My MEL Experiences

• Teacher/Student Relationships: In high school I had a teacher that I had a great relationship with. I would talk to her after school or before school and we got to know each other pretty well. It wasn't just me though, there were always people in her room talking to her about life and making jokes. I think because we knew each other so well I respected her and wanted to learn from her. When I respected her as a person I respected her even more as a teacher. She was down to earth and caring. I wanted to do well because of that.
• Hands-On: I had a teacher in high school who did a lot of hands-on activities. We played games to get the point across, we made projects instead of taking tests, and we went outside. I liked doing those things but she also made a power point in which you were expected to copy down everything on the power point. The lessons I remember from that class were when we were doing activities or making projects. The power point presentations were of no use to me because I did not really learn the material.
• Connections: I had two very different math teachers in high school. One teacher related everything to math. She planned assignments and activities so that math would relate to our lives. She made me realize that math can have importance in my life even though I do not care for the subject. I had another math teacher who did not relate math to anything in real life. He had us read a subject in a book and then he would explain how to solve the problems. I grew so frusterated and I did not try as hard as I did with my other teacher. When I could not see the connection to what I was doing I gave up.
• Interest: My freshman English teacher was amazing at getting you interested in a subject. She had people act things out, she let people be creative when expressing their ideas, she used challenging concepts, humor, and character. It made the class interested in what she was teaching even if they did not like Shakespeare. Her ways of teaching got me interested in the books we were reading and I learned a lot as well. When I am interested in a book or I am interested in a paper I am writing I tend to want to do better on it.
• Learning Styles: My junior English teacher taught in all kinds of ways. I remeber every class being different. She would make us work in groups, we would have class discussions, she would assign creative projects, she would lecture, we would play team building games, and we would be active. She met the needs of most if not all of the learners in the classroom. I did not realize it at the time but she really captured everyones attention. I worked hard because she taught in a way that was easy for me to understand. I was not bored in her class and I did not see any others falling asleep either.