Ch. 8 QtCs

Teaching writing may be one of the hardest but most useful things I will have to address in the classroom. Unfortunately, I will not have the privilege of guiding individual students through the entire process of improving their writing; rather, I will have a group of students for only one year to either introduce or refine their writing skills.  Thus, I do not want to take lightly the importance of using my time in a classroom down the road efficiently.

I have always enjoyed writing, down to young elementary school when I was writing books and printing them off for my entire family to see. Throughout high school—my first experience with a teacher grading my work other than my mother—I always received exemplary grades on papers, a trend which has typically continued and perhaps led to my English major. I can’t help but wonder…what led me to this point? Perhaps I had some natural ability, but I also believe the way I was taught writing benefited me greatly, if not completely formed the way I write. The actual program was called Institute for Excellence in Writing, and its main goals were to initially—think Elementary years—instill ideas about structure and drill rules about how to formulate sentences, paragraphs and essays, until as an older student one would use these practices naturally.  One day, I would like to require some of these ideas in my own students. For example, I will require a checklist to be turned in with each paper, indicating exactly what I am looking for. There will be items dealing with technicalities such as “MLA format used,” or “Do not use first person such as ‘I’.” There will also be items dealing with stylistics, such as “Use at least two vocabulary words we have studied in class,” or “Thesis sentence is arguable and at the end of your introductory paragraph.” This checklist will give a structure and focus for my students to begin thinking about the way they are writing—which, essentially, is thinking on a page.

I hope to encourage and foster metacognitive and problem-solving skills in the way I compel my students to analyze their own writing. The organizational pre-writing process is extremely vital to the creation of a paper, especially for students who feel as if they have never mastered the writing process in the first place. To improve this, I hope to create a classroom culture in which taking notes, making annotations or summaries, and highlighting important information within the books or other works of literature we read will be necessary for success.

The final step I will use in teaching effective writing skills to my students will be to organize small-groups of peer reviewing.  This will require convergent thinking, as several minds will be put together to try to come up with the best possible way a paper could be organized or bettered. However, it will also involve divergent thinking, as one paper—seen through the eyes of multiple students—could potentially take on several different forms. In the same way, this activity will involve both algorithmic and heuristic problem-solving strategies, the students can use the checklist and other resources to go through a sequence of steps to eliminate errors, but will also be asked to improve the quality of the content of the paper—a task which may or may not fully be achieved.

 

Ch. 7 QtC's

Ever since taking Educational Psychology 210, when we discussed how to encourage critical thinking among your students, I have been planning a lesson, constructivist in nature, which I want to teach one day in my high school English classroom. This activity will best work for upperclass high school students. Much of the period will be spent with me teaching false information yet presenting it as fact, giving extreme opinions and expecting the students to agree with them, and making broad statements and then quickly brushing past them without explaining. The key will be in not varying from my teaching style so that the students do not suspect that I am giving completely wrong information.  The goal is to see if any students stop me, question the veracity of the material, or simply begin to critically think for themselves. If no student picks up on the idea, I will distribute an assessment to see what is going on in their minds: I will ask them to write a question about anything I said on a sheet of paper and turn it in anonymously.  Finally, I will reveal that everything the students learned today was completely wrong. I will hit it home hard that critical thinking is vital, both now and especially in high school.  All the time one is surrounded with opinions of family, friends or community, and is bombarded with [often contradictory] pieces of information. 

In line with the Ormrod text highlighting knowledge construction, this activity would provide opportunities for firsthand observation and experimentation, as the students themselves are the variables in the experiment. Secondly, I will present experts’ perspectives by joining the class in figuring out the true facts of every false statement or information I gave. This encourages conceptual understanding because all the knowledge we uncover will now be a part of a meaningful memory to the students. One of my passions is encouraging classroom dialogue, and so this activity is no different.  I will be genuinely pleased if a student speaks up and stops me in my tracks. Also, after the truth is revealed, I want to check in with each individual student and see how importantly they now view critical thinking. The lesson itself could be described both as an authentic activity, for its meaning-making capabilities, and as an exercise in scaffolding for its nature in encouraging—in fact requiring—the students to ask how and why questions. Finally, the lesson will create a community of learners, for the collaborative effort and unique way of pushing the students out of their comfortable idea of the classroom will ideally create bonds both between student-teacher and student-student relationships.

High-Stakes Test Stress

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/magazine/why-can-some-kids-handle-pressure-while-others-fall-apart.html?_r=1&

Here's an interesting article about why some kids are extremely test-anxious in high-stakes testing situations, but others can take that same test without any anxiety.

Ch. 6 QtC

Especially during the Teacher Project today, I realized how false of an idea I have had about how students will learn from me. I can present information in a certain way, but that is not necessarily the same way they will retain that information (if they even do at all!)  In fact, I will have to work to create connections so that the information I present my student is not lost but rather transported from short to long term (or the “barn”). With every piece of new information I present, my students will be encoding it and changing it depending on other stimulants.  If I can make something meaningful and of interest to a student, it is much more likely that they will remember it in the way I want them to.  A good example is the name exercise given to us—I will probably always remember how to pronounce “Sohn” because of the phrase “can’t make it to the Phone leave your message at the Tone.”  As an English teacher, I hope to be able to connect much of what we discuss in class to the real-life situations of my students.  If I can convince my students that the feud between the Mercutios and the Tybalts is not so far from their own situation, they will probably never forget the story line and meaning of Romeo and Juliet. Another effective way to aid in the storage of information in long-term memory I could use is making connections between new knowledge and prior knowledge. I want to be on the same page as the English teachers in different grades so that I can be familiar with what my students should have talked about last year. Ideally, I would also like to be on the same page as teachers across different subject areas so that I would be able to make connections between, for example, Spanish and English grammatical functions or History and literature! In the absence of prior knowledge, I will have to work extra hard to offer mnemonic devices or some other way of remembering trite information. Once I put in my part as a teacher, the rest is up to the students. Ultimately, I want my students to have the skills necessary to do well on assessments testing both recall and recognition.

QtC's Ch. 15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdCzwvWH0VQ

Here is a link to a video of another way a school is encouraging positivity about standardized tests that the TCAP Idol video reminded me of.

Talking about standardized tests in class this past week got me thinking about the role that they are (most likely—unless Ken Robinson gets elected president in 4 years) going to be playing  in my classroom.  Not only I will be affected by the scores; my students will be graded based on these achievement tests. I will want to be able to fully communicate both the significance of and the meaning of the score results.  If I was explaining “Ingrid’s” example score sheet on page 559, I would tell her grandmother that it appears Reading Comprehension, Science, and Social Science appear to be her strengths. You can tell this because she is in a high percentile—average to above average—for each of these subjects.  For example, Ingrid’s raw score in Reading Comprehension of “8,” which correlates to the 92^nd percentile, means she had a better performance score at this subject than 92% of students in her grade level who took this test.  Her weaknesses are Math Concepts, which still ranks in the average 57^th percentile but could still be improved, and most clearly Spelling and Math Computation.  These are the subject areas which have below average percentiles and need to be strengthened at home to help her catch up.  I would suggest that her grandmother involve Ingrid in daily computations at home, the grocery store, and the gas station, to name a few. She could also give spelling drills and quiz Ingrid on the spellings of random words throughout the day.

By the way, now that you got suckered into watching the video, I will admit that I am biased because the principal in the movie is…..my dad. But hey, I’m proud of him and the positive environment he’s built at his school! Whether educators like it or not, TCAPS are still a required aspect of Tennessee public schools, so the best way for an individual teacher to cope is to adjust and make the most out of what has been given.

Ch. 14 QtC's

In my experiences leading an ACT prep program at Austin-East High School, I have run into many students repeating the same thing: “I hate standardized tests.” I am a naturally good test-taker and got a high ACT score in high school, so at first—to my shame—I judged their comment and simply brushed aside what they were saying as basically equivalent to “I’m not that smart.” However, in truly breaking apart what the ACT is asking, I realize that it truly is merely assessing a student’s ability to take a test. Perhaps besides the Math section, none of the sections require knowledge as much as they require being able to discern what the test writers are asking and finding that within a passage. In my career as a high school English teacher, I want to rather assess my students on what they are LEARNING. I am of the mindset that if a future student comes to me and imparts everything they have learned and applied and thought about in my class, they could convince me to raise their grade. I would like to incorporate many authentic assessments (as opposed to traditional assessments) in which I measure real-life skills. For example, I could administer a “thought journal” assignment in which a student is supposed to free write on everything they know about a novel we read and connect it to any real life situation. My goal could also be realized through giving performance assessments, such as presentations of a topic from a book or oral reports. However, I am also aware that I am responsible for preparing my students for “the real world” of college, in which success is measured by how well you can take a test; in in a huge lecture room a University professor cannot assess how much a student has learned. Thus, I do not want to neglect paper-pencil assessments and, unfortunately, standardized assessments. Through this, students must learn study skills, understand how to read the questions, and figure out how to answer questions based on what the test writer is looking for.

As for norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessments, there are pros and cons to both. For high schoolers, norm-referenced assessments are clearly important for college admissions boards to compare the education of a certain student to those around the country. However, they really don’t give any feedback to the teacher how a student is doing in their class; a criterion-referenced assessment is necessary to break down a student’s specific performance. Each type of assessment is useful in its own way, but each is also vulnerable to error, such as a teacher creating bad criteria, or a test being too standardized.

Chapter 13 QtC's

When we discussed in class different ways to transform a classroom into a learning environment, I couldn’t help but think of the classrooms which simply can’t be much improved. I will probably be in a situation at some point in my teaching point where the room is too small to rearrange the desks, there are too many “trouble kids” to place them all at the front, or disorganization cannot be avoided because materials which are not mine are in the room. I thought of Hardin Valley High School, which has teachers moving from classroom to classroom with their teaching materials on a cart because of overcrowding. I thought of classrooms in rural or urban areas which do not yet have the funding to put new desks or technology in their rooms. Ultimately, I had to come to the conclusion that what matters more than any perfect classroom arrangement is the teacher. I have the final responsibility to work around a less than ideal classroom setting, keep students in line, be interactive and enthusiastic enough to keep their attention, and be able to cue when problems are on the verge of ensuing. 

The misbehaviors in the Secondary School CSEL case study sound to me like the result of boredom.  These problems could be ameliorated by making sure the students are always productively engaged in some activity, rather having down time while certain students are practicing their soprano or tenor parts.  Having the other students involved in anther activity would disallow them to make fun of the practicing students. Disinterest in the course is also most likely a factor for texting and passing notes, but this is no excuse for bending the rules. The case study teacher seems to have enough withitness to catch on to the fact that these actions are going on, so the consequences established at the beginning of the year simply need to be consistently doled out. The behaviors of Tony, Jeff and Morris have escalated to the point where private conferences with each are necessary.  In these meetings, the teacher should express her concern for the student, re-state the rules and consequences, and work out a behavior contract with the student which lays out further consequences for further misbehaviors.  

Chapter 11 QtC's

Of course, I see positive aspects in many theories of motivation and believe that implementing a combination of several of them in my classroom will be the most effective way of reaching all the students with various levels of intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. To meet the students’ need for arousal, I could find out what interests different students and allow them at appropriate times. For example, I could have 30 minutes of free reading every Friday, or let students listen to music while they take tests if they want.  To instill self-efficacy in my students, I could begin the semester with easy topics such as grammar and progressively move on to more difficult subjects after the students feel competent and confident in the easy subject. To encourage self-determination, I could offer many choices; for example, I could have a list of good literature with a summary and background information so students can individually choose what sounds interesting to do a book report on. Maslow’s Theory of Hierarchy of Needs was also helpful in aiding me to break down the different facets of needs that must be addressed when I think about motivating my students. Finally, the focus on having students create goals was particularly instructive. In high-school, I remember my swim coach’s most effective tool in motivating me was to get me to physically write down goals I had for the next meet, by the end of the month, and by the end of the season.  There was nothing more enjoyable than meeting a goal, and nothing more motivating than just missing a goal. These were examples of performance goals, but I have also experienced mastery goals by being proud of myself for understanding a concept or achieving a level of knowledge about a topic. I would like to be intentional about having my students and I join in a contract of goals so that I may keep them accountable and can celebrate with them when goals are achieved.