EDU 6134- Group Norms

A question was posed to us today in class: What has been your experience with group norms?

When hearing answers to the question, I thought the different interpretations were interesting. The question was purposely left vague. Some people applied it to social situations, while others applied it to classroom rules and expectations. In this context I thought it worked well, and I liked hearing the different points of views. I am left wondering though, if you are working with younger children, if the question is too vague, might you end up with a number of students not knowing what to do or say?

I interpreted the question to mean group norms are classroom expectations. I connected this to what I have done in the past as a 5^th grade teacher. In 5^th grade part of the curriculum is U. S history. I would give a mini-lesson briefly overviewing the U.S constitution, participants, why it came about… then we made a classroom constitution which was our group norms. This was great because it made it clear to the students that they are not doing this just because they are kids and they have to have rules. Everyone has to have rules! And it tied into our social studies curriculum, which is a way to integrate, which is a way to use time effectively.

6150 Blog Reflection #2

Today we had a discussion about lesson planning using an ITIP approach. The first part is the Lesson objective or goal of the lesson. This needs to be stated clearly and hung up somewhere in the classroom. The goal is standards driven.

The next part is the anticipatory set. This is the hook; this is to grab the attention of the students. It gets them thinking about the lesson. It is also a management technique for transitions and lesson beginnings.

Third is input and modeling. This is the main part of the lesson. This is where the teaching takes place. It could be a discussion, PowerPoint, showing the student how something works and so on. It is the middle outline portion of what is going to happen for the bulk of the lesson, the mini lesson part. It is the most detailed section of the lesson.

Guided practice is important because it checks for understanding. This can happen already from the hook.  It should not just be does everyone understand?

Closure is an important; it gives the students a sense of accomplishment. Even if the lesson is not over, there should be some sort of closing to each class. It is a recap of what was accomplished. This usually happens before the HW is assigned. This may also be a time when you can ask the students to reflect on their lesson.

Independent practice is another way to say HW. It is a chance to test the student’s ability to perform the task without help.

The basic idea here is:

I do

We do

You do

The idea of GRC (gradual release of control) resonated with me. I think so much of what we do, whether teaching skills or content is to lead students to be able to master them on their own. That is what GRC is all about.

6150 Blog Reflection #1

Today in class we learned several teaching strategies. One of my favorite parts of how this was taught is that the instructor used the strategies he was recommending during class. This way he was also showing us the strategy of modeling in addition to all the others.

We learned about an activity called a Readaround. I really liked this experience. At first I was not sure how I would really learn with only a little information being shared about each person, but I learned so much about why the people in the program are there. I loved that not only did I learn a new strategy, but it was so cool how it actually worked. So much information from so little!

We also learned about think, pair, share- this is a great strategy that allows all students to participate in discussion in some way.

Wait time is also a strategy that I like to employ. It allows each student to think about a question posed, even if not everyone shares.

Here are some other strategies we learned in class today.

Half sheet of paper

Questioning

Set time limits

Large group recap