Reflection

5/26/10 Throughout the year I have observed a third grade class in the library. The LMS collaborated with the third grade teachers in creating a unit called, the heritage project. Students were first asked to fill out a family tree in order to discover what countries their family members came from. Each student then chose a country to research. This unit involved using an atlas, almanac, a database called culturegrams and folk tales. All of these elements were brought together in a power point presentation which was shared with the class and their families. The students seemed to have really enjoyed the project in part because it had a personal meaning for them. They were able to relate what they were learning with their experiences with their families and their traditions. They had fun with one part of the project in particular, where they included a favorite recipe into a recipe book and then shared the food with the class, creating an authentic learning experience. I can now see after Monday’s class how personalized learning- relating the learner’s own experience, is an important part of teaching. These students will probably remember this knowledge in a more meaningful way than if it was a dull lecture type unit.

6/7/10 After reading chapter 5: Questioning Skills in the Cooper text, I thought about how often I would ask questions to my children or to the students that I have been helping during my observations. I have found myself guilty of not waiting long enough for a reply before I jump in. When it comes to helping my children with their homework, I’ll often answer the question for them when it seems like they are taking too long to answer. I never realized that the amount of wait time had such an effect on student learning. When wait time is increased, the advantages are numerous. For example, students give longer answers and volunteer more appropriate answers. They ask more questions and the students’ level of understanding increases. They also exhibit more confidence in their comments. I appreciated the suggestions in how to increase wait time, as I would think that this process would take some practice to master.

6/10/10 We’ve often talked in class about putting students into groups to work on an assignment. Marzano states some interesting facts about the organization of such groups. He states that, “organizing groups based on ability levels should be done sparingly.” (p 87) For example, low ability students perform worse when placed in groups with students of the same level of ability as themselves. The effects of those with a high ability grouped together were positive but small, while the medium students that were grouped homogeneously benefitted the most. Therefore, according to the study, grouping students by ability might have a very different effect on different students. The study also states that any grouping of students has a positive effect on achievement than no collaborative grouping at all. It seems to me that a mix of students with different abilities working together would be beneficial to all. Mentioned in this chapter are cooperative learning techniques such as pair-share. This is something we do regularly in class, and I see the benefits of this technique. This allows us more time to process the information and discuss new ideas.

6/14/10 I was thinking about Differentiated Instruction this week when I observed a third grade class. The students needed to answer questions using different reference materials in the library. It was an end of the year lesson bringing together all the materials that they have learned about throughout the year. I was helping Brian, the boy I thought about during class. Most of the students needed help at one point or another finding an answer to a question. When they asked for help, they found what they were looking for and then moved on. Brian told me he thought all of the questions were hard, and when I worked with him, he had trouble focusing. He tried to tell me many stories and jokes, but he did not want to do the work. He’s a funny kid, and he’s always telling me stories and jokes. (I’ve been helping this class every Friday since September) Thinking back to our class, I was wondering what to do to make the assignment better for Brian, or how to help a “Brian” when I have a class of my own. I liked the ideas of learning centers in the library and putting students into pairs. It really is a lot to think about. I read a quote from Tomlinson that stated, “To be effective with differentiation, a teacher really needs to talk with the kids, ask them their opinions on things, sit down with them for a minute or two to see how things are going, and listen to them and find out what they are interested in.” ( [] ) I think that sounds like a great idea that I will certainly use.

The Marzano text states a study that “found that students who were taught the relationship between effort and achievement increased their achievement more than students who were taught techniques for time management and comprehension of new material.” (p 51) I see how this is true when it comes to my son. He is very smart but often lacks the motivation to do better. His grades could be more reflective of his ability. My daughter struggles with school in that learning new material does not come easy for her. She has an IEP and works with a resource room teacher. She is however very successful in her assignments and tests because she is highly motivated and puts in a great deal of time and effort to her work. She is successful because of this motivation to do well.

6/17/10 Chapter 11 in the Marzano text on teaching specific types of knowledge states that, “students need a fair amount of guidance when first learning a complex process. One of the best ways to provide this guidance is to give them a model…” (p 143) As I am completing my assignments for class, I realize how much this statement is true. Teaching is a new profession for me and I am finding the examples for each assignment to be very helpful and important in understanding what I need to accomplish. For example, having a complete Raft lesson to follow helps me to visualize what I need to do and what is expected of me. This type of modeling is something I will make sure I do with students in order to make sure they understand the assignment and to help them be better students.

6/21/10 What I like most about UbD is the fact that teachers start by thinking about what you want the students to know, understand and gain from the lesson. How do you know what you are going to teach if you don’t know what you want your students to learn? I enjoyed working on a sample UbD together as a class. It made more sense to me to see and participate in the process of creating essential questions and enduring understandings than if I were to just read about how one is done. This is an important technique to use with students and something that I would incorporate into my lessons.

6/28/10 Everything we learned in class this summer really came together at the end, culminating with the UbD lesson plan. All the concepts and strategies built upon one another and I saw how it could all be connected and interwoven together to create a great learning experience for the students. Starting with brain research, modeling, Bloom’s Taxonomy, differentiated instruction to cooperative learning and ending with the UbD. I thought it was great to have everyone share their UbD or favorite lesson plan. It was nice to see other people’s ideas and hard work and to get feedback on our own.