Learning from Experience

Hi Sarah,

I'm glad you managed to write so much even though it was your busy week with assignments. I'm also glad to hear that your Classroom Assessment class gave you a first-hand, this-is-for-real experience of taking a test and then  doing it again in a small group. (It wasn't Hewitt's idea to do his test that way; I picked it up from James Fraser in our physics department.) I will be very interested to read about any efforts you make during your practicum.

I was pleased to see this part of your blog:
What I am getting at is I have tried to do things that I have seen and I think might work, however they sometime fail. So, I understand your point that "hearing is only the first step", because what you think might work may not, and it is only through practice that it will become better. However, the important thing is to try and improve on lessons, and try them again the next time an opportunity comes around.

Trying something just once and giving up is one of the big reasons why teaching today looks so much like teaching 50 years ago, despite the addition of so  much technology.

Please don't ever feel a  need to apologize for the nature of your posts. The whole idea is to write by thinking out loud to your computer screen. I really enjoy reading what you write! It sounds like you should have some great experiences in the next 4 weeks of teaching!

Yours,
Tom