Blog Post # 10

Do You Teach or Do You Educate?
This video was really good! I love how it was put together and the music that was chosen. I definitely can say that the points made about "educating," were amazing. I plan on educating, in my future teaching. My goal is lead my students to success, in the small time I spend with them.

I don't want to just show them something and have them memorize it to move on to the next grade. I want them to be able to retain any knowledge in a way that will let them carry it with them in the following grades to come. Anything that my students learn from me should be something that they can teach to others, if necessary. I want to educate my students in all areas of life, if possible. As a future educator, I want to be encouraging, inspiring, and reliable.


Tom Johnson's Don't Let Them Take The Pencils Home

Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home, was interesting. I never, before, even payed any attention to the fact the most teachers focus more on the cause of a problem, rather than the solution. Now that it has been brought to my attention, I must say that it all makes sense to me now. As a student, I have encountered teachers that would always tell us why a certain plan failed, but then when were left clueless about what to do next. It was like, "Well that didn't work, so we won't do that again," instead of "Well that didn't work, so let's try and understand why, and come up with a solution!" Many times teachers are too focused on test scores and in what manner the child is completing their project. In my opinion, it does not matter if the child is "playing hangman with their pencils," as long as some type of effective learning is taking place. Teachers should stay focused on the best way to help children succeed and realize that "our" plan for their learning, may not be what's best for their learning! Let's pick solutions to problems rather than dwell on their causes.