{"id":25,"date":"2017-05-06T11:30:47","date_gmt":"2017-05-06T16:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/brandonheidt\/?p=25"},"modified":"2017-05-06T11:30:47","modified_gmt":"2017-05-06T16:30:47","slug":"reflecting-on-the-semester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/brandonheidt\/2017\/05\/06\/reflecting-on-the-semester\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on the Semester"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a future educator, I want to be the best resource for my students. \u00a0I have always felt that effective teachers listen to their students, provide engaging lessons, and try their best to adapt to a changing student base and curriculum. \u00a0Going through this course has only strengthened those ideas for me. \u00a0Examining the different ways in which students learns has shown me just how important it is to listen to feedback from students and try to mold lessons around what their needs are. \u00a0We also looked at different lesson plan templates, such as Backwards Design, that can be effective in maximizing what the students get out of a lesson.<\/p>\n

The state standard that I really came to understand better throughout the semester was the student diversity in learning (#3) standard that for all teachers. Every student learns and develops differently. \u00a0It is our job, as teachers, to diversify our lesson plans so that each student is given the best chance to learn. \u00a0Our students will also be a wide variety of developmental levels. \u00a0Some students may be reading at an accelerated level and some at a level far below where they should be. \u00a0Through this understand we can help each student succeed in school.<\/p>\n

Along with the development of students, the most important thing I learned throughout this class was to incorporate some technology into my classroom. \u00a0I plan on teaching history, which can be a very dry subject if taught incorrectly. \u00a0Through the implementation of technology, I can give my students new perspectives on things, get expert insights into historical events, and so many more things that just cannot come out of a textbook. \u00a0My cooperating teacher down in Beloit used some technology to teach his history class and it seemed to work fairly well.<\/p>\n

I’m one of those people who is not actively involved in social media or tremendously handy with technology. \u00a0As a result, building my online identity may be a bit of a challenge. \u00a0I do plan to work on this though by seeing if I can continue blogging or trying to connect to other social studies teachers to try and find ways to improve my classroom. \u00a0Another thing that may be beneficial to me is building an ePortfolio. \u00a0This way people can have easy access to what I’m all about as an educator. \u00a0I can show my strengths as a teacher and hopefully get one foot in the door towards a teaching job.<\/p>\n