Personal Battle

I have been writing a reflection on how to incorporate lessons/activities that promote student motivation, but I have a bug in my ear that is pulling me away from this assignment. I need to take a break and be honest with myself, so I decided to write here on my blog...

So much has been swarming around in my mind as I take in one of the ideal purposes of teaching, but cannot come to grips to accept it. I am fighting a battle that is affected the way that I look at a classroom. This battle has been stressed to us from our instructors throughout the entire intern process here at UNCG, but I still can't accept it as truth and beneficial for my students, so some feedback would be greatly appreciated.

UNCG's teaching program is based on the concept that children learn better with hands-on strategies, rather than sitting through traditional classrooms where teachers lecture for the entire hour and then give homework at the end. Yes, the older concept is boring and is a waste of time for everyone, but I am fighting an inner devil that is telling me hands on approaches are still not enough- the students, in my mind, still need the lectures to learn basic information. This is the battle: I don't know what to do... How can simply giving projects promote the knowledge intake for students if they come into the classroom unaware of the basic information that must be taught to them? Am I wrong to think that hands on assignments are not the only solutions to teaching effectively?

During our internship, we have been taught the skills of incorporating differentiated instruction, which is the formulation of one lesson that focuses on the various learning styles of the students and is able to meet their needs, whether through the lesson, questions, group discussions, etc. Whatever the case may be in regards to the students' ways of learning, this learning style is supposed to meet, if possible, all of those needs. In order to accomplish this task, I must develop various lessons, activities, tests, questions, etc., etc., etc... so much work for one classroom, and this is something that I cannot seem to grasp when I know faculty meetings, lesson planning periods, grade wide discussions, professional development discussions, parent meetings, and last but not least, my personal life require my full fledged attention and presence.

Growing up in the Davie County district, I was very fortunate to have talented instructors who were able to get information across to me. Over time, however, I realized that I do learn better in a structured classroom where we took notes completed homework. Though important, the hands on projects were not the focus of the class, unless it was a challenging science lesson. Because of my own upbringing, I am having a hard time understanding the importance of hands on lessons and the need to have them within each lesson, multiple times during the week. How can I teach something that I personally don't benefit from when learning? It's like me teaching a group of students the importance of auto mechanics... I don't know the topic, so why teach it?

I know I am rambling, but I wanted to give my readers an idea of what I am struggling with... Any opinions?