Week 1-1 Post

1. Micro Session Summary

Teaching and learning are not the same, however, teachers must be aware of how their teaching style influences their students’ learning. Collaboration between students and teachers can lead to greater participation and motivation from students. In order to change teachers’ static views of a curriculum, their beliefs must be considered within the broader social, institutional, and political context.

2. The Biggest Thing I have learned:

The biggest thing that I have learned is the contrast between fixed learning and dynamic methods. On the one hand, I’m shocked at the work by Weinstein (2002) from “Teachers’ Beliefs About Student Learning and Motivation” that shows the dangers of expectancy effects in our education system that are narrowly constructed. It makes sense to adopt a system that is malleable and open to change. However, I also now understand the complexity of being a teacher and the larger social, institutional, and political forces that shape and constrain teaching methods.

Here’s an interesting video I found that talks about the importance of research on education and how we use it. The speaker explains how institutions can work together to improve our education system.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLqc_9VxfCE

3. Do you have any questions or concerns about course learning?

I was wondering how long our peer responses should be for discussions. Will a paragraph suffice?

4. Week 1-1 Activity Completion Check

	Modules	Topics  & Activity	Check ✓ if Completed
Week 1	Week 1-1 *Due by July 17 at 10:59 am	1) Blabber introduction	✓
		2) Week1-1 Discussion Forum: one initial response & two peer feedback replies	✓
		3) Initial Blog Activity Survey	✓
		4) Personal Blog Creation & Week 1-1 Reflection	✓