Assignment 4 Exploratory

Throughout America’s history, the education system has changed immensely. From small, all level schools, to allowing girls to gain an education, to creating a public school system, to creating a common structure, the idea of what form of education is the “best” is always changing and growing. As of today, America’s most current education system consists of elementary schools focusing on math and science to compete with the rest of the world. The common core is a heavily structured program, leaving very little time for teachers to incorporate their own ideas and adapt their schedule to best fit their students needs.

              As any good teacher knows, every classroom is different. This means hours of scheduling and planning creative ways to get kids to learn as best as they can. The problem then, is finding the time to help these students. That is where engagement methods come in handy. Finding new ways to engage students in the classroom is essential to success not only in the classroom but in life in general. Many life long skills are developed at young ages in kids in elementary schools. When kids are taught to be attentive, respectful, cooperative, and determined in a classroom setting; they take those lessons without them as adults.  

Assignment 3, Slide 2 Background Info

So why does this matter? Well first off, college drop out rates have reached a staggering rate of 50%. 50% of college students are dropping out of school. What does this tell us? That America’s education system is failing some kind of way. Chances are, we can trace this back to when these students were children in elementary schools. The root of this issue can be traced back to when children first become students, and the habits and skills they develop when they are young.

To combat this issue, the National Survey of Engagement was created in 1998 to assess students and see how they become engaged in classrooms to become life long learners. Their mission as the National Survey of Engagement is to obtain “meaningful quality improvement”.  

 Sources:

“Student Engagement.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Oct. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_engagement.

“NSSE - National Survey of Student Engagement.” NSSE 2008 Results, The Trustees of Indiana University, 2019, nsse.indiana.edu/html/engagement_indicators.cfm.

Assignment 2, Slide 1 Student Behavior

Good behavior in a classroom is essential for maximum learning for students. Good behavior in a classroom gives teachers the chance to engage students and help them learn to the best of their abilities. These disruptive behaviors could include talking during lessons, walking around the classroom, sniping remarks, and cheating. What can stop these disrupted behaviors then? According to Carnegie Melon University, creating engaging lessons coursework will help prevent these behaviors and help students learn more. This creates a ripple effect that helps students learn can prevent some of the common behavior issues we see in classrooms today.

When students are passionate about a topic, they are eager to learn new things! Picture a kindergarten aged child in their first year of school. When kids are this age, they do not think by labels because they don’t understand how to label people. They play with all kids in the playground, regardless of their race or social status. They are excited about learning and don’t compare themselves to other students who adults deem as “smarter”. They are passionate and excited about learning and experiencing new things. What changes as they grow up and go throughout America’s education system? What stops them from becoming an engaged learner?

Our job as educators is to teach children. It is a teacher’s responsibility to get a child excited and eager to learn new things. There are many ways to do that, which we will discuss throughout this presentation. These ways include movement, music, motivators, behaviors, engaging lessons, and real life applications.

Sources:

Reports of problematic behaviors are on the rise nationally, not only in the classroom but in society at large (Kowalski, 2003).- https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/teach/problemstudent.html

Introduction to Engaging Elementary Students Assignment 1

Podcast URL: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/bedleybros/episodes/2018-10-12T20_30_47-07_00

This semester I am planning on researching ways to get Elementary students engaged inside the classroom. I plan on being a teacher and I feel like this research will be very helpful to me in the future. A few ideas I have found in my research thus far is to take sketch notes, integrate movement into the classroom, and use engaging lessons and worksheets. My podcast I have chosen is about sketch notes and how they help kids learn.

I will be writing an explanatory research paper.