In the chapter that we read for this week, there were some useful tips that could be used when you have high performance students in your classroom. However, these strategies can also be used with struggling learners with a little modification.
The first strategy discussed was ongoing assessment. Ongoing assessments are important for every classroom. They allow the teacher to see where the students' comprehension level is. Pre-assessments provide a starting point for teachers to use. They can effectively see where more time needs to be spent on the material and where the gaps are in information. If all the students are proficient in one area, then the teacher can spend less time on this topic. But pre-assessments can also clue the teacher into things like: who can read the textbook well and who struggles with reading the textbook? A post-assessment can let teachers know not only how well the students understood the information but they also can tell teachers what teaching strategies worked well and which ones didn't. If students all did really well on one topic, it is important for the teacher to note what he/she did that day that made the information stick with the students. Post assessments can be done using exit cards, quick quizzes, or journal entries.
Another strategy that is used in Think-Pair-Share. The teacher poses an open-ended question. Then, students think about the question and spend a couple of minutes writing down their thoughts. Students then pair up and share their ideas with each other. This could be modified to use with struggling learners by pairing them with a higher performing learner. The higher performance learner could help the struggling learner to see things from a different perspective. Also, the student might respond better to another student's assistance rather than the teacher's. The teacher then calls the class back together for a class-wide discussion. During this discussion, it is important that the teacher ensures that every student participates, even the struggling ones. If they are called on, the teacher should give them an appropriate time to think and answer before just giving away the answer or calling on someone else.
Lecturing with graphic organizers is another strategy that can be beneficial to all types of learners. If the teacher hands out a graphic organizer before beginning to lecture, then students know where the lecture is headed. When completing a graphic organizer lecture, teachers should pause and take breaks and have students summarize key ideas. That way, if a struggling learner missed something, he/she will have another opportunity to get the information.
Another useful strategy is to break students into small groups based on the areas where they need more assistance. Then, the teacher can spend time with each small group and work on the areas where the students are weak or have learning gaps. This can help struggling learners because it targets the specific areas where they are having trouble.
Complex instruction can also be used. This is group work but the teacher ensures that all group members are contributing equally. This can be helpful with struggling learners because they still know that there are expectations for them to contribute to their group, but they do not need to know all of the information because their group members can help them out as well.
All of these strategies will be useful when trying to adapt a classroom to a wide-range of performance learning.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Meeting the Needs of ELL Students
It is believed that information is stored in memory in two different ways. In words (linguistic) and in images (nonlinguistic). Imagery is expressed as mental pictures or physical sensations, such as smell, taste, touch, kinesthetic association, and sound. These tools are useful for all learners in a classroom, but they prove to be especially useful for English Language Learners. They tap into students' natural tendency for visual image processing, and this in turn helps them create relevance to material and increases their ability to recall the information later. Here are a few techniques for using nonlinguistic teaching strategies:
1. Using graphic organizers - These combine the linguistic and nonlinguistic forms of information. Students can visually see a connection with the notes that they are taking because the organizer draws patterns and makes connections for them. There are six types of graphic organizers that can be used: descriptive, time sequence, process/cause-effect, episode, generalization/principle, and concept.
2. Make physical models or manipulatives - These are concrete representations of academic content or concepts. It is important that students gain the appropriate information from using the models. Sometimes, students are more enthralled by the actual novelty of the model and having something to play with rather than a learning tool.
3. Generate mental pictures - This helps students make sense of the information from their own perspective and store in their learning for later use. Teachers can facilitate the construction of mental pictures by providing details that appeal to the students' senses.
4. Create pictures, illustrations, and pictographs - Pictographs are pictures that use symbols to represent information. Using pictures and pictographs allows students to learn the information in a personalized manner. This will help them recall more information.
5. Engage in kinesthetic activities - When students engage in physical activity associated with knowledge, they create a mental picture of them doing the physical activity. The physical sensations create more neural networks in their brains and this helps the information stay there longer.
The article that I read is called, "Minn. Superintendent Pioneered ELL Reforms." In it, they discuss how one superintendent, who describes herself as a second language learner, dismantled the TESOL program. This program used to isolate ELL students from their peers and they were taught in a separate classroom. Now, her ELL students are in mainstream classes with an aide that works closely with the teacher to provide support for the ELL student. She said that teaching students English first without teaching them content was not successful because too many of them were not getting to the content. With the addition of nonlinguistic activities and organizers in the regular classroom, ELL students will be able to better understand the content without having to have a full grasp on the English language first. They can learn both content and the language at the same time so that they do not fall behind.
1. Using graphic organizers - These combine the linguistic and nonlinguistic forms of information. Students can visually see a connection with the notes that they are taking because the organizer draws patterns and makes connections for them. There are six types of graphic organizers that can be used: descriptive, time sequence, process/cause-effect, episode, generalization/principle, and concept.
2. Make physical models or manipulatives - These are concrete representations of academic content or concepts. It is important that students gain the appropriate information from using the models. Sometimes, students are more enthralled by the actual novelty of the model and having something to play with rather than a learning tool.
3. Generate mental pictures - This helps students make sense of the information from their own perspective and store in their learning for later use. Teachers can facilitate the construction of mental pictures by providing details that appeal to the students' senses.
4. Create pictures, illustrations, and pictographs - Pictographs are pictures that use symbols to represent information. Using pictures and pictographs allows students to learn the information in a personalized manner. This will help them recall more information.
5. Engage in kinesthetic activities - When students engage in physical activity associated with knowledge, they create a mental picture of them doing the physical activity. The physical sensations create more neural networks in their brains and this helps the information stay there longer.
The article that I read is called, "Minn. Superintendent Pioneered ELL Reforms." In it, they discuss how one superintendent, who describes herself as a second language learner, dismantled the TESOL program. This program used to isolate ELL students from their peers and they were taught in a separate classroom. Now, her ELL students are in mainstream classes with an aide that works closely with the teacher to provide support for the ELL student. She said that teaching students English first without teaching them content was not successful because too many of them were not getting to the content. With the addition of nonlinguistic activities and organizers in the regular classroom, ELL students will be able to better understand the content without having to have a full grasp on the English language first. They can learn both content and the language at the same time so that they do not fall behind.
Classroom Environment and Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning is an important tool to use in any classroom. It can be used in all grade levels and in all subject areas. In a world that is relying more and more on a collaborative work environment, it is important that students gain the valuable skills necessary to succeed in a collaborative environment. According to the book, there are two essential components to make cooperative learning successful. The first is positive interdependence. Positive interdependence emphasizes that all the students in the group are in this together and one person's success does not come at the expense of another student's success. Teachers must also ensure that the workload of each individual is reasonable and equal to the other team member's. The other key element for cooperative learning is individual accountability. This refers to the need for each member of the team to receive feedback on how his or her personal efforts have helped the team reach their goal. Teachers can use assessments to determine the contributions that each group member made to the group and the overall product. It is important to keep the group sizes small (no more than five) and to use cooperative learning consistently and systematically.
Cooperative learning would support a classroom like the one described in the Tomlinson article. Cooperative learning has shown to increase motivation because students develop a sense of obligation to their group and a strong kinship to their peers that leads to greater motivation and increased achievement. When teachers, like the one described in the article, use positive interdependence and individual accountability, students learn to be more responsible for their own learning as well as helping other students in the group learn as well. They also gain the ability to demonstrate what they know, understand, and are able to do. In small groups, students have the chance to process information at a slower pace as opposed to a lecture where all of the information is sort of thrown at them while the teacher hopes that they will understand and remember all of it. The teacher in the Tomlinson article ensured that each student was learning the material. She catered the curriculum to each student. Instead of focusing on labels, she focused on different interests and needs. Instead of focusing on deficits, she focused on strengths and how she could use those strengths in her classroom. I think that she would probably use cooperative learning in her classroom because it would help to build a better sense of classroom environment and the students would be held accountable to themselves, their peers, and the teacher.
The article that I read was titled, "A Tip for Teaching Tenacity and Teamwork." This article gives teachers a valuable teaching tool for when students are working in groups. Each group gets two plastic cups, one green one and one red one. When the students need help, they put the red cup on the middle of the group and when they are doing fine on their own, they leave the green cup showing. Not only does this allow the teacher to see when students need help, but the article also discusses how this technique helps develop self-determination and collaboration. At first, one student might be more likely to give up and change cups to signal for help, but other students in the group will usually protest and then help the student solve the issue within their group. This ties into the chapter that we read because it talks about how students can learn from each other and cooperative learning helps build a collaborative environment where students are willing to help everyone in their group succeed.
Cooperative learning would support a classroom like the one described in the Tomlinson article. Cooperative learning has shown to increase motivation because students develop a sense of obligation to their group and a strong kinship to their peers that leads to greater motivation and increased achievement. When teachers, like the one described in the article, use positive interdependence and individual accountability, students learn to be more responsible for their own learning as well as helping other students in the group learn as well. They also gain the ability to demonstrate what they know, understand, and are able to do. In small groups, students have the chance to process information at a slower pace as opposed to a lecture where all of the information is sort of thrown at them while the teacher hopes that they will understand and remember all of it. The teacher in the Tomlinson article ensured that each student was learning the material. She catered the curriculum to each student. Instead of focusing on labels, she focused on different interests and needs. Instead of focusing on deficits, she focused on strengths and how she could use those strengths in her classroom. I think that she would probably use cooperative learning in her classroom because it would help to build a better sense of classroom environment and the students would be held accountable to themselves, their peers, and the teacher.
The article that I read was titled, "A Tip for Teaching Tenacity and Teamwork." This article gives teachers a valuable teaching tool for when students are working in groups. Each group gets two plastic cups, one green one and one red one. When the students need help, they put the red cup on the middle of the group and when they are doing fine on their own, they leave the green cup showing. Not only does this allow the teacher to see when students need help, but the article also discusses how this technique helps develop self-determination and collaboration. At first, one student might be more likely to give up and change cups to signal for help, but other students in the group will usually protest and then help the student solve the issue within their group. This ties into the chapter that we read because it talks about how students can learn from each other and cooperative learning helps build a collaborative environment where students are willing to help everyone in their group succeed.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Sample Performance Task (GRASP)
This is a possible performance task (GRASP) for a 12th grade U.S. Government class:
You have been hired by the local government to create a guide for 18 year olds who are allowed to vote in the upcoming election. These 18 year olds do not know anything about the different powers that are set aside for each branch of government or the systems of checks and balances. The design, structure, and organization of the guide are entirely up to you. However, the local government requires some specific information to be included in the guide. You must include: two powers that the legislative branch holds, two powers that the executive branch holds, and two powers that the judicial branch holds. Additionally, they require a section that describes the checks that each branch has on the others, and how each branch keeps the other branches from abusing their powers. Additionally, they require you to include a section on how each branch of government relies on the duties of the other branches. Your work will be reviewed by your peers.
You have been hired by the local government to create a guide for 18 year olds who are allowed to vote in the upcoming election. These 18 year olds do not know anything about the different powers that are set aside for each branch of government or the systems of checks and balances. The design, structure, and organization of the guide are entirely up to you. However, the local government requires some specific information to be included in the guide. You must include: two powers that the legislative branch holds, two powers that the executive branch holds, and two powers that the judicial branch holds. Additionally, they require a section that describes the checks that each branch has on the others, and how each branch keeps the other branches from abusing their powers. Additionally, they require you to include a section on how each branch of government relies on the duties of the other branches. Your work will be reviewed by your peers.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
How Should We Use Our Assessment Results?
It is important for all teachers to use assessments in their classrooms. But there are many different ways we can use these results in the classroom. One thing that this chapter focused on was praising students and reinforcing effort.
Reinforcing effort involves explicitly teaching students about the relationship between effort and achievement. It is important that teachers acknowledge students' efforts when they work hard to achieve something, in this case, when they work hard to do well on a test. Once students start to see the results of working hard, such as a good grade on a test, they will begin to change their attitudes and beliefs about themselves and their ability to learn. They will learn to persevere when a task is difficult and success is not immediate.
There has been a debate on whether praise will affect students intrinsic motivation or if it promotes student engagement and decreases behavioral problems. According to the book, teachers must learn to use praise with caution. It is also important that teachers provide feedback on assessments before they return them to students, but pointing out incorrect answers and following that up with noninstructive feedback, such as telling the student to work harder in order to get the correct answer, will result in students will learn to attribute their success or lack of success on factors outside of their control, such as luck. This type of feedback is ineffective because it does not provide students with information that will help increase their effort, engagement, or belief in their abilities.
Another important topic that this chapter discussed was tracking assessment results. This helps students focus on the learning objective, what it takes to achieve that objective, and their progress towards meeting that objective.
The article that I chose for this week suggests that when it comes to student learning, it is not just about what they know. It's also about what they know about what they know. The emphasis in most skills is placed on what students need to learn, but little emphasis is placed on how students need to learn and what skills will promote efficient studying. This article relates to using our assessment results because it is important that students know how to study for assessments and know how to best learn the material that is being taught. Teachers need to provide praise for students and teach them how to learn material. If students in a class have performed poorly on an assessment, it may be because they did not know how to learn the material. Providing praise and using assessment results appropriately are both important in the classroom.
Reinforcing effort involves explicitly teaching students about the relationship between effort and achievement. It is important that teachers acknowledge students' efforts when they work hard to achieve something, in this case, when they work hard to do well on a test. Once students start to see the results of working hard, such as a good grade on a test, they will begin to change their attitudes and beliefs about themselves and their ability to learn. They will learn to persevere when a task is difficult and success is not immediate.
There has been a debate on whether praise will affect students intrinsic motivation or if it promotes student engagement and decreases behavioral problems. According to the book, teachers must learn to use praise with caution. It is also important that teachers provide feedback on assessments before they return them to students, but pointing out incorrect answers and following that up with noninstructive feedback, such as telling the student to work harder in order to get the correct answer, will result in students will learn to attribute their success or lack of success on factors outside of their control, such as luck. This type of feedback is ineffective because it does not provide students with information that will help increase their effort, engagement, or belief in their abilities.
Another important topic that this chapter discussed was tracking assessment results. This helps students focus on the learning objective, what it takes to achieve that objective, and their progress towards meeting that objective.
The article that I chose for this week suggests that when it comes to student learning, it is not just about what they know. It's also about what they know about what they know. The emphasis in most skills is placed on what students need to learn, but little emphasis is placed on how students need to learn and what skills will promote efficient studying. This article relates to using our assessment results because it is important that students know how to study for assessments and know how to best learn the material that is being taught. Teachers need to provide praise for students and teach them how to learn material. If students in a class have performed poorly on an assessment, it may be because they did not know how to learn the material. Providing praise and using assessment results appropriately are both important in the classroom.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Feedback and Assessment
Feedback and assessment are essential parts of learning. However, it is important to remember that formal, graded tests are not the only method of assessment. It is important to give students a way to express what they know in different ways. It is also important to keep in mind that just because a student performs poorly on one type of assessment does not necessarily mean that he or she does not grasp the concept. Assessments are a way of the teacher to gauge where students are understanding the material, but it can be done in many different ways. For example, a student can journal about what he or she has learned.
Giving students feedback is far more important than giving students grades. Feedback should address the knowledge that students are supposed to have learned and feedback should provide insight into what needs to be done to improve the student's performance. It should not be personal, but instead it should focus on key aspects of the student's assessment. Another way to provide feedback is to engage the students in the feedback process. This way, they can reflect on their own performance or give advice to peers. It is important that these peer reviewers are reviewing what the student lacks in the assignment, and not giving grades or marking things correct and incorrect. Learning objectives also should be set so that students can find content to be relevant and applicable to the real world. Students should be allowed to personalize their learning goals.
Assessment and providing feedback relate to the gradual release of responsibility because teachers must first use focused instruction where the teacher shows the students how to perform a task. Then, students can be guided through an assignment while the teacher provides constant feedback as students participate. Feedback can also be provided during collaborative learning. And in the last stage, independent learning, teachers can use assessment to ensure that students have understood all of the material and teachers can provide feedback on individual assessment.
Assessment relates to the Equip and Reflect part of WHERETO because in order for students to do well on assessments, the teacher needs to provide them with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed. Then, it is important to provide students with time to revise and provide their own feedback on their work. Also, it is important to tailor the assessments to each student's needs because each student responds differently to different assessment methods.
Giving students feedback is far more important than giving students grades. Feedback should address the knowledge that students are supposed to have learned and feedback should provide insight into what needs to be done to improve the student's performance. It should not be personal, but instead it should focus on key aspects of the student's assessment. Another way to provide feedback is to engage the students in the feedback process. This way, they can reflect on their own performance or give advice to peers. It is important that these peer reviewers are reviewing what the student lacks in the assignment, and not giving grades or marking things correct and incorrect. Learning objectives also should be set so that students can find content to be relevant and applicable to the real world. Students should be allowed to personalize their learning goals.
Assessment and providing feedback relate to the gradual release of responsibility because teachers must first use focused instruction where the teacher shows the students how to perform a task. Then, students can be guided through an assignment while the teacher provides constant feedback as students participate. Feedback can also be provided during collaborative learning. And in the last stage, independent learning, teachers can use assessment to ensure that students have understood all of the material and teachers can provide feedback on individual assessment.
Assessment relates to the Equip and Reflect part of WHERETO because in order for students to do well on assessments, the teacher needs to provide them with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed. Then, it is important to provide students with time to revise and provide their own feedback on their work. Also, it is important to tailor the assessments to each student's needs because each student responds differently to different assessment methods.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
How Do We Teach?: Part 2
The chapter that I chose to read for this class was titled, "Assigning Homework and Providing Practice."The essential question that I asked myself before reading was: How do I assign useful and engaging homework? This chapter helped me to answer this question as well as the question of How do we teach?
Assigning homework and providing practice can provide students with multiple opportunities to learn a skill or to review and apply knowledge. However, there are a umber of factors that determine whether homework and practice are useful or not. Some of these include: parental involvement and support, homework quality, student learning preferences, and the structure and monitoring of assignments. Additionally, there is evidence that shows that homework is more effective for older students who are in middle and high school.
There are three important recommendations for assigning homework. These are: develop and communicate a school homework policy, design homework assignments to support academic learning and communicate their purpose, and in my opinion, most importantly, provide feedback on assignments. It is important that assignments do not rely on the parent to teach the child new material. Assignments should only be given to students after they can perform the tasks independently. Homework also should never be used as a punishment. The purpose of homework should be to provide students with opportunities to practice skills in order to increase speed, accuracy, and understanding. It is important to provide feedback on homework rather than grades for every assignment. If a grade is not attached to the assignment, students are more likely to take risks and show teachers aspects of their conceptual understanding that they may not have shown on a graded assignment. Teachers can provide feedback using student conferences, class discussions, and peer review. Providing review can also ensure that students are not performing tasks incorrectly. If students continually do homework assignments incorrectly, then he or she will learn to complete all problems this way and the homework will actually have been detrimental to the student's learning.
When designing practice sessions, it is important for teachers to make them short, focused, and distributed over time. It is easier for students to master a shorter activity. Immediately after introducing a new concept, students should have short and frequent practice sessions. As they become more proficient in the material, practice can be given in longer periods in less frequency. Again, it is important that teachers provide students with feedback on their practice assignments.
One other topic that this chapter discussed was the use of new educational devices to provide practice activities and feedback. Teachers can now use tablets and laptop computers to assign practice activities. And according to an article from Education Week, that demand for educational games will continue to increase. Revenues in 2012 were $1.5 billion and they are expected to increase to $2.3 billion by 2017. The demand for educational simulations is even greater. Currently, the top buying nations are the United States, Japan, South Korea, China, and India, in that order. But the games and simulations are spreading worldwide. These can be very useful for teachers in providing practice assignments and are a new tool that students are using to help them learn.
Assigning homework and providing practice can provide students with multiple opportunities to learn a skill or to review and apply knowledge. However, there are a umber of factors that determine whether homework and practice are useful or not. Some of these include: parental involvement and support, homework quality, student learning preferences, and the structure and monitoring of assignments. Additionally, there is evidence that shows that homework is more effective for older students who are in middle and high school.
There are three important recommendations for assigning homework. These are: develop and communicate a school homework policy, design homework assignments to support academic learning and communicate their purpose, and in my opinion, most importantly, provide feedback on assignments. It is important that assignments do not rely on the parent to teach the child new material. Assignments should only be given to students after they can perform the tasks independently. Homework also should never be used as a punishment. The purpose of homework should be to provide students with opportunities to practice skills in order to increase speed, accuracy, and understanding. It is important to provide feedback on homework rather than grades for every assignment. If a grade is not attached to the assignment, students are more likely to take risks and show teachers aspects of their conceptual understanding that they may not have shown on a graded assignment. Teachers can provide feedback using student conferences, class discussions, and peer review. Providing review can also ensure that students are not performing tasks incorrectly. If students continually do homework assignments incorrectly, then he or she will learn to complete all problems this way and the homework will actually have been detrimental to the student's learning.
When designing practice sessions, it is important for teachers to make them short, focused, and distributed over time. It is easier for students to master a shorter activity. Immediately after introducing a new concept, students should have short and frequent practice sessions. As they become more proficient in the material, practice can be given in longer periods in less frequency. Again, it is important that teachers provide students with feedback on their practice assignments.
One other topic that this chapter discussed was the use of new educational devices to provide practice activities and feedback. Teachers can now use tablets and laptop computers to assign practice activities. And according to an article from Education Week, that demand for educational games will continue to increase. Revenues in 2012 were $1.5 billion and they are expected to increase to $2.3 billion by 2017. The demand for educational simulations is even greater. Currently, the top buying nations are the United States, Japan, South Korea, China, and India, in that order. But the games and simulations are spreading worldwide. These can be very useful for teachers in providing practice assignments and are a new tool that students are using to help them learn.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
How Do We Teach?
Teachers use several different methods to try and get their students to understand and comprehend material. But there are two essential components that must be addressed in order for a lesson to be successful. The first is, is the lesson effective? In order for a lesson to be effective, the learning design must help learners become more competent and productive at worthy work. An effective lesson helps students to surpass expectations, in addition to developing greater understanding and self reflection. The second component is, is the lesson engaging? Students find an engaging lesson to be though provoking, fascinating, and energizing. The lesson should be about big important ideas that are relevant to the students' lives.
When both of these components are combined, teachers find that their lessons are more successful. Some common elements that both of these components share are: setting clear performance goals, a hands-on approach, a focus on interesting and important ideas, obvious real world application, a powerful feedback system, and a personalized approach for different learning styles.
It is important to let students know where the lesson is headed and why. It is equally important to hook students in the beginning and hold their attention throughout. Students should be provided with time to rethink, revise, and reflect on their ideas. And each lesson should be tailored to meet the needs of all students.
We should teach using essential questions, and there are four phases in applying the use of essential questions. First, introduce a question designed to cause inquiry. Next, listen to different responses from different students and question these responses. Then, the teacher should introduce and explore new perspectives. Finally, the teacher should reach closure by asking students to generalize their findings and new insights.
I can remember when I was in high school, my favorite and most meaningful lessons were ones where the teacher used a hands-on approach and then asked us questions at the end of the activity that made us think about what we had learned and reflect on what the activity meant in the bigger picture. I think that allowing students time to reflect is important because it gives them time to process and remember the material.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
What Do We Teach Part 2
In the readings that I completed for this class, I discovered more about what we teach. One important piece of information that I learned is that while many teachers strive to have their students understand material, many of them do not truly grasp the concept of understanding.
While understanding and knowledge are sometimes used interchangeably, these words have two very different meanings. If a student knows something that means that he can recall information that was learned. He knows rules, facts, and theorems. But in order for that student to have a true understanding, he must be able to apply his knowledge. Understanding also involves using what students have learned to make judgements or solve other problems. An example of this would be teaching students the Pythagorean Theorem. Most students will easily grasp the concept of plugging numbers into the formula and finding the answer if a right angle triangle is shown with the measurements clearly labeled. However, when given a word problem that involves creating a mental triangle and marking the measurements of each side in their head, students are unable to do so. They know the Pythagorean Theorem, but they do not understand it.
Teachers can also learn from student misunderstanding. One example from the text that demonstrated student misunderstanding was when an elementary school student got back from a cross country flight and complained that she did not see any lines of longitude or latitude. These misunderstandings are valuable to teachers because they show that the student has made an attempt to transfer information that he has learned and apply it to a real-world scenario. It is important for the teacher to recognize that the student made the effort, and not become irritated that he is not "getting" the lesson.
One way for teachers to measure for understanding is by using essential questions. An essential question is an open-ended, thought provoking question that calls for higher order thinking and requires support and justification in order to be answered. These types of questions help measure for understanding because they require students to dig deeper into what they have learned as opposed to just recalling information form the lesson or the textbook. There are even overarching essential questions which are essential questions that may not be specific to a unit. One example of an essential question would be, why did the Soviet Union collapse? But an overarching essential question would ask, what are the common factors in the rise and fall of powerful nations? This overarching question can be used not just in a Soviet Union lesson plan but also in a lesson about the rise and fall of other empires.
It is important for teachers to check for understanding throughout the lesson so that students are forced to make connections with material and see the bigger picture. Teachers can accomplish this by asking essential questions.
While understanding and knowledge are sometimes used interchangeably, these words have two very different meanings. If a student knows something that means that he can recall information that was learned. He knows rules, facts, and theorems. But in order for that student to have a true understanding, he must be able to apply his knowledge. Understanding also involves using what students have learned to make judgements or solve other problems. An example of this would be teaching students the Pythagorean Theorem. Most students will easily grasp the concept of plugging numbers into the formula and finding the answer if a right angle triangle is shown with the measurements clearly labeled. However, when given a word problem that involves creating a mental triangle and marking the measurements of each side in their head, students are unable to do so. They know the Pythagorean Theorem, but they do not understand it.
Teachers can also learn from student misunderstanding. One example from the text that demonstrated student misunderstanding was when an elementary school student got back from a cross country flight and complained that she did not see any lines of longitude or latitude. These misunderstandings are valuable to teachers because they show that the student has made an attempt to transfer information that he has learned and apply it to a real-world scenario. It is important for the teacher to recognize that the student made the effort, and not become irritated that he is not "getting" the lesson.
One way for teachers to measure for understanding is by using essential questions. An essential question is an open-ended, thought provoking question that calls for higher order thinking and requires support and justification in order to be answered. These types of questions help measure for understanding because they require students to dig deeper into what they have learned as opposed to just recalling information form the lesson or the textbook. There are even overarching essential questions which are essential questions that may not be specific to a unit. One example of an essential question would be, why did the Soviet Union collapse? But an overarching essential question would ask, what are the common factors in the rise and fall of powerful nations? This overarching question can be used not just in a Soviet Union lesson plan but also in a lesson about the rise and fall of other empires.
It is important for teachers to check for understanding throughout the lesson so that students are forced to make connections with material and see the bigger picture. Teachers can accomplish this by asking essential questions.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
What Do We Teach?
I think that if you asked any seasoned teacher "what do we teach?," the answer would be the same. I teach ____ grade and _____ subject. But there are other things to consider when answering that question. For example, what teaching methods do you use, how do you assess the comprehension of students, and is it effective?
There are some important things to consider when developing curriculum for students. It is important for teachers to organize teaching around central key concepts that students can relate to. Teaching students facts or making them memorize material is not effective. A student who can grasp a key concept idea, such as conflict in the civil war, and relate it to a real life scenario, like conflicts with my peers, is much more likely to retain the information they are taught. If organized correctly, these concepts can be taught across all subject areas at one time. It is important for students to see connections with the material they are learning. When the curriculum aligns with personal interests of young adolescents, they become personally motivated to learn and succeed. It is also important to cater to each student and find the balance between concepts that are too challenging and concepts that are too easy.
When creating learning plans, one useful tool might be to use "backward design." This process involves a teacher focusing on the desired outcomes of the lesson as opposed to just focusing on the teaching aspect. Teachers should first identify desired results by deciding what students should understand and be able to do. Then, the teacher should think like an assessor and determine acceptable evidence that students have met the learning goals. The last step is then to plan instruction and learning experiences.
Teachers use different methods to explain concepts to their students. One of these is the hands-on approach. An example of this can be seen at Flagler Palm Coast High School in Florida. Recently partnering with New Tech Network, a nonprofit, they are now supporting the planning and implementation of programs that emphasize problem-solving skills. Students are treated as mature adults, and their lessons are planned around relatable topics and necessary skills. These students are responding well because they appreciate the way they are being treated, and they are finding the information they are learning to be relatable.
So to answer the question, what do we teach, I think that we need to teach broad concepts that students can relate to their own lives, and while preparing lessons it is important to utilize the backward design planning process.
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