Consistency

In our classroom management and behavior classes and lessons, we've learned the importance of being consistent with our discipline so the students will have clear boundaries to operate within. I have also noticed that the concept of consistency also applies to teaching strategies. I was re-reading my earlier posts and started thinking about the strategy I tried and failed. Then I realized that part of my cooperative teacher's success is that he uses the same strategies throughout each unit he teaches. He utilizes similar formats for note-taking when watching videos, similar worksheet formats for book work, the same opener every day, similar formats for unit review tests, study guides, and tests that reflect the OAKS science test format. He does throw in a few different strategies within each unit to mix it up a bit, but he is careful to address the major concepts using multiple intelligence theory by having the students work through the same material from different perspectives. His use of consistent formats helps the students focus on the content rather than trying to learn a new strategy. I have come to realize that when I chosoe to use new strategies, that I shouldn't implement too many new ones too close togther. I also need to take advantage of the students' comfort zones when planning my lessons so they are not thrown off by a format that looks different therefore distracting them from the content they need to learn because they are trying to get used to how the content is being delivered. I think it is to the students' benefit to risk being a little boring from time to time in order to preserve the consistency that allows students to be more sucessful in learning content.

Thinking on Your Feet

I had an interesting experience today. My university supervisor did his first observation this afternoon during my 6th period class. My cooperative teacher has been doing most of the prep, so I just got to go along for the ride. He had a lab for the students to practice Mendelian Genetics by building space-alien "bugs" out of marshmallows, toothpicks, flag pins, tacks, and pipecleaners. Thankfully I was able to practice with my poor 2nd period class first! I'm really starting to feel sorry for those kids. Anyway, the 6th period class whipped through the lab much faster than any of the previous ones leaving me 10 minutes of unplanned time! (I know, I know - I should have over planned, but I ran out of time for the 2nd period one so I thought I already had overplanned.) So here I am, trying not to panic (I think I need to take a class on stress relief!), and wracking my mind for an inspiring way to keep the students engaged for the remaining 10 minutes of class without looking bad for the observation. Then it hit me - expand on what I've got. Don't re-invent the wheel so to speak. I just continued on with the end of the lesson then had the students get into pairs or groups of three to think of additional alleles they could have incorporated into the lab and what kind of phenotypes those alleles would produce. Success! I ended up looking like I had planned this all along, the kids were able to utilize higher - level thinking by applying their knowledge of the exercise to their own ideas, and I even had some of the really shy kids raise their hands and volunteer answers. I honestly don't know how the whole thing ended up being so awesome, but I am sure glad it did.

Buget Friendly Smartboard - Make Your Own for $50!

I found this earlier today when I was looking into assessment strategies using smartboards. My current classroom doesn't have one and I am going to try to make this after spring break. I'm so excited to try it!! Neither one of the videos would upload directly onto the blog so you'll have to follow the links. The TED video shows how the technology works and gives you a general idea of how to build it yourself. The youtube video gives more detailed step by step instructions.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/245

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s5EvhHy7eQ

Here is Johnny Lee's website where you can download the software to have an instant smartboard anywhere you want one!

http://johnnylee.net

A Different Management Style

I have discovered that my classroom management style has not been addressed in any of our texts or discussions. When researching articles for assessment strategies and management differences between middle school and high school students, I came across some research about relational management techniques. I demand that my students are respectful to me and each other yet I am certainly not the dictator personality that others are comfortable with. I have great respect for teachers who have a commanding presence in the classroom but I am naturally not that way. Probably the most valuable part of my student teaching experience has been discovering how to successfully manage a classroom effectively while remaining true to who I am as a person. I am a relational person who loves to have fun with the kids yet I am also a bit of a control freak. I sincerely love the kids and I want to see each and every one of them reach their fullest potential.

I am discovering that respect for teachers, parents, administrators, the law - any authority at all - is waning among the general student population. Students who are broken, are involved in gang activities, neglected, you name it, do not have a built-in trust or respect for me as a teacher. To reach these students, I have to build a relationship of trust with them. They are so used to having adversarial relationships with those who traditionally have inherent authority such as police officers and principals. Teachers find themselves with no credibility to maintain any level of authority with these students either. The result is multiple disciplinary problems with the student(s) being kicked out of class or suspended after multiple detentions and referrals to the office. It was encouraging to find that my technique is actually one that is being researched and has been observed as being a successful technique in inner-city high schools. I was a bit surprised by the results and I am encouraged. If you think you gravitate toward a relational-style of managing your classroom or if you have no idea as to what the heck I'm talking about, this research paper will probably be of interest to you.

I wasn't able to figure out how to attach an Adobe file to my blog. If anyone knows how, I would appreciate some help. I also cannot link directly to it because it requires a subscription to the journal to access it directly. I added a page to the wiki that I'm a part of with the article saved as an attachment. Here is the link to the wiki: http://scienceassessments.wetpaint.com/
I will have to invite you on to see it first. It is located on the Classroom Management Strategies page. Leave a comment on this blog if you want access to the Science Assessments website.

If you don't want to access the attached file via the wiki, here is the information you'll need to find it through Ebscohost:

School Psychology Review,
2008, Volume 37, No. 3, pp. 337-353
FEATURED ARTICLE
Adolescent Trust in Teachers: Implications for Behavior
in the High School Classroom
Anne Gregory and Michael B. Ripski
University of Virginia

Strategy Observed - Can I Use It?

Being the eternal optimist that I am, I think nearly every strategy can be used in any content area. The limiting factors are the teacher's style and preference, fitting the right strategy with the right purpose, and the age of the students.

A strategy that I observed being used in one of the social studies classrooms I visited involved cooperative learning groups. Students' desks were arranged in groups of 4 or 5. Students were to discuss certain questions among each other then respond during the lecture which took the form of a class discussion. There were many elements that I appreciated such as having an interactive lecture. That format engaged most of the students. It was interesting to hear what other students were thinking in response to the information the teacher gave them. I'm not sure if using cooperative learning groups would necessarily be effective in the science classroom. Students work together in groups for labs anyway and I think that if I used cooperative learning groups for lecture or assignments, I would be overusing them. On the other hand, there may be appropriate lessons to have groups work together depending on what science class I'm teaching. I can see groups working together in an interactive lecture in a science classroom using think-pair-share or some other strategy that promotes entire group particpation. I think the key is to be very organized, have clear directions, and ensure all students are participating and learning.

For me, I prefer using videos to supplement lectures. My current cooperative teacher has this down to a fine science (pun intended). He streams in relevant videos when introducing new topics. The students have a worksheet to fill out as they watch the video and he pauses the video often to elaborate, explain in better detail, answer student questions, and discuss the content. It is a great strategy that I used a couple of times in my last placement and will definately do this when I have my own classroom. On the other hand, my A placment teacher preferred to use the whiteboard and diagrammed as he lectured. Both strategies delivered the information visually, orderly, and effectively. The way the strategies were used depended on the teaching style of the teacher. Besides, when I try diagramming things, they end up being a mess - I'm terrible at sketching!! My A placement teacher had excellent handwriting and could draw quite well.

Interactive lectures using cooperative groups seem to take a lot of effort to set up, maintain, and may not be the most efficient use of time. However, some students may learn best this way and by working through the lecture content more slowly, there may be higher comprehension rates among the students. I guess it's a matter of teaching slowly once or teaching at a faster pace a few times over using different modes.

A Strategy To Try

A strategy I would really, really, really like to try is using a smart board with questions reviewing content while having students click in their answers. I've been to a couple of Promethean board training sessions and have seen how the science teachers at the other middle school in Hermiston use them. The school that I'm placed at right now doesn't have any smart boards (at least none that I'm aware of).

The Spanish teacher at the high school I was at during my A placement started using the Promethean board this year. She said that student comprehension, participation, and test scores have jumped up significantly. The science teachers I have talked with that use them have had similar success. As soon as I have a teaching placement, I will do all I can to obtain a Promethean board.

Failed Strategy

I attempted to do an opener the other day in my placement and it didn't go over very well. I handed the students a slip of paper as they walked into the classroom that asked two questions regarding the topics of diffusion and osmosis. The questions asked the students to write everything they know about each topic. Only about 1/4 of the students wrote anything down. It wasn't that the students didn't write anything down because they didn't know anything since they had been learning about the two topics. I think it was because they were not used to having an opening exercise (they are supposed to record the day's assignment in their science assignment record sheet every day). I also think that since the bell hadn't actually sounded yet, the students didn't want to do any work that early in the class period - even though they had a couple of minutes to write something after the bell rang. It also was not a graded assignment.

Since I had tried this opener in my 2nd period class without much success, I tried it as a closer in my 6th period class. Nearly all students wrote something in the 6th period class. Those who didn't want to do the closer wrote down they either knew too much to write (yeah - right!!) or they didn't know anything. Most students wrote something. Using the slips as exit slips as opposed to entrance slips worked much better to gain the students' feedback. They had the concepts of diffusion and osmosis in their minds by the end of class since we did a lab demonstrating osmosis. It also served to help me identify students who were completely lost and were struggling with the concepts. Most importantly, the students didn't feel like they had to switch their thoughts from their previous class to the science class so quickly. Having an opener that helps them transition a little more slowly into thinking about science without "attacking" them with questions right off the bat seemed to be more effective. I am pretty sold on using the exit slips from time to time.

Ultimately, because of the students' responses, I was able to evaluate what the students were understanding or not understanding about the topic. I was able to throw in more analogies and had a short discussion with both classes the following day to help the students understand the difference between diffusion and osmosis. It will be interesting to see how they perform on the unit test this Friday.

Tried Strategy That Worked Great

The nature of science requires students to learn a lot of new vocabulary words. Two strategies that worked really well in the 7th/8th grade integrated science classroom I'm currently placed in is relating the content to the students' everyday lives and using a word wall. The students are learning about cells and the basic structure and function of the cell. Cells are strange collections of organelles that have names like Golgi Complex, Endoplasmic Reticulum, Ribosomes, and Cytoplasm. Not only do these organelles have strange names, they look really weird too. We used a word wall by constructing two posters out of a large sheet of red paper and another large sheet of green paper. The red paper was cut into a round shape to resemble an animal cell. The green paper was cut into a rectangular shape to resemble a plant cell. When introducing the parts of the cell, we wrote the parts that are found in both cell types on both posters. Those parts found only in plant cells, we wrote on the green poster only. We did the same thing with the functions of the cells. To relate the parts of the cell to the students' everyday lives, we used analogies to factories when describing the organelle functions. The students did quite well on their quiz last week and they will be taking their unit test tomorrow. I have high hopes they will do just as well on their test.