My Top 10 Take-aways (Spring Semester 2022)

1. My first take-away is that I can incorporate fun and engaging educational games into lesson plans and tie the concepts of the game to the material that the students are currently learning to help support the students’ learning. I learned how to design a game simulation and plan all of the necessary components that are involved in a game.
2. My second take-away is that I learned how to be an authority figure for a group of third graders at Keller Elementary School, and I had to learn how to take this leadership position by learning that there is a balance between being kind to the children and being strict and firm with them when they refuse to do what is expected of them.
3. Another take-away is that you should not call out your students if they make a mistake or don’t know the answer to the question. It’s never beneficial to embarrass your students and make them feel nervous.
4. My next take-away is that younger students don’t have that many experiences to draw from and make connections to, so teachers have to give them more support and help them develop memory skills. Graphic organizers are a good tool for students to use for organizing thoughts and ideas for a topic, and they can help them remember the material and concepts.
5. One of my take-aways is that students will learn more if they are engaged and interested in the material. Teachers need to set reasonable goals for the students to reach.
6. My sixth take-away is that teachers can help students develop their motivation to learn by creating a positive environment where students feel comfortable and by encouraging them to try their best.
7. Another take-away is that teachers need to continually remind their students that it is ok to make mistakes, and that they learn from their mistakes. Making mistakes is part of the learning process.
8. My eighth take-away is that when students are willing to learn and believe that they will succeed, they are more willing to put effort into their learning and assignments. When students have confidence in themselves that they can accomplish a task, they are more motivated to complete the task and not give up.
9. Another take-away is that students’ interests are extremely important to their learning process, and teachers can use their interests when they are creating their lesson plans and the curriculum for the school year.
10. My last take-away is that it is important to praise students for their hard work, but it’s also important not to over use praise. Using positive reinforcement is also helpful to keep students on track and to give them a reward for their good behavior, but it’s important to ensure that students will continue to demonstrate good work habits and good behavior, even when they are not going to receive positive reinforcement after a certain amount of time.

Three Areas for Course Improvement:

1. One area that the course could change is by having the formative assessments be worth fewer points because I was stressed when I saw the large impact that my scores had on my grade. I also feel like some of the questions could have been a little more specific or clear as to what we were expected to do because I wasn’t exactly sure what some of the questions were asking, I interpreted a few of the questions different from what the question was actually asking, and I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to answer some of them or what I should write for the answers.
2. Another area that the course could change is having fewer Padlets and more group activities because I felt like there were a lot of Padlets, and doing more group work could possibly be more beneficial.
3. The last area that the course could change is having to find fewer articles for the annotated bibliography project because I felt stressed being required to find 5 articles for one topic, and I had a very hard time finding 5 research articles that were relevant to my topic. I also had a hard time identifying each variable in all of the articles, and I think it would have been more helpful to have a little more guidance on determining which variable is which.

-Mya LaFreniere

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