Drake Lomax

 

 

             In lesson one of Education 2130 we watched the video of how the whales at SeaWorld were trained. After watching this video we had a set number of questions to answer and also provide our own research question, a reference, a research analysis, and a research summary. This lesson was primarily to teach us how simple it was to teach people new things. It was also very important into teaching us about different approaches to teach people and our students.

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Do you agree with the concepts described in the video? Why or why not?

 

 

• Yes I agree with the concepts described in the video. I’ve learned through training different hunting dogs that if you don’t build trust with the dog you’ll never really know what the dog was capable of. They also mentioned about how each whale is different and I’ve also noticed that through training dogs. You can take five puppies all from the same litter and each one of them will have a different personality. The concept of focusing on the positive is also very important even if all that is done is very minimal. Rewarding the right thing always helps and hurries along the final product.

 

 

•Which one do you agree with the most? Why?

• The concept that I agree the most with is being patient. Patience is sometimes the hardest concept to have and possess but it almost always the most rewarding. I’ve saw people who get disappointed with their dogs and sell them for little to no money to then almost weeks later see the dog and it’s exactly what they wanting them to do. Many times in jobs people are fired or terminated before they’re even fully taught how to do the job. More times than not if we’re patient with people we will be surprised at what that person is actually capable of.

 

•In general terms, how could you implement the concepts in your classroom? Provide specifics.

• Generally these terms could be easily implemented in the classroom. Rewarding the right thing is very easy to do. Even from the simplest things like, “Good Job,” or “Thank You.” I currently teach a Sunday School class of about thirteen boys every Sunday and when I do simple things like bringing fruit role-ups to class makes the boys try that much harder to do the right things. Once in this class I told the boys that if they’d come to Sunday School for four weeks straight I’d give a flashlight to each one of them and needless to say I had to give out every flashlight I had.

 

•How important to you is building trust and establishing relationships? Explain.

 

• Building trust and establishing relationships is the most important part of my life. I don’t want anyone to ever say that I was a person they couldn’t trust. If you encounter me in public you will notice how much importance I put on building relationships because I won’t walk by many people without stopping and speaking to numerous ones. At my job they constantly ask me if I know everybody, because I’m always talking to somebody. I just feel like it’s important to know people and have relationships with people who can trust me. If people don’t feel like they can trust you, you will never know what people really thing about you or whatever you are doing.

 

 

•The video states that it is important to find out what motivates the individual whales. Would this be the same for your students? Why?

• Yes, I believe it is very important to finds ways to motivate individual students. Every student deserves the right to succeed, but every student doesn’t come from parents or families that want him/her to succeed. When you take a class of thirty students you may have ten to fifteen who have parents at home who stay after them to get their work done while the other half’s parents may never even ask them how school was. As a teacher I feel a major responsibility to help to keep each and every child motivated and heading in the right direction. I know every single child that comes through my class room may now grow up to work for NASA but I want every child to be motivated to the point they at least have desire for further education.

 

 

•Do you think that it is important to keep things interesting for your students? How would you do this for your students?

 

• I feel that keeping the classroom interesting causes students to have more of a desire to learn. Here at South Georgia State College I took Dr. Rosa Guedes for Biology and environmental science. Dr. Guedes had a way of making the classroom interesting and was always trying new ways to make us interact more and more. Throughout her classes I found myself doing more out of class studying and researching than I had ever done before because she kept the class interesting. When people are interested in what they are doing they are much more likely to be successful.

 

 

•Describe "redirection" the best you can - you might have to do some Internet research

 

• Redirection is when you take someone from one thing they are doing and redirect them into another activity. Many times during my Sunday school class I have redirect my kids from choking each other back to the lesson that I am teaching. From teaching higher up classes before many times when the conversation is going away from the main line of the lesson I’ve used redirection to bring the class back to the main focus. I’ve also used redirection when training dogs, many different times I’d have puppies that where playing and maybe one of them wasn’t coming around like the others so I’d redirect the entire pen of puppies to one specific thing, treeing a squirrel tail for example, and it would help to bring all the puppies into one coming thing. Redirection can be a teachers best friend and it can also help from offending people who are doing or saying the wrong things.

 

 

• Summary:

  • In watching this video of the whale training I found it very interesting as to how the people could build such close relationships with the whales. I was amazed as to how much the whales seemed to be connected with the people. After watching this video I’ve found some new techniques that I won’t only use in the classroom but I will also use many of them in my life with training my dogs. Building trust is a concept I’ve used on many skittish dogs but after seeing their success with building trust even with the mama whale I will now try that with all of my dogs to help build stronger relationships and hopefully get even more results. Through, “ I’ve drawn much insight as to becoming a better teacher, boss and person.

 

• Research Question: What are some easy ways to build relationships with students?

 

• Reference: http://www.nea.org/tools/29469.htm

 

 

 

• Research Analysis:

 

 

                 After watching the video concerning the training of the whales I got curious as to what could be some simple ways to build relationships with students. As I was searching the web I came across the website with the second grade teacher from Maryland and the ways she helps her students and her attitude really stuck out to me. First of all the teacher’s name is Kristy Lynch, with a name like Mrs. Lynch I’d be scared at first sight. Much to my surprise though, she is a very nice and a very well accepted teacher. Mrs. Lynch’s approach in the classroom is much different than a lot of teachers I’ve encountered throughout my school career. She is a teacher that finds ways to connect better and tries to make her class be more enjoyable all the while still teaching the children all the material needed to be successful beyond second grade.

 

 

                During the article about Mrs. Lynch there were four very easy ways to build relationships with students discussed. The first main part of building a relationship with students is you have to get to know the student. One retired teacher from New Mexico, Eloy Gonzales, made the statement that you must get to know the students not just on an education level but also on a socially and personally level. Even using the simplest tactics like asking how their weekend or a special holiday was can help you to build a strong relationship with the student. The second major tool to help build relationship with students is to individualize each student. The whale video talked about how each and every whale needed special and different attention just like every student needs individual attention in order to be successful throughout their career as a student. Paula Denton said, “The more we know about the child the more we can build learning environments and curriculums that are going to work for them.” If we never know anything about our student we can never teach them in a successful way. When we have individual relationships with students we are more equipped to make them into successful people in the real world.

                The third way to help build relationships with students is to watch what you say. Many times teachers, without thinking, making remarks to students that can be humiliating and/or degrading to the student. One high school counselor from Maryland made the statement, “That teachers must remember they are responding to students and that those responses need to be kept on a professional level.” Finally the fourth way to help build relationships with students is to never stop trying to reach them. Paula Denton stated, “Relationship is a necessity for learning.” Mrs. Lynch also stated that even when she has bad days she still tells her students that the next day is a new day and they should try to have a better day then.

 

 

• Research Summary:

 

               Through this lesson I’ve taken some major things to thought, mainly that building relationships is one of the most important things we can do in life, as teachers, as bosses, and as just ordinary people. I was very pleased to find that there are still teachers out there who are teaching to better the students and not just get a pay check. Through the article about Mrs. Lynch and other different teachers I hope that, when I’m in my own classroom teaching, I will still remember the importance of building relationships with the students who are sitting under me. I do believe that no matter the child, their background, race, religion, or parents they should all be given equal opportunity to learn and become successful in life. I hope that as a teacher I can better bridge the gap between student teacher relationships and give students a better chance at becoming productive citizens of the United States.