Lesson 8

Blogging has been a fun part of my Teacher in Training program. I did some blogging before and enjoy writing. It would be fun to introduce blogging to my students. Students would get excited about putting their work out in the public eye. It would also be a good way to teach internet safety. Students need to understand that what they put on the internet is public, so they should be careful what they say. For younger students, I could maintain a class blog. The students would get excited about contributing work to the blog.

Lesson 7

As a teacher, I need to be mindful of the fact that the teenage brain is not fully developed. Teenagers are still kids, and adults need to be careful to remember that teenagers have trouble with decision making and impulse control. At times teenagers will be irrational and make poor choices. Teachers need to keep in mind that the behavior of their students is not a personal attack. Students need patient guidance. They need to have reasonable consequences in order to continue moving in the right directions, but the consequences should not be over the top and permanent. For example, a student who does not have a history of behavior problems may make one bad judgement call. It would be detrimental for the student if the school were to overreact to a first offense and cause the mistake to follow the student on their permanent record.

Lesson 6

The topic of this week's lesson got me excited! I am a trained musician. I spent several years teaching private music lessons and taught music in a private school. The idea that music gives students an academic boost is something I have always observed. It makes perfect sense. It is exciting to see all the research to back up this notion. It was interesting to see that the benefits of music are often associated with stress relief, not just an increase in achievement or IQ. I have always viewed learning to read music as learning a new language. It makes sense that the same part of the brain is associated with language skills. The connection with math does not surprise me either. Music is half notes and half rhythm. Rhythm is very mathematical. Music theory follows very specific and difficult patters, which are mathematical in nature. Incidentally, my husband switched his major from math to music. He was one of the only music student in the department excelling in the advanced music theory class. Since we are both musical, we have given all of our kids piano lessons. All of my kids have done well in school. My youngest son is particularly gifted in the theory aspect of music. Not surprisingly, he excels in math. I've also seen that my two most creative daughters are gifted at playing music by ear. They seem to be tapping into the language and creativity side of music. It is a tragedy that music is not taught more in school. In my class, it will always have a place, thanks to my musical training. We sing a lot. It makes school more fun and helps with recall when used to teach concepts.

Lesson 5

It is no surprise that the brain controls language and reading skills. Once again, early stimulation makes all the difference in the world. Many students have missed out on important experiences during infancy and come to school with serious deficiencies. As a teacher, I can help fill the gaps in language by reading aloud to my students and using words they may not be familiar with in order to expand their vocabularies. Students need to have conversations. They should have ample opportunities to ask and answer questions. For reading development, reading aloud to students is also one of the best ways to help students develop reading skills. In addition, students must have strong phonemic awareness. They need to learn the names of the letters and the sounds the letters make. They need to be able to manipulate and blend the sounds. These skills are critical for reading success and must be an integral part of reading instruction.