Author: nbaker15

Classroom Managment

DACA is a temporary immigration policy that was enacted in 2012 by President Barack Obama. The policy was based for children/ young adults who arrived in the United States prior to the age of 16 and no older than 31.   DACA gave these immigrants the ability to register for school, drivers licenses and other amenities that wouldn’t be available to them. DACA is connected to the DREAM Act which provides close to the same thing, the biggest difference being DACA is temporary the DREAM Act is a permanent fix.

My personal opinion on the matter is that I believe that DACA should be set aside. Not for the fact that it prevents illegal immigration, for the fact that members of congress need to sit down and come up with an affirmative act instead of a temporary restraint. Although the DREAM act is still in its infancy developing this act will provide the United States with a stronger and more concrete set of immigration policies, instead of a temporary ‘limbo’ system that puts nearly one million lives at the fate of who ever is in charge. Immigration is part of what makes the United States ‘the land of the free’, but with the looming threat of terrorism throughout the world, the United States needs to develop processes in order to protect its current legal citizens.

Attached I put a link to an article that describes the differences of DACA and DREAM, and what they are able to provide illegal immigrants.

https://www.fileright.com/blog/the-difference-between-daca-and-the-dream-act/

Benefits and difficulties of personalized learning?

I believe that personalized learning has an immense amount of benefits within todays educational focus. With students becoming more and more attached t’digital learning platforms,’ and more opinionated about what works for us the ability to spread them out into separate groups and achieve what fits each student best is going to help progress knowledge as a whole. With the development of personalized learning throughout the classroom the ability to give the students the responsibility of generating certain assignments throughout the given times. This helps provide the students with the idea that it is their personal responsibility to finish the assignments during the class time.

Some of the difficulties of personalized learning is developing the teacher-student trust in order for the students to participate in the personalized learning. Instead of the teacher running around because students are reminding off task. Another difficulty is depending on the students that are inside the classroom, due to some student’s learning styles it may be difficult for them to get a grasp on the personalized concept aspect.

Personal thoughts?

My thoughts on personalized learning are very positive. I believe that it is really the way that teaching should focus toward, the ability to direct each students needs and wants out of a classroom will help provide the teacher with insights to what belongs in each section. While the concept has not been accepted throughout the teaching community I have personally witnessed a few teachers who have implemented the personalized learning concept into their classroom and it really does help the students. I think the reason it is successful is because it grants the students a sense of responsibility in order to provide the right assignments by the due dates, and while doing these assignments they are allowed to generate them the way or order they wish.

For my web article I was able to find an interesting article about an article in Pittsfield and the integration of “student-centered learning.’ They claimed that this integration had generated an immense amount of interest throughout the student body. Although they explain that the integration of this style of teaching is difficult it presents an immense amount of positive feedback not only from the students but also from test scores and comprehension tests.

https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/10/14/545631502/when-the-focus-is-on-the-student-not-the-class

While creating a productive classroom will always be the end goal there is a lot of middle ground that will need to be established prior to a ‘safe and engaging learning environment’. While students will attempt to control how the classroom interacts it is our job to create and maintain the environment throughout the classroom.

I work as a substitute teacher throughout the Fairbanks North Star Borough, and going into many different classroom I am able to see how teachers handle the troublesome students. Some leave notes requiring special attention to special students while some leave no notes and lump a whole class together as difficult to handle. Ive noticed that teachers whom continuously keep their students engaged are the classes that I have less trouble in. For example, I substituted for a 6th/7th grade math class in North Pole Middle and the teacher left them with worksheets as an activity. So I let the first class do the worksheet inside their groups of four such like the teacher said, but i noticed that the children continuously were off task or complaining that they already learned this. So I switched things up a bit though the second period, I taught a lesson alongside the worksheet and created a relay game for the students. While they already knew the material the use of the relay game was able to help the students with practice the material.

This example shows that in order to provide the students with a safe and engaging environment as teachers we must develop lessons and materials in order to progress the students. Teaching the same lesson over and over again just with different worksheets or lectures is not going to keep the students engaged which will lead them to causing trouble, I mean they are kids after all. By using these methods the children will see that they are able to grasp the material which will boost self confidence and in term create the want or need to develop knowledge throughout the classroom.

All of this is also shown through the two articles, What I Wish My Professors Had Told Me and Let Care Shine Through. The two articles help show how creating an engaging classroom will help not only your students but you as well. By showing the kids that you enjoy teaching them and that your respect them as individuals the students will want to hear what you have to say. Some students will take longer or more attention than others, but putting your best foot forward everyday and taking even a couple extra minutes in order to keep those students engaged will progress than and help you to not have a horrible experience through the classroom.