If you have been reading my blogs, I believe it is apparent that I see a value in using project based learning in my classroom. I believe the students are more engaged and have an opportunity to create something they are passionate about doing. I am a much better teacher when I get to teach the things that I am passionate about doing. It just makes sense to me that the kids will do better when given a voice and choice. When I watched a video about Sammamish High School, I was impressed with the depth of topics the students were working on in classes. It was obvious the students wanted to learn. So what is stopping me?
It is scary to stop teaching the way I have been and try a totally different approach. It is scary when I have 130 students I am responsible for making sure I cover their curriculum needs. It is scary that at Sammamish the teachers are given extra time to collaborate and prepare for their classes and I won't have that same support. It is scary when their college entrance is based on a standardized test that looks nothing like a PBL project. Am I making the correct decision? How do I make the transition? Am I going to fail my students? Scary. My leap of faith is going to take planning. I will continue to explore other English classes to see how they are doing PBL in their classes. I have to find a way to adapt and make it work for me. This year, I am trying to incorporate elements of PBL. I often start my new units with KWL now. I am working on the students asking questions and answering themselves. I am trying to use Wonder Wednesday to allow my students to think about things that are important to them. However, I have a hard time giving up all the power. I have always seen the value of bringing in outside sources to the students. I have also found adults have a hard time telling kids no. I have not had those outside sources judging or grading the students' work. I think that would be a good next step for me to take. I believe I need to drive in and design a PBL unit for my class. I need to really focus on the positive and negative aspects. Then I think I need to try it, second semester. I don't think I can just revamp my entire class. I believe I need to take it slow and steady. I want to start with one unit. Reflect and then decide how I really feel about teaching PBL. Until I commit and do it, I will not truly know if I can make it a success or not.
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I recently read an article about whether children should have chores or not. A large group of parents feel that is it totally wrong to have your child doing chores around the house. These are the same parents who believe everyone should receive a trophy. Failure is a vital and integral part of every humans' life. We must teach our students and children how to learn from failure. Currently, school environments are not always addressing how to learn the difficult life lessons when we do fail.
My classroom is not that different from the norm. I am a positive person by nature and I want to build the students up. However, I do make my students rework assignments when they have not reached their goals. If you fail in writing a paper, I will push you to do it again. I intend for the student to see the value in trying again. Unfortunately, life does not always offer us a second chance. Sometimes I worry that I am doing them a disservice by allowing the students another chance. It is a fine line that I try to walk. I try to do what I believe is best for the student. I want my kids to succeed but they must find a drive within themselves in order for that to happen. Some of my greatest joys as a teacher have been from a student earning a C or a B. Those kids often came for extra help and were willing to rework assignments. They would push themselves till they found a way to make it work. I know many people that have found great success in their profession. Often their success stemmed from a strong work ethic and the willingness to keep trying. Successful people are not always the smartest but the person willing to keep trying. It is my intention to continue to adjust my classroom so that I may offer a better environment for my students. I think I need to incorporate more PBL projects within my curriculum to encourage my kids to face failure. I need to have it well planned out so the kids are working for an authentic audience. I want professionals to give them feedback that can help them understand how to make things better. I am working with several professionals now to incorporate them into my current curriculum. I may fail but I have to try for my kids. My daughter will have chores that she is responsible for doing at our home. I will cheer her on to be the best person she can possible be in life. I will also show her the value of handling failure. I want her to push through her frustrations and to learn to be a caring and capable adult. Maybe we should give our students chores to do at school as well. Just a thought. Time is a valuable commodity in my life. I do not have time to read a book that will not be valuable in my profession. As an English teacher this fact greatly saddens me, I want to read for pleasure. For my college class, I was assigned to read LAUNCH by John Spencer and A.J. Juliani and it is a wonderful companion to the Innovator’s Mindset by George Couros. Innovator’s Mindset really started me questioning how I teach and if my instructional process is what is best for my students. Now LAUNCH is providing me with a framework so I can build an improved instructional style.
Innovator’s Mindset is described by a set of eight characteristics: empathetic, problem finders, risk-takers, networked, observant, creators, resilient, and reflective. As an educator, I need to be demonstrating these eight characteristics if I really want to embrace a teaching style that encourages student voice and choice, engagement and authentic learning. LAUNCH then provides seven strategies to increase student awareness in the learning process. These seven work hand-in-hand with the eight characteristics from above. The seven are: 1. Start with the observation of a phenomenon. 2. Tap into natural wonder. 3. Start with awareness about a specific issue. 4. Start with empathy toward a specific group. 5. Start with a specific problem that needs to be solved. 6. Start with a product idea. 7. Start with a geeky interest. After reading these seven strategies, I decided to implement number two in my class today. Our theme for the day was Wonder Wednesday. I explain different type of questions and how to write a quality one. I then explained I heard about the Dakota Access Pipeline being discussed on Facebook. I know nothing about this but I have been wondering what it entails. I showed them the video that caused me to begin to wonder. Then I explained I needed to form a question about this topic and research it. The students then began to write their own wondering questions that they researched and summarized in a paragraph today. This is going to help me reach my educational philosophy goals of giving the students the opportunity to become thinking, productive adults. If my classes are reading a story and a question pops up, I will stop and allow my students the opportunity to search for answers. I want them to do that when they are reading on their own, so I know we need to model that process in class. My classes has done several different strategies in the past like number six, Start with a product idea. After reading Romeo and Juliet, my freshman then produced a PSA on healthy relationships. I also see how I could use number seven to allow the students to follow their own passions. How cool would that be? I believe these books will become a big part of my future as an educator. Works Cited Couros, George. The Innovator's Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. Spencer, John, and A. J. Juliani. LAUNCH: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring out the Maker in Every Student. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. Often in school, we are asked to read very dry, boring textbooks. I was expecting this experience when I returned to get my master’s degree 24 years after receiving my undergraduate degree. However, I have been blown away by the books I am reading for my Analysis of Teaching and Learning Behavior (21st Century Learning/Innovation). We recently started reading LAUNCH: Using Design Thinking To Boost Creativity And Bring Out The Maker In Every Student by John Spencer and A.J. Julian. While reading Chapters 1 and 2, I started a conversation with myself about creative learning environments.
If someone were to poll educators across the United States, most would say they want to have a creative learning environment in their classroom. Unfortunately, there are barriers that must be dealt with in order to create this experience for our students and ourselves. In Chapter One of LAUNCH, the authors list several of these barriers. One - Funding for the equipment to equip the students with the technology necessary. Two – Time! How can we manage to teach every standard, prepare for the assessments and have time to allow the students to be creative? Three – When the educators are not technologically savvy in how to use the latest apps or gizmos but need to allow their students to use them. Where is the PD funds for this? Four – Not all administrators and parents see the value in having a creative learning environment. How do I commit to this when I am not supported? Five – Fundamentals are what the younger students need in order to be successful. Six – Creativity is for the other subject areas, it wouldn’t work in mine. Each of these six barrier is being experienced by educators in all the school districts in the United States. I am not going to say that one barrier is the most difficult to overcome because it depends on the individual educator. For example, I am a very technologically challenged educator. (For more on this topic, read my previous blogs about learning to use Twitter.) Trying to learn the technology and then use it with my students can be daunting for me. I am also blessed with a wonderful administration that is super supportive when I do take risks and I am not concerned that my job is on the line. However, I have heard numerous educators discussing online the topic of having a non-supportive administration. Sometimes they are not allowed to try new ideas and could possibly lose their jobs. Very few of us can afford to risk losing our jobs. There is no one barrier that is the worst, it is just which barrier does the educator have to face. In Chapter Two, it discusses the use of different types of creative approaches by educators. I have reflected on which type I fit into the best. I feel like I am closest to the Engineer. I am well aware my IQ isn’t the highest when I am sitting in a room full of educators. What I am good at is listening to the ideas they have come up with and then modifying them to suit my students in my classroom. As a matter of fact, I was required to write a paper for my fourth degree black belt testing over instruction. My paper centered on the notion that I had surrounded myself with amazing instructors whose ideas I would steal, modify and use in my Taekwondo classes. I wouldn’t be successful if there were not Artist who create the ideas I steal. I believe it takes me less time to modify their ideas than it would for me to create the idea. That process of creating would stress me out. I know I want a creative learning environment, I am just not sure what that will exactly look like in my classroom. I believe surrounding myself with other educators who are also reading these types of books and going through this process is invaluable. I look forward to continuing to read this book and learn all the secrets it holds. Spencer, John, and A. J. Juliani. LAUNCH: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring out the Maker in Every Student. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. It was extremely interesting to have seven different instructional models demonstrated in one class. My master's classes have been a wonderful opportunity for me see teaching through the eyes a diverse group of educators. The models were: Collaborative model, Concept Attainment model, Cooperative model, Direct Instruction model, Inductive model, Integrated model and Lecture-Discussion model. It has been a long time since my education courses for my undergraduate degree and I really appreciated the review.
Collaborative Instructional model has many strong benefits like being student lead not teacher lead, problem solving skills and learning to communicate and cooperate with others according to Mary Firestorm. Classroom management can be difficult with instructional model due to the freedom the students need to participate. In English classes the use of collaboration is a great benefit. An example would be when the students are reading an assignment and then break into smaller groups to discuss specific elements. I feel there would be very few times when collaboration would not be beneficial to the students. Concept Attainment Instructional model is a little limited, I believe. It is the use of illustrations to formulate a concept. I believe this will engage the students in a visual way. This would work well in a science class for identification of a group of plants or rocks. The big drawback to this model is the need of finding illustrations to fit each concept and I would not be one I would use frequently. Cooperative Instructional model is very similar to the Collaborative model. An example is the use of Think, Pair, Share. The instructor gives a concept or idea, allows the student to then discuss with a neighbor for encouragement and supporting practice. Unfortunately, some students may become paired with someone unwilling to engage in the assignment. This is real life experience but it can become an issue for the student who wants to discuss the subject and receive feedback. Direct Instructional model has been the traditional method of teaching for centuries. This is where the instructor stands in front of the class and feeds the information to the students. The students are then expected to comprehend information and be able to apply it to the practice portion of the class. The big problem is engagement. This can be extremely boring if the student does not connect with the instructor. Use this model when you have specific information that need to feed to them for example how to do an algebra problem. Inductive Instruction model is almost a backward method of teaching. This is where the student has to take the examples and figure out what is the main concept. This really encourages the students to analyze and use the higher DOK levels. An example of this would be 20 questions. My concern is what if the students do not reach the main concept. Integrative Instruction model is when we are bringing in different core disciplines together in one unit. For example in English class, I am teaching The Crucible by Arthur Miller but bringing in the history element of McCarthyism and studying both. I think this allows the students to make connections between the disciplines and will help make the connections to see the big picture. The drawback would be finding the information about the other content areas. Lecture Discussion Instruction model has also been a traditional form of teaching. The instructor would give the concept and then allow the students to ask questions and make statements. The engagement is the drawback like with direct instruction. Not all students will be willing to speak to the whole class and some may not comprehend the information. However, there are classes like Math when you need to give the information to the students and allow them to ask questions. The important element about each model is to find one you are comfortable doing and will allow the student to learn. I believe allowing the students to work at a higher DOK level is what high school students should be doing daily. Going back to my philosophy of education, I want to help my students become thinking, productive adults. |
AuthorMy name is Lisa and I teach English Language Arts at Forsyth, MO. Archives
May 2017
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