Book Presentation

Even though our presentation didn't go exactly as planned, I am pretty happy with it turned out. I thought the material we wanted to present, along with the activity, and how we incorporated technology was very well tied to the book we read. Even though the activity may not have went very smooth, the whole idea of our book is that the internet can be distracting and I think this is exactly what our presentation showed. Not to mention, the much of the class was "distracted" throughout everyone presentations because some chose not to pay attention what so ever. I think that we presented the material well, but the time constraints really hurt us. I had thought before we went that I needed to give time after asking my questions that I had tried to make more complex than yes or no, but when I got up there to present, there really just wasn't a whole lot of time for that. I feel that much of our presentation couldn't have went better if we just had a little more time. I felt the activity, tweeting, and discussing was all very limited. However, the time limit was part of the presentation, so that's just how things go. Next time, I would make sure we have all our technological things pulled up prior to starting because I feel that mixed up the order of our presentation. I would also try and give my classmates more time to process the questions I was asking, but I feel those are very minor things for how the presentation went overall.

Motivation

     Motivation is a hard topic for me because I feel like a lot of the motivation I had throughout school has always been from myself. My parents have helped me understand how important doing well in school is, so whether or not my teachers motivated me, I still excelled in school. However, I know this will not be the case for all of my students. With that being said, I want to make sure my students understand the importance of excelling in school. This motivation may not come from within, but with my support, I hope to show my students that excelling in school is crucial for their future and they will be able to do that with my help. This could be the start of building their own self-efficacy towards school.
    One of the major things I will do to motivate my students is to keep them actively mentally engaged. By keeping the concepts I teach within their ZPDand connecting them to their schemas, I hope to make the concepts relevant to their life, which in return will help them want to learn. This will also help to keep my students from being frustrated with things they don't understand. By doing a majority of the learning in class and not assigning homework that isn't purposeful, I hope my students will have enough support and scaffolding that they can move forward at each of their appropriate paces. I will also use concrete examples and ask lots of questions to ensure my students are understanding what I am teaching.
     By showing my students how imporant a good education is and helping them move forward with their education, I hope they will be able to see how much I care to see them succeed. This will set a level of respect from my students to me and me to my students which will help motivate my students. I will also serve as a role model to my students by setting good examples for them to follow. I hope to build a good relationship with each one of my students individually which will give my students a better understanding of what I expect from them.
    I feel that by changing the beliefs of my students towards education, I can motivate them to learn. I don't think school has to be boring and hard. It can fun, engaging, and very worthwhile, but many teachers don't take the time to make it that. I hope by using effective strategies to motivate my students they will understand the importance of learning and strive to work hard at it.