One big developmental idea from this semester that I have found to be extremely valuable and that I believe will be very influential on my future work as a teacher is the idea that people learn by doing and trying, not just by observing or watching. Not that nothing can be learned or taken away from watching and observing, but when you talk about making significant strides in development and big jumps in learning, getting that hands-on experience is what will take it to the next level. In my future work as an educator, this would look like giving the students a variety of options and opportunities to learn material and work with it either by themselves or in groups. Another thing I could keep in mind too is that when I first introduce content to the students, I must be aware of how much new information I give to them- one, so that their brains aren’t too overloaded with information, and two, to kind of go along with that, part of the idea of students learning new things is trial and error, so if you just give them everything right away, not only will their brains likely be overloaded, but it won’t be as easy for them to learn anything because everything was already given to them already, So, what this means is that you have to find that fine line between giving the students the right amount of information so they aren’t completely lost but also not doing it all for them. Then, the idea of the students learning by doing comes into play, because they are actively engaging in the material and attempting to figure out how to perform the tasks at the correct level. This concept as a whole has been very interesting for me because I’ve learned and thought about how you can get the most out of students with their learning and how they can become the best versions of themselves.
Not only have I gotten to learn more about the concept of students learning by doing in Ed 279, but I have also seen it put into action a variety of different times throughout the first three weeks of my sophomore block experience in different sections of high school Spanish. My cooperating teacher does a lot of hands-on activities with the students, where she gives them the opportunity to do interactive individual activities or other activities in a small group. She might give them some examples of how to write something properly, or what sentences should sound like when they say them. Then, she lets them work with it on their own or in their group to let them learn by doing. Also, a key part of this process as well is that even though she lets them off on their own a little bit, she doesn’t just stop there. She continues to circulate the room and see how all of the students are doing. What I mentioned before about having that balance of giving the students a good amount of information to start off but also letting them off a little bit on their own, I believe that the cooperating teacher has a nice balance of this idea. When I try to look at these situations from the perspective of the students, I can tell that many of the students engage with the material in an enthusiastic way and make a great effort to learn what is going on, ultimately leading to putting themselves in a good position academically and being where they need to be.
All in all, I believe that letting the students learn by doing as well as letting them engage in the material a little bit on their own is a great way to keep their attention while also putting them in the best spot from an academic standpoint. Giving them the opportunity to actively engage is a great strategy that I want to use in my work as a teacher in the future.
