Learning Center #1

I created a learning center for my Accounting I class.  I decided to create it due to the fact that I often have trouble getting them motivated. Most of the class has a negative attitude and thinks accounting is boring.  The majority of the class has failed the previous two marking periods.  As I have previous shared in our Clinical Studies class, 80% of the class failed a short quiz I gave last week.  I plan to give another quiz this week and I wanted to give the students a good chance to succeed on it by creating and having them complete this learning center.  My aim was to get them up and moving and get them actively involved in learning.  For the most part, accounting is very dry.  You must be able to complete accounting statements and documents and make the necessary calculations.  This usually requires the students to sit quietly in their seats while I instruct or they complete problems on their own.  I wanted to use a different instructional strategy and get them excited about completing the task.  I wanted to give them a chance to collaborate and recall what we have learned in the previous two lessons.  The topic of the learning center was the twelve steps needed to complete a check stub and check.  First the students were given a guided note sheet which had spaces to list the twelve steps.  They were given five minutes to write down as many as they could remember.  Next, the students were required to put the twelve steps in order (each student was given one or more steps written on a sheet of paper that they were responsible for).  As they figured out the steps one by one, I stapled them to the bulletin board.  Then the person who had that particular step came up to the bulletin board and performed the task on the giant check stub or check that I created using given information.
The students interacted with the learning center very well.  Overall, they had a good attitude about completing the activity. It held their attention very well since they were all involved.  At the end of class, I sensed that they had a more positive reaction to the lesson in comparison to a lecture.  I continued to assess their learning during the activity by asking them further questions about the step, if they all agreed that a particular step was done correctly, and observing how quickly it took for them to complete the task.  When the activity was completed, each student correctly wrote down the twelve steps to complete a check stub and check in order.

Blog Posting #3

I choose this article because I often think creativity is missing from business education classrooms.  It can often be difficult to implement into daily lessons.  This article caught my eye since it addressed creativity in United States classrooms as compared to China.

The author discusses and reflects on their recent trip to China during the posting.  The Chinese often put an emphasis on learning beyond the textbook and experiencing the joy of learning.  However, the Chinese are looking to adopt some of the U.S.'s strategies and holding teachers and students more accountable for learning.  The author wonders if creativity and the joy of learning has gone completely missing from our culture.

I agree with many of the authors thoughts.  There should be more of an emphasis on learning beyond the textbook.  In school, the students don't seem excited to learn.  More often than not, the students want to complete whatever assignment you have given them and then be done for the day.  Students do not seem to be having fun and enjoying school overall.

The author of the blog is Candace Hackett Shively.  She is a "27 year teaching veteran and the Director of K-12 Initiatives for a non-profit learning and technologies company.  The name of her blog is Think Like a Teacher.  It can be found at: http://blog.teachersfirst.com/thinkteach/