Observation and Question

Last week in our dyad, Chris and I graded papers. Since he and I both had worked with a particular set of sisters before, we were well aware when we came across their perfect homework exercises there was no way either sister did the work.

Chris and I talked with the teacher, but still questioned, what do you do when you know the homework was completed by a parent? Both girls are on IEP's is that makes any difference. The teacher gives 5 points for attempting the work not for doing it correctly. These students did not do the work. Do you withhold the 5 points? Will that inspire the girls to try to complete the work? Would you address the problem with the parent?

Media Literacy

Interesting view into media literacy. This is a good video that brings the importance of teaching media literacy into perspective for students today.

DO NOT bad mouth your teaching colleagues

This happened in my middle school dyad which is why I'm posting it here; however, I think it applies anywhere. I was visiting other classrooms in other subjects and one of the teachers I visited was very negative about his workload and his lack of power in comparison to other teachers. I am sure he felt he had a legitimate grievance but I could feel my respect eroding immediately when he downloaded on a relative stranger. I was not in a position to help him and after that conversation, I saw him as a complainer rather than an effective teacher.

Knowing how the listener feels, I will be very careful in the way I voice my opinions about my teaching colleagues. He was the opposite of being professional which really brings home the importance of behaving professionally.

Transitioning to Middle School

I find it interesting that there are many concerns about the middle school students academics as well as the transitioning to middle school from grammar or primary school. I stubbled across a web site that provided some information that may be of interest to some.

http://www.ericdigests.org/1999-2/middle.htm

Using Notes on Tests

Today was the first day my dyad teacher (6th grade math) explicitly stated that students should take detailed notes, because they will be able to use those notes on the upcoming quiz. Once this information was processed, the students were extremely engaged in note taking for the remainder of the period. It also got me wondering what the pros and cons of allowing students to use notes on quizzes might be, and if it is an overall positive or negative for the students.

Pro:

Letting students know in advance that they can use notes on upcoming quizzes is a great way to get the entire class to take notes. The process of writing down information from a discussion or lecture increases the likelihood that the processed information will be retained.

Con:

Do the kids learn the material, or just right it down? Assessing learning on quizzes where notes are being used is something I think would be very difficult.

I'm sure there are more pros and cons out there, and please feel free to add to this list in the comments section.

I spoke with my dyad teacher at the end of the day and she also pointed out that using notes on quizzes makes more sense for some units than for others. For instance, in units where lots of notes are being taken, it makes more sense than units with very few notes. Also, I think that allowing students to use notes on quizzes, but not on tests, might be a good way to keep a carrot out for taking notes, but also still be able to have a quantifiable assessment in the test. I think allowing students to use notes on quizzes is an overall positive, but only with supplementary means of assessment.

Video Teaching

I found the above video after a quick search of "Middle School Math" on YouTube. He does a perfectly fine job of teaching how substituting variables works, and the video also serves as a refresher for the Order of Operations. I think this video would be a great addition to a math curriculum, but as a stand-alone video I would only expect the self-starting students to understand the substitution method after watching this video.



I was shown a similar chart in either 6th or 7th grade Language Arts, and it has stuck with me since. According to the learning pyramid chart, the information in the above math video would be retained by 30% of the students. Again, I think the math video was well put together and has all the facts down pat, but even with a perfect video, only 30% retention will occur, and that is not good enough. Having this video in a lesson that also includes practice doing the methods and discussing the substitution of variables afterward, would be a great way to include this video in the classroom.

The importance of teaching teamwork

I love groupwork. I think there are so many benefits to having students participate in groupwork not the least of which the skill will come in handy in the workplace.

However, I am student teaching a multi-session lesson in middle school and not everyone know how to work as a team. One would think that by middle school, they would have had experience and some training in teamwork. I was wrong. I should not be surprised. I don't remember being taught how to work effectively together with a group of classmates as a team. I was just told to work as a team.

Now that my lesson depend on effective teamwork, I learn that I need to make sure I teach teamwork before assigning teams. Confusion about roles, how to get along, how to interact, etc. affect a couple of teams and I ended up troubleshooting when I should be facilitating. I can see how setting expectations and groupwork training can make a difference. The next question is a good team building/how to work as a team curriculum unit. Who has done this effectively?

Middle School - Test of Wills

Ruby Washington/The New York Times
Corinne Kaufman, a math teacher at Seth Low Intermediate School in Brooklyn, has spent 17 years working with middle school students, learning how to turn insults into teaching moments and head off fights.

My current dyad placement is at Maplewood K-8 Co-op, Edmonds in the 7th and 8th grade LA and art class. It is a unique school in that parents are very involved in thier child's academic success and the middle school sector at Maplewood is more like a close knit community of about 110 students total. They have abundant resources and financial support from the parents. Though I am learning a lot here, I can't help but feel like my experience here will be somewhat limited. For instance this particular situation in the picture above-I can never see happening at Maplewood.

[Read the whole story : http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/education/17middle.html]

The kids are pretty wholesome and "obedient". For the most part, I don't think the teachers that I work with at Maplewood ever had to experience this kind of interaction with their students. I don't know how I would react in a situation like this. Anyone else with a drastically different experience want to share?

Here's the link to The Critical Years series done by NY Times below. Lots of interesting perspectives, articles and media! http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/education/series/thecriticalyears/index.html

Homer, Alaska

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Helpful Websites

http://www.middleweb.com/1stDResources.html#anchor1767225
www.stenhouse.com/pdfs/0355ch01.pdf