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 Contextualizing Concepts 
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It is beneficial for a teacher to relate concepts with things the students are familiar with so that they can better understand. In your educational experience did teachers contextualize concepts (reading, math, etc.) in a way that you were able to relate or, did they explain things and have no reasoning for what they were teaching?

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Kendall Cline


Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:00 pm
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In response to this I feel that many of my teachers did contextualize information and give a basis for why we were doing a certain activity. However, in many of my math classes I felt like I never knew why I was doing those pointless problems and wondered how they would ever benefit me in my everyday life. I found myself asking "How will this ever benefit me and my career?" Although these silly math problems seemed to have no importance for my future, I am sure they helped me in getting to where I am today. I do believe that if students know why they are learning something or how it is applicable to them then they are more eager to learn. Learning and schooling should not just be about pouring info into children's heads. It is very important to have a meaning behind what you are doing and relate it to other areas in life.

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Ryan Hicks


Tue Feb 01, 2005 11:12 pm
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I also feel that my teachers in public school contextualized the information that they taught. I remember when I would have a math or language arts lesson, most of my teachers would try to relate it to everyday life or something we had previously learned.

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~*Paula Propst*~


Wed Feb 02, 2005 10:32 am
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Unfortunately, I do not believe that, save for a limited few, many of my teachers tried to give a better understanding of what we were studying by conceptualizing the material. For example, in my US History class we never were asked what the Declaration of Independence truly means in today's society. We were never asked to think of how something might be important in today's terms. I love history, but I believe that this hampered my ability to think analyticaly. On the flip side, I had a Physics teacher who actually was a very "hands-off" kind of teacher. In other words, the teacher allowed the student to do the experiment by him or herself without the teacher's interference. Then, the class would discuss the experiment as a whole. The activities that we did to further what we read in the textbook went very far to helping me understand how to accomplish the tasks I was asked to do. At the beginning of the year I was barely passing the class. On the EOC I was one of only ten people to score 95 or better.

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Travis Souther

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Wed Feb 02, 2005 2:55 pm
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I can only think of a couple of classes where my teachers conceptualized the material. Chemistry in which we did our own experiments where the teacher was there to make sure we didn't blow anything up and algebra/ geometry where the teacher actually took us outside into the woods around school and would measure the height of trees based on our distance from the tree and our angle to the top of the tree. Conceptualization is important because it gives our students an idea of what context the information we are teaching them will be used in thier futures.

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Daniel Inman


Wed Feb 02, 2005 4:17 pm
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I feel like my high school math teachers didn't try to relate the reasons for learning how to do Algebra and Geometry problems. My Geometry teacher would always respond to questions pertaining to why we need to learn how to do the problems, "If you have to ask, I'm not going to tell you", or "Mr. Robertson, your not going to get into a college worth a crap, if you get into one at all, so you don't need to know!" Amazingly those were the classes I struggled with.

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Heath Robertson


Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:13 pm
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Some of my teachers compared the subjects that we had to everyday life. The one class that this idea was practiced the most was math. A lot, not all, of students dislike the subject and seem to feel as though some aspects of it are not related to life at all. My eighth grade math teacher, Mr. Anthony, always made it a point to include how and why math was important and related to our lives.

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Brittany Burton


Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:26 pm
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Of all the topics that I think can be related with a little more ease, I believe it to be history. Yes, I am history major with a bias for teaching it. Besides that point, I think it humanity retains some of its basics all throughout its entire existence on this planet. For example, the basics of civlization have not changed, the need for a common and understandable language have not changed. While these are just basics, common traits keep reappearing in humanity. Britney Spears and Louis Armstrong were two great performers, but how were they the same? Both were exceptionally popular in their times. In the same manner, many more connections can be made with the present culture(s) in America.

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Travis Souther

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Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:54 pm
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For the most part, my teachers did a great job of contextualizing concepts. However, there seemed to be a trend in many of my math classes in elementary and middle school where I did not feel some of my teachers were doing this. There were many times where my math teachers would expect us to solve problems without relating it to things we had already learned in class. Also, I had many math teachers that would tell us that there was a certain way that every problem needed to be solved and if we didn't solve it a certain way it would be wrong. I think that it is experiences like this that have turned me off to math.

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Kate Mille


Sun Feb 06, 2005 7:06 pm
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I think that is it very beneficial for teachers to do this for students. It helps students to understand that things they are learning do pertain to their life and will be used later on. This will help them to want to learn about what is being taught. I think that my teachers throughout school did a great job of this and i think that professors in college do it even better. I think that it has alot to do with the professors wanting to teach the subject and having students that are interested in learning about things that pertain to their life.

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Megan Machuga


Sun Feb 06, 2005 8:44 pm
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I feel that teachers, many times, take the easy way out and teach the 'facts' and 'motions' of a subject. It takes extra time and dedication to create lessons where the student can relate the subject to their own life, or create a lesson that lead students through creative thinking and problem solving to discovery. It can create a very exciting learning environment if we can identify ways to guide students through their own learning process.


Sun Feb 06, 2005 10:55 pm
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I believe that it is beneficial for teachers to relate things they teach in class to the outside world. I can remember when I would be sitting in a science class and wonder "when will I ever use this." If teachers would have told me, I believe that I would have like science more today.

In high school, my math teachers tried to relate the math we were learning to the outside world. Other then that, none of my teachers did. Sometimes students would ask them why we were learning this. Those teachers would ignore the question and go on without giving any reason. I hated that and am going to try my hardest not to do this when I become a teacher.

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Kim Hertzler


Mon Feb 07, 2005 9:50 pm
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I definitely think it is good when teachers can perform classroom activities that relate to students' personal experiences. If students can relate from personal experiences, they make a connection. The student will probably remember this connection better than some random fact the teacher throws out at them.
I know for myself that I am a hands on learner and learn better when I experience things and can relate them to my past experiences. It's hard to do this with a classroom full of students who have different learning styles.

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Sarah McLean


Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:17 pm
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the above is mine too....

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Stacey Burris


Tue Feb 08, 2005 5:03 pm
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