Innovation in the classroom

In the readings of this week, there was much information concerning introduction of new technologies into the classroom. There are many different ways to use innovative ideas and technologies in our classrooms. Many of them were very simple ideas while incorporating different technologies. I especially liked the project, scenario E, described on the NETS Implementation website. For this project, students are required to simulate an election, creating a campaign complete with pamphlets, stickers/buttons and flyers to handout, a speech containing a slogan, as well as a commercial made, in this case, with Photo Story 3. For this class, the project was a big success. Fortunately, each student had a laptop for their own use for the entire school year. This resource is not available to every school. Skyline High School, for example, does not have this kind of technology available to their students. I had students create a commercial for a specific organelle (small structure within the cell). I gave the students the option of using technology. Only one group (out of approximately 30 groups) chose to try to use technology, and then the commercial was messed up in editing, because all sound was lost. Although we have a very wealthy clientele at Skyline, we cannot assume that every student had access to all technology, especially specific software such as Microsoft Office, Photo Story 3, and Quark. Schools would need to have all technology that students would require for any project, and that is not always possible, especially in the current economy.

One thing we can do to incorporate technology that the school has access to in the classrooms is to give students class time to use the technologies required while brainstorming, collaborating and planning using free technologies at home, such as webinspiration and wridea. These technologies can allow students to do all their brainstorming and planning at home, while using their class time to actually work on the assignment, allowing more productive use of the time that students have with the technologies required for the assigned project. This would require students to have a computer and web access at home. At Skyline, this is not a problem. However, I could foresee issues with this at other schools.

It is very difficult to incorporate innovative technologies when schools have few resources. I think that there would need to be much in-class work planned in order to fulfill the technology standards. This would take much planning, especially to incorporate all subject material we must, according to the Washington state standards. This may be difficult, and I do not know whether it can be done, unless there are very few projects that incorporate technology. I would think that it is possible, but it would require a lot of planning, possibly including tutorials for each piece of software or technology we use. I think technology can be implemented if a teacher tries hard enough.

Resources:

Technology Operations and Concepts. (2009). Retrieved from ISTE Wikispace: http://nets-implementation.iste.wikispaces.net/Technology+Operations+and+Concepts.

Marzano Strategies: homework and practice, and setting objectives and providing feedback

Lesson Plan: Formal Lab Reports

1. Instructional Strategy-Referenced Reflection

In this lesson, two different strategies were implemented in different parts of the lesson. For homework the class before, students were given a set of fake data collected by a student. They were to write a formal lab report, using their lab grading rubric, assuming they had completed the lab themselves (Homework and practice). In the lesson provided, students were given another student’s lab report to evaluate according to a given rubric (with the same criteria as the lab grading rubric). They gave feedback on the report they were given, and gave the report back to the student author (Setting objectives and providing feedback). The students were then asked to take home the evaluated report to fix for homework and turn in the next day (Homework and practice).

I thought this lesson went very well. Students definitely benefitted from looking at another student’s lab report. They saw what other students did, and thought about what they could do to make their reports better. One student even commented, “This data table is much better than mine! I totally forgot to include an average column.” I think it is wonderful that students can see their own mistakes by looking at others work. Often times, students respond better to criticism from their peers rather than from me.

One problem I saw was that some students did not put as much effort into their reports, so students evaluating those reports did not get as much out of the task as others did. I wish all students had put forth more effort so that everyone could benefit equally from looking at another student’s report. Another exercise could be to look at previous year’s reports, or even made up reports so students could look for errors and parts to fix in the reports.

1. Standard S Criterion-References Reflection

In this lesson, students were assigned homework practice for completing formal lab reports. They were given a very specific lab grading rubric to follow in order to complete the lab report successfully. The students used their time at home to practice writing their report so that they know what is expected of them when we have our first formal lab report assigned. As they practice writing full reports more often, they will understand exactly what I expect in terms of their formal lab reports.

During the peer evaluation, I walked around to check how well students were doing on the lab reports. Most students did a pretty good job following the given lab grading rubric, understanding that those were the criteria on which they would be graded. Students worked hard to complete a draft for class, not knowing they would get to fix problems in their labs before officially submitting them. Students were thoughtful in their evaluations of their peer’s reports and provided good feedback to help their peers get a better grade. This feedback helped the students see the parts of the lab report that they needed to improve or missed. The lab reports were alright for a first attempt. I hope that my feedback will help them improve their reports even more, so that their first formal lab report will be the best that they can produce.

1. Standard T Criterion-Referenced Reflection

In both of these activities, students could take advantage of both summative and self-assessment strategies. As they were writing their reports at home, they could use their lab grading rubrics as a checklist to ensure their report completely contains all the parts. They can also use their rubric as a check list after they have finished writing it.

During the peer evaluation portion, the students use a peer evaluation rubric to grade their peer’s report. The evaluator can use the rubric as a checklist to evaluate the author’s report. They can assess the author’s summative understanding of the scientific method and how it applies to formal lab reports.

Week of 10/26-30

My biggest struggle this week was just getting through the week. I was becoming more overwhelmed by the day with what I felt I was being asked to do. I was very behind in my class work, and had not even figured out what I was supposed to do for one of my classes entirely. It was the last week of the first quarter, so I felt pressured to finish grading two labs and an exam by the end of the week. (I was mistaken in the date that grades were due and I was at school until about 6:30 pm both Monday and Tuesday) My second mentor was also repeatedly asking me to start preparing to take over his chemistry classes. In addition, I was having major behavior issues in one of the classes I am already in charge of. One of my students has been a big issue, and it was escalating to the point where I was having major difficulty keeping the class under control. Pretty much Wednesday, I was using all my energy to keep control and I had more than one anxiety attack. I was able to get myself together and get through the week. The one student who was the stem of most of the issues in the one class was moved to another one of my classes. (There is a lot of history behind this student, which is confidential, and this was one solution to repeated behavior issues)

My biggest success this week was again, getting through the week. I am glad that I made it through without any huge screw ups. I managed to keep it together through all my classes and catch up on my work by the end of the week. I consider this a huge success, because of the amount of stress I was handling throughout the week. I have never had an anxiety attack before, and the fact that I had three in two days says a lot.

Week 9/28-10/02

My biggest success this past week was dealing with a potential mutiny in my class. The students were furious with me about a homework assignment that they had understood the day before, but apparently didn’t understand when they got home, so most of the class received low marks. The class was swearing at me under their breaths, upset that they got a low grade because they did not follow instructions. I calmed them down by making the next assignment (on the same material) due after the weekend, so they had time to work everything out. I also went over a few more example problems, emphasizing the specific steps they needed to complete for each problem. They all seemed much better Thursday (the following day) and by Friday everyone seemed back to normal.

      My biggest struggle this week was trying to make decisions on the fly. In both my chemistry class and my biology class, I had students asking questions about expectations and assignments. I was not sure how to answer them and therefore gave very wishy-washy answers that probably made students even more confused. Both my mentors commented that no matter what my decision was (whether it was the same decision they would have made or not) I needed to make one and stick to it. I will try to work on this in my biology classes, where I really have the final say in what I require. In chemistry, my mentor still has the final say, so it is harder to stray from his expectations. I need to make sure I know what they are before I can answer student questions.

Consequences with Empathy Reflection

I thought that Consequences with Empathy (Ch 10 in Love and Logic) was very applicable to younger students. They often will respond better to questions about what consequences they may deserve. I do not think that high school teachers should immediately throw this technique out the window. I think there is less of a chance that a high school student will learn from making up their own consequences, but for some students, this will work. In high school, I would have been one of those students that this technique would have worked very well on. I hated to have adults disappointed in me, especially my teachers. But some of the students who act out in high school, and even sometimes in middle school, do not care what the adults think of them and do not care if anyone is disappointed in them, maybe because they expect that kind of treatment from adults.

I also think this strategy will work better for minor infractions, like talking in class or not doing homework. Larger infractions, especially in high school, may mean that those students deal with authority figures often and do not expect adults to care about what they do. Trying to show that you care will not work because their interactions with other adults have been so different. It would probably be a good idea to try this approach, but I would expect it to work more often on those little behavioral issues in class.

Shared Control Reflection

I thought this reading (chapter 9 in Teaching with Love and Logic) was very helpful. I am nervous about being in charge of a classroom because I do not want to be that teacher that cannot control her class, so is always threatening them. The information given in this chapter was very practical, and I enjoyed reading the different ways you can share control with the students, without actually losing any control yourself. The thinking and fighting words comparison was very helpful because I started imagining situations in a classroom where I could use thinking words, such as when students are turning in homework. My mentor teacher has a procedure for collecting homework that I am going stick with. If a student doesn’t like it, I can say something like “I’ll be happy to take your homework on the late homework day at the end of the quarter”. A battle for control is not one I want to have to fight, so I am very glad I got some good ideas for avoiding it, as well as some good ideas for getting out of the cycle of defiance, if I start fighting the battle without realizing it.

Reflection- How do teachers create an environment where students are responsible for their own learning?

I think developing specific procedures and establishing a standard that the students are to follow is very important to students being responsible for their own learning. Procedures, such as expecting students to remember to turn in their homework and projects without excessive reminders from the teacher, and expecting students to be able to give an opinion during a class discussion, even if it not perfect. I think it is good to encourage students to learn about their subjects outside of school, such as keeping up with current events in the subject, or coming in with questions regarding what they learned the class before. I think it is also very important to relate subject in school to the students’ lives. Giving them a personal connection to the subject catches their interest much more than simply stating, “this is applicable to your lives because…” For example, talk about some part of your subject in relation to the harry potter or twilight books, or starbucks coffee.

Reflection- Think about a homework policy; what are the main elements?

My policy on homework would be pretty straight forward. I am teaching high school, so they will pretty much know what is expected of them. Of course, I will review how important homework is to learning the material. The homework I give will not be extensive, nor will it be busy work, as that is no help to anyone. Pre-labs will be assigned before every lab period; students will understand the importance of being prepared in lab, which will happen if they complete the pre-lab assignments. Reading may often be assigned, so students can become more familiar with new topics introduced in class. Late homework will be accepted, but only at certain times. Even if assignments are not completed on time, students will be encouraged to complete them and turn them in on a specified day at the end of the quarter, which will be announced once at the beginning of the quarter, and once a few days before that day. Parents will be encouraged to ask students about what they learned from their homework that night. By high school, students should have established a consistent place and schedule for their homework, but parents will be encouraged to help set this up with their students, if it is not already in place.