Lesson Plans. Reflection 1

You want to teach a lesson but have no idea how to go about it. If it were not for the development of the lesson plan, most teachers would have trouble teaching the students efficiently and in an organized manner. A lesson plan is an all-inclusive, instructional set of procedures that highlight and explain a specific lesson that is to be taught. Lesson plans can be very specific on what is expected or they can be a little generalizing but concise.

Over the years, scholars and other educators have studied the psychology of students, teachers and anyone in between and have developed learning theories that have been applied lesson plans. Behaviorism, which is one of the oldest theories regarding learning, is based on visible responses by a person. Repetition and other forms of conditioning are the central part of the behaviorist theory. A behaviorist lesson plan would consist of repeated exercises such as connecting personal experiences to what is being taught. In this manner the student will, through conditioning, be able to remember the lesson as it reminds him/her of something personal.

Another theory of learning that is used in lesson plans is the cognitivist theory.

Cognitivist lesson plans take advantage of tricks that the brain utilizes to teach the specific lesson. Combining ideas into one and making some generalizations will allow the student to remember the lesson more effectively.

The constructivist theory is another theory used to construct effective lesson plans. This theory is similar to the behaviorist theory however it assumes the fact that everyone has their own perception of reality. Associations with culture and traditions are used in this theory to effectively reach the student’s mind in a personal and lasting way. These types of lesson plans will include self comparisons with specific points of the lesson.

As the world of knowledge continues to evolve, the amount of knowledge being taught increases. Effective uses of lesson plans can minimize the lack of material that is taught by organizing a general idea into a specific procedure. Eventually more theories will come along and it is up to the teacher to chose which psychological learning theory works best as long as the lesson is taught effectively.

"Frameworks, Paradigms and Paradigm Shifts" Reflection 2

What is the meaning of truth? If truths are based on factual understandings, are we capable of questioning facts? Is our ability to to believe in what we perceive to be real a matter of point of view? Do we, as rationalizing people, perceive reality based on what our culture has endowed in us or do we question all of our established preconceptions before making judgements?

According to “Frameworks, Paradigms and Paradigm Shifts,” we all have paradigms and paradigms within paradigms. Our different paradigms are based on observations and connections made by our society, culture, and other preconceived “standards” established throughout history. The article shows how through time, paradigms shared by many people have evolved and changed alongside the many inventions that man has created. As men developed the use of tools for hunting and cutting, a paradigm shift occurred which correlated directly with our evolution. Man’s physical appearance changed to accommodate the newly discovered way of life. Man’s ability to wear other animal’s skins and the ability to cook are only a few of the changes that inevitably led to the growth of the human brain.

As more sophisticated discoveries and inventions came about, societal norms began to emerge and large groups of people were able to influence each other and establish traditions. The concept of tradition can be considered a major player working against paradigm shifts. As we hold our traditions familiar and even sacred, does questioning them become an automatic crime against nature? In this twenty first century man, as a society, has made many advances in culture and in what is considered wrong compared to centuries before.

However, we still chose to not question many established paradigms. We accept everything that has been passed down since our ancestors discovered that jagged rock. The fact that change is a scary notion for some does not mean that any change is negative. When man stops fearing paradigm shifts and accepts them as a natural change in the order of life, they will no longer be “shifts” they will merely be paradigm “progressions.”

Evolution of Teacher Preparation Programs. Reflection 1

Not many people are familiar with the medieval guild system in which special trade skills were learned through an apprenticeship process. A master of the trade would teach a student the skills needed for a specific craft until the student was capable of performing without the master. This was the same system used to prepare teachers during the time of colonial America.

According to “Teachers, Schools, and Societies” most teachers did not even graduate secondary schools. Only a small percentage of educators were able to teach at a secondary level, although it was mostly private tutoring. It was not until the nineteenth century that a form of teacher education emerged. Teachers were now able to receive a two year training in which they would learn standard practices as well as the subject matter. Horace Mann’s “normal” school signified a very important step in the evolution of teaching. By having a state funded teaching school, Mann set the standards that all aspiring teachers would follow.

By the early twentieth century teaching had become a woman’s occupation and specific contracts had to be followed. As time progressed and a bigger percentage of people began to attend school, the problems associated with and old system began to emerge. By the nineteen eighties a demand for better teacher professionalism and preparation took center stage in America. Groups like the Carnegie Forum and authors like Henry Holmes introduced reports depicting the problems with a lack of professionalism in teachers and a solution that involved more preparation years in college and better schools of education.

The reforms made in the eighties led the way for professional standards developed in the nineties that are still in effect today. The licensing of teachers and the creation of the board for teaching standards, helped distinguish talented teachers that exceeded in the field and would endow those teachers with a “board approved” certification. The reforms and creations of specialty boards in recent years were major improvements in the standardization of the teaching profession. The evolution of teacher preparation programs has indeed evolved positively in the last hundred years and it continues to evolve everyday as teachers and others continue to improve the profession.

My Bio

My name's Moises. I am twenty-three years old and I want to become a teacher.

Teaching was not my choice of career when I graduated from high school. I attended Keiser University as a business administration major. I received my associates degree and continued my education in Nova Southeastern University. I attended all my classes and received terrific grades until I began to feel discouraged. For two years I attended Nova as a business major before I decided that business was not the career for me.

During those three years I tutored many classes and while I enjoyed it, I realized that many college students were not prepared for college and lacked some necessary information that should have been taught in high school. I was the english tutor, the math tutor, and the history tutor. I realized that tutoring was the reason I was still in school and none of the business classes were providing me with that sense of satisfaction. The satisfaction you get when you teach somebody something and you can tell the exact moment that a light bulb pops in their heads. That's when I decided to do something about it. So I did what any other person with 91 credits in college would do. I decided to leave Nova and change my major to education.

Some people thought I was crazy to change with only 30 credits left for my bachelor. But I feel like I made the best decision possible regarding my future. Now I am a student here in the education program and although I know that I have a long way to go, I have no regrets and I'm only looking forward. I hope that one day I will be able to plant some seeds in a pot of students the same way that my teachers educated me.