My First Class
By Gregory Cioffi
EDI 550/551 Psychology of Adolescent Students
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 20, 2009
I walked into the classroom a little nervous, because I am a little nervous the first day of any class. But I did feel like I was going to enjoy the class because I already have an innate fascination with psychology: I find it interesting. As a requirement for my Bachelor's degree I took EDI 15A: Psychological Perspectives: Teaching and Learning. I found this course extremely engaging and received an A in the course. As a matter of fact, it is safe to say that that class, so far, has been my favorite education course that I have ever taken.
When I walked into our classroom, I was the first student there, which always makes me a little on edge. Is this the right room? Classes do start today, right? These are some of the questions going through my head. But then as a few students showed up I found myself more comfortable. Being though that this is my first graduate course I was interested to see the average age of students, and whether this would affect my comfort level. As it turns out, I believe we have a diversified classroom in terms of age, and I believe this will be beneficial to our learning process because we can share comments and experiences from very different perspectives.
The next most important aspect of class is the professor. Bad, or unmotivated teachers can make learning near impossible. That is why I was both impressed and pleasantly surprised to find the teacher, Professor Boyanton extremely aware of these notions. Just by the first day, I can tell that I will have a very positive relationship with my professor. We are very similar, as we are both on task, and despise negative energy and complaining/whining. I also found her teaching style very interesting.
In order to “break the ice” on the first day we played the “name game”, which was a fun and educational way to learn the names of each student in class. I think that is the only class that I know everyone’s name just after one class. I have been in classes where I didn't know half of the students' names when the course concluded. The game worked like this: everyone had to come up with a strategy to help others memorize their name. Mine was gregarious, because my name is Greg and I am kind. As the next student announces their strategy they also gave to recite everyone’s name and strategy before them.
This activity turned out to be enjoyable. After the first class, I can already say I learned a new strategy that can be applied in my classroom. Getting to know our peers and colleagues is a very vital and healthy aspect of life, and I am happy that is was acknowledged as so.
After “playing” the name game and reviewing its importance we spent the majority of the remaining time going over the syllabus. After doing so, I immediately knew this class was no easy walk in the park, however, this is certainly not a bad thing. I do not find the work load to be tedious, or useless. The project seems extremely interesting, mainly because I am allowed to choose from a list of topics. I find projects and/or papers are always more gratifying when there is a choice. The journals and logs seem to be self-reflective assessments, which we can all use practice at. I believe overall, that this class will be one that I really enjoy.
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 20, 2009
I walked into the classroom a little nervous, because I am a little nervous the first day of any class. But I did feel like I was going to enjoy the class because I already have an innate fascination with psychology: I find it interesting. As a requirement for my Bachelor's degree I took EDI 15A: Psychological Perspectives: Teaching and Learning. I found this course extremely engaging and received an A in the course. As a matter of fact, it is safe to say that that class, so far, has been my favorite education course that I have ever taken.
When I walked into our classroom, I was the first student there, which always makes me a little on edge. Is this the right room? Classes do start today, right? These are some of the questions going through my head. But then as a few students showed up I found myself more comfortable. Being though that this is my first graduate course I was interested to see the average age of students, and whether this would affect my comfort level. As it turns out, I believe we have a diversified classroom in terms of age, and I believe this will be beneficial to our learning process because we can share comments and experiences from very different perspectives.
The next most important aspect of class is the professor. Bad, or unmotivated teachers can make learning near impossible. That is why I was both impressed and pleasantly surprised to find the teacher, Professor Boyanton extremely aware of these notions. Just by the first day, I can tell that I will have a very positive relationship with my professor. We are very similar, as we are both on task, and despise negative energy and complaining/whining. I also found her teaching style very interesting.
In order to “break the ice” on the first day we played the “name game”, which was a fun and educational way to learn the names of each student in class. I think that is the only class that I know everyone’s name just after one class. I have been in classes where I didn't know half of the students' names when the course concluded. The game worked like this: everyone had to come up with a strategy to help others memorize their name. Mine was gregarious, because my name is Greg and I am kind. As the next student announces their strategy they also gave to recite everyone’s name and strategy before them.
This activity turned out to be enjoyable. After the first class, I can already say I learned a new strategy that can be applied in my classroom. Getting to know our peers and colleagues is a very vital and healthy aspect of life, and I am happy that is was acknowledged as so.
After “playing” the name game and reviewing its importance we spent the majority of the remaining time going over the syllabus. After doing so, I immediately knew this class was no easy walk in the park, however, this is certainly not a bad thing. I do not find the work load to be tedious, or useless. The project seems extremely interesting, mainly because I am allowed to choose from a list of topics. I find projects and/or papers are always more gratifying when there is a choice. The journals and logs seem to be self-reflective assessments, which we can all use practice at. I believe overall, that this class will be one that I really enjoy.
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