Blog #4 - Project Tomorrow

Speak Up Study
I read Project Tomorrow's 2010 study of students and parents named The Three Es of  Education: Enabled, Engaged, Empowered. The study surprised me; it did not sound like any of the students or parents that I have worked with. It made me question the validity of the surveys. Are parents and students answering these questions honestly or are they answering them the way they think they should be answered? I was very surprised to learn that a majority of parents, across differing profiles, answered that they were willing to buy a mobile device and a data plan for their child to use at school.
I was not surprised that students would like to use their mobile devices in school. It also did not surprise me that students could find a way to make use their mobile devices productive tools for learning.
As a teacher I will use this information in an attempt to be be lenient and trusting of students' ability to use their devices wisely. I will follow a former professor's advice of allowing students the use of their mobile devices in class as long as the they are kept face up on the desk. I will give this strategy a trial run. If students are too distracted by the use of their devices and not able to focus on class work, I will remove the privilege.

Speak Up Video
I viewed the video titled Is Anyone Listening to Students? I was struck by the eloquence of the second student speaker when he said, "I would ask them to imagine a world where kids actually want to learn" in reference to the use of technology in the classroom.
I liked that the final student made a distinction between technology and the use of mobile devises. She insisted that mobile devises would provide too big a distraction for students but that internet access though personal computers in class were still valuable. I am forced to question whether or not students can exercise the self-control necessary to utilize their mobile devices for educational purposes while only minimally using it for non-educational purposes.

youthTEACH2Learn resources
I imagine this program would be fairly complicated to implement in any school site as it requires students to enroll in a class. Once I gained administrative support for the class, I would need to advertise and recruit students for the class and continually collaborate with elementary school teachers. The benefits of starting a Future Teachers organization would go beyond career preparation for future teachers. It would give students a hands format for refreshing their own skills in math and science, provide a sense of community in the classroom and towards the elementary students they teach, and develop professional skills.

Blog Post #3 - 21st Century Literacies

Our 7th grade English Language Arts/Social Studies students frequently express their creativity in their course work by thinking creatively and working creatively with each other. The students my cooperating teacher and I instruct are frequently tasked with utilizing drawing to express their understanding. Most recently they used drawing to express their ideas of the novel they are reading and the sentences they formed during a grammar workshop.The students also showed creativity by forming these sentences from parts of speech gathered around a Halloween theme.
Our students frequently work in groups of three to elaborate, refine, and analyze their own ideas. By working collaboratively they learn to communicate, respect, and utilize each others' creative contributions. Through effective group work our students learn to compromise, build consensus, and take risks in a secure environment.
Our students exercise critical thinking and problem solving throughout their work with problem based learning. A problem based learning lesson is one where students work together to answer a question or solve a problem. We recently challenged our students to Jigsaw the Eightfold Noble Paths of Buddhism, develop a definition, real-world example, and non-example for their assigned path. The assignment was concluded with a presentation by all groups to the class. 
Our students learn information literacy through strategies known as Power Literacy. Power Literacy places a focus on teaching strategies to read and comprehend a variety of texts and a variety of information sources. In Power Literacy they are taught a series of steps to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate text and other information.
Our students learn media literacy through lessons which teach students that most writing comes in four forms, narrative, expository, descriptive, and persuasive. When reading any piece of writing it is important for the reader to understand what form of writing he or she is reading, whether the source is reliable, and if the source may have a bias.
At least once a month technology is used in our class for student research. Once the information is obtained, it is analyzed, synthesized, and evaluated in writing.
Ownership over education is an important value that my cooperating teacher and I would like to instill in our students. The problem based learning teaching strategy engages students' interest and motivation to form their own ideas and opinions and make decisions that affect project outcomes. This week our students had a Tea Party activity that culminated in each group writing a letter of advise to a peer utilizing Confucian Analects as a guide. The groups concluded the exercise by presenting their letters to the class. 
By teaching Power Literacy and utilizing problem based learning strategies our students are more literate in 21st century skills that emphasize their creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills.

Action Plan for an Adolescent ELL

During our recent parent-teacher conferences, I was able to meet about half of the parents of our Hidden Valley Middle School students. This experience was valuable because it made me think about the disparity between many of the immigrant parents' experience during adolescents and their child's experience. This disparity can cause a cultural gap between parents and their children. In an effort to bridge this gap I would like to survey my students and find out where their parents are from. In an effort to make this project equitable I would survey all my students. Once I had a list of locations I would spend some class time on the geography of their parents' origins, whether it is state in our nation or a state in another nation. This project would contain a combination of guided and independent practices. It would serve to strengthen ownership over their learning and strengthen research skills.
Geography is included in the California 7th grade World History standard, so this lesson would integrate seamlessly into my curriculum.

521 Blog Post #2

How does your overall lesson designing and planning incorporate knowledge of the teenage brain? 

The teenage brain is a brain in transition. The gray matter in the prefrontal cortex of the teenage brain is decreasing which serves to prune unnecessary synapses and strengthen important synapses. The prefrontal cortex affects decision making, planning, inhibiting inappropriate behavior, social interaction, and self-awareness. This biological process explains what many understand to be the cause of typical teenage behavior like risk-taking, decreased empathy, and impulsivity. My lesson plan will address the social teenage brain with partner and group learning activities. It will also include a class management plan that includes repetition of copying learning and language objectives from the board and weekly homework assignments.

How does your overall planning for learning, designed to access memory lanes and use what you know about how adolescents learn?

The brains stores information as five different types of memories: Semantic, Episodic, Procedural, Automatic, and Emotional. When a student summarizes a reading in my class he or she will be accessing Semantic Memory. Taking my students on fieldtrip would activate their Episodic Memory. The repetition of writing the day’s objectives will activate students’ Procedural Memory. A group quiz study game will enhance my students’ Automatic Memory. When the students put on a skit role playing class rules they will access Emotional Memory.

How are students engaged in the learning?

By assigning a self-reflective activity just before progress reports are sent home I will teach my students to self-assess, take ownership over their learning, and set goals for themselves.

Classroom Management Plan

Introduction

The educational philosophy that best mirrors my own philosophy is Experimentalism. I believe that allowing students to play a role in what they study encourages students to be self-motivated learners. Experimentalism mirrors my belief that education’s primary goal should be to prepare students to function in society. The ability to think critically, make sound decisions, and learning through discovery and experimentation are life skills that are promoted in experimentalism. Granting students autonomy is also preventive classroom management technique. Supportive and Corrective approaches are important when preventive approaches do not satisfy all of students’ needs.

Preventive Approach

All of the classroom management approaches I read about contained a preventive approach, whether it ranged from Canters’ (1976) teaching the disciplinary plan to students or Kohn’s (1996) development of a caring, supportive classroom. The preventive approach is essential to any management plan because it address behavioral issues before they arise.

1. Teach the discipline plan to students (Canter, 1976). Students cannot be expected to follow classroom rules unless they are knowledgeable of them. Students should also be educated on the hierarchy of discipline so they are familiar with the consequences for their actions. Canter emphasizes checking for understanding after the discipline procedures are taught. This entire process should only take 10 minutes of class time, especially if a teacher only uses three to five class rules as Canter suggests. 

2. Teaching a quality curriculum is essential to good discipline (Glasser, 1985). A quality curriculum meets students’ needs for survival, belonging, power, fun, and freedom. The curriculum is purposeful and challenging. Meeting the challenge of the curriculum allows students to be self-confident in their learning abilities and reduces the desire to cause classroom conflicts.

3. Help students feel a sense of belonging in class (Albert 1996). Albert identifies four ways students misbehavior in an attempt to “gain a sense of belonging” (page 96). They are attention seeking, power seeking, revenge seeking, and avoidance of failure. Some of those behaviors can be prevented by offering a sense of belonging through building confidence. One strategy to help build confidence is “helping students see that learning is a process of improvement” and “looking for activities that maximize the likelihood of success” (page 94). 

4. Anticipate types of disruptive behavior (Kagan, Kyle, Scott). Students who are acting are doing so because they are: avoiding failure, feeling the need to seek attention or control, angry with the teacher, or bored, which are four of the reasons students act out according to Kagan, Kyle, and Scott. Anticipating these behaviors can help a teacher identify what kind of personal need the student is trying to have met. Identifying the motivation behind the behavior is necessary before a teacher can correct the situation.

5. Currency exchange in the classroom (Jackson, 2010). Jackson defines classroom currency as “any behavior that students use to acquire the knowledge and skills important to your class.” In her article Start Where Your Students Are she suggests teachers understand their own values and recognize that they may be different from a student’s values. Ultimately teachers must withhold judgment, respect the students’ currency, and learn to use it to motivate their students.   

Supportive Approach

Supporting students and encouraging positive behavior is an important element to any teaching position, especially when dealing with students that feel the need to act out in class.

1. Establish quality communication in the classroom (Charles, 2008). Allowing a verbal give and take between teacher and student offers students a sense of dignity and belonging in the class. Teachers should also listen attentively to their students by showing genuine interest in their thoughts and feelings, and encourage their students’ endeavors. 

2.  Check with students before making assumptions (Nelsen and Lott, 2006). Nelsen and Lott’s book Positive Discipline in the Classroom lists five relationship builders, techniques teachers can use to foster respectful relationships with their students. Checking with students to find out what they think and feel is one of their techniques. Once a teacher understands a student’s motivation, he or she is better prepared to assist the student with their education. 

3. Encourage student feedback in class matters (Albert 1996). In order to give students a sense of ownership over their own learning and the class environment it is important that teachers ask students’ opinions and preferences about assignments, routines, and opportunities for improvement. The students’ feedback should be validated and responded to with respect by the teacher.

4.  Offer students positive recognitions for good behavior (Canter 1976). The entire class will benefit from observing a teacher offering sincere positive accolades to students who behaving in keeping with class expectations. It will offer the receiver of the accolades proper recognition and it will serve as encouragement for other students to follow class expectations. It will also remind students to follow the model of their better behaving peers.

5. Make the connection for students (Towbin, 2010). When students offer the teacher a behavior that he/she finds challenging the teacher should make an effort to find out why a student is not doing an assignment or otherwise participating in class. It is important to not simply scold one’s student and dismiss his/her behavior as laziness. Often students want to learn but need to know why an assignment is meaningful or have the autonomy to modify an assignment slightly to their learning styles or interests.

Corrective Approach

Beginning teachers often have difficulty with students who will test their boundaries. Establishing an environment of hard work and respect for others is an important responsibility of all teachers. There are a variety of strategies which teachers can choose from in order to establish such a classroom. Additionally, experienced teacher are a valuable resource for effective strategies in particular situations.

1. Focus on the misbehavior not the student (Albert 1996). When correcting a students’ misbehavior promptly and in front of the class, it is important for teachers to describe aloud the behavior that needs to be corrected. It is also important for teachers to use objective terms while avoiding insulting the student. In this way a teacher shows firmness and compassionate. 

2. Follow through with an established hierarchy of discipline (Canter 1976). A teacher must act calmly and promptly when misbehavior occurs. A teacher can be calm and decisive when discipline hierarchy has been established and taught to her class. She simply follows the corrective actions listed according to the level of severity and the number of disruptions caused that day.

3. Communicate that the disruptive behavior is unacceptable (Kagan, Kyle, and Scott). Kagan, Kyle, and Scott believe that teachers should take a student collaborated approach to discipline. They believe that once that structure has been established most students who disrupt a class will simply require a reminder to “get back on track” (160). However, the authors recognize that some situations will require more intervention on the part of the teacher. By communicating to a disruptive student that his/her behavior is unacceptable the teacher is helping him/her seek out a productive solution.

4. Send I-Messages regularly (Gordon, 1989). Gordon discourages teachers from scolding students, instead he believes teachers should express their feelings through I-Messages. I-Messages are a form of expressing ones’ feelings. I do not believe that I-Messages counter the corrective tactic of communicating that disruptive behavior is unacceptable. They should be used in differing situations. For example, if a whole class is talking and I as the teacher cannot give the lesson, I would use an I-Message in order to communicate my concern that the excessive talking is wasting learning time. 

Conclusion

The classroom is managed through preventive, supportive, and corrective strategies which can be employed sequentially. A teacher must have all strategies in his/her arsenal in order to combat all types of disruptions. I have selected my preferred approaches from variety of disciplinary philosophies. I have found that most philosophies have at least one helpful tips that can be applied to one of the stages of classroom management. 

Accurate (i+1) Assessment for English Learners

This is an assessment plan for an English learner named Elena. She has tested at a CELDT level 2 (early intermediate).
 

ELD Standard Listening and Speaking

Cluster : 1

Level: Intermediate

I: "Listen attentively to stories and information and identify important details and concepts by using both verbal and nonverbal responses."


1. Students are able to draft a quick write in approximately eight minutes on the topic of: how two amendments apply to their life, in what way does it protect their lives, and what is a practical example of how they will exercise that right? The teacher will give the students a verbal example of her answers to the quick write question.
The purpose of this assignment is to assess the students' understanding of two of the eighteen amendments covered in the preceding lecture and to have students connect the curriculum to their lives.

Type: Formative.

Formality: Formal, students will turn their quick writes in to the teacher for feedback and a grade.

Implementation Method:The assessment will be used to gauge if a review of the amendments is necessary for the next day.


Feedback Strategies: Teacher evaluates students on whether or not they have answered the questions completely.

2. Students will be able to draw a graph or flow chart representing the two ways in which an amendment may be ratified. The purpose of this assignment is to assess the students' ability to translate numbers and text on an overhead in to a graphic organizer. 

Type: Formative.

Formality: Informal. The teacher will walk around the class to see that students have completed an accurate graphic representation.

Implementation Method: The teacher will immediately assist the students who need assistance with the graphic organizer. 

Feedback Strategies:The teacher will immediately assist the students who need assistance with the graphic organizer.

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TPA

TPA