Content Knowledge Course Thoughts

Outside school experiences have expanded my subject area content knowledge in many ways. I believe that going to academic conferences, all types of museums, teaching evens, historical sites, along with many other places, is a tangible way I can enhance my content knowledge. Having access to these places and events give every teacher the opportunity to engage in learning for the purpose of expanding their content knowledge, which will ultimately help deepen their understanding of any given subject and allow them to teach their students in a more confident and engaging manner. For example when I was in primary and secondary school I would sit in history classes and hear about places that are very important in order to understand history. By hearing about these places and the events that took place there I thought I had gained the content knowledge of that subject that I needed. It wasn’t until I visited Washington D.C. that I realized that I did not have the deep knowledge of the subject and by visiting the history sites I had learned about I was able to deepen the knowledge that I already had. I have now visited Washington D.C. multiple times and get excited to learn new things and expand upon the knowledge I already possess. I believe that the experiences I have of learning from outside sources give me the understanding that one can learn content knowledge outside the classroom. Through understanding this I will be able to implement my experiences into the classroom and encourage my students to expand their own knowledge through going to educational places such as museums or historical sites.

The idea of expanding content knowledge by outside-school experiences ties in with Ball’s “The Subject Matter Preparation of Teachers”.  Ball suggests that teachers need to further their content knowledge and have a deep understanding of the subject they are teaching. I believe that it is impossible, especially for a multiple subject teacher like myself, to have a truly deep understanding of the content knowledge required for every subject they teach. Throughout the class discussion it was brought up multiple times that expectation of Ball for teachers to be able to have a deep understanding of every aspect of the subject they teach is unrealistic. In my opinion what all teachers need to have is an understanding of the students that are in ones class and having the understanding of how to present content to the students. If one possess the knowledge of the learning needs of every student in the class, as well as, a good understanding of the content they teach then they have the ability to be a knowledgeable and effective teacher. After the class discussion on this artile, I still think that what Ball suggests is not realistic for teachers to achieve, especially new teachers. Much of the content knowledge is learned through teaching in a classroom. While Ball does state this in her article she puts more of an emphasis on learning content knowledge in college as well as in primary and secondary school. I do admit that a lot of my own content knowledge for all the subjects I am required to teach as an elementary school teacher was learned during my pre-college years. What I still do not have an answer to after this class discussion is what way can teachers enhance their content knowledge without taking college course on the specific content areas that are being taught, which in my case would be every subject taught in elementary school.

When I was thinking of what I would like to pursue in my line of inquiry during this program I kept thinking that I want to develop my content knowledge in an area that I do not already know well. While I am still unsure of my final question for this project I do know that I want to focus on the development of writing in young children. I want to further my knowledge on what exact developmental stages every writer goes through in order to be considered a competent writer. Going from there I want to think about ways in which students can be motivated to develop these skills even further. I want to see what types of technology such as in class blogging, will help motivate students to do their best writing and try to develop their skills as much as possible. From the research I have done so far I know that their has been some research on blogging and bringing technology into the classroom for writing. What I have yet to see is if these technological sources for writing help young students develop as writers. For a possible experiential learning source I am looking into a seminar that has to do with technology in the classroom, however I want to do further research on if it will focus on writing for young students. I am looking forward to actively do research and learn more about this process as I do.

I responded to Emily zettner, Courtney lyon, and Christina Baronian blogs.