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.