Reflection 4

a.    A.      I believe the commonality of seeing stereotyping within the secondary classroom has to do with the educator. The variety of teachers within the field nowadays offers for a variety of views and educational opinions. I think in larger and more urbanized schools you see either teachers that really stereotype or you see teachers that completely do not. In smaller more rural schools, I think all teachers stereotype a little. The secondary field is quite a bit different than the elementary field in that students already stereotype themselves before they even step inside your classroom. This makes it hard for educators to not already have swayed opinions on how these students are going to act and respond to situations within the classroom. However, it is important for me, as a future educator, to have a neutral view and treat students equally to allow them to all receive the same equal treatment and opportunity.

b  B.  As an educator, I must keep a positive and proactive attitude when working to view future students equally. By keeping the correct mind set when meeting new students year to year I can guarantee to allow students to affect my opinions positively. I must allow students to show me who they are without judgment on my end. I have practiced this way of thinking this semester just by allowing students to show me who they are in the classroom and shop. Not being from where I am student teaching and coming in brand new made it easier for me to not stereotype students as I met them. 

Reflection #3

As a future educator, I believe in an inclusive classroom for all students. An educator cannot pick and choose which students they want to teach. However, meeting the needs of all the students that walk through your classroom door can be very taxing. Students have different learning styles, abilities, and needs. A teacher must work diligently to work to meet these needs and shape curriculum to fit different varieties. “For a teacher to prepare environments that facilitates interaction between children with and without disabilities, to teach methods of communication with each other, to model them and to get others to be noticed about handicapped child’s qualifications, first of all her/his attitudes and thoughts should be positive” (Aydin & Kuzu, 2013). Being positive provides a welcoming and inspiring environment for all types of learners. No matter what comes your way in the classroom, you must work to always find a way to improve upon previous practices to maintain an inclusive classroom. There is no reason I cannot work diligently to make accommodations for all my students.

I can work to have an inclusive classroom while student teaching this semester by working with my cooperating teacher to shape and form current curriculum to match specific needs within our courses. Along with shaping curriculum, I can work to consistently shape my assessments to include reviewable levels of content competency to allow me to review different needs levels. The results can help to focus efforts on specific areas certain students are struggling.  This will give me an idea on specific students I need to target to shape instruction accordingly.

Reference:

Aydin, A., & Kuzu, S. (2013). Teacher Candidates' Attitudes towards Inclusion Education and Comparison of Self-Compassion Levels. Online Submission.

Reflection Week

   The reflection week was very self gratifying, as the week ended in a job interview. The semester has been full of challenges and I don't expect it to get any easier. The most rewarding thing about the semester so far has been connecting with students while teaching and watching them understand the material. The job interview went very well and I look forward to the other opportunities headed my direction.

   As I continue to learn and grow as an educator, I hope to master classroom management. I hope to achieve a level of mastery within my content area. Also, I hope to have outstanding judging teams and project winners. Most of all, I hope to have many scholarship finalists and winners. I look forward to what the future holds and the challenges ahead. I'm going to continue to work hard and learn as much as I can this semester. 

Reflection #2

Part 1

In the classroom today, we know not all students fit the same cookie cutter shaped curriculum as we used to believe previously. Utilizing only multiple choice and chapter test assessment does not allow for students to achieve the optimum cognitive level that an open ended or an assessment that allows for divergent thinking would. The use of an assessment type, like multiple choice, limits student’s abilities to think out of the box and explore further ideas. Student assessment should include multiple types of problem solving and exploratory ideals. Types of assessment that would further student learning and growth of cognitive development should be used. Students have different learning styles and perform better when multiple assessment strategies are utilized. Assessment strategies like projects, essays, open-ended questions, and group work will help expand and broaden the results previously found in traditional strategies. The use of multiple strategies allows for educators to be less one-dimensional and allow students to be more creative and expressive within their answers.

Part 2

            Formative assessments I currently use in the classroom are class discussion, work sheets, and in class participation. During a lesson lecture or videos, I will utilize classroom discussion stopping from time to time during instruction and asking questions for the class to discuss. Some days I will use worksheets and handouts as additional instruction to compliment lecture. When I combine the two, I’ll observe classroom participation as an assessment. Summative assessments I currently use in the classroom are projects, presentations, and unit tests. When completing a unit or group of study, I’ll come up with a project and/or presentation for the class to do. Usually the project will allow for the individual or group to be creative and think outside the box. If I don’t use a project to finish a unit, I will use a unit test as a summative assessment. The test will usually include multiple question types such as multiple choice, fill in the blank, true and false, open ended, and essay questions. I believe using a balance of both formative and summative assessment types is important. When using formative types, the educator is able to keep track of student progress day to day allowing for a change of instruction or method if needed. Summative assessments allow for an educator to see if the student absorbed and actually learned the material presented in a unit as a whole. When utilizing both types together a proper student assessment is achieved. I plan on utilizing classroom discussion, group work, and projects as assessments within my future classroom. I plan on implementing discussion similar to how I do it now while student teaching during lecture and videos. Simply by just stopping and discussing certain things, to make sure students are picking up on the instruction. Group work will be utilized during class projects and especially in the shop. Breaking students into groups to work on metal or wood projects will help the projects get finished faster and allow for more creativity when designing and putting the projects together. Project work will be utilized as a summative assessment within my classroom. I believe a strong agriculture education program thrives on project work and hands on activities. Students in my classroom will learn by doing, not just through lecture and video instruction.   

Reflection #1 - Introduction

Happy Spring Semester! I am Eric Burton from Stratford, Texas located at the tip top of the Texas Panhandle. I grew up on a farm / ranch almost thirty miles from any town. I was very involved in high school academics, FFA, and 4-H. I graduated in a class of almost forty and knew everyone's first name in my high school. One stop light town is spot on when describing Stratford.  Currently I am involved with a couple of organizations on campus, including Student Government Association, Delta Tau Alpha (Ag Honor Society), and Angelo State FFA. I hold the position of President Pro Tempore in Student Government and enjoy the student student senate.The thing that most attracted me to Angelo State was the excellent Agriculture program which influenced my decision to attend higher education here. San Angelo also has everything I'm looking for in a smaller city. I am an Agriculture Science and Leadership major with a double minor in Professional Education and Animal Science. I will be student teaching at Wall High School in the Agriculture education department and will be working with freshmen through seniors. I hope one day to teach back in the Panhandle in a somewhat small town. My mother is a Family and Consumer Sciences educator and seeing her teach helped me realize what career I wanted to pursue. My love for agriculture and stock shows made it an easy decision to want to become an Ag teacher. I'm looking forward to showing young people what agriculture today is all about. I believe it is extremely important for everyone today to know where our groceries come from and how it gets from the farm to the table. Also, I plan to have a strong FFA program with numerous judging teams, SAE's, and scholarship winners. I believe the top three roles of a teacher to be are a resource provider, classroom supporter, and learning facilitator. As a resource provider, teachers enhance student's learning by providing students with opportunities and materials to be successful in and outside of the classroom. A teacher must also be a classroom supporter by always having and promoting a positive attitude, encouraging students, and helping them develop short and long terms goals for their learning. Finally, a teacher must be a learning facilitator for students at all times to promote students to take responsibility for their own learning and self evaluation in the classroom.



The picture above is one of my girlfriend and I in the mountains near Cuchara, Colorado.