ONE OF THE GREAT THINGS ABOUT TEACHING, AND LEARNING, SCIENCE IS THAT IT CAN BE APPROACHED THROUGH A VARIETY OF LENSES: VISUAL, MATHEMATICAL, LINGUISTIC, ETC. I AM A STRONG BELIEVER IN MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES AND HAVE SEEN STUDENTS HAVE REMARKABLE SUCCESS ONCE THEY FIGURE OUT WHAT THEIR STRENGTHS ARE AND HOW TO USE THEIR UNIQUE INTELLIGENCES.
I PLACE A LARGE EMPHASIS ON LAB WORK IN MY CLASES. I BELIEVE THAT LAB WORK IS IMPORTANT FOR TWO REASONS. FIRSTLY, EXPERIMENTS ARE THE FOUNDATION OF SCIENCE; EVERYTHING THAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS ORIGINATED WITH SOMEONE TESTING AN OBSERVATION THAT THEY MADE ABOUT THE WORLD AROUND THEM. SECONDLY, LAB WORK ALLOWS US TO ACCESS A WIDE VARIETY OF INTELLIGENCES: VISUAL, LOGICAL, SPATIAL, LINGUISTIC, ETC. I WILL TRY TO MIX THINGS UP AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, IDEALLY EVERY DAY WILL INCLUDE SOME LECTURE, SOME WORK IN A GROUP, SOME WORK ON YOUR OWN, SOME HANDS-ON ACTIVITY, MAYBE SOME READING, A LITTLE WRITING, ETC. THIS ALLOWS EVERYONE THE OPPORTUNITY TO USE THEIR STRONGEST INTELLIGENCES AND WORK ON IMPROVING THOSE AREAS THAT MIGHT COME LESS NATURALLY. STUDENT EXPECTATIONS: I EXPECT YOU TO ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE IN YOUR EDUCATION. THIS MEANS THAT YOU ARE PAYING ATTENTION, ASKING QUESTIONS WHEN YOU HAVE THEM, STOPPING ME WHEN I’M CONFUSING YOU AND GENERALLY BEING MENTALLY PRESENT IN CLASS. I EXPECT THAT YOU WILL COME TO CLASS EACH DAY MENTALLY AND ORGANIZATIONALLY PREPARED TO LEARN. THIS MEANS YOU DID YOUR HOMEWORK, YOU HAVE YOUR NOTEBOOK AND SOMETHING TO WRITE WITH, YOU’VE PUT ASIDE AS MANY DISTRACTIONS AS YOU CAN. I EXPECT YOU TO WORK TOWARD ACHIEVING PERSONAL EXCELLENCE. EVERYONE BEGINS WITH A DIFFERENT ACADEMIC FOUNDATION, WE ARE ALL AT DIFFERENT PLACES IN TERMS OF SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE. HOWEVER, EVERYONE IS CAPABLE OF DOING THEIR BEST, NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE ELSE DOES. IN EXCHANGE: I WILL RESPECT YOU AS A PERSON WHO HAS A LIFE OUTSIDE OF MY CLASSROOM AND WILL WORK WITH YOU TO ACHIEVE YOUR OWN PERSONAL ACADEMIC GOALS. I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO STRUCTURE CLASS IN A WAY THAT ADDRESSES MULTIPLE STYLES OF LEARNING. I WILL BE AVAILABLE BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL AND WILL ALWAYS MAKE TIME TO HELP YOU BETTER UNDERSTAND THE MATERIAL. |
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