This site is a class blog space for new Career and Technical Specializations and Heathcare Science teachers enrolled in the New Teacher Institute (NTI) at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Lessons Learned
The most valuable lesson we covered in class was the different ways to group students. I really thought this was a strong point in my teaching, but after analyzing the way students work together, I realized I had a few weak areas I needed to focus more on when it comes to grouping. I found it eye opening to see that when I thought I was pairing like-minded students together, I was really creating a “power house group” that gave those students somewhat of an advantage with the assignment. I have since changed the way I create groups, and I have gotten better about not always letting the students pair up themselves.
The biggest thing I learned about myself during this class, is that I am a lot more motivated and tend to stay on task when I am in a classroom or small group setting. I often times found myself shifting my focus to other things during online class and I found it extremely difficult to make myself sit down and do the assignments alone. I am fortunate enough to live near some of my classmates, and I found that I am a lot more motivated and focused when we meet up and complete work together.
Your comments on the on-line class are interesting to me Taylor because I felt that way going into it. However, I found the format challenging in a good way as I tried to manage the info coming in (whiteboard)with the want/need to send input out (chat). I am not sure I would want to teach a class that way, but I certainly welcome the challenge of being a student in one.
ReplyDeleteHi Taylor, I agree with you about the grouping of students. I thought I was doing a pretty good job with that in my classroom. However, I learned that the problem I was having with people hiding out in the group and not doing work was because I was not assigning specific roles and the groups were too large with up to five people in them. I also found working in pairs or groups helpful at NTI but also distracting at times with sidebar conversations and time management issues at times while in person. I found the group setting on line more controlled with the use of the timer and the automatic return to the main room. I plan to do more and more group assignments in the classroom since healthcare is a team effort the majority of the time
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