Module 5: The active side to teaching

In this final module blog post, I immediately marked a phrase that related to my job and I. Working in the transition department, I deal with classes that teach nothing but authentic tasks (page 457). These are lessons that relate to have problems and situations that students will encounter outside the classroom. Some of the different things we cover are: how to do your own taxes, making a budget, career exploration, applying and retaining a job, and how to pay bills. These are just some of the things we try and have everyone learn in the short amount of time we have with the students. Our goal is to help them transition out into the real world. I also find that having the authentic tasks has the students motivated to learn them. They know that the information we are presenting is somewhat useful so they exert a little more effort while in class.

Relating to teaching authentic tasks, the method in which the teacher explains everything is crucial to the students and their abilities to learn. Having a 40 minute lecture everyday may not make the information stick inside the heads of every student. This is especially true in the special education classes that I am involved in. In order to maximize the amount of learning, the teachers do active teaching (page 519). Interaction and demonstrations of the lessons goes on everyday. I have found that this keeps the students engaged more so than a lecture with notes. While written or verbal directions can become confusing, demonstrating part of the lesson is straightforward to them. The step-by-step process and explanations we do helps them understand the facts and motions.Direct instruction, while it is exhausting and takes longer, is more than worth it. 

Switching gears, my school just got down with the second round of PARCC testing. All in all, I had a neutral opinion about them. From the students however, I have never heard such contempt for it. My sister, who is a freshmen, simply did not care. She found it useless to even try. All she wanted to do was go back to her regular class schedule. I heard others say that their parents would call them in so they wouldn't have to take it or they were just not going to show up. While I understand some of the reasons achievement tests are done, this one was given so much that I couldn't help but notice. People want to see how the education system is teaching our kids so they have standardized achievement tests to see how much students have learned in a certain subject (page 580). I can see how having too many tests can actually prevent students from learning effectively but there might actually be a need for achievement tests. I hope that there is a balance soon.