Both of these readings definitely made me question the resources available to me as an undergraduate and graduate student prior to attending Millersville. I attended a fairly large undergraduate institution where the only advising I got throughout my time there was in my last semester before I graduated. My advisor knew nothing about me except for the fact that I was a psychology major. It was at this point in time that I learned if I did not take a particular upper level course I would be ineligible to graduate. Aside from making sure I was taking the classes I needed to take, I felt rushed out of the appointment as another student came to make sure they were taking the right courses. Brown (2012) discusses that the center for information would be housed within a career resource center, and that if these services are not provided, prospective students should look somewhere else when applying to post-secondary educational institutions. It would have even been beneficial to be provided with a web site by the school so that I could do my own research on what occupational fields my aspirations would be best suited for as my last two years of undergraduate I did not even live on campus.
Reading about Bloom’s taxonomy and the process of learning to produce graduate level work reminded me of a teacher development series offered by my prior graduate institution. It was in the process of attending these seminars that I learned how to become an effective teacher and how to engage students. Here is a list of the seminars I attended and the topics discussed taken from my old school’s website:
Session 1: Presentations and Communications, An opportunity to learn more about--and practice--effective presentation skills.
Session 2: Classroom Management and Organization, How do effective teachers manage a classroom, motivate students, and deal with difficult classroom situations?
Session 3: Crafting a Lecture, How do effective teachers prepare a lecture? What are the best ways to deliver a lecture effectively? What do effective teachers keep in mind when teaching large groups of students?
Session 4: Engaging Students, How do effective teachers engage and inspire students? How do they ensure content mastery and promote higher-order thinking?
Session 5: Strategies for Active Learning in the Classroom, How do effective teachers get students to think and participate during class? How do they invite and respond to questions? How do they start conversations and facilitate discussions?
Session 6: Course Design Workshop, How can we design classes, pose questions, present material, and design assignments so that students learn more deeply and retain what they've learned?
It is yet another moment I look back upon and realize that I would much rather have been working and interacting with students in contrast to being locked up in a lab all day collecting and analyzing data. In addition, I have recently undergone the process of writing a Master’s thesis where it would have been great to have an advisor willing to help facilitate the process of Bloom’s taxonomy. As I read each level of the hierarchy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation I could remember going through each level as I began the writing process (Granello, 2001). If I would have made a detailed outline of the articles I read, the writing process would have been much smoother. Unfortunately, I was told that I should be able to retrieve the information from memory rather than taking notes, but it would have enabled me to begin formulating concepts and ideas at a much earlier time that would have helped my writing.
Brown, D. (2012). Career Information, career counseling, and career development (10th ed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc.
Granello, D. H. (2001). Promoting cognitive complexity in graduate written work: Using Bloom's taxonomy as a pedagogical tool to improve literature reviews. Counselor Education & Supervision, 40, 292-307.
No comments:
Post a Comment