For each week's post, you can answer the question below. Each week we will focus on a different disposition or element of the Conceptual Framework. Feel free to post your own questions for your classmates as well.
Enthusiasm:
How did your supervising teacher express enthusiasm in and out of the classroom? Provide concrete and behavioral examples to that relate back to the characteristics of the dispositions.
Think about the following aspects of enthusiasm in your answer:
- enjoyment of the subject matter
- smiles and moves around
- students express enthusiasm
- passion for teaching
- higher calling in teaching
haven't started my clinicals yet, so I don't really have any new material to present. But, I definitely have experience in the past as a student and as an observer. Last spring, I witnessed one very enthusiastic teacher. She was working with children who have severe mental and physical imparements children. This teacher had so much enthusiasm. Working with children with severe mental and physical imparement may seem demoralizing and depressing. But this teacher seemed anything, but demoralized. She sang to the kids and enthusiastically put all of her energy into making the kids enjoy the class. I think that her sucess in reaching these children is due to her enthusiasm.
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ReplyDeleteLike Chaya said, it is not easy being enthusiastic when you are teaching children with special needs. However, when I was observing, I noticed that the teachers never stopped being enthusiastic. Even at lunch time when it is their time to chill out a little bit more, they were shmoozing with the kids. This week I went to the pool at the YMCA with them, and even though there had to be 2 teachers in the pool, they went above and beyond. They were playing with the kids and being so energetic. It was very nice to see them really having fun with the kids.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher that I observed was not so enthusiastic. She was nice and smiled a lot, but I would not say she was enthusiastic. She would give over the directions for the assignment and let the kids do it. She was not so involved with the assignment. Yes, she walked around the room to make sure everyone was doing their work, but she was not involved, and she did not seem so interested. The class was a little rowdy, which maybe made her seem stressed out rather than having this positive, enthusiastic attitude.
ReplyDeleteIn both of the classrooms that I observe in, the teachers make a point of smiling a lot and praising the students for a job well done. Even when they are just observing the work going on in the classroom, they make sure to comment on the students' work and tell them what a wonderful job they are doing.
ReplyDeleteIn the first and second grade classroom (one room is a mix of 1st and 2nd and the other classroom is a mix of 3rd and 4th), the teacher makes smiley faces on the tops of the students pages when they finish, or gives them a sticker. I have observed her pulling out some kind of special snack that she gave out to students after a really great class period, where the students participated beautifully and tried so hard.
In the other classroom, the teacher is so bouncy and constantly saying things like "great job!", "fantastic!" and "I'm so proud of you!". I love hearing those things, and it is so obvious that the kids like hearing it as well.
Both teachers give the students opportunities to come up to the front of the room and use the smart board to answer questions ( which the students love doing!).
There was actually another classroom that I observed this week- we took some of the second graders into a math class ( they are mainstreamed for several classes) and the teacher in this classroom began with a math test and teaching the kids a special math card game, but then she made things fun by showing the kids this super cute video all about addition and subtraction, but it had music and a little bit of rapping about numbers, and the kids were all into it, singing along and dancing in their spots, and even the teacher was sitting at her desk sort of bouncing in her seat to the music( which I thought was just awesome!) and it really helped to get the kids more interested in the lesson, because once they had that fun introduction they were so interested in the rest of the lesson. By the end of the lesson she brought out a special numbers game on the smart board, where she would have kids come up and answer a math problem in the game, and once they answered it, they could move the character on screen to try and make a basketball shot....it was super cute and the kids were all eager to answer math problems. So I thought that she was really fantastic as well.
I also like how the teachers in the special ed. rooms really make each student feel as though he or she is so so important ( which they are, of course) and are also not made to feel as though they are "different" just because they have a disability of some sort. For example, we have this one student with Cerebral Palsy who definitely does get OT time and needs help moving around physically, as well as having to use an augmentative communication device to speak, but the teachers are perfectly aware that she understands every single thing that is going on, since her disability is physical, and they make sure that she is an active participant in every lesson, as well as making sure that she is very involved with what goes in the classroom.
I love how the teachers genuinely listen to what the students have to say and don't seem to look down on them for even a second.
Another example- the third and fourth graders went to a class called "Science Lab" where there is this super enthusiastic teacher teaching these hands on creative lessons. When I was there, he was teaching about how to determine if air is really all around you, and he had the kids making paper fans, experimenting with water and creating air bubbles,etc. The whole lesson was great, but what really struck me was the way he was so incredibly patient, no matter how many questions the students asked, and he looked at each of them while they spoke with what seemed to be genuine interest and he responded so positively to everything that they said. I though that was just great!
I am really loving what I'm seeing at Fairview more and more!
I hate to be so critical of the teacher that allows me to invade her classroom every week, but I do not think that enthusiasm in the classroom is a trait I can learn from her. Like Chana Martyl said, she does walk around the room and smiles at the kids sometimes, but I do not get the impression that she is loving what she is doing. She seems more overwhelmed and trying to just get through the days/curriculum. For example, her spelling test seemed rushed, and she made a huge deal when a few kids were copying the words straight from their homework pads, instead of carefully and happily setting the tone before they began. Even when select students were allowed to borrow books from the library, it didn't seem like such a privelege, even though they were the ones who acted responsibly and brought ziplock protective bags for the books. The image I'm getting in the classroom is not one of a love of learning being transmitted. Instead, I would imagine feeling really overwhelmed as a student, and try to get by with doing as little as possible.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher I am working with is very enthusiastic. She really wants the kids to learn. She believes that the kids have talent and so she gives them lots of projects. One was choosing a person that had the same color skin and coloring the eyes and got string that looked like the same color hair they have. They got to be creative and some drew shoes on their doll. One kid, Let's say Travis asked me to help him draw ears. But the teacher wanted him to do it on his own. So I encouraged him that he could draw it and he would be putting string of hair on his person anyway. But he wanted to draw ears He knew what he wanted to do it, but the teacher is teaching them to have the confidence in themselves which is what I look foward to teaching my students.
ReplyDeleteI really think that enthusiasm makes such a difference. An enthusiastic teacher is showing the student that he/she has come to school to learn. An unenthusiastic teacher is demonstrating that the only reason that the child is sitting in school is to finish the curiulum. That is not OK. Students need enthusiasm to motivate them. It's hard to be enthusiastic about doing the work when the teacher isn't projecting enthusiastic vibes! I think this is one disposition that I will strive to work on.
ReplyDeleteI've been fortunate enough to see some very enthusiastic teachers. In my observations, I rotate around to different classrooms and, so far, it seems that every teacher I observe is extremely enthusiastic about her subject. I think that a big part of it is that I sit in on limudei kodesh classes. From watching the classes and speaking with the teachers, I know that they all feel strongly that their subjects are extremely important. They all realize that they are teaching Torah and that gives them joy and vigor. I've also realized that many teachers have certain methods that they like to stick to, and that, instead of making their classes dull or unimaginative, it really allows them to inject enthusiasm into their teaching, since they really know what they're doing.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher I am observing is a highly skilled teacher. Her classroom is ESL so many students need extra help. The school does not have resources teachers; she finds the time to give these students extra help. The students all seem to be learning a lot. I do not see her classroom as being the most happy place because she is a very tough and strict teacher. She is not the kind of teacher who is making jokes, but even so I think her students enjoy learning for the most part. She seems to enjoy teaching and does give her students positive feedback, but I feel her students may benefit from more encouragement and praise. Then again, I am only there for the last hour and a half so I do not see everything.
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ReplyDeleteThe teacher I have been observing has not really shown very much enthusiasm. Being that the students are so young I think enthusiasm is even more important. If the students see that the teacher is not excited about what she is teaching then they wont be excited to learn it. I also think due to the amount of students the teacher has in the class I am observing and the spectrum of different learning needs, things can get overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone is hitting on a very important message of how important it is to remain enthusiastic, even when working in a challenging and draining classroom setting. It's definitely not easy, day in and day out, and I think that those who are enthusiastic truly care about their important roles as educators.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher I observed was very enthusiastic, which showed when she made workshops for her kids. It was a fun exercise that everyone loved, including her. They were learning about manipulating the outcome of an event, and the workshops they did helped them learn in a fun way. There were five workshops, including flipping a penny and throwing a ball into the air and seeing how many times they could clap. She was also very enthusiastic and she passed that on to the kids. She really seemed to want the students to like the class as much as she did, which was evident in how fun she made it. Also, they read a book which was very fun to read, but still expanded their reading comprehension and vocabulary. I learned a lot and I hope to learn more in the future.
ReplyDeletethe teacher i observe enjoys what she teaches and you can see it in the way she works with each individual student. she explaines the activity to the class and then walks around to make sure everyone understands. she tries to make it fun and brings in special books and activities for them to do. one time she brought in a felt board so they could learn the story of the old lady who swalowed a fly. after they did the felt board a few times most of the studenst knew the story by heart.
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