As a student teacher, we are required to explore other teachers' classrooms to observe other styles of teaching and find ideas or things that might work well for us. So, for one of my observations, I was able to explore a 7th-grade science class at Big Spring Middle School for the past two days. This course spans all year long compared to the agricultural/tech courses which are a marking period (9 weeks) long. Therefore, it was great to see how a course can be spread out long throughout the year and what that looks like with engagement for students, especially middle schoolers.
During this time, the students were learning about the different phases of the moon using Gizmos. Gizmos is a program that they use heavily in science class. As I understood from the teacher, the science classes do not have a textbook to utilize for their curriculum, which is why the science curriculum requires a huge rewrite this summer. For now, they are stuck with using digital resources on the topics that they teach, including Gizmos and Explore Learning. Both of these resources need a subscription that schools can pay for. However, applications, like Gizmos, help to give the students more freedom to find the answers to their questions and work through them at their own pace and level. This allows for more autonomy in the science lessons without trying to engage in a long lecture about the topic. Due to this, students do seem more involved and interested in the lesson. The teacher was able to give me a copy of the lesson worksheet that the students were filling out. In order to learn about the phases of the moon, students used interactive videos, prior knowledge questions, short-answer problems, drawings, pictures, and scientific method processes to thoroughly understand the lesson. This is something that I could work with for some agricultural lessons, but not continuously. I would just have to find a resource out there that can do similar functions for students to work on. Do you guys have any resources or thoughts similar to Gizmos and the phases of the moon?
As for the classroom management that I observed, I noticed that the teacher allowed the students to pick their seats for the class. This privilege was, I was told, something that was a reward for students who continued to have passing grades in the last marking period to now. The teacher also explained that in some classes students had assigned seats due to their grades. I do like this idea because they have to do work in the class and make an effort for all students to choose their seats in the class. This could be a good method to help motivate students. Other than seating charts, the teacher makes it a point to set those rules and boundaries within her classroom. She was able to defuse several student situations/interactions with a stern voice (no, not yelling per se) and facial expressions. Something that I hope to get good at during student teaching and the first couple years of teaching. You need to set those boundaries and stern reactions before you can ever be more comfortable/relaxed in your approaches!
Now, going back to the lesson's structure, it started out with an informative video about the moon that students had to take Cornell-style notes on in their provided notebooks. While this could be interesting, there might be another video out there about the moon that might help students to pique interest in the lesson better. Then, the teacher went into a small PowerPoint that helped to walk students through using Gizmos and learning step-by-step on how to complete the day's activities, learning objectives, and goals. Not only was the slideshow a visual for learners, but the teacher used very concise and chunked information. Something that I know I need to work on and hope to get better at during student teaching is clarity. So, it was a pleasure to watch someone else walk through this process. One idea is to make sure that all the instructions are shortened and put onto one slide that can be kept up for a reference as the students work at their own pace. In addition, this lesson could also be used as a great virtual day or asynchronous day for science classes in the future. Before the class broke out on Gizmos to fulfill their first couple of sections of the worksheet/packet, the teacher asked students to repeat the information back to her as she prompted answers with her questioning. This is a great way to make sure that students understand their tasks or what you might need to redo before the class starts (a verbal formative assessment). While the students are working independently or in small groups, the teacher periodically will walk around the room to check on answers and regain students' focus on the tasks at hand. I love this! Plus, when students were struggling with one particular question through this walk around, the teacher was able to stop her class immediately- due to the build in rapport and classroom management techniques previously mentioned- and try to better explain what the question was asking for while giving hints to the answer. Definitely going to steal this technique as well as giving timely check-ins! These check-ins notify the students of what time has passed and what time is left along with where students should be in their tasks if they have stayed focused. Hence, "Ten minutes have passed already and there are only five more minutes before we need to clean up for the day! So, by now you should be on task B. If you are not on task B by now, I would get there in the next minute." is an example of something that I have heard teachers, including this one, use before. It helps refocus the students while implementing time management skills. Something that even the best college students could still use from time to time. Again, I also want to try this strategy out in the classes that I teach this semester.
Still, even after all the questions I asked this teacher, I was left with questions for myself to ponder. How could I take this Gizmos lesson structure and modify it for those with IEPs? How can I capitalize on student interests, experiences, or culture through this asynchronous lesson? All questions that I will have to explore myself because there was no evidence of these questions in the observation. The lesson is more generic to helping students of multiple modalities learn the phases of the moon. Why should students care? Yes, some might love science and learning about the moon, but how do you pique the interest of all students in this topic? With the way the classes are structured at the middle school, students with lower IEPs would have their own core classroom setup instead of joining in on classes with other peers. So, what do they learn about science in their classrooms? How can I bring those ideas into the agricultural classroom setting?
Thus, at the end of my observation and utilizing these many examples, I was able to see this teacher reach many of the characteristics of effective teaching: BECOV.
Business-like behavior: She was professionally dressed, setting boundaries and rules with the class and disciplining with stern verbal and non-verbal language when they are broken, and using techniques to keep students refocused/on task.
Enthusiasm: This is hard to share in a lesson like this, but it was evident in how the teacher explained answers or helped students find the correct answer as well as the eagerness to answer any of my questions on the lesson.
Clarity: This was shown through concise and chunked activity instructions while also using visuals and examples that the students would understand. Plus, the teacher asked the students to repeat instructions or tasks due at the end of the class to check on clarity and comprehension.
Opportunities to learn: This whole lesson worked at the student's pace and level using various modalities of pictures, visuals, interactive videos, and scientific methods in order to help each student learn the phases of the moon.
Variability: This happened through the structure of the class. First, the students watched a video and took Cornell-style notes. Then, the students, at their own pace, would draw out the phases of the moon, create hypotheses, discuss in small groups, and work to fulfill answers to questions from videos/pictures for their packets. Finally, the class would wrap up with cleaning up and having a small class discussion on what they learned.
By watching her example, I will be able to better ensure that I utilize these characteristics and techniques in my classes as I student teach the Woodshop and Intro to Ag courses this semester. This is just one approach that I am willing to try and adjust to fit my own teaching style, but you never know how it will truly work for you until you just try it. So, let's see how week 3 will go for me using these strategies!
Thanks!
Just Keeping It Veal,
-Ms. Emily Jay
No comments:
Post a Comment