September 11, 2003
While having worked on learning the characteristics of fourteen-year-old students, I tried to remind of myself in the age of 14 and compare what is written in the chapter with my own experiences at that time. When I became fourteen years old in junior high school, I came to associate a little more with boys than before. I totally agree with the statement in the chapter saying students of this age “preoccupied with what they appear to be in the eyes of others as compared with what they feel they are….” This is the exact description of myself when I was fourteen. As long as I can remember, friendships with my female friends were very fragile but also meant so much to me just as it does to other typical 14-year-old kids. As the textbook describes, I did go through so many physical and mental changes in this age.
September 18, 2003
The most impressive part of the video we watched in the class was for me the scene that said the development of a child’s brain is largely changed and determined by how parents offer their kid various stimuli or aids to build better thinking processes. That is, I personally believe, exactly true. Children with parents who seldom talk to their kids tend to poorly develop their cognitive skills compare to other children with parents who intentionally try to open conversations for them. This fact will remind me of how I should behave with my children if I am going to have any and my future students. Other factors found through many different studies by scholars to influence the development of a child’s cognitive skills also gave me deeper insights I will need when teaching.
September 25, 2003
Through the presentations we had in class about the various characteristics of students aged 9-14, I could deepen my understanding on the various difficulties children at these ages face to and the physical or mental changes they go through. Meaningful discussions with other classmates, who are actually teaching children at these ages, made me realize how I should be careful in treating those children who are getting through continuous changes in my future teaching. I believe the fact that not only a family but also a teacher can play such an important role to influence those adolescent children in today’s society makes teaching profession even more crucial than ever before.
October 2, 2003
This class gave me an opportunity to explore website service that comes with our textbooks and learn how to use it in actual learning and teaching situations. Knowing my own strengths and weaknesses will surely help me to improve my teaching skills and to be a better teacher in the future. Since the use of technology in a classroom is now becoming more popular and common in many countries, this session which gave me a trial to use internet in class was really useful and exciting!
October 23, 2003
The huge discussion we had in this class session made me think of various complex situations in teaching. I felt a little upset when some of our classmates said what we are learning in class isn’t of any help and doesn’t solve any problems they have in their teaching. I know what they meant was not to say what we learn in class is meaningless, rather they meant that real teaching situations are far more complex than some theories or concepts introduced in the textbook. However, I personally believe that theories which may not be all the time the cases we find in our teaching do facilitate our understandings on some complicating issues taking place in education. For example, why this kid behaves in such a negative way in school? He may have some extra worries in his home and that affect his academic achievement. There are many factors teachers have to know before judging the student. No one including teachers is perfect. So we always have to keep learning to make what we can do better.
October 30, 2003
Many of our classmates’ opinions based on their own teaching experiences always help me to expand my imagination of various teaching situations. I like the atmosphere in which everybody feels free to speak out their opinions. But, on the other hand, I think this atmosphere can work negatively sometimes. Especially for the last few classes, I felt we had spent so much time for discussion in which some students brought their personal stories that were not closely related to what we were doing in class and seemed to be too relaxed. As I mentioned before, I do value not only what I can learn from other classmates but also what I can learn from academic fields of study. Giving students opportunities to negotiate or speak out their opinions is very important and necessary, but how students can use them may need to be discussed more in order to maximize the
