down. Of course each individual sees things through their own set of lenses. We all understand the theory, in fact this theory should be bumped up to the "fact" stage instead. What I want to know is how to teach a classroom full of students, all with different backgrounds, the same principles and do it effectively and in a limited amount of time. Identifying the fact that each student sees the principle based on who they are and what they know and have experienced is a huge "duh." Now to figure out how to do the teaching. When someone solves the next step, the important step of how, let me know.

M

CIP lesson, Sept 21

This teaching tool seems so obvious, I wonder why it took 25 pages to explain. Of course students learn better when they can apply the new thing they are learning to something they already know. If I have a student that enjoys wrenching on cars and I can show how life is related to carbureators, then the learning process will be so much more effective, duh. Perhaps it's my simple mindedness but I'm glad I'm a teacher and not a writer of learning theory. The one thing that was useful was the idea that we need to know our students much better in order to help them learn. We all believe that what we teach is important and so we should be willing to do what it takes to get it into the lives of our students.

M

Week 3, FBA

This weeks reading was enlightening. I enjoy finding the how for all of the why's. We all have students with issues that need to be corrected but finding the appropriate how is often then issue. I see easy and immediate application to my special needs students and to my more troublesome gems, but only after some thinking and pondering was I able to see how it would apply to the other 90%. I have a group of wonderful students that want to be in class and want to learn but are often railroaded by the more vocal and less helpful 10%. In applying FBA I'm going to try to help the quieter, more helpful students emerge and contribute. My plan will take the whole semester, which is fine, and will pay great dividends in years to come. I plan on helping the quieter students see their usefulness and potential by talking to parents and other teachers to find out what they do well and how they enjoy being treated. Then I will cater individual lessons to the particular talents and capacities of each student so that he or she will have a chance to shine. By then praising them, a lot, they will be more willing, in the future, to stand up and lead out. This will all depend on my ability to apply FBA to my more troublesome students so they don't destroy the confidence of the quieter ones. It will take some time but a true teacher is focused on creating viable and useful humans, not just ones that can regurgitate what I drill into their heads.

M