What makes great teaching?
When creating my top 5 list, I chose things that throughout the semester really stuck with me and taught me a lot. Blogging was one of the best things for me that came out of this semester. I felt like blogging was a way for me to be able to share my thoughts on the topics with other classmates and being able to read about their thoughts as well. I think commenting on other people's blogs and having a conversation with them was refreshing because this is an online course so it was nice to "talk" with others in the class.
Another strategy I put on there was the worditout assignment and my process of choosing that one was because of the picture at the end. I am a visual learner so being able to see all the word I chose in various sizes really helped me see the importance behind the words.
The question of "What makes great teaching" includes many things. The past teachers I have had that left a lasting impact on me all had characteristics in common. One thing was that they all connected with their students. Being able to teach kids subject matter is one thing but going above and beyond to make sure every kid is understanding and developing strong relationships with their students is what makes great teaching. I think a lot of great teaching comes from what the students are able to learn before the year is over but also the way of teaching. You can be a very intelligent individual and have the knowledge to teach kids but if you are doing it in a harsh, cold way, kids do not respond positively to that. I remember a quote from a past module that talked about "kids don't learn from people they don't like". This quote really stuck with me and I think highlights that great teaching comes from the relationship with their students and caring about their well-being.
Hello Maya! I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I completely relate! My top 5 list also has blogging with other educators as number one. It is such a creative way to create discussions and get our ideas out. Blogging was new to me, but I had a lot of fun setting my account up and utilizing it in this course to learn more. I agree! And the comments really helped me look at things from a different perspective if it happened to be an opposing idea to mine. WorditOut was also included on my top 5 list. Pointing out the words that had significance to me really helped me develop a better understanding of the material. I couldn’t agree more with your response to what makes teaching great. Connecting with students is so incredibly important. Being able to make children feel safe and comfortable is so critical! I really like that quote and it is so accurate.
ReplyDeleteHello Lizbeth! Thank you so much for commenting on my blog! Blogging was very new to me as well and it took a little bit for me to actually understand what was going on but it worked out in the end. I am glad you feel the same with the worditout assignment because I thought it was a really neat way to actually see what we have been reading. I really liked all the assignments we did in this class and glad to see that other people enjoyed them as well.
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