Jessica Rex FLTEACH Span 378 Fall 2010

1. Jessica RexFLTEACH Span 378 Fall 2010 My personal philosophy on technology is this: it's a tool, not the lesson. If you are a good teacher, you can take the kids outside with a stick and draw in the dirt, and still get the point across, if you have no other resources. If it was good enough for Socrates, it's good enough for me. - LaVonne Davis-Schenck This may sound harsh, but if you've been doing this for weeks, it's time to move on. Let them get the grades they get and move on. And, you're right, you can't force them. For some, the shock of failing will jolt them. For others, they may never care. If you know you've done everything, it's in their court. - LaVonneDavis-Schenck …need to focus on the kids, or at least on people and ideas that are part of their "world", rather than people they don't know. - Terry Waltz We want to help our students to “own” their own education – we’re not here to just present material all day long – that would be a waste of breath and time; we’re here because we love the youth, and we want to help them be prepared for their future, and to do that we need to help them take ownership of their education (idea taken from Melissa Newberry’s adolescent development class; exact quote not found) • Teaching a world language in a high school or a middle school is different than teaching at the MTC (where I currently teach Spanish); we need to find ways to help motivate out students for themselves – help them to “own” their own education – it will mean more to them that way • It is so interesting and fascinating to me how willing people are to help each other out; I really appreciated being able to see a community of teachers all working together – they’re not in the same state, or even necessarily in the same subject, but they are willing and ready to help each other out to help the students