homework

As a current student as well as a future educator, I have mixed feelings about homework. Although the benefits/ positives of homework assignments far outweigh the negatives I feel that some teachers abuse homework. Homework should be given as an extension of a lesson already learned. Students should not be given things for homework that they are expected to teach themselves. THAT'S OUR JOB, TO TEACH!!! Sometimes teachers resort to using homework as a bargaining tool, such as: no homework if _ _ _ OR if your not quite you'll have to write your vocab words 10 times each. Homework shouldn't be a dreaded task, but for most students that's exactly what it has become. Also, homework as an assessment tool can give the teacher some insight as to what the child is able to do on his/ her own, at what efficiency level the student completes work, and how much is left to learn. In short, give MEANINGFUL homework that you are ACTUALLY going to grade and/or assess!!!!!!!

power teaching

The concept of power teaching baffles me. I personally don't understand how any learning could go in in that type of environment. In the video we watched I saw some good use of gestures. However, I felt that the classroom was too chaotic for any real learning to take place. The students were constantly competing to just be heard by the person next to them. None of the students that the video focused on were able to finish a complete thought/ sentence without being interrupted or losing their train of though, how is that LEARNING. In addition, I feel that power teaching shifts the teaching responsibility on to the students; which I definitely don't agree with. Overall, I do not see myself utilizing this method of teaching in my classroom.