Summative Assignment

Nicholas Andreozzi

Summative Assignment

SED 407 this semester was a whirlwind of information. A lot of the topics had already  been covered in SED 406, and in my MLED courses, but the new perspective and deeper investigation of these ideas made the difference for me. The main focus of this course was investigating the strategies used by effective readers and how educators can teach these to students. I learned that students benefit from reading a variety of topics and genres, and they should be reading on their reading level. I figured they should be reading things that are appropriate to their reading level, but I don’t often see that through observation. We took the time to investigate the effectiveness and inaccuracy of textbooks, which proved to be an eye-opening experience. It turns out that textbooks aren’t as accurate as the cover may lead you to believe. As teachers, we really need to read what we want our students to read, before our students read it. If we don’t know what a text actually says, we may not be prepared to correct misconceptions. It’s not always a bad thing for the textbook to be wrong, either. People wrote it and people can be wrong. So I would like to use some of these moments to investigate whatever topic they are wrong about through an outside article or video. Right now, the most useful part of our textbook was all the strategies in chapter 5. I know that I will need to modify these for my students, but having a template is still very useful. Having these strategies will help me teach literacy to my students. Before you start learning content, you need to learn the vocabulary, and then you need to take part in it somehow. By using strategies like the ones in chapter 5, my students will be able to learn the vocabulary quickly because they will be able to organize these words and meanings effectively, while also giving direct meaning to them. Then, they will have more time for content and higher level Bloom’s activities, like labs to help the information reach their long term memory. It’s safe to say that I learned a lot of meaningful things this year, and in the following I will tell you the three most important learnings.

“Know your students” is a phrase that gets tossed around a lot in education, but I struggled with figuring out how to learn about them. As a future educator, I want to learn about my students so I can create more meaningful instruction, but it was hard for me to figure out ways of asking them questions without being blunt. An interest inventory is a very useful tool to learn about students. In my experience as a student, this typically consisted of a flash card asking for your name, period, and if you like the subject or not (which was just begging me to say it was my least favorite). Now that I know how to properly do an interest inventory, I can ask something like, “If you were to have a sit down dinner with seven family members and/or friends, who would be there?” to learn who each student looks up to and is influenced by. Knowing things like this is useful for the social and emotional needs of students, as well as the level of academic support they might be getting at home. This is valuable information for teachers because it can influence how much attention you give a student, as well as the type of instruction you might choose to use in a lesson. In my future classroom, I want my students to work as a community. I envision using cooperative group work because I know it helps students bond and it reduces anxiety, not to mention it promotes academic growth. Since I will be using cooperative group work, I need to make sure the groups I make can function fairly smoothly. Knowing my students will help me facilitate group formations, member roles, and general instruction.

Another important learning is Understanding by Design (UbD), which is a concept I have learned about before, but now I feel that I really understand it. UbD is useful for organizing lessons with the end result in mind before you write the lesson. So, if you know you want your students to be able to do some conceptual piece of content, you need to plan your lesson to make sure they can achieve that objective or goal. UbD generally helps students see the meaning behind the content, while helping the teacher remember why it is so critical to learn. To assist in identifying meaning, UbD lessons incorporate essential questions and enduring understandings so the lesson can be organized and focus. A great feature is how student centered it is. Everything in UbD is done for the benefit of the student so they can more easily enter the field you are attempting to introduce them to. Even the assignments are student centered. Role Audience Format Topic (RAFT) assignments are great for giving new meaning to topics. A RAFT is a method of assignment that allows students to take on a role and communicate to a given audience through some format such as a letter, map, or speech, on a specific topic. An example might be: Pretend you are a quantum mechanist like Niels Bohr and you are writing a letter to the philosophers of Ancient Greece about your physical discovery of the atom. This allows students to assume a role outside of themselves and communicate to an audience they would not have tried to before.

            My most important learning was from my field work. Through observation, I learned the power and necessity of classroom management and structure. The class did not have structure or management strategies implemented, making it was very chaotic. Three of the observations were student presentations, and the majority of the audience (students that aren’t presenting) would be playing on their phones or whispering to their neighbors, instead of being active in the presentation. They could have had a quick format to fill out like a 3-2-1 Response, but simpler so it won’t take too much time. My two lessons also taught me a lot. I learned that I can manage a class fairly well, but last period is very different than first period. My lessons involved cooperative group work, but I didn’t realize that not every group will stop at the 10 minutes I gave the class to do the assignment. Some groups that were done early became distractions to the other groups. Now I know that I need extensions for groups that are done early and better techniques to motive and help groups that are struggling.

            I learned a lot of new ways to think about literacy, and strategies to use during this semester. I think I understand the concepts much better than I did last semester. As a grade, I think I deserve a B+/A-. My blog could have been better in terms of pictures, links, and aesthetics, but I think the content and responses are what matters most. I had good interactions with the text, and applied it to myself as a teacher candidate, as well as students that I may be teaching in the future. I completed four observations with the same teacher, and taught two lessons. I prepared and reflected for those lessons and taught them to the best of my abilities. In class, I reached out more than I did in MLED 330, and participated more in class discussions, as well as in groups. This class is one that has helped shape me into the teacher candidate I am now. Entering practicum, I will remember the teachings of UbD, to have classroom structure and management, and to take the time to learn about my students so my class can become a professional learning community.

Daniels and Zemelman Chapter 12

    This chapter was essentially a review of the theory behind the strategies they showed us in the preceding chapters. Just as when I first read it, I still agree with it. So to make things different, I’ll comment on some recent reading experience I had during observations and teaching. During observations, students had to read a section in the book and fill out a worksheet. They were very hesitant to start; only a few students got up and brought their books back to their desks to promptly read. Most students stayed at their desks for at least ten minutes and then glumly began to fill out their worksheets once another student brought them a book. So when it was my turn to teach my lesson, I decided to use a jigsaw and chunk the worksheet. They responded very positively. We were able to complete the worksheet and go over it during the period.

    Now back to some theory. In biology, each of the four approaches are very important. Many of the terms we learn are from Latin or Greek and so the linguistic meaning (or roots if that’s more proper) are crucial to understanding and remembering their meanings. Then, we can build on that strategy for things like physiology when students will need to think about what things are and what they are attached to to determine their function. This fits the cognitive approach. Ultimately, we can then think critically in terms of pathologies (AFIB, ACL tear, etc.). These strategies are great to keep in mind when constructing a lesson. Leave room in some lessons to model these approaches so students are better equipped to handle questions and new information in the future.

Chapter 11 Daniels and Zemelman

    I’m understanding more and more that reading is paramount to the success of any individual in a public school. I want to learn more strategies on how to help the students who struggle with reading. An educator should know why their student is struggling with reading. Maybe it’s a disability like dyslexia or maybe they aren’t interested in reading in general. Some students get distracted or misinterpret the text, which frustrates them and may cause them to hesitate the next time they have to read.

    So what can teachers do? Well, one idea that I really like is to use visuals. Pictures help me a lot in biology, especially when talking about processes or mechanisms of action. Reading about something like meiosis is good information and useful, but seeing the picture of each cell and every step is crucial to understanding the process. This visual aid would be best used during or after reading. However, I think visuals could also be things like graphic organizers. On page 285, we hear about Lisa MacArtney’s freshman biology class. To introduce vocabulary, she uses a graphic organizer that is divided into three parts so students can list the vocabulary, connect to background knowledge, and list their questions. This is a great way for students to organize their thoughts and process information. It also gives them the space to geometrically visualize what is going on.

    Another point that Daniels and Zemelman touched on is self-monitoring. I want my students to be able to do this, but I think this needs to be heavily modeled with gentle introduction. Also, hearing about how students wait for the teacher to say the right answer made me wonder why that is. What makes an answer “right?” Typically for questions that are knowledge and comprehension based, the right answer is the one that the book says it right. Students don’t get to see how the book decided that was the right answer. They don’t know that fact is in the book because (at least for science) the vast majority of scientists support that fact. They also don’t get to see how people arrived to supporting that fact. I think this is where the modeling needs to happen. If students can see the process that goes on to determine whether or not an answer should be defined as right, they will be able to do that on their own, in their own heads, and thus will become much more independent and inquisitive learners.

Daniels and Zemelman Chapters 9 and 10

Before I read this, I thought, “I’m a biology major, inquiry method should be pretty easy to do.” Then while I read it, I couldn’t really see how to use it. Most of high school science is accepted theories, not things left to be explored. It’s only when you get really weird and specific do you find a possible niche to ask questions in. So I sat down to write this blog about reading circles and realized, that’s how I can do an inquiry method unit.

    Let’s say we are learning about Astronomy in an 8th grade science class. I could design an inquiry based unit around a book relating to the life of Galileo and the adversity he faced from the Catholic Church when he announced his theory of Heliocentrism. Through this, students will not only gain meaning into astronomy, but also the life of a scientist who has ideas that are against the status quo of science. Many of the theories that we hold as “fact” today were vehemently rejected by the scientific society when they were first publicised. This is a fairly normal process. A book that accentuates the struggle of a budding scientist progressing against status quo is “The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate” by Jacqueline Kelly. This tells the story of a girl who is introduced to science by her Grandaddy and decides to pursue the field, despite the rejection of women by the scientific elite (who were men).

    The inquiry method could also be applied to labs, but it may not be done exactly the way Daniels and Zemelman describe. There are discovery labs that are done quite often, but there is a right answer that the teacher is hoping the students to arrive at, so it’s not a perfect inquiry model. To make it inquiry based, I could do labs where students would make their own hypothesis and then design a way to test it.

    The inquiry method is a powerful way to engage students and has implications for all content areas. It may be difficult to find time for this between all the PARCC tests and content we need to cover for NECAP exams, but I think it’s doable, and definitely worth it. Assignments like these will stay with students for a much longer time than taking a test.

Daniels and Zemelman Chapters 5 and 8

Daniels and Zemelman Chapters 5 and 8

                Wow there’s a lot I want to write about here. To start, I really like how chapter 5 is LOADED with strategies. I had heard of a lot of them, but the ones I hadn’t heard of made it worth reading. Having so many strategies to choose from allows the instructor to touch on all of the multiple intelligences so students will be able to express themselves in their preferred way, and they can push themselves to improve in another. My favorite new strategy was the “Frontloading with Images” (page 100). It’s a pre-reading strategy that familiarizes the reader with content before they read it. This low stakes activity allows students to predict and give meaning to what they are about to read. In biology, there is a lot of new material that students may not have ever seen before. Therefore, giving students the time to see the material before they learn it will allow them to be less anxious when reading the upcoming passage. With terms like mitochondria, endosymbiosis, and a variety of molecular genetics topics, students will probably want to use this technique a lot.

                In chapter 8, Daniels and Zemelman comment on some websites teachers can use in Chemistry. Khan Academy is a site that friends and I used in my college chemistry classes, and I can say that they are great for just about any topic. As a teacher, I would recommend my students use this when they are having issues grasping concepts. I don’t think it fits in lecture because it’s like having somebody lecture for you. I would rather show a YouTube video that illustrates a concept because I can lecture before or after it to help fill in the gaps. I also had trouble seeing how this belonged in the “Independent Reading Workshop in Content Areas” chapter. It seemed more like ways to use technology, which is still useful but not really that great in the context of the chapter. I did like the parts about what chemists actually do and how Avogadro’s Number got its name. Again, these lessons helps students see meaning in what they are learning so they can be motivated to work hard in your class, even when it’s hard to see why we need to know chemistry/biology/physics/English/history/math/anything else.

               

Chapters 6 and 7 Daniels and Zemelman

           One of the most important aspects of teaching is to make a community in your classroom. A community helps serve all the needs of the individual and are crucial for a fully functioning learning community. At times, I get hung up over the intricacies of how to deliver a topic without focusing on all the necessary factors that need to be done beforehand, such as promoting a community. On page 203, Daniels and Zemelman share some research out of the University of Chicago that describes four academic mind sets that “relate directly to the atmosphere teachers establish in the community.” These four mind sets help simplify how to create a community of learners. I think the most difficult of these to promote is the one that says “my ability and competence grow with my effort” because students can become discouraged when the content gets tough. In math and science courses, I saw a lot of students get frustrated and not believe that their effort translated to a higher grade, which it doesn’t always do. In eighth, ninth, and tenth grade, I gave up on math several times because my effort didn’t result in a higher score and I felt helpless. In the context of this chapter, none of those classes were a community of learners.

Of the many strategies Daniels and Zemelman outline to promote a community of learners, the section on book clubs stood out to me. My first book club experience was in high school, but my first real experience with last semester in Dr. Horwitz’s MLED 330 class. Dr. Horwitz gave us a choice of several books to read and I chose to read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. My group and I divided the novel into three sections and read them by certain dates on which we would discuss what we read. Each of us would choose one role from a list to help us contribute to the group. Some of these roles were illustrator, summarizer, cool connector, and questioner. The roles helped the group work efficiently and got us thinking in detail about the book. I found this to incredibly helpful and it gave a meaning to reading. As a book club, we became a community of learners and actually did some research on Native American tribes. In science, I plan on using this technique for reading small articles from the news or excerpts from scientific papers. I think this will promote a community of learners and also help my students to think like researchers in biology.

Strong Chapter 6

This was a really interesting read for me. The beginning seemed a little farfetched until the authors starting talking about how Darth Vader assigns essays. It was very reminiscent of my time in high school. Much of the assignments were research based, and we weren’t given as much direction as we needed, which made it a lot more work than it could have been. I remember getting so frustrated trying to figure out what the assignment wanted me to do and how to do it but it never really mattered because we all got the same grade we always got.

    I know I don’t want to be the teacher whose assignments frustrate students and make them feel like they’re alone in working on the assignments. The CRAFT model for designing assignments is something that I am really excited to try. In particular, I like the role portion of the model. Students that are asked to pretend to be something else for an assignment will gain a fresh, new perspective, on a topic. This is the higher level thinking I want to see in my classroom. I want to hear kids wondering what it’s like for an animal or bacteria to be alive. “What kind of things do they need to do every day?”  When I was a little kid, I remember asking my grandpa where the birds go when it rains. I believe this sort of thinking leads to new questions and helps build a new thought or belief about a topic.  It’s a skill I want my students to have because of its transfer capabilities.

Daniels and Zemelman Chapters 3 and 4

        Chapters 3 and 4 offered a perspective on reading and textbooks that is distinctive to my own experience in high school and middle school. In high school, my classes either didn’t use a textbook, or used it all the time. Until college, this was all I knew. College professors tend to use themselves as the main resource, and the book as a supplement to them. I don’t think this works too well either, especially when the students are asked to buy books that are sometimes hundreds of dollars.

            In my classroom, I would like textbooks to be used as a reference. I have found that textbooks are great for double checking my knowledge, but not so great at engaging me. To assist any students who are similar, I will use secondary sources to help students familiarize themselves with the topic. I won’t be using extra sources for every topic, but I will be using it to help hammer home the main ideas and enduring understandings of the unit. For example, in a unit on ecosystems, I may choose to bring in a National Geographic magazine with a story on the Rhinoceros in Kruger National Park and how they are struggling due to poachers. This will emphasize the idea that ecosystems exit in a balance of a variety of factors.

            Giving students many  resources outside of their textbook will help engage them, but they need the time and environment to do it. I wanted Daniels and Zemelman to talk more about how to structure the classroom for it. I imagine having some time on Fridays for students to explore the various resources in groups so they can be social and discuss what they’ve read. In the beginning of the year, this will be somewhat formal so students can learn what they should be doing. After some time of modeling and scaffolding, they will be on their own to have their conversations and explore what they want to. Resrouces will include approved things that they bring from home, as well as the resources I bring in from wherever I find them. Discussing readings helps them understand it better and develop a stronger sense of the topic. After reading these chapters, I believe I can definitely use outside sources in my classroom.

Understanding by Design

            Understanding by Design is a concept that I had heard before, but didn’t really understand. Now, I appreciate it more because it makes much more sense to teach with this method. Here’s an example: Sometimes my professors will give an exam that is not temporally representative of what we learned. We might spend two weeks on plant cell types, and only have two out of 100 questions on it. If that professor had used this method of teaching, the exam would have been made before completing the lecturing on the topic. He would have been able to better stay on track with what he wanted us to know, and we would have gotten much higher grades. The process of going backwards in planning how I teach will help my students learn and it will help me plan. Using the filters will allow me to notice if a topic might be more dense than I imagined, or if students will want to be an active part of it.

            When I teach, I want my students to be learning in a very low stress environment. Telling students why we are doing something, what the goals are, and what they should get out of it are all conducive to a low stress environment. Asking essential questions will be difficult for me in the beginning because I’m used to have a straightforward answer. I don’t feel like I learned what I was supposed to learn if there isn’t a straightforward answer.

                         I want to learn more about what a UbD units looks like and how to phrase questions that don’t have an answer. I would also like to see how teachers grade student works that are abstract and difficult to hold to traditional grading systems. I think that practice will help my best but I’ll need feedback as well.