Here is our Silver Lake College, Pulaski learning community blog site. This is our official comment/discussion area for our readings, issues, and learning community events.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
December ASCD Blog Post
Thanks Kevin for reminding me to put this blog post up. Give a quick overview of your ASCD article and a so what in response. We will see you all this weekend.
I had posted it in the other area the other day... but here it is again.
I read the article “What Makes a Great Teacher?”. This article was written by six prominent educators, they described what they felt were the most important qualities of an effective teacher. They were fairly self-explanatory. “Humility in an Age of Hubris” – understanding that you may not know everything and that being willing to learn from others. “Excitement About Learning”- exactly what it says, being excited about what you are teaching and how you are teaching it. “Making Meaning”- having students’ practice critical thinking and problem solving, along with collaboration and communication. “Reflecting on How You Teach” – “It’s not the doing that matters; it’s the thinking about the doing.” – John Dewey “Willingness to Grow” – having the desire to continue to grow and meet students’ changing needs. “Designing Good Questions” – designing good questions are the key to success in any lesson format.
So What?? After reading this article I felt it connected well to this program. We are all here to continue to grow, show excitement and learn from others. If all educators think about these six important qualities students would gain so much more and we as educators would be that much more effective!
Requiring students to practice skills has gotten some bad press. Some may conclude that this violates the theory of constructivism, but this is not the case. During schooling, students need to master a variety of skills, strategies, and process - this is referred to as procedural knowledge. There are 3 stages to unlocking the power of practice:
First stage: the learner is aware of how the skill, strategy, or process works but is not really able to do it
Second stage: the learner begins to execute the procedure but must think about it consciously while doing so, often making errors along the way.
Final stage: the learner masters the procedure to the extent that he or she can execute it with little or no conscious thought.
Having students think aloud and spacing practices sessions are two other factors of building procedural knowledge.
So What?? Being in a area of study where procedural knowledge is a big part of what we do, I had an "ah-ha" moment after reading this article. It was a great insight to the importance and procedures of skills building. Having the students get to a place where they are self-functioning with skills allows us to teach them so much more of the bigger picture.
This article was about the gender gap in the "same old instruction" between boys and girls. I am sure the girls guessed it, the boys are trailing in the majority of schools. To battle this gap Wamsley School District launched two single-sex middle school academies, with the implementation of these academies grades and test scores improved, attendance increased, discipline referrals decreased, and teachers felt more effective.
I felt the most important part of the article was about the "Strategies for Teaching Boys and Girls Effectively." Strategy 1: Add movement Strategy 2: Build on the Visual Strategy 3:Incorporate Student Interests and Choices.
So What.... These strategies not only helped the schools in the article increase the boys scores in school but also motivated them to come to school. Who knew you could have fun and learn at the same time.
When I read this article I anticipated it to talk about many of the things that contribute to struggling students' struggles. But that is not what it was about. It discuss several people who struggled in school for very different reasons. One struggled due to the poverty level of her family, one was ashamed and struggled with math, and some students struggled due to the family structure and lack of expectations put on them. After discussing the reasons/causes for their struggles it began talking about the four characteristics of effective teachers. The students that they began talking about became teachers and talk about how they use the four characteristics to be effective. 1. Create a caring relationship: Students need to know that we care. Check in with students and tell them when you notice that they are not at school. Each student should feel important. 2. Set high standards and help students reach them: a caring relationship will support learning. If we set high standards and we help students acheive the standards helps build confidence. Students have different needs and may need different things to achieve; we need to give them those things. 3. Connect the curriculum to their lives: If students are dealing with the "all too real" things at home that is where their mind may be. If what they are learning can be connected to their lives they are more likely to connect. 4. Participate in ongoing professional development: in order to "keep up" with kids we need to continue to learn. This can be done by learning new things and then using what is learned to differenciate and help struggling students by enaging them in activities that may be fun and motivate them.
The last paragraph of the article truly summed up the four characteristics.
So what?....well in order to be successful teachers we need to create success through learning environments, new ideas, making connections and realizing that school is not the only part of our students' lives.
Even though its not the most recent, this is the one I read during my downtime since it is not in my grad school bag!
I'm sharing this article because one item stuck with me that I think is important to pass on. "Whenever students say they can't do something or are not good at something, the teacher should add,"yet."
There were other great points such as:
Fast learning is not always the deepest learning
and
Meaningful learning tasks give students a clear sense of progress leading to mastery
So what: I think that truly, as students get frustrated learning a new concept, they can be encouraged as teachers remind them of, "not yet." They will get it, even if they don't understand it now. It is a very positive reinforcement.
“A Week Of Observations” In this article a principal described how she did her staff evaluations. They were an extended observation over the course of a week. She would conference with the teacher before the week of observations. The teacher would explain his/her focus of the week long lessons. After the first two visits they would conference again to give feedback and suggestions. Then she would continue to visit that teacher for the remainder of the week. At the end of the week she would continue on the feedback and suggestions. The teacher and principal would analyze the areas of focus that they established in the pre-observation conference. They would also talk about the success of any changes from the midweek conference and the general flow of the week’s lessons. Over all the positive feedback outweighed the negative. The principal agreed that there were challenges, such as time and the case of emergencies coming up, but the staff members liked this way of evaluation. They felt they got more feedback this way as well as were more likely to use the principles suggestions. SO WHAT?? After reading this article I thought about how I am currently evaluated by my principal. It is a short, about 20-30 min., visit where he jots down a few notes and then we meet about it. I don’t feel that I get much feedback from him and usually I have to wait for about a week or two before he has his post conference with me. If he were to have a week-long observation I feel I would get much more out of it. He would be able to evaluate my teaching better and I would be able to get much more feedback from it as well. I believe with the more feedback the better teacher I can be.
1. Go to Silver Lake College homepage 2. Go to Campus web; then campus web login. 3. Login 4. Class registration 5. Click graduate 6. Click Teacher Leadership 7. Answer questions: Are you Hispanic/Latino race. Then enter your race. 8. At bottom, click on “Check this box.” Then hit continue. 9. Department; go edu. Choose Saturday; Choose 8 A.M. Search 10. Looks for building and Pul* PHS Hit Add. 11. Find each Pul* PHS and add EDU 500, 529, 535, 601, and 690.
“Making the Most of Your Class Website” is an article taken from “Educational Leadership” Feb. 2011 edition. In this article Lemoyne S. Dunn breaks down the four levels of a class website. The five levels are types of websites and how you are planning on using it. Level one is Static. This is a website that doesn’t need changing and updating. It often contains basic class information such as, the teacher’s name, class rules, class schedule, and etc. Level two is Semistatic. Semistatic is a website that needs periodic updating. You may need to update special events coming up and this may be done several times or a few times each month. Level three is the Supplemental Resource. This level of website has teacher-created resources such as study guides. There may also be outside resources such as games, videos and the course textbook. Students and parents typically use this once every two to six weeks. Integral Curricular is a level four website. This type of website has two way communication along with all of the other information in a level three website. The last level of website is a level 5 which is Pedagogical Memory. Some characteristics of this type of website include having the students have a very active role in it, a place for collaboration and solving problems. In addition they may use this as a way to turn in homework.
Overall, this article expresses that class websites are important, but can serve for many different purposes. I feel that by reading this article it has allowed me to come up with what my purpose of the website would be. It has enlightened me to create a website that is at the level three. I want to create a way to communicate with parents and allow them to be informed about our classroom. In addition, I want to be able to give them a look into our classroom, by posting pictures from our everyday activities. I want to create a website that also provides educational games and resources for parents and for the children. I feel that this will be just one more way to increase my home to school relationship.
I had posted it in the other area the other day... but here it is again.
ReplyDeleteI read the article “What Makes a Great Teacher?”. This article was written by six prominent educators, they described what they felt were the most important qualities of an effective teacher. They were fairly self-explanatory.
“Humility in an Age of Hubris” – understanding that you may not know everything and that being willing to learn from others.
“Excitement About Learning”- exactly what it says, being excited about what you are teaching and how you are teaching it.
“Making Meaning”- having students’ practice critical thinking and problem solving, along with collaboration and communication.
“Reflecting on How You Teach” – “It’s not the doing that matters; it’s the thinking about the doing.” – John Dewey
“Willingness to Grow” – having the desire to continue to grow and meet students’ changing needs.
“Designing Good Questions” – designing good questions are the key to success in any lesson format.
So What??
After reading this article I felt it connected well to this program. We are all here to continue to grow, show excitement and learn from others. If all educators think about these six important qualities students would gain so much more and we as educators would be that much more effective!
When Practice Makes Perfect..........Sense
ReplyDeleteRequiring students to practice skills has gotten some bad press. Some may conclude that this violates the theory of constructivism, but this is not the case. During schooling, students need to master a variety of skills, strategies, and process - this is referred to as procedural knowledge. There are 3 stages to unlocking the power of practice:
First stage: the learner is aware of how the skill, strategy, or process works but is not really able to do it
Second stage: the learner begins to execute the procedure but must think about it consciously while doing so, often making errors along the way.
Final stage: the learner masters the procedure to the extent that he or she can execute it with little or no conscious thought.
Having students think aloud and spacing practices sessions are two other factors of building procedural knowledge.
So What??
Being in a area of study where procedural knowledge is a big part of what we do, I had an "ah-ha" moment after reading this article. It was a great insight to the importance and procedures of skills building. Having the students get to a place where they are self-functioning with skills allows us to teach them so much more of the bigger picture.
Gender Friendly Schools
ReplyDeleteThis article was about the gender gap in the "same old instruction" between boys and girls. I am sure the girls guessed it, the boys are trailing in the majority of schools. To battle this gap Wamsley School District launched two single-sex middle school academies, with the implementation of these academies grades and test scores improved, attendance increased, discipline referrals decreased, and teachers felt more effective.
I felt the most important part of the article was about the "Strategies for Teaching Boys and Girls Effectively."
Strategy 1: Add movement
Strategy 2: Build on the Visual
Strategy 3:Incorporate Student Interests and Choices.
So What....
These strategies not only helped the schools in the article increase the boys scores in school but also motivated them to come to school. Who knew you could have fun and learn at the same time.
Once a Struggling Student...
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this article I anticipated it to talk about many of the things that contribute to struggling students' struggles. But that is not what it was about. It discuss several people who struggled in school for very different reasons. One struggled due to the poverty level of her family, one was ashamed and struggled with math, and some students struggled due to the family structure and lack of expectations put on them.
After discussing the reasons/causes for their struggles it began talking about the four characteristics of effective teachers. The students that they began talking about became teachers and talk about how they use the four characteristics to be effective.
1. Create a caring relationship: Students need to know that we care. Check in with students and tell them when you notice that they are not at school. Each student should feel important.
2. Set high standards and help students reach them: a caring relationship will support learning. If we set high standards and we help students acheive the standards helps build confidence. Students have different needs and may need different things to achieve; we need to give them those things.
3. Connect the curriculum to their lives: If students are dealing with the "all too real" things at home that is where their mind may be. If what they are learning can be connected to their lives they are more likely to connect.
4. Participate in ongoing professional development: in order to "keep up" with kids we need to continue to learn. This can be done by learning new things and then using what is learned to differenciate and help struggling students by enaging them in activities that may be fun and motivate them.
The last paragraph of the article truly summed up the four characteristics.
So what?....well in order to be successful teachers we need to create success through learning environments, new ideas, making connections and realizing that school is not the only part of our students' lives.
Even Geniuses Work Hard
ReplyDeleteSeptember issue
Even though its not the most recent, this is the one I read during my downtime since it is not in my grad school bag!
I'm sharing this article because one item stuck with me that I think is important to pass on. "Whenever students say they can't do something or are not good at something, the teacher should add,"yet."
There were other great points such as:
Fast learning is not always the deepest learning
and
Meaningful learning tasks give students a clear sense of progress leading to mastery
So what: I think that truly, as students get frustrated learning a new concept, they can be encouraged as teachers remind them of, "not yet." They will get it, even if they don't understand it now. It is a very positive reinforcement.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete“A Week Of Observations”
ReplyDeleteIn this article a principal described how she did her staff evaluations. They were an extended observation over the course of a week. She would conference with the teacher before the week of observations. The teacher would explain his/her focus of the week long lessons. After the first two visits they would conference again to give feedback and suggestions. Then she would continue to visit that teacher for the remainder of the week. At the end of the week she would continue on the feedback and suggestions. The teacher and principal would analyze the areas of focus that they established in the pre-observation conference. They would also talk about the success of any changes from the midweek conference and the general flow of the week’s lessons.
Over all the positive feedback outweighed the negative. The principal agreed that there were challenges, such as time and the case of emergencies coming up, but the staff members liked this way of evaluation. They felt they got more feedback this way as well as were more likely to use the principles suggestions.
SO WHAT??
After reading this article I thought about how I am currently evaluated by my principal. It is a short, about 20-30 min., visit where he jots down a few notes and then we meet about it. I don’t feel that I get much feedback from him and usually I have to wait for about a week or two before he has his post conference with me. If he were to have a week-long observation I feel I would get much more out of it. He would be able to evaluate my teaching better and I would be able to get much more feedback from it as well. I believe with the more feedback the better teacher I can be.
Directions for on-line registration
ReplyDelete1. Go to Silver Lake College homepage
2. Go to Campus web; then campus web login.
3. Login
4. Class registration
5. Click graduate
6. Click Teacher Leadership
7. Answer questions: Are you Hispanic/Latino race. Then enter your race.
8. At bottom, click on “Check this box.” Then hit continue.
9. Department; go edu. Choose Saturday; Choose 8 A.M. Search
10. Looks for building and Pul* PHS Hit Add.
11. Find each Pul* PHS and add EDU 500, 529, 535, 601, and 690.
“Making the Most of Your Class Website” is an article taken from “Educational Leadership” Feb. 2011 edition. In this article Lemoyne S. Dunn breaks down the four levels of a class website. The five levels are types of websites and how you are planning on using it. Level one is Static. This is a website that doesn’t need changing and updating. It often contains basic class information such as, the teacher’s name, class rules, class schedule, and etc. Level two is Semistatic. Semistatic is a website that needs periodic updating. You may need to update special events coming up and this may be done several times or a few times each month. Level three is the Supplemental Resource. This level of website has teacher-created resources such as study guides. There may also be outside resources such as games, videos and the course textbook. Students and parents typically use this once every two to six weeks. Integral Curricular is a level four website. This type of website has two way communication along with all of the other information in a level three website. The last level of website is a level 5 which is Pedagogical Memory. Some characteristics of this type of website include having the students have a very active role in it, a place for collaboration and solving problems. In addition they may use this as a way to turn in homework.
ReplyDeleteOverall, this article expresses that class websites are important, but can serve for many different purposes. I feel that by reading this article it has allowed me to come up with what my purpose of the website would be. It has enlightened me to create a website that is at the level three. I want to create a way to communicate with parents and allow them to be informed about our classroom. In addition, I want to be able to give them a look into our classroom, by posting pictures from our everyday activities. I want to create a website that also provides educational games and resources for parents and for the children. I feel that this will be just one more way to increase my home to school relationship.