Reflection 2

This week I found our topic of “teaching to the test” extremely interesting. From my experience as a student, I see that teachers constantly teach to the test because they want their students to succeed and have the skill set to be competitive in today’s job market. I think that teaching in this manner has its advantages and disadvantages. To begin, the tests are important because they contain information that students need to know; this is determined by the state board of education. These types of tests standardize education across the board, which is good because it provides an overview of how schools are doing across the board. There are disadvantages as well because this type of teaching does not encourage critical thinking skills; it encourages the memorization of facts or knowledge. According to the passage from Martin, "all learners, at all ages need and benefit from active involvement with the explicit application of higher level cognitive strategies" (Martin 211). The quote is so important because it reveals the truth- all students will benefit from being taught to think critically. I believe that if more students thought critically then education could become much more interesting for students. I truly hope that solely “teaching for the test” can be expanded to include critical thinking skills.

Reference-

Martin, D. (n.d.). Thinking and the special-needs learner. In Developing Minds: A Reasoning Book for Teaching Thinking (pp. 211-215).

Reflection 1

I am excited to participate in a class where students are taught how to teach other people to think critically. I am really a huge supporter of thinking critically, and I know that if more students would do this then we would not have as much crime in our schools. I am interested in learning how to help kids think outside the box because teaching thinking skills is a very difficult task.

I was very interested in last weeks video because I never realized how much we really do not support creativity in our schools. It will be my personal mission to support creativity in my classroom with each and every one of my students.

Discussion Post 1: Introduction

My name is Douglas T.

I am an only child, and my mother is an only child as well. So, our family is very small. I am very anxious to graduate from college and move to a new place because I am so bored with Tuscaloosa. My major is Special Education, and I am absolutely thrilled about it. I talk about it all the time to all of my friends; they get so tired of hearing about it. My long-term career goal is to become a superintendent of a school district or perhaps on the state level. I have always been very interested in leadership; it is where my heart lies. I learn best reading and visualizing. I do not learn well by hearing something told to me. I am more of a "West" person because I am very organized, and I like to always know the "who, what, when, and why" beforehand!