In today’s post I will be addressing the readings from last week, and my own experiences in the classroom. I will be talking about the items of most utility to myself as a new teacher, how I can apply what was covered in the reading to the field, and finally how I plan to incorporate it into my teaching.
Useful in today’s readings:
There were many things that I found to be useful in the week’s reading assignment. In Teaching Tips I found chapters two and three very interesting. Although I don’t find them terribly important right now, I believe in the future knowing how to build my own course will be very useful. I also liked how we got tips on text book selection. In my current role as a T.A., I hadn’t really thought all that much about selecting a text book for my course because it was done for me already. By contrast, I had thought about the syllabus, but was given one at orientation. After reading chapter two in Teaching Tips, I wish I would have taken more time with the syllabus and crafted it into something more my own.
Chapter three in Teaching Tips also addressed several items that I found to be useful. After reading chapter three, first I got a sense that I ran my first day of class about how I should have. That said however, I feel that I gained much valuable information regarding how I will run my first class period next time. Next time I will cover less material in the syllabus, and spend more time with icebreakers and activities to give students a feel for the course. I think I may have read a little too much of the syllabus to my class. In the future I hope to make better use of this time.
Ways to implement the text in communication:
I believe that the field of communication does a great job at implementing what the books talk about in terms of teaching practice. I believe that as we are naturally enthralled with the phenomena of communication. As a field we pay especially close attention to how we communicate. Although I feel we may pay more attention to how we communicate, I think that First Day to Final Grade makes some good points that are often forgotten.
Some reminders I found particularly helpful were based on gender and ethnicity. I knew that students react differently based on the gender of the instructor. The book also addresses ethnicity and language barriers that I hadn’t really considered. Although I’m a native speaker of English, not all of my students are. I think the book gives some good insight into overcoming these issues.
Incorporation of the material in my classroom:
After completing the readings, I have several things that I am going to try to incorporate into my classroom. First, I know that next semester the first day of my class is going to look very differently. I did use all of my time on the first day, but next semester I will use it differently. I will spend far less time reading the syllabus, and I will just highlight the most important points. After that I will spend more time in activities and icebreakers.
As for the remainder of this semester, I think I’m going to change my approach to covering the material. I liked what Teaching Tips said about time management, especially in terms of my students and the time they should be spending outside of class preparing. I still plan on lecturing however, I think I’m going to slowly wean my students off of lecture and plan more activities. I think right now my course is catering to those who aren’t reading the text, and I need to change this early on. I plan on slowly reducing the amount of lecture while increaesing the amount of discussion and activities. Hopefully the transtion will be both beneficial and seamless.
This week’s reading did several things for me. Not only did I get valuable information I can use right now, I also got material that I believe will be helpful in the future. I plan on continuing my education with the eventual hope of becoming a professor. I feel that the information in this week’s reading has given me tools to use as I move forward with my career both as a student and a teacher.
Helpful Links:
Textbook selection and review process.
Syllabus Planning
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