Week 6 - Community

As I reflect back on this course and the program thus far at Trinity I think that the most valuable thing I have learned is about community.  Not only for the role it plays in creating a positive school climate but also the way that we are working together to share our ideas, offer encouragement, and feedback.  I have had very positive interactions with classmates and teachers(both professors and cooperative teachers).  Even reaching out to online resources or a contact of a contact to get some help or guidance has been incredible.  It makes me want to pay that same sentiment forward even more and incredibly excited to get started on the next step to a classroom of my own.  I hope to keep in contact and see some of you in the future.  Luis and Corey, I have had more contact with the two of you than anyone else in the program.  I would love to collaborate and share ideas as we go forward.  Good luck everyone!

Week 5 - Inviting, Safe, Inclusive, and Supportive for All

This week the reading in the AMLE text centered around the school environment and the factors that contribute to it being inviting, safe, inclusive, and supportive of all.  There are a lot of great things within this text that lend themselves to activities I would like to incorporate into my classroom surrounding this topic.  Family and community involvement are two of the big ones I would like to cultivate with my students.  I have spoken before of my desire to have a student lead podcast where we can highlight the students, their achievements, and the current topics in the classroom.  I thought this would be a great experience for the students to create in a medium that is easily digestible for the average parent during the morning commute.  Ideally this could open up some discussions in the home about current business topics, student achievement, and maybe even student career aspirations that the parents would have been unaware of otherwise.  It would also be amazing to get a diverse sampling of parents willing to come in and speak about their personal struggles and triumphs in business.  Understanding that my perspective is that of a white male limited to particular areas of business I have already reached out to several colleagues about coming with me to present after I make the transition to teaching.  I want my students to have a broad sampling of individuals and industries so they can see possibilities they may not have known existed or thought possible for themselves.  This could also be incorporated with local businesses.  Maybe we can partner with a marketing class to develop new marketing ideas for a local business.  One class I observed had partnered with a local bakery to develop a unique cupcake that then became part of the menu.  Allowing them to “try on” more roles can help them to explore areas they may not have considered, in a low risk environment.  In a perfect world we could develop a network with former students willing to come back and contribute to some of these experiences and help mentor the next generation with the benefit of their own trials and tribulations.  

Week 4 - Differentiated Instruction

In reading the articles this week I was struck by a topic that has caused me to struggle a bit, differentiated instruction.  I believe the article alluded to part of why I have found it to be so difficult.  When you have topics like accommodation, modification, and differentiation coming at you all at once I think it can be easy to look at teaching as individual instruction.  The idea of individual instruction seems like an exhausting impossibility.  “Food for thought on differentiated instruction” made it feel about as clear as it has ever been presented to me in the comparison to an old one room schoolhouse.  Sometimes you address the whole group, sometimes a small group, and others an individual.  Individualization is a sure path to burnout.  Differentiation on the other hand furthers each student’s understanding as well as builds a sense of community within the group.  These articles make me feel more confident in my understanding of the concept of differentiated instruction.  The added depth of content, process, and product methods of differentiation was also interesting as it gave me a different perspective in how differentiation can happen.  The associated links have definitely added a few new tools to my toolbox.