How can teachers engage their students in class? How do we prevent students from being uninterested, unfocused, even unruly in classrooms? Because the truth is, if we have students that are exhibiting those kinds of behaviors, you can be sure of one thing that isn't happening for them: learning. They aren't retaining the information you're presenting them with, much less thinking independently and critically about it, and more than likely they don't respect you as a teacher.
Those are a few seriously important questions we teachers need to ask ourselves. After all, it is our job to pull students in and give them a reason to want to learn what we want them to learn. The answer is, this comes largely from effective classroom management. Think about it; if you are successfully managing your classroom and you have a room full of students that respect you and want to listen to what you have to say, how much more likely are those students going to be to learn something while they're in your class?
In addition to classroom management, we need to take on the responsibility of researching and finding new ways of presenting information to pique students' interest in the topic, to inspire them to think and make them form their own opinions about it, rather than just listing facts and throwing information at them and having no idea if it is resonating with them or not. In class we took a little survey that asked each of us to think back to previous teachers and remember when their teaching was least effective. Everyone in the class agreed that it was a time when the teacher was lecturing the entire time with no other interaction involved. This speaks volumes to me because I can remember so many times throughout my career as a student when that exact thing happened; as teachers we must reach for something more than that for our students. It's simply not enough to give information and have that be the end of that. Someone in class brought up an excellent point that it's easy to sit on the teacher's side of the desk and forget what it's like to not know how to complete whatever task it is you're asking your students to do. If our students aren't understanding something, it is 100% our responsibility to fix that by adapting to what they need by getting creative and trying new strategies to get that information across to them--whatever it takes to make it "click" for them, and so that beyond that, they can think about and discuss even more in depth!
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
What is LEARNing All About?
For the past few class periods, we've been talking about the LEARN model:
Also, today we talked about the English Language Arts (ELA) Anchor Standards that exist under Common Core, and how those standards are the same from kindergarten all the way through high school graduation, the level of complexity and depth is just built upon as students get older. We also discussed how it is extremely important to connect those standards to your own content area to ensure that knowledge stays with the student for their lifetime.
Today, we began an activity in which the class was divided into two groups based on our area of study (Music Education or Social Studies Education), and we were to plan out a lesson using the LEARN model, and we were also required to use at least one NC Essential Standard from our content area, and at least one ELA Anchor Standard. At first I was a little nervous about how this would come together, but I must say that once my group and I started collaborating on what we would do for our lesson, I began to feel really confident and honestly excited, not only about the activity itself, but about the actual lesson we were planning and the knowledge students would potentially gain from it. The lesson we were planning is something that could actually be used in a school, and that I think would work well because we considered all of the different parts of the LEARN model carefully in planning it--it made me feel like a real teacher! I can't wait to learn more about the best ways to organize lessons and make sure content is being understood.
L-Link
E-Engage and Educate
A-Active Learning
R-Reflect
N-Now and ThenThis is a model for how you should structure your lesson so that the student can best learn the material that you need them to learn. The opening section of the lesson is the "Link" section; this is the part of the lesson where you as the teacher link the concept to be covered in that lesson with a concept or concepts that the students already understand, so that they can make their own connection to the material. The next section is "Engage and Educate" which is when you present the information to the students in an engaging way, modeling for them whatever the task is you would like for them to be able to complete. The next section, "Active Learning," is the section that takes up the most time, and is where the students get to independently practice the concept. The "Reflect" section is where the students reflect on what they've learned in their independent practice, and the "Now and Then" section is where you, the teacher link this to future content that the students will learn.
Also, today we talked about the English Language Arts (ELA) Anchor Standards that exist under Common Core, and how those standards are the same from kindergarten all the way through high school graduation, the level of complexity and depth is just built upon as students get older. We also discussed how it is extremely important to connect those standards to your own content area to ensure that knowledge stays with the student for their lifetime.
Today, we began an activity in which the class was divided into two groups based on our area of study (Music Education or Social Studies Education), and we were to plan out a lesson using the LEARN model, and we were also required to use at least one NC Essential Standard from our content area, and at least one ELA Anchor Standard. At first I was a little nervous about how this would come together, but I must say that once my group and I started collaborating on what we would do for our lesson, I began to feel really confident and honestly excited, not only about the activity itself, but about the actual lesson we were planning and the knowledge students would potentially gain from it. The lesson we were planning is something that could actually be used in a school, and that I think would work well because we considered all of the different parts of the LEARN model carefully in planning it--it made me feel like a real teacher! I can't wait to learn more about the best ways to organize lessons and make sure content is being understood.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Standards Three and Four...Here We Go!
Class today was another whirlwind of information! All of it important and helpful, though. Today, our focus was once again on the NCTCS, and we covered Standards Three and Four.
Side note: today I learned there is actually a difference between the NCTCS and the NCPTS. In my last post, I talked about how we learned about the NCPTS (North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards) in class and how they formed the rubric with which I would be evaluated during student teaching. However, those standards I was referring to are actually the NCTCS (North Carolina Teacher Candidate Standards). While the NCPTS are the same standards, they are the ones that will apply to me when I am actually a teacher and in the profession.
Onward to Standard Three and Four!
So, Standard Three tells us that we need to know the CONTENT we are teaching. This is so, so important. After all, how on earth can you teach your students something you yourself don't know or fully understand? This also ties in with the fact that NC teachers are now going to be required to take Praxis II at some point during their first year of teaching, which is a HUGE change and definitely important to be aware of--this relates to Standard Three in that the Praxis II requirement will ensure that teachers know their content. In order to demonstrate that we know our content, we must be teaching what the SCOS (Standard Course of Study) says we are to be teaching, we must actually have the knowledge required to be a teacher, we must relate our content to other areas of study, and we must make learning relevant for the student. Relevancy is extremely important, because if you as a teacher can't make your content relevant for your students, then they will most likely lose interest and be less likely to learn what you need them to learn.
Standard Four, then is about being a facilitator of learning. What does is mean to be a facilitator? It means that you as a teacher must share the responsibility of learning with your students, rather than you attempting to be 100% fully in control of everything happening in the classroom at all times. You will be the one teaching, but you also need to allow students to think for themselves. In order to be a good facilitator, we must take the time to understand how each of our students think and learn, we must check frequently to make sure that our students are actually understanding the content rather than just throwing it at them and hoping for the best, we must assess our students using both formative AND summative assessments (meaning that we make sure we know that our students understand the information before we actually test them on it), and we must communicate with them effectively.
To end class today, we read through everyone's tweets they had been tweeting throughout class. At the beginning of class, we had been asked to tweet anything that stood out to us during class or that we wanted to remember using the hashtag "#educ316" so that we could find them all in one thread. Let me just take a moment to talk about how awesome this is. Not only is it a way to assess what has been learned, but it's also really fun, and Twitter is something most kids already know and love anyway. Also, it's a great way to integrate technology into the classroom, which is HUGE now, and in fact is part of Standard Four! It's a win-win.
Side note: today I learned there is actually a difference between the NCTCS and the NCPTS. In my last post, I talked about how we learned about the NCPTS (North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards) in class and how they formed the rubric with which I would be evaluated during student teaching. However, those standards I was referring to are actually the NCTCS (North Carolina Teacher Candidate Standards). While the NCPTS are the same standards, they are the ones that will apply to me when I am actually a teacher and in the profession.
Onward to Standard Three and Four!
So, Standard Three tells us that we need to know the CONTENT we are teaching. This is so, so important. After all, how on earth can you teach your students something you yourself don't know or fully understand? This also ties in with the fact that NC teachers are now going to be required to take Praxis II at some point during their first year of teaching, which is a HUGE change and definitely important to be aware of--this relates to Standard Three in that the Praxis II requirement will ensure that teachers know their content. In order to demonstrate that we know our content, we must be teaching what the SCOS (Standard Course of Study) says we are to be teaching, we must actually have the knowledge required to be a teacher, we must relate our content to other areas of study, and we must make learning relevant for the student. Relevancy is extremely important, because if you as a teacher can't make your content relevant for your students, then they will most likely lose interest and be less likely to learn what you need them to learn.
Standard Four, then is about being a facilitator of learning. What does is mean to be a facilitator? It means that you as a teacher must share the responsibility of learning with your students, rather than you attempting to be 100% fully in control of everything happening in the classroom at all times. You will be the one teaching, but you also need to allow students to think for themselves. In order to be a good facilitator, we must take the time to understand how each of our students think and learn, we must check frequently to make sure that our students are actually understanding the content rather than just throwing it at them and hoping for the best, we must assess our students using both formative AND summative assessments (meaning that we make sure we know that our students understand the information before we actually test them on it), and we must communicate with them effectively.
To end class today, we read through everyone's tweets they had been tweeting throughout class. At the beginning of class, we had been asked to tweet anything that stood out to us during class or that we wanted to remember using the hashtag "#educ316" so that we could find them all in one thread. Let me just take a moment to talk about how awesome this is. Not only is it a way to assess what has been learned, but it's also really fun, and Twitter is something most kids already know and love anyway. Also, it's a great way to integrate technology into the classroom, which is HUGE now, and in fact is part of Standard Four! It's a win-win.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
What ARE the NCPTS? What Do They Mean For Me?
Before today, the last time I had seen the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards (NCPTS) was two years ago, in EDUC 250. Even then, I hadn't fully grasped what they were, where they came from, or what exactly they meant for me. As you can imagine, the fact that I will be student teaching next fall makes the fact that I had little to no knowledge of the NCPTS a little bit scary.
Thankfully, today in class we took some time to go over what the NCPTS are as a whole, what they're for, and go over a few of them a little more in depth. First of all, I am now fully aware that these standards are literally what will determine whether not I am recommended for licensure as a teacher. Then, I learned that there is a rubric (there's a rubric??) which will be used to evaluate me on each of the standards and their various elements, and at the very least I must be proficient in every standard. While it will certainly take a lot of time and effort to make sure I'm prepared to demonstrate proficient ability in the NCPTS, I feel a lot more comfortable now that I actually know what is expected out of me concerning them.
We then took time to go over the first two standards, however I would like to focus on Standard Two for a moment:
Thankfully, today in class we took some time to go over what the NCPTS are as a whole, what they're for, and go over a few of them a little more in depth. First of all, I am now fully aware that these standards are literally what will determine whether not I am recommended for licensure as a teacher. Then, I learned that there is a rubric (there's a rubric??) which will be used to evaluate me on each of the standards and their various elements, and at the very least I must be proficient in every standard. While it will certainly take a lot of time and effort to make sure I'm prepared to demonstrate proficient ability in the NCPTS, I feel a lot more comfortable now that I actually know what is expected out of me concerning them.
We then took time to go over the first two standards, however I would like to focus on Standard Two for a moment:
"Teachers establish a respectful environment for a diverse population of students."
Basically, this standard boils down to relationships. The relationships you build with your students, the environment you create for your students, how you'll handle students who are culturally different, in different places academically, etc. I think this standard will honestly be one of the biggest challenges for me in teaching, because I think it's going to be difficult to learn how to make sure everyone is being appropriately challenged academically when each student is so different and many are on very different levels; this is something I'm honestly very nervous about. That being said, I am excited to gain more experience and knowledge in this area, especially throughout this class, as I know it will ultimately make me a better teacher.
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