My MEL Experiences

• Positive Attitude: When I was in seventh grade I had a math teacher named Mr. Spring. This guy was probably the only teacher who ever got me interested in math. He had the best sense of humor and he always had a great attitude everyday. I always felt like he wanted us to be there, which made me want to work hard.
  
• High Expectations: My junior year of high school I had a history teacher named Mrs. King. She was quite possibly the toughest teacher I have ever had (besides Dr. Theresa of course!) She held our class to the highest expectations possible which I always felt was pretty rough. However, I worked extrememly hard to keep up with the rigorous pace of the class because I knew that is what she expected. This kind of learning model was very powerful for me.
• Differentiated Instuction: This past semester I had a psychology course with Professor Alison Terry. Her class was the perfect example of someone who does not use differentiated instruction. Her tests were all multiple choice and her lectures were all powerpoints. I personally am a better auditory learner, which helped somewhat because she did verbal lectures a lot. However, I am not great with multiple choice but I would have faired better with more short answer and essay questions. Because of her failing to provide differentiated instruction, I fell behind quickly in this course, even though I felt as if I could have done a lot better.
  
• Driven by Students' Questions: In my freshman year at UMF, I took a course with Prof. Richard Fredland on the subject of African Politics. This class was all driven by our individual questions about the subject. Our papers were all on topics that we chose on our own and it I feel as though this learning model worked great. It was a lot easier to learn about such a difficult subject through trying to answer question that we had rather than reading a text book and getting a dry look at the issues. It deffinately engaged me more in my learning and made me want to inquire and dive deeper into this topic.
• Avoid Rewards: When I was in sixth grade I had an english teacher named Mr. Safina. Mr. Safina devised a wonderous plan to reward his best pupils with what he called, "Black Bear Bucks". These Black Bear Bucks were given out to students when they were polite in class and when they answered question correctly and could be turned in at the school store for some candy or other such items. I personally thought this idea was ridiculous and when I would try and answer questions and would not get called on, I became discouraged and eventually gave up trying in his class. The rewarding of "good" students not only discouraged me from participating, it also made me angry that some people were getting more than others, which led to a host of behavioral problems. All in all, Black Bear Bucks or any such rewards are a poor idea!