Tales Ch. 3, 4, and 6

One thing that I definitely understand is the need for structure within the classroom. My kindergartners often ask "Where are we going", "Why are we going to ____", "When are we going to recess". While a schedule isn't posted in the classroom, I feel that it would be important for the children to see this and know where we are going/what we are doing throughout the day. By having a structure in place allows for students to be able to run the classroom rather than the teacher. Students can better take on jobs because they know what comes next and they know how to put the notebooks in the cubbies or how to turn in papers when they are done.


Another thing that struck me as interesting was the role of the teacher as an audience. As teachers, and adults, we often expect things to happen smoothly and quickly. With the constant nagging of meeting standards and achieving better, we are pushing our students to hurry up and learn. But when was learning a fast process? If it was then why would we need twelve years of it before moving on with our lives? It is important to let our students take in what is going on and make discoveries for themselves. It also talks about how at one school each child received an hour of uninterrupted time for self-directed activities. We often think this time could be during recess but this is slowly being taken away as well. My class, due to the time constraints for reading and math, only receives fifteen minutes of free play. By the end of the day, the students are itching for movement of SOME type. As a teacher, I want to incorporate time in my day to allow my students to just play and discover on their own. Imagine the possibilities if you gave a child some raw materials and just allowed them to create? Their imaginations are limitless so why stifle this at such a young age?

Tales of Thinking 3,4,6 Kayla Pohl

The Building Bridges chapter, made me feel more comfortable with having all the different MI’s in my classroom. It takes relief off of the teacher because it suggest letting the students who do have a strong MI take control and lead the way in that intelligence. I also liked the idea of the teacher serving as the audience for a child. “The simple fact of giving a child undivided attention can encourage an emerging passion and provide a catalyst for more independent steps. Patience is a virtue. I never want to hurry my students to do something. I think to myself, would I want to be hurried when doing something I truly enjoy? I love the fact that having patience and not hurrying a child is when discovery will take place on their own! “If we want children to have longer attention spans, then we must first be the ones to pay attention.” I see this happening so often, a student is fidgety and not paying attention, well maybe it is because they need to get their creativeness out and do something that they really enjoy. Then their expressiveness will come out, then their creativity will come out, then their problem solving and critical thinking will come out!

From Structure to Construction really opened my eyes to allowing the students be able to be involved in the aspect of the daily schedule. One of the greatest quotes that stuck out to me was, “calendars are only important when children have a reason to know the date.” This opened my eyes and makes complete sense. Just as my calendar has more meaning when I put events or due dates on it so will the students in my classrooms calendar have more meaning when it has special dates or events on it. I teach calendar everyday in my placement and I have been thinking a lot lately about how to make it work better. This is definitely something I needed to know. How much more meaning will the calendar have when the students are looking forward to a particular day. There is so much I can do with this idea and it excites me!

Another area that stood out to me was the fact of how, “we often focus too much on quantitative structure, we stop laying the foundations for qualitative thinking.” I have seen this not only happening in the schools today, but it also was a big occurrence when I was in elementary school. Teachers get caught up in the quantitative results of the students the qualitative thinking goes out the window. When in essence it is the qualitative thinking that will bring up the quantitative results, no wonder test scores are low because students have not been allowed to express themselves through “the arts, social skills, emotional wellness, creativity and personal reflection.” This is so true! Problem solving is going to occur when students are allowed to express themselves and this problem solving will only increase the way students think and learn.

The Intelligent Assessment chapter revealed a part of the portfolio I had never really thought of, yet it seems to be the most vital part of any portfolio. Having the students choose what they want in their portfolio seems like something every teacher should do. When I think about it, would I want someone else picking the work that best reflects me or would I rather pick the work that reflects me and my growth. I think I would probably want both, because I think that often other people see growth in me that I don’t always see in my self but I think I also see growth in myself that others do not see in me. That is why I think it is important for both the student and the teacher to pick pieces to put in the portfolio. I love how having the student pick things to put in the portfolio created a teachable moment about the past, present and future. Teachable moments can occur when we let students become involved in their own assessments! wow! A duh moment right!?

Tales 3,4 and 6

I really love the idea of a schedule being a living document and not a set of rules. I believe that it would be wonderful if instead of having a schedule in place for the students on the first day of school, the students and the teacher made the schedule together the first day. I really believe that this would be a great way for the students to take ownership in the classroom and realize that their thoughts are powerful and meaningful in the classroom. I do realize that some parts of the day are not flexible, but what parts are should be open to change.
I really liked the portfolio framework and I believe that it could be really useful in the classroom and is something that the students can help to create. There is one student in my classroom now who will not do any of his class work. He is very smart and makes good grades on his test he just has not motivation to do his class work. I believe that if he was able to choose his best work and he was reminded that he is going to have a portfolio of his work, then he might be a little bit more motivated to get it done. I also believe that the other students in the classroom would love to be able to choose their best work to go into a portfolio. I like that the students would have to explain why it was their best work and if they had to do it again what would they do differently. The same thing could go for something they did poorly on the students could say why they think they did poorly and what they could do better on next time. I believe that it is necessary for teachers to talk to students about their work in order to realized any misconceptions that could still be present regarding a topic, work, or a test. I do believe that the portfolio framework is something I would enjoy doing or at least trying in my classroom

Thoughts

Hi all - I've been reading your posts and trying to digest where you are with these ideas. Not sure that I'm completely successful, but here are some things that popped up for me:

• Idea that is isn't fair for students to have different assignments: Intriguing. Perhaps we need to think about it as different products as opposed to different assignments. For instance - if every one of you turned in the exact same unit, I would be bored to tears. It would be no different than if I gave you a worksheet and I'm looking for the same answers. If you really think about it, what we do in this program is very similar to what you do in elementary schools. You have standards in the elementary classroom; we do, too. Assignments in the elementary classroom should be correlated to the standards; Assignments you have in the cohort are correlated to the standards. With your unit, what exactly is it I'm assessing? I'm assessing your ability to understand and implement standards 4a-4d. Now, the trick will be for you to make connections between that idea and what you do in the classroom.
  
• Equal isn't the same as equitable: I'll use an example I've given when teaching language and culture. If you have someone in a wheelchair, you don't say, "You must go up the steps." You provide an alternate way to get to the destination. Equal would assume that the child must use the stairs. Equitable means you provide what the child needs to get to the same place. Now - can you take that example and apply it to other areas of the classroom, including assignments?
• How many ways?: How many ways can you think of to assess whether or not a child knows nouns and verbs? Just curious. I'm betting you can think of lots of ways. So, why would we assume that a worksheet is the way to get/assess the information? Now, tie that to many of the standards. How many ways can you think of to teach various standards? If there are multiple ways, then why would we assume that ONE way is better than another?
  
• Knowing your students: Interests of my students through the years: Power Rangers, Beverly Hills 90210, Saved by the Bell, Cheerleading, Bugs, Series of Unfortunate Events, The Golden Compass series, Facebook, Matthew McConaughey..... Why can I tell you this? :) And why does it matter? What does this have to do with teaching? My answer? Everything.

Other random thoughts based on life in general:

• Last night Ashley had a meltdown about school. She is stressed beyond belief. She had forgotten her science book, lost her homework sheet, and didn't feel confident about her ability to do her math problems. She was more concerned about what would happen at school than anything else. She punished herself last night, got herself in hysterics, and had a difficult time calming down, so in turn she did not get enough sleep. I walked her into school this morning and had a little bit of an "outer body" experience as I imagined how her teachers might respond to her today - and also how I might have responded to a child just like her in the past. Would I have punished her? Made her sit out at recess? Given her a bad grade? Would I have not been able to tune into her evening and morning because I was focused on the day itself rather than the children? Would I have tried to understand where she is coming from and helped her solve the problem, or would I have done a "quick fix" that involves not listening to her, just making a decision about her consequence? And then from the parent perspective - how much do I intervene or share so I'm not helicopter parenting? How much do I help her maneuver through this situation? Ultimately, she needs to learn responsibility. What exactly are our roles in making this happen? I share this with you just because it is too easy to forget that our students exist outside of the school context.
  
• I had a teacher stop me, since I was in the school this morning, and ask my opinion about what she is being told about assessing her students. The new report card is based just on the common assessments, and she is being told that she is to teach nothing but the book. I basically told her that flies in the face of everything we know about good teaching - teaching nothing but the book doesn't take into account the need to foster creativity, including music, art, drama, multiple intelligences, differentiation, choice, etc... basically everything we talk about. What got me is she KNOWS this. But what is happening is she is questioning everything she KNOWS. She said she is going to quit asking permission and start asking forgiveness. I told her that sounded like a good plan. I tell you this because, folks - we're giving you a good foundation. How you choose to utilize that foundation is up to you. My hope is that by the time we are done with you that the things we've talked about will be so internalized that you just "know" what is "right" vs. what is "wrong." But not only that, that you will be able to justify your actions because you have learned what you need to know to do so. You can fly in the face of what you know is right, but I hope that you have some kind of internal warning sign that you don't tune out.
  

I hope that isn't just me rambling. Perhaps it is - but these are thoughts I wanted to share with you, which certainly have seeds in what we've been talking and reading about.

Tales of Thinking Ch:3,4,6

“If I could hold a child’s thinking still at one time and in one place with no distractions and measure it—but assessment really doesn’t work that way.” This statement really stood out to me, because there is one student in my class that I can not read for anything. She does receive some Special Ed services for her learning disability, but she doesn’t talk much at all to other students or even teachers. When I try to talk to her or ask her a question she just looks at me and stares with this smile on her face. I know that she hears me, but she just doesn’t respond. The few times that she does talk it is very low; almost always like a whisper. At the end of almost every day I think of her asking myself what is going through her mind. My host teacher has complained a lot of times because it is hard to assess her, and it is also hard to get her involved with the lessons. If you call on her during discussions or a group activity she just stares at you. She is eligible to receive special services, but when you ask her if she needs help she just stares at you with the same facial expression. It is very unique, and very intriguing to me. It was when reading chapter 6 that I began thinking about what kind of learning style (intelligence) is best for her. I couldn’t seem to put my figure on one that could really match up with what I have observed. As I continued reading it brought up the idea of using a portfolio to assess students. In doing so the students can pick and chose what goes in it, as well as communicates with the teacher as to what and why they want different things to be placed in there. Following the framework: collect, select, reflect, and project could possibly get this child to open up. In doing so she herself can discover things about her learning, and also the teachers can get a better understanding of how she is best learning. It is important for every child to develop an intelligence/learning style that best fits them in order to be successful throughout most of their schooling. Some students it may be easy to discover, but for others it may be more difficult. I feel the idea of a personal portfolio would be perfect for this child. I think that she and her teachers could benefit in many ways using this as an assessment tool and as a way to discover what multiple intelligences best fit the child.

Chapter 11

Chapter 11 of the differentiated instruction book was about content differentiation. The focus of this chapter was on students being given choice in the things that they do, and being able to do things that are appropriate to their needs. Students need to learn things that they are able to make connections to, not just memorize facts. Learning needs to be meaningful, and this is more likely to occur when students are able to learn through their own interests. Students also need to be able to learn in a way that is effective to them. All students can be in the process of learning the same thing, but it must be appropriate to their development.

Chapter 11

This chapter is all about differentiating content. Two important concepts I got from reading about differentiated content are that teachers can either "adapt what they teach or teachers can modify how we give students access to what we want them to learn." I think this is so true because you are not going to be able to teach all kids the same, so content adaptations will have to be made to meet children's needs. The chapter talked about how student's readiness level, interests, and learning profile can be reasoning for differentiating content. By allowing kids to work on different things at different times, they do not feel rushed when everyone else is done and they are not. In addition, students who finish early are not just sitting around wasting time. This idea of differentiated content not only keeps students on task, but it also promotes responsibility and accountability.