Daily Archives: October 29, 2013

Thinking about Teaching

Over the past week, I have been thinking a lot about education and how to help kids become interested in what they are learning.  I work at a summer camp and teach Photography, so I’m familiar with making lesson plans for classes.  But I can’t stop thinking about how to truly interest kids so that they want to learn.

Ever since visiting MUMS, I’ve been really excited to start working with the kids and learn more about teaching.  I think that our trips to the middle school will definitely benefit the kids, given that they are probably more likely to listen to college kids preach about how useful something is rather than their teachers.  However, despite how excited I am, I still can’t seem to come up with an idea for which aspect of media I will teach or how I will tailor that tool to the class I’m assigned to.  I’m starting to realize just how difficult it is being a teacher.  On one hand, specialized teachers (Math, Science, English, etc.) are very interested in their subject and it is easy for them to enjoy and understand what they are teaching.  On the other hand, they have to balance this love for the subject with an ability to inspire that love in their students.  I honestly don’t know how great teachers are able to make us motivated to learn the material they teach — but I think it definitely has something to do with using topics that the students are interested in, first, and transferring the skills gained to a topic that might not be as exciting.

It will be interesting to go through the whole process of writing a lesson plan in the coming weeks, though, and I’m excited to see what ideas we all come up with.

The Greatest Weekend…Ever

Where to begin…last weekend was one of the best weekends of my life. There were three main reasons why this was the case. The first of which is the football team’s huge win over Trinity. The Bantams of Trinity came up to Middlebury undefeated, with something like a 20 game winning streak. We prepared accordingly and when it came time to compete, we played at the highest level we’ve played at all year. The game was a nail-biter…back and forth through four quarters. In the final two minutes, Middlebury was down 20-24, but we were on offense and efficiently driving down the field. With 1:13 remaining on the game clock, we scored the go ahead touch down, making the score 27-24. Trinity, now with the ball, took their turn driving down the field. By the time the clock reached the 0:06 mark, Trinity had reached the Middlebury 30 yard line and it looked like a Hail Mary was their only option. As expected, the Trinity QB threw the ball up only to be intercepted by the Middlebury secondary, sealing the win for the Panthers. It was an unbelievable feeling to be a part of that game. I would venture to say that that game was the best win I’ve ever experienced in my life.

Another factor of my fantastic weekend was the visit I was payed by my girlfriend. She goes to Trinity so she made the trek up from Connecticut to watch the game and then spend the rest of the weekend with me. After not seeing her for two months, it was really great to catch up. It was even greater to rub the win in her face (she had been talking trash all week, thinking that Trinity was going to crush us).

Finally, it was homecoming weekend. Campus was packed with recent alums reuniting with old friends. Lets just say that the opening of the alumni owned frat houses on campus was far from boring on Saturday night. Fun was had by all, it will be tough to top this weekend in the future.