Structure and Delivery Part 1

My apologies for the delay in this post. The next chapter is overwhelming in both length and content, and this chapter has fallen right as I transition from my first student teaching placement to the second. Saying good bye to my second graders, I now enter into a third through fifth grade special education room that also goes into general education classrooms as collaborative teachers. But more on that in a later post.

Structure and Delivery, the name of this section in Lemov's book, refers to how the content is given to the students, the techniques, and the ways to make the content most comprehensive and retain-able. Due to the exhaustive length of chapter three, I am going to break this down into more readable sections with headers about the technique to which Mr. Lemov refers. 

I/We/You Do
This technique is also known as direct instruction (notice the little di, not the big DI). For those who are not oriented to this teaching method, there are many studies that show the effectiveness of direct instruction, especially for students with disabilities. Lemov is accurate in noting that many students in classrooms are let go to do independent work without a chance to see a positive model, or practice and feedback. Many times when this happens, teachers are shocked when a student does not perform as well as they are expected, but common sense should dictate that if a student is not given guided practice with feedback while they are learning, then misconceptions and misunderstandings will persist.

The Hook
What a popular term! I have heard 'hooks' mentioned since my very first education class ever, when I was an undergraduate at James Madison University. Not much to elaborate on here.

Name the Steps
While this seems simple, there are parameters in naming steps that students will take to solve the problem at hand. Acronyms are helpful, such as RAP, PEMDAS, KWL, etc. to help students remember steps, something to hang their hat on, if you will. But an acronym taht is too long or with steps that are too complicated will cause a student to feel defeated before they begin. For example, using an acronym for the steps in the scientific method? Sounds great. Then try it. 1. Ask a question; 2. Do research; 3. Form a hypothesis; 4. Plan a procedure; 5. Implement the experiment; 6. Record the date; 7. Analyze the data; 8. Draw a conclusion. (Hint: A song or another technique to remember this may be a bit more conducive. Just in case you've never tried to teach this and you were wondering.) And that's why you have to think about what steps are good, what steps are useful, what steps are most important, then how you can frame those steps in a memorable way. Good point, Lemov.

Board=Paper
This technique has proven true with the little elementary school students I teach. When I write a word on the board, they ask where it goes. If I give them skeleton notes, they ask how to spell what goes in the blank, and then when I write it, they again ask which blank the word goes in, even if the students repeat after me the entire sentence with the blank filled in with the word.
Common sense, such as, 'Oh, the next word goes in the next available blank,' does not compute yet, and the only way to ameliorate all the questions and concerns, as well as preserve that precious classroom time, is to make sure that the board looks exactly like the sheet of paper in front of the students, and that I am filling in the paper at the same pace as the students.

Circulate
What a complicated, multidimensional section! There are mini sections in this section!
Position of Power- Power stance most effective way to hold a students attention without overpowering the student. Feet hip width apart, shoulders down and relaxed, arms fully extended but hands clasped behind your back. This stance isn't defensive (such as when you cross your arms in front of you) and not domineering (such as when a teacher stoops over a child), but allows the child to know you are confident, and what you have to say is important. In addition, when speaking to a child, you must get on their level so that you can look them face to face. Leaning over them overpowers the student, and being lower than the students causes most students to lose a visual of what you are saying or doing (unless stadium seating is the structure of the classroom; then they have nowhere else to look, really).

Since this chapter is so long and there is so much to take in, this is to be continued....

Reference:
Lemov, Doug. (2010). Teach like a champion. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Planning: What is the MOST important thing?

The entirety of chapter two, titled Planning that Ensures Academic Achievement, talks about planning to ensure academic success. In all honesty, this chapter again seems too short and filled with assumptions about students and the teachers reading this book.

Begin with the End, which mirrors the educational philosophy of Understanding by Design, simply reminds teachers to form an objective instead of just creating an activity. Again, my disappointment is that any well-educated, Masters-holding teacher who applies what they know already does this. His technique is a great synopsis of the planning by design framework, or any other philosophy that flows from unit planning to lesson planning. The only important question he asks here is: Why are you teaching the material that you are teaching?

The 4 M's expand on what objectives should be and what objectives should look like when used in lesson planning. Objectives should be manageable, measurable, made first, and most important. No arguments here; teachers need to think about if an objective is manageable for one lesson, or if there should be more time allotted for certain skills (much of this comes from experience in the classroom and knowing your students). Is the objective measurable? How do you know when students master the objective? This is pertinent; the best teachers hold students (and more importantly, themselves) accountable for the learning that is happening in the classroom, and a measurement system of some sort must exist in order to push and motivate students to learn. But some of these measurements may be goals that students write themselves, or portfolios. That detail was left out of Lemov's field study notes. Made first again reflects the idea that teachers begin with the end in mind, which is the exact goal of the Understanding by Design framework; if you've never read this before, you should really read it (Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe). Whether you agree or disagree, it's important to know about the philosophies in the field. In addition, it will give you more structured detail than Lemov. In his text, most important is in regards to whether the lessons focus on the most important things on the path to college.

The last two M's are disheartening to me. The only reason that made first does not sit well with me is how he says an indication that the objective was retrofitted to an activity is if a teacher uses a standard for the lesson. While I agree you cannot retrofit objectives or standards, and they cannot just be applied in isolation without forming a theme or building on previous learning, the presence of a standard is not an indication that the objective was fabricated to fit an activity. The other beef that I have with most important has to do with his exclusive mindset of what is important for students. Is the path to college the only thing that should be taught in classrooms? I vehemently fight that education should be create life-long learners and students who love learning, regardless of post-secondary plans. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character- that is the goal of true education."

In post it, Lemov talks about posting the objective in clear view so that all students can see what is expected, review the objective, and be reminded that the objective is the goal. While this is a good idea, this would mostly (and almost exclusively) be successful for secondary native English-speaking students. Younger students and students who are English language learners would need more support in understanding what the objective means and why the objective is posted.

Shortest Path talks about creating the shortest path in lessons to meet the objective. However, Lemov pairs this with talking about how champion teachers pair this shortest path with enriched activities set at an appropriate pace; these are critical caveats to walking the shortest path. He also specifies that almost any method of teaching are neither good nor bad, except in how they relate to the goal. If my objective talks about creating critical thought and debate, lecture is not the best style of delivery, whereas a Socratic seminar may be more beneficial. This is again, something that all educated and experienced teachers learn at some point in their career.

Double Plan is actually a new technique that I have not heard of before; the first in his book yet! Most teachers plan what they will be doing as the teacher, but champions plan what the students will be doing. When I read that, I thought at first, 'So simple! We make worksheets, they are taking notes, they are answering questions...' Then I read on and realized that I plan what students are doing at certain points when I should be thinking about what students are doing in between these points as well. Good point, Mr. Lemov! In my teaching placement I have already used this technique to revamp my unit lessons for the content on magnets, and the unit went much more smoothly due to my awareness of what the students would be doing at all points in the lesson. Off-task behavior, boredom, and inattention declined greatly when I was teaching about magnets because I planned what the students would be touching, thinking, writing, or saying at any point in the lesson.

Draw the Map is a highly controversial topic. Basically, Lemov says a teacher must plan the layout of their room while asking these questions:

When should students interact?
How should students interact?
What interactions support learning objectives?

Some of his other questions exhibit a bias against social interaction in the classroom and his 'perfect' map of a classroom shows students sitting in rows by twos facing the front. This intrigues me for several reasons. Obviously, there is a secondary bias to this map, considering that a lot of elementary schools have tables and must use them. This map also shows an underlying belief that students are there to work, and that they cannot work in groups larger than two effectively without getting side tracked. A teacher-dominant approach is present in that this map has all the students facing the front at all times, and has students sit with as little connection points with others as possible. The walking route of the teacher is not planned well in this map; research shows that teacher who move around (and don't just stand at the front of the classroom) manage behavior more effectively and have higher student engagement. With the map drawn by Lemov, the teacher would struggle to walk up and down the aisles and be able to see what most students are doing at all times. Lastly, this map does not take into account the community or the ambiance that a classroom can create for specific lessons when arranged in several ways. When doing a Socractic seminar, a teacher can make an inner circle and an outer circle. When students are taking two sides of a debate, the students could sit on one side of the room, facing the other. If instruction is going to happen in centers, then clusters of four may prove more conducive to instruction. The set-up of the classroom should always flow from the isntruction, and a rigid, two-desk column system may prove more problematic than beneficial.

Whether any teacher or professional agrees or disagrees with Lemov, planning is the most important thing for a teacher, and not enough credit can be given to those who prep, plan, and revamp lessons in advance.

Reference:
Lemov, Doug. (2010). Teach like a champion. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Techniques to Set "High" Academic Expectations?

Despite the fact that I had a few issues with some of the ways in which Lemov presents material previously in this chapter, he ends the chapter with good sentiments.

 Technique three, 'Stretch it', talks about how to challenge students to think deeper when they are answering questions. This can be done by asking students how they got the answer, how to change that answer into a different unit, etc. There are many ways to get a student to stretch their answer and their thinking. All teachers should be doing this on a regular basis because a correct answer is not enough; educators must make sure that students are thinking critically, and that they are not just remembering facts that they spit back out when context clues steer them towards that answer. Students do not have a true mastery until they can reframe, think critically, and evaluate the answers to questions in order to conclude whether they make any sense. Again, this is kind of Teaching 101 in my opinion, but many educators don't practice this already. (If you don't do this, you really really should! It's so valuable! And I think it's intriguing to find out how my students are thinking!)

His fourth technique, 'Format Matters', is somewhat of a soapbox moment for him. He complains about teachers who use rap songs in lieu of classical poetry in the classroom (or other substitutions in order to get students to relate and engage). He doesn't seem to have a problem with the use of colloquial materials, just when other materials are not also used in order to help students discover unknown academic passions from these experiences. Honestly, I think it depends upon the goal of the lesson and the students that are in the classroom.

In his fifth technique, 'Without Apology' Lemov overtly describes how teachers can negatively frame some material for students by saying, "This is boring, so let's get through it," or "I know you guys will hate this, but..." and rather describes how many students may respond well to materials in positive ways... if we let them by framing everything we present in the most positive light, and by exposing them to a full array of material instead of watering down materials. Please note, when I say watering down, I mean diluting or throwing out for the purpose of making teaching easier. Using scaffolds or gradually easing students into a topic or task is not diluting, that may be knowing your students well and setting them up for success.

Introducing materials in an engaging way, regardless of how a teacher feels, is hard, but it is opening up the possibility of being surprised by your students. Some students may love classical poetry or the historical facts surrounding an event, but if a teacher never gives the student a chance to explore and discover due to a preconceived notion about the students' demographics or background experiences, then the teacher may cause a student to miss out. Notice, I said notions about a student's demographic information, not a student's background knowledge. This must be enhanced for some students to access the content, and this takes extra work. But the work is well worth the effort, when done thoughtfully.

For example, this semester I am in a classroom that has 50% native English speakers and 50% native Spanish speakers. Think about the vocabulary enhancement needed for these students to all be able to engage with each other, regardless of whether they choose to engage in Spanish or in English (they are receiving instruction in Spanish half the day, and English the other half). The content requires the use of specialized words that students need to know, and that is the challenge for all of the students in the classroom. Do we choose to not teach these words, because we don't think the students can understand? Of course not. We scaffold instruction, act words out, use videos and visuals, create hands-on experiences, and try to get students to talk to each other. Not only does this allow them to practice academic dialogue, but the students who can explain what they have learned are true masters of the content.

Reference:
Lemov, Doug. (2010). Teach like a champion. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

True Teaching Champions

As you know, the next book is Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov.

The introduction fascinated me with the profiles, statistics, and the way in which he frames the work as field notes. The facts and charts at the end of the introduction captured my imagination the most.

Unfortunately, as soon as I read past the introduction, I became disappointed for several reasons.

Many of his examples are incomplete, confusing, and do not explicitly demonstrate fully the concept the he tries to communicate. If I had not already learned many of these techniques in several of my education classes, I would have no idea what he really means or how I could apply this to practice.

He also dis includes extremely important factors in these tactics. For 'No Opt-out" he forgets to mention how to pick which students to call on in class, how to scaffold questions to move from easy to hard, or the fact that calling on only one students does not ensure that all the other students are learning. One student answering the question correctly is a review, not insurance that all students know what one student knows. Even if you use this strategy well, there will be students who will still not get the word correctly if you do not know how to teach using multiple means of representation or any real world applications.

While this book seems to be a great introduction to teaching in the classroom, genuine champions do much more than 'no opt-out' and 'right is right.' True champions balance IEPs with differentiated instruction in reading groups where students are all working on areas of weakness while continuing to building up areas of strength. A real champion among teachers can tell anybody at any time what the five areas of reading are, and how they teach those five areas in their classroom. True champions collaborate well with other teachers in order to ensure that every student is getting attention from teachers with the right expertise to ensure success. Champions know that they don't have all the answers, and are on a lifelong quest of learning in order to find the answers. Many teachers revamp lesson every year in order to make sure that the needs of every learner are met, and spend copious amounts of time observing and studying their own students in order to ensure that they actually know the true needs of the students in their class.

While I have great respect for Lemov, and I know these are good strategies that I use, so far his strategies are just tips and hints to make already great masters of teaching content into better teachers. None of these strategies help teachers teach better lessons, they simply help already great teachers ensure student retention and engagement. Nothing can replace a teacher's knowledge of the material or their ability to reach the students by knowing each student individually. I would not call this book Teach Like a Champion; I would call this book Basics on Improving Student Retention.

I would say my biggest disappointment is his emphasis on getting his students into college and improving test scores. Where is the love of learning, and cultivating life long learners? Where does he teach the independence students need to find solutions on their own in the real world? I hope to see this more in the upcoming pages of his book.

Reference:
Lemov, Doug. (2010). Teach like a champion. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Better Late Than Never

Despite the persistence and determination with which I approached my summer reading list, I must say that today marked the first day of student teaching with the kids in the classroom, and I am just now going to start writing about Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov. And by that what I really mean to say is that I am going to write about this wonderful compilation of field notes and observations until I pass out in five minutes because I teach my first lesson tomorrow!

For starters, I like how Lemov sets up this book by explicitly stating that this book is not a handbook, field guide, or a Bible that can promote any teacher to "super" teacher status. Rather, he asks the reader to consider the techniques he describes in light of their own teaching environment; to consider our own individual strengths and weaknesses as a teacher, and how to use and exploit our strengths as we work on our weaknesses. This is the approach that he asks us to bring to each technique or strategy that he has listed and described. In addition, he mentions that these are observations, NOT research- or evidence-based practices. Therefore, I am going to look deeply into each technique in order to find any evidence that backs up these practices, and I am going to implement some of these practices myself this semester in order to determine what will work for me in my classroom setting.

Unfortunately that is all the energy I have tonight. Until next time!

When Summer Reading is Hard Part 2

Over the fabulous weekend of the fourth I was finally able to finish the book! Airplane reading for the win! My first thought after finishing this book? WOW, she was not kidding when she talked about hard questions. Over the course of my flight to and from Boston, I had to find many items to use as bookmarks for the second half of the book. SO many words of wisdom have inspired me and caused me to reflect upon my philosophies in education.

Previously Nathan talked about the RICO framework and the portfolios that are used to evaluate students. In this assessment, students create their own goals and these students assess whether they have met their own goals. Not only does this create intrinsic motivation, but this causes students to become more comfortable with giving and receiving feedback, which is on of the most important skills in the workforce today.

 For example, in my current job, I am coming upon mid summer evaluations for all eighteen to twenty of my staff; this is by far the largest unit in camp, and more evaluations than any other member of leadership. As I hold each evaluation in my hand, I think about what I have been able to observe, each staff member's strengths, personality, areas of improvement, and the activity this person was hired to run. How am I going to give each individual feedback that will encourage and challenge them? Have I spent enough time observing each individual? Have I learned how to create feedback into a loop so that all staff see work as a learning experience and a team collaboration for everyone? Will my staff receive this feedback with professional receptivity? All of these questions weigh heavily on my mind; I've never had to give honest feedback to a team of staff before, and thankfully most all of my staff have been impressing me so most all of these evaluations will be positive with one or two suggestions for improvement. But what about the future, when the situation is different, or when they evaluate me?

Due to my first year in a leadership and administrative role, I have truly appreciated the insight that Nathan provides about being in an administrative role, being open to criticism, leading discussions among staff, hearing feedback, and making some mistakes that we cannot fix without time, love, and intentional apologies. Any leader will make a mistake at some point, and Nathan's openness and honesty has left me feeling more willing to make leaps of faith that may result in mistakes that can eventually cause a positive change in the future.


The most fabulous part of the book for me was how she put words to the many issues that I have seen and meditated upon in the course of my classroom experiences in undergrad and graduate school. One of the greatest issues that Nathan brings up, race, is the issue I am most interested in, yet as she has observed, one of the issues that few professionals wish to engage with in the workplace. In all honesty, I see a broken system where selective segregation in the housing market and local taxes have the greatest impact on local school inequality. While this is separated by class, these decisions of where to live are also based upon race, and living in a "nice" neighborhood for those who can afford that luxury. How is it that these subconscious attitudes are still overlooked and understated by modern professionals, when there are clear indications that the current systems in place prevents lower class Americans from accessing education? Now, this is not intentional. No one has set out to make sure that certain races live in one area and all attend the same school, and that these schools in lower areas do not have highly qualified teachers. Humans are simply creatures of habit and of comfort, and are in desperate need of reflection and challenges that cause us to think out of the box and step into another perspective. One article that I read recently suggested that America invests in more magnet schools that can pull from mixed neighborhoods, or districts that integrate lower and middle classes with upper classes whenever possible. Both of these options may prove helpful in that students will have access and students will come into contact with more diverse students, which can increase their awareness and empathy towards others.
 
The tracking, poverty, social issues, and the inequality that exists in every classroom cannot be undone or voted away by heroic teachers alone, and the issues can no longer be overlooked by the populace if we claim to hold to such values as accessible education for all or equal opportunities. She advocates for the students that cannot speak for themselves because of a system that is not responsive to the needs of the students, yet is quick to blame parents or students when a problem may lie in the lack of real resources for these families.

One of the resources that Dr. Nathan mentions pertains to the knowledge that middle class families have when applying for financial aid and gaining access into the higher education system. I love her idea that open doors does not always mean easy access, or ready access, for those without resources at their disposal. Many lower class families and first generation college students hit road blocks that teachers would not anticipate because no one if the child's family has ever filled out a FAFSA form or learned about deadlines. I love the idea that teachers need to check up on students who may not know what they are doing and helping them with every step of the way, so that a child with college dreams and college abilities no longer miss out for lack of forethought.

This factor is another reason that urban education is more time consuming and intensive than education in middle-class America. Urban educators must go above and beyond, and cannot assume what students know or do not know. And this is one reason that I aspire to become an urban educator for children with special needs. Hopefully one day I can look back and know that I was an advocate for students who were predicted to fail, and these students succeeded.

When Summer Reading is Hard Part 1

Due to the fact that Teach Like a Champion has not arrived, I began reading my second book, The Hardest Questions Aren't on the Test by Linda Nathan. This book, written by an administrator at an innovative urban high school for the arts in Boston, actually has an uncanny relation to what I am experiencing as the Program Director at camp this summer. With what little time I have to read, I have only gotten through half of the book, but her ideas and experiences have inspired me and she has allowed me the freedom to ponder my educational philosophies.

Before I continue, I will point out that her book is so relate-able to me because a Program Director's job is much like an educational administrator, although to different degrees. My days are spent approving lesson plans, supporting and training specialists (in this case, who run camp activities and lessons), giving positive encouragement and constructive suggestions, buying all necessary materials within the budget, and dealing with any and all questions or conflicts that these valuable staff may experience. This list does not include the morale boosting, the coordination with other leadership staff and counselors, or the long, grueling hours spent in preparation.

In her book she talks about getting her staff to buy in to the systems, ideals, and principles that drive the school; this is the side of administrative work that I had never considered, and that I am experiencing first hand. Over the past few weeks I have noted how my staff react to the top-down mandates that I have no control over versus the initiatives that they start or that we start together. Not only are they more passionate about the latter, but they hold each other accountable to the expectations that they establish for themselves. They also respond well when the "why" is given, especially if that "why" is accompanied with a story or an activity that proves a point.

One aspect of her book that I love is how she emphasizes empowering teachers and enabling them to do what they do; her vision for a team of administrators and teachers working together inspires us to consider that the best dynamic in a school exists when all staff cooperate as a team. Like most other people, I have watched inspiring movies of teachers that have challenged preconceived notions about students by proving that all students can learn. However, I had never noticed how most of these movies set administrators against teachers, setting the teacher up as the hero or heroine. In real life, we need a more established view of all educators and administrators as a mutually beneficial team of support staff. That is one thing that I can add to this book. She talks about how she empowers and supports her teachers to do what they do, and that is what administrators should be doing. The summer camp I work at has moved away from calling anyone a 'boss' or 'supervisor' and we are referred to as support staff. I absolutely love this idea, because we are constantly reminded that our job entails being servant leaders, and I have really cleaved to this idea that my entire job is to support and empower others. I have already fought a few battles for my staff to be able to succeed, and I hope that later in her book she talks about how she determines which battles to fight. For the most part I would say that I have picked my battles well, but there have been a few circumstances that made me wonder if I could have used more wisdom in picking what to say or when to say anything.

She has also touched on communication, initiatives, and assessment methods that are unique and effective. All of these ideas have inspired me. For example, I love the idea of a portfolio that students present, and how students can pick their own challenge to master in their portfolio. This allows students to have a growth mindset about their own learning, and allows teachers to know exactly how they can support student growth. Students also take the initiative in their learning, and when they don't, they are challenged to get more help so that they can learn. Not only does this teach responsibility and ownership, but I can see how this can create lifelong learners and not just students trying to get good grades so that they can get a degree. In essence, isn't becoming a lover of learning the entire point of education?

Expect more to come! I am only half way through this fabulous book, and I am already thinking of so many ways that her ideas can be applied beyond BAA! I would recommend it whole heartedly, she is articulate, passionate, and understanding. She takes into account multiple perspectives, then, after considering all the possible options, she deliberates the best option. Her best quality would also have to be her humility in this book. Instead of flaunting her own success, she discusses quite openly the hardest decisions, as well as the most controversial decisions, that she has made in her role. That is inspiring to me because sometimes leaders act as though they know everything and they can never admit they have made a mistake. In this book, however, she challenges educators and administrators to think about the influences on students, the perspective of students, the goal of education, and how to individualize instruction for each student. Due to all of these factors, Nathan talks about how we make the best decisions that we can, but we are always learning, reflecting, and becoming better at what we do.

When I Create A Summer Reading List

Are many of you aware that my best friend was an English major, and she would recommend books for me to read every summer? Sometimes I would get to these books, and many times working full-time would somewhat distract me from completing many of the books that I had started, but this summer I am trying something new.

At least every two weeks I am going to read a book about education, and see how this book adds to my philosophy of education. I have had several suggestions so far, such as Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov, The Hardest Questions Aren't on the Test by Linda F. Nathan, The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person can Create Extraordinary Change by Adam Braun, & Thrive: 5 Ways to (Re)Invigorate Your Teaching by Meeno Rami. Over this year these books have been recommended by colleagues and professors, and I am excited to see how these books impact me!

If I have time, I also want to see if Degrees of Inequality by Suzanne Mettler is good, as well as Schools of Hope by Finkelstein. These pertain more to the inequalities in education, but I still think they could influence my ideas about education.

Some of the books don't particularly pertain exclusively to education, but do apply to the inner city life of adolescents, such as Code of the Street by Elijah Anderson; this book is an anthropological view into the culture of  inner-city families and youth in order to understand the function of behavior, instead of basing our interpretations of behavior upon our own experiences, backgrounds, or culture. I am excited about this one, I've wanted to read it since I took an anthropology class at James Madison University during my undergraduate career that used excerpts from this book. That professor was one of the first professors who made me think about the culture of education in America, and how education culture is different in other countries. We watched documentaries and videos of classrooms from Japan and other places, and I remember being so shocked for two reasons: that I had never previously considered how the "education" and research we study as 'truth' can be cultural; and that I had never considered that other systems and philosophies thrive in other cultures. Thank you, professor, for preventing me from continuing on as an ignorant American.

The most random pick award goes to Psychology through the Eyes of Faith  by Myers & Jeeves; this was a gift from my AP Psych teacher in high school after I got a 5 on the AP Test, but I think the gift pertained more to how he wanted us to expand our minds to think more critically about psychology than our actual scores. He wanted us to succeed, and measured that in more ways than simply tests. I still remember vividly all the experiments we did in that class to discover how our brain works, and part of me wants to contribute my self-knowledge about the ways in which I learn to his class.

The last two goals for this summer? To be the best Program Director that I can be, and to learn Spanish. I found out that one of my classes next year will be a bilingual classroom, so I am already listening to lessons on YouTube and using Spanish for Beginners by Language Press in order to make sure that I at least have some conversational Spanish under my belt before beginning the new school year!

And.... GO!

Know Yourself

A local teacher was a guest speaker in our class today, and she had some great, thought provoking ideas to reflect upon as a teacher. She has been a teacher for 22 years, and after only talking for 5 minutes that she is a perceptive, innovative educator who knows how to integrate instruction with application.

She only allows herself to repeat one book every year, and completely strips and sets her room up from scratch every school year. Nothing like keeping the classroom fresh, and making sure that you never get stuck in a rut! And what a way to make sure that lessons and the entire classroom is for the unique students that enter your classroom each year! I'm not sure I could strip everything at the end of every year, but this is a good idea to keep in mind; sometimes we just have to strip everything away and start over again.

One of her first points was that every teacher must learn what type of teacher they are.

Am I process-based?
Am I inquiry-based?
Am I more inclined to guided instruction?
Am I direct instruction-based?
Am I discover-based?

As a teacher you must know your style, but your style is ever developing and evolving. For the first few years you try a lot of different styles that you pull from your Mary Poppins' bag of tricks. Over time, you will decide what you like and what becomes most helpful for the students in your classroom, but the best teachers are the teachers that utilize all techniques that help your learners.

She gave us three tips for our future classrooms:

1. Create a healthy, safe place for students to learn where making mistakes is a normal growing process.
"Always have more questions than answers."

2. Vary the way you expect responses to literature. Only expect them to come ready to engage in a book chat.

3. Never assign anything that you don't respond to with a few detailed sentences, and expect that some students will write back as well.

Give students choice because this will intrinsically motivate the students to learn.

Know your kids; know when to push and when not to push. Education is about relationship, it's about knowing people, about bringing out their best, and how to take them from where they are to where they can be.

Learn how to answer a students question with a question. This generates deeper thought and discussion with the students. Good thing I already do that!

Individualized Instruction: What is "Fair"?

What should instruction look like? How does a teacher differentiate instruction in such a way that the needs of the "lowest" and "highest" achieving students are met in a deeply personal and academic way? These questions rose to my mind as I worked in a group during my teaching social studies class; we were given a topic, a framework, and in class we created a lesson for a specific grade level on the spot. Differentiation proved the most challenging area of focus for our group because the activity and assessment already implemented choice as a way for students to use multiple materials in order to express themselves. My group specifically struggled with how to challenge more advanced students without just assigning more work.

Many times I have heard that we should not simply dump more work on students who finish work early, or who show excellent and efficient skills when completed the classwork given; some professionals adamantly claim that these students should also not tutor other students, despite the studies that show this can be beneficial to both parties involved, specifically the research on PALS and other tutor programs (Rafdal, McMaster, McConnell, Fuchs, & Fuchs, 2011; Codding, Chan-Iannetta, George, Ferreira, & Volpe, 2011). Peer Assisted Learning Strategies, or PALS, when implemented with fidelity, benefit both parties involved, and can be done in such a way that students are not privy to which partner is higher or lower because the class is ranked, split in half, then paired off so that the "highest" achieving individual on the "upper level" list is paired with the "highest" ranked individual on the "lower level" list (with exceptions for incompatibility).

As a group we reached a consensus: if all instruction is to be individualized in such a way that each student gains the most from every activity, how can we judge what is fair? If one student can do 30 problems in 20 minutes, and another student takes an hour to complete eight problems, would a teacher be unjust in making sure that these students are challenged yet not frustrated by the amount of work they are assigned?

One parent may complain that their student is having to do too much, while the other parent may complain that their student is falling behind, but why is it unfair to allow students to rise to a challenge? I understand that in America we value equality and fairness. However, we deliberated and reached the decision that equal treatment does not always mean that every student is treated in exactly the same way. If every child received the identical, rigid education, there would be no room for individuality, for personal creativity, for real, substantial growth. 

Education needs to continue to move towards individualized instruction for all, instruction that recognizes each students strengths and weaknesses, and allows students to grow in their area of weakness as they also have opportunities to use their strengths. At the end of the lesson we created, our group decided that having students write journals about the activity was a great wrap-up activity, and we decided that some students were given the liberty to write paragraphs while other students were not demanded of more than they could produce. While some may disagree, there were other forms of assessment used, such as the models, drawings, and presentations that students also did during the lesson. We took into consideration that in first grade, the gap between the struggling student and the overachiever may be wide, and that instruction should meet students where they are.

References:

Codding, R. S., Chan-Iannetta, L., George, S., Ferreira, K., & Volpe, R. (2011). Early number skills: Examining the effects of class-wide interventions on kindergarten performance. School Psychology Quarterly, 26(1), 85-96.

Rafdal, B.H., McMaster, K. L., McConnell, S. R., Fuchs, D., & Fuchs, L. S. (2011). The effectiveness of Kindergarten Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies for students with disabilities. Exceptional Children, 77(3), 299-316.