TEAMWORK! TEAMWORK! TEAMWORK!

                                               
When I go back and reflect on our last class, the things I remember most are the activities we performed. As I said in class, while professor was explaining the instructions for the "Let's make squares" activity, I became totally lost. I would have asked her to repeat the instructions (which I am sure everyone would have loved), but because I knew we were working in teams,  I decided that I would trust my group to let them explain it again to me. I feel like the idea of TRUST is a huge concept in regards to cooperative learning, and it was evident throughout that entire activity. I had to trust my three partners that they will all adequately perform their assigned roles in order to achieve our goal. I had no say in what role they were given, how they should perform it, or critique what they were doing wrong. I simply performed my own role, and trusted that we would each work to the best of out abilities within our assigned roles. Without trust, the group wouldn't perform effectively.

I feel like this is said constantly in our classroom, and in the education field in general, but teachers absolutely MUST know their students extremely well before implementing co-op learning into their classroom. I was thinking before this blog about my 2nd lesson I am going to teach this week, and thought quickly about a co-op learning activity, but shut it down immediately. I have no idea which students would work well with whom, nor the strengths/weaknesses of the class. I essentially, don't know which students have the trust of their classmates, and which ones don't. Cooperative learning can be extremely beneficial to use in a classroom at a certain time, but it could also be a train wreck if improperly utilized.
For the times when cooperative learning can be effective in one of my classrooms, I will be very excited and enthusiastic to implement it. It must be so rewarding for the teacher who implements co-op learning, gets heavy student involvement, and walks around the room watching his/her students all working as a group to achieve success. I recall a Daniels and Zemelman chapter that discussed community in the classroom. I believe THAT is community; all students utilizing their strengths as an individual and a blossoming learner on a "team," to overcome a challenge and learn something in the process. It allows students to grow as individuals inside the classroom, in school, and on the biggest stage, the one that we eventually want all of our students to achieve in, SOCIETY.

THE RUBRIC MADE ME DO IT!

Here is my thought after our class on rubrics and chocolate chip cookies: It is all relative to the teacher what will make, say, a good analytical essay or a argumentative paper. What will be a perfect essay for one teacher may have either excess parts or parts lacking from the perception of another. I think that is why it is of the utmost importance to talk to our students and give them our rationale behind each component of the rubric, the point system, and most importantly, WHY we even are implementing a rubric. It wasn't until college that I even cared to glance at the rubric the teacher gave me along with an assignment, mostly because rubrics just seemed like rules and regulations that I wanted nothing to deal with. As long as I answered all the questions the assignment asked, I felt a rubric was unnecessary and a waste of time to look at.
I am not totally aware as to what the students point of views are on rubrics today, but we cannot assume simply handing them a rubric with the assignment will be enough to get them to follow it. I think about it from the teacher's perspective as well; think about all the time it takes to put together a rubric you feel proud of, that connected with all your objectives, and that was aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Then you hand it out your students, announce to your students "follow the rubric for this assignment," and walk away happy, thinking that students will do exactly that. I find that very hard to believe. I honestly think that unless students understand the importance of a rubric, they are not going to look at it the way we want them to. Our time will be wasted, and so will theirs, because they will be writing an essay that doesn't meet the full criteria, and they will not be working to their full potential.
I guess I am simply saying, explain why a rubric matters, so they understand how beneficial it could be for them to utilize. I looked at rubrics as an enemy in high school, and it took me a while to realize that rubrics can be your best friend, and by following everything the rubric says, will grace you with the potential to exceed expectations efficiently. The first time you hand out a rubric, spend some time talking about it with students, make the rubric easy to access and less dreadful to look at. Show them the effort you put in to make it, and how easy it is for students to achieve if they follow it. This just makes me think that teachers should do themselves and their students a favor and explain their rationale behind everything they implement in the classroom, so students know why they are doing it and how its not just busy work or time-wasters, these things matter!

Breaking My Silence

While I do not think that the teachers really meant to come off as "racist," or "ignorant," I'm glad our discussion turned to the point it did because it reminded me that we really need to be open to what we say. I was admittedly taciturn during our intense and open discussion in class on Tuesday, and it was mostly because there were many comments I was soaking up and thinking about. I kept thinking about a theme has been brought up multiple times in previous classes, the idea that we must always be on high alert to our actions and the language we use, because it could have implications on the people we interact and the students in our classroom that we did not intend. For instance, the classroom management panel used certain language during the panel that made us have that discussion we did, instead of what the panels primary intentions were, discussing their classroom management strategies.

          Let me continue with a story. While I was observing classes at Mt. Pleasant High School, the students in one particular class were taking a survey that required them to answer the question, "What is the climate and culture of your school?" The students displayed quizzical looks while reading the question and a classroom discussion over the culture and climate of Mt. Pleasant ensued. I remember one students comment mostly because it related to my Alma Mater, Classical High School, "Our Hallways are always loud and fun, with students being able to talk to each other and joke around. The students at Classical are probably better-behaved, walking in single file and not talking." His fellow classmates laughed and agreed. I was immediately taken aback by the lack of truth to this comment. I had just previously walked through the halls of Mt. Pleasant and quickly had flashbacks back to my high school days at Classical, as the Hallways there were always very boisterous. 

The conversation we had in class made me think about that comment. We owe it to our students to not prejudge them, and treat them insufficiently because of their background. Even the little comments, like the ones we heard from the classroom management panel, could have huge implications on our actions towards our students, or worse, on our student’s ideas of themselves. The longer the words "those students" are attached to having a lesser ability due to a certain background persist, the more students involved in that group will believe that they are indeed unable to achieve to their capabilities. We are stunting the growth of our students when we talk like that, which is exactly the opposite of the role we have as teachers. 

For me, as I continue on my teaching journey, I will be more aware of my words, as well as other people’s words, when it comes to speaking about students and their abilities. Every time I am prepared to make a comment related to education and students, I want to think how that comment will affect the audience’s perceptions of myself, my students, and also the school and community I am teaching in.  We must work extremely hard not develop preconceived notions based on other people’s ideas, but instead form your own views based on research and evidence.

Lecturing and The Power of a Tacher

Last week I read a book titled The Power of a Teacher, By Dr. Adam L. Saenz. It was an extremely engaging read, and I highly recommend it to all young teachers. There are some parts in it that may be impertinent to our current situation as student-teachers, but there are insights to be gained. Dr. Saenz message is clear from the first page, they WHY of teaching comes before the WHAT and the HOW, and we must never forget that why even when the job (or in our case, the studying and the planning and the failings) may frustrate us beyond belief. After reading, I constantly am alert to the choices I make as an educator, as they all should in some way or another be to the benefit of my students.
In connecting our class with my reading, there is a time and a place for Lecturing, and it will be up to us to DECIDE if a lecture class for the days objectives is the best and easiest way for students to meet those objectives. Also, when lecturing, be fair to the students, and don't waste there time. Lecturing can easily become boring for the students, and you will have wasted a whole night of planning, as well as a days worth of class time if the lesson is ineffective from monotonous drawl and factual ramblings. I'm glad we were able to learn about this method of teaching, as it is a major tool in our teaching arsenal.

The Lesson Planning Panel

Mesmerizing. That is the exact word I would use to describe the lesson plan panel we saw during class. I wrote down more notes in that half-hour than I have in any one of our entire three hour classes. What became my focus pretty quickly when I began to watch these teachers discuss the lesson was writing down any and every question these three would throw at each other, anticipating the moment when I sit down to write my first lesson. My objective was to develop a list of questions I could refer to whenever I feel like I am either lost or think I am finished, as It is becoming more and more clear that there is no such thing in the pedagogical field as over planning.

                Some questions I now have in my back pocket when writing a lesson plan are: What is the objective? What is the purpose? What will students be doing when this is going on? What will you be doing? How will you “Hook” the students? Is this good for some of the students, or all of them? How will you manage time? How will you transition? How are you going to make sure everyone is understanding/doing? How does this relate to the objective? Can the learning target be met in multiple ways? These questions will be running through my head at all times when I am planning a lesson, as they will guide me towards being fully prepared for each and every lesson I prepare.

                There were some things I noticed that were a little enigmatic. For one, I noticed that they didn’t start with the objective and instead began with talking about group work and how to best implement it. I was ready for Buddy to ask what their objectives were right off the bat, but that did not happen until midway through that Buddy finally asked how the grouping activity will connect with the learning target, and that was when they found the idea to group students according to the four main conflicts in the story. I assume that this isn’t always the case, and regardless, I am already in the mindset of Backwards design and will only plan my lessons according to that framework. Another thing I noticed was that if you are planning a lesson with someone, it is not easy to always agree and sometimes you have to meet halfway. You will not always have it go 100% your way, but teaching never goes 100% your way anyway. As long as you can live with the decision, sometimes it is better off come to a happy medium and move on.

                The best thing about these questions is that they can be categorized in accordance with Backwards Design. Some of the questions will help make sure my objectives are purposeful. Others remind me to assess whether students have attained the objective. Still others remind me to keep to the objective when brainstorming activities. Listen, I am no expert on designing a lesson, and I could use all the help I can get. That is why I found this panel so engaging, as I was face to face with one of the main jobs a teacher has: planning an effective lesson. 

What I Observed

I finally feel like everything is starting to come together after having completed my observations. You can only learn so much in a lecture class like SED 407, but it an actual experience like an observation we can perceive all the knowledge we have been given actually put into practice. I recently read an article in Educational Leadership by Grant Wiggins on “Getting Students to Mastery,” which discusses a true definition of mastery in a content or of a skill; one that places performance based assessment in authentic  various authentic situations as the ultimate decider of whether something has been mastered. Although written for use in assessing students, this article got me connecting this concept with my teaching journey as well. It was not be until I actually had that authentic experience with observing several full-length classes that I was able to get inside the mind of the teacher, and really see how everything we have talked about in SED 407 is performed. However, there were some things I saw that we have yet to really touch upon in class. From what I have seen so far, there are some factors outside of our control that we simply must account for when we are planning and teaching, as environmental, and more importantly, disciplinary factors will influence our lessons daily, causing, at times, some serious consequences.

                When I arrived for my first visit, the classroom seemed like a suitable environment for learning. Good size, an abundance of pictures and student work hanging on the walls, and desks neatly aligned in rows facing the teacher, with ample space in the front for the teacher to move around freely and keep attention directed on him or her. However, this was prior to the student’s arrival, and as they piled in, a wave of claustrophobia began to linger in the atmosphere. The room began looking smaller and smaller, and the rows suddenly extended into that teaching space I think so important to a teacher, especially one like me who likes to move around. The student’s DO NOW was a Silent Sustained Reading exercise, so after settling in, the room became rather quiet. Quiet, that is, until screams and shouts meandered into our classroom from next door. As I looked towards the back, I realized that this classroom was connected to another classroom, separated by a paper-thin wall that resembled a curtain from a theater. So while these students were silently endeavoring to read a book of their choice for the first ten minutes of class, they had to also attempt to drown out the obtrusive classroom behind them that sounded as if a herd of chimpanzee’s were jovially bouncing off walls and throwing bananas at one another. Yes, it was that bad.

                This got me thinking what a bad use of ten minutes of student’s time this is. The idea of Silent Sustained Reading is fine, but with the stipulation of the noise from next door, SSR became ineffectual. Professor Horwitz said something many weeks ago that has stuck with me ever since, that we must always do what is fair for the students. Don’t waste their time. As I looked about the room, no student seemed to be actually reading. Some were on cell phones, others stared at the same page for the entire duration of the exercise, and still others had their heads down, probably listening to the needless ramblings from the class next door. The teacher would make comments on staying focused and putting cell phones away, but it became clear that he is beginning to get tired of the saying the same things to the same students over and over, and thus is happy with just silence and a book on their desk. I felt bad for both the student and the teacher, as I think if there was actual silence, more students could at least put more attention on the book and not the class behind them. And what could the teacher do? At one point, the assistant teacher got up, pulled open the “wall,” and asked for the class to please be quiet. I wonder how the teacher of that classroom must have felt?

                Environment plays a major factor in the classroom, and I honestly don’t think it gets addressed enough in SED. How spacious is the room? Will it provide for adequate group or partner work? How will the desks be set up? Is there space to set them up in any other way than rows? I mean, we just talked about book clubs in the last class, and while it is a great idea, not every classroom will be set up for easy implementation. I love conducting discussions, so I am partial to the circle set-up due to the vibe it elicits on a class, but there is simply no way the teacher of the class I am observing currently would be able to make that happen in this classroom. There are simply too many students and not enough room. That would mean the teacher would have to get a little creative and develop other ways to implement a discussion based lesson.  There is a positive with small classrooms however, as implementing group work in a smaller space means you can facilitate and assess the groups easily and efficiently. The major insight that comes out of all this is that each classroom I teach in will allow me to do certain things and prevent me from doing others, and I will need to be aware of the environment when planning my lesson and/or teaching that lesson.

                The other issue I want to elaborate on is the disciplinary aspect of teaching, especially when it comes to us rookies. It was my second observation when I noticed that one of the students, and this was a very small class of only eight students, was in an extremely bad mood. He came in and sat down immediately; all the while a mean scowl was advertised on his face. He did not want to contribute to anything that was going on in the class. My first thought was, what do I do if I have a student, or even worse two students, who arrive in my classroom like this? I did a pro’s and con’s list in my head, considering that if I leave him alone, I will avoid a possible confrontation that would potentially stall the entire class. However, that will also leave him behind in whatever activity we are working on and will also give off the notion that is ok to disobey the expectations I set in class, leading to other students attempting to get away with things as well. I continued observing as the teacher sat down next to him and got him involved by warmly asking him questions and constantly working to get him to contribute, but in a congenial way. I inferred that because this was a small class, it was easier for her to deal with the student on a more personal level, and a bigger class would have posed a more difficult problem. I have learned through multiple resources over the course of my studies that sometimes the best thing you can do is avoid confrontation with a student who you know is going to give you push back, as it will lead to an awkward environment in the class and your lesson will lose its fluency.

                 I think that in those cases that while it is important to know the student, as a newbie in the teaching game, I am at the disadvantage of not really knowing how much to push the student before it becomes a giant issue. I think that the best you can do for a student like that is give him that day, but don’t let him fall super far behind. If that moody behavior persists, further action will be required, a call home or a one on one intervention to see what the issue is with the student and see if a solution can be obtained. I am worried about situations like this arising when I teach my two lessons, as the class I am in does have a reputation for disruptions and inattention. The reading levels of the junior English class I have been observing range from grades 3-12, and reading is nowhere near the top of any of these students’ priority lists. Each time I observed the class, the teacher inundated the students with a heavy load of scaffolding, as he believes it is the only way to get students to follow along in the book and stay on task with him. During the third observation, he conducted a round robin read aloud, something he said he has not tried with that particular class before. The students were told what paragraph they would be reading the day before, so they had time to go home and practice. It was clear these students were nervous, as they were all hesitant to begin their assigned paragraph. The teacher told me after that she differentiated according to paragraph length and difficulty. I had not known how difficult reading was for the students until a conversation with the teacher afterwards explained to me that for them to have read a paragraph aloud is a major step in the right direction in helping these kids harness their reading abilities.

                I have come to the realization that disciplinary problems happen in higher numbers and degree when you don’t get creative enough and provide an uninteresting lesson, as well as how prepared and knowledgeable of the content and lesson you are. If there is any dead time or any lapses in which you slip up and show your unpreparedness, students will react negatively. What I liked about the teacher I observed is that he was passionate, enthusiastic, and knew what he was teaching on that particular day, (besides the fact the he has a good rapport with the students, and although they dislike reading, do respect him enough to at least let him teach). In essence, I learned that the best way to keep students on task is to create a community in the classroom where staying attentive is the only real choice. I recall on the administration panel, the assistant principal has said that even if the content of the lesson is dry, just acting like it is the best thing ever will get students involved. Maybe portraying extra enthusiasm and excitement will even get that one student out of that bad mood and at least get him to listen. I am not saying that this will solve all disciplinary problems, but the teacher I observed didn't do more than the average, “cell phones away!” and “Pay attention!” routine, and it was because he kept students invested and on track.

                There really is absolutely no excuse for dead time. So many negative aspects will come with it. If anything, plan extra to be on the safe side. Things fall apart during time lapses and shaky transitions, so always keep students focus maintained. During a read aloud (which I observed a lot of), constantly break and either ask a question or elicit an activity. This particular teacher used a graphic organizer called “Dialectical Journals,” which is a form of note taking by pulling quotes out from the text and responding with your reactions. Time ran smoothly, and at the end, an exit slip was given to the students to see whether they had met the two main objectives of describing the character in the story and applying the list of vocabulary words in meaningful scenarios. Although I am still a little nervous on getting in front of an intimidating crowd of 25 students, these observations have related to me that the best thing I can do is just stay passionate and enthusiastic, plan for extra time, and make sure that I give off the feeling that everything that comes out of my mouth is the most important thing in the world for the students to focus on. 

Questioning Standards and Assessment, Assessment, Assessment!

After reading these chapters, I feel as though I got some insight in relation to the question posed in class on why everything we discuss and read when it comes to effective teaching isn’t being truly portrayed in the classrooms we observe. The question has many answers. My first reactionary answer was that teachers simply fall back on the more traditional ways of teaching because that is what they are most familiar with. The more progressive ways are also a bit more difficult to enact because it demands more student centered and learning centered instruction, and much less teacher-centered. Now that could be part of the answer, but I am beginning to realize that there is a lot more to it than that.

                I do not think enough teachers are asking the meaningful questions that relate to the standards, the ones that are deeply rooted in backwards design and in chapter 10. I mean, there is a reason why it is in this relatively new textbook on teaching, as backwards design is a new idea that is being created as a result of the heavy emphasis on the implementation of Common Core. I think we are focused too much on standards and not enough on what those standards represent. The ending of chapter 10, the part where the teacher put her essential questions on one side and the standards those correlated with portray an important aspect to standards. If you think about that exercise in reverse, standards could be turned into questions. I think that is what I don’t see when I come back from observing classrooms. It is not the teacher’s fault all of the time, as this job is very demanding and sometimes we forget just what we really want our students to get out of the days lesson. We are so pressured into trying to implement standards that we leave out those inquiry questions, the ones that students really do engage with and want to answer, have fun answering, and stay with them long after any dull lecture focused on a skill the Common Core says me must teach.

                The book club is one way that standards and fun, engaging lessons can be combined harmoniously to feed both the common core and the student’s engagement needs. What I like the most about this is if the teacher can do it correctly, the students probably don’t even feel like they are being assessed. Just sitting down with a pen and clipboard with the book club, contributing if necessary, and making the environment community based will give everyone, including common core, what they want. This chapter also got me thinking about how I am always going to have to SHOW the effectiveness of every lesson I teach, through data collecting and assessment practices. I know I am going to need to do a lot of assessment, but it finally hit home that every lesson I teach should be backed up with data that can tell administrators and colleagues exactly how and why this lesson worked or didn’t work. It will also show me what I need to do to modify or enhance.  Assessment of even a fun, community centered unit like a book club NEEDS to be assessed to show its effectiveness so that others can see why it should be utilized in classrooms, and not used to give a grade to a student.