Thoughts..

I am reflecting upon Monday's class, and as I sit here and look back I realize that overall this class does require alot of my time. It is not a super challenging class but the workload can be time consuming. I am not complaining I guess I am just acknowledging it but I know this is going to help me become a better teacher. I read The Deadly Indifference by Jevons for my book review. To my surprise I ended up enjoying the book. I liked the plot and the fact that it kept me engaged throughout the whole book, I would have not predicted it. Well I thought the review was going to be a breeze after reading the book, but I guess I underestimated it.

I really enjoyed Monday's lecture on tax. I had always thought of it as very complicated for me to understand, but after class I felt knowledgeable and that I had some sense of the system. Now I understand the difference between average and marginal tax and how to calculate it, the benchmarks (10%, 15%, 25%), and situations when filing as single and married. I had the consent that it was always a positive thing to be married, pertaining to paying less taxes however on Monday I learned about the Marriage penalty and how marriage and taxes are not always a positive thing/ asset. Overall I enjoyed the lecture, it was engaging, informative, and the relevant to self connect.

Active Learning

Active learning is very crucial and an effective method. There are three types of learning; Audio, visual, and kinesthetic. Therefore a teacher is not as effective if they only stick with one type of teaching method. As a student I personally need different activities, visuals aids and go to lecture in order to be successful in my classes. Active learning includes films and to clarify engaging films, I mention this because some teachers sometimes show very outdated material that looses the students interest in an instant. Pictures, like they say a picture is worth a thousand words and it is a fact that the more vivid the material is the most likely the student will remember it. Group work is also relevant to active learning. In one of the workshops that I have gone as part of my job I learned that it is essential to assign roles to students when assigning group work. The roles are the recorder( person who writes the notes), Time keeper (person who keeps track of the time and makes sure the assignment is done on time), Checker ( this person makes sure that everyone is contributing and understanding the material, and lastly the presenter ( the voice of the group. These roles makes students accountable for doing something and makes sure active learning is taking place as to social loafers.

Week 7 Assessments

A teacher can have the best knowledge in the world about their subject area, but if they do not know how to engage students and make their content meaningful then something is wrong with the picture. Some teachers do and teach the same things year after year, there is a major problem when the students are not learning the content year after year. The solution to this would be to asses students constantly, and teachers need to also be assed by the students. I really enjoyed the reading for this week about assesments. I thought it was interesting and very meaningful for a future teachers of any subject including economics. As William Walstad, the author of the article "Assessment of Student Learning in Economics" meantions assessment is a broad term. He defines what terms summative and formative assessment are. Summative assesments are the typical; grades represent the instrutors judgement of the mastery of the content. Formative was the second type of assessment, and my personal preference. This type helps shape instruction and learning throughout the course, it is an oppurtunity to check their understanding as a self assesment and also get some feedback on the instructors teaching methods. Walstad lists ten ways to check understanding. Some personal favorites are for students to indentify at the end of the most important or confusing point of the lesson/ class. I would implement this by having the students keep a journal and write for the last 5-10 min of class if time permitted. Another method I liked was having student construct exam questions. This method is great because students would have to go back to the material and review it in order to construct the questions, plus the incentive would be for the possibility of having their queston on the test or as an extra credit point. Overall assesments don't have to be dry and boring for the students whether it is a test, essay, class or homework, there are some practical ways of doing so.