My MEL Experiences

• Student / Teacher Relationships: When I was in high school, I always had a teacher (who was also my track coach) who was very encouraging about the fact that I wanted to become a teacher. At first, I did not want to concentrate in the same field that he was teaching and kept jokingly telling me that I would change. Eventually, he was right. Sometimes I think that I chose to teach science because he was so encouraging and he took everything a step further by offering independent studies to me. He was always available for questions and for advice when I needed it, without ever being too preachy or too fatherly. He encouraged me to challenge myself in the field and to take my learning a step beyond, because I was going to be teaching and it was very important to be knowledgeable.

• Hands On: I had many hands on experiences when I was in high school. The best one would have to be when my history teacher let us create our own societies…outside. There were several components that we had to establish, like how we were going to live and where. Other than that, we could be anything that we wanted. He staged several problems that would occur when societies get started, like conflict over resources and land. After was all said and done and we had waged a virtual war, we reflected on how this all connects to the first settlers in America. Our class had a discussion about the connections and about historical criticisms and sometimes its hard to think in the moment and not make mistakes.

• Autonomy: In my AP literature class, we were given free range about any of the books that we were going to read in the class. We had to read some on our own and some as a class. The books that we were going to read as a class was something that we voted on and some of the ones that she (the teacher) liked the best, included watching the movie that went along with the book as we read, if we thought that it would be particularly difficult to understand. It was great to have that choice to be able to do what we wanted. I definitely learned more when I had the opportunity to make connections to my interest and not just the teachers. However, sometimes it was nice to choose the books that she liked because she was very captivating and taught it in a way that gave us reasons to like it as much as she did. We appreciated the books a lot more when she was enjoying them too.

• Avoid Rewards: I cannot remember having any teachers that were particularly rewarding with physical means. They were usually more vocally rewarding and encouraging more so than giving out candy or homework during classes. However, I can imagine that giving rewards for a job well done does not encourage learning or digesting of information. It means quick minds answered the question faster than anyone else did because he or she remembered where to find the answer. It also keeps that one student on top and confident while the other ones, who know the answers and the material but are not the first one to put their hand up or to offer to go first, losing their confidence in what they know. This can also hurt the class dynamic of community learning and participation. People will rely on the highly decorated student instead of everyone to help to facilitate conversation or be a team player in a project.

• Context: When I was a senior in high school, I did an independent study where I did the Nezinscott River Project with the Maine Geological Society. We studied the river that flowed right next to the school and how its changes and existence affects the school and the community. It was great to work with scientists who were doing such cool research in the community that I was in and to learn all of the geology of the area. Considering that I wanted to teach earth sciences, I learned a lot. My mentor teacher set this up for me to teach me that I have to know my stuff to teach, I can’t just have read books, I have to hands on learn things in the real world to be able to connect with my students.