1. Communication and Persuasion in High School English Teaching
Communication is critical in all fields, but especially in teaching. I feel that an ideal learning environment would foster learning on both sides. Not only does a teacher want (and need!) to teach and persuade students, they also must effectively communicate with parents.
2. Storytelling in English Teaching
This assignment required using an example of how storytelling wold be used in my selected career field. It is crucial for teachers to be able to retell stories effectively and efficiently. They may tell stories to make a point, to spark conversation, or to explain a concept--not to mention the obvious storytelling that occurs when teachers summarize literature. I chose to demonstrate how novel analysis would be done differently in different class levels.
3. Eras of English Teaching
In this post, I briefly analyzed how communication and teaching methods have evolved over the course of education, specifically, that of English teaching. A major point discussed was the evolution of standardized testing, and how that has become the emphasis in public schools today.
4. Institutional Authority and Communication in Secondary English Teaching
This post shares a fictional story of a young woman, a student halfway through the English Teaching program at BYU, who wants to become a high school English teacher. This post, although fictional, accurately portrays necessary education and discusses some procedures the main character would need to go through in order to fulfill her goals.
Hot Spots
Hot Spot #1: Tech usage in the classroom (communication)
- Teachers often try to incorporate different forms of media into their classes. Almost all teachers use email, and sometimes videos or even song parodies will creep into lecture slides. However, teachers also have to avoid becoming too casual, or they will lose authority. Effective, credible, attention-grabbing communication (both inside and outside of the classroom) is key.
- Education is constantly evolving. As it became more common for students to progress in their education, standardized educational programs became the norm. Unfortunately, this has led to a situation in which standardized tests are the focus of the curriculum. (See an essay discussing this here.) In some ways, this is beneficial—students will get the same level of education regardless of the public school they attend. However, this has also led to an era of students who can diagram a sentence but don’t ever develop a true love of literature. Most teachers have very intense opinions on that topic.
I am fascinated with the history of the United States' teaching and public school system. I remember watching Waiting for 'Superman' and was left unsettled. I would love to learn more of the historical angel you touched on.
ReplyDeleteI love your second hotspot. It reminds me of a talk from conference a year or so ago where the speaker talked about the "music" of the gospel. You seem to say that our education system has gotten very good at teaching the dance steps, but has forgotten to teach children how to hear the music. What an important thing to communicate!
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