As February was coming to a close, I had begun gathering data for the action research project I had been assigned to complete for the MAT program. I had decided to introduce a positive reinforcement system based on tickets for the class in which I struggle most with classroom management. The tickets would be earned by doing good things and they could use the tickets to "buy" rewards. My goal was to reward good behaviors rather than spending so much time punishing bad behaviors in order to encourage students to be less disruptive and stay on task.
I had spent the past few weeks observing the students' behaviors in the normal classroom without the tickets and taking down data. During the final week in February, it was time to explain to the class how the ticketing system would work and begin giving out tickets for good behaviors. I started out the class discussion by having students identify what they thought could be improved about their classroom behavior, what behaviors they thought were good behaviors, and what rewards they would like to receive for demonstrating good behaviors. This conversation had two goals. 1) It helped me to focus on certain behaviors and get an idea of what sorts of rewards would be effective external motivators. 2) Allowing the students to provide their input would hopefully make them feel like they were part of the process and provide them with more incentive to cooperate.
Surprisingly, the students' responses to this discussion were overwhelmingly negative. One particularly disruptive student expressed that she didn't think this would make any difference in the class' behavior. Another student seemed skeptical that I would follow through on my promise of rewards.
I had anticipated a positive reaction or at least apathy from the students, so it surprised me to hear them being so cynical. At this point, I explained to them that I was taking this system seriously because it was an expectation of my own classes. While it is not typically a good idea to introduce bias when completing a research study, I felt like it was important to let students know that I was committed to following through with this project. In other words, my bark was not going to be bigger than my bite. Upon hearing this, the students seemed to be more accepting and willing to participate.
The whole experience showed me that how important it is that students trust that you will do what you say you will do. I've always heard how important follow-through can be when dealing with discipline in the classroom. This conversation showed me how much of an impact not following through can have on students.
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Time Mangement | Internship Reflection 3
Time management is an important aspect for teachers to have in a variety of aspects of the job. It is good to be able to manage time while planning instruction in order to make sure you have all of the resources you need for a lesson. It is important to make sure you allot yourself enough time to get grades in during a reasonable window of time. Finally, it is beneficial to be able to manage your time during instruction to ensure that you are spending an appropriate amount of time during each part of the lesson.
In the middle of February, I had a lesson during which I was observed. For this lesson, I had students use various art supplies to make physical models of the different phases of mitosis as a group. When planning this lesson, I was concerned about getting through the lesson at a reasonable pace and making it to the final activity. From previous experiences in the classroom, I had realized that activities involving art supplies have a tendency to stretch much longer than necessary and end up not getting finished. To counteract this, I made the plan to use an online countdown clock to keep myself and my students on track with the activity.
I broke the lesson down into tasks that would take small amounts of time to complete. For instance, I gave my students two minutes to get into groups of four and move to a station. I gave students 10 minutes to research their phase and fill out their planning sheet. I even set an amount of time during which the groups were supposed to obtain all of their supplies.
When it came time to implement the lesson, it became clear immediately how helpful the countdown clock was. At first, students didn't pay much attention to how much time they had. However, as the timer went off and I moved quickly to the next step, they began to learn that they needed to figure out how to budget their time to stay on track. By the third or fourth task, students were getting the hang of the process. As a result, the lesson moved steadily forward and we were able to spend time discussing the final activity.
Since this lesson, I have used the clock multiple times in my lesson to ensure that I don't lose track of time, but also to help students learn to manage their own time. This is a strategy I intended to use frequently in my own classroom.
In the middle of February, I had a lesson during which I was observed. For this lesson, I had students use various art supplies to make physical models of the different phases of mitosis as a group. When planning this lesson, I was concerned about getting through the lesson at a reasonable pace and making it to the final activity. From previous experiences in the classroom, I had realized that activities involving art supplies have a tendency to stretch much longer than necessary and end up not getting finished. To counteract this, I made the plan to use an online countdown clock to keep myself and my students on track with the activity.
I broke the lesson down into tasks that would take small amounts of time to complete. For instance, I gave my students two minutes to get into groups of four and move to a station. I gave students 10 minutes to research their phase and fill out their planning sheet. I even set an amount of time during which the groups were supposed to obtain all of their supplies.
When it came time to implement the lesson, it became clear immediately how helpful the countdown clock was. At first, students didn't pay much attention to how much time they had. However, as the timer went off and I moved quickly to the next step, they began to learn that they needed to figure out how to budget their time to stay on track. By the third or fourth task, students were getting the hang of the process. As a result, the lesson moved steadily forward and we were able to spend time discussing the final activity.
Since this lesson, I have used the clock multiple times in my lesson to ensure that I don't lose track of time, but also to help students learn to manage their own time. This is a strategy I intended to use frequently in my own classroom.
Engaging with Technology | Internship Reflection 2
During the second weekend in February, I got the chance to see how effective lesson planning can drastically impact and improve classroom management issues. For some background, I have a 9th grade Standard Biology class which includes several students who consistently disrupt and derail the class during instruction. On top of that, a large percentage of the class regularly has trouble engaging with the content and as a result, performance is often low on assessments. My mentor teacher and I had been trying a variety of strategies to keep students on task and focused on the work that they were given.
During this particular week, there was a day which was shortened due to inclement weather. Because the lesson that we had planned would not work with a shortened class period, the students were given a back-up activity where they were allowed to use computers to complete an online scavenger hunt about African American scientists for Black History Month. Once the activity began, the students were noticeably quieter, and even the students who typically provided the most disruptions were on task.
It was clear that something about this activity hit the sweet spot for these kids by getting the interested in the work we were asking them to do. It wasn't initially clear if it was the content of the activity or the mode through which the activity was completed, but something was working. Most likely, it was both.
In the following weeks, we continued to try different activities using computers which had varying degrees of success, but nearly every time students were given the opportunity to complete an assignment on the computer, they were more engaged than if we gave them a paper worksheet. This has helped me as I continue to plan lessons for this class.
As a final thought, I've noticed that it can be tempting with a class that is difficult to not want to give them much freedom in the fear that they will be even more disruptive. However, for this class, it seems that when we allow them to take charge of their own learning, especially when computers are involved, they are more successful than when we plan lessons with less freedom.
During this particular week, there was a day which was shortened due to inclement weather. Because the lesson that we had planned would not work with a shortened class period, the students were given a back-up activity where they were allowed to use computers to complete an online scavenger hunt about African American scientists for Black History Month. Once the activity began, the students were noticeably quieter, and even the students who typically provided the most disruptions were on task.
It was clear that something about this activity hit the sweet spot for these kids by getting the interested in the work we were asking them to do. It wasn't initially clear if it was the content of the activity or the mode through which the activity was completed, but something was working. Most likely, it was both.
In the following weeks, we continued to try different activities using computers which had varying degrees of success, but nearly every time students were given the opportunity to complete an assignment on the computer, they were more engaged than if we gave them a paper worksheet. This has helped me as I continue to plan lessons for this class.
As a final thought, I've noticed that it can be tempting with a class that is difficult to not want to give them much freedom in the fear that they will be even more disruptive. However, for this class, it seems that when we allow them to take charge of their own learning, especially when computers are involved, they are more successful than when we plan lessons with less freedom.
Flexibility and Curiosity | Internship Reflection 1
For the first reflection from my official internship during my final semester of my MAT program, I sat down in front of a camera to discuss two separate instances in the classroom where I had to figure out how to be flexible to meet my students needs while in the middle of instruction. In the first instance, I changed the way an activity was completed when my students came to class with low energy. In the second instance, I had a student ask a lot of questions about a tangential concept in the middle of class, so I found a video resource online to point him towards to help satiate his curiosity.
Watch my reflection on February 7th here:
Watch my reflection on February 7th here:
Sunday, March 19, 2017
STEM Parking Lot Speech
As I finish up with my course on issues in STEM education, I'd like to reevaluate my "parking lot speech" on STEM education. If I were given a few short minutes to describe why STEM education is important, I would say something along these lines:
STEM education is pivotal to creating a well-balanced education for any student. First, the content covered in science, technology, education, and math are relevant to all individual in modern society on a nearly constant bases. Especially with the prevalence of technology in our daily lives, it is more important than ever for students to be educated in and interested in learning about how things work in the world around them.
On top of the content, however, effective STEM education also provides students with an opportunity to build many of the "21st-century skills" that are imperative for them to have as the move into the workplace. Skills like critical thinking and collaboration are highly valued among employers because they increase productivity and efficiency. Skills like creativity and problem solving that are cultivated in problem-based stem courses help to propel new innovations and the invention of new technologies. STEM education is important for living in the world that we are currently in, but it is also vital for creating an even better future.
At the beginning of this course, I recorded myself giving a similar parking lot speech, which can be found here at this link.
Over this semester, I have had the experience of looking specifically at many reasonings for why STEM education is important and also the issues that are currently facing STEM education. My parking lot speech has become more succinct and focused around current and future needs for effective STEM education. My newer speech is more focused on the importance of STEM skills in the workplace and general life. I think this is because it has become apparent how access to resources for STEM education often hinge on how well the resources will prepare students for the future. When discussing STEM education with a parent or an administrator, I think it would be important to make it clear that I am looking out for my students' futures.
As I continue to have more experience with STEM education, I am confident that my speech will continue to shift and evolve to become more effective, but I think I will always emphasize how both the content and the skills that are learned through STEM education positively impact students as they grow and enter into their adult lives.
STEM education is pivotal to creating a well-balanced education for any student. First, the content covered in science, technology, education, and math are relevant to all individual in modern society on a nearly constant bases. Especially with the prevalence of technology in our daily lives, it is more important than ever for students to be educated in and interested in learning about how things work in the world around them.
On top of the content, however, effective STEM education also provides students with an opportunity to build many of the "21st-century skills" that are imperative for them to have as the move into the workplace. Skills like critical thinking and collaboration are highly valued among employers because they increase productivity and efficiency. Skills like creativity and problem solving that are cultivated in problem-based stem courses help to propel new innovations and the invention of new technologies. STEM education is important for living in the world that we are currently in, but it is also vital for creating an even better future.
At the beginning of this course, I recorded myself giving a similar parking lot speech, which can be found here at this link.
Over this semester, I have had the experience of looking specifically at many reasonings for why STEM education is important and also the issues that are currently facing STEM education. My parking lot speech has become more succinct and focused around current and future needs for effective STEM education. My newer speech is more focused on the importance of STEM skills in the workplace and general life. I think this is because it has become apparent how access to resources for STEM education often hinge on how well the resources will prepare students for the future. When discussing STEM education with a parent or an administrator, I think it would be important to make it clear that I am looking out for my students' futures.
As I continue to have more experience with STEM education, I am confident that my speech will continue to shift and evolve to become more effective, but I think I will always emphasize how both the content and the skills that are learned through STEM education positively impact students as they grow and enter into their adult lives.
Sunday, March 12, 2017
STEM Issues Project | Planning Part 3
After completing my research and taking time to flesh out more details of the project, I completed the planning process of my project. The final planning sheet can be found at this link.
I'm excited about this project because there are so many possibilities for it to having a meaningful impact on my students. I'd like to find a way to implement it during the next school year.
I'm excited about this project because there are so many possibilities for it to having a meaningful impact on my students. I'd like to find a way to implement it during the next school year.
Sunday, March 5, 2017
STEM Issues Project | Planning Step 2
Last week, I spent time researching and developing a plan to bring mentors into my biology classroom. While this was an interesting and meaningful project that could be implemented, I had been thinking about a different type of project that more closely aligned with my own interests and goals. After discussing these two potential projects with my instructors, I chose to change directions and pursue the project in which I was more interest: student-produced online educational videos.
Educational video is a concept that I have been interested in and excited about for several years. I have consumed a large amount of educational video personally and have even tried my hand at making some content. YouTube channels like Crash Course, SciShow, MinutePhysics, the Brain Scoop, and more inspire me to find new and more interesting ways to present content to my students and to the world. This type of educational content is often more accessible to students that getting information from a textbook or a lecture. Concepts can be demonstrated visually though video in a way that can't be done with text and speech.
In addition to consuming educational video, creating educational video is also an engaging process. There are so many steps that content producers have to go through to create a video that help them to get a more thorough understanding of the topic and get even more excited about it. Because of this, I would love to implement a project in my classroom where I have my students learn about online educational content and then produce some content of their own. I am currently in the process of researching how this type of project has been previously implemented in classrooms and how to assess the effectiveness of this type of activity.
In the Project Planning Sheet I have outlined the project, the proposed timeline, and my key stakeholders. In the next week, I need to do more research on trends in educational video production in the classroom. Once that research is done, I will have a more complete plan to present to administrators in order to potentially make this project a reality.
Educational video is a concept that I have been interested in and excited about for several years. I have consumed a large amount of educational video personally and have even tried my hand at making some content. YouTube channels like Crash Course, SciShow, MinutePhysics, the Brain Scoop, and more inspire me to find new and more interesting ways to present content to my students and to the world. This type of educational content is often more accessible to students that getting information from a textbook or a lecture. Concepts can be demonstrated visually though video in a way that can't be done with text and speech.
In addition to consuming educational video, creating educational video is also an engaging process. There are so many steps that content producers have to go through to create a video that help them to get a more thorough understanding of the topic and get even more excited about it. Because of this, I would love to implement a project in my classroom where I have my students learn about online educational content and then produce some content of their own. I am currently in the process of researching how this type of project has been previously implemented in classrooms and how to assess the effectiveness of this type of activity.
In the Project Planning Sheet I have outlined the project, the proposed timeline, and my key stakeholders. In the next week, I need to do more research on trends in educational video production in the classroom. Once that research is done, I will have a more complete plan to present to administrators in order to potentially make this project a reality.
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