Jeff's Learning/Teaching Philosophy FALL 2024 by Rachel Watson

Teaching Philosophy

jpelton2_1 — 2024-09-10 00:45:06 UTC

I believe that it is important to connect with the students on a more personal level to where they see you as a friend and feel like they can ask you any question that comes to mind. I have noticed that in these early weeks students have seemed nervous or too shy to call over for a LA, and it would be great to eliminate that as a whole. College can be very difficult especially for students in their first semester so it is helpful for them to have somebody who can help guide them with the material they are learning. My goal is to create a space where students feel comfortable asking me for any help they need, and also feel comfortable making mistakes. This is very important as a learning experience for them, and it can be very beneficial for me as well in learning different ways to teach material.

Reflection 9/9

jpelton2_1 — 2024-09-15 17:11:48 UTC

After the activity today I realized that there are a lot more modalities than I was familiar with. Some of them are similar to each other but some are completely different, but they all share the same objective of initiating learning in a unique way. Although I have no clue how a lot of them work, I believe this activity still contributed to my teaching philosophy by just having the general knowledge that there are many more teaching modalities. I am excited to learn about them and see how they can be applied. It is important for students to have the opportunity to learn in multiple different ways.

Reflection 9/16

jpelton2_1 — 2024-09-22 20:37:10 UTC

After our discussion today about collaborative communication it became clear to me that being able to use collaborative communication while teaching to students is essential. It was nice to be able to demonstrate it within our discussion, and gave me the opportunity to grasp collaborative communication as a whole. Asking open-ended questions has really stuck out to me, using this method of teaching and asking questions like why or how did you come up with your conclusion, can help in facilitating conversation between students at a table and forces them to recall and share what they know about the topic at hand. Using collaborative communication can also promote conversation and interaction with the students which is key to building an effective and positive climate in the classroom. I believe that collaborative communication is a cornerstone in effective communication and will be something that I will continue to use when teaching to students in class.

Reflection 9/23

jpelton2_1 — 2024-09-23 23:53:26 UTC

After our activity today I realized how important it is to learn in different ways and in environments. Movement being at the center of what I learned about today, it is interesting how increased blood flow can help your brain memorize better. I have heard of the ''scribble'' method of when you read material to take your non dominant hand and scribble on paper the whole time you are reading and it can increase your ability to recall what you have learned. I think our activity today goes to show how important it is that we learn in different forms and or environments, even a little stress can help us learn. It is also important as an LA to attempt to implement different forms of teaching to students so they have the opportunity to learn in different ways.

Reflection 9/30

jpelton2_1 — 2024-10-01 00:02:06 UTC

After today's activity and discussion it has furthered my knowledge on the benefits of active learning and how it has shown significant success within the STEM classes that students take. One question it left me with is how would active learning affect other classes such as an English class, or a non STEM oriented class? I think it would be interesting to see how the numbers of a study for an English class would compare to a STEM oriented class. I believe that active learning can be very beneficial regardless of the class that it is implemented into, and now know for sure it should be considered heavily for implementation to better aid each and every student in their learning process and capabilities. Active learning has changed my thought of teaching and philosophy in a great way, and I believe I need to try and apply it when I can.

Reflection 10/7

jpelton2_1 — 2024-10-21 02:12:26 UTC

In our zoom class about backwards design I learned a lot about SLO's (student learning outcomes) and how we can make them using backwards design course methods, after learning about the steps I created an SLO and believe that it could be very beneficial for students as it is what I do for exam preparation and has worked out well for me.

My SLO was:

Given good study habits and practice of material they are expected to know, students will be able to identify what they know and do not know for their exams and will be able to focus on what they do not know to improve exam scores.

My assessment was: Students will be able to look at a set of example problems for what they have gone over and pick out what they are struggling with or what they have "never seen before" and relay it back to the professor for clarification.

My pedagogy was: TBL: Students will be given in class quizzes that cover the topics they are unsure on or do not know, theyw ill be encouraged to use their notes and look through for information that may help them with the topics. Following they can discuss answers and outcomes with their group.

TBL sessions have been very helpful for me in some of my classes in being able to collaborate with other students at my table and bounce ideas off of each other. Being able to identify what you know and what you do not know is very important when it comes to improving exam scores, it has always helped me knowing what I need to spend more time on studying and what I already have down.

Reflection 10/21

jpelton2_1 — 2024-10-22 01:49:59 UTC

During class today we did a iRat and a tRat, both in the most basic form of them. I think it would be very interesting to see an iRat and tRat adapted into a more open ended version of it to where we are able to work through some of the 4 S's but not all of them, I am curious on to how that would work as opposed to a more traditional approach that covers all 4 S's. Touching on the activity of suggesting a new approach to the professors class, I believe that it is essential that students know what they are expected to know for upcoming exams and that the material they are practicing is relatively similar to what will be on the exam. When students ask me what they should study or how to study for their upcoming bio exams, I recall what we have went over and the in-class activities that they have done and tell them what will be expected on their upcoming exam.

Reflection 10/28

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-03 21:29:12 UTC

Reflection 11/4

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-05 01:02:31 UTC

Being able to experience this class period was great. Going over the Columbia's principles and how they can positively affect a classroom and environment was nice. I think that the first principle of Creating a Classroom in which each student feels that they matter is one of the most important of the principles. Feeling recognized by others is a natural feeling that all students love to experience, that their question or opinion matters within the classroom. As LA's we need to be able to offer the students the feeling of this. In today's activity I felt like I mattered in my contribution to the group in identifying problems and coming up with solutions, and was able to grasp how this principles need to be used to promote a healthy environment. This is very important in regard to my teaching philosophy because I had not really thought about how important it is that students feel recognized in the classroom.

Values

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-12 00:26:41 UTC

Goals

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-12 00:26:52 UTC

Pedagogy

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-12 00:27:19 UTC

Assessment

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-12 00:32:08 UTC

From initial teaching philosophy

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-12 00:35:17 UTC

I believe that it is important to connect with the students on a more personal level to where they see you as a friend and feel like they can ask you any question that comes to mind.

Reflection 9/16

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-12 00:38:30 UTC

Asking open-ended questions has really stuck out to me, using this method of teaching and asking questions like why or how did you come up with your conclusion, can help in facilitating conversation between students at a table and forces them to recall and share what they know about the topic at hand.

The pedagogy being asking those open ended questions. I believe that this could also geo into the goal category as well, with the goal being to use open ended questioning to be able to get students to interact and share what they know with each other, and hopefully leading to the answer of the question.

Reflection 10/21

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-12 00:46:49 UTC

I believe that it is essential that students know what they are expected to know for upcoming exams and that the material they are practicing is relatively similar to what will be on the exam. When students ask me what they should study or how to study for their upcoming bio exams, I recall what we have went over and the in-class activities that they have done and tell them what will be expected on their upcoming exam.

I think that this aligns with goals because you are able to let students know what they're expected to know and give them ways that they can meet these goals.

Reflection 10/ 7

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-12 00:55:01 UTC

Students will be given in class quizzes that cover the topics they are unsure on or do not know, theyw ill be encouraged to use their notes and look through for information that may help them with the topics. Following they can discuss answers and outcomes with their group.

Reflection 10/7

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-12 00:56:03 UTC

Goal as an LA

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-12 00:56:39 UTC

My goal is to create a space where students feel comfortable asking me for any help they need, and also feel comfortable making mistakes. This is very important as a learning experience for them, and it can be very beneficial for me as well in learning different ways to teach material.

Questions

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-12 01:00:19 UTC

Didn't quite finish it

Reflection 11/18

jpelton2_1 — 2024-11-19 00:55:26 UTC

How did it feel to flow through Kolb’s Cycle?
It felt really straight forward and like there was a was an easy process to it. I felt connected to my bracelet that I used for my item, and it gave me a deeper understanding of what it means to me.
Which of Columbia’s Principles/UDL are exemplified in this learning activity?
One of Columbias principles that are exemplified within this is multiple means of engagement. We were able to engage in this activity on a sensory, emotional, and physical level. It also gave us the opportunity to share our learning socially.
If this were an activity that were evaluated for purposes of grading a student, what additional elements of Columbia’s Principles might we want to integrate?
If this was evaluated for a purpose it would need to have learning goals and feedback integrated into it. So students will know what they're expected to know and learn and then they are given feedback based on their performance and how well they did as well as why they received their grade and what they can do to improve or what they did well.

Reflection 12/2

jpelton2_1 — 2024-12-03 00:55:59 UTC

Reflection prompt: It is common to see folks place themselves on the value line at different locations when they think about "most people" versus "I". For example, it is common to see that folks believe "most people" are not terribly gritty but believe that they, themselves, are. How does this relate to inclusion/inclusive pedagogy?

I agree with the statement that people tend to see themselves as gritty and others as not very gritty. I think it is all based on their own personal experiences in life and what they have gone through that sort of develop their grit within their own lives. Simultaneously they are assuming that many others have not gone through the same trials and tribulations as them so they make the assumption that most people are not very gritty. I believe that grit comes from personal motivation based off of each person, even if everyone was placed into an inclusive environment and exposed to the same trials the levels of grit from person to person would still be different. It is how a person deals with the experiences of their lives that shapes their grit.