Content Knowledge Reflection

• My outside of school experiences have deepened my subject area content knowledge. My father greatly encouraged me to stay in school and work toward long time goals.  This gave me a reason to continue on with my education and developed my passion in reading and creative writing. This interest in reading has improved my understanding of creative writing.  My travels have also improved my understanding of cultures and geography. In order to pay my way through college I worked five years in an early childhood program, The Growing Room, and this has helped me understand age appropriate learning and how to help students with special needs. My interaction with people has helped my communications skills, however, it is difficult to know how these skills will help my teaching career.  

• Responding to the class discussion of Ball's "The Subject Matter Preparation of Teacher." My initial judgements have not changed.  I believe that we all agree better subject matter preparation is beneficial for student learning.  I believe that doing this will help answer the student question, "Why should I learn this?"  The combinations of the two articles that we have read about subject matter preparation has helped my understanding of each paper.  In my opinion I believe that we can use this as a filter for the two papers, both are interesting although this one, I found to be much more interesting, perhaps because it was more focused on enlightening the reader than impressing the reader.  However, the usefulness of the paper are questionable.  Where are the specific possibilities for improvement such as online interaction groups for teachers with similar problems and interest or suggestions for summer college seminars that focus on subject matter understanding and how to make it interesting for students so they want to learn it?

• I'm still developing and pursuing my line of inquiry.  My question is how to teach English learners literacy in small groups and to find the advantages and disadvantages of teaching them literacy in the small groups.  I have learned that teaching in smalls groups is not always the most effective way of teaching depending on the students' culture.  I would like to learn more of when and when not to use small groups.  

Why getting the MAT is important to me

I am getting my Masters of Arts in Teaching because basically it would provide me with more freedom to pursue an education career that would be fulfilling. Without an advanced degree it is more likely that my career might stagnate. I don't have to have a degree to do things but with a MAT I will have more freedom to do what I love.

My expectations coming into the Master of Arts in Teaching program is to strengthen my abilities in how to engage and help students develop their minds, teach them content in a way that they understand why it is important for them to learn it, and for them to enjoy learning it.

The areas that I would like to improve on are my abilities to communicate effectively, how to teach facts so that my students' know why they are important, and how my student's can be creative in applying the facts that they learned.

The things that I have learned during the first course of the Master of Arts in Teaching program, Introduction to Inquiry, is to fully understand the course content and an effort needs to be made to continue to grow in my understanding of what I teach. Never stop improving and questioning and the best examples are from teachers that have made mistakes and how they learned from them and I will learn this by reading research articles and through the group discussions that will be had during the course. I will also do this by attending seminars and conferences, talking with other teachers, continue attending college courses when time permits, and reading educational journals.

As I proceed through this program I would hope to see further examples of what students problems in understanding are and the best ways to address them.

What I want to know is not only what works but what didn't work.

Beginning of Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT)

My subject area will be focusing on teaching literacy to English learners in small groups.

5 possible content and pedagogical content knowledge guiding questions:

1. What are the best teaching strategies for English learners in small groups?

2.  What are the advantages/disadvantages for teaching English learners in small groups?

3.  What are the latest techniques and tools (including technology) for teaching English learners how to read in small groups?

4.  What techniques (including technological tools) are available for teaching spelling in small groups to English learners?  Are they effective and based off research?

5.  What is known about how English learners learn to write? What does research show about the best ways to teach writing in small groups?