Teams should use the model above as you meet in team meetings on Thursday, September 8th. Use the model to do the following tasks.
- As a group discuss how planning an instructional lesson is similar to the role of an architect.
- Using this weeks lesson plans, colored dots and chart paper (which will be provided to one team member), make an organizer similar to the one above which will show how your lesson planning includes each of the areas in the model above. The Math Teacher on your team will be a benefit to you in explaining this task if additional info is needed.
- Discuss as a group what area of the design plan is strong for your team and is weak for your team. How do individual areas of strength and weakness compare to the team's results? Be prepared to discuss at PLC.
- Reflect individually as to what area of the design plan is strong and weak. Post on the blog (using the comments link) what you have found to be your area of strength in planning and the area of planning that may need more attention. Include a plan as to how you will strengthen your weak area. Your responses need to be posted by September 12th.
- Bring charts and reflections to PLC on September 14th.
Our Mustang family found out that they were the strongest in the areas of the Workshop(student practice) and the Library(instruction). We were the weakest in the area of the Porch(self-analysis).
ReplyDeleteMy strongest area is in getting the students excited for the lesson and the student practice. My weakest area is self-nalysis. Time constraints is my biggest hinderance, especially with my resource (even with modifications). They work at a slower pace and need more individual attention. I am still trying to decide how to overcome this obstacle.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the discussions today in team meetings. It was nice to see that other teachers struggled in the same areas as I do. It was also amazing to see the work and dedication that we all put into the delicate art of instruction.
ReplyDeleteAreas of Strength
One area that I feel that I have teaching success, deals with the Workshop area. I think that the use of interactive notebooks allows students to process the notes and information that I present in a way that facilitates a better understanding of the content. When a student is able to assign their own meaning to a piece of content the ownership of that content can be a powerful teaching tool.
Area of Weakness:
The porch is my weakest room in the "house." I have always struggled with reflection and I was so relieved to know that my colleagues find this as their weakest area as well. I am not sure if its the time, that often runs out or the rush to get from one content to another. Either way, I find myself often skiping this step or reflecting once the students have already left. My plan of action for improving on this is to set an alarm, or ask a student to remind me of the time. To spend the last five minutes of the class reviewing, reflecting and closing on the lesson that was taught.
Leslie Snyder 7th grade special education teacher
ReplyDeleteAll 5 areas are like a house. It is the foundation. Lesson plans need to touch on each area equally.
ReplyDeleteDots. Each teacher posted a dot on where they felt they were strong.
Everyone posted a dot on the foyer, kitchen, library and workshop. It was obvious by where the least dots were placed that the weak area was in the porch. As a team, we need to focus on improving our “porch.”
Ideas for the porch- journals, reflections, step-backs.
Individual.
4. I feel like we spend most of our time in the Foyer (pre teaching activities and looking into prior knowledge), the Library (through providing information that meet the needs of a variety of learning styles), the Kitchen (post activity assessments), and the Workshop (through use of a verity of learning tools, including graphic organizers). The area I feel we spend the least amount of time is on the porch. I believe this area often gets neglected due to the feeling that we are running out of time so it is the easiest to eliminate. This does not mean that it is the least important; on the contrary I believe this can be the “place” that motivates students learning and their desires to learn.
Leslie Snyder 7th grade special education teacher
ReplyDeleteMy team and I met and discussed the rooms of the house. Our lesson plans should touch each area equally. Everyone on my team felt they were strong in the Foyer, Library, Kitchen and Workshop, but were weak in the Porch area.
ReplyDeleteAs a science teacher I felt that I am strong in the Porch. In each lab, we conduct experiments then reflect on what the lab was about. Every lab is followed by reflection, analysis, and a 'big picture' review. As a special education teacher, this is a big part of bringing it all together. We always go back and discuss what we just did in class. They need the review to get a better grasp on the content taught.
My weaker area would be the Library. I don't spend a lot of time lecturing or reading due to my students' ability levels. They perform better by doing or observing rather than listening to a lecture.
I have found that my area of strength is in the workshop area. I am great about giving notes, homework, and interactive lessons. My weakness is in the porch area. I realize after the conference and the team meeting that I don't include enough reflection pieces. I plan on changing that fact this unit. In general, I'm sure I have a lot to work on as a new teacher! (Lindsay Clarke)
ReplyDeleteI found that my strengths are in the areas of Practicing and processing knowledge (workshop)and Knowledge Acquistion (library) and my weakest areas were in the areas of Knowledge application (kitchen) and Reflection (porch).Our team found similar results.
ReplyDeleteWhen planning our lessons teacher are truly like architects. We must have a plan and the materials to make the plan into something tangible. We sat down as a team and discussed our weekly lesson plans and found that as a Wildcat team we are strong in the kitchen, library, and foyer. Then when we looked at our team weaknesses we found we were weak in the workshop and porch. As we talked we came up with ideas to help us grow as a team and to better grasp the other “rooms”. We talked about new formative assessment strategies (workshop) as well as more ways to provide our classes more reflection time.
ReplyDeleteIndividually I could see that my strong area was the foyer I attribute this to my use of probes to activate prior knowledge and learning at the beginning of class. I found that I was weak in the porch. One thing that I feel is helping me to grow in the area of the porch is my use of Science Journals. This is something that I began looking at and using last year and then started my full use of them this year. It is my hope that through their journaling (answering questions along with labs and activities) that this will provide more time for student self-reflection and that through notebook checks I can see evidence of this reflection. I have also started to use the last couple of class time minutes to talk about what we learned today to provide more reflection over not only our activities but our learning as well.
After our team assessment, I learned that my strength is my split between the Workshop and Library sections. I think as a school we spend a great deal of time on the Workshop area. I believe that a right amount of time spent in the Library complements the Workshop. If you spend too much time or not enough in the Library, it makes working the the Workshop area more difficult.
ReplyDeleteAs a team, we all saw that our individual area for improvement is the Porch. I do this occasionally because I teach writing, but I could do this more often in other activities.
Team: When discussing the architect activity with our team, we found that we had many things in common in our classrooms. Our strengths were found in the Workshop, which is practicing what students have learn, and the Library, which is lecture and providing information to our students. Our common weakness was in the area of the Porch, which was allowing the students the opportunity to reflect upon the lesson we had presented. Usually, due to time restraints this area seems to fall short of the others in the classroom setting, and it is a very important aspect of teaching.
ReplyDeleteIndividually: My results were closely related to my team. I found my strengths were in the Library and the Foyer. The Foyer due to the use of formative assessments such as Bell Work, Exit Slips, and implementing strategies into my lessons that are fun, but educational also. My weaknesses fall in the Porch. Occasionally, we do reflect on why our lesson is important, but not as often as I should. This is an important step to incorporate in, because it helps the students understand why the lesson is important in bigger picture. They can pose questions that are unclear about the material and learn from one another's questions.
I plan to incorporate more time for reflection at the end of my lessons. Maybe just a few minutes for questions and answers or maybe the strategy we learned, called Foggy, where students write on a post it areas that are foggy and then share them out at the conclusion of the lesson for teachers to clarify, before they leave the room. Both are ways I hope to improve this area of my teaching.
As a group, we discussed various ways we can improve upon our reflection skills, and strategies that we thought might be effective in our individual classrooms. We are learning from others experiences, strategies that effective for the group we have this year. This consistency in our team, and the increase in our reflections will benefit our student's learning experience. -Heather Wells
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ReplyDeleteAs an individual I found my strength is in the workshop at least for this week. I do however, think that is possibly because I like hands on activities myself and enjoy doing them with my students. My weakness was the porch and I know I tend not to give students enought time to reflect. I plan to really make an effort to put more time in this in class. Sometimes I feel because I only have the students 45 days I don't have time to do this, feeling like I have so much to cover and so little time to do it.
ReplyDeleteOur team found that we have weak as well as strong points in our architecture. Our strong points were found to be in the foyer (bell work), and in the workshop (hands-on activities). Our weak points were found in the porch (reflection) part of the structure.
ReplyDeleteToday I began my lesson with a reflection on two activities we just completed in science class this week. I used an activity that we were given in the professional development session at West Carter last week. It was called Got It, Not Sure, Lost. I found this to be an easy way for the kids to reflect on learning and since it was done at the first of class, I did not have to worry about running out of time at the end of class, where I normally put the reflection activity.
As an individual I thought my strongest area was the Library. As an exploratory teacher I have to cover the required information in a limited time so the library gets the most attention. My weakest area is the porch. Due to the challenges of having the students for a shorter amount of time I feel that I don't provide enough time for them to reflect on what they've learned and why they've learned it.
ReplyDeleteThis activity was affirmation that we really are like architects in our students' acquisition of knowledge. During this shortened week, I scheduled a unit quiz so I probably spent more time in the "kitchen" than I typically would.
ReplyDeleteOur Reading program lends itself quite well to each of these areas of our teaching. Ms. Stevens accurately pointed out in our team discussion that we do a fairly good job at hitting each of these areas, but our weakness is using the correct vocabulary in class (activating prior knowledge, reflection, etc.)
I am pleased overall with the structure of our plans and I will begin incorporating appropriate vocabulary into my classroom.
I feel as though I spend most of my time in the library by providing information by modifying content for various abilities and learning styles and in the workshop by tools that can help individual students learn the content. An area that I am the weakest in is the porch where I can look back and reflect on the lesson. As a traveling special education teacher, I find that I’m continually monitoring, assisting and re-teaching and I find myself running out of time. As a new teacher, I’m glad to see experienced teachers feel the same in that area!
ReplyDeleteAt our team meeting last week we completed the assignment and discussed the different areas of the house as well as our strengths and weaknesses as a team. Individually, I struggle this year with being in the library and the kitchen. I try to start off the lesson in the foyer, activating prior knowledge and arousing their curiosity about the day’s lesson. After the workshop meeting last weekend, I want to do a better job about explaining to them why it is useful information to them. LEAPS has helped me with being in the foyer as well as being in the workshop because every lesson has hands-on activities that are fun, interesting, and allow students to rehearse and practice their learning. I have started using bell work as a way to evaluate students’ learning from the prior lesson. I try to read these quickly some time during the class period and spend a few minutes clearing up any misconceptions. At the end of each activity, I try to give an overall review of the lesson and explain the purpose of the activity. I try to ask questions to allow students to reflect on their learning but with this method I usually only have a few responding. I usually get a better overall insight reading the bell work the next day. When I taught before I spent most of my time in the library lecturing.This year I have tried to work on student discovery rather than lecture, however I think I need to at least outline major points to ensure students have notes on important information. I have been showing several videos that really help to clarify and offer another view of the lesson.
ReplyDeleteAfter meeting as a team I felt we all had similar strengths and weaknesses. As an individual I put more emphasis on the workshop (practice) and library (resources used to practice) when lesson planning. I try to think of fun, hands-on ways for the students to learn and give them plenty of opportunities to practice what they learn. However, I am terrible at finding time to let them reflect on their own learning. We often use clickers to grade things and I will ask them to think about what problems they missed and why they missed them after we discuss as a class but I don't give them much time to do this. To provide more porch time I will start making reflections a part of the exit slips.
ReplyDeleteAfter our team meeting, I felt like the others in my group, our vocabulary is wrong for the Porch, but we do spend a lot of time there! (It's one of my favorite places at home too!) My strongest areas are in the workshop and porch. I believe that our reading program allows plenty of opportunities for the whole "house" but it may not always be seen so easily in one week's worth of teaching. For example, anytime we begin a new book, we spend most of the time in the foyer. I looked at the library as the place where we bring in more articles or stories to relate to what we are reading and teaching. The kitchen still relates to my own life, in that I want lots of counter space to work and the best kitchen, but I don't spend lots of time there!
ReplyDeleteThis has definitely given me a better visual to use when preparing my lessons!
Our team as a whole talked about the weakness of the porch. The areas that I seem to be able to hit most often are the Library and the Workshop. I try to deliver information to my students in a variety of ways such as; lecture, videos, notes, and graphic organizers. Math is an area where practice is a must so we hang out in the workshop a lot. My weakness lies on the porch. I do not give the students time to reflect back on their learning. We often talk about common misconceptions but self-reflecting is lacking in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteOur team was weakest at the porch. I too think that I do not give enough time for my students to reflect on their learning as often as I should. The only time I have had them reflect is on a self assessment after the unit assessment. The strongest area of my instruction is in the Library and Workshop. As a math teacher I spend a lot of time practicing concepts and methods. I also use multiple ways of instruction to teach the content such as direct teaching,video clips, notes, and student centered activities.
ReplyDeleteAs my team met this past week and reflected, we found many areas in our house that we felt we were strong in. However, I believe the common weakness among most of my team members is the porch.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I found two areas that I believe to be my strengths. They are the workshop (where the students rehearse, practice and evaluate the progress of their learning) and the library (where we provide information and ideas through lecture, readings or viewings).
My weakest would be the porch (where students reflect back and question what they have learned). There are days where we are so into the lesson that we run out of time and don’t get to go back and reflect. I am trying to get better at setting the timer tools or watching the clock during activities to allow enough time to go back over the “I Can” statement to reflect on the day’s activities.
After reading the comments of other teachers, and analyzing the lesson plans from my special topics math class last week, I also feel that the Porch or Reflection area is an area that I need to spend more time incorporating into my lessons. My class lessons are focused in library (where I provide additional direct instruction on math concepts and strategies for my students), the workshop (where the students practice and rehearse those concepts and strategies through guided instruction), the foyer (where I find that it is easier to keep my students on task when they can relate the information to something that they are familiar with or will use in everyday life) and the kitchen (where I am able to find out if the students have learned the lesson concept). I plan on adding more self assessment in my lessons so that the students can reflect and analyze what they have learned and still need to learn. I also plan on using more open ended/higher order thinking questions in my summative assessments to help students generalize the information that they have learned in this lesson. By being able to generalize the information that they have learned, they will then be able to use this information to build upon when learning new concepts.
ReplyDeleteOur family discussed how each one of us has our own individual strengths when it comes to our teaching strategies. We talked about the different areas of the house blueprint, and shared how we used each of these areas with our students. Then, we did the dot activity, and found out that overall, we were strong in most of the five areas. We felt we needed work in the area of refection (porch). Although, I feel that I do a pretty good job at having students reflect in a science classroom, I feel that I need to concentrate on connecting it more with research (library) and student self-analysis. In my class, we do a lot of lab work in groups of four to five students each. This allows the students to bounce ideas around, and work together to analyze data, as well as construct a conclusion. My focus is going to be finding ways to allow my students a more individualized reflection experience at least once a week.
ReplyDeleteOur family had similar strengths. We are strong in the areas of the workshop, kitchen, and foyer. We found our weakness was the porch area. The self reflection is my biggest weakness. We always seem to run out of time.
ReplyDeleteThe activity was very interesting. It also brought to light where we need to focus most on. I will use this, to improve my lessons and add more self analysis activities.
We had very similar strengths and weaknesses, as well. I found that the porch or reflection area was my weakest. I am not sure that I can even think of good ways to have the students reflect so that it is meaningful to them. My strongest areas are providing instruction and guided practice.
ReplyDeleteOur team decided that all 5 areas are like a house and that our lesson plans need to touch on each area equally.
ReplyDeleteOur strengths were in the foyer, kitchen, library and workshop. It was obvious by where the least dots were placed that the weak area was in the porch. As a team, we need to focus on improving our “porch.”
When my team discussed educators as architects, we found that we had very similar strengths and weaknesses. This concerned me because if we are all weak in the same area, our kids are not getting any practice, in any class, to develop proficiency in that area.
ReplyDeleteAs a team, and as an individual, I need to spend more time on the porch. I need to improve my reflections on lessons that I have taught and I need to provide my students the time and teach the skills to have them reflect on their own learning.
My team members and I are providing our students with plenty of practice in the workshop (activities and practice) and the library (resources).
After completing this activity I discovered I'm not as dumb as I thought I was...overall my activites that were planned were very evenly dispersed throughout "the house". As an exploratory teacher, we have a different focus in regards to time and content...it was a nice surprise for me personally and as a team overall to see that we are so "like-minded'.
ReplyDeleteDue to the obvious differences between the content of the exploritory teachers, we all found different results after analyzing our lesson plans using the architecture method. My personal findings showed that the areas of both strengths and weeknesses may be different from week to week depending on what specific lesson is being taught and whether or not enough content has been covered to complete more formalized assessments. This past week, my strengths were spread out amongst all of the differnt "areas" with the exception of the kitchen, in which I was lacking a culminating and summative assessment. This was due to beginning a new unit and already just completing a prior summative assessment. Overall, being aware of the different "areas" of the "house" will allow me to better prepare each week's lesson while still managing my overall units that tie in to the entire physical education curriculum.
ReplyDeleteAfter discussions with my team, as well as reviewing other posts, it's evident that the strengths and weaknesses that I possess are not much different from the group as a whole. I feel that, as with most math teachers, my strongest area is the workshop. We so want to commit to the skill and drill, which is very easy to do in math. My weakness falls in the porch. It's sometimes difficult for us to take that step away and examine our own work with an unbiased viewpoint. Because it is so difficult for us, we have a hard time distributing that process on to our students.
ReplyDeleteAll 5 areas are like a house. It is the foundation. Lesson plans need to touch on each area equally.
ReplyDeleteDots. Each teacher posted a dot on where they felt they were strong.
Everyone posted a dot on the foyer, kitchen, library and workshop. It was obvious by where the least dots were placed that the weak area was in the porch. As a team, we need to focus on improving our “porch.”
These are the areas where I spend most of my instructional time. The Foyer ( activiating prior knowledge to guide my instruction); the Library (identifying learning styles and attempting to create lessons that will reach most students); the Kitchen (assessing my instructional practices and students' learning); and the Workshop (practicing what we learned). The Porch is the area that is neglected due to time constraints; it seems to be the area that would be impacted less. The Porch IS important and student attitudes/motivation would benefit from reflection and self-assessment.
The Hotshots strong area is "assessment." Our weak area is "reflection." I am finding as my team, I am swinging on the porch. Reflection is so very important to our students a time to generalize, and question what they have learned. I am going to work on the reflection!
ReplyDeleteOur team analyzed our weekly lesson plans and realized that as a team we are strong in the "kitchen, library, and foyer" areas. When looking at our team weaknesses, we found we were weak in the "workshop and porch" areas. We discussed ways we to improve as a team and incorporate more of the other areas, especially formative assessment strategies.
ReplyDeleteIndividually, I discovered that I am strongest in the "kitchen" and "library" areas. Using the Interactive Student Notebooks really helps me identify what my students are learning and helps them process information they are getting through classroom instruction. My biggest weakness identified was the "porch" area. Finding time for meaningful reflection and ways to remediate for understanding are something I struggle with as a teacher. Hopefully, using strategies from our instructional coach will help me improve in this area.
My lessons are centered around social skills. My strengths are in the Library (lessons on appropriate behavior), Workshop (daily behavior logs) and Porch (reflection on daily logs). My weakness would be the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteDuring our team meeting, we found that we had many similarities as far as our strengths and weaknesses were concerned. It was very helpful to discuss why certain areas may be weak, as well as to share ideas on how to improve those weak areas.
ReplyDeleteAn area that I feel is a strength for me is in the Workshop area. I think that my use of Vocabulary Notebooks and other hands-on activiities makes this area a strength.
I feel that my weakest area was in the Porch (reflection) area. I try to have my students reflect periodically, especially on their writing. However, I don't think I do this nearly enough. I also could probably do it more effectively. I plan to use Timer Tools to leave myself enough time at the end of each class period for the students to reflect.
The Wildcat team found that we were the strongest in the Foyer, Library, and Kitchen. Our weaker areas were the workshop and porch. We feel that the new common core standards will help us in increasing workshop and porch activities.
ReplyDeleteMy personal analysis indicated that I was strongest in Library and Kitchen. Surprisingly, I found the Foyer to be my weakest area.
I really liked the idea of having this format to help plan lessons. It helps to see if you are covering all areas of learning.
As a visual learner, I appreciated this metaphor because I can now see my lessons as a house being built and I can make sure all areas are properly constructed! As a group, we Reading Teachers are a class of our own! (Keep your snide remarks to yourselves! LOL!) We found that we are in the kitchen more than we thought and that we are doing an excellent job activating prior knowledge and having our kids reflect. However, we are not sure our kids know the proper vocabulary: if someone were to ask our kids, "Have you reflected on what you've read?" I'm not sure that even the brightest of the bunch would say they have, even though we are doing this almost daily in our Reading Journals.
ReplyDeleteOn a personal level, I plan to work on the vocabulary. And my weakest area is currently the foyer. I can get the kids interested, but again, I am not sure they know that I am attempting to activate their prior knowledge, and so, it goes back to telling them what we are doing and teaching them the vocabulary that goes with it. Also, this week I was heavy on product or in the kitchen, but part of that were worksheets. So, you could say I was cooking up soup instead of lamb chops---both tasty but one is definitely worth the effort a little more than the other! So, I plan on explore what kinds of products my kids are producing so that I am still assessing them but also making sure it is not always as "bland" as a worksheet.
Our group (Hot Shots) found that our weakest area was reflection or the "porch". As a group our strongest area was the "kitchen", or assessment. It seems we are constantly assessing, especially formatively, in almost everything we do. . .bellwork, classwork, class discussions, exit slips, quizzes, etc. Summatively, we have Thinklink, Unit tests, state, and national tests. Though I believe all of this assessment forces us as teachers to reflect (which we should do after every lesson), it doesn't necessarily give students the tools they need to self-assess or reflect. I found a good tool to use for students in the Seven Strategies of Assessment book on page 253. It is for reflecting on the first nine weeks, but I believe it could be adapted very easily to work for each unit. I think self-assessment is one of the hardest skills to teach a student, but we must focus on this because being able to find your strengths and weaknesses is invaluable.
ReplyDeleteAll 5 areas are like a house. It is the foundation. Lesson plans need to touch on each area equally. Each teacher posted a sticky dot on where they felt they were the strongest. Everyone posted a dot on the foyer, kitchen, library and workshop. It was obvious by where the least dots were placed that the weakest area was in the porch. As a team, we need to focus on improving our “porch.” Ideas for the porch- journals, reflections, step-backs. I feel that my personal areas that I spend the most of my instructional time are: The Foyer, The Workshop, The Library, and The Kitchen. I feel that my weakest area is The Porch. We just finished taking our first assessment today. As the exit slip today, I had students reflect on the assessment asking them what their thoughts and feelings were about the assessment. I asked them what made studying for the assessment easier or harder for them. I also asked them if they thought if anything needed to be done differently next time. I have enjoyed reading their reflections and realized they brought up some good points!!
ReplyDeleteWeakest- Reflection
ReplyDeleteStrongest- Assessment
Same both individually and with team.
*This comment was longer, but this makes the third time I've typed it, and it's gotten shorter each time!!lol
As a team we noticed that we need more to work on reflection. We felt assessment was our strength. Through our trainings I feel confident with many formative assessments strategies. I need to work on the porch. I need to do more with student and teacher reflection.
ReplyDeleteThis activity helped me realize that our students need to experience different types of learning opportunities throughout the week. As a teacher, I should try to plan activities for each "room" of my house.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that my areas of strength were the workshop and the kitchen. In my classroom, students do a lot of practicing what they've learned as well as lecture, readings, videos, etc.
My area of weakness is the porch. I need to make more time in my lessons for students to reflect on what they've learned. While we do this several times a week informally through discussion, I need to give my students more organized opportunities to think about what they have learned.
My plan to strengthen my weak area is to incorporate more reflection time in my weekly lesson plans. It could be something I do through formative assessment methods. It would be helpful for my students to reflect on what we've learned at the end of each mini-lesson as well as at the end of each major unit of study.
As a team, we found that we need to formulate a plan to create more focus in the areas involving the workshop and porch. However, we are stronger as a team in kitchen, library, and foyer.
ReplyDeleteI personally know that I am stronger in the foyer, and kitchen, but I have to allow more workshop time. Math is a useful tool if correctly used. Its part of everyday life and practice makes perfect! I need to allow more time to practice and grow into each concept. I have further researched this area of weakness and found that I struggle at this because when the students on the higher ends get it, I tend to move forward. I need to find more enrichment for students who master targets quickly while I work in small groups with students who are not getting the concept.
I’m so impressed with the comments I’ve been reading in response to the “Planning Like an Architect” assignment. When I first read this assignment, I flashed back to when I had a classroom, and I knew immediately that my weak area at that time would have been, like most, the porch. I’m also amused by the irony that so many of us are discovering that our instructional practices are weak in reflection while we are actually participating in a reflection activity.
ReplyDeleteAs I research and grow as an educator, I realize that reflection is a powerful tool for us to implement with our students. We become frustrated because we have so many students who don’t seem to care about their educational growth or lack of educational growth. Undoubtedly, it is so much easier to teach students who want to learn and value learning. However, if we look closely, we realize that students who don’t care about their education feel that way because they were never taught that it’s valuable by their parents or caregivers. I feel strongly that unless we can convince these students that their learning has immense value, they will never reach their potential. It is my belief that through student reflection we can empower students to value their learning. While we may not have the authority to make our students accountable, we can help make them aware of their areas that need growth.
Student reflection seems like a logical step to take as we push and prod reluctant learners toward proficiency. For those of you who were here last year, think back to when we had students reflect on an assessment they had taken. This was an enlightening experience for so many of our children. This resulted in their beginning to reflect and find worth in their academic efforts. As we incorporate student reflection into our classroom activities, I look forward to seeing the positive results and academic growth of our kids.
I am so glad that everyone is spending so much time in the library but it is getting a little crowded and we need to start moving toward the porch. I have been attending team meetings with the HotShot team this week and I see the same things that others have posted, the weaker area is the reflection. The rest of their areas were close for everyone on the HotShot team.
ReplyDeleteThis is my third time trying to post (I had been trying at home). I do not remember what else I said.
My area of strength was the library. Most of my lessons spend some time in that room before we might venture off into one of the others.
ReplyDeleteLike several have already posted, my family and I all came to the realization that we do not allow time for self-reflection on the porch. I feel like we are so worried about trying to cover content that we do not let all of that information "settle-in".
I was the challenged teacher last week and posted my comment on Week One. I'm pasting below. Sorry for the inconvenience.
ReplyDeleteMs. Holmes said...
After studying my lesson plans and reflecting on my teaching practice, I’ve decided that my strongest areas in planning occur in the workshop and library phases. Typically, after I present a concept to students, I use our common reading to show students how the concept works in text. Oftentimes, I extend that concept with the same reading material so that each of them can work to find and/or illustrate that concept with the common reading afterward, which encompasses the workshop phase.
Sometimes, I extend this workshop phase with other reading material, so that students achieve greater transference of learning. One way I plan to extend this learning even more is by utilizing literature circles, wherein small groups of four to five students use common reading material to apply the learned skill or concept of the week. Working in small groups will give them greater reinforcement of learning and may even lead to greater gains in retention and transference.
My weaker area lies on the porch, where students are afforded time for reflection and assessment of their own learning. I currently use this in several ways, bellwork, informal “finger” assessment of how comfortable each student feels with the concepts he or she is learning, bellwork, exit slips, etc., but I also plan to use a comfort level class chart so that I can gauge where the class is at a glance, in addition to individual tracking charts inside student journals so that they can track their own progress. Moreover, the self assessment and analysis we used last year wherein students correct wrong assessment answers, along with a brief reflection as to why they missed the item, proved a valuable reflective tool and I will implement that this year also.
September 12, 2011 2:32 PM