Watch and Learn

As a future teacher and a current intern, I have quickly taken "Watch and Learn" and transformed it from an overused and becomingly meaningless phrase to my daily action and take on life. I am currently taking a class called Education and Training, but before this I was in a class called Principles of Education. Though Principles was an outstanding introductory course, one can only learn so much from a textbook. Real learning comes when one is put into action and actually gets to experience what they want to learn. As I intern in schools and that desired action and experience are being put to the test, I realize that I must keep rules for myself to create the best results. One of my top rules for myself is to remember to watch and learn before anything else. I tend to get ahead of myself at times so I make time strictly for observing first.  This way, I am learning all that is given to me first instead of jumping straight into teaching. Aside from using this in the classroom, I use this same strategy for my school work or when I want teach myself new things. One way I do this is by watching educational videos. Through educational videos, I am learning from others then applying it to my life. I use this when I want to learn more in any subject, but specifically in my teaching. Here are some example videos that would work nicely with my "Watch and Learn" strategy.

Here is a video about teaching strategies for English teachers but many of them are transferable.

And here is a video about differentiated learning in an elementary school and the effect it had.

There are many videos that can be viewed that don't only give examples like my videos but that actually teach directly. To be able to watch and to learn and experience through someone else is not only beneficial but an extreme time saver as well. One thing that I have learned very quickly through my intern experience is that you can't be afraid to ask questions. You aren't expected to know everything. Teachers who have been teaching for years still don't know everything and at times must ask questions as well. And through watching videos you are essentially asking questions just in a different form. Don't be too intimidated and let's start learning!