My current teaching situation has me at home, teaching through my computer screen to nine students in various places in the US. It has been an interesting assignment, to say the least. Especially, considering my previous teaching experience was at a small, family-like, international school. I don't know that I could have experienced two more extreme environments:
Online teaching = no "human" interaction, separation at its best. The classroom is held together by invisible wires and transmitters that connect our words but not our beings. The intersection of our lives lasting for 90 minutes a week, one semester of a lifetime. The content administered view Blackboard videos, emails, and Haiku and Kidblog. International school teaching = close knit community, students and staff operate with many faucets of life intersecting one another. The faces that I see in the classroom are the ones I also see on the cross-country course, performing on stage, and living life on campus as dorm students. The intersection of our lives (for some of my students) lasts years. (In fact, two former students are now going to college in the states and are flying in to MN to spend Thanksgiving with us because they have no where else to be.) The content was administered through activities, active learning, conversations and built upon a tangible relationship between me and my students. I hated lectures as much as my students, so we were always learning in other ways (when possible). I loved it, and I think they did too. But I am like a fish out of my fishbowl in the online classroom. I struggle to figure out how to get the technology to work to my advantage--how to use the technology to create active, constructivist approaches to learning how to write. And it truly bothers me to my core because I want to use instructional strategies that I know are best practice, but am too technically challenged or unaware (or it is just plain impossible) to be able to create learning that mimics the "real" classroom. Add to that I work from home, which really means I try to work with 2-3 lovely, precious, loud, demanding angels floating around the house. There is no "prep" hour for the stay-at-home, teaching-from-home mom. Well, not until about 8:30pm--not the most productive time for the synapses in my brain! But this week I had a bit of a break through! I gave myself permission to use 45 minutes of our Monday lecture to allow the students to meet in break-out rooms with a partner and peer revise together using googledocs and breakout rooms. And it actually went well! I had tried this one other time but I did not leave enough time for students to share with each other and most students were so tripped up by having to learn how to create a google doc, share it, make comments and then find those comments later that the experience didn't produce the peer revising I had hoped for--most students didn't even get involved. The technicalities of getting their work shared was so much of a headache I didn't see how it would ever work to continue with the technology available. But because we had to do another constructivist-style lesson, and because I had a busy week and didn't find the time to write a 90 minute lecture on reviewing revising, I decided to try again. This time, however, I tried to eliminate anything that would slow down the process and didn't need to be a part of the experience to make it constructive. So, I uploaded all the papers to the google docs, I shared them, I sent out the links, and I partnered the students who were finished together (and connected together those who were behind). We did a quick review of how to make comments on google docs. And away they went. It was beautiful. By the next day I had an email box full of messages revealing that students were communicating with each other about their work. I could see they were conversing back and forth via the google doc comments, and it made me happy! Because I gave myself permission to be removed from the lecture seat (which I might get in trouble for later because I don't think the school is a big fan of this constructivist approach to learning)I was able to see that all they really needed was time to connect (and a means to do so). I don't think it really replaced a "real" classroom experience, but it got us a little closer to actively participating in an authentic learning experience.
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Nine Power Practices -- Ruby Payne
Much of the focus of the Saint Mary's program has been community and relationships. I could list at least 20 references to articles and activities that have been used in the last year of our program that point us toward the understanding that effective instruction and learning take place when positive community is built and respectful relationships are formed. This is not a completely new concept to me, I believe that I became a teacher due to the relational aspect teaching offered. To this day, I would say that the people who have had the most impact on my life and beliefs (after my parents, of course) are the teachers and coaches I had in high school. What is new to me is that there is research to support the claim that effective teachers are those who can establish healthy and uplifting relationships with their students. An additional shift in perspective is the emphasis in the research on meeting the learning needs of students living with a lack of resources through establishing predictable and respectful relationships. I have not been exposed to much poverty in my educational experience, so the reading that we have been doing on education and poverty have been very insightful and thought-provoking. One quote that stuck out to me in our reading over the past two months was used by Payne in, Nine Power Practices: "No significant learning occurs without significant relationships" (James Comer 1995). When I saw this I immediately thought of a phrase that was used frequently in the training my husband and I received before starting on our journey of being dorm parents to high school dorm students: "Rules without relationship leads to rebellion." After four years of dorm-life--caring for up to 36 boys and girls emotional, physical, emotional and spiritual lives--I could not agree more with this statement. The students who were hard to connect to and have relationships with, were often the ones who struggled to follow the rules. They didn't have a connection with us that motivated them to want to be a part of the "family-like" atmosphere we were trying to create in the dorm. It was during these years of my life that I really gained an understanding of life as a student and the great power relationships have in the education of a child. Because of my vantage point as a "Mom" to teen kids who were not my own and my "teacher" role in the community I was able to see and hear about which teachers were making a positive impact on students lives (and sadly, those who weren't). And believe it or not it wasn't the "easy A" teachers who the kids wanted to have as their teacher. On one occasion in particular, I recall a student who was not known for a strong work-ethic (he was more along the lines of, tell me where the line is for average and I will try to get there) tell me his favorite teacher was one of the strictest teachers in the Math department. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. When I asked why, his response was, "I know she really cares about me and just pushes me because she cares that much." I think this story exemplifies that it is the strong connection students feel to us and how much we care that will have the greatest impact on their motivation and learning. As I pondered my current reading, my past experiences and the fact the phrase "rules without relationships leads to rebellion" doesn't quite fit the context of the classroom, I thought of one more fitting: "Content without Connections leads to Confusion." When students feel cared for, respected and known the chances that they will take the content of our classrooms more seriously increases. And I no longer have to wonder if I am being cavalier in this aim of building relationships as teacher, I can trust that it is profitable because of the abundance of literature that is circulating in support of effective teaching beginning with teachers who can connect with students and connect students to one another. "We believe that poverty is also more than just an issue of wealth. It reaches much wider than this, affecting individuals and whole communities. It includes relational poverty, emotional poverty and spiritual poverty" (Notts Church Urban Fund).
Over the course of the last year I have been made more and more aware of the need in my community, our country, and the world. It all began with reading Jen Hatmaker’s book, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, and has continued with exposure to various articles discussing education and poverty (in America). I would like to think the reason I have been “unaware” of the vastness of need is that I lived out of the country from 2005-2012, working at an international school and somewhat cutoff from media and the real social problems of America. I say, “real” because even though I had a lesser intake of American media, I was still able to be informed of Hollywood’s problems and political crisis, problems of the upper and middle class. But I believe the reality is that I have never really taken the time to be "aware" of the lack of wholeness in the world due to poverty. I have come to realize is that being informed of the problems of the poor will not just happen through the intake of mainstream media. That doesn’t seem to sell these days. No, awareness of the problems of the poor has to either be shoved in your face by a professor for a class, or be sought out by choice—a choice to use mental space, precious time, and emotional energy to be informed of a way of life that effects approximately 46.5 millions Americans (US Census). World-wide the statistic for those living in poor is between 1.2-1.6 billion (The Atlantic.com). 80% of the world’s populations live on less than $10 a day, the poorest of the poor living on twenty-three cent per day (GlobalIssues.org). The sheer numbers are nearly unfathomable from my middle-class, white, perspective. Why? Because I think life is rough when my family struggles to live on a middle-class American salary. I think that making the sacrifice of income to be a stay at home makes me so in touch with choosing to live without. Yes, I really thought this. And then I started getting schooled on the real needs of the world. And once you get schooled, there is no going back to ignoring the reality of the poor. But to be honest, I don’t live in a way that I am exposed to poor people, so the numbers are all that I have to work from (This is something that desperately needs to change, because until I actually know those who are poor, the numbers, no matter how great, will likely not propel me forward to meet needs.). Yet, I believe looking at poor from more than a physical condition is important for me be able to also meet the needs of the middle class students that I work with. Experiencing poverty may not only be packaged in the monetary sense. In my life and the lives of others I can see that even the middle and upper class lack resources that lead to destructive behaviors. These may include, emotional poverty, spiritual poverty or relational poverty (Notts Church Urban Fund). In my experiences working with privileged students and families, I have seen these kinds of poverty lead to brokenness and children growing up without a mindset to help those living in a poverty of wealth. Which is were I see the biggest problem. It seems that because the middle and upper class are too experiencing a kind of poverty that is related to emotions, relationships and spirituality we are still broken and unhappy, and are thus not distributing our wealth and resources to aid in the help of those living in poverty. Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, in their book, When Helping Hurts: How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor…and yourself, outline the thoughts of Bryant Myers who argues that mending poverty is more complex than a simple equation of giving power where there is lack, or money where there is lack, or knowledge where there is lack. Rather, the at the heart of the issue is broken relationships in a broken world. This premise holds to this foundation of thought, “God designed humans to be a certain thing and to operate in a certain way in all of these relationships: a) Relationship with God, B) Relationship with Self, C) Relationship with Others, and D) Relationship with the Rest of Creation (Corbett & Fikkert). Corbett and Fikkert argue that because these four relationships are the building blocks for all human activity the effects of the “fall” are manifested in the economic, social, religious and political systems. Resulting in the following areas of poverty: A) Poverty of Spiritual Intimacy – denying God’s existence and authority; materialism; worshipping false gods and spirits B) Poverty of Being – god complexes; low self-esteem C) Poverty of Community – self centeredness, exploitation, and abuse of others D) Poverty of Stewardship – lost of sense of purpose, laziness/workaholics; materialism; ground is cursed Thus, “poverty is a result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable” (Corbett & Fikkert). The reason I share all of this is that it is these areas of poverty that are at the root of poverty, and I am a part of this broken, unjust, not-working, not-living for life equation. What saddens me most about this reality of myself is that it is largely a result of lack of exposure and lack of knowledge of what life is like for the majority of people in the world—the poor. How did I manage to squeeze through high school and college and church without being compelled to live out a life that seeks to actually alleviate poverty, the one related to wealth and the others too. Admittedly, though I did not know of the categories of poverty listed above I do believe I became a teacher to be in relationship with students—to be a positive role model and advocate for them. I believe this aim is rooted in my desire to meet brokenness with healing, more on the level of emotional and relational. However, as I read and learn more I am being awakened to the fact that poverty exists because of a lack of awareness of the poor and a lack of relationship with the poor. And my immediate reaction is that I cannot let me students get through their educational experience without encountering some of what I am encountering now. I wish my first step was to go out and make huge waves to eliminate poverty, but I feel for now I am called to, at the very least, be an administer of information and facilitator of discussions on the needs of those living in poverty. To educate my students on the call we all have to look for those in poverty around us, and the poverty within, and seek out ways to close the gap between living in need and living in wholeness. As a result, my research writing class is taking on a project that will hopefully start the students on a journey toward being a part of alleviating poverty through increased awareness and the establishment of healthy relationships. I teach at a Christian school, so I have the privilege of approaching need from a Biblical world view and also examining the ideas of Corbett and Fikkert as a part of this process. I too can tie in LaSallian principles and the work of St. John the Baptist de La Salle, whom I believe worked from these principles in an effort to eliminate not just poverty of wealth, but saw education as means to meet the relational, spiritual and emotional needs of those living in poverty. I believe his work demonstrates an understanding the brokenness of the poor wasn’t going to be healed with the giving of money but the equipping of their minds and hearts to be whole emotionally and spiritually, leading to increased stability relationally. And that is what I desire to pass on to my students through this next assignment(Meeting Social Need from a Biblical Worldview), and understanding that needs are not simply met by giving donations, but by helping others to find wholeness so that they do not lack in relationships, or misuse relationships. South Korea's School Success
What Korean Students Really Think About Their Education System Finland's A+ Schools What the Best Education Systems are Doing Right Examining the education systems of the world is fascinating! Perhaps this is because I taught in South Korea for seven years and South Korea is making international headlines due to their education system is producing some of the best results in the world (as per tested measures). The other leading country, when it comes to producing a high quality education system, is Finland. Having spent time reading about both of these countries (some of what I have read is listed above), I find it incredibly fascinating how drastically different the education systems are, but how similar the social norms are between the cultures. For example, the South Korean system of education is intense (that may even be an understatement). All of life is planned around a child's education. (I know this, I have seen this.). Parents are not afraid to invest in their child's education because it is really an investment in their own future--child gets good education, child gets high paying job, child is wealthy and can provide for parents in their old age. All decisions are made to support this end. Thus, when one is a student they are 100% a learning machine. As you can see if you look at the reading, it is normal for a student (starting from late elementary to early middle school and continuing through high school) to go to public school from 9am to 5pm, and instead of heading to soccer practice, head to extra tutoring in either a subject area(English being the most common) or an instrument (classical instruments being the most common). They may go to tutors until 10pm at night and then get home to start on homework. Kids playing sports, or even being outside is not a common scene in major cities of this country. Teenagers don't have jobs, school is there job and their performance is heavily monitored by parents. The only way to a good future is to put away play, you can have fun when you get yourself into a position in life that is profitable to you and your family (so when you are 35.) On the contrast, Finland's education system focuses on a more tender approach to learning. Formal education doesn't begin until age seven. Students have less than an hour of homework each night, after only going to school for six hours. On average, elementary students spend 72 minutes "playing" at school each day. There are no private schools. What? Really. The only standardized test that is given comes at the end of one's senior year of high school. And guess what? These two systems produce students who rank the highest in the world when it comes to reading, writing and math. How is this possible? I believe it can be gathered from these articles that it is not so much the educational system that determines the outcomes of a nation's education achievements, but rather the teachers and the social norms that guide the cultures view and value of education. Here are the commonalities of South Korea and Finland: teachers are highly respected, pay is equitable to other professions that require four to eight years of schooling, the government supports all schools equally and desires to make quality learning available for all students (and they use money to do so, but not nearly as much as the American education system), the culture (meaning most of the people in the culture) operate with the mindset that education is the key to economic success for the country--and they actually put their money where there mouth is. I think it is worth noting that both of these countries created amazing educational systems as a result of being war-ravished lands. These are countries that have known poverty and restriction. They lived under a kind of captivity in which another nation withheld education as a means of keeping power and control. The people of these countries know that the way to raise a successful nation is to support education and educators. Which begs the question, how do we change the mindset of our culture, so that as a culture our "group think" creates overwhelmingly verbal and monitary support for education systems and EDUCATORS. How do we get to an understanding (as a culture)that education is the key to our children's future and that all decision that are made in this arena affect the economic outcome of our nation. Personally, I would love to see the Finlander's way of doing education brought to America, but I can also see the value in the South Korean system. Yet, I think what is of most value is to note that they are different, and they both work. (The South Korean system has come under attach due to articles like this: What Korean Students Really Think About Their Education System, but that is material for another post.) I think the best way to start is by being a voice: in your classroom, in your school, in your district--getting the word out there that the product of our education system is a strong determinate for the future of our country. If the culture can put education on the pedestal it deserves, we will all benefit. And making it very clear, that it isn't so much the system, but the support of the system and those working in the system that will make the biggest difference in the world. After perusing these articles and radio broadcast (The Trouble with Homework, Rethinking Homework, Homework: An Unnecessary Evil?), it seems safe to say homework is under attack. Why? If you ask me, it is because the systems and critiques of education have yet to figure out how to measure the value of an education. Because again and again the measures by which the successes of students, districts, states, and a nation are tainted by the belief that we can really know what is going on in a school based on standardized test and inherently faulty grading systems that simply represent a number, not a learner. In the search for a way to put a value on a student’s or a school’s achievements, we have lost sight of what is significant—lives, brains, beating hearts, moldable spirits, OUR country’s FUTURE agents of change. In our classrooms sit our teachers, our doctors, our lawyers, our politicians, our work force. Those we are molding will be molding our country in the all too near future. How do we want them to approach each day of their future? This is a future in which we will live, but in which they will be the major decision makers and creators. We will pass off the baton sooner than we realize, and we will have expectations on how that baton should be carried. Are we setting our future lawmakers, teachers, and coaches up for success in meeting these expectations? When one approaches the homework debate he or she must not forget to consider the humans behind the numbers and take into account that the qualities we all look for in humans are rarely measurable. A good list of these qualities can be found on Brianna Wiest’s blog: “17 of the Most Universally Admirable Qualities People Can Have” (read it because I am going to give a list, but her descriptions are so much richer than the snippet that I am sharing.) Want to see the hallmarks of a good school, a good teacher, a good student? Then look for these qualities. Sadly, in the midst of searching for a significant purpose for homework, the connection to number driven data has led to a number of articles and opinions against homework. However, looking to generalized test score outcomes as a base for determining effectiveness of homework is not a reasonable place to go looking. Yet, that is the sum of most of the research out there on homework. In the numbers generated by standardized tests or final grades it is impossible to determine if through the process of practicing independent learning positive personal qualities are being enhanced.
Certainly, a measure of “enhanced personal qualities” would be challenging, and likely the reason such a study has never been completed. Where would one even start? It would require hours upon hours of examining students’ growth in character over time, the study of the various ways teachers use homework, and an in-depth analysis of schools’ commitments to ongoing, outside of the classroom learning initiatives. It would require more than handing out paper and pencils and having students write what they know on that day at that moment (with no consideration of what variables could have blocked understanding during the hours, days, or weeks leading up to the test). A true “test” of the significance of homework would have to take into consideration the various backgrounds of students and measure growth of character qualities over time. When I assign homework, I take into consideration the busy lives that my students lead. I take into consideration that approaching new material can be challenging when done alone. I take into consideration that mom and dad may not be around to help. But I also take into consideration that THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES MAY NEVER CHANGE—that each of these students will face challenges in fulfilling tasks, expectations, and obligations all of their lives. Learning the skills and attitudes necessary to overcome circumstances is essential to successful decision-making. And in the future (when they are the adults) they will actually be on their own to figure that out. For now, they have me and other teachers and adults to coach them through, to help them learn how to face apathy, fear, and frustration with a spirit of courage and determination. I can be there to help them try again when they fail. To let them know that failure isn’t a place to stay, but a place to work up from. When I assign homework I don’t look for a perfect paper in return, I look for whether a student tries or not. I look for whether they put in time and faced the fear of looking at a blank page and took the courage to start. Then I coach from there. Do I sometimes get nothing in return? Yes, but that is also a starting place for coaching. Should I stop assigning homework because some of my students consistently decide not to do it? No, because then I miss a moment to pull those students aside and coach them toward caring about expectations and obligations, about working toward goals. If I never assigned independent work I would never have these important conversations with students who need to be trained in how to follow through with tasks. Because, you see, as Mr. C. Mielke writes in his blog post, “What Students Really Need to Hear” the “main event” of school is the learning of how to face challenges, academic and otherwise. The practice of homework is just that, a necessary practice in honesty, selflessness, self-awareness, showing a willingness to learn, building confidence, creating personal style, respecting that which may not be understood clearly, active responsibility, and independent learning. Show me a study that measures the correlation between these universally admired qualities and the amount of homework assigned and I am willing to bet the search for the significance of homework just might turn up some positive results. But here is the rub: are we (am I) taking the time to use homework as a means to teaching character qualities? Do we (I) stop and take the time to do mini-lessons on the prospect the practice of completing homework has for building character qualities that lead to successful living? If we (I) don’t, and we (I) let it be another item on the checklist of class duties, then we (I) will cheat OUR FUTURE leaders out of the opportunity to grow in character through the practice of homework. I want to leave our county’s future in good hands, hands that know how to work, love, serve, respect, and learn, not hands that simply know how to put pen to paper and determine the worth of something based on numbers on a page. During the month of April I was able to attend an education conference hosted by Saint Mary's University year two Master's of Education and Learning learners. It was a fabulous display of all that excites me about education: teachers sharing ideas, gaining insights from each other, learning what the research has to say, as well as what that always important instructor, Experience, can teach us. Following the conference I was challenged to incorporate at least 2-3 ideas from what I learned at the conference into my classroom. (Logical, right? Learn about what all these amazing teachers are doing and then try it!) Upon reflecting on all that I had learned at the conference I realized that I had been skipping a very simple, but powerful habit for creating a positive working environment in my classroom--MUSIC. The timing of this discovery was perfect because I had been becoming very frustrated with my students not using class work time productively. They just couldn't keep themselves from talking. So I combined this frustration with the great reminder that music can relax an environment and help students focus and chose to play music during our next working class period. The results were amazing (though possibly skewed because I also threatened a quiz if a majority of the students chose not to use their time wisely by talking and interrupting others.) But I would like to think that the music played a role in the students finding a higher level of focus that day. Below is my thinking process, results and reflection: Why implement music? The classroom I am teaching in is a multi-grade (9-11) room. It is a big open area with two smaller classrooms to one side and the church kitchen and storage on the other. The back of the room is also the "hallway" by which other students pass to get to their classrooms. Above the classroom is the sanctuary which is also used for PE and drama classes. Any noise from up their travels down. Because there is a lot of noise in our classroom and I have noticed the students can’t seem to handle quiet without feeling the urge to talk, I chose to start playing background music during work time. What was the overall result? I believe it did the following: 1) Buffered the noises that are naturally a part of the classroom. 2) helped me to not hear every little comment that is made (which was driving me batty), and 3) I think it really did help the kids to realize it isn’t talking time but working time. (I only had to remind them about the quiz 1 time, about 5 minutes in to working. Otherwise, most of them managed to stay on task--or at least refrain from disturbing others around them). Will you use this activity again? Why? How could it be tweaked for improvement? Yes! However, I realized my playlist is pretty limited in the area of “background” music. So I need to be better prepared before class, think ahead to what music would be most appropriate. The album I had on last week was typical background music, but maybe a bit too upbeat and maybe a little too romantic of an English classroom setting. (They commented they liked the idea of music, but that my choice of music was up to their standards of "good music"! Sorry, Michael Buble, these teens might not like you, but I still think you are great!) As I reflect upon the content shared in Chapter 9: “Planning for Learning,” from the book Understanding by Design, the idea that most presses me is the authors' call for the following: genuine application to meaningful, real-world problems, hands-on opportunities to “do” the subject, and soliciting and offering helpful feedback along the way. I agree, that is how I want to design my units. But sometimes the most challenging aspect of a executing a unit is student engagement (getting students to want to complete the tasks presented to them)--probing them toward getting lost in the subject so much that they forget that it is work—that is how I feel when I am engaged (the time passes without me knowing). And as the authors point out, this requires students to be self-disciplined, self-directed, and able to endure the challenge of delayed satisfaction.
High aims, right? Am I even able to practice these on a consistent basis? Hmm…not always! But I believe the greatest challenge to these three ideals, when considered components to engagement in the classroom, is that we teachers forget that self-discipline, self-direction and the ability to wait for gratification must be taught. I know I am guilty of simply expecting student to know what these three desired character qualities look like in practice. But when you really look at these words and examine the world in which we live, they are quite counter-cultural to the teenage experience. Does that mean we should just accept that, no? In my home and in my classroom I don’t desire to train my children to just blend in—joining the status quo. Absolutely not. I want so much for them than that. I want them to be highly-motivated, kind-hearted, agents for change in a world that so desperately needs people of such quality. But I must step back and realize that they just might not know what that looks like. That I might have to, in the midst of focusing on content, focus too on the instruction of character qualities that will enable my students to become engaged through the way they act and think.
Wow, and doesn’t that sound like a daunting task? I think going back to just teaching English like its just another school subject sounds like a huge time saver. But if you read about my work as an Under Cover Agent, you will know I am not about saving time and I like a good alias. So I will press forward in my work, using the boring subject of English to transform students’ character qualities, not just their understanding of the literary world.And I will try my best to do tgenuine application to meaningful, real-world problems, hands-on opportunities to “do” the subject, and soliciting and offering helpful feedback along the way In chapter 7: "Thinking Like an Assessor," in the book, Understanding by Design, by Wiggens, Grant P., McTighe, Jay the authors challenge educators to veer way from being activity planners, toward first determining what concepts need to be assessed, then creating real-world-like assessments in which students are able to authentically work through and reveal understandings that align with the forementioned concepts. From this reading and my own personal experience with putting Backwards Design into practice, i offer:
My Top 10 List - “Thinking Like an Assessor” 1. RUBRICS: clearly aligned with big ideas. Use the rubrics often throughout the unit. Put them in the hands of the students so that they are also using them to evaluate their understanding throughout the unit 2. Focus on how to establish and assess transferability of knowledge and skills, based on big ideas (essential questions) 3. Examine planned formative and summative assessments to ensure that each provided evidences that align with goals of the unit 4. Include frequent practice (through formative assessments) for students to compare and contrast and summarize key ideas 5. Effective assessment is more like a scrapbook than a snapshot. Collecting evidence over time will lead to a clearer picture of achievement toward the goal 6. Provide many formative assessment opportunities 7. Create Real-world situations-->where students are able to Uncover the problem/situation-->using relative Real-life contexts 8. We need to know the learners’ thought processes along with their answers: Why-->Support-->Reflection 9. A student who really understands…
10. Reflection from beginning to end of unit:
As a high school teacher I feel that the above are reasonable and valuable aims in the making of assessments. I believe the most powerful ingredient is including the students in the process of assessing. But I wonder, is the same possible at the middle and elementary school levels? Especially, the ability to "see in perspective" or "reveal self-knowledge". I would tend to think that a certain level of cognitive and emotional development would be needed that might just be too much to expect from students in lower elementary. Would you agree? Why or why not? Who knew teaching was going to be so much more about assessing than about teaching? Really, you can write some pretty awesome, interactive, engaging, and content explosive curriculum, but if you don't know how to assess what the students turn in to you, how are they or you going to know what amount of learning has taken place? It is so true. How often have you gotten to the end of a unit, collected a final assessment, and were paralyzed as you stared at the stack of artifacts needing marking because you realized you didn't actually know exactly what you were looking for in the assessment? It has happened to me. Not always at the end of a unit, but certainly at check-points during a unit of instruction. Through the years I have adapted to a more formative approach of assessment--experience can be the greatest of teachers, right? And if experience is the path that leads me to greater understanding, why do I so frequently forget that the same is true of the darling faces staring at me? Why do I not whole-heartly revamp my lessons to turn over the experience of learning from being completely controlled by me, to being in the hands of my students? I think the answer to that is lengthy and full of excuses, but the three that are highest on the list are: 1) Assessment for and assessment as learning are processes of learning that can be hard grasp, define, understand, or place tangible outcomes to--leaving it hard to explain others. 2) Assessment for and assessment as learning are processes that can look different from student to student, class to class, causing anxiety for those of us who want to know exactly what is going to happen from day to day in our classroom. 3) Assessment for and assessment as learning take T-I-M-E, both in planning and executing. But experience has also taught me that facing the challenges and excuses are worth the effort. And the writing of Loran Earle confirms this. She succinctly defines these assessments, providing definitions, purposes, and benefits. In Chapter 3, "Assessment of Learning, for Learning and as Learning" (see attachment below), Lorna Earle helps to bring a better understanding of the importance and impact of using assessment applicably to the stages of learning that take place during a unit study. The clarifying of Assessment of Learning, vs. Assessment for Learning, vs Assessment as Learning, lead to a better understanding of differing purposes and outcomes of each from of assessment. As a quick reference I have created the below chart: (based on Earle's text) I think the greatest obstacle I needed to overcome in order to create learning through assessment, was to shift my thinking. I needed to let go of the idea that everything that students created needed to be evaluated and graded. I thought that if I didn't do this, they wouldn't do their work. But doing their work and learning are not synonymous--so, I learned. I also had to learn that learning was the goal, not recording of letters and numbers in a grade book. Thankfully, I was in a teaching environment that pushed me toward separating out formative and summative assessments. To value both, to incorporate both, but to focus on the process and place only those assessments that were summative in the grade book, while still recording the formative work to have as evidence of progress (and perhaps as motivation for completion). I still have a lot to learn and practice in regards to adopting assessment as learning practices (letting the learning fall into the students' hands seems so scary and unpredictable at first). But the more I read texts like Earle's the more I am motivated to continue forward in the process of learning to engage the learners in their own journey of learning. Questions for thought:
Question: What wells up fear in an English teacher's blood, nearly paralyzing her from moving forward in life?
Answer: Writing for others to read! Seriously, those of us in the this wonderful world of word-smithing don't always practice what we preach. But sure shootin' we know what we preach and as soon as our fingers hit the key board and we are expected to poor out meaningful sentences and crisp, to the point words for all the world to see, we wonder, Oh, my goodness what judgement did I bring on myself by putting words out there that are formed together in incomplete thoughts, with incorrect punctuation and without evidence of smooth-flowing, cohesive ideas? Its enough to bring on a mini-panic party in one's head, requiring a small pep-talk prior to hitting that dreadful "publish" button. How often do I tell my students, Writing is about getting your ideas down. Don't worry about the conventions, the flow, the presentation. Just get your ideas out there and worry about the rest later. Let me tell you, OFTEN! And if I could I think of a way to do it, I would set text message alerts to be sent out to my students daily reminding them, Just write! Don't worry about it being right! And then those lovely words could be associated with whatever obnoxious alert bell they have attached to their social life. But honestly, when I sit down to write and I know that my words are going to be shared with others, especially those in the field of education or those who know I am supposed to be good at grammar, organization of ideas, specific support, in-text citations (For the love, who came up with all those rules, anyway?), I freeze-up. True confessions, it took my 5 hours to write one section (4 pages) of a rough draft for my most recent research paper! And I would love to say that the following sections went more quickly, that I was just a little rusty after having been away from the actual act of research writing (teaching research writing has been more my mode lately). But alas, it is not true! Every blimey section has taken me at least 5 hours and left me wondering, what in the world I saw in writing when I started on this career path. I mean really, wouldn't pulling your eye brows out with a tweezers be more appealing than spending 25 hours on research paper ROUGH DRAFT? At least with the former the pain is at most 20 minutes--not 25 hours! So why do we English teachers do this? Why do we preach to our students about the beauty and importance of the process of writing? Why do we force, err, I mean, engage our students in this treacherous process of penning ideas to paper? Why do we believe it is good for them? I believe it is because, in the end, we know that just because a task is challenging, and possibly produces fear and anxiety, doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. Such a process (one that is challenging and fear-invoking) whether it be in the classroom, on a court or in a neighborhood, produces strength, accomplishment, determination, and quite possibly meaningful relationships others. In the English classroom it produces an artifact that reflects a student's progress of learning. And what could be more beautiful than to stare at a set of paragraphs that shows the original thoughts of an individual who took a unique journey down a scary path, to find that they had ideas that mattered and were worth sharing? So in fear, I will continue to write for others, but I will also remember that no matter what others think of what I write, I have done something courageous. I have taken a journey down a scary path to discover what I have learned. And in the end I will have an artifact that documents a process that, though painful at times, brought me to a new understanding of a subject and of myself. "And that has made all the difference." |
Jaclyn LoweenEDUCATION Links to all the, Go and See Study, sessions.
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