Standard #4: Content Knowledge
The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning experiences that make these aspects of the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of the content.
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Reflection: Spring 2015
The teacher understands the concepts he or she is teaching. The teacher knows how to creatively integrate relevant content to build on a student’s background knowledge. A teacher uses previous knowledge to assure mastery of the content.
A friend and I had recently had a conversation in my SPCE 277 class. In this conversation, we discussed the idea teaching for a test. We both agreed that knowledge is not just mindless facts. Knowledge is always evolving and changing. New ideas are always coming into play. Teaching is a field that you cannot just spout out facts, you have to grow every year. I composed an interview with three teachers last spring. I learned so many techniques that teachers have tried or are currently using. I believe that knowledge can come from experience and it does not have to be your own. When you talk to other faculty members, gain a perspective based upon experience you should analyze this information. After analyzing information, see if it can be applied to your own classroom. I once had a child I was babysitting, and we would work on her math handbook everyday in the summer. There was one concept that just would not click we tried so many techniques. We exhausted ourselves trying to work on this particular concept for almost two week. Until, finally something clicked, I am not sure what clicked. All I remember is the determination we both had, to succeed.
My goal as a teacher is not to have my students be mindless robots where all they do is memorize facts for a given time. I want my students to become “masters” of each lesson I am teaching. I want to be able to pose a question to my student 3 weeks after a test, and they are able to spout off the information to me. As I previously stated I do not want my students to memorize facts and then forget them. I want to build off knowledge they already hold. I want to be able to make connections with every subject I teach. I am able to help students to feel a connection with what they have learned, that is what makes something memorable. Every teacher has a goal of teaching a concept so well that every student understands the concept. This is not the case, and accepting that will be a struggle for me. As a result, I will be putting notes and my lecture online either everyday or at the end of the week. This is so my students will be able to have a resource to look back on the lecture, in order to jog one’s memory of something they have forgotten.