Michael Sandel?????

This was one of those lectures that kinda hurts your head and makes you feel like you don't know what you believe because he makes you question EVERYTHING! He was very interactive with the audience. In fact, it was more of a discussion than a lecture. He would ask the audience questions and then have them raise their hands and answer into a microphone. It eventually got to the point where the audience was responding to each other's responses and not just Sandel's questions. He proposed some very tough moral situations. We would try to make it better by asking to change certain things in the situation but he would not. It was neat to be able to think about these things because a lot of times we are afraid to think about, let alone have discussions to our peers about. I think as a society, we need to get better at that. It is important to be able to have moral discussions with out there being hostility and judgement. It all comes down to what I have written about before.... RESPECT. It is the core of so many things.

Interfaith...

I went to a lecture given by Karla Suomala, a Luther religion professor. This was about the recent research and inquiries she had done with interfaith. Last year was a very exciting year because Eboo Patel came to Luther to speak about his book, Acts of Faith, that was being read for Paideia. He was such a strong and inspirational speaker that it sparked many ideas about how Luther could get an interfaith group going. Professor Suomala actually got in contact with Eboo and his interfaith organization and started working with them to do case studies dealing with interfaith on college campuses. This was such an interesting lecture for me because I am part of the newly formed interfaith association on campus. The reason why I joined our interfaith group is because I enjoyed reading his book and thought that his mission was so powerful and poignant. I also needed some way to express my beliefs and my religion. I do not feel that the services here connect me with God the way that I want to be. During her lecture we looked at a couple case studies that she had done. They definitely brought up some thought provoking questions. I feel strongly about interfaith because I truly believe that if we all just learned to respect each other and the fact that we are all different, then this world would be such a better and peaceful place.

Collaborativeness

       One may not think, at first, that collaborativeness is needed as teachers but it is quite the contrary. Students need to be in an environment where everything is connected to everything, where the teachers get along and know each other. I believe teachers teach better when they work as a team with their fellow colleagues. This is not to say that different classes or subjects need to be combined all the time, but to incorporate critical thinking and creativity this may be a good idea once in a while.
      To work as a group does not mean that all teachers need to be buddy-buddy, or even agree all the time but there does need to be a sense of respect for people's opinions and ideas. Teachers need to be able to discuss issues and concerns openly without judgement, or arguments. This will also be a good example for the students and show them that there not be agreement all the time and that's ok. There is a way to be respectful and disagree.
    

Efficacy

        So to be honest I have never heard of this word.  I thought that it was supposed to be efficiency at first then I realized that the rest of the question doesn't really pertain to this word. But the definition of efficacy is, "the ability to produce a desired or intended result." Now that I know what this word means, I can see that it is a valuable virtue to have as a teacher. A teacher needs to always have a plan and then know how to execute it in order to get the point of the lesson across to the students. Teachers need to have confidence and persistence in what they are teaching. If their students don't understand right away, try again but in a new manner. Teachers cannot give up, it is not in the job description. If Someone is not willing to work hard, make mistakes and learn from them, then they should be teaching.
       These attributes take time and experience though. New teachers cannot expect everything to be easy and perfect right out of school. Having a real job in the real world is a lot different than taking education classes in college. We should not be afraid to ask questions and even ask for help. No one expects perfection.

Inventiveness and creativity

As discussed in Global Achievement Gap, creativity is what drives people and especially growing students. It makes people ask questions and develop new and life-changing ideas. Creativity is also what employers look for when hiring nowadays. Even though creativity is becoming more of a necessary asset to children, they are not learning how to be creative in school, nor are they being encouraged enough to be creative.

I think that in order to encourage creativity in the classroom, teachers need to give their students more freedom. That concept can be a little scary for some teachers, but many would be surprised at how well kids can handle a little bit a choice in what they learn and what they do. This will also make class more fun for them. They will not get as bored having to do the same thing day after day.

Rewarding creativity is important because then students know that their ideas are worthwhile. If they don't think that they have good ideas then they will be less inclined to be creative or ask more questions. A simple way of rewarding creativity is displaying the students work throughout the classroom. Giving students praise in front of the class sometimes is motivating as well.

For me, as a music educator, I would give my students the opportunity to research a type of music that they are interested in or the pieces that we are working on at the time. I also like putting students into smaller groups so they can interact and lead the group with out a teacher watching them the whole time.

Who is that girl I see, staring straight back at me...

Reflection...
Is a scary thing to do. Reflecting on yourself, forces you to see your flaws and problem areas, and then find a way to fix them. This is why many teachers do not reflect as much as they should. Teachers get comfortable with a certain style of teaching and they don't really want to change. Being able to improve, and being able to know where and when,  is what makes the great teachers so great. These teachers are always trying to improve so that it betters their students.

Teachers need to know how to take constructive criticism. People looking in on your teaching from an outside perspective are able to see things that you would not normally see. Therefore they can help you reflect on your teaching. One way to improve you own teaching would be to video tape a lesson or two. This way when you go back and watch it, you will be able to see things that you do that you don't realize you are doing while you are talking.

I believe that reflection is one of the more important competencies because as teachers, we still need to be able to learn.

Ugh.... math.

I envy people who like math, or even people who are good at it. (You don't have to like something to be good at it and vive versa). Math makes me sick to my stomach. I have never considered myself good at it. I always dreaded my math classes, and I always got nervous for the tests. I used to think that I did have to be good at it to like it, and that it was my fault for how I felt about math. Now that I think back on the math teachers that I had, most of them were incredibly BORING!!! As a student you don't really think of the effect that the teacher has on your performance in the class but it totally does. If these math teachers are not making it fun to learn all these difficult concepts, or show that they enjoy them then why should the students? I remember not even caring about it. I tried to take notes in class and ask questions, but the answers to my questions were not any more exciting than the original explanation. This did not make me motivated to go outside of class to get help either.

Not all of my math teachers were not so boring. There are two in particular that had more personality that a brick wall. One in 8th grade, and the other in 10th grade. These two teachers had a few things in common. They tried to relate to the students. They talked to us about things other than school. They laughed with us, they made jokes, and shared information about themselves with us. There was a connection. Now this alone might not have made me better at the actual math but it sure made me more motivated to get better at it. I liked asking questions in their classes because I knew I would not feel chastised for it.

Passion for teaching is the most obvious quality to have. I mean, one does not go into teaching for the money, the fun, or because it is easy. Let's be real. It is also difficult to keep your passion strong the more years you do it. That is also what it means to teach. Finding new ways to approach your teaching, and always trying to improve. If a teacher shows this in a classroom, it will then reflect in their students.