Do you Teach or Educate?
I enjoyed watching the video, Do You Teach or Educate?. The video got the point across clearly and precisely. The video made me think about why I decided to become an education major. I decided to become an education major largely because of helping my stepson. He was 7 when he started living with me and he asked me to help him with his homework every night. I enjoyed helping him with his homework and I loved when he came home and excitedly showed me his good grades. I realized that I enjoy helping kids learn.
I want to strive to be an educator rather than just a teacher. Educators encourage students to be themselves and let them know it is okay to make mistakes. Instead of just standing in front of the class and feeding them information, I would like to involve the students in the teaching process. I would like to hold class discussions and make the students feel comfortable to share their opinions. When I start my career, I will do my best to be an educator and not just a teacher.
Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home
While reading Don't Let Them Take The Pencils Home, I felt intrigued by the message of it. I could not agree more with Mr. Johnson more when he brings up standardized testing, or as he calls them, "drill-and-kill bubble tests". I do not think they measure authentic learning. I also like that Mr. Johnson is focusing on finding a solution for the problem rather than focusing on the problem itself.
Teachers often focus too much on making sure their test scores come out to meet the stat standards. While that is an important factor, what about whether or not the students are actually learning anything? As mentioned before, standardized tests do not properly measure authentic learning. Any child can guess the right answer and the machines who grade them have no inclination of it. In Mr. Johnson's post, he states activities children can do with pencils and truly uses them as a learning tool. He wants to make sure that the students are actually learning, not simply just filling in some bubbles on a test. "Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home" is an excellent read as is the entire Adventures of Pencil Integration blog. "Don't Let Them..." is truly a must read for any future teacher as well as any current teacher who has not yet read it.
Good job. Did you notice what the pencils could symbolize in today's schools?
ReplyDeleteHi, Kristen. It sounds like your love for helping children will one day lead you to be an excellent teacher. Good luck on your journey to reach that goal! I couldn't agree with you more about standardized tests. We place far too much emphasis on them. I really enjoyed "Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home" because it was a satirical message about the absurdity of limiting our students tools for learning. Our kids learn ALL the time - both in and out of school. I think we would all agree that this is a good thing, so let's give them the tools they need to do it!!! Good job!
ReplyDelete