Blog Post 8

I will be teaching about the food pyramid. For my lesson I will have a model of a pyramid with shelves on it, and have the food scrambled up and on the wrong shelves, and then I will have students try and rearrange the food so that the correct groups are together.
In his book, Bill Ayers discusses the concept of "building bridges" for students. By building bridges, he means connecting ideas for students so that they can better understand a new concept or topic. When building bridges for students, the teacher should start with familiar concepts that the students already understand, and from there should move on to new ideas and concepts. For example, if I wanted to teach students about the food pyramid I could build bridges for them by asking what some of the their favorite foods were, and then I could start explaining what food group it belonged to. This would be a good way to build bridges because it would help them to learn about something they liked. Another way I could build bridges with my students when teaching them about the food pyramid is to bring in different types of food, let the students eat the food, and discuss what groups they belonged too. This builds bridges because it would be fun and exciting for the students to eat the food, and it would be a good visual learning aid for them to physically put different food groups together.
When planning my lessons for my students someday I will need to consider the age, background, and what learning style best works for them. The authors of the books we read in class are good guides to use when thinking about teaching. Freire wants students to be able to express themselves freely; when I am a teacher I will make sure I create the kind of classroom environment where my students feel they can truly be themselves. Ohanian says that effort and attitude matter the most in education; I will use this in the future because I will always make sure I encourage my students to always try their hardest, and will always have a positive attitude so that they will in return also have a positive attitude, which will only benefit their education. Ayers says that learning is something we are all involved in together; I will incorporate this into my classroom because I will let my students work together and brainstorm ideas. DiGiulio says that teachers should help students to help themselves; I think this it is important for students to be independent and not rely on others all the time. I will tie all of these ideas together in my lesson about the food pyramid to make the lesson as beneficial as possible for my students.