Blog 9
4e. Teachers help students develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.
In my Secondary Music Ed class we must teach each week and then watch the videos and reflect upon our lessons. Our professor also asked us to create a Professional Development worksheet in which we set two specific goals for ourselves that we want to implement in our teaching.
One of my goals was to ask more questions that lead my students to think critically. I noticed today (I mean over Spring Break) while working on revising my 6PLP for 316 that I don't do that as well as I should/would like to. Yes, it is important for teachers to teach and show their students how to do things-but how much more important it is for us to help our students learn to think for themselves! We aren't just teaching our students facts and concepts, we are helping to mold them into capable people who are well educated and responsible.
I had to finish up my Student Teaching Application yesterday and I am so thrilled that I will be Student Teaching next Spring! It's crazy how fast it's approaching! But also terrifying! I have all of these ideal goals for myself-I want to be engage students and help them think deeply for themselves, but I'm not there yet! It's frightening to think that I have one more semester and then I will be in front of a real group of students (hundreds of them throughout the day) trying to tell them about a thing I love so much...
I guess I should focus on getting through this semester first!
Austin
You've got this Austin keep working hard and it'll work out for you. Just remember students can sense if you're confident or not so just fake it till you make it and you should be fine. 😉👍🏻
ReplyDeleteIt's so great to see you wanting to make students think critically! I struggle with this because I never feel like I'm challenging my students to think critically in my lessons. I've been told that I am, I guess I just need to be more aware of what I'm asking of my students and how they interact with the activities. Keep up the great work Austin, you'll be awesome when you ST!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMaking students think critically is a great thing! you will be a great teacher!
ReplyDeleteCritical thinking is indeed incredibly important, especially in my area, but I can see where you might be having trouble with it because Music, more so than most subjects, does not require honed skills in critical thinking.
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