Teacher Observation
Adolescence is a tumultuous period characterized by significant physiological, social, psychological and cognitive changes that often cause considerable stress and anxiety, as the youth faces numerous demands from family, school and peers and fights negative ways to respond to these demands, such as truancy, drug abuse and isolation (Steinberg & Sheffield, 2001). Transitioning to high school requires the teens to communicate with a new and larger peer group and handle greater academic expectations. Counsellors clearly recognize that healthy relationships are the essence of mental, emotional, and psychological health. Many of the crises teens confront today are related to relationships -- with parents, teachers, siblings, and friends. Problems such as loneliness, low self-esteem, peer-pressure, rebellion, homosexuality, and underachievement have their foundation in unhealthy or broken relationships that can occur anytime during a youth's lifetime.

Increased stress occurs for adolescents across the board: Students who are in enrolled in rigorous academic programs,…...

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References

Rogers, Carl (1980). A Way of Being. Boston: Houghton Mifflin

Skinner, B.F. (1971). Beyond Freedom and Dignity. New York: Knopf.

Steinberg, L., & Sheffield, M, A. (2001). Adolescent development. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 83-110.

Suldo, S.M., Shaunessy, E., & Hardesty, R.B. (2008). Relationships among stress, coping, and mental health in high-achieving high school students. Psychology in the Schools, 45, 273-290.

The teacher explained that the use of a commercial science-teaching program that emphasized hands-on participation and active inquiry in its design had helped her achieve high levels of genuine interest among her students. The materials for this module consisted of individual sets for each group that were easily assembled into experimental designs utilizing different types of soil, inclined planes, and water dispensed through variable means to closely simulate natural erosion processes (Huber & Moore, 2001).
According to the teacher, the use of the materials dramatically increased student interest and also subject matter retention of the same Earth Science concepts that are typically the subject of passive learning via textbook reading assignments and lectures by teachers (Huber & Moore, 2001). The teacher credited the hands-on involvement as well as the design of the lessons to emphasize critical thinking and inquiry-based analyses with the ability to sustain the high level of student…...

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References

Gardner H. (1999). Intelligence Reframed Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century.

New York: Basic Books.

Huber RA and Moore CJ. "A model for extending hands-on science to be inquiry based" School Science and Mathematics, Vol. 101, No. 1, (2001): 32.

Teaching Portfolio
I am a percussion teacher, and I instruct classes of various sizes in a range of drumming techniques. My students a very diverse in terms of ages and backgrounds, and my classes can include up to twelve students. Some classes focus on group forms of percussion, such as drumming circles, which require skills for both individual and group drumming.

My teaching gradually evolved from my own practice in percussion and music. While I was not formally trained in teaching, as I work with more students, I am quickly developing a deeper understanding of the importance of teaching theories, curriculum planning, and proper assessment.

In this teaching portfolio I aim to first, summarize the feedback I have regarding my lesson planning presentation of material. Over the course of preparing this portfolio I have researched additional teaching and assessment methods, and I will outlined my preferred approaches. Finally, I will summarize my…...

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References

Asmus, Edward A. (1999). Special Focus: Assessment in Music Education

Music Educators Journal. Vol. 86, No. 2, pp. 19-24.

Booth, E. (2009). "The Music teaching Artist's Bible: Becoming a virtuoso educator." Oxford University Press. New York.

Fisher, D., Frey, N. (2007). "Checking for understanding: formative assessment techniques for your classroom." Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Alexandria, Virginia.

As I began to realize that I was expecting less than they were capable of I realized that some of my preconceived notions about the teaching profession were coloring my viewpoint.

One example was the day a preschool student from the regular education class came to me and handed me a book that she wanted to read to me. I was surprised but let her open the book and begin reading. It reminded me not to assume the level of ability of any student as each student is an individual and develops at individual rates.

In observing the classrooms I found that problems can be dealt with by remaining flexible and keeping an open mind (Safer, 2003).

An example of this philosophy occurred when an autistic preschool student was included in the inclusion setting. "Tommy" did not respond to verbal cues nor was he a verbal child. The teacher made up several index…...

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References

GRIESHABAER, SUSAN and CANNELLA, GAILE S. (EDS.) (2001). EMBRACING IDENTITIES in EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: DIVERSITY and POSSIBILITIES. MIDWOOD; LB1139.23.E58.

SAFER, STEFFEN (2003). PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS to PRACTICALLY EVERY PROBLEM: THE EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER'S MANUAL. REDLEAF PRESS.

WOMG, HARRY K., WONGN, ROSEMARY T. (2004). FIRST DAYS of SCHOOL: HOW to BE an EFFECTIVE TEACHER. HARRY K. WONG PUBLICATIONS.

PELLETIER, CAROL MARRA (2003). STRATEGIES for SUCCESSFUL STUDENT TEACHING. REDLEAF PRESS.

Teaching in America
Grant and Murray's Teaching in America: The Slow Revolution is a book with two faces. On one hand it is a book of history, covering the developments in education in general over the past century; here it is at times fascinating, at times tedious, but always informative. On the other hand, the book points to one overruling "Slow Revolution" which the authors describe as the solution to our nation's (and the world's) educational problems. While the former topic is simply a recounting of established history, the latter requires evidence and argument in support of the authors' claim; this evidence comes primarily from interviews with teachers. Hence, this book spans two realms of academia: as the researchers themselves state, "Our research is both sociological and historical" (8). This paper will investigate the credibility of the authors' latter claim, which is based on a rather isolated set of evidence, yet…...

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Bibliography

Grant, G., and Murray, C.E. Teaching in America: The Slow Revolution. Cambridge: Harvard

UP, 1999.

Customer Reviews. 2003. Booksunderreview.com. 16 December 2003.  http://authors.booksunderreview.com/G/Grant,_Gerald/ 

Harvard University Press/Teaching in America/Reviews. 2000. Harvard UP. 16 December 2003.  http://www.hup.harvard.edu/reviews/GRATES_R.html

Teaching Disaster and Emergency Management
The whole world has turned into a place where people encounter experiences with diverse forms of disaster. Most of the disasters are usually extremely complicated and strike unexpectedly in any region causing massive damages and loss of lives. The complexities accompanying the catastrophes require the existence of well-trained personnel oftentimes ready to deal with disasters as they occur before causing irreparable harm to people and property. In some regions, many people have lost lives and properties destroyed because of the slow response by the people dependable for handling the emergencies. This calls for the training of new and many people who provide quick and efficient response to the disasters whilst saving lives. Various regions and countries have taken up the initiative of training people expected to play a critical role in the management of disasters. There has been an argument whether teachers handling disaster management programs…...

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References

Alexander, D. (2000) "Scenario Methodology for Teaching Principles of Emergency

Management," Disaster Prevention and Management, vol. 9(2): 89 -- 97

Neal, D.M. (2000). Developing Degree Programs in Disaster Management: Some Reflections

and Observations. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters 18(3): 417-

Description of Learning:

Educational institutions are teaching subjects for a digital future but it is from a superficial manner however students need a deeper knowledge of it as a curriculum. When teaching students about math, it should be integrated in all subjects they are learning by being motivated by educators (Singhal, 1997). As shown in the examined scenario planning with an elementary school, it is apparent things became better for the students as far as the educational resources, and environment, which ultimately affects the learning process. Educational institutions must engage partnerships with other schools around the world. By providing student exchanges they will produce world class students, the internet is facilitating the process of globalization and providing virtual interaction with others. As it is shown in schools, technology is the key to change the educational environment and resources. The internet is encouraging students to engage in meaningful cross cultural dialogue and…...

There are some papers that are to be released and referred to by her in the above article. In the first of those papers, the belief is that the present result of the aptitude tests of the teachers today is the same as was the case a generation earlier, but the best among them are not likely to become teachers. In the second paper, the result shows that the women from the best colleges are not continuing to be teachers as the pay received by them as teachers is low, and not due to the attraction of higher pay in other occupations. On the level it can be assumed that if the salary of teachers were better, a lot of the best students would still be going into teaching.
According to the columnist, "Teachers aren't exactly getting worse. They're getting more consistently mediocre." She ends her own article by saying…...

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References

Ave, Melanie. Educators want more Mr.'s in their classrooms. St. Petersburg Times. 14 November, 2004. Retrieved at   Accessed on 27 May, 2005http://www.sptimes.com/2004/11/14/Tampabay/Educators_want_more_M.shtml .

Bhat, Sanjay. Schools struggle to reduce high teacher turnover. 3 January, 2005. The Seattle Times. Retrieved at   Accessed on 28 May, 2005http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002138717_turnover03m.html .

Direct Instruction: Is it the Most Effective Science Teaching Strategy? 15 December, 2004. NSTA Web News Digest. Retrieved at   on 28 May, 2005http://www.nsta.org/main/news/stories/education_story.php?news_story_ID=50045Accessed 

Errickson, Tiffany. Mentoring teachers. September 21, 2004. Retrieved at   Accessed on 27 May, 2005http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595092712,00.html .

This type of education has worked best within societies that contain large amounts of oppressive practices, where the oppressed need to learn some autonomy. More developed countries however tend to favor the more traditional types of education (Werner, 2000).
Conclusion

It is important to assess the specific needs of one's own educational environment. Some environments, as seen above, would benefit more from the behaviorist philosophy than from the humanist philosophy, and vice versa. It is therefore important to establish an initial focus, determine goals, and assess student needs. When there is for example a need for strongly skill-centered learning, such as a computer-skills course, this would benefit little from a behaviorist methodology. When the course is however more flexible and artistic, it might be better to focus on students' individual needs and concerns. In order to find what would work best in a specific classroom therefore, once should assess needs and…...

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Bibliography

Bullen, Mark. (2004) "Andragogy and University Distance Education." University of British Columbia. http://www2.cstudies.ubc.ca/~bullen/bullen1.html

Kett, J.F. (1994) the Pursuit of Knowledge Under Difficulties. From self-improvement to adult education in America, 1750-1990, Stanford, Ca.: Stanford University Press.

Merriam, S.B. And Caffarella, R.S. (1991) Learning in Adulthood. A comprehensive guide, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Smith, M.K. (2002) 'Malcolm Knowles, informal adult education, self-direction and anadragogy', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/thinkers/et-knowl.htm.Last updated: January 30, 2005

If a religion forbids dancing, those children should not have to learn a new dance, even though it might be a lot of fun for others. In other religions, any kind of image is forbidden. These children should not be served cookies that have, for instance, a jack-o-lantern or the country's flag on it.
At the same time, such a day can help students learn about each others' cultures. In those cases, parents who belong to those cultures might organize the activities. For instance, if there are Jewish children in the school, parents might make latkes with applesauce or have an activity that explains the significance of a Jewish holiday. Ethnic minorities might set up an activity that demonstrates something important about their culture and history. "Under Eights" can be a learning experience as well as a lot of fun.

13. You are a teachers' aide. Discuss with a teacher a…...

Teaching
If I had the opportunity to teach a skill to someone else, I would show how to conduct fundraising campaigns for a worthy nonprofit organization. Once a leader in a nonprofit group has the skills and the experience he or she could use those skills to help raised needed funds.

We would start with some basic fundamentals. A nonprofit group should be incorporated so that donations people and businesses make can be tax-deductible. There are groups representing the American Bar Association in nearly every city in America and they offer a half hour free consultation to nonprofits. This is a good starting point for a group, to achieve the ranking of a 501(c)3, a federally licensed nonprofit corporation.

Benefit Concert

There are many ways to raise funds other than just asking for handouts or sponsoring a bake sale. A good starting point is to plan a community benefit concert. Choosing the bands to…...

46).
The third measure of central tendency is the mode. Despite it being the last option of consideration by many analysts, it is a mostly utilized measure. The mode represents the most frequent observation in a data set. For example, if total scores of a football tournament in every match were tabulated as 2, 4, 6, 5, 2, 4, and 2, then the mode of these observations is 2 scores because this observation occurs thrice in the distribution.

The median contributes to the fourth measure of central tendency and it represents the value in the distribution that lies in the middle of the observations of interest. To obtain the median, arranging the observations in ascending order establishes the observation that lies in the middle of the arranged data. For example, in the above given observations of football scores, they can arranged in ascending order as 2, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5,…...

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References

Distributions. (2003, May 11). Wading through the data swamp: Distributions. Pathway courses.

Retrieved from http://pathwayscourses.samhsa.gov/eval201/eval201_supps_pg16.htm#Anchor-Normal-49575

Donnelly, R.A. (2004). The complete idiot's guide to statistics. Indianapolis, in: Alpha books.

Salkind, N.J. (2009). Statistics for people who (think they) hate statistics, (2nd ed.). London, UK:

Teacher's Name: John Dillon
Grade:

2nd Grade

Session:

English

Lesson content:

Spelling

Skills (Focus Areas)

Excellent

Good

Acceptable

Not observed

Lesson Introduction

Uses engaging and motivating introduction

States learning objectives to the students

Reviews content presented in previous classes

Teaching

Clearly explains all key concepts with simple examples

Models skills and strategies to be used by students

Uses various teaching strategies

Asks various questions that engage in critical thinking

Asks questions to check comprehension

Gives appropriate feedback on students answers and activities x

Responds to students' questions x

Explains instructions clearly and briefly x

Presents accurate and up-to-date content x

Relates lesson content to students' lives x

Relates content to other subjects

Uses recent technology and resources x

Varies activities to match different students' levels x

14. Demonstrates enthusiasm for the class and the subject x

15. Enriches class through variety in activity types x

Classroom management

1. Provides a supportive learning environment (classroom, materials, seating arrangement)

x

2. Shows ability to manage class and maintain discipline

x

3. Uses right motivational techniques x

4. Provides feedback to individual students and to class x

5. Uses class time…...

Multicultural education researchers and educators agree that preservice teachers' attitudes, beliefs, and understandings are important: foci in multicultural education coursework (Cochran-Smith, 1995; Grant & Secada, 1990; McDiarmid & Price, 1993; Pohan, 1996). Teacher attitudes and beliefs influence teaching behaviors, which affect student learning and behavior (Wiest, 1998)."

1996 study used 492 pre-service teachers to try and gauge the attitudes and beliefs among the group when it came to understanding diversity and cultural differences in students (Wiest, 1998).

A decade earlier leading education experts Hollingsworth was able to identify a method for helping students of teaching to challenge their convictions and apply them to their careers.

Many advocates of multicultural education suggest that field experiences be included in preparing teachers to work with diverse student populations (Pohan, 1996; Sleeter, 1995; Tellez, Hlebowitsh, Cohen, & Norwood, 1995). Sleeter (1995) describes some investigations, such as miniethnographies, that her students conduct: I regard extended contact with another…...

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ZEICHNER, K.M., & GRANT, C.A. (1981) Biography an social structure in the socialization of student teachers, Journal of Education for Teaching, 7, pp. 298-314.

Assessing the consistency between teachers' philosophies and educational goals.

Education; 9/22/1995; DeSpain, B.C.

" Ms. Parker invited those having trouble to return to the carpet area for additional instruction. She asked these students to get clipboards for their worksheets and to bring their manipulatives as well. There was some time wasted in this transition, but the students were generally eager to comply. Ms. Parker guided the students through each of the problems on the worksheet. She used her manipulatives on the board, either coins or cubes, and encouraged the students to do the same. One boy complained that Ms. Parker was "going too fast" but another student moved next to him and provided some assistance. By the time the math hour was over, most students had finished their worksheets. Ms. Parker did not require those that had not finished to stay in for recess. She collected the unfinished papers and promised the students that they would work on them together the next day
Section…...

Criteria for Forming Small Groups in Education

Small groups in education provide a valuable platform for students to enhance their learning experiences, develop essential skills, and foster a sense of community. To optimize the effectiveness of small group work, it is crucial to establish clear criteria for group formation that align with the intended educational objectives.

1. Academic Level and Learning Goals:

Group students within similar academic levels to ensure a balanced distribution of knowledge and skills.
Consider individual students' strengths and weaknesses to create groups capable of working together towards specific learning objectives.
Assign students to groups based on their performance....

Nature and Nurture: Understanding Giftedness

Giftedness is a complex phenomenon that has fascinated educators and psychologists for centuries. It is a natural ability that emerges early in life and manifests itself in a variety of domains, including intellectual, creative, and social-emotional.

Cognitive Characteristics of Gifted Students

High IQ: Gifted students typically score well above average on standardized intelligence tests. However, IQ alone does not define giftedness.
Advanced Reasoning Skills: They possess a high level of cognitive flexibility, allowing them to think critically, solve problems, and make abstract connections.
Exceptional Memory: Gifted students often have remarkable memories, enabling them to recall vast amounts....

Gifted Students: A Review of the Literature

Introduction

Gifted students are those who exhibit exceptional abilities in one or more areas. They are often identified early in their education and provided with special services to help them reach their full potential. There is a growing body of research on gifted students, and this essay will review some of the key findings.

Definition of Giftedness

There is no single definition of giftedness, but most experts agree that it refers to a high level of ability in one or more domains. These domains include intellectual ability, creativity, artistic ability, and leadership. Gifted students are often identified....