Steep Learning Curve.

Studying education at Redeemer didn't warn me about this.  Prepared me, yes.  Warned me?  No.  (Okay, they most likely did, but I probably forgot).

The first two days of school, even the first three, were not terribly fun days.  Perhaps for the students, not for me.  I was struggling to figure out how I should be teaching my students, and what would work best.  I was struggling to plan, to prepare, and even to organize my day!

Now that I have had a few days to sit back, review, and organize, I think that I have learned my lesson: don't teach the students, just let them learn.  Rather than trying to cram information into their heads, I should let them figure things out, giving them every opportunity and all the necessary information and skills to do the work themselves.  So now, I have lesson planned with lots of hands-on work, and much less of me talking.  I think everyone will be happier.

So, in sum: days 1-3, ignored.  Forgotten.  Day 4: starting fresh.  Hopefully my students won't mind!

The Trouble with Teaching.

During my time preparing for my upcoming classes, I have stumbled upon an area of weakness in myself.  The content is no problem--I either already know what I am teaching or can work it out easily enough.  I've been in university long enough to know how to learn quickly.  No, the weakness I have discovered in myself (although one that I had known before, but now it becomes all the more important) regards presenting the material.  If I could simply lecture my students with them taking notes, that would be great.  But I have to present the material to them in a way that is not only understandable, but also interesting, and at the same time motivating.  I need to get them involved in the subject, not just working on the subject.

Some teachers, I think, have an easier time with this.  I've seen some great stuff in classrooms.  I, on the other hand, do not have such a talent (perhaps due to my own love of studies in which I never really needed to be externally motivated).  So now I will have to work out things for students to do which will be interesting to them, not only interesting to me...

Reason for my Absence:

Okay, apart from having an almost 7-week old baby in the house and a toddler, I have been busy finishing up my school year.

Sherri and I celebrated (somewhat) the end of my first year this past Wednesday evening after my only exam. And then we laughed because this is either my fourth first year, or my second first year. The fourth first year since this is my fourth degree, or my second first year since it is the first year of my second decade of university. Some day it will be nice to be done school...

Anyways, here is what I have been working on for the last few weeks (although I started it quite some time ago). For one of my classes I had to design a curriculum unit ten lessons long. Early on I decided to try my hand at designing a unit teaching philosophy to grade eight students. I don't know how well I succeeded, but it was fun trying!

The unit I designed begins with mythology, goes to the Pre-Socratics, and then deals with issues (or disciplines) within philosophy based on a series of questions:

• Logic: How do I organize my thoughts?
• Epistemology: How do I know what I know?
• Metaphysics: What is really out there?
• Ethics (1): What is the good life?
• Ethics (2): How do I live with others?
• Political Philosophy: What would the perfect society look like?
• Aesthetics: What is beautiful?
• Worldview: So what does it all mean?

The lesson on Logic is one of my favourites, although it is a little long.

Interestingly, there are more resources out there than I thought to help people teach philosophy to young children. I ordered one of the books I used for ideas: Big Ideas for Little Kids: Teaching Philosophy Through Children's Literature by Thomas Wartenberg. I had originally intended to use books and stories to introduce each lesson, but decided against it for a more informative approach. I think it worked out well.

You can judge for yourself: I will try to attach the lesson to this post in PDF format. --Okay, I can't do it. But if you want to see the result of my work, just let me know and I can send it to you...

Self-Determination Theory.

I am working on a paper and presentation for my Educational Psychology class on the larger topic of motivation. How can/does a teacher motivate his or her students to learn? During my preliminary research, I came across a reference to Self-determination theory, which focuses on motivation. It seems to be an interesting theory, based on the research I have done so far.

The basic premise is that there are three basic psychological needs that must be fulfilled for a person to be deeply intrinsically motivated to do something: the need for autonomy, the need for competence, and the need for relatedness. I have not done enough research yet to explain how this all works together, but I am very interested in seeing how it has been applied or can be applied at a teacher-student level.

For more information, you can go to the Self-determination theory website: Self-Determination Theory. There you can find articles about it, and even the questionnaires they use in their field studies.

When I know more about this theory, I hope to do some thinking of whether or how it could fit in with a Christian worldview, but this is not part of my assignment for school--just for my own interest!

First Post of the New Year.

So, it is 2010. And no, I am not excited for the Olympics. I find them to be too much hype, too much money, and generally quite boring.

I have started a new semester at Redeemer. I did well last semester...it is nice, after seminary, to see some good high marks again! I look forward to this semester because I am settling in, I know how things work, and I did have fun last semester. Again, I only have three courses (this time, no first year courses!), but I also have a two morning a week placement in a local school. This placement is just an observation placement, so I will not do any (or very little) actual teaching.

I am of two minds about this placement. First, I look forward to it, because it is directly applicable to my (new) career choice/calling. I am eager to see how things work in a classroom, rather than reading about it. However, I am the kind of person that prefers learning from books and lectures, rather than hands-on. This is not my comfort-zone, but I know (having preached for a few years and now having taught some catechism) that I can do it. It just makes my uncomfortable at first, being thrown into totally new situations. I will try to remember to post about it now and then.

Besides school, other things have been on the go. I am done working at the new house, we are done with seasonal family things, but I am not done with reading.

I have been working my way through Big Truths for Young Hearts, and I am quite impressed. I don't want to give too much away before I am done the book totally, but I will say this: Bruce Ware does not avoid the big issues, even when teaching theology to children. He doesn't make it simplistic, he just explains simply. It is a skill I would like to learn some time. Might be good as a teacher, I think.

I am also slowly working through Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, but this has taken a back-burner to Big Truths for now.

Plus, over the holidays, I discovered Agatha Christie mystery novels, and have now read (and own) four of them. Does anyone have any that they want to get rid of? Just let me know!