Linda's response regarding homework, and how it is often too difficult for the students (making them feel like failures) reminded me of a conversation I had with my father, who lives in Wyoming and who is a part-time substitute teacher (as is my mom).
He said that my nieces school had taken up some kind of "inquiry" approach. Immediately, when he said it, I thought of CMP; he could not verify that this was the exact name of the program, but said it sounded as though they at least are similar. The problem with it, in his mind, is that this is being implemented at the elementary level. Rather than teaching times tables and making sure that students can do simple arithmetic, the questions ask that students come up with multiple answers to questions; for example, "show 3 ways to add 2+2" (not an exact question from the book, but what I took from my father's speech). Now, anyone who has taken educational psychology has some idea about cognitive stages. I believe that small children (elementary age) are at what Piaget would identify as the concrete-operational stage. This is not the stage of abstract thinking. Some students will do very well with this approach; others will not. I assert that I would have probably fallen into the group that could not--indeed , it is only as an adult that I suddenly see all kinds of overlapping connections in math that I did not see when I was young. Anyhow, the school's new approach means that my niece, who is a very smart young lady and who works very hard to do well in school, finds herself crying over her math homework. Why on earth should a fourth grade student be crying over math homework? And I don't suggest that she is smart merely because she is related to me--you can just ask me about some of my other nieces and I will verify that they are not smart. My dad said it sounded like a load of "poo" to him that fourth grade students were still learning basic arithmetic as part of this new approach. He said that he learned long division in second grade when he was in England and that when he came back to the states the next year the teachers were worried that he might be behind. HAH!
I guess what I am saying is that it is hard for me to believe that the approach is going to cure our problem of scoring low in math as a nation. Perhaps I will see in a decade whether or not that approach is working with my niece . . . until then, I will remain skeptical.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
CMP Inquiry-Middle Grade Interview
Linda Beardsley at Adam Stevens Middle School was kind enough to answer the following interview questions for me. My thanks to her for completing these with such short notice.
Q: How does the CMP curriculum align with the national Common Core and NCTM standards?
Linda: For many years now, Salem-Keizer has modified the order and level of the CMP books from what the authors originally wrote. With that being said, it seems like it was not aligned very well to the state standards. With the upcoming national standards the district and the authors are working hard to find some alignment. Last summer the authors of CMP held a workshop to introduce supplementary units which will patch up the curriculum to fit the new national standards. However, I find the units a little disjointed. The authors have begun a third addition of CMP to match the national standards.
Q: Numerous students are a year or more behind in the basics. How does one address the needs of these students on a daily basis so they can get up to grade level and also experience success in the inquiry to investigation philosophy of the CMP?
Linda: The best way is to have a support class which helps the kids fill in during another period. However, that is not always possible. So the teachers spend a lot of time looking at the material the kids should have learned before and building those skills into warm-ups or 5 minute drills. In my class, I am lucky to have 15 computers which can be used to differentiate the classroom. I have used them to do Math workshop which is basically different stations. The lower kids are with me in a group and the higher kids are on the computer doing Math whizz or manga high as fun extensions. In a perfect world I would like to do this once a week but I tend to get behind in my implementation plan if I do that. After school tutoring also helps. Our special education department holds a mandatory special education help session twice a week. Students get individual support on class work.
Q: What is the role of homework (and accountability) in the CMP?
Linda: CMP has three levels of homework for each investigation. The first are application, the second, connection and the last, extensions. I believe that homework is practice of what the student has a beginning understand of. However, the constructivist approach that CMP uses often follows through on the homework assignments making them a huge challenge for the kids. I know we are trying to increase rigor with the work but we don't want to deflate the kids.
Because homework is practice, I count it very little in my grade book. I ask the students to try at home so that they connect to the problem and can find their mistake easier. Since I stopped grading homework, I have less accountability from the students so this is still a place I struggle. I have thought of doing all work in the room but there are not enough hours to do the teaching and practice of all of the standards.
Q: CMP Investigations compose of small-groups (pair-share, teamwork, cooperative learning). Describe several classroom management techniques that ensure all students are actively engaged. Eg, how are individual roles established? Accountability (Group, individual)? Ongoing assessment(s) and checking for understanding?
Linda: I like using partners and then I ask who wants to share and pick the partner instead of the volunteer. In groups of 4 I have assigned roles for the 4 students (recorder, time keeper, supply person, drill Sargent) and they have to do their roles. One student is responsible for asking group questions so I will not talk to the whole group. When groups are stuck or off task, I ask one member to huddle with me to get some questions answered and take the answers back to the group. To establish roles, I have used cards that they pick or have them number off and all 1's are recorders, all 2's are time keepers…).
Accountability is hard. I ask each student to turn in work rather than group work. I have done partner tests but I will also do individual tests. I want to know what each student understands.
I often do formative exit quizzes on skill based questions. Very simple 5 minute questions and I record these at 2 points or “not yet” in my grade book. We circle back to make sure the students have a chance to show me that they understand.
Q: How does the CMP curriculum align with the national Common Core and NCTM standards?
Linda: For many years now, Salem-Keizer has modified the order and level of the CMP books from what the authors originally wrote. With that being said, it seems like it was not aligned very well to the state standards. With the upcoming national standards the district and the authors are working hard to find some alignment. Last summer the authors of CMP held a workshop to introduce supplementary units which will patch up the curriculum to fit the new national standards. However, I find the units a little disjointed. The authors have begun a third addition of CMP to match the national standards.
Q: Numerous students are a year or more behind in the basics. How does one address the needs of these students on a daily basis so they can get up to grade level and also experience success in the inquiry to investigation philosophy of the CMP?
Linda: The best way is to have a support class which helps the kids fill in during another period. However, that is not always possible. So the teachers spend a lot of time looking at the material the kids should have learned before and building those skills into warm-ups or 5 minute drills. In my class, I am lucky to have 15 computers which can be used to differentiate the classroom. I have used them to do Math workshop which is basically different stations. The lower kids are with me in a group and the higher kids are on the computer doing Math whizz or manga high as fun extensions. In a perfect world I would like to do this once a week but I tend to get behind in my implementation plan if I do that. After school tutoring also helps. Our special education department holds a mandatory special education help session twice a week. Students get individual support on class work.
Q: What is the role of homework (and accountability) in the CMP?
Linda: CMP has three levels of homework for each investigation. The first are application, the second, connection and the last, extensions. I believe that homework is practice of what the student has a beginning understand of. However, the constructivist approach that CMP uses often follows through on the homework assignments making them a huge challenge for the kids. I know we are trying to increase rigor with the work but we don't want to deflate the kids.
Because homework is practice, I count it very little in my grade book. I ask the students to try at home so that they connect to the problem and can find their mistake easier. Since I stopped grading homework, I have less accountability from the students so this is still a place I struggle. I have thought of doing all work in the room but there are not enough hours to do the teaching and practice of all of the standards.
Q: CMP Investigations compose of small-groups (pair-share, teamwork, cooperative learning). Describe several classroom management techniques that ensure all students are actively engaged. Eg, how are individual roles established? Accountability (Group, individual)? Ongoing assessment(s) and checking for understanding?
Linda: I like using partners and then I ask who wants to share and pick the partner instead of the volunteer. In groups of 4 I have assigned roles for the 4 students (recorder, time keeper, supply person, drill Sargent) and they have to do their roles. One student is responsible for asking group questions so I will not talk to the whole group. When groups are stuck or off task, I ask one member to huddle with me to get some questions answered and take the answers back to the group. To establish roles, I have used cards that they pick or have them number off and all 1's are recorders, all 2's are time keepers…).
Accountability is hard. I ask each student to turn in work rather than group work. I have done partner tests but I will also do individual tests. I want to know what each student understands.
I often do formative exit quizzes on skill based questions. Very simple 5 minute questions and I record these at 2 points or “not yet” in my grade book. We circle back to make sure the students have a chance to show me that they understand.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Inquiry & CMP Research
Inquiry based instruction is supposedly student-centered (rather than teacher centered) and focuses less on learning the answer to a problem and more on learning various strategies for solving a problem. Proponents of the model suggest that traditional methods of instruction treat the teacher as the one and only source of knowledge in the classroom and that the teacher is supposedly only telling students about what has been learned (an abstract set of facts) rather than helping students learn (creating knowledge on their own). I believe that I detect a little bit of Vygotsky and in this supposition; if we learn through interactions with our peers and use cultural tools (language, books, and other resources) to build our pools of knowledge, then we must become adept at utilizing those tools (and persons) more than in simply memorizing facts (which in themselves are bits of knowledge, but which were not necessarily learned by the learner but given to them in the hopes that the knowledge would stick).
There are some problems with the approach, however, in as much as we can implement it in our current school systems. Students are taking tests in which they are being asked to show knowledge of a great deal of “facts”—instructors see that list of things the students “need” to know and realize that limited time means that memorization is the only way to get it all done. The other problem is that neither students nor teachers are accustomed to using this model. Students left to ponder how to solve problems might fail to generate any solutions (instead saying “but we’ve never done problems like this before!”) and teachers, who are accustomed to being the experts (and who themselves were taught that the teacher is the expert), are willing to present solutions to get the students moving forward. If too much time is spent on a single inquiry, then other time must be being wasted, perhaps?
The CMP model is designed to be a type of inquiry-based model of instruction. Believing that “math” is about strategies rather than facts, the creators have worked to make a program that presents students with engaging problems for which there are a number of “correct” solutions or a number of methods for reaching the solution. They suggest that their program moves students through a variety of inquiries that are interconnected, allowing students to build the skills necessary for solving more complex situations over time. Moreover, technology (computers and calculators, in particular) are recognized for the ways that they have changed our view of math and the usage of both is promoted rather than prohibited.
Personally, I think that while CMP has some excellent goals in mind, the actual implementation of their strategies in a classroom is not as easy as it sounds. Although I have not been an observer in many math classrooms outside my own education, I was able to observe one 8th grade classroom in the Salem-Keizer district which uses the CMP. In NO way did it strike me as being different from my own junior high experience (which occurred over ten years ago in a different state). CMP suggests that their questions are engaging, and yet, the probability question involving marbles, for example, still continues to be irrelevant to today’s middle school students. Do the 12-year old kids of today actually know what marbles are? Do they know how to play marbles? How on earth is a question about marbles engaging to students? The other problem with the approach, which I suggested somewhere in my first paragraph, is that sometimes students themselves are unable to see how to solve problems and will resort to whining. “But we’ve never done this kind of problem before!” was the one complaint I heard over and over (even though I had personally witnessed them doing similar problems previously—they apparently did not have the “self-help” skill of being able to look at previous work and to search their textbook for similar problems). This is a problem within itself—if you cannot see similarities between different problems, then you cannot possibly be expected to use the resources you have to solve the problem (i.e. transfer of skills or external tools). To me, this means that there needs to be a balance of memorization AND exploration (e.g. direct instruction and inquiry-based instruction).
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Anticipatory Sets and Closure
Closure and Anticipatory Sets—what is the purpose of?
Anticipatory sets are designed as “hooks” for a lesson or unit (McTighe & Wiggins, 2005). Thus the reason for the term “anticipatory” (i.e. anticipation) in the name. They are designed to catch the student’s interest the activities that are about to transpire. There are multiple purposes for including an anticipatory set in a lesson (and at the beginning of the unit): 1. It supposedly gets the student’s attention (i.e. used as a way to generate curiosity in what is about to occur). 2. It tells students about the topic of the unit or lesson. 3. It can be used to reference previous learning experiences and student knowledge (activating prior knowledge) as a way to bridge learning from one day to the next (providing continuity); and finally, 4. It can (and should) be used by the teacher as a guide for “where to go” today—or in other words, can act as a pre-assessment. When students, during an anticipatory set activity such as brainstorming, demonstrate more knowledge than the teacher thought them previous in possession of, the teacher should adjust plans to avoid covering already-learned material in more than a “brief” fashion (so as to not bore anyone).
It isn’t always easy, of course, to “hook” students when what you are about to teach is as boring as watching water erosion in slow motion. It is particularly important, at these times, to activate prior knowledge and to try to present what is about to take place in a way that demonstrates that even if it is not exciting, that it will be of benefit to students even outside of the content class.
Take poetry, for example, in an 8th grade level Language Arts class. When a teacher opens the day by telling students, “alright, little pumpkins, this next six weeks we will be starting a poetry unit!”—no matter how much excitement he/she has in her voice (and no matter how many exclamation marks he/she adds to it on the objective on the board)—students will immediately begin groaning and moaning and wishing for death. It is, admittedly, often difficult for students to access poetry. Thick with figures of speech, and not adhering to the conventions that students have been forced to follow since the day they picked up a pencil in school (using capitals at the beginning of a sentence, proper punctuation, etc.), poetry presents students with little familiarity (or proficiency) with a challenge. Even worse, they have spent at least half of their school experience learning that poetry rhymes. Give them a poem that doesn’t rhyme and that doesn’t have punctuation and that contains figures of speech and archaic language forms, and it is certain that eyes will glaze over immediately. Thus, anticipatory sets for poetry have to occur over time—that is, the teacher needs to start the beginning of the year by slipping poetry here and there without making a big deal of it (aside from having students engaging in a class discussion about what it contains) and then when the poetry unit begins, the enthusiasm that the teacher worked to generate should squelch some of the groans. Also, students will have been spoon-fed poetry without having to do assignments on it, thus paving the way for the real “anticipatory statement” at the beginning of the unit for poetry.
Anticipatory sets can also include review of vocabulary, brainstorming, KWL charts (DomNwachukwu, 2005), and/or sharing of homework or classwork from previous day.
- McTighe, J. & Wiggins, G. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
- DomNwachukwu, C. (2005). Standards-Based Planning and Teaching in Multicultural Classroom. Multicultural Education, 13(1), 40-4. Retrieved from Education Full Text database.
Closure, as should be obvious by the very name, is a way to conclude the lesson and give students a feeling of finality. It is considered to be the most direct way to remind students about what they should have learned (what they hopefully DID learn) and can also be used to preview what will be happening tomorrow, particularly if tomorrow’s lesson will be an extension of the project or activity.
Closure for single lessons often takes place in the form of exit slips, whole-class discussions or sharing of findings of the day, presentation of work completed. Closure for units might involve self-reflection in addition to those used for daily lessons; because self-reflection is not typically utilized in the classroom, students rarely know how to complete the activity in a meaningful manner and time should be spent teaching students how to evaluate their own learning beyond the directionless “what did I learn today” question that is often presented.
Yet, the secondary purpose of closure is not as apparent as the name itself. If closure involves more than the teacher merely summarizing “what we learned today” and students are asked for input, then the teacher should be utilizing information gleaned during closure for informal assessment purposes. The teacher will learn not only what students were able to accomplish, but will be able to see misunderstanding that pop up or insights that were not previously anticipated. This knowledge will guide subsequent planning for the class—does something need to be re-taught? Should students be allowed a second day of class to complete an assignment? Do students obviously know the information and thus we should move on? Which students are struggling? Which students are more advanced than others and might be able to help lead group discussions as “experts”? When a teacher takes a second or two to utilize closure for more than just gathering assignments and summarizing information, informal assessment takes place.
Source previewed but not directly referenced:
- Johnson, A. (2000). It's time for Madeline Hunter to go: a new look at lesson plan design. Action in Teacher Education, 22(1), 72-8. Retrieved from Education Full Text database.
Anticipatory sets are designed as “hooks” for a lesson or unit (McTighe & Wiggins, 2005). Thus the reason for the term “anticipatory” (i.e. anticipation) in the name. They are designed to catch the student’s interest the activities that are about to transpire. There are multiple purposes for including an anticipatory set in a lesson (and at the beginning of the unit): 1. It supposedly gets the student’s attention (i.e. used as a way to generate curiosity in what is about to occur). 2. It tells students about the topic of the unit or lesson. 3. It can be used to reference previous learning experiences and student knowledge (activating prior knowledge) as a way to bridge learning from one day to the next (providing continuity); and finally, 4. It can (and should) be used by the teacher as a guide for “where to go” today—or in other words, can act as a pre-assessment. When students, during an anticipatory set activity such as brainstorming, demonstrate more knowledge than the teacher thought them previous in possession of, the teacher should adjust plans to avoid covering already-learned material in more than a “brief” fashion (so as to not bore anyone).
It isn’t always easy, of course, to “hook” students when what you are about to teach is as boring as watching water erosion in slow motion. It is particularly important, at these times, to activate prior knowledge and to try to present what is about to take place in a way that demonstrates that even if it is not exciting, that it will be of benefit to students even outside of the content class.
Take poetry, for example, in an 8th grade level Language Arts class. When a teacher opens the day by telling students, “alright, little pumpkins, this next six weeks we will be starting a poetry unit!”—no matter how much excitement he/she has in her voice (and no matter how many exclamation marks he/she adds to it on the objective on the board)—students will immediately begin groaning and moaning and wishing for death. It is, admittedly, often difficult for students to access poetry. Thick with figures of speech, and not adhering to the conventions that students have been forced to follow since the day they picked up a pencil in school (using capitals at the beginning of a sentence, proper punctuation, etc.), poetry presents students with little familiarity (or proficiency) with a challenge. Even worse, they have spent at least half of their school experience learning that poetry rhymes. Give them a poem that doesn’t rhyme and that doesn’t have punctuation and that contains figures of speech and archaic language forms, and it is certain that eyes will glaze over immediately. Thus, anticipatory sets for poetry have to occur over time—that is, the teacher needs to start the beginning of the year by slipping poetry here and there without making a big deal of it (aside from having students engaging in a class discussion about what it contains) and then when the poetry unit begins, the enthusiasm that the teacher worked to generate should squelch some of the groans. Also, students will have been spoon-fed poetry without having to do assignments on it, thus paving the way for the real “anticipatory statement” at the beginning of the unit for poetry.
Anticipatory sets can also include review of vocabulary, brainstorming, KWL charts (DomNwachukwu, 2005), and/or sharing of homework or classwork from previous day.
- McTighe, J. & Wiggins, G. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
- DomNwachukwu, C. (2005). Standards-Based Planning and Teaching in Multicultural Classroom. Multicultural Education, 13(1), 40-4. Retrieved from Education Full Text database.
Closure, as should be obvious by the very name, is a way to conclude the lesson and give students a feeling of finality. It is considered to be the most direct way to remind students about what they should have learned (what they hopefully DID learn) and can also be used to preview what will be happening tomorrow, particularly if tomorrow’s lesson will be an extension of the project or activity.
Closure for single lessons often takes place in the form of exit slips, whole-class discussions or sharing of findings of the day, presentation of work completed. Closure for units might involve self-reflection in addition to those used for daily lessons; because self-reflection is not typically utilized in the classroom, students rarely know how to complete the activity in a meaningful manner and time should be spent teaching students how to evaluate their own learning beyond the directionless “what did I learn today” question that is often presented.
Yet, the secondary purpose of closure is not as apparent as the name itself. If closure involves more than the teacher merely summarizing “what we learned today” and students are asked for input, then the teacher should be utilizing information gleaned during closure for informal assessment purposes. The teacher will learn not only what students were able to accomplish, but will be able to see misunderstanding that pop up or insights that were not previously anticipated. This knowledge will guide subsequent planning for the class—does something need to be re-taught? Should students be allowed a second day of class to complete an assignment? Do students obviously know the information and thus we should move on? Which students are struggling? Which students are more advanced than others and might be able to help lead group discussions as “experts”? When a teacher takes a second or two to utilize closure for more than just gathering assignments and summarizing information, informal assessment takes place.
Source previewed but not directly referenced:
- Johnson, A. (2000). It's time for Madeline Hunter to go: a new look at lesson plan design. Action in Teacher Education, 22(1), 72-8. Retrieved from Education Full Text database.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Practicum - Sharing a Lesson
Admittedly, my area of experience is not in teaching. I have often trained employees at the various restaurants where I have been employed. Lesson objectives? Learn how to use the computer and learn to multi-task. Certainly, it is easy to wait tables once you get the hang of it, but it is mostly just overwhelming out first. We once had “tip a cop” night at one of my restaurants….at the end of the night, the officer who had “worked” with me said to his friends, “she ran my a--- off! I had no idea you guys did so much work.” Strategy of implementation? I typically just throw them in and tell them to do it (no following me around for three days “watching”—I consider that to be a waste of time). Checks for understanding? Well, I simply watched over their shoulders to make sure they weren’t ringing in the orders incorrectly and I would sometimes say, “what do you need to do now?” What might I change? I really am not sure….most people either catch on right away or they don’t.
I did, however, begin teaching my unit at the middle school last week. For the first day, there were only two goals: take a pre-assessment (I think the kids were thrilled by how short it was) and create a booklet for using over the next two weeks. My mentor teacher had suggested that the booklet creating might take most of the hour, so I had not planned for anything else beyond that, which turned out to be a mistake on my part. Next time I will make sure to bring a book to read aloud while they are working on their booklets, because although I think it is nice to let students talk while they are working (they were decorating the covers of their booklets and coming up with pseudonyms), it would have been a better use of time for me to start getting them interested in reading (also, reading aloud is beneficial at every grade level, and it usually catches student’s attention). I walked them through the activity one step at a time, walking from one table to the next holding my model and watching to make sure that at least one person at each table started in the correct direction before walking to the next table. Incidentally, only three people made theirs “incorrectly” and it was because they jumped ahead. I had no problem with that, given that what they ended up with will work just as well as what I was aiming for. Parts to change? Again, always have something else planned. Other changes? 1) making a more clear explanation of “nom de plume” so that students understand that the reason to have one is to make sure that they aren’t uncomfortable sharing their poetry (most of them started shouting out their fake names immediately, which told me that I had not made it clear that I was letting them create a fake name for the purpose of the poetry evaluation at the end, where they would have to share what they wrote—I know that people often feel very uncomfortable about writing poems); 2) I would consider using a longer pre-assessment. The reason I did not use a longer pre-assessment in this case is that the students have already taken 7 days of tests since the start of the semester. I think that the consistent failure (taking tests for things you have not yet learned) creates a negative attitude and causes students to not try as hard (some do not even bother reading the questions—they simply write “IDK”—which is a waste of everyone’s time, in my opinion). Also, I think I was just as tired of the tests as they were since I’d been sitting through every class period of tests.
But I digress.
The pre-assessment showed me, however, that my initial goals needed to change. I had originally been simply planning to concentrate on teaching the students figurative devices, symbolism, and tone, but it turns out that the students are perfectly competent in these areas, having had these things drilled down their throats since 5th or 6th grade. What they are unable to do, however, is make explicit references to the text to show how they know what they know. They were also unable to read beyond the literal meaning of the metaphor in the poem that I used for the assessment. I attempted to change my lessons that night, staying up quite late, but the results of my next day activity revealed that the students had not completely understood what I was trying to teach (I was attempting a modified “close reading” exercise, which I can’t really explain without drawing it by hand). Thusly, what I would change in the future is: 1) I would make sure to not go over my 10-12 minute limit for the mini lesson at the beginning of class and 2) I would break the activity into 2 parts so that it would not be so difficult to understand. I did try guiding the students through one poem as an example, but I believe half of the students were not listening.
Therefore, the final thing I am going to try my hand at changing is “how” I teach the lesson. First, I have decreased the difficulty of the activity so that it should fit more easily into a 45 minute time frame (I only have 10 lessons in all, can’t go about wasting time). This will not only mean that the assignment is more likely to be completed but also means that it shouldn’t take me 25 minutes to explain it. Second, I will not be using technology with which I am still unfamiliar—this should help decrease my personal stress and help create a more calm atmosphere (students can really sense nervousness, I discovered). Moreover, currently, the students desks are grouped, and I find myself talking to their backs for half of the lesson—or constantly asking them to turn around. It is not my classroom, or I would shift those desks around to ALWAYS be facing the front. Instead, I have purchased a white-board and I will bring the students to the back area of the classroom to sit around me on the floor. Admittedly, there is not very much room in the back (there are just as many students as desks), but this method should guarantee that I can see every students face and will not be shouting across the room to people who are in the back. I believe that my stress level will decrease (students not having their backs to me, me not feeling like I am shouting) will result in an increase in my ability to pay attention to the students faces to make sure they are listening and comprehending. Lastly, I am going to try out a “quiet” prompt to see if it helps me quiet down the students in a more timely fashion. The code word is “high five” and my sister (who is also a teacher) advises me to say it in a normal tone of voice and assures me that students will catch on quickly and will quiet down without you having to shout over them. I believe her, of course, because I happen to have the most intelligent and wise sisters in the entire universe.
I will be trying this tomorrow, and will determine whether the strategy is successful or not. I am sure you (the only person reading this Blog other than myself) are greatly eager to hear an update. (hah!)
;)
I did, however, begin teaching my unit at the middle school last week. For the first day, there were only two goals: take a pre-assessment (I think the kids were thrilled by how short it was) and create a booklet for using over the next two weeks. My mentor teacher had suggested that the booklet creating might take most of the hour, so I had not planned for anything else beyond that, which turned out to be a mistake on my part. Next time I will make sure to bring a book to read aloud while they are working on their booklets, because although I think it is nice to let students talk while they are working (they were decorating the covers of their booklets and coming up with pseudonyms), it would have been a better use of time for me to start getting them interested in reading (also, reading aloud is beneficial at every grade level, and it usually catches student’s attention). I walked them through the activity one step at a time, walking from one table to the next holding my model and watching to make sure that at least one person at each table started in the correct direction before walking to the next table. Incidentally, only three people made theirs “incorrectly” and it was because they jumped ahead. I had no problem with that, given that what they ended up with will work just as well as what I was aiming for. Parts to change? Again, always have something else planned. Other changes? 1) making a more clear explanation of “nom de plume” so that students understand that the reason to have one is to make sure that they aren’t uncomfortable sharing their poetry (most of them started shouting out their fake names immediately, which told me that I had not made it clear that I was letting them create a fake name for the purpose of the poetry evaluation at the end, where they would have to share what they wrote—I know that people often feel very uncomfortable about writing poems); 2) I would consider using a longer pre-assessment. The reason I did not use a longer pre-assessment in this case is that the students have already taken 7 days of tests since the start of the semester. I think that the consistent failure (taking tests for things you have not yet learned) creates a negative attitude and causes students to not try as hard (some do not even bother reading the questions—they simply write “IDK”—which is a waste of everyone’s time, in my opinion). Also, I think I was just as tired of the tests as they were since I’d been sitting through every class period of tests.
But I digress.
The pre-assessment showed me, however, that my initial goals needed to change. I had originally been simply planning to concentrate on teaching the students figurative devices, symbolism, and tone, but it turns out that the students are perfectly competent in these areas, having had these things drilled down their throats since 5th or 6th grade. What they are unable to do, however, is make explicit references to the text to show how they know what they know. They were also unable to read beyond the literal meaning of the metaphor in the poem that I used for the assessment. I attempted to change my lessons that night, staying up quite late, but the results of my next day activity revealed that the students had not completely understood what I was trying to teach (I was attempting a modified “close reading” exercise, which I can’t really explain without drawing it by hand). Thusly, what I would change in the future is: 1) I would make sure to not go over my 10-12 minute limit for the mini lesson at the beginning of class and 2) I would break the activity into 2 parts so that it would not be so difficult to understand. I did try guiding the students through one poem as an example, but I believe half of the students were not listening.
Therefore, the final thing I am going to try my hand at changing is “how” I teach the lesson. First, I have decreased the difficulty of the activity so that it should fit more easily into a 45 minute time frame (I only have 10 lessons in all, can’t go about wasting time). This will not only mean that the assignment is more likely to be completed but also means that it shouldn’t take me 25 minutes to explain it. Second, I will not be using technology with which I am still unfamiliar—this should help decrease my personal stress and help create a more calm atmosphere (students can really sense nervousness, I discovered). Moreover, currently, the students desks are grouped, and I find myself talking to their backs for half of the lesson—or constantly asking them to turn around. It is not my classroom, or I would shift those desks around to ALWAYS be facing the front. Instead, I have purchased a white-board and I will bring the students to the back area of the classroom to sit around me on the floor. Admittedly, there is not very much room in the back (there are just as many students as desks), but this method should guarantee that I can see every students face and will not be shouting across the room to people who are in the back. I believe that my stress level will decrease (students not having their backs to me, me not feeling like I am shouting) will result in an increase in my ability to pay attention to the students faces to make sure they are listening and comprehending. Lastly, I am going to try out a “quiet” prompt to see if it helps me quiet down the students in a more timely fashion. The code word is “high five” and my sister (who is also a teacher) advises me to say it in a normal tone of voice and assures me that students will catch on quickly and will quiet down without you having to shout over them. I believe her, of course, because I happen to have the most intelligent and wise sisters in the entire universe.
I will be trying this tomorrow, and will determine whether the strategy is successful or not. I am sure you (the only person reading this Blog other than myself) are greatly eager to hear an update. (hah!)
;)
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Warm-ups in Math Education
Interviewer (looks at Sarah over her glasses): “Based on your research and personal philosophy, what is the purpose of warm-ups in your classroom?”
Sarah (taps her lip thoughfully before replying, then leans forward a touch): "Funny you should ask, madam. Indeed, using warm-ups at the beginning of a class period are useful for a number of reasons. For one, having students work on some problems as soon as they enter class gives the teacher a few minutes in which to take roll and complete other “housekeeping” duties. This is doubly beneficial, because rather than talking and not settling down, the students are almost immediately engaged (in other words, none of their time is wasted) and the teacher will be more quickly able to move onto the lesson for the day.
Moreover, warm-ups are appropriate for daily classwork because they are designed to meet at least one of the following targets: activate prior knowledge, review material from the day before (repeat and reinforce learning), introduce new material, check for understanding or lack thereof, and/or get students ready for jumping into the next set of activities. An activity, for instance, that references a concept that students should have learned the previous year, will ensure that students are better able to remember it (we “learn” through repetition) and will help the teacher check for any instances of lack of knowledge (so that he/she can scaffold those students who are lacking in an area). An activity that reviews material from the day before creates a sense of continuity from one day to the next and ensures that students are less likely to forget material from lack of exposure to it. Also, students have had the night to process new information overnight and are better able to tackle any misunderstandings. Because the work time on warm-ups is short, it helps get students settled into the correct frame of mind for beginning the next lesson or activity or for getting back into a lesson that has spilled over from the day before—in other words, it makes students think about math before listening to the teacher lecture again.
(brief pause, as though considering whether to say more)
However, I do argue that the most important of the above stated reasons is the one regarding repetition and reinforcement. We cannot expect students to internalize new knowledge in one day. Our brains need time to process and store that information, but if it is not “activated” within a short period of time, the likelihood of retaining that knowledge is greatly lessened. Not only for their own general benefit, but also for passing tests, this repetition is the key to the students’ success. Students must be able to remember things that they were taught at the beginning of a semester when they are taking tests, and if the teacher was unkind enough only to teach it once and never reference it again, it is quite possible that a high number of students will not recall that information. If I had only spent one day learning the alphabet when I was a child, it would be unlikely that, four months hence, I could tell you it in its entirety. It would even be possible that I forgot all of it. By extension, we can easily assume that most children will not run home after math or science class and eagerly do problems for entertainment, so we have to address all learning as it happens in the classroom. As a result, repetition and reinforcement are the primary reasons for having warm-ups in a classroom to begin with.
Sarah (taps her lip thoughfully before replying, then leans forward a touch): "Funny you should ask, madam. Indeed, using warm-ups at the beginning of a class period are useful for a number of reasons. For one, having students work on some problems as soon as they enter class gives the teacher a few minutes in which to take roll and complete other “housekeeping” duties. This is doubly beneficial, because rather than talking and not settling down, the students are almost immediately engaged (in other words, none of their time is wasted) and the teacher will be more quickly able to move onto the lesson for the day.
Moreover, warm-ups are appropriate for daily classwork because they are designed to meet at least one of the following targets: activate prior knowledge, review material from the day before (repeat and reinforce learning), introduce new material, check for understanding or lack thereof, and/or get students ready for jumping into the next set of activities. An activity, for instance, that references a concept that students should have learned the previous year, will ensure that students are better able to remember it (we “learn” through repetition) and will help the teacher check for any instances of lack of knowledge (so that he/she can scaffold those students who are lacking in an area). An activity that reviews material from the day before creates a sense of continuity from one day to the next and ensures that students are less likely to forget material from lack of exposure to it. Also, students have had the night to process new information overnight and are better able to tackle any misunderstandings. Because the work time on warm-ups is short, it helps get students settled into the correct frame of mind for beginning the next lesson or activity or for getting back into a lesson that has spilled over from the day before—in other words, it makes students think about math before listening to the teacher lecture again.
(brief pause, as though considering whether to say more)
However, I do argue that the most important of the above stated reasons is the one regarding repetition and reinforcement. We cannot expect students to internalize new knowledge in one day. Our brains need time to process and store that information, but if it is not “activated” within a short period of time, the likelihood of retaining that knowledge is greatly lessened. Not only for their own general benefit, but also for passing tests, this repetition is the key to the students’ success. Students must be able to remember things that they were taught at the beginning of a semester when they are taking tests, and if the teacher was unkind enough only to teach it once and never reference it again, it is quite possible that a high number of students will not recall that information. If I had only spent one day learning the alphabet when I was a child, it would be unlikely that, four months hence, I could tell you it in its entirety. It would even be possible that I forgot all of it. By extension, we can easily assume that most children will not run home after math or science class and eagerly do problems for entertainment, so we have to address all learning as it happens in the classroom. As a result, repetition and reinforcement are the primary reasons for having warm-ups in a classroom to begin with.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Khan Academy
The delightful and intelligent Salman Khan, the creative mind behind “Khan Academy,” has become a fairly powerful force in some classrooms. Working as a hedge-fund analyst (and yes, I had to look up that job), Khan evidently generated his first Youtube videos for his cousins, to sort of supplement their learning as he was tutoring them remotely. He was surprised when they told him that they really preferred the videos over listening to him in person, and was more surprised when other people—YouTube viewers—started making comments about how well they understood new concepts simply from watching his videos. For them, it was easier to view these clips online and in the privacy of their own home. Teachers said they were using it in classrooms, in place of homework. The feedback he (Khan) was getting for his videos prompted him to create Khan Academy, the online video experience. The general idea now? To create a global classroom.
What is great about it? You can pause, rewind, watch it again at a later time, and—and this is key—if you fall asleep, your teacher isn’t there to tap you on the back or smack a ruler on your desk. That is, you can take care of your own learning in your own way. Maybe you have to watch it ten times, but at least you can still get it without having to ask questions (which might embarrass a student). You don’t have to put on a face and pretend that you understand it all.
The other benefit? Khan suggests that it can be used to “humanize” the classroom. To make it so that the students watch the lectures at home (and can watch it multiple times) and then will get to spend the class time working together, rather than having to work alone and silently.
Could Khan Academy do something for me for language arts???
Main problem? Computer access AND technology problems! One of the complaints that I have heard from teachers in my practicum school is that the technology is lagging and that when there is a problem, it takes too long to fix. “We need a technology person!” they exclaim. When the teachers are using computers that are running on a system that is 10 years old, you probably are not going to see an abundance of other computers that are running well enough to maintain a computerized classroom experience. But can you get around that? Somewhat—at least at the high school level. If a teacher were to assign the Khan Academy videos as homework, then class time (as he suggested) could be centered around focusing on one-on-one instruction. The likelihood that students at a low-income middle school will be able to access computers is much lower, however, than the likelihood around any high school (even a low-income one) because mobility is greatly increased in the upper grades (due to relaxation of parental rules and students reaching the legal age to drive).
I believe I suddenly just realized that Khan is talking about something that in Language Arts is called the workshop model. Well, more like a modified workshop model.
What is great about it? You can pause, rewind, watch it again at a later time, and—and this is key—if you fall asleep, your teacher isn’t there to tap you on the back or smack a ruler on your desk. That is, you can take care of your own learning in your own way. Maybe you have to watch it ten times, but at least you can still get it without having to ask questions (which might embarrass a student). You don’t have to put on a face and pretend that you understand it all.
The other benefit? Khan suggests that it can be used to “humanize” the classroom. To make it so that the students watch the lectures at home (and can watch it multiple times) and then will get to spend the class time working together, rather than having to work alone and silently.
Could Khan Academy do something for me for language arts???
Main problem? Computer access AND technology problems! One of the complaints that I have heard from teachers in my practicum school is that the technology is lagging and that when there is a problem, it takes too long to fix. “We need a technology person!” they exclaim. When the teachers are using computers that are running on a system that is 10 years old, you probably are not going to see an abundance of other computers that are running well enough to maintain a computerized classroom experience. But can you get around that? Somewhat—at least at the high school level. If a teacher were to assign the Khan Academy videos as homework, then class time (as he suggested) could be centered around focusing on one-on-one instruction. The likelihood that students at a low-income middle school will be able to access computers is much lower, however, than the likelihood around any high school (even a low-income one) because mobility is greatly increased in the upper grades (due to relaxation of parental rules and students reaching the legal age to drive).
I believe I suddenly just realized that Khan is talking about something that in Language Arts is called the workshop model. Well, more like a modified workshop model.
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