My Reflection on Demo Teaching and My Own Teaching Demo

            After I learned the demo of different teaching strategies with the corresponding different topic I affirmed to myself  I am bless because I experience to learned the subject which is very helpful for my ministry year. For me it is a show case where I am free to choose whatever strategies I need to fit in my teaching ministry. For all the learning’s these are the things I hardly forget for my future ministry year; have a good classroom management, build a good dynamics for few months until it become a routine, observe clear boundaries and be the best of your best. Most especially this idea: we are not just teachers to instruct, we are touching not just minds but hearts, we are molding souls.

            I believe this would be the picture of my one year teaching regency if I practice this to the school where I am assign. There is an order in the classroom, respect and discipline must be observed, having good relationship with clear boundaries to my students, to my co teachers, school coordinators and to my principal. It is also helpful if I am familiar with the student handbook of the school so that I know the policies of the school. This will help me how to address appropriately of whatever issues will arise during my ministry year. As what Brother Eric shared in his personal experience about the issue of his student. He was put into a situation where challenge to stand of his own position regarding the issue. The issue between the sanction of the violation of the student and the appropriate corrective measure that can possibly form the student into a better person, there is a tension for him and the school. As he chose the second option, this required enough time to console and monitors the student and the parent regarding the issue.

            From this I realized that teaching is not only in the cognitive and informative level. But it is also to the affective transformative level. This two classification and category must go together in order to teach the student in a holistic way. This will help the student mold of being a whole person. A student knows how to interact and shares ideas to others. A student knows how to relate others with different behaviors, values and virtues. However this kind of learning is only attainable from the holistic teachers also. That teacher knows how to assess his student if his student learned from his discussion. And knows how to assess if his student has capacity to apply in a concrete situation of what he had learned from the discussion.

            I believe that having a good teaching strategy is just a half of the whole process of learning. It is a learning process from the teacher to the students. The other half is the application of the learning of the student to their concrete experience in life. There is a shift now of the learning process, from the student to themselves and other.

             I believe an effective teacher will not formed only a good mind to their students but also a good heart.            

Reflection of the Principles of Learning

            There are nine principles of learning that can help to understand the different intelligences of the person. Out of this nine I chose two principles, as a subject of my personal reflection. The first principle is the “one of the richest resources for learning is the learner himself.” The other one is “the process of learning is emotional as well as intellectual.” These two principles are closely related to each other and I feel easy to share my own experience in the learning process I enter into.

            For me the first principle is giving more emphasis on the natural gift of capacity and capability of a person that he may use in his learning process. This natural gift of capacity and capability of a person can be acquired through personal experience. This could be also genetically acquired from the parents.

One example of having acquired through experience is that the rice terraces made by Ifugaos. This is a concrete manifestation that Ifugaos have a capacity to build a rice terraces which became one of the Seven Wonders of the World. They don’t have any formal training of land escaping nor as an architect. But their necessity to have a food for their basic needs and that area is available for planting out of their creativity they made as productive. In this sense Ifugaos themselves has rich resources for their learning. One example also of genetically acquired intelligence is that both parents have high IQ and talented. Then the child will have the greater possibility that he has also high level of IQ.

The second principles emphasize that there are two levels of learning process which are emotional level and intellectual level. It means that a person knows how to understand and articulate for a certain situations and circumstances then he is using his cognitive level. The person using his feeling and emotion in understanding the certain situation and circumstances, then he is using his affective level. In other words there must be a balance in the learning process so that the development happened to a person is holistic. This will help to avoid the two imbalances. First imbalance is that intellectually giant but emotionally dwarf. The other one is emotionally giant but intellectually dwarf.

In my own learning process as a student and as a seminarian these two principles is very helpful for my theological reflection and for my concrete manifestation how to live the values and virtues of Christ. I need high level of intellectual capacity to understand the concepts and communicate these ideas to others.  I need also a depth emotional capacity to feel and understand the critical situation which involves the affective level. One concrete example of this is the giving of the homilies by the priest or deacons. The content of the homilies must be both have informative and transformative so that the parishioners who heard that homilies will know and  also feel the presence of God.

Finally these two principles is only a guide for the learning process. This is only a tool in order for us to know more and understand better the things we need in life.         

Good Classroom Management

MY TEACHING STRATEGY

Good Classroom Management

In the real world, students come from all walks of life. They all have problems, and some do not deal well with stress or conflict. I care about my students, but the number one reason they come to school is to learn. They are tested to make sure that I taught them the values, so order must be kept in the classroom. Of course, students know the classroom rules and school rules. The boundaries are set before work begins. Not all strategies work with every student.

Five Top Strategies to Keep Students Learning in a Calm Classroom Environment

5 – Keep the lesson moving.

4 – Don’t lecture for the whole period.

3 – Talk to your students.

2 -- When students are being disruptive by talking, poking, pulling or crumpling paper, and go    stand by them.

1 – When you have stood by the student, talked to the student and kept them busy with lessons, and they still are disruptive, take them in the hallway. Ask them, “Are you OK?”

If they are not actively engaged in the lesson, they will become actively engaged in something else – disruptive behavior.

LESSON PLAN ON GOD’S LOVE

February 13, 2013

Fourth Students of Southfield Bugo.

I.                OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the class, the students should be able to…

1.     Acknowledge and express their feelings particularly love.

2.     Distinguish the conditional and unconditional love.

3.     Identify who are the tax collector, Samaritan, lepers and other people considered as an outcast to our society.

II.              MATERIALS/RESOURCES

Bible, LCD, video clips, bond paper, index card

III.            PRAYER

OPENING PRAYER:

Lead by one of the students.

Content:

            Start with a question about prayer. Then discuss that love is the greatest virtue of all. Love is an essential for every Christian. Jesus Himself concretely lived the virtue of love until the end of His public ministry. He relates to tax collector, Samaritan, lepers and other people considered as an outcast to their society.

            There are two kind of love. These are conditional and unconditional. The conditional love is usually governed with self-interest and personal intention. The common statement of this kind of love is “I love you because” it depends again the reason of the person who express. The unconditional love is a genuine and true love. It has no limit and boundary. The common statement of this kind of love is “I love you in spite of” it surpass beyond what situation and circumstances.

            To bring you in a specific context on how this unconditional love concretely manifested in our society today I will show you a video clips that will help you understand this concept.

Activity:

1.     Nine minutes video presentation (Bridgemaster)…

2.     After the video presentation run through one word to describe their feelings about the video.

3.     Then for five minutes they draw one thing that represents their love to God (for other religions please refer it to your God) and love to their parents.

4.     Below your drawing, please give at least one reason why you choose that thing.

5.     Then if you are done please pass it to the front

The video we watched is parallel to the message of John 3: 16 “For God so loved the world that gave he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not lost, but may have everlasting life.” The Father in the movie portrayed the role as God the Father, the son portrayed the role of Jesus and the passenger of the train portrayed the role of the people.

IV.            ASSIGNMENT

Five lucky students will present their drawings about love tomorrow. These are the following guide questions:

1.     Explain why you choose that particular thing?

2.     How is that related to your relationship to your God?

Choose two students to lead the opening and the closing prayer.

V.              EVALUATION

Ask any comments or reaction from the class. If there is none then post some challenges to reflect on.

CHALLENGE TO ACTION

1.     God is willing to give the life of his Son because of His love to the people. In your life as a student are you willing also to give yourself in your studies? Are you willing to give yourself to God?

CONCLUDING PRAYER

            Lead by one of the students.

Multiple Intelligence

5 Logic/math:You enjoy exploring how things are related, and you like to understand how things work. You like mathematical concepts, puzzles and manipulative games. You are good at critical thinking. Here are ways to work with this intelligence in your lessons: Arrange cartoons and other pictures in a logical sequence. Sort, categorize, and characterize word lists. While reading a story, stop before you've finished and predict what will happen next. Explore the origins of words. Play games that require critical thinking. For example, pick the one word that doesn't fit: chair, table, paper clip, sofa. Explain why it doesn't fit. Work with scrambled sentences. Talk about what happens when the order is changed. After finishing a story, mind map some of the main ideas and details. Write the directions for completing a simple job like starting a car or tying a shoe. Make outlines of what you are going to write or of the material you've already read.  Look for patterns in words. What's the relationship between heal, health, and healthier? Look at advertisements critically. What are they using to get you to buy their product? 4.57 Self: You have a very good sense of self. You like to spend time by yourself and think things over. You will often take in information from another person, mull it over by yourself, and come back to that person later to discuss it. You like working on projects on your own. You often prefer to learn by trial and error. Effective techniques to enhance your learning include keeping a journal and giving yourself time to reflect on new ideas and information. More ideas: Go on "guided imagery" tours. Set aside time to reflect on new ideas and information.  Encourage journal writing.  Work on the computer.  Practice breathing for relaxation.  Use brainstorming methods before reading.  Listen to and read "how to" tapes and books.  Read cookbooks. 4.43 Body Movement: You like to move, dance, wiggle, walk, and swim. You are likely good at sports, and you have good fine motor skills. You may enjoy taking things apart and putting them back together. Incorporating body movement into your learning will help you process and retain information better. Here are some ideas. Trace letters and words on each other's back.  Use magnetic letters, letter blocks, or letters on index cards to spell words.  Take a walk while discussing a story or gathering ideas for a story.  Make pipe cleaner letters. Form letters out of bread dough. After you shape your letters, bake them and eat them!  Use your whole arm (extend without bending your elbow) to write letters and words in the air.  Change the place where you write and use different kinds of tools to write, ie., typewriter, computer, blackboard, or large pieces of paper.  Write on a mirror with lipstick or soap.  Take a walk and read all the words you find during the walk.  Handle a Koosh ball or a worry stone during a study session.  Take a break and do a cross-lateral walk. The scores for your other five intelligences: 4.29 4.29 3.71 3.57 2.43 Just because these five are not in your top three doesn’t mean you’re not strong in them. If your average score for any intelligence is above three, you’re probably using that intelligence quite often to help you learn. Take a look at the Practice section to see how to engage all your intelligences.

Highlights of Learning during the March 6 Class Session

There are four person were assigned to do demo for different teaching strategy. These are the last group would like to present before the end of the semester. Their topic is also interesting and important for the teaching ministry. But at this time I would like my reaction and reflection for our visitors who shares his ministry year experience two years ago. He shares seven points and it is a sort of reminders for us.

            First he shares about classroom management. For him it is good to make a solid foundation at the very first day of the class. For example be your best as you look your best and use your identity as a seminarian for your own good. I agree with this because I believe first impression last. Ones the student feel that their teacher is strict then it follows to call their respect and this will slowly establish as the days goes by. The other one is govern your classroom well and mold your classroom officers to their task and responsibilities. I expect that ten months in the ministry year I will experience burn out in doing my task and responsibilities that is why I need companions. One of these companions is my own students.

            Second is management beyond the bounds of classroom. It is very important to set clear and firm boundaries. A teacher needs this because he/she may involve many forms of relationships. He must deal with students, parents, co-teachers and principal. In this relationship he must maintained dealing with them professionally. The concrete example of this is the student-teacher relationship.

            Third is work with the admin, faculty and all other staff. He must remember that he is already a member of the faculty, respect and obedience is high observes. One manifestation of showing respect and obedience is being open to the admin and let them now of your official whereabouts. The other one is spend enough time with old and new members of the faculty and staff.

            Fourth is when things get tough, stand your ground and rest is not an option, it is a necessity. You know by heart the school manual. Be courageous to hold on to the good that you see. But please always remember to express it in a prudent way. The other one, take time to rest and recreate but be careful of the kind of recreation you chose. Always remember your identity wherever you go. Be sensitive of the moments that lead to different temptation.

            Fifth is the value of body system. There are times that you need someone’s advice and sometimes someone also needs your advice. Being connected to those in the area is very helpful in times of difficulties.

            Sixth is spirituality on the ground. When you are in the area don’t forget to pray, attend mass at least one’s a week and do examine every day. This will always remind and guide you in making good and right decision in life.

            Seventh are, you needed to visit your spiritual director and guidance counselor. We need someone to listen to us in our spiritual and human experience.    

            In my overall assessment I learned a lot from the sharing of Brother Eric in his sharing. It is very helpful for my ministry year. I can be more aware what to do to be an affective teacher during my ministry year.       

Integrating Multiple Intelligence/Learning Style

Topic: God’s Love

Fourth year student of Salay Misamis Oriental High School

Time (9:00-10:00am)	Learning Style	Multiple Intelligence
9:00-9:08am	Brief introduction about  life of Jesus	Interpersonal
9:08-9:17am	Short video presentation of passion of Christ	Logical, interpersonal, musical and spiritual
9:17-9:42am	Group sharing about feelings after watching the video	Linguistic, intrapersonal and spiritual
9:42-9:50am	Brief explanation about the video	Spiritual, and interpersonal
9:50-9:55am	Give challenges how to apply the love of God to oneself and to others	Spiritual, logical and interpersonal
9:55-10:00am	Closure of the topic and giving of assignment.	Interpersonal

            During the brief introduction about life of Jesus, the multiple intelligence develops is interpersonal. The student will internalize the experience of Jesus of how he loves his people. In short video presentation of passion of Christ there are four multiple intelligence develop. These are logical, interpersonal, musical and spiritual. First the students learned the logical sequence of events of the life of Jesus. Second the students slowly internalize the highlights of the events of the passion of Christ. Third the students identify the type of music played during the different scene of the passion of Christ. Fourth the students develop their spiritual life of how Jesus lives His life even in the midst of his suffering and death.

            After watching the video presentation, the students have their group sharing about their feeling after watching the video. There are three multiple intelligence develop. These are linguistic, interpersonal and spiritual. First the students develop their communicating skills by sharing their ideas to others. Second the students develop the interpersonal by internalizing the sharing of his classmates. Third the students develop spiritual life after internalizing the experience of Jesus.

            After the sharing the teacher explains briefly the content of the video presentation as a deepening for what have shared by the students. There are two multiple intelligence develop. These are spiritual and interpersonal. After the explanation the teacher gives some challenges how to apply the love of God to oneself and to others. There are three multiple intelligence develop here. These are logical, spiritual and interpersonal. And finally the teacher will give an assignment and a proper closure of the topic. There is one multiple intelligence develop here, this is interpersonal.

            Knowing the different learning style/multiple intelligence is very important for the learning process of the students. Through that it is easy for the teacher to top the different intelligences of his students of the learning strategy he applied during his class discussion. The students slowly develop and enhance their capacities and abilities in lined his intelligence. In this sense the teacher is like a conductor in which he knows how to top the different talents and skill in order to produce good tune and melody.

            Therefore it is helpful for the teacher knows the strategy how to identify the intelligences of his students. This will make him easy how to teach his students. And his students also find it easy how to develop and apply it by helping his classmates on their weaknesses.

Highlights of Learning during the February 27 Class Session

There are four person were assigned to do demo for different teaching strategy. The teaching strategy they were using is the following; case study, integrating technology, cooperative learning and role playing. These four people present their chosen topic as they were using their assign strategy. During the demonstration I have observe that there are strengths and weaknesses in the part of the person who demonstrate. These strengths and weaknesses become more visible and clearly emphasized when the assigned commentators including Miss Amphi shared their observation regarding the performance of the presenter before, during and after the demonstration. Each presenter was given 20-30 minute presentation.

            These are the highlights of the strengths and weaknesses among the four presenters. For the strengths, most of the presenter familiarized their assigned learning strategy, they have voice quality, their objectives is clear, they also prepare some activities that will help the students understanding and encourage them to participates in class discussion. Although I can sense that some of them are not confident while presenting their topic. There is also one presenter who is inserted humors during his presentation. But later on it become doubtful if it is really a humor only or a sign of lack of preparation. As what Miss Amphi said, they know the content of their topic. They can explain well and elaborate more by giving example.

            For the weaknesses, first in terms of the preparation of the materials the presenter must prepare ahead of time before his discussion so that it could not be dragging and time consuming. Example if the presenter uses the LCD this must be prepared before the discussion. Another one if he is using props then assigned somebody to prepare for it so that there is a student engagement and if possible avoid enumeration of the materials presented. Second, the strategies they are using are not clearly emphasized during discussion. Third in entertaining question, the presenter does not necessary immediately answer the question. Give it back to the class because it is one way to check if the students follow and understand the discussion. If still the question was not answered then that’s the time the presenter answer it. Fourth dealing with the late and always goes out in the class in the middle of the discussion. If someone is late and enter at the middle of your discussion, just continue and give a sign that they can come in. For those always asking permission to go out at the middle of the class discussion, give them a time before the start of the class to go in the comfort room so that they cannot disturb the class.

            These are some reminders also for the presenter. Don’t discuss for the whole period. Don’t talk while the students are still noisy. If someone is talking while you are discussing just approach the person but continue your discussion. Have an eye to eye contact to the student during the discussion. Accept suggestion and appreciate those who participate. Before doing their group activity please gives clear instruction what to do before they go to their group. If possible don’t group them in a bigger number; four students per group are enough.  For those group who does not doing their task you can either sit in or just go ear to their group. If possible give them time limit so that they can maximize their time and not tempted to do other things.

            In my overall assessment I learned a lot from the strengths and weaknesses shown by the presenter. This will helps a lot in my future ministry year. I can be more aware what to do to be an affective teacher during my ministry year.