Monday, February 27, 2012

EDSS 531: Journal #5

Journal #5
                 When looking back to clinical practice last semester, I seemed to find more about my students’ needs as I could have ever imagined. Especially as my first experience as a teacher inside the classroom, I was very excited to learn more about my students. The most surprising ‘need’ I found out about my students was that they all seemed to want to learn the content, and therefore they wanted me to make the content accessible to all of them. This meant it seemed as though if I made it relevant and intriguing to them they were on board. They also needed to feel apart of a community in the classroom and in the entire school. In the classroom, they want to feel safe and comfortable with their peers and me as the teacher.


          My first reaction is that I do have some sort of sense of what my students’ needs are. However, when I dig deeper and think through what my students really need I feel lost and not confident in the knowledge I have to know exactly what they need. A part of me feels as though it is only because I am a beginning teacher and that through time and being around students, the same community, and teaching for some time I will have a better understanding of my students. The gap, I believe, is largest for me in relation to my students is knowing each and every students’ different individual needs. When I observe very experienced teachers, they all seem to be very aware of each and every one of their students needs about learning and about their personal lives.

           In clinical practice, I believe the negative response that struck me the hardest was when a teacher would talk about students like they had given up on them or they were incapable of learning the material. This was extremely discouraging as I feel no student should be regarded as someone not important within my classroom. I am astonished that every single teacher wouldn’t put as much effort as he or she can to help those students succeed in one way or another. In the reading, “One Teacher’s Story,” I found myself thinking about the community needs of my current students, in particular. I feel I could be in the same situation as Ms. Warren was in. Although I grew up and went to school in the same community as I know have clinical practice in, I feel as though I do not know the specific community needs of my students. In relation to my biases, I am not sure if this reason is that I do not belong to the Hispanic race and therefore I have never ventured in to learn a great deal about their culture and traditions. I may fall under the same setup that Ms. Warren where “It is easier not to know.” At the moment, I do not believe that I am purposely doing this, however, being unaware is unacceptable. It is my responsibility as an educator to dig deeper into the culture of my students and make sure the curriculum we are teaching in the classroom is relevant to every student’s life and needs. 

Designing Groupwork


           Designing Groupwork by Elizabeth Cohen thoroughly discusses how properly designed group work can be a powerful tool for teaching all students. Specifically, in the first 6 chapters, Cohen describes the importance of group work and how teachers can begin to plan and prepare students for worthwhile group work in the classroom. She first raises the question of why groupwork? From the reading, I found one of the most important points is for students to collaborate with one another on conceptual tasks in order to assist them in understanding and applying ideas. Students have shown that putting concepts into words and explaining to a peer is helpful for concept attainment. Another strong point of why to use group work is essential is because its importance later in life. Students will need to learn how to cooperate in all different size groups with all different types of people in any setting.
Cohen goes into some of the dilemmas of group work and why teachers tend to shy away from it. However, she provides multiple examples and quick fixes that may help these common problems during group work. For example, she encourages smaller groups of 3 or 4 to make sure everyone is involved in conversation.  Cohen continues to suggest the need for teachers to better understand student expectations and the self-fulfilling prophecy so they are able to know how and why it operates in order to control it.  
            In the chapter called Preparing Student for Cooperation, Cohen explains that students do no automatically understand and are successful in working in groups. Students need time and practice to be able to develop good social and collaborative skills. Teachers must create a new norm within the classroom in order for student to engage in cooperative learning productively. Not only do students need to learn required behaviors for productive group work, but they also need to know in which behaviors are best for which situations. For instance, in learning stations students need be able to ask questions, listen, help others, and explain how and why, where as in a discussion group students will need to ask for the opinions of others, reflect on what has been sad, give reasons, and allow everyone to contribute to the conversation. These behaviors are obviously not created overnight. Cohen puts a specific importance on student building and practicing these skills over and over.
            The next step after preparing students to participate in group work is to begin to plan how you would like to implement group work in the classroom according to your objective. Cohen explains two different types of objectives: routine and conceptual. Cooperative learning, most likely to be seen in current classrooms, take place within the routine objective where students are recalling facts, applying an algorithm in mathematics, or in other words solving problems with a clear right answer. On the other hand, group work centered on conceptual objectives promotes higher order thinking skills. These activities include asking the students to gauge in a dialogue, where no one person is right or wrong and students contribute but also must listen to others. Cohen also offers the advice of group as well as individual accountability when it comes to group work. This involves both the group having same goal, while individual students must all participate because they have individual responsibilities, such as an individual product. Lastly, Cohen goes through a step-by-step process of what a teacher should think about when planning group work. This includes planning an orientation, having written instructions, composing groups, classroom ecology of groups, planning a wrap up, and an evaluation. Cohen also emphasizes the need for specific roles in a group setting in order to keep all students participating.
            There were multiple concepts that stood out to me throughout this book. First of all, on the very first page of reading, John Goodlad writes in the forward that research has revealed that in a 150 minute class the teacher out talked all of the students, allowing the student to speak out or talk a collective 8 minutes the entire period! This was astonishing but, then again, it was also slightly expected. That research is almost reason in itself to promote group work. Other research given in the book showed that students who “took the time to explain, step-by-step, how to solve a problem, was the student who gained the most from the small group experience” (10). I completely agree with this statement. It seems as though putting concepts into words towards another peer is extremely helpful for conceptual understanding. Also, students who struggle to grasp concepts can hear explanations from peers. I feel this is one, if not the, most important goal in mathematics, to gain conceptual knowledge of mathematics. If this is what group work creates then it should be used constantly.
            When reading the section about preparing students, a question that was brought in my mind was the idea of creating this norm in the classroom. Although I completely agree with changing the norms inside the classroom to create a more group-friendly, community environment, I still struggle to see the path to which I can create the right environment inside my own classroom. I do understand students’ need to be taught how to actively engage in productive cooperative learning. I suppose this question or wondering will not be completely answered until I can put these tips into action in my own classroom. In relation to these first 6 chapters, I feel the information as a whole stood out to me. I have always looked to attempt group work, but always seem to be missing something or not confident in the common dilemmas that may happen. This book set out specific answers and guidance to questions and uncertainty I had with group activities.
            In relation to the unit my group and I have collaborated with to create a unit for High Tech High (HTH), I can see many characteristics this book makes working successfully inside the classroom. First and foremost, the classroom norms are very well set and students work very well and productive together. There is also a visible difference from observing the same math class in the fall from observing the class now in the spring. We have planned for multiple opportunities for small group work for students to gain conceptual knowledge and it has been very productive. Our unit objective includes students understanding about fractals, sequences, how they are created, and other wonderings. For being such an abstract topic, I feel because students are able to collaborate to answer questions and have dialogue about the content they are able to better understand it. Also, in planning the unit and specific lessons, as a group we have thought about all of the aspects of group work. For instance, the orientation of the objective, the written instructions, and the roles students may have or need within the group. Overall, from collaborating with our teacher at HTH, watching him implement group work in his classroom and reading this book, I have a better understanding of what it takes to make group work successful.

Monday, February 20, 2012

EDSS 541: Reading Reflections #13 & #14


Reading Reflection #13
        This week, I attended a co-teaching seminar in which I learned about all of the co-teaching models and how they can be used during clinical practice. Although this was my second time attending this seminar, I was able to take in more information and have a better understanding of what co-teaching really is and how it can help me in my clinical practice. There are 4 models of co-teaching: supportive co-teaching, parallel co-teaching, complementary co-teaching, and team teaching.
         Supportive co-teaching involves one teacher taking the lead role of teacher in the classroom while the second teacher monitors and helps the students as needed around the classroom. Parallel co-teaching involves two or more teachers teach groups of students simultaneously. Complementary co-teaching is where one teacher supplements or complements (and compliments) the instruction of the other instructor. This could include adding additional comments to instruction, writing notes on the board, or assessing students in the classroom. Lastly, team co-teaching is defined just how it sounds. It involves both members of the team to teach along side one another and share the responsibilities of the teacher. The responsibilities include things from planning the lesson, to instructing, to assessing and grading.
         In our short class session after the seminar, our two wonderful teachers were co-teaching our class. Throughout the session, I would say they used a form team teaching strategy for they were both side by side instructing us. I am sure they planned what they were going to do together and may have discussed how the session went after.


Reading Reflection #14

          In the EHS ITU, we are using a few of the  co-teaching approaches. We are incorporating two specific lessons in which we are specifically co-teaching and also a final project in which we are implementing as a whole. During the collaborative days Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Payad, and I will be using a Team approach that allows them to utilize complimentary, supportive, and parallel teaching models. For instance, before the Socratic seminar, all three teachers will work in a parallel model to help students understand the issues of diversity within their disciplines before transitioning into a parallel model during the Socratic seminar as they each present questions from the disciplines to stimulate class discussion.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Knowledge-Able not Knowledgeable





         I am sure most educators have seen or heard of the point of Dr. Michael Wesch is making in this video. He discusses where the future of society is heading in relation to technology. He begins by describing this one town who he observed when they first were introduced to books (a new form of media as he says). This new media had changed everything about the village. It had changed the central focus of the village from relationships into a very structured society much like ours today, with houses in rows, laws, a formal court system, and so forth. Wesch then described how in the current day we are experiences a similar change with the amount of new media being brought into our lives and how we have no choice whether it effects our lives or not. The video above is a video Wesch produced a video a few years back with his class called, "A Vision of Students Today."

         Although this video is somewhat discouraging when it comes to where we are headed into the future, I do feel somewhat excited about my role as a person and especially as a teacher in the future. I am eager to have the opportunity to be able to influence others to not steer towards a structured society as Wesch described, but rather help create a open daring, caring, collaborative, creative environment where life long learning is valued as opposed to structure and patterns.  As Wesch said in the video, students should be looked at as “opportunities not burdens”. As a person who will have influence on young minds, either as a parent or educator, I cannot simply stand back and allow society to continue to be on this path of the “what do we need to know for this test?” I very much enjoy the quote Wesch brings up in his video and full-heartedly agree in it: Society needs to be knowledge-able rather than knowledgeable.”

Saturday, February 11, 2012

EDSS 541: Reading Reflection #12

Looking at the sample ITU assignments given to us, I feel it was informational looking at example of different, completed ITU’s because it gave me more of a sense of how everything fit together well. Another aspect that I enjoyed reading personally that may shape how I go about planning my lessons to fit within the unit was the various the student organized the map portions of the units. In all of the ITU’s, the service learning sections were well described and helped me better understand what could be service learning and also some ideas for what we can use in our unit. 

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

EDSS 531: Journal #2


Quote from the text/video
What it means
Deeper thinking
1. “Creativity is as important as literacy” (Do Schools Kill Creativity? video by Sir Ken Robinson)

Robinson expresses his notion of the importance of creativity to the point that it is as significant as language and literacy.
This is an interesting idea that Robinson makes. I watched this video after reading part one of Pink’s book, and it is starting to make sense that there is a great importance in not only the left brain (logic and reason) but the right brain (creativity and artistic) as well. When I first thought about it, I’m wasn’t sure if creativity and literacy can be compared. Literacy is a means of communication, so I feel as though it is extremely important and relates to anything and everything. On the other hand, when I think about creativity, it can also apply to anything. However, I do feel it isn’t as essential as communication. So in conclusion (if that was at all confusing), I do feel creativity is important through education and life, but I am not sure I completely agree with Robinson in this case.
2. “if you’re not prepared to be wrong you will never come at with anything original” (Do Schools Kill Creativity? video by Sir Ken Robinson)

Robinson discusses the concept of creativity in relation to schools. He refers to schools influencing students that there is a wrong and a right, therefore, as he says, students are scared to be original because they do not want to be wrong.
Robinson explains that education is encourages non-creative minds in that it puts such emphasis on being right and wrong rather than coming up with original, creative ideas. I know I get the same feeling, as I feel many others possibly do too, of scared to be wrong when trying coming up with creative and original ideas. Does this start from the beginning of the education process then, when students begin to feel as though being right is more important that being unique and innovative? And what is it and how can we change this to put more emphasis on creativity? (Especially considering the future in jobs are pointing towards needing more innovative minds).
3. “We’ve moved from an economy built on people’s backs to an economy and society built more and more on people’s right brains” ( A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink, p.50)

Daniel Pink is making the point in this quotation that the “economy and society” began from people using logic (the left brains) and it is now moving towards a society needing more of a creative mind (the right brain).
The entire first section of Pink’s book explained how creativity and the person who uses their right brain is going to be ahead in the future economy. This point Pink makes does make it clear that creativity and right-brain functions are growing more and more important. This pushes me to try to incorporate this aspect into me teaching math. Math class has been very left brained oriented, but if it is growing more and more important to incorporate the right brain then a typical math classroom needs to adjust the way it is being taught. I would need to add more creativity to mathematics. This makes me excited actually. Creativity in math, which will also need to involve the basic logical concepts as well, will interest many more students in pursuing and learning more about math. I agree with this concept that the world is changing to need more people to use their right brain and that as teachers we need to do something about this, because we are educating the children for the future.
4. “It takes two to tango: a kid who’s lacking skills and an
environment (teachers, parents, peers) that demands those skills. (Greene, p. 164)

This quotation is simply explaining that there is two aspects of how a kid can be disobedient in the classroom. It is not only the child’s fault for not performing, but more importantly it is the teachers, parents, and peers around the child that also affect their behavior.
I completely agree with Greene in this quotation. There is no one person or group that is to “blame” for a child’s misbehavior. As we have talked about in the credential program, I feel it is our responsibility as teachers to create lessons that are meaningful and relevant to students’ lives as well as understanding each and every student’s needs. I feel the learning environment the student is in is essential to how the student is able to learn. I do realize that students can act out when they do not have the skills they are being asked to use in the classroom. As teachers we should understand, first, which students have which skills and, second, and then figure out what it is we need to do in the classroom to help or assist those students who do not have the skills needed.

Visitors vs. Residents


I am a Visitor! Yep, I am what Dr. White says in his video Visitors and Residents a visitor of the world wide web. When Dr. White was describing why a visitor uses the internet, he was describing me (not me personally of course, just how I interact with the internet J ). In relation to my motivation to be online rather than my age or the skills I have acquired, I am goal-oriented, private, individual. It may not be that I don’t see the need to create these networks or participate in this networking space, but that at the moment it is difficult to put more time and energy towards becoming a resident and creating my own space. I feel as though I assess a platform when I am in need and then I learn how to use it. In the future, I do hope I can further proceed towards the resident side of the continuum, however, I it will most definitely be a long process I will continue to work on and grow. I am excited to learn many different tools to use in social media, in case I am not interested in one, I can pick up another that I may be more interested in to use. I do realize it is important to participate in this entire other space for social networking and I am willing to work to improve my visibility and start “selling my brand” as Dr. White expressed in his video.

Friday, February 3, 2012

EDSS 541: Reading Reflections #7 - 10


Reading Reflection #7

            A service learning activity performed for the sake of learning can be very beneficial to students. Students are able to use their different skills to improve the community they live in. Students are able to relate exactly to actual real life situations where they can apply what they learn in the classroom to their lives in the community. Participants will grow as individuals and be able to gain a deeper understanding of their community around them and possibly themselves throughout the service learning experience.
           There are many different types of service learning, however, there is a similar process for all of them. The first stage is the preparation phase. This stage incorporates planning the process of the service learning activity. I believe the reading, A Complete Guide to Service Learning by Cathryn Berger Kaye, gives a good description of the purpose of this phase “Investigation, discussion, and analysis lead to plans for action”. The second stage is the action stage where the students carry out what has been prepared. In this phase, students interact with the environment and begin their journey into a greater understanding of the community around them. The third stage is the reflection stage one of the most important steps in this process. It is where students really do the learning. They can step back and see the experience in its entirety and to go beyond just simply describing the situation and begin to understand how the it has effected themselves and the society around them. Lastly, the students will be able to show the rest of the community, class, or teacher what they learning from this experience in a demonstration. The demonstration phase of service learning is simply where the participants present what they learned from the experience in various ways, such as a presentation, a performance, or other actions.
 Kaye, Cathryn Berger. (2004 or 2011). A Complete Guide to Service Learning. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit.

Reading Reflection #8
           I enjoyed reading about the various ways to induce reflection within the students because I feel that is a very important part of the service learning experience. The worksheet about Taking Action in Our Community was very interesting to me for the concept that when giving it to students, they are able to decide what is important to them and their community. For our ITU, one of our main focuses is community and the diversity within the community. The best place to start would be with the students in our classes because there will be diverse. Looking at the example cluster maps of ITU’s was very informational to me. They may have not been about specific concepts our ITU will be able but it made it easier for me to think about how the different content areas can be connected through one cohesive unit. Also, the reading also gave me specific ideas for my math lessons that are to be incorporated in our ITU.

Reading Reflection #9 
1.      Community
         a.      Originally opened in 1894, Escondido High School is located in the north part of the city of Escondido at 1535 North Broadway, Escondido, CA 92026. Escondido is a very diverse community created from farm land and grown into an economy made up of many small successful, family-owned businesses.
         b.      Students live within a close proximity to the campus. 
         c.      
2.      School
            a.  School Mission & Teaching Philosophy
                   Mission Statement: Escondido High School is committed to student learning through a shared partnership with our school community. Our mission is to empower all students to become lifelong learners and responsible, caring citizens.
                  School Motto - Loyal, Strong, and True
       - Mascot - Cougars
                  The teaching philosophy includes...  
            b.  School Personnel Information
                   -   Fully credential -120
                   -      Without Full Credentials – 0
                   -     Working outside of Subject - 4
                  (age range of faculty, staff & administration, years of education,
                  years of experience…)
            c.  Reputation of School (Strengths and Weaknesses – programs, test scores, …) EHS has strengths in Adult Education and Regional Occupational Programs (ROP). EHS is currently holding the highest Key Course completion rate in the district.
                    -       Academic Performance Index – 5 (in 09-10)
                    -      Growth API – School (725); District (724); State (767)
                    -      California Standardized Test Scores (percentage Proficient or Advanced; data from 2010)
           o   English/Language Arts – 44%
           o   Mathematics – 29%
           o   Science – 28%
           o   History/Social Science – 41%
                    -      CST data shows that EHS has weaknesses in the areas of math and science. Compared to the percentages of students scoring proficient or at the advanced level at the state level, EHS’s scores on the CST are low in all subject areas.
            d.  Campus Architecture (Photos of buildings, classrooms, cafeteria, bathrooms, …)
            e.  Participation of Community in School Activities: Community participation is mediocre. Students are often involved in the school, however, other community members or even parents of students do not show above average attendance in school activities. Many students at Escondido High School are very involved in after school programs such as club activities, sports, and other programs.
3.      Student Population Information
            a.  Numbers of students served at school
         - Total Enrollment – 2,744 students
         - Grade 9 – 700; Grade 10 – 727;  Grade 11 – 635;  Grade 12 – 636;   Ungraded - 46
            b.  Demographic information
         o   Race/ethnicity
        §  American Indian - 12 (0.5%)

        §  Asian - 96 (3.5%)

        §  Pacific Islander – 13 (0.5%)
        §  Filipino – 89 (3.3%)
        §  Black - 93 (3.4%)
        §  Hispanic – 1,731 (63.1%)

        §  White - 705 (25.7%)
        §  Two or more races – 5 (0.01%)
        §  Total – 2,744
         o   Gender
        §  Male – 1,358 (49.5%); Female – 1,386 (50.5%)
         o   Socioeconomic
        §  Free reduced price meals - 1,387 (50.5%);  Free Lunch Eligible - 354 (13%)
;  Reduced-Price Lunch Eligible - 68 (2%)
;  Combined Free or Reduced - 422 (15%)
         o   ELLs
        §  Total – 430 (15.7%); FEP – 1,021 (37.2%); RFEP - 71
        §  (The following percentages represent the percent of that language in relation to all ELLs at EHS)
        §  Spanish – 96.3% of ELLs are Spanish; Farsi (Persian) – 0.9%; Filipino – 0.5%; Korean - 0.5%; Lao - 0.5%; Mandarin - 0.5%; Other non-English languages - 0.2%;  Russian - 0.2%; French - 0.2%; Vietnamese - 0.2%
         o   Special Education
        §  Total – 760 (28%)
        §  Mental Retardation - 55; Hard of Hearing - 7; Deaf - 6; Speech or Language Impairment - 41; Emotional Disturbance -34; Orthopedic Impairment - 48; Other health Impairment - 95; Specific Learning Disability - 407; Autism - 67
                 c.  Information about 5 individual students who need differentiation and generally describe how these students represent the diversity of the school. [ 1 gifted, 2 ELLs, 2 Special Needs]


Reading Reflection #10


This is the link to our ITU website: http://ehsdiversityproject.weebly.com/
The link can also be found as a tab at the top of the page, under EHS ITU on Diversity