PLE #8

I think that this class has been extremely hard to keep up with. There are a lot of readings and it is not always clear when PLE posts are due. I keep up with the class and participate greatly in the group activities. I have only missed one class and I am usually early and prepared for class. In all of my exit passes, I try to be honest with my answers and really try hard to provide questions or concerns that I am having on the material that we have covered. A lot of what we are talking about in class is a review for me from other classes that I have taken. I enjoy going over the material to gain a better understanding on how it applied to education. There have been a few times where I have completely forgotten to write a blog post, which will eventually come back to haunt me. I am engaged in the classroom and am genuinely interested in what we discuss in class. I love hearing the different teaching perspectives: special ed, elementary ed, secondary ed and deaf ed. Reading the chapters for the class is more difficult for me. I am in multiple reading intensive classes so reading for this education class, where I have already learned a lot of the material, is honestly difficult.

PLE #5

I think that in order to create a environment that is conducive to learning, the teacher needs to be able to know his students and what they need in order to be the most successful. Motivation is another important factor in creating a successful learning environment. Being able to discover whether or not intrinsic or extrinsic motivation is needed in a classroom helps students become more successful and creates a more efficient classroom.

The major problems in the high school case study include:
1. Full of seniors that only want a degree..they are already "checked out" for the year
2. Passing notes and texting...this could be related to the fact that they are all seniors. They are not concerned with learning the required material so that are wanting to pass notes and not pay attention.
3. Disruptive boys: these boys are wanting to roughhouse and cause a scene. This could be because they simply want attention.
4. Rules that were in place and enforced at the beginning of the year are not being followed or respected

I think that it will take a lot in order to get these seniors to focus. Class needs to be interactive and engaging in order to keep these seniors focused. I think that graduation and future success needs to be stressed. Teachers need to remind these students what they are working toward and that in order to reach their goals of being a _____, they need to pass this class. Also, activities that help progress students could be good in this situation. If they are working on something that will actually help them in the future will help them to focus. The disruptive boys are most likely showing off to their peers. In order to prevent this, I would make the boys work together on a certain project in order to work together and then possibly be able to show off their work to the class. We talked in class about possibly threatening "walking" at graduation, which I think was a great point. Walking across the stage is an important aspect of high school that students look forward to. If that was threatened, there would be a greater chance for students to behave and follow the rules, and maybe even be engaged in the class, just so they can walk across the stage. This could be specifically enforced for the three boys that were roughhousing, refusing to sit down and stop.