Free Write-Monday 8/20
"Teaching is one of the few careers where we've had nearly a lifelong apprenticeship before we enter the profession...(p. 16). Take some time to reflect on what you have observed in your apprenticeship both effective and ineffective. The idea is not to critique other teachers, but rather to think about what things you did over and over as a student but now thinking about it from a teacher lens might not be the most effective practice. How do you plan to "wobble" against the flow?"
When I think about effective teaching and ineffective teaching, my mind immediately shoots to the idea of “popcorn reading” or students being forced to read in front of their classmates. As teachers, we can create effective teaching environments by accepting and recognizing a student’s anxiety or comfort area in the classroom. From personal experience, especially in elementary school and junior high my days were anxiety-based to the point I couldn’t even focus on what I should have been learning. I was busy focusing on the classes where my teachers would make me read out loud and hope it was one of the days, I wouldn’t have to do that. Sure, there are a lot worse things in the world but for a student with anxiety or students who struggle reading it can define their whole day in a negative way. A more effective way of this allows students to raise hands, which obviously means they want to share their thought and read! This is an aspect I will use in my classroom because I had to experience the anxiety and I want to do better for my future students and classroom. There are so many simple and easy fixes you can make in the classroom to reduce this type of anxiety. I plan to “wobble” against the flow by observing my students and understanding their comfort levels in the classroom. Absolutely no forcefulness in my classroom, if you want to share your ideas, great! And if not, that’s ok too.
Listening&Responding
Up until I read this and the idea of probing, I never realized that’s it’s something to be used in the classroom every day. Through reading I did have a few “Ah-Ha” moments because it took me back to Mrs. Bonner's teaching style and how she absolutely uses probing and pausing in her classroom, myself included without even knowing! On Wednesday we individually met with students to go over most of the work they have been working on and I allowed them to share their work with me and I asked questions such as “what made you think this would fit into the poem over this” or “this is great work, what was your idea behind it? What brought you to this response?” I think some of the students thought this was a trick question but it really allowed them to think and reflect on the work they have provided. When. it comes to Mrs. Bonner and her students she gives them short instruction “a 10-minute time frame” as she stated and lets them go on with their work and assignments. She gives the students time to reflect and think upon the instruction they are given which is important, which also is pausing because we are giving the students a time frame to take in whatever instructing they were just given. This idea of probing allows students to go beyond their original response to a question or ideas and it allows them to dig deeper into what they are learning or talking about to get a better and deeper understanding of whatever they are speaking on and this idea of pausing gives students time to interact with other students to share their thoughts and ideas too without teaching interrupting their thinking time. As a clinical student, I can right off the bat say I need to work on “pausing” I say this because I am very quick to speak and am a person who tends to take to everything in all at once. Working on pausing can allow me to grasp everything I am saying as well as my students to get a deeper understand of whatever it may be we are talking about. Talking and giving instruction is something I am strong at and while that is important “pausing” is too because it gives me the space to slow down, think, and then speak.
Well-Remembered Event #1
About a week back Mrs. Bonner had put us in individual groups with students to go over their writing projects. As I had three groups that day, the second group, period five is a group conference I will never forget. I had gone into clinical knowing I wanted to be a middle school teacher but what really made me realize that was when these students were not only fighting to share their work first but let alone, how blown away I was by their work. These students are so capable of the things we are teaching them and when we give positive feedback and how they really care about them and their work they prosper. I had five students in my group, Hailey, Colten, Matthew, and Taylor and each of them impressed me in different ways. I enjoyed every second of this and watching them succeed and take my feedback so well.
Why do you think this event stands out to you?
I think this event stood out to me so well because I am still a new person. In these students' classrooms and they were so eager and willing to share their work with me. not only that, their work was outstanding and something I didn’t expect. I feel schools had always held their students to a certain if not lower standard when that shouldn’t be the case because these students are capable of more than we think they are. When students have a sense of pride in their own work, it lets you know you are doing a good job as an educator.
What were you thinking when this event occurred and how did it make you feel?
During and right after this event i knew right then and they’re this is what I was meant to be doing. I felt so proud of these students and it was something i want to experience over and over again. Watching students be proud of their own work was the coolest thing I have experienced and I want to create a classroom environment where my future students will do the same.
If you were to interpret this event to an outsider, what do you think would be important to understand about the event?
When interpreting this event to an outsider, I think it would important for them to understand that I gave students directions and questions to respond with and they took it from there. It would be important for an outsider to understand that. The students took over and lead the discussion which is why so much was taken out of it, for them.
What, if any, changes might you make to your approach to teaching as a result of these events? Why would you make these changes, or why do you feel no changes are needed?
When it comes to any changes to my approach in teaching, I will always keep in the back of my head that my students are more capable than I may anticipate. Growing up my junior high teachers gave us bring criteria and basic assignments because we were looked upon as basic students when we were capable of so much more than answering questions from a documentary or book. I will as a future teacher in my classroom back down and let my students show me what they can do and what they know. This gives them the confidence to work harder and the freedom as well.
What does this event teach you about teaching & learning?
This event taught me to let me listen to my students and to let me learn from my students too. In schools teachers most of the time lecture which isn’t what students want. They want to interact with one another and feel they are in charge so. Are more excited about their work.
Could lesson study help you better understand this event? If so, in what ways?
Lesson study can easily help me better understand this event. It can help because it allows me to better understand what students enjoy and don’t enjoy doing in a sense of, what allows them to be prideful in their work and be confident in sharing it? Or what did I do as a teacher that wanted them to open up and share. It is simply listening to them and in their needs that make them excited to learn which is what we can learn from lesson study.
Lesson Study: wrap up
For quote one I had the interactive image of a student participating in class and all his peers seeming to look like they are enjoying his response. I used this to to show as students share their thoughts and ideas they learn off one another. The quote mentioned being kind to others ideas which the image was able to depict as well, students "cheering on: their classmate as he answered to the teacher. For slide two I wanted to focus on a general idea od diversity which is why I chose a map. Students come from all different backgrounds and it should be celebrated. As for slide three, I used an interactive image of a teacher and students working together to truly represent the idea that, it's not only students that can learn from a teacher, teachers can learn from students as well which is exactly what that image is capturing. For slide four I used a photo of a lightbulb. For some reason lightbulbs have always been a symbol for coming up with ideas and the quote was about internalizing one big idea. Lastly, for slide five I used a simple image with the word "learning." Although, it may seem simple, it's not. The idea and word of learning has such an impact in many different ways. Learning is apart of life and truly has a large impact when its done correctly and with passion. I am proud of the work I created, I really think it depicts the overall and general idea of Collet's Lesson Study.
From Collet's Lesson Study and going back to review quotes used throughout this text I was able to take away a lot of important aspects specifically being, allowing myself to provide a classroom and lessons that are inclusive for my students and lessons where every individual student can learn from it. This text has really changed my outlook towards teaching in a classroom for the better and I cant wait to apply these ideas in my classroom. for my future students.
Well-Remembered Event #2
1. Why do you think this event stands out to you?
The one event that stick out to me today is how well a student in the 4th hour worked and took time on his assignment. I want to mention that this sticks out to me because often time this student gets easily distracted by his peers and isn’t always motivated in his work.
2. What were you thinking when this event occurred and how did it make you feel?
During the time of this event, I couldn’t help but feel overjoyed and relieved at the same time. It was my lesson that I created that he was intrigued by doing! It made me feel so confident in our lesson that he did so well with it and even set an example for his classmates.
3. If you were to interpret this event to an outsider, what do you think would be important to understand about the event?
I would want an outsider to interpret this event as this was a student who doesn’t often pay any mind to class and is easily distracted by his peers, finally takes class time seriously. This was a student who isn’t motivated a lot of the time and he did his best work in class today and even blew his peers out of the water. It's moments like these that mean so much to a teacher because a lesson was created where he wanted to work hard and prove himself.
4. What, if any, changes might you make to your approach to teaching because of this event? Why would you make these changes, or why do you feel no changes are needed?
After this event, it makes me want to focus on individual group work that collaborates with other students as well, believe it or not, yes that is possible! I was able to recognize that for students to work well on tasks they need that interaction and collaboration with their classmates first, then that time to do individual group work. While collaboration and being interactive with peers is very important for YA development, I also know that alone time to sit with personal thoughts is a part of that development too.
5. What does this event teach you about teaching & learning?
As a student teacher, and this time around observing things, it's days in clinical-like these that allow me to recognize what works for students and what doesn’t. It also teaches me that students do enjoy that individual work time alone when it’s a topic they feel passionate about, can connect to, and overall enjoy. This lesson plan was also based on students sharing their individual fears and speaking their minds. After today I was able to recognize Middle School students are more than capable of handling a vulnerable lesson like this.
6. Could lesson study help you better understand this event? If so, in what ways?
Lesson study can no doubt help me better understand this event. We as future teachers need to take into account what our students are more than capable of which included students using their individual opinions that they have the right to voice.
well-remembered event #3
1. Why do you think this event stands out to you?
The event I chose for this last round of teaching was our Socratic seminar preparation. My students were able to form questions around the book we were discussing, In the Wild Light. We began to teach our students that a good question is well-rounded and doesn’t have one specific answer. Well, they didn’t struggle with that at all. A few questions that’s had blown me away were “Would cash be successful at poetry if he didn’t go through the trauma that he did?” and “What stages of grief did cash presently?” I love that these students were able to have a focus, theme, and topic of the questions. The questions they created aren’t simple yes or no questions, they are discussion questions. These students are never underestimated, and they know this which pushes them to be successful each time. I think this was so well remembered for me because these students are constantly blowing me away with their ideas. It makes me wonder if I were to have done the same in junior high, but I never got the opportunity to because teachers didn’t think we were able to handle such big tasks. Not only this, but my students were also excited about this and wanted to form questions that would make them think hard and be able to have a good and genuine discussion about. They connect these questions to the text and their own personal knowledge which is such an important element as well.
2. What were you thinking when this event occurred and how did it make you feel?
When I think about the way I was feeling during this event I felt like I was successful in the lesson plan my team and I created. There truly is no matter feeling than instructing your students on something and them understanding it and blowing the whole lesson out of the water. It also makes me feel so proud of my students and their willingness to want to learn and be successful in the lesson.
3. If you were to interpret this event to an outsider, what do you think would be important to understand about the event?
If I were to interpret this event to an outsider, I think it would be important for them to understand that the time, effort, and work these students had to put into this book to reach the time for a seminar. These students have done so many assignments, tasks, and readings to reach a point. To be able to form their own questions that they would be discussing in front of their classmates, which we all know is never easy.
4. What, if any, changes might you make to your approach to teaching because of this event? Why would you make these changes, or why do you feel no changes are needed?
If I were to make any changes because of this lesson and event, I would change my outlook on how my students would handle this lesson. I grew up in a junior high where teachers doubted our ability and skill to do lessons like these. When we give our students the opportunity to branch out and show us what they know, they are extremely successful, just like they were in this seminar and forming questions themselves. I feel these changes are needed because students are more than capable of the things we instruct them to do, all they need is that someone to cheer them on.
5. What does this event teach you about teaching & learning?
This event has taught me that students need a social and interactive based lesson. Students work better when they have a collaborative classroom because all student’s ideas flow together that creates one big successful idea and lesson. The lessons and curriculum go into more depth because of these students working together and bringing all their ideas together. Especially at the middle school age, young adolescents working together in a collaborative classroom is so important.
6. Could lesson study help you better understand this event? If so, in what ways?
Lesson study would better help me understand this lesson and here is why during this lesson I had to probe my students by asking them to dig deeper into their questions and elaborate on them more. I had to create a social aspect for the lesson which we also learn is better for students because they are more engaged and interested in learning that way.