Trying to set up a interactive
guided discussion was a huge obstacle because my mentor teacher didn’t think
that the students could contribute in an interactive discussion. So going off of
the idea of not every seeing a real classroom discussion about a particular
book was very difficult. This made things a lot harder to plan for. Like trying
to figure out what to do if certain topics came up. I had put in place a lot of
expectations for the students but for most of them who haven’t actually seen a
guided discussion, they didn’t know how to respond or how to act. One way that
I chose to overcome this issue, was talk it over with another intern in the
building who suggested that we model a discussion in front of the whole class
as her idea to do this was very successful in her own classroom. The unit did not proceed as
expected. This was
huge in developing what I would do differently. The students really struggled
with trying to maintain a classroom discussion and often it turned into
students only wanting to tell me their answer or opinion. Many times other students
would not be as engaged in the discussion and when they were called on, they
didn’t know what was being said or how they could add anything to the
conversations. I feel that I really need to do a lot more research on how to
guided a discussion in the classroom as well as more examples on how to
actually set it up.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Inquiry 3: Step 3
One of the biggest themes that has stuck throughout the year was this brand new curriculum. This year, our district has implemented a new curriculum that is aligned with the common core standards. This was also the year when there was no curriculum specialist, but rather a curriculum coach. The teachers for each grade level were the "specialists" as they would be the ones working with the curriculum everyday. While this was a great idea, and there are many ways to make the curriculum your own then, the district came up with a curriculum guide that was very disjointed and difficult to follow. It created more issues to come up with a meaningful lesson when there isn't much knowledge about the ideas behind the curriculum in general. During the unit it seemed that there was a lot of misconceptions about the hero cycle boxes and how to actually use them. When I realized that it might not have been the fact that I didn’t teach the Hero Cycle properly, just the idea that they might not have been scaffolding to the idea of pulling out abstract ideas from the books that they were reading. We were able to bring up this idea that the students might not be ready for the Hero Cycle before other text structures, and while some people agreed with this idea, others did not feel they had the same issue.
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During the Guided Lead teaching time, I was not required to follow the Reading Street curriculum that is implemented in the classroom. I was able to create my own unit based on Charlotte’s Web, separate from Reading Street. Due to the fact that there really were no requirements, it was challenging to narrow down and find a focus for the unit. There is so much you could do with Charlotte’s Web, and I found it challenging to have to limit myself in that sense. I feel like if I did follow Reading Street, the challenges would be very different and I would be more limited. Overall, I hope did a good job limiting what I taught. I stuck to three major areas of focus and didn’t really stray from them. I used different strategies to teach the specific areas, but I never strayed from what was intended to be taught from the beginning of that day. The hardest part of this for me was trying to multitask and watch the students, the time, and be of assistance to those who need it. There was a lot to think of and making sure to transition well was challenging so not to lose the attention of the kids. I think I was successful during this unit because my MT guided me well and because I felt like I had already somewhat established myself as a teacher so when it was time to teach, the students did respect me. I also think the fact that it was a really interesting and fun book for the kids was helpful. I changed a lot of the lessons by the time I started teaching and had to adjust because some days we didn’t get to what we needed too or it was just taking too long. I think overall, the part I need to practice more and pay attention to that was my “aha” moment was time. I had an aha moment that no matter how long I can plan a lesson, always add an extra five minutes to each part because it will take that long! I feel like I still have a lot to learn and I think I need to really work on adapting my core practice to the actual basal reader in the class and not just to the read aloud book I did with the class.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was planning my GLT unit, I had total freedom about what I wanted to do. I had to make a decision whether I was going to follow the prescribed way of doing Reading Street or if I was going to follow the lead of my mentor teacher and throw the majority of Reading Street out the window. Seeing as my students were not accustomed to regular RS lessons, I decided to follow my MT’s approach, but modify it. My Mentor Teacher decided to teach in themes this year and my final theme ended up being deserts. I think teaching in themes is fun because then you can also integrate some science and social studies, as we did with several lessons. One success of this approach is that it really engaged the students and they enjoyed learning about deserts all over the world. One challenge structuring the unit this way was that I needed to find at least ten books about deserts at an appropriate grade level that students could work with. I spent several hours researching books online and my school’s librarian was a great resource. Having now completed my GLT, I feel great about how it turned out. Obviously there were some bumps and bruises along the way, but I think I did a good job of adapting my instruction to help the students learn. . It was nice to have the freedom to write my own unit, however it is very likely that I will have to follow a scripted curriculum at some point in my career, so I’ll still need to learn how to effectively teach while following a such a constraining curriculum.
ReplyDeleteMy GLT unit was structured to supplement the pre-existing Reading Street curriculum. I designed lessons that would build throughout my unit and also merge with the curriculum. I was required to have students complete a two-sided worksheet each day. I found that the most challenging aspect of my GLT unit was assessing students in meaningful and productive ways. Oftentimes, the elements of my literacy lessons that were actually geared towards my unit objectives were under heavy time-constraints. To combat this issue, I utilized time during silent reading and the morning warm-up to meet one-on-one with students whose work was particularly concerning. The construction and display of an anchor chart also provided more guidance and review for students throughout the progression of the unit. Despite these efforts, I finished my unit feeling like I had rushed through each step with the goal of completion in mind, rather than prioritizing assessment of students' learning / checks for understanding. I had to learn to synthesize each my lessons into the bare minimum of important elements. When it came time for my summative assessment, I truly could not anticipate whether students would be successful.
ReplyDeleteo To what extent were you were expected to follow a scripted curriculum, or add your own ideas to a curriculum that already exists, or create a unit that is entirely new?
ReplyDeleteI did not have to follow a scripted curriculum; my grade level does not have a basal program. The unit that I created was entirely new. My teacher was not planning on teaching strategies for working with a non-fiction text until the end of the year but we were able to be very flexible on this and it worked out fine. This was beneficial to my staff because I created this unit and another teacher in the school used a lot of my unit in his classroom. I have been able to give him the material I have come up with and he has worked with it and eventually he will help me out with another unit. During guided reading, I went through a series of formal and informal assessments’ to make sure that students understood all of the elements of a non-fiction text. I used gradual release of responsibility by first modeling to students what I recognized about the book and eventually let the students voice their opinions about what they noticed.
I provided worksheets for students to fill out questions they may have had about the non-fiction text and provide insight as to what they found important in the non-fiction book compared to what the author may have found important. I went through two small non-fiction books for each group. After this, I had the students create their own non-fiction text. Recently, my class took a field trip to Fenner Nature Park. We learned about deer, snakes, owls, and turkeys as well as a series of other things. Instead of having students create a non-fiction book from the books that we read. I created a packet of information about the deer, snakes, owls, and turkeys that were found at Fenner Park. They had to take this information and synthesize it into their own non-fiction book. Students were given a rubric that had them include 7 out of the 9 different text features of non-fiction book. Students needed to have 4 chapters in their book, one for each animal. They need to have two headings per chapter and they were also required to have bold words in their paragraphs. They were also required to have a cover. The rest of the text features were optional as long as they had 7 different features. This included a table of contents, index, diagrams, maps, and fact boxes. I really enjoyed the flexibility of my unit.
o What was unproblematic and/or challenging about planning a unit in this context?
The challenging part about planning a unit in this context was not having a thorough understanding of what the children have already learned. My school was opened for grades 4-6 this year and was previously a k – 3 building before this. Since my school is new, I have students that have been transferred from over three different schools. This made it hard for me and my mentor teacher to understand what previous funds of knowledge they bring to the table. Although I can have a decent sense of what they should know, there is still a lot that I don’t know. Another problematic part about planning this unit was that it was so open-ended that I didn’t even know where to start. I spent numerous hours reading through the strategies that work book to come up with something that I thought would be a great place to start my teaching. Since I just began my teaching career, it’s hard for me to see what the big picture is for what students should be able to learn by the end of fifth grade. It’s also hard to come up with a lesson and provide differentiation for all students due to time constraints. The beauty of this open ended teaching is that I am able to differentiate when I do have the time and I would prefer this over a basal program.
o
What obstacles did you face? How did you overcome them? Consider issues that may relate to developing your professional identity, developing strong teacher-student relationships, constructing relevant curriculum, or assessing students in meaningful and productive ways.
DeleteAfter watching videos of what I had taught, I realized that I was not coming off as professional as I should have. For example, if a student asked me if their answer was correct, I would respond with “Mhmm” instead of yes. This is something that my peers picked up on when watching my videos. Another thing that I noticed was my habit of chewing gum cannot happen in the classroom. After watching the videos I realized how unprofessional and distracting this looks. I realized that I click my pen a lot when I teach and that I say the word “basically” quite a bit. I learned from this and I have changed my habits. I am slowly progressing towards getting basically out of my vocabulary but this is a process. It’s not fair to say to students basically, because what I think may be basic, they may not.
In terms of developing strong teacher- student relationships, I have found that in terms of management I need to focus more on pointing out the good in students. I realized in class one day that I had been saying things like “No talking during discussion when another is talking, No running in the halls,” and so on. I started saying things like “I like how Josiah is not interrupting anyone while talking in the discussion, I like how Nimo is participating in the discussion.” I have noticed a drastic change in student’s behaviors since I started implementing this idea. When I first started teaching this unit, I was doing a lot of informal assessments. I realized after reading some chapters and talking with mentors and teachers that it’s important that I am also giving formal assessments’. This holds students accountable for their work and keeps them more engaged in the lesson.
In terms of constructing relevant curriculum, I had to take a lot of time to think about what kind of non-fiction text I wanted them to make. I was debating on whether or not I should have the students write a non-fiction text about the books that we read, or about something that they have an immense amount of knowledge about outside of school. Finally, a light bulb sparked and I decided that it would be perfect to bring in what we just learned at Fenner Park. This was helpful because it also held students accountable for the animals that we learned about at Fenner Park.
o What enabled you to be successful?
With the help of my teacher, mentor teacher, and my field instructor, I was able to be successful. Although my unit on paper was terrible, the actual lessons went much better. The students were able to accurately put together a non-fiction book through gradual release of responsibility. My teachers pointed out the importance of gradual release of responsibility in this lesson which was not evident to me when I first started to process. My teachers also let me know the value of sentence starters and having assignments to fill out as we worked through Guided Reading. My field instructor told me the importance of setting up norms for a respectful discussion, providing a purpose for the lesson that I state to my students, and also the importance of having a conclusion at the end of my discussion.
•
Also review the ideas you discussed in your reflections on your three lessons for Inquiry Two (what your students learned, what you learned, what you would do differently), and think about your unit as a whole.
Deleteo
Did the unit proceed as you expected? Why or why not?
The unit has taken a bit longer than expected. It will take about 13 days instead of 10 days due to the amount of time that it’s taking for the students to create a non-fiction text. I had this thought at the beginning of my unit and it turned out to be true. I think that I could have condensed the amount of small group time that I had and used gradual release of responsibility sooner. I could have also had the students make smaller non-fiction books which would have sped up the process. The reason that this happened was because I was not sure how long it would take them to understand all of the features of a non-fiction text. Certain students knew almost all of the features, and other students did not know any of them. This is something that I will have to consider next time when I do the project. I don’t think that I can efficiently get this project done in 10 days or else I would be rushing the average student in my class.
o What surprises or “aha moments” did you experience?
One surprise that I had was the amount of experiences that my children bring to the table. My school has students that come from six different countries and I really didn’t start learning about their experiences until I worked with them in this small group. It was interesting to see how much more students will talk in a small group discussion compared to a class discussion. Some students feel much more comfortable when there aren’t as many students listening. I also learned how quickly students get bored if the teacher is reading the text to them if they are able to read it themselves. This happened because I used differentiation. The books that I used were all set up for different ability levels. Students were able to read through all of the books with little problems. This made them want to read it themselves compared to me reading it to them. I realized how quickly I needed to use gradual release of responsibility. I realized the importance of anchor charts. I realized the importance of little directions such as telling them that they cannot take the book home and that they need to bring a pencil to the table and whether or not they will be graded on the sheet that they have to fill out.
o
What do you still need to learn about teaching in this target area, about developing your 'core practice' and about teaching literacy in general?
I need to learn how to efficiently and effectively use differentiation in the classroom. I need to know how I am going to get my students on track to my grade level without overwhelming them. I need to learn more about how to use assessment’s that benefit children but do not interfere with discussion. I need to learn more about effective talk moves in discussions. I also need to learn more about time management in terms of teaching literacy. I need to find out more about how I can provide assistance to my ELL students and how I should assess them for report cards. I also need to find out more effective anchor charts and how I can use these.