Best Practice = High Quality Discussions

Recommendation 3

Guide Students through focused, high quality discussion on the meaning of text.

“High quality discussions should be part of the school day because they have a great deal to with improving reading comprehension.”

 My Discussion Goals =Higher Order Questions

My students WILL be involved in deeper discussions next year!  Advice that I will use from the IES Practice Guide……

1.       Focus more time on questions that integrate, interpret, evaluate, and critique

a.       I spend too much time on questions that only have my students locate and recall

b.      Students will understand the text more thoroughly if they have to compare and interpret the text in different ways.

c.       Adapt for my younger students – Book Walks

                                                               i.      Thinking out Loud – Invite the kids into what goes through my head when I think about the questions that I am tackling.

d.      Discuss high-order questions in small groups or with a partner

e.      Examples:

                                                               i.      Why did _______?

                                                             ii.      Why do you think_______?

                                                            iii.      If you were the author_______?

                                                           iv.      What does ______ remind you of? Why?

2.       Have Students Lead Discussions

a.       Assign/Describe Roles for students

b.      Start Small – Start with discussing predictions or summaries of the stories

c.       Give them higher order questions to discuss.

d.      Have the students make their own higher order questions. (teach higher order questions)

e.      Have them prepare for discussions with text codes

3.       Model, Model, Model

a.       It is so important to show students HOW to have organized discussions.

b.      Set aside time to teach discussion skills

c.       Do not throw the kids into groups right away. Discuss as a large group then move into sharing with a partner during whole group time. Eventually move towards small group discussions.

Move from answering questions to thoughtfully exploring the text.

Seven Structures of Best Practice Teaching - Chapter 8

Stepping off the Stage......

Zemelman, Daniels, and Hyde suggest that teachers step off the stage. This chapter explains that classrooms need to shift from teacher-directed to student-directed. I fully agree that students will have a better understanding of what they are learning, if they are involved in the process.

Best Practice Plan (7 basic structures)

• Small-Group Activites
• I have incorportated literature circles into my weekly reading plan since I started 8 years ago. The style that I currently use is not working. I have them do too much paper work and with not enough discussion time.
• Improvements for next year
• take notes for sources of discussion topics
• share notes at circle meeting
• discuss different points of view
• Choice
• Books
• topics related to the text to discuss
• Questions
• not always written and turned in
• Learn from each other!
• AUTHOR'S CHAIR
• I will use this strategy next year!
• Reading as Thinking
• I would like to work on my BEFORE reading plan.
• I often have my students jump into the text during their differentiated group time.
• Kids need to be excited to read the text that they are assigned.
• I even need something to get me hooked before I grab a book off the shelf.
• Make connections with prior knowledge and self
• Text Codes
• During and After Reading
• This is a great way for our students to stay engaged while reading and to also have something to report to their groups with.
• Written Conversation
• I will definetely use this stategy with my gifted and talented cluster next year. It is a great way to push a discussion farther.
• Representing to Learn
• Problem - ME "I don't have enough time to journal!"
• Solution - This chapter has taught me that journal if done correctly, replaces textbook study questions, ditto sheets and low level memorization sheets.
• YAY!
• Classroom Workshop
• Choice
• I must incorporate more choice into my classroom next year.
• When my students are working on their choice project, I will conduct meetings.
• This will help to develop my relationships with my students.
• Authentic Experiences
• More hands on experiences.
• Real-Life Connections
• Fun and Engaging
• Reflective Assessment
• Assessment Adjustments
• Authentic Evaluations
• For Literature Circles, I would like to track student progress through observational records and small group conferences.
• Integrative Units
• I would like to start marrying Reading and Social Studies/Health
• I would like to teach the same reading skills such as cause and effect during my social studies and health times.

Reading Strategies

http://med.smumn.edu/node/17976

Video and Pictures from my Action Research

http://animoto.com/play/GlNmZxtwP0d69I5Dh0FpDA


The kids LOVED student Led Conferences!

The Power of Attention

The Power of Attention

 Spiritual Dimensions of Leadership

Where did Sokolow and Houston catch my ATTENTION?

·        “You’ve probably had a moment when you said, “What was I thinking?” The answer is you probably weren’t. Certainly not with a significant amount of attention.”

o   Not paying attention gets me into trouble often. Simple things like not being able to find my keys. I don’t pay attention to where I placed my keys. A goal of mine is to get organized. I would like to be more organized at home and at school. I feel that my attention gets in the way. I am one of those kids in your class that easily gets distracted and forgets to finish number ten or doesn’t put their name on the top. I would like slow down and give my full attention to the task that is being completed.

·        “If you get caught up in the rat race, the rats win because you just don’t go anywhere with anything. Everything spins around because you don’t have a sense of focus.”

o   Right now, I feel like the hamster in the ball. I know that things will slow down since we have moved into SUMMER TIME, but during the school year, life moves very quickly.  I don’t have much time, but I wouldn’t give anything up………except for commutingJ! I need to make sure that I give my attention to the significant/meaningful people and events in my life. Since I have limited time, I need to make sure that my attention is focused on my kids at home and at school.  I need to pay attention to the growth that my students are making, not to the new dj inker boarder that will really make my lesson look cute. J……I was introduced to the dj inker world last year….I love it!

·        “Someone who wants to be an enlightened leader but who doesn’t have a sense of attention is like an absent-minded professor who has all the theory but can’t find the way home at night.”

o   We must be able to apply ourselves in an intentional way. We must pay attention to our student’s social needs and to where they need to grow academically. If we slow down and make intentional decisions, our kids will have more success.

·        “You don’t want to work harder, you want to work smarter.”

o   Summer Masters Work

§  Intention and attention work together.  My work will be more intentional if I stop and give it my full attention. I am a morning person. I plan on using the time in the morning before my kids get up to work on my masters work. If I give my work the attention it needs, I will be working smarter, not harder.  

Adaption Application through IDEA

 

Adaption Application through IDEA

Instruction

I strive to develop this important piece of AGAPE each day.  I feel that adaption is the “How” of teaching. We must develop each concept, so our students understand the importance of learning different skills. Over the past few months, I have put a lot of thought into the depth of my lessons. I have realized that I do not push the topic/concept as far as they can go. I do not take the time to allow my students to contribute through choice and discussions as much as I should.  Lessons should be adapted for all students. I differentiate my lessons by ability each day. I feel that leveled differentiation is a strength of mine.  I am missing the constructivist piece when I differentiate. I should also differentiate by interest and choice.

Discipline/Content Area

Adaption is present in math when my students solve problems on their whiteboards. When they complete the problem, we share the many ways to get the answer. This is a major change from when I first started teaching. We are now excepting many ways to get to the correct answer.  I would like become more adaptive in my language arts class. There are many opportunities that I am not taking right now. I would like to add authentic learning opportunities where they discover the essential questions through discussions and book talks.

Environment

Classrooms are set up for a very small percent of our learners. Most second graders struggle to attend for long periods of time while sitting in a desk. Most seven and eight year olds have a hard time comprehending through only listening. I must adapt my curriculum to meet the needs of all students. I need to make sure that I use a variety of instructional strategies while thinking about diverse learning styles. I must adapt my environment each day to the mood of my classroom. My energy level should change with theirs.

Assessment

Assessments must be adaptive. We have many different students who need to be assessed differently too. I am so excited to get standard based report cards next year! I struggle giving percentage grades to my second graders. The standard based reporting with explain what each child has mastered and what they are working towards. I feel that it is difficult to apply adaption to standardized tests. I don’t think that standardized tests are sensitive to diverse learners.

In twenty years, I still think that I will be developing adaption within my classroom. This piece of AGAPE will always change and that is an important part of understanding adaption. We must adapt to what our students need in order to be successful.

Praxis Reflection

 

In a typical conference setting, the teachers and parents discuss what their child has learned, their behavior and areas of strength and weakness. When the student comes to conferences, they typically sit and listen to the discussion that their parent is having with their teacher. Their faces are full of confusion, uninterested stares, and sometimes frustration. Our students need to feel that they are a leader in their educational journey. Through student led conferencing they can share how and why they are learning different concepts each day. Primary teacher, Linda Picciotto (1999) explains that students love being in charge. Students build communication skills with their parents by showing their work and how they are learning in class. In May, I tried this theory out. We had student led conferences in our classroom. I created seven different centers which students brought their parents through. This is the link to the centers that I created. http://nmperius.blogspot.com/2013/04/student-led-conferences.html At these centers, my students communicated How and Why they learn certain concepts each day. The framework of my centers came from Picciotto’s article. Before open house conferences, I called each family to discuss important conferencing topics such as behavior, growth and test scores.  The article I read by S. Cromwell explained that parents wanted more information than what their child explained during student led conferences. My student’s parents explained that they would not have thought that the conferences would have been as successful without the phone call before. I plan on incorporating student led conferencing next year. I would like to provide centers at each conference next year in addition to the traditional setting. I would like to end the year with a spring open house again. Most importantly, I would like to incorporate constructivist methods that place my students in the leadership role more often.

2012-2013 Growth

      Teaching with intention has been my center point of teaching this year.  In the past, I taught the lessons and curriculum in a creative way with my students as the focus. This year I have put a lot of time and thought into how and why I teach a certain way.  Through reflection, I have been able to slow down to evaluate the impact of my lessons and the environment I provide for my students. I feel that I am constantly battling with myself. This is a good thing, because it proves that I am thinking about how I can improve my teaching with the values that I believe in.

Content Improvements

·        Instructional Strategies

o   I have evaluated the instructional strategies that I use most frequently.

§  Are they valuable?

§  Do I use the same ones too much?

§  What level of thinking do my students use to participate in this instructional strategy?

o   I have added new/valuable strategies to my lessons.

·        Backwards Design

o   Essential Questions

o   Think and Thin learning/questions

o   The backwards design unit that I incorporated way by far the most enjoyable and in-depth unit that I did in reading this year.

·        Intentional Teaching

o   Reflecting on the value and the changes that might need to be made after lessons.

Relationships/Environment Improvements

·        Specific Needs

o   I have stopped to think about the specific needs (emotionally and academically) of each child.

o   Classroom Goal

§  This year, a goal of mine was to give the “average” students more attention. I felt very successful in this area.

o   Interest Based

§  I would like to continue to improve in this area. I would like to differentiate lessons based on interest and level, instead of always academic levels.

o   AGAPE – Association and Generativity Improvements

 

I enjoyed reading and sharing about assessment practices this year. Our school is switching to standards based report cards next year. I am ready for this move.  I am very excited to see how this style of reporting improves our assessment process. I still struggle with what is best for children when it comes to assessment. I know that we need tests like the NWEA to see where our kids are at, but I struggle with the pressure that these tests have on our kids. I feel that I have grown as a teacher and as a person this year.