College Profs

TimBedley.com is a fantastic resource for education courses. Below are suggestions for using this site to assist in training new teachers (assignments for student teachers.)

College Professors, I listen to your feedback and incorporate your ideas into the website.

1. Watch the "Reaching Consensus" video. Answer the following questions about each video:

a. Describe the pedagogical technique used in this classroom.

b. Analyze and describe the areas of misunderstanding expressed and implied by the students in the video.

c. Outline your course of action to remediate these areas of confusion.

d. How do you think the teacher of these students motivated them to participate in such a lively discussion?

e. In what ways do you think these students benefit from this learning activity?

f. How could you apply this learning technique in a different area of study?

2. Read an article from the Teacher Training section of TimBedley.com. For each article, answer the following questions:

a. Summarize the main points of the article.

b. In what ways do you agree with Tim's article? Support your thinking.

c. In what ways to you disagree with Tim's article? Support your thinking.

d. How might this article impact your teaching?

3. Watch Tim's training session Learning Styles for Sunday School Teachers and then answer the following questions:

a. Summarize the main points of Tim's presentation.

b. What did you gain from this presentation that could impact your teaching?

c. What important information did Tim leave out?

4. Watch this video entitled Teacher in Action and answer the following questions:

a. What did this teacher do effectively? Why do you think that is effective?

b. What could this teacher to more effectively? Why do you think your suggestion would improve student learning?

c. How did this teacher engage students in the learning process?

5. Watch the video on this page entitled Constructivist Writing Lesson and answer the following questions:

a. Describe your understanding of this writing lesson from beginning to end.

b. What aspects of this lesson are constructivist in nature? What aspects are NOT constructivist? From what teaching philosophy would you associate these methods?

c. How would you improve upon or expand this writing lesson to further benefit the students in this class?

6. Watch the video on this page entitled Paper Football Teaching Method. Students are playing the old paper football game in pairs. They must answer a question posed by their opponent before making a move in the game. If the student answers incorrectly, he/she forfeits his/her turn. For example, one student may ask, "What is the meaning of pre-?" In this video, students are studying Greek and Latin roots. After watching the video answer the following questions:

a. What did you observe in this video?

b. Why is it effective?

c. How could you apply the Paper Football game to other lessons and other subjects?

d. What sort of standards for behavior would you have to set and maintain in order to lead a lesson such as this?

7. Watch this video entitled 11 Yr Old Power Teaching and answer the following questions:

a. What did you see in this video?

b. What do you think the teacher did to lead up to this point where a lesson could be completely student run?

c. What effective teaching methods did McKenna use as she led the class discussion?

8. Read the articles and watch the video on the press coverage web page and then answer the following questions (don't forget to click through and read all the articles):

a. Summarize the main points of these news articles.

b. How is Tim integrating the arts into his classroom?

c. Do you agree with this approach to teaching? Justify your response.

d. How have these articles impacted your view on teaching?