EDU 6526- Module 6- Multiple Intelligences

I think that the concept of multiple intelligences is crucial to running a successful classroom. Howard Gardner is credited with coming up with the concept of multiple intelligences, although there is a lot of research by other people on different versions of the multiple intelligences. There are eight intelligences/abilities that Gardner identified: Musical, visual, verbal, logical, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. By identifying different learning styles, Gardner created an opportunity for teachers to be able to reach all students, by identifying each different student’s strength. “According to Gardner’s analysis, only two intelligences—linguistic and logical mathematical—have been valued and tested for in modern secular schools” (Davis, Christodoulou, Seider & Gardner).

Another resource that I have found helpful and used when differentiating instruction for my students is All Kinds of Minds. I took a week long course on this in 2001; it was amazing! Part of the workshop involved practical application, which I found so useful and has helped me over the years in identifying and understanding about how different people learn differently. Although the styles are described differently, the concept and idea of different types of learners is the same. All kinds of minds focuses a little more on the ability each person has, and then teaching to their strengths, versus Gardner’s intelligences which implies that some people have different intelligences than others. All Kinds of Minds refers to eight constructs: Attention, higher order thinking, language, memory, neuromotor functions, social cognition, spatial ordering, temporal-sequential ordering. Although these all could fit into a category of Gardner’s intelligences, they are also another perspective on their own. The combination of the constructs and the multiple intelligences would lead to a very successful teacher and classroom.

 

References:

All kinds of minds: Learning framework. Retrieved from http://www.allkindsofminds.org/learning-framework

Davis, K., Christodoulou, J., Seider, S., & Gardner. H.The theory of multiple intelligences. Retrieved August 6, 2013 from http://howardgardner01.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/443-davis-christodoulou-seider-mi-article.pdf

EDU 6120- A Nation at Risk -Report 1983

I found the report A Nation at Risk, such an interesting read! A Nation at Risk was a report put out in 1983 reporting the state of public schools.  It was put out by Terrel  H. Bell, Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of State after 18 months of work and with an 18 member committee.  After giving some background information on the report there were several recommendations made by the committee to improve academics in the public school system. Some of the recommendations are good, but don’t really give any information of how to implement them, so practically, the suggestions are not useful; especially since the suggestions seem like common sense (although maybe it is still a good idea to put them in writing).  Here is an example of a recommendation without any practical “how to”, “The time available for learning should be expanded through better classroom management and organization of the school day. If necessary, additional time should be found to meet the special needs of slow learners, the gifted, and others who need more instructional diversity than can be accommodated during a conventional school day or school year” (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983, pp. 1-2). Really this is a great suggestion, but HOW? That is the big question and it is still the same question that gets asked today. There are lots of schools with systems setup to try to achieve this; I wonder if the suggestions would be the same if the report was put out now…?

Another recommendation, which I wholeheartedly stand behind is, “Administrative burdens on the teacher and related intrusions into the school day should be reduced to add time for teaching and learning” (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983, pp. 1-2).  I have been a classroom teacher and I have been a support staff (a resource room teacher) and I have always felt that the job of a school is to educate students and those that work closest with students should be supported most, which means the teachers. This recommendation states just that as being a way to help your students become more successful.

Both of the following recommendations, I think, go hand in hand and are integral parts to increasing the success of our students: “Persons preparing to teach should be required to meet high educational standards. Salaries for the teaching profession should be increased and should be professionally competitive, market-sensitive, and performance-based” (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983, pp. 1-2).

National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983). A nation at risk: The imperative for educational reform. Washington, DC: United States Department of Education.

EDU- 6526- John Dewey- Post 5

“With the advent of democracy and modern industrial conditions, it is impossible to foretell definitely just what civilization will be twenty years from now. Hence it is impossible to prepare the child for any set of conditions. To prepare him for future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities; that his eye and ear and hand may be able of grasping the conditions under which it has to work, and the executive forces be trained to act economically and efficiently” (Dewey, 1897). Oh my do I love this quote! This is exactly how I feel about educating students and it is over 100 years later. As I have mentioned in other posts before, I have been teaching for 11 years. Eight of those years I spent as a 5^th and 6^th grade classroom teacher.  I believe, and what I think Dewey was saying all those years ago is that we need to educate the whole child and teach them life and social skills, it is not just about academics.

Dewey was an educational philosopher who is known as the founder of the progressive education movement. According to Spartacus Education, “In his books Dewey outlined his views on how education could improve society. The founder of what became known as the progressive education movement, Dewey argued that it was the job of education to encourage individuals to develop their full potential as human beings. He was especially critical of the rote learning of facts in schools and argued that children should learn by experience. In this way students would not just gain knowledge but would also develop skills, habits and attitudes necessary for them to solve a wide variety of problems” (Simkin). As a classroom teacher I spent time teaching my students skills, social and academic, and trained them to generalize these skills so that as my students move through the grades they can use these skills, hone them, change them as assignments or life asks them to. For example, with my fifth grade students I had them write a research paper at the same time I taught 6^th grade and I had them write a research paper as well. The skills I had the 6^th grade student use built on the skills they learned for the 5^th grade research paper. I tried to do this and still try to do this as much as I can with all subjects. Math, reading comprehension and writing are so much about teaching skills, and processes so that students can apply them when they are given unknown content. The other layer to this that Dewey was also getting at is the idea of cooperative leaning. Learning with other students in a way that builds social skills; which of course is a necessity in order to function in society.

According to one of my classmates’ discussion posts last week, “Cooperative learning is a constructivist teaching strategy that helps to foster a sense of collaboration and community participation in the classroom” (Cook, 2013). This is exactly what we want to foster in our students since when we think about releasing students into real life, these are exactly the kinds of skills we want them to know.

 

References:

Dewey, J. (1897). My Pedagogic Creed. School Journal, 54, 77-80.

 

Simkin, J. (1997-2013). Spartacus educational: John Dewey. Retrieved from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAdewey.htm.

Cook, D. (July 25, 2013). Does constructivism promote academic excellence? [Web log post]. Retrieved from  https://bbweb-prod.spu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_74199_1%26url%3D

 

EDU 6526 Post 3: Concept attainment

“Concept attainment is designed to clarify ideas and to introduce aspects of content. It engages students into formulating a concept through the use of illustrations, word cards or specimens called examples. Students who catch onto the idea before others are able to resolve the concept and then are invited to suggest their own examples, while other students are still trying to form the concept. For this reason, concept attainment is well suited to classroom use because all thinking abilities can be challenged throughout the activity. (Instructional strategies).

I like how this quote refers to the fact that this teaching strategy is one that can be used to reach learners at different levels. As a special education teacher I am always looking at strategies that a general education teacher can use in the classroom that would not add extensive planning time to their plate. Gen ed teachers have to spend so much time planning and grading etc. any strategy that saves them time, but allows them to actually reach more students would be worthwhile to learn and use and makes this strategy so agreeable.

In addition, according to Models of teaching: Connecting student learning with standards, concept attainment, “engages students’ critical thinking as soon as the lesson begins” (Dell’Olio & Donk, 2007). This also makes me feel highly of this strategy since engaging students’ higher level thinking is critical to a successful and meaningful lesson.

References:

Instructional strategies. 2004-2009. Retrieved from: http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/strats/cattain/index.html

 

Dell’Olio, J., Donk, T. (2007). Models of teaching: Connecting student learning with standards. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Weekly Reflection 13: Math Lesson-O2

Today I was observed by my coordinator with my morning math student. Here was my lesson plan I used in class today.  I thought the lesson went well. My student was able to use the problem solving strategies to reach an answer.

Something interesting that happened was with the following question:

When I asked the student to tell me which operations would be used to solve this problem, she said addition and multiplication (both my coordinator and I would have also said subtraction). I did not want to tell her what to do as this was more of the independent practice piece of the lesson. She then went on to show that she needed to multiply $10 and  3, which equals $30, and then multiply 15 and $5, which equals $75. The student then added $30 and $75 to get $105. She then added up from $105 to get to $150. I would have subtracted $105 from $150 to get $45. It was interesting to see which way she chose to find the answer.

Lesson Plan:

Anticipatory Set: We will review the steps involved in solving a word problem. I will do this by asking her to help me write the learning target (which is: By the end of the lesson I will be able to solve a word problem using the problem solving steps), and we will list the steps together.

Statement of Objective: Today our target is to review and apply steps in order to successfully solve a word problem.  The student needs to state the learning target.

 Input: We will look at one of the problems together. Since this is not the first time we are doing this, we will skip to the guided practice step

 Guided Practice: I will ask student to guide me through the problem. I will ask her questions, such as, what is the first step? What should we do next? What information should we write down? What operation is being used? What is the question? And I will remind her to write the answer to the question out in a sentence.

1-      Underline important information

2-      Pull out important information

3-      Identify the operation and strategy

4-      solve

Independent Practice:  She will have the opportunity to approach and several word problems on her own. I anticipate needing to remind her of some of the steps along the way.

At the end of the lesson, the student needs to state the target and give her input how she learned the lesson, including how she felt about the difficulty of the work.

 

Offer appropriate challenge in the content area.This lesson appropriate for my student, both to challenge her, but also she was able to be successful.

Weekly Reflection 7: Sustained Silent Reading

This week my Principal gave out an article to the Lower School teachers entitled, “Making Sustained Silent Reading Really Count: Tips on Engaging Students” by Katherine Hilden and Jennifer Jones. We discussed the article and what this could look like in the different classrooms. The article focuses not on the research as to whether or not sustained silent reading is good for kids, but about how to make sustained silent reading (SSR) meaningful and useful time spent for each student. The authors of the article put together a profile of different types of readers. It is written on a continuum and shows types of readers and how much teacher support is required for each level. For example, the student with the highest need for teacher support are the ones they reference as “fake readers” and the ones that need very little teacher support are called, “bookworms”.

The article mentions that in order to keep tabs on the types of readers you have in your classroom; it will take regular conferencing with the students. At this point in the article we spun off into an engaged discussion about how to find time to conference with all of our students in the classroom. We are a dual curriculum school; this means that we only have about three hours to teach all of our general studies to our students. This does not leave much time per subject and our teachers have to be creative as to how to spend their time. The fifth grade teacher was struggling with how to find time to conference with so many students. One idea that was suggested in the meeting was to conference with a few students per day, and expects to get to each student once every two weeks. This would be enough meetings to gather data to find out where the students are in their reading, but not be overly stressful or overwhelming for the teacher to find time to do this. Another suggestion was to conference with a couple students at a time who are about the same level, or perhaps reading the same book. The fifth grade teacher had another great idea involving a journal. Instead of having the students write a summary in their journals of their reading that week, she has the students write her a letter. She provided the students with a rubric as to what she wants included in the letter and a sample that she, the teacher wrote. I thought this was a great idea, it gives the teachers specific information about the book (because of the rubric) and allows her to monitor if her students are actually getting through the books since she has expectations of how many books they should read by the end of the year. I really enjoy these meetings with the Lower School teachers because we tackle practical issues the teachers are having. It is inspiring to see that when teachers get together and have the opportunity to share, how much they can learn from and help each other!

Hilden, K., Jones, J. (2012). Making Sustained Silent Reading Really Count: Tips on Engaging Students. Reading Today, 17-19.

Weekly Reflection 6: Science Lesson

Today I met with the science teacher at the school to discuss a new idea for a lesson tomorrow. Several teachers have been having difficulty with one of the classes in the school. There have been some meetings around how to best handle them and a new discipline policy has been put in place. One of the modifications for the students is that they cannot be in the science lab for science class; they have to earn back the privilege. The science teacher had been trying to conduct some really engaging lessons, but they involved a lot of movement and the lessons were unsuccessful.

The science teacher thought about how she can plan a lesson that would be useful to the students and engaging, but for now, kept them in their seats. She came up with the idea to run Jeopardy like game using MSP questions.  I helped her today with some of the planning. We decided on how many categories there would be, point values of the questions, that the students would be in groups of two, and what the students can win with their points. There will be two adults in the classroom, the science teacher and myself. I will continue this post tomorrow with a debrief on the lesson.

The lesson went okay. It seems to me that the science teacher and I differ a little on how to best manage the behavior in the classroom, and I don’t think we did a good job of making clear to each other the difference in our expectations beforehand. It was also challenging, because since it is her class I felt like I was holding back a lot and not intervening to help her when she seemed to be struggling or making what I thought, was the wrong management decision.

Overall, the behavior of the students was improved and they were very excited about the prospect of earning back being in the science lab or having extra recess. I do think that most of the students were engaged, but there was still an undercurrent of the disrespectful behavior that she is struggling with. After class we had a short debrief together and though we agreed that it went pretty well and we agreed on some changes we could make for next time; it is seems we have a little different perception of the behavior. It is possible I have higher expectations than her, but I also know that having those higher expectations is the only way to get these kids to behave how you expect or want. This is something that we will have to work on.

Week 2 Reflection: A New School Year…

The first few weeks at school are filled with sitting in classrooms observing, meeting with teachers, administering assessments and creating my schedule. I come in each year knowing a few of the students I will be working with, but the students always start in their classrooms so that the new teachers have a chance to get to know the students and so the students get a feel of being part of their class.  As my schedule has slowly been coming together I have been spending more time with students and less time on paperwork and teacher meetings. Finally! I love spending time with my students. This year I will be working with some students with whom I have been working for several years and with some new students as well.

It is always challenging setting up how to best spend my time with my students. We (the teachers and I) spend a lot of time deciding if it is best to work with the students in their classrooms or to pull the students out for small group or one-on-one work time. We try to keep students in their classrooms as much as possible. We try make accommodations and to employ inclusion in our classrooms. However, this is not always the best model for all students. We are lucky in our school to have three Learning Center teachers, so we are able to make individual plans for each of our students and we are able to individualize the type of time spent with each student. Usually, by the fourth week of school we have it all figured out and our schedules are set. This should be happening in the next week or so! Once I know my schedule I am able to plan accordingly for each child. This might mean working with teachers to help them with accommodations and differentiation or to plan my own lessons. The biggest struggle I have is that I wish I could spend all day with some of my students and it is so hard to figure out how to spend my time so I am serving each child as much as they truly need. It is something I am constantly working with my mentor teacher to figure out. I have also found that the needs of students change throughout the year so to my schedule changes as time goes on. I have also found that the needs of students change throughout the year so to my schedule changes as time goes on.

Helping children find success in school is important to me. It can be very discouraging for students who struggle and anything I can do to help them, I will. I support my students both on an academic and personal level. I have found that fostering relationships with my students and showing interest in my students helps in their academic success as well.  To a new year!

Week 1 Reflection-Teacher in-service: Self-Efficacy

A couple of weeks ago my Principal gave a presentation on Self Efficacy. The first part of the session was going around the room and trying to define what Self Efficacy meant. After she put this definition up:  “Belief about our capability to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect our lives.” But what does this really mean. If you believe you can, you can. Part of believing you can do something has to do with events that have influenced your life.

An example from my own life has to do with math. When I was in middle school I did not do well in math, nor did I enjoy it. I did not feel encouraged by my teachers, or made to feel like I could be successful in math. When I got to high school we were given a math placement exam. I was placed in the higher ninth grade math group (geometry). I was in class for a couple of days and did not really know what was going on. I told the school that I had never taken the other math (algebra 1) and they put me back in that group. I felt proud that I had placed in the “higher” group. So even though I went to the lower math, I felt encouraged that I COULD be successful in math. My math teacher was also positive and she made me feel smart in math. I started to work a little harder and I did really well. I was at the top of my class. However, I never had the opportunity to move up, because the school was not set up for that. I got excellent grades in high school math and it became one of my favorite subjects. The idea of self-efficacy connects because once I believed that I could do it and that I was “smart” in math, I did it! It is now also my favorite subject to teach.

People with a high sense of self-efficacy see challenges as tasks to master as opposed to tasks to avoid. During this presentation a teacher talked about this game she started playing on her smart phone. It is a word game, and she said she would get 8 points, and then when she would see someone else got 25, she would not stop playing till she got a higher score. Our principal said that would be an example of someone with a sense of high self-efficacy. Specifically this type of self-efficacy is vicarious experience which means, “Observing a peer succeed at a task can strengthen beliefs on one’s own abilities.”

The other types of self-efficacy are mastery experiences- “Students’ successful experiences boost self-efficacy, while failures erode it. This is the strongest source of self-efficacy. This would be the type of self-efficacy that I experienced with math. Verbal persuasion which is, “Teachers can boost self-efficacy with credible communication and feedback to guide the student through the task to motivate them to make their best effort.” And lastly, emotional state, “A positive mood can boost one’s beliefs in self-efficacy, while anxiety can undermine it. A certain level of emotional stimulation can create an energizing feeling that can contribute to strong performances. Teachers can help by reducing stressful situations and lowering anxiety surrounding events like exams or presentations. “

So now, what can we do in our classrooms to help students? How can we encourage self-efficacy in our students? As stated above, teachers can run their classroom in a way that promotes self-efficacy. Teachers can communicate with their students. They can give positive feedback or feedback that guides and does not discourage the student. Teachers can group students with other students who will motivate them. Teachers can differentiate in their classroom. By doing this it gives all students the opportunity to experience success, which will perpetuate self-efficacy.

What else can we do…? Self-efficacy is so much more than just encouraging students to be successful. It is about fostering the belief in each child that he/she CAN SUCCEED, and teaching them how to generalize this skill into all areas of their life. This would be a gift we could give our students, and it seems to be it is worthwhile to invest in this skill.

The information in this post came from the presentation and handout from my Principal- Aug. 27^th 2012

EDU 6657-Effective Classroom Design and Academic Instruction

Effective classroom design and academic instruction does improve behavior. It is likely that if a student is not engaged in a lesson, or does not have something given to them to complete, that they will engage in negative behavior. We, as teachers, need to come up with how will keep the students attention. According to what we learned in class there are five evidence based strategies for effective classroom management, which in turn will lower the negative behavior in a classroom. They are:

1. Make the most of your classroom space

2. Continually review and practice posted behavior expectations

3. Student should be actively engaged in class in a way that an observer would notice

4. Have a positive reinforcement system in place

5. Have a negative reinforcement or punishment system in place

By having these systems in place you help decrease the chance of problem behaviors in the classroom. These structures help keep students busy in a meaningful way. It also means that the teacher has in place a plan to try to redirect problem behaviors or give consequences for problem behaviors. This short list really gives classroom teachers a lot of tools.

According to the Article, Instructional Adaptation in the Management of Escape Maintained Behavior in a Classroom, “ Disruptive classroom behavior is a major factor contributing to teacher stress and discontent and significantly affects teachers’ capacity to maintain productive and orderly learning environment (Hawe, Tuck, Manthei, Adair, & Moore, 2000).” (Moore, Anderson, & Kumar, 2005). We can empower teachers with strategies to avoid having disruptive behavior, and using the above mentioned strategies is a great start to effective classroom management.

Moore, D. W., Anderson, A., & Kumar, K. (2005). Instructional adaptation in the management of escape-maintained behavior in a classroom. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 7, 216-223.