This week in my clinical experience I was asked to write down some of the questions that are being asked in the classroom. The questions being asked by the teacher were mostly memory recall or basic short answer questions. Most of the questions being asked by the students were unrelated to the lesson.
Teacher Questions
Is 51 a prime or composite number?
Why is it prime?
How do we know that 51 is prime?
What is an exponent?
What do we do first in this expression? (order of operations problem)
Why do we change only one thing at a time?
Student Questions
Can I go to the bathroom?
Can we use our calculators?
How do you do #13 on the weekly worksheet?
When is the homework due?
Where do we turn in the homework?
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Struggling Student
This week in my clinical I was able to take time to focus on a struggling student. I decided to focus my attention on a student that is repeating the 6th grade. During class he seems to not be on focused on the teacher and what other students are doing. He appeared to be bored and uninterested in the lesson being taught. I asked what happened that caused the student to be retained and if there were any underlying issues. I was not able to get much information other than he was lazy and that several people have tried talking to him and the he just doesn't care if he passes or fails. I do not think the school is doing anything to address this students needs. He is in the same classes and has the same teachers as last year.
When I tried to speak with this student he did not seem interested in talking about his lack of motivation to actively participate in the classroom. Luckily for me this was the same week that I was teaching my cooperative learning PBL which gave me a little insight into the problem. There were a couple of things that I did that I think the student responded well too. He definitely liked working within the group and even stopped me at the end of the lesson to tell me about a book he had at home the corresponded with the topic. He seemed very excited about the lesson and actually did very well in his role within the group. I had made popsicle sticks with the student names on them so I could call on students at random. When I called on the student he responded immediately with the correct answer.
I think that this student is bored with doing the same thing he did last year. His struggles are in no way related to not understanding the material. His struggles are because he is not interested in the material or the way it is being presented. Therefore he never feels as if he is a part of the activities going on in the classroom.
When I tried to speak with this student he did not seem interested in talking about his lack of motivation to actively participate in the classroom. Luckily for me this was the same week that I was teaching my cooperative learning PBL which gave me a little insight into the problem. There were a couple of things that I did that I think the student responded well too. He definitely liked working within the group and even stopped me at the end of the lesson to tell me about a book he had at home the corresponded with the topic. He seemed very excited about the lesson and actually did very well in his role within the group. I had made popsicle sticks with the student names on them so I could call on students at random. When I called on the student he responded immediately with the correct answer.
I think that this student is bored with doing the same thing he did last year. His struggles are in no way related to not understanding the material. His struggles are because he is not interested in the material or the way it is being presented. Therefore he never feels as if he is a part of the activities going on in the classroom.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Project-Based Learning for the 21st Century: Skills for the Future; Double Entry Journal 15
Give an example of an authentic form of assessment the students engaged in a PBL performed well on?
One example of authentic assessment that I found the article is where students were asked to apply the concepts of geometry to architecture and submit designs for a new playhouse for a community center. After evaluating these designs, 84 percent of the submissions were judged to be accurate enough to build.
How does project based learning promote intrinsic motivation?
Project based learning creates a strong sense of intrinsic motivation because students rise to the occasion when failing will result in letting down their peers.
What do students who experience PBL do better than students who receive traditional direct instruction?
Students who experience PBL instruction are better at problem solving than students taught with the traditional direct instruction. Students who experienced PBL instruction were also able to score higher on standardized test than their direct instruction counterparts.
How does PBL align with John Dewey’s philosophy of education?
Dewey proposed that learning by doing has great benefit in shaping students’ learning. This is exactly what project based learning accomplishes; students are working to solve real world problems using their own individual discovery. This type of learning creates a deeper understanding of all material involved and allows students to make the necessary connections between the content and its relationship to their lives.
Why do our assessment practices need to change if we are going to prepare students for the 21st century?
Current assessment strategies are based solely on the success of individual students’. Working cooperatively with others is an absolute necessity to be successful in life; therefore, students need to learn how to do it to become productive citizens.
Reference:
Bell, S. (2010). Project-Based Learning for the 21st Century: Skills for the Future. The Clearing House , 39-43.
One example of authentic assessment that I found the article is where students were asked to apply the concepts of geometry to architecture and submit designs for a new playhouse for a community center. After evaluating these designs, 84 percent of the submissions were judged to be accurate enough to build.
How does project based learning promote intrinsic motivation?
Project based learning creates a strong sense of intrinsic motivation because students rise to the occasion when failing will result in letting down their peers.
What do students who experience PBL do better than students who receive traditional direct instruction?
Students who experience PBL instruction are better at problem solving than students taught with the traditional direct instruction. Students who experienced PBL instruction were also able to score higher on standardized test than their direct instruction counterparts.
How does PBL align with John Dewey’s philosophy of education?
Dewey proposed that learning by doing has great benefit in shaping students’ learning. This is exactly what project based learning accomplishes; students are working to solve real world problems using their own individual discovery. This type of learning creates a deeper understanding of all material involved and allows students to make the necessary connections between the content and its relationship to their lives.
Why do our assessment practices need to change if we are going to prepare students for the 21st century?
Current assessment strategies are based solely on the success of individual students’. Working cooperatively with others is an absolute necessity to be successful in life; therefore, students need to learn how to do it to become productive citizens.
Reference:
Bell, S. (2010). Project-Based Learning for the 21st Century: Skills for the Future. The Clearing House , 39-43.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Teaching for Meaningful Learning: Double Entry Journal #14
One of the challenges to an inquiry approach to learning is that they take time to thoughtfully plan out and prepare. Students need to be taught how to work successfully in groups and be ready to cooperate and collaborate with others students. Assessment materials need to be carefully designed and explained prior to beginning inquiry instruction projects so that students know what is expected of them.
Students learn more deeply when they can apply classroom-gathered knowledge to real-world problems, and when they to take part in projects that require sustained engagement and collaboration.
Related Source
The strategy I chose to support group work is the jigsaw strategy. This is a wonderful technique that breaks up the work load and students work cooperatively with other students to learn the material. The website Jigsaw Classroom outlines how to implement this techinique in the classroom.
Students learn more deeply when they can apply classroom-gathered knowledge to real-world problems, and when they to take part in projects that require sustained engagement and collaboration.
Related Source
The strategy I chose to support group work is the jigsaw strategy. This is a wonderful technique that breaks up the work load and students work cooperatively with other students to learn the material. The website Jigsaw Classroom outlines how to implement this techinique in the classroom.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Teaching for Meaningful Learning: Double Entry Journal #13
The dominant paradigm is the instructional model of the teacher and the textbook as the primary sources of knowledge, conveyed through lecturing, discussion, and reading, despite research overwhelmingly agreeing that it needs to be changed.
Project learning supports student learning better than traditional approaches because it has the students using information from many different sources and producing unique projects to present their knowledge. Academic approaches of small tasks of rote memorization or using drill and kill techniques will not evolve into developing students who effectively utilize higher order thinking skills (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999; Bransford & Donovan, 2005). Studies have shown that students learn more when they participate in lessons that require them to research a topic, construct and organize the information into a project that they will then present to an audience (Newmann, 1996). A study of more than 2,100 students in 23 schools found significantly higher achievement on intellectually challenging performance tasks for students who experienced this kind of “authentic pedagogy” (Newmann, Marks, & Gamoran, 1995).
Problem Based Learning students work in small groups to investigate meaningful problems, identify what they need to learn in order to solve a problem, and generate strategies for solution (Barrows, 1996; Hmelo-Silver, 2004). Medical students who are enrolled in problem-based curricula score higher on clinical problem-solving measures and on actual ratings of clinical performance (Vernon & Blake, 1993; Albanese & Mitchell, 1993). Problem- or case-based approaches have been used in business, law, and teacher education to help students learn to analyze complex, multifaceted situations and to develop knowledge to guide decision making (see, e.g. Lundeberg, Levin, & Harrington, 1999; Savery & Duffy, 1996; Williams, 1992).
Design-based lessons support revisions and reflective activity as students work to create, assess, and redesign their work product (Newstetter, 2000). Design projects require students to set limits, generate ideas, create prototypes, and develop plans. Design-based approaches can be found across many content areas. Competitions, such as the FIRST robotics competitions (www.usfirst.org) or the ThinkQuest competition (www.thinkquest.org) also stress design using technological tools and collaborative project work. To date, more than 30,000 students have created more than 550 Web sites through this competition (www.thinkquest.org/library/).
I feel that project based learning, problem based learning and learning by design are all very similar in that they create a deeper understanding of the desired content because the students are working together to complete a task or solve a problem in which they do not already know the answer. The differences between these approaches is that in project based learning students are working together to complete a project. In problem based learning students are working together to solve a problem and learning by design the product or prototype is constantly being revised and changed.
References
Barrows, H. S. (1996). Problem-based learn¬ing in medicine and beyond: A brief overview. In New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 68 (pp. 3–11). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (1999). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Research Council.
Newmann, F. M. (1996). Authentic achieve¬ment: Restructuring schools for intellectual quality. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Newmann, F. M., Marks, H. M., & Gamo¬ran, A. (1995). Authentic pedagogy: Stan¬dards that boost student performance. Is¬sues in Restructuring Schools, 8, 1–4.
Newstetter, W. (2000). Bringing design knowledge and learning together. In C. East¬man, W. Newstetter, & M. McCracken (Eds.), Design Knowing and Learning: Cognition in Design Education. New York: Elsevier Sci¬ence Press.
Vernon, D. T., & Blake, R. L. (1993). Does problem-based learning work? A meta-analysis of evaluative research. Academic Medicine, 68(7) 550–563.
Project learning supports student learning better than traditional approaches because it has the students using information from many different sources and producing unique projects to present their knowledge. Academic approaches of small tasks of rote memorization or using drill and kill techniques will not evolve into developing students who effectively utilize higher order thinking skills (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999; Bransford & Donovan, 2005). Studies have shown that students learn more when they participate in lessons that require them to research a topic, construct and organize the information into a project that they will then present to an audience (Newmann, 1996). A study of more than 2,100 students in 23 schools found significantly higher achievement on intellectually challenging performance tasks for students who experienced this kind of “authentic pedagogy” (Newmann, Marks, & Gamoran, 1995).
Problem Based Learning students work in small groups to investigate meaningful problems, identify what they need to learn in order to solve a problem, and generate strategies for solution (Barrows, 1996; Hmelo-Silver, 2004). Medical students who are enrolled in problem-based curricula score higher on clinical problem-solving measures and on actual ratings of clinical performance (Vernon & Blake, 1993; Albanese & Mitchell, 1993). Problem- or case-based approaches have been used in business, law, and teacher education to help students learn to analyze complex, multifaceted situations and to develop knowledge to guide decision making (see, e.g. Lundeberg, Levin, & Harrington, 1999; Savery & Duffy, 1996; Williams, 1992).
Design-based lessons support revisions and reflective activity as students work to create, assess, and redesign their work product (Newstetter, 2000). Design projects require students to set limits, generate ideas, create prototypes, and develop plans. Design-based approaches can be found across many content areas. Competitions, such as the FIRST robotics competitions (www.usfirst.org) or the ThinkQuest competition (www.thinkquest.org) also stress design using technological tools and collaborative project work. To date, more than 30,000 students have created more than 550 Web sites through this competition (www.thinkquest.org/library/).
I feel that project based learning, problem based learning and learning by design are all very similar in that they create a deeper understanding of the desired content because the students are working together to complete a task or solve a problem in which they do not already know the answer. The differences between these approaches is that in project based learning students are working together to complete a project. In problem based learning students are working together to solve a problem and learning by design the product or prototype is constantly being revised and changed.
References
Barrows, H. S. (1996). Problem-based learn¬ing in medicine and beyond: A brief overview. In New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 68 (pp. 3–11). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (1999). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Research Council.
Newmann, F. M. (1996). Authentic achieve¬ment: Restructuring schools for intellectual quality. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Newmann, F. M., Marks, H. M., & Gamo¬ran, A. (1995). Authentic pedagogy: Stan¬dards that boost student performance. Is¬sues in Restructuring Schools, 8, 1–4.
Newstetter, W. (2000). Bringing design knowledge and learning together. In C. East¬man, W. Newstetter, & M. McCracken (Eds.), Design Knowing and Learning: Cognition in Design Education. New York: Elsevier Sci¬ence Press.
Vernon, D. T., & Blake, R. L. (1993). Does problem-based learning work? A meta-analysis of evaluative research. Academic Medicine, 68(7) 550–563.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Double Entry Journal #12
Social Significance of Questioning in Social Discourse
I learned that current classroom communication relies heavily on teacher initiated questioning, student response, and then the teacher will evaluate the student response. Students simply give teachers the response they want to hear and often fear answering incorrectly. Students should be given the freedom to speak more freely in the classroom to provoke a deeper understanding.
I found it interesting how much the communication in the classroom relies on the teacher and their line of questioning. I was also interested using questioning that promotes higher order thinking skills.
I understand that we need to give students more freedom to ask their own questions. How do we encourage this type of thinking in students who are already set in the traditional methods of teacher initiated questions?
Reflection: learning to ask essential questions
Essential questions provide a bridge between student lives and the content. Using essential questioning can lead to a meaningful understanding of the material. Project based learning can easily expand and extend into more areas.
I learned that current classroom communication relies heavily on teacher initiated questioning, student response, and then the teacher will evaluate the student response. Students simply give teachers the response they want to hear and often fear answering incorrectly. Students should be given the freedom to speak more freely in the classroom to provoke a deeper understanding.
I found it interesting how much the communication in the classroom relies on the teacher and their line of questioning. I was also interested using questioning that promotes higher order thinking skills.
I understand that we need to give students more freedom to ask their own questions. How do we encourage this type of thinking in students who are already set in the traditional methods of teacher initiated questions?
Reflection: learning to ask essential questions
Essential questions provide a bridge between student lives and the content. Using essential questioning can lead to a meaningful understanding of the material. Project based learning can easily expand and extend into more areas.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Top Ten Project Teacher Reflection; Double Entry Journal #11
The Top Ten project is an exemplary PBL for many reasons. The first reason that I chose is applied learning because the students applied their knowledge of the top ten books they were reading in class to create their wiki. The second reason also under applied learning is because the students used multiple skills to complete the project. They had to work together with the use of technology to research the animals and rank them. Then they had to collect all of the information they had and organize it in to the ranking system the created. The third example is authenticity because of the multiple external audiences of the many different people who were viewing the project. Other students in the school were viewing the project, as well as people within the community and many others all over the world via the internet.
These are the science content standards for 4th grade that the PBL covers:
SC.O.4.1.04
demonstrate curiosity, initiative and creativity by developing questions that lead to investigations; designing simple experiments; and trusting observations of discoveries when trying new tasks and skills.
SC.O.4.1.05
recognize that developing solutions to problems requires persistence, flexibility, open-mindedness, and alertness for the unexpected.
SC.O.4.1.06
support statements with facts found through research from various sources, including technology.
SC.O.4.1.07
use scientific instruments, technology and everyday materials to investigate the natural world.
SC.0.4.2.01
describe the different characteristics of plants and animals, which help them to survive in different niches and environments.
SC.0.4.2.02
associate the behaviors of living organisms to external and internal influences (e.g., hunger, climate, or seasons).
SC.0.4.2.03
identify and classify variations in structures of living things including their systems and explain their functions (e.g., skeletons, teeth, plant needles, or leaves).
SC.0.4.3.04
given a set of objects, group or order the objects according to an established scheme.
SC.0.4.3.06
identify and explain a simple problem or task to be completed; identify a specific solution; and list task requirements.
SC.0.4.3.09
listen to and be tolerant of different viewpoints by engaging in collaborative activities and modifying ideas when new and valid information is presented from a variety of resources.
These are the reading and language arts content standards for the 4th grade the PBL covers.
RLA.O.4.1.13
judge the reliability or logic of informational texts.
RLA.O.4.1.14
select and use a variety of sources to gather information (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers, informational texts, electronic resources).
RLA.O.4.1.15
use graphic organizers and visualization techniques to interpret information (e.g., charts, graphs, diagrams, non-verbal symbols).
RLA.O.4.1.16
use reading skills and strategies to understand a variety of information resources to support literacy learning (e.g., written directions, captions, electronic resources, labels, information texts).
RLA.O.4.1.17
increase the amount of independent reading to build background knowledge, expand vocabulary and comprehend literary and informational text.
RLA.O.4.2.06
write to persuade using order of importance, classifying differences and similarities, classifying advantages and disadvantages.
RLA.O.4.2.07
develop a composition that demonstrates an awareness of the intended audience using appropriate language, content and form.
RLA.O.4.2.08
create an effective response to a task in form, content and language (e.g., letters, poems, brief reports or descriptions, instructions, journals).
RLA.O.4.2.09
use editing strategies to correct errors in sentence structure (fragments and run-on sentences), capitalization, punctuation and gammar.
RLA.O.4.2.12
use strategies to gather and record information for research topics:
• note taking
• summarizing
• paraphrasing
• describing in narrative form
• gathering information from direct quotes, maps, charts, graphs and tables
RLA.O.4.2.13
select and use a variety of sources to gather information (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers, informational texts, electronic resources).
RLA.O.4.2.14
use strategies to compile information into written reports or summaries (e.g., incorporate notes into a finished product, include simple facts-details-explanations-examples, draw conclusions from relationships and patterns that emerge from data of different sources, use appropriate visual aids and media).
RLA.O.4.2.15
critically evaluate own and others’ written compositions.
RLA.O.4.3.04
create an age appropriate media literacy product that reflects understanding of format, characteristics and purpose.
These are the science content standards for 4th grade that the PBL covers:
SC.O.4.1.04
demonstrate curiosity, initiative and creativity by developing questions that lead to investigations; designing simple experiments; and trusting observations of discoveries when trying new tasks and skills.
SC.O.4.1.05
recognize that developing solutions to problems requires persistence, flexibility, open-mindedness, and alertness for the unexpected.
SC.O.4.1.06
support statements with facts found through research from various sources, including technology.
SC.O.4.1.07
use scientific instruments, technology and everyday materials to investigate the natural world.
SC.0.4.2.01
describe the different characteristics of plants and animals, which help them to survive in different niches and environments.
SC.0.4.2.02
associate the behaviors of living organisms to external and internal influences (e.g., hunger, climate, or seasons).
SC.0.4.2.03
identify and classify variations in structures of living things including their systems and explain their functions (e.g., skeletons, teeth, plant needles, or leaves).
SC.0.4.3.04
given a set of objects, group or order the objects according to an established scheme.
SC.0.4.3.06
identify and explain a simple problem or task to be completed; identify a specific solution; and list task requirements.
SC.0.4.3.09
listen to and be tolerant of different viewpoints by engaging in collaborative activities and modifying ideas when new and valid information is presented from a variety of resources.
These are the reading and language arts content standards for the 4th grade the PBL covers.
RLA.O.4.1.13
judge the reliability or logic of informational texts.
RLA.O.4.1.14
select and use a variety of sources to gather information (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers, informational texts, electronic resources).
RLA.O.4.1.15
use graphic organizers and visualization techniques to interpret information (e.g., charts, graphs, diagrams, non-verbal symbols).
RLA.O.4.1.16
use reading skills and strategies to understand a variety of information resources to support literacy learning (e.g., written directions, captions, electronic resources, labels, information texts).
RLA.O.4.1.17
increase the amount of independent reading to build background knowledge, expand vocabulary and comprehend literary and informational text.
RLA.O.4.2.06
write to persuade using order of importance, classifying differences and similarities, classifying advantages and disadvantages.
RLA.O.4.2.07
develop a composition that demonstrates an awareness of the intended audience using appropriate language, content and form.
RLA.O.4.2.08
create an effective response to a task in form, content and language (e.g., letters, poems, brief reports or descriptions, instructions, journals).
RLA.O.4.2.09
use editing strategies to correct errors in sentence structure (fragments and run-on sentences), capitalization, punctuation and gammar.
RLA.O.4.2.12
use strategies to gather and record information for research topics:
• note taking
• summarizing
• paraphrasing
• describing in narrative form
• gathering information from direct quotes, maps, charts, graphs and tables
RLA.O.4.2.13
select and use a variety of sources to gather information (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers, informational texts, electronic resources).
RLA.O.4.2.14
use strategies to compile information into written reports or summaries (e.g., incorporate notes into a finished product, include simple facts-details-explanations-examples, draw conclusions from relationships and patterns that emerge from data of different sources, use appropriate visual aids and media).
RLA.O.4.2.15
critically evaluate own and others’ written compositions.
RLA.O.4.3.04
create an age appropriate media literacy product that reflects understanding of format, characteristics and purpose.
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