C4T2

For my second Comment 4 Teachers I was assigned to Mike Prater at Growth Through Learning. My first comment was on his blog titled "Grouping Students for Effective Learning"
I have some definite opinions about grouping students. Fortunately - I agree with Dr. Prater! Dr. Prater believes in grouping students together according to ability levels. Dr. Prater also states that group learning can really only be effective if there is a support system in place for students and teachers.

Dr. Prater brings up several problems with grouping of students. He states ways in which a Professional Learning Community will succeed and ways that a PLC will fail. While Dr. Prater doesn't have all the answers, he does make us think of some problems we, as future teachers, may have with teaching in a group environment.

I can defend the idea of group learning - as I did in my comments to Dr. Prater - because I know it can work. I have seen group teaching - a history and an English teacher collaborating on a project for students - and group learning - students working together in a group setting to complete a project. I have seen the struggles from both sides of the table. I have also seen the rewards! The teachers get to see the creativeness of their students and the students get to watch their teachers work together. This is a great example of real life experiences.

My second comment on Dr. Prater's blog was on his post titled "Engaging in the Process of Formative Assessment". The title alone overwhelmed me, so I had to choose this post to make a comment! After all - it is all about the "learning" right!? So, the reason I chose this post was because I know little to nothing about "formative assessment" or so I thought! It wasn't until I was almost done reading that I realized what formative assessment is. As Dr. Prater says in his blog:

"One of the most valuable forms of formative assessment is simply teacher observations of student mastery of content matter. Formative assessment can occur as a teacher is observing students’ work, discussion, debates, etc. and then reacting to what he or she sees."

So in essence we must pay attention to our students as we are teaching them - this will let us know if they are comprehending what we are trying to teach them. If they are not comprehending, then we must alter how we are teaching them so that they can understand and retain the information.

This post was very informative to me!

I have enjoyed Dr. Prater's blog so much that I also commented on another one of his posts. I probably do not have to comment on what I said, but the post was so compelling that I wanted to share it with all of you! This post is titled "College isn't for Everyone". I think it is important that as future teachers we realize that we are not preparing students just to continue their education in college. Some students will not be "college material". We need to understand this and teach appropriately. This does not mean that we can "dumb down" what we are teaching, but we mush understand that not everyone will go to college. Not every student will get a 4 year degree. Some students will go to a technical school. Some will go to a community college and obtain an associates degree. Others will continue to a university and gain the highest degrees possible. As future/current educators we must understand that our students will fall into one of these categories, or they may not attend any type of post secondary education. This is what Dr. Prater had to say:

I see some key areas for educators:

• Educate parents and students about career opportunities outside of the typical four-year college track.
• Remove the elitist view that some in education have. Trade school isn’t “just” trade school. Our world functions because of very skilled people who can manufacture and repair our cars, homes, roads, …. You get the idea. Additionally, our world functions because of trained service people who might have “only” a high school degree.
• Partner with those in vocational/career education and industry. They are not “dumping grounds” for anyone today. Learn those skills that students are required to have to be successful in their industry. It might not be a bad idea to spend a half-day professional development opportunity by loading high school teachers on a bus and letting them tour a career education facility!
• Provide more curricular options for students in grades 9-12. Make the learning more relevant for those who may not be interested in a four-year college track. As an example, (I’m going to step on the toes of my English teacher friends now) does the skilled auto mechanic really need to be able to analyze The Scarlett Letter? He or she needs higher-level reading and writing skills, but maybe we should rethink what form those skills take.

I really enjoyed all of Dr. Prater's postings. He is a vast wealth of knowledge and I appreciate the opportunity to learn from him!