Marc Daniels' Homepage

About Me

I am currently a student athlete with a bachelors degree in astronomy and physics. I am enrolled in the Masters in Arts and Teaching program at Colgate University with hopes of becoming a teacher in either physics or general science.

My Goal

My goal is to create an educational website connecting both the fields of physics and earth science by showing how the two are related and interconnected.  My overall goal is to engage individuals in the field of science and show how we encounter science in our everyday lives. Science is all around us, and I have hopes of teaching science to help students and individuals think critically and be observant of the events that occur around them.

My Teaching Philosophy

            Throughout my observations, tutoring, and teaching I have learned crucial ideas is developing community, learning how to motivate students, and being able to question whether students are understanding and “getting it."

            In terms of building a community, I have continually questioned whether classes build a community where students and teachers are friends, if a learning community has developed where the primary focus is learning, or if it is a mixture of both. Fostering community has always been an important part of teaching to me, because I have been in environments where students have been isolated and excluded. Some students are able to maintain it, yet many students will further isolate themselves in the classroom and my not even be motivated to learn. I always question how to provide equal opportunities for students to learn. It is important that we be able to put ourselves in the perspective of our students. It is also crucial to recognize student differences, and attempt to use varied teaching strategies that fight in with our expectations and objectives (Ball). My learning and motto fits in with the ideas of Weinstein in that I want to promote learning, but I also want to have students who are engaged, motivated to learn, and enjoy the class. This is sometimes something that is hard to maintain, because there is always a great deal of unpredictability, diversity, as well as a lack of privacy in the classroom setting (Weinstein), but going back to the work of Palmer, it can be done if a teacher is able to shed their fear, and is able to develop a strong connection with their students and the material that they are teaching. Perhaps I have learned a great deal from Palmer, because I had to teach a class based on his work, but much of his teaching philosophy was something that I had yet to consider, and the manner that it was presented was both unique and poetic.

            I have always been taught that the more you know the better off you are teaching a course, because it prepares you for the unexpected. I now know that although it is important to have knowledge of you content, it is also very important that you form an identity. Teaching goes beyond just using technique. Teaching requires flexibility, confidence, and having and identity and integrity. I see teaching as a reflection of the self that incorporates both public and private life, because such things are intertwined and not meant to be separated sometimes. Students can often tell when teachers are not fully engaged in their material. Such is the example when I taught the Pythagorean Theorem. Though I was engaged in the material, I did not emit that to my students, and although they participated in class, there were times where I could tell that the students felt the material I was teaching was redundant and at times boring. I need to learn to show energy and excitement in whatever it is that I am doing. I need to think in terms of a student at times and recognize what connected me to what I am teaching, why is it significant to me, and I should try to find out what connects other students to the material and implement those factors into the classroom. I have also realized that I need to learn how to develop a subject centered learning community, where I am no longer just presenting facts and ideas to be memorized, but I am just as equally involved with the learning process as my students are (Palmer). Students are not the only ones who are learning in the classroom. Teachers are learning as well. We are learning how we may have to change our curriculum, how to address student needs, how to motivate students and provide variety in the classroom, how to use students previous experiences to help develop new ideas, ideas of time management, how to organize our lessons, learning to some extent about our students personally, and learning about ourselves in the process. It is a continual learning process that takes effort, care, and courage.

            Through service learning and the creation of lesson and unit plans, I have learned the great deal of patience it takes to become a mentor and teacher. I am also learning the social skills that I need in order to be a good mentor. Throughout my tutoring experience, I have run into the issue of word choice and knowing the appropriate language to use when talking to students. The things that I have said to address their needs and questions were more appropriate for people my age, but I was and am beginning to learn how to say the same things in a way that students can understand. Most of my focus throughout my education career has been on motivation and creating a classroom community, but another important factor is learning how to present material in a fashion that is understandable to my students, and assessing to see if they get it is continually a challenge. I have never been a fan of the idea of using high-stakes tests to evaluate my student’s progress, but I do believe in hands on experiences that teach students that they can influence their learning, giving them a sense of control in the classroom. From my experiences in science courses, value was always placed on tests and quizzes, and I want to stray away from this and try something different. Students memorize in these situations, because they have to in order to get a good grade. They may not come away with anything from the course. My goal is to engage my students, and motivate them to be active and participate in the classroom. I feel that students learn best when they are able to discuss a subject, as well as create their own ideas in relation to what they are learning.

 

Music Track: A Part of My Teaching Philosophy

            The introduction of the music track starts with laying down the framework and guidelines for the classroom by beginning with a beat, because you want to engage the audience. It serves as a sort of “catch line” or “hook” that submerges a student into a topic or idea. The additions to the beat add variety to keep the students motivated, yet when the initial chorus comes in the melody becomes repetitive, because it follows the basic structures of expectations and the main ideas that you want your students to get out of the classroom. Going back to Weinstein, the melody is also repetitive, because I want to be able to follow the ideas of consistency in the classroom. There are routines such as in class work, homework assignments, lectures, and quizzes. Within my unit plan, there are several themes and ideas that my goals in education. Each of the topics addressed are interconnected and go back to the themes of promoting deductive and logical reasoning, while showing students a subjects real life application. Additions such as the piano as well as the use of closed hats mean that you are teaching new ideas and topics, but they are repetitive because they are based on what students already know and they consist in the same framework of what you want your students to get out of the class.

            The break in the beat is the instance when you are assessing your students, by giving them a framework to work with, yet you are giving them freedom to construct their own knowledge, and it serves as a test to see what they have learned. The introduction to the warped beat and melody at about 4 minutes suggests that there may be classroom management issues, as well as is the point where students are beginning to construct their own knowledge, which may be the point where they encounter several obstacles and may face confusion or even frustration. This point also signifies that teachers are trying to find ways to continue to engage their students as well as provide different ways to assessing student’s progression. Though it is a short part of the track, it is significant, because both students and teachers at this point are put in the learning perspective.         

            As the melody and beat come back, they are students and teachers coming together to create a learning environment and community, and as this occurs we return to the same melody and beat reassuring that the themes that were originally approached at the beginning of class are still be addressed now, but are being applied towards new knowledge. As the melody and beat fade, this signifies that students are no longer under the teacher’s guidance, and it is the point where students take their own meaning from the classroom, which hopefully fits within the guidelines of what the original objectives were in the classroom. Students may take varied amounts away from the classroom experience, but it is hopeful that they learn something and take something away from the experience even if it is one thing.

            This music track and my philosophy fit in with the work of Anderson and theory of learning cycles. It goes hand in hand with the themes of setting an objective, modeling, coaching, fading, maintaining, and assessing my students (Anderson).  Areas where the melody is repetitious suggest that I am applying themes that fit in with my overall goals and expectations, yet areas where new melodies are added in suggest that I am trying to teach new ideas in a framework that fits my objective. At this point, I am modeling questions and ideas based on what students already know, and I am coaching and guiding them to understanding. Areas where the melody begins to fade out suggest that I am myself fading out and giving students the opportunity to scaffold and develop their own learning. I am still in the background providing assistance, but this serves as a point to assess the students with out my direct help and attention. We are then brought together as a class community as all the elements of the track come together. This is where we are beginning to review the ideas discussed in class, and we are coming together to get a collective understanding. As the melody fades again, this is when my teaching is done, and they may come away with different amounts of ideas and concepts, but the main goal is that they come away with some kind of understanding that is helpful to them and fits in with my objective.

Work Cited

Anderson, Andy. “Notes on The Learning Cycle.”

Ball, Deborah Loewenberg. “Mathematics in the 21^st Century: What Mathematical                Knowledge is Needed for Teaching Mathematics?” 10pp.

Gourgey, Annette F. “Tutoring Developmental Mathematics: Overcoming Anxiety and                 Fostering Indpendent Learning.” Journal of Developmental Education. 4 pp.

Palmer, Parker J. The Courage to Teach: Exploring The Inner Landscape of a Teacher‘s

                Life. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass, 1998.

Weinstein, Carol Simon. Secondary Classroom Management: Lessons from Research and                 Practice. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 1996.