Module 3

Module 3: Positive practice, Caring relationships, Withitness

Concept 1: Positive Practice

Summary

In chapter 7, page 275, Woolfolk outlines positive practice where “students replace one behavior with another.” In the academic settings, students will correct mistakes right away and then keep practicing the correct way to complete the task. The repetition helps to reinforce the correct way to do something, because as Woolfork states, “Contrary to popular wisdom, practice does not make perfect” if you continually practice something incorrectly. But, “Instead, practice makes permanent the behaviors practiced, so practicing accurate behaviors is important” (276). Positive practice can be used with classroom rules too. When someone does something that breaks a rule in the class, having them go back and complete the task correctly again and again “until it becomes almost automatic” in order to positively reinforce the correct behavior. Making sure the students are performing the task correctly each time they do it will help to reinforce the correct behaviors.

 Reflection

I can remember several times in high school where we were given multiple math problems to do for homework. They were the same types of problems that required the proper use of certain formulas, and we were given multiple problems to complete to help us learn how to solve these types of math problems. The key was to be sure that you understood the concept to solve these type of problems before leaving class so that you would be able to complete your homework and receive the benefit of positive practice. The more times we did the same type of problems over and over in class, the better we understood the concept. If you did not understand the concept of the problem or how to use the formula, you would learn how to do the problem incorrectly and as you continued to complete the problems incorrectly, you were reinforcing the wrong way to do the problems. That is why it is so important for students to ask questions, and make sure they understand concepts while in class, so that when they are asked to practice the concept in their homework, they know how to do it correctly and will be reinforcing the right way to complete the problems.

The same is true when taking tests. I always felt it was so helpful when teachers returned tests and then took the time to explain the correct answers to the class. This way the students learn from their mistakes. Then taking this a step further, it always helped me to really learn the correct concepts when the teacher asked us to correct our mistakes. Redoing the questions helped me to practice the correct concepts. I always found it frustrating when teachers didn’t return tests or just returned them without going through the correct answers with us because then we never learned from our mistakes. Then, when it was time for the final exam, and we would see the same concept again, if we had gotten a question wrong on a test but had not learned the correct way to complete the problem by correcting it on the test, we would once again get it wrong on the final exam. But, if we had learned the correct way to solve the problem and had taken the time to correct what we had done wrong on the first test, we would remember, and be able to correctly solve the problem on the final exam.

From my experience, I have seen the value of repetition and positive practice of concepts to help ingrain the process in my mind. The more I do something, the more I understand it, and the more it become “automatic.” I like routine, so I really see the value in positive practice and will use it with my future students to help them learn concepts and even to help them following directions. As a teacher, it will be important to make sure students understand the concept before assigning multiple problems to do for homework to make sure they practice the procedure correctly.

Concept 2: Caring Relationships: Teacher Connections

Summary

In chapter 13, page 524, Woolfolk talks about the importance of teachers’ positive connections to their students to help foster a well-managed classroom. She says that, “Students respect teachers who maintain their authority without being rigid or harsh, are fair and honest with them, demonstrate emotional support and caring, make sure students understand the material, ask if something is wrong when they seem upset, and use creative instructional practices to ‘make learning fun.’” The students want to build relationships with their teachers, and they want the teachers to be interested in them. Students who feel this bond with their teacher are more willing to share their ideas and more excited about leaning in their classroom. When a student feels that a teacher is on their side and knows “they will never give up on them,” they are much more engaged and motivated to learn and do well in that classroom. According to 119 studies between 1948 and 2004, Woolfolk points out that positive teacher-student connections have been linked to higher class participation, lower dropout rates, less disruptive classroom behaviors, and better attendance (526).

 Reflection

It really doesn’t take much thought to realize the importance of relationships in all aspects of our lives. We all perform better and are more motivated to do something if we know someone we care about is watching us and hoping that we will succeed. The opposite is true too, if we know the person who asks us to do something doesn’t care if we complete the task or learn something new, we will be motivated in a negative direction to not care and not try to succeed. Our human nature leads us to do things to please people we care about and who care about us. Teachers, like parents, play a huge role in a student’s life. As students feel connected and bonded to their parents and their teachers, they will be more likely to listen to them, and do what they ask them to do.

This summer, I will be teaching in the Center for Urban Teaching (CFUT) summer school program in Milwaukee, WI. As a part of the application process, I had to observe several classrooms through what the program refers to as immersion tours. For every classroom in the program, the teachers stand outside their classroom doors to greet the students as they arrived. The students line up to greet the teacher at the door before starting the day in the classroom. The teachers do some form of a handshake with each student and say good morning, always including the student’s name in their greeting. The student in return says good morning using the teacher’s name. Some students had created unique “handshakes” to do each morning with the teacher. This helped the students to feel a special, unique connection with the teacher. The only parameters for the morning greetings are that the students need to address the teacher by name, make eye contact, and perform some mutual gesture together which could be a handshake, a high five, an elbow bump, or any other idea they came up with. The students look forward to this greeting time, and it helps to wake them up, and prepare them to enter the room ready to learn. The teacher is able to get a quick read on the students as they entered the classroom too, to see if anyone seems out of sorts or bothered by anything before the day started. This practice also helps the students to learn proper ways to greet others using their names and making eye contact. I am really looking forward to participating in this morning ritual with my students at CFUT this summer.

I also remember another way one of my teachers successfully helped our class form relationships. When I was in third grade, my teacher would have what she called “Friday Friction” time. Throughout the week, if we had anything that was bothering us in the classroom or out of the classroom, we could write a note about it, and put in the jar on her desk that she had marked “Friday Friction.” Then on Friday afternoons, the whole class would sit in a big circle, and she would read the notes out loud from the jar. As a class, we would work together to try to offer suggestions to our classmates to help them solve their “frictions.” If there was a problem that we had that we didn’t want to share with the whole class, we could write “personal” at the top of the note, and then our teacher would not read those note to the whole class. The personal notes were just for the teacher to read. She would address the “personal” issues with us one-on-one after our group time. When we finished group time, we were given silent reading time so the teacher would have time to meet at her desk with the students who had personal issues they wanted to discuss with just her. This practice not only helped us feel connected to our teacher, but it also helped to bond the whole class as a group working together to solve a classmate’s problems. It also taught us sympathy, empathy and confidentiality as what was discussed was to stay in the classroom. The overall atmosphere in the classroom became a safe place to share, and a welcome environment for learning and encouragement among peers.

When I have my own classroom, I will definitely be very intentional to create practices like the morning greeting and “Friday Friction” to help my students feel connect to me and to their classmates. From experience, I know how important relationships are, and how much more I am motivated to perform when I know others care about me and care about what I am doing. Creating an atmosphere that promotes positive relationships between the teacher and the students will help me to motivate the students to want to succeed in our classroom too.

Concept 3: Withitness

Summary

In chapter 13, page 523, Woolfolk uses a term “withitness.” She defines withitness as “communicating to students that you are aware of everything that is happening in the classroom.” These teachers who are “with-it,” know everything that is going on in their classroom at all times. They do not get wrapped up in working with one student or a group of students without being aware of what every other student in the room is doing. These are the teachers that truly have “eyes in the back of their heads.” No one gets away with anything in this teacher’s classroom because they are always alert and see who “instigated the problem.” They never make “target errors” which end in putting the blame on the wrong student, or “timing errors” by not noticing a situation and “waiting too long before intervening.” The most serious problem is always addressed in these classrooms first. Students realize the teacher is truly in control of the classroom, so they are less likely to act out knowing that they will be noticed, and the behavior will be addressed by the teacher.

 Reflection

I think “withitness” is another really important skill to master and establish with a class at the beginning of the year. When the students know that the teacher is going to notice what goes on, they will think twice before doing something that goes against the classroom rules. So many times in grade school, I can remember teachers punishing the entire class, and making us all stay in for recess because “someone,” who the teachers did not see, did something and since no one admitted to doing it, the teacher would punish the whole class. This can be seen as a “target error” when the teacher doesn’t see what happens, so she blames the entire class. All students are then frustrated and unfairly suffer the punishment when they were not a part of the problem. No one feels good in this situation and the students realize that things can happen in the classroom and the teacher will miss them. It is important for the teacher to correct this early on in the year so this does not become a norm because the students who are not a part of the problem will be frustrated and the students who are getting away with doing these things will just continue to do them.

I think it is really hard as a teacher to have your eyes on every student at all times, especially when you are working one-on-one with a student or group of students. I like the idea that was shared in the video we watched this week titled “Classroom Management Hacks.” In this video, she suggested putting a responsible student as your look out person when you are working with a group of other students. This gives the student a chance to gain some responsibility in the classroom, while freeing you to focus on the students you are working with without missing anything that may be going on in the class that you need to know. Using responsible students as an “extra pairs of eyes” will help to eliminate “timing errors” and “target errors.” It will also help other students to know there are more than one set of eyes watching them, which will hopefully keep them from acting out. The practice can also lead to a more responsible group of kids who look out for each other and feel empowered when they are the “eyes” for the teacher that day.

When I have my own classroom, I want to be very alert and notice everything that goes on in the room. Even though I am the type of person who can listen to two conversations at once, and I am a very observant person, I know that it will be very difficult to see everything that goes on in my classroom. Especially with middle school kids, the practice of giving a student the job of being a second pair of eyes for me will be very helpful while teaching the students responsibility too.

Teacher Interview

What fun it was to go back to my middle school, Field Middle School in Northbrook, IL to interview my 8^th grade history teacher on his classroom management skills. Mr. Sackley was my favorite teacher, and the one who inspired me to be a history education major. Prior to starting his teaching career, eleven years ago, Mr. Sackley worked at a family business for fifteen years. He decided he wanted to change careers, and he went back to school to get his teaching degree. My sister was in his very first class, and I was in his class during his third year of teaching. I admire how he changed careers later in life, and I really appreciate the experiences he brought into the classroom from living life prior to his teaching career. He always seems to have such a good handle on the class, so I thought he would be a good teacher to interview on classroom management skills.

The first classroom management strategy that Mr. Sackley mentioned is very similar to Woolfolk’s “contingency contracts” on page 276 in chapter 7. At the beginning of each year, Mr. Sackley sets firm classroom rules with his students. These rules are written down and handed out to each of his students in a contract form. The students each read the list of rules and then sign the bottom of the contract agreeing that they will follow these rules. He also has a line at the bottom of the contract for the parents to sign saying that they too have read and are aware of the classroom rules. This brings the parents into a partnership with the teacher so they can encourage their children to follow the rules. The parents also know the rules in case they receive a call from the teacher regarding their children. Although, Mr. Sackley said, by the time the students are in 8^th grade, he has found that the number of times he has actually needed to call a teacher about a student not following the rules was very minimal. Mr. Sackley’s contract was the same contract for each student in his class, while Woolfolk’s model was a unique contract made with each student that specifically addressed their goals, but the basic concept is the same. I really like this idea of creating contacts with students. I think it will be very effective, especially with middle school kids, and I will plan to use this practice in my future classroom.

I really liked how Mr. Sackley follows the “soft, calm, private reprimands” that Woolfolk says are “more effective than loud, public reprimands in decreasing disruptive behavior” (281). When I asked him how he corrects wrong behaviors, he said that he always looks for a way to compliment his students and tries not to focus on the “bad” by really focusing on what a student does well. However, when a student does something that needs correcting, he said he always has private conversations with them, and he never calls a student out in front of his peers unless it is something dangerous that needs to be stopped immediately. This is a great practice that I want to be sure to implement with my future class.

As Mr. Sackley’s students are all 8^th graders, he is preparing them for high school, and he said that he is teaching them to take responsibility for the actions, behaviors and their assignments. This equates to Woolfolk’s “management for self-management” on page 513 where “the final goal of any management system is to help students become better able to manage themselves.” Mr. Sackley said he likes to treat his students as the “young adults that they are,” keeping an open and honest relationship with them, while giving them the flexibility and responsibility to begin to manage themselves. This has proved to be a very effective strategy in Mr. Sackley’s class, and as Woolfolk says, “if you teach your students to manage their own behavior and learning, you should have fewer management problems, less stress, and more time to teach.” Since the students learn valuable self-management skills with this strategy, it will help them as they transition into high school, so if I teach in middle school, developing these types of relationships will be important and valuable.

Field Middle School has a school wide “token reinforcement system” that they refer to as Tiger Tickets. The mascot of the school is the Field Tiger, so that is why they are named Tiger Tickets. The tickets are like fake money that you can accumulate to buy something like pencils, erasers, or lunch with a teacher. Students can earn tickets from a teacher for academic successes, or for being a model student in their classroom, lunch room or at recess. This matches with the “token economy” practice that Woolfolk describes on page 278 of chapter 7. Mr. Sackley said in his interview that there is such a disparity between 6^th- 8^th graders that the teachers find it hard to come up with meaningful incentives that will appeal to all students. He said they find that the 6^th graders are much more interested in the tickets as motivation to succeed than the 8^th graders. Within just his classroom, Mr. Sackley has a dart board that he uses as a reward system. When students make a good observation, or even are just willing to raise their hand to try to answer a difficult question, he gives them an opportunity to throw a dart at the board. Depending on where the dart lands on the board, Mr. Sackley gives the student small prizes. For some students, just getting a chance to throw the dart is enough incentive. But, when a student hits a bullseye, Mr. Sackley will bring treats (he mentioned the new school policy where they are again able to bring treats to class as long as they meet the requirements of the treats on a list) in for the whole class to enjoy. Since all the kids are rewarded when someone gets a bullseye, the students learn to encourage and cheer on their classmates who get the opportunity to throw the dart. It a fun time for the whole class. Seeing the excitement of the students and the way the dart board motivates the students to participate in class, I will consider this type of “token reinforcement” in my future classroom.

When I asked Mr. Sackley what advice he had for me as I start out as a teacher, he said to always be prepared, know what you plan to do, but be willing to get off track if it will be a good teaching moment. He also mentioned when planning a lesson that requires something you don’t use every day, like a video, he would always come in the morning and try the video before the class arrives to make sure everything is in order and ready to go when the class arrives. This reminded me of what I read in Woolfolk’s chapter 13, page 510 under the section “The Basic Task: Gain Their Cooperation,” where she says “have materials ready” and “forsee[ing] problems and stop[ping] them before they start.” He also said to always be open, honest and fair with all students, trying not to ever show favoritism. Similarly, Woolfolk says to “maintain[ing] positive relationships with students based on mutual respect” (510). Getting to know his students, and letting them know he cares about them, has been a major part of success for Mr. Sackley in his classroom management skills. Interviewing Mr. Sackley has been a great experience for me. He shared a lot of great management strategies that I intent to carry forward when I start my own classroom.

Module 2

Module 2 : Brainstorming, Summer setbacks, and Declarative Knowledge

Concept 1: Brainstorming

Summary

In chapter 4, page 137, Woolfolk cites Osborn’s definition of brainstorming saying “The basic tenet of brainstorming is to separate the process of creating ideas from the process of evaluating them because evaluation often inhibits creativity.” When brainstorming, students should be free to blurt out ideas without anyone’s “evaluation, discussion, and criticism” until after all the ideas have been collected. Woolfolk also pulls in Alene Starko’s rules for brainstorming. These rules even ban “eye-rolling or laughing” by any student when another student throws out on idea, so no one will feel inhibited by throwing out a “crazy” idea. She also encourages collecting many different ideas, and even allowing students to expand and creating new thoughts off of what others have to say. Even “wild ideas” can trigger others to think of using the same concept in a more “workable” way.

Reflection

Brainstorming is definitely not a new concept, but the way it was defined and the “rules” that were outlined in the text made the idea so much more than I had ever thought of it being before. I never really looked at the process of brainstorming to be creative or a time where a group would work together in a non-judgmental way with the freedom to share any idea, no matter how outrageous it might be. Setting the parameters as Starko outlines, and then enforcing them, shows how brainstorming can allow for creativity, especially in a classroom among peers. Without knowing these parameters, true creativity can be withheld by the fear of being judged and being embarrassed. This also sets the group up for sparking ideas off of each other’s ideas, which can lead to even more new creative ideas.

Woolfork also shared how she used brainstorming to make a list of all her ideas and then she set the list aside and come back to it as she was writing her book. I had always thought of brainstorming as a group event and never thought of it as an individual exercise. Now looking back, I realize I am practicing individual brainstorming every time I make a list of my ideas and then narrow the list down to come to a topic for an assignment or paper. As I do this in the future, I am going to impose Starko’s four rules on myself because I think that will help me to be more creative too. Even though it is just with myself, I think I stop myself from letting the ideas out of my head and writing them on the paper because I think they are too “wild” of an idea. If I allow myself to write any and every thought I have onto the paper, then step away like Woolfork suggests, I can come back and tone down or expand on my own ideas just like you would do in a group brainstorming. It helps to step away and come back with a different perspective. This concept of individual brainstorming is one that I will definitely use when I am planning activities and lessons for my future classes too.

In my field placement, my cooperating teacher used brainstorming to help the students come up with ideas for a debate they were going to have in class the next day. He split the class into groups and had them pick one person in each of the groups to be a note taker, but he did not set any ground rules. Both he and I walked around the room while the groups were meeting. I listened in on several of the groups and I noticed that in each group there was a very dominant person who was throwing out most of the suggestions. When some of the other kids tried to offer a suggestion, some kids in the group laughed, then the person who had made the suggestion that was laughed at would shut down for the rest of the time. I could tell too that after the laughter from the one person’s idea, all the ideas slowed down because students were afraid to share their idea because they too didn’t want others laughing at them. I wish I would have read this section of Woolfolk’s book prior to this class day so that I could have shared the four rules with my cooperating teacher and the class. I definitely agree, especially among peers, that having these rules in place, will help to open the channels of the students’ creativity as they are given freedom to share, without the fear of being laughed at or judged by their ideas.

Brainstorming is a very worthwhile activity with groups of students. It not only teaches students to work in groups, but it also teaches them to open up and share their ideas and learn from other’s ideas. Especially in middle school social studies classes where we will do a lot of interactive projects, I will use the concept of brainstorming in my classroom like my cooperating teacher did, but I will make sure that I set Starko’s ground rules with the students before we begin to make sure that all the students understand the purpose and the parameters. Hopefully this will help them to be more creative and to feel more comfortable sharing their ideas.

Concept 2: Summer Setbacks

Summary

In chapter 6, page 227, Woolfolk talks about the growth that students loose over summer breaks from school, and how this loss has contributed to the reading gaps between students in poverty and students from middle-class homes. She reports “students in poverty begin school about 6 months behind in reading skills” and by the time these students reach 6^th grade, the gap is almost 3 years and has been continuing to increase since the 1970s. Her explanation for this increasing gap in reading is the break from reading many lower income households, especially ones where English is not the first language, take during the summer months. She argues that since the lower income group does not have as much access to books and are not encouraged at home to read over the summer, “every summer vacation creates about a 3-month reading achievement gap between poor and advantaged kids.” Because studies show that the more students read, the better readers they will become, if students are not reading over the summer, they have the potential to fall behind students who are reading and moving forward with their reading skills. She suggests the solution is to provide summer reading programs for low-income communities to try to close the reading gap by helping the students to grow rather than lose ground with their reading over the summer.

Reflection

I remember every year being so excited to have a break from school in the summer. However, even though we didn’t have to go to school in the summer, we still did schoolwork at home each weekday. My mom would give us one full week off from school, and then the second week of summer, she would take us to the book store and let my sister and I each pick out a summer workbook to help us prepare for the next year of school. My sister loved to do this, and she would always ask my mom if she could even get two workbooks. I was never as excited as my sister, and I would have been completely fine with getting none, but that was not an option. The workbook would contain school work for the grade we would be entering in the fall. Each morning, before we got to do anything fun for the day, we would spend a half hour going over a lesson in our workbook with our mom. After our workbook time, we would get a 15-minute break, and then we spent a half hour reading from a book that we got from the library. Our local library would have a reading program each summer. Once we signed up for the program, we would get a reading log. When we reached certain goals on the log, we would bring our log back to the library for prizes. We did this every summer from preschool through middle school. Even though somedays I really didn’t like that we did this, looking back now I see it helped us to keep on track and keep our minds growing over the summer months. I am grateful for the time my mom allotted for us to do this each day. I remember too my teachers always telling us at the end of the school year to be sure to read over the summer.

Although my mom was really disciplined with this practice, not many of my friends or classmate’s moms made this a daily practice. Woolfolk mentions that she feels this lack of summer reading causes students to lose gains they made in the prior year and may be a factor contributing to children who live in poverty falling even further behind. I think the lack of summer learning affects both students from the middle-class and poverty, but I do agree that the middle class students are given more opportunities to read, but they may just not take advantage of them. I would think that in poverty areas there are still public libraries that could offer reading programs to the students, but Woolfolk points out that since the parents may not speak English, they may not know about the program and may not take their children to the libraries to get books. It would be very helpful for schools to inform parents about the need to read, and the availability of local free summer reading programs.

As my sister is a 2^nd grade teacher in Milwaukee, she is planning to set-up a summer reading program for her students to give them several opportunities to keep their reading progress going over the summer. First, she is putting together reading bags that she is going to give to each student on the last day of class before summer break that will contain two books, a bookmark, and a reading log. The students will be asked to read their book each day and log their time on the sheet. Her school gives her a budget to buy books for her class. She (and I frequently go with her) goes to every library used book sale and resale shop to buy as many books as she can to have to give to her students. For Christmas and Easter, she wrapped up books and gave one to each of the kids. The kids are so thrilled to get their very own books that they get to keep. She writes a personal note on the front cover of each book to help foster a love for reading in her students. She is also planning to hold a biweekly book club that her students can attend to check in with her with their reading log. She also intends to have additional books available for them to borrow from her “library” of books. She is hoping this will be incentive for her students to want to keep reading, and growing their skills, over the summer. Many of her students first language is not English, so she will also be sending a note to the parents in English and Spanish letting them know the importance of encouraging their children to keep up their reading over the summer.

It is good experience and practice for me to learn these ideas from my sister, so that I can practice them when I become a teacher too. Her class is 2^nd grade, so we are always on the lookout for Junie B. Jones and Geronimo Stilton books at all the book sales. Now when we are at the sales, I am going to start looking for history books so that I can begin to grow my “library” of books that I will be able to offer to my students to read over the summer to keep them interested in reading and help to keep the gap closed on “summer setbacks.”

Concept 3: Long lasting declarative knowledge: making meaningful connections

Summary

In chapter 8, page 324, Woolfolk discusses that the way you learn information helps you to recall that information again later. She states that “one important requirement for building lasting knowledge is that you integrate new information with your prior knowledge” in order to build a deeper, lasting understanding.  The way to achieve this, as she states, is through “elaboration, organization, imagery, context, desirable difficulty and effective practice.” Building on prior knowledge is a great way to learn new topics, and this is what is referred to as elaboration (324). Taking new ideas and making them your own will help you recall them later. Also, making sure all information is organized, when presented to students, will make it easier for them to learn and remember (325). Forming an image of an object in your mind helps with recall (326). Remembering the context when you learned something, either physically or emotional, can help with recall of information (327). Desirable difficulty is defined by the more effort that is originally put into learning something, the greater the recall will be when you go back to the same activity or object (327). Struggling and taking time to figure something out creates a stronger memory than just being told information. The last practice she refers to is the retrieval process that she defines as “repeated recall” which help consolidate memories in the brain and “strengthens the neural pathways so the knowledge is easier to find later” (327). As these different methods of making connections to prior knowledge are used, learning and remembering skills will increase.

Reflection

In one of the social studies classrooms that I observed at the beginning of this school year, after the teacher would teach a new concept, he would say, “ok, now turn to the person on your right and explain the concept I just explained in your own words to them.” Reading Woolfolk’s definition of elaboration, I realized that this teacher was using a form of elaboration to teach the students to retell the information he had just taught. This process would help the students to see if they actually understood what had just been taught to them well enough to explain it to someone else. Also, saying it in their own words would help the information to stay in their memories better too. He would then ask the person on the left if what the person on the right said to them was an accurate explanation of the concept he had just taught. This was a way to make sure that both the student telling the explanation, and the person hearing the explanation were understanding the concept correctly. If there were any misconceptions, the teacher would correct them to be certain that everyone was learning the concepts correctly.

I remember when I was in elementary school, the pastor of our church would encourage the kids in the congregation to take notes like their parents during the sermon. He suggested, if it would be easier for us to remember concepts with pictures, that we should draw rather than try to write words. He would put a principal from the sermon up on the screen, and then ask the students to illustrate what this principal meant to them. He would break the sermon down into “small bites” to help the students focus on that one section and then tell us to draw what would help us to remember the concept. I was not a great drawer, but I was able to draw simple pictures that would help me remember the mini principals  better than if I just wrote the words from the screen. Reading Woolfork’s details on imagery on pages 325-326, I see where the pastor used this method of imagery to help us learn mini-principals from his sermons. Often the pastor would show pictures that students had drawn from the prior week to the congregation as an example of how the students were learning the concepts from the lecture through their illustrations. It was a great way for younger kids to learn and remember one “small bite” of the sermon rather than try to grasp the whole sermon by being distracted with trying to listen and write words on the paper. This was a great way for kids to learn how to start taking valuable notes that they could relate to and remember.

There are a lot of great techniques and ideas in this chapter to help students learn and recall information that I will definitely put into practice in my future classroom. I especially like the idea of mneomics to help with recall. I often try to find acronyms with information I need to learn to help me recall and keep the ideas in my memory for long term. I know from my own experience that actually relating a concept to prior knowledge or creating an acronym will help me to remember concepts much more long term than memorizing items. When I memorize items, the may stay in my mind for the test, but then they quickly leave my memory. I have learned that in order to commit items to memory for long term, I need to use one of these other methods. I want to be sure to share these different ideas for long term memory storage with my students and find ways to implement them in my classroom like I saw my observation teach do with the practice of having the students retell the concept just learned to another student in the classroom.

Module 1

Module 1

Concept 1: Efficacy

Summary

In chapter 1, Woolfolk addresses the question of what makes a good teacher. She looks at different tools and techniques to effectively teach students. On page 5 she stated that most of her research is based on the “teachers’ sense of efficacy, defined as a teacher’s belief that he or she can reach even the difficult students to help them learn.” As teachers succeed in their day to day teaching, their confidence and sense of efficacy, or their ability to meet a certain goal, will grow. As Woolfolk says, “teachers with a high sense of efficacy work harder and persist longer even when students are difficult to teach.” One skill Woolfolk notes that helps to increase efficacy is relationships. As teachers form relationships with their students, they have more success in reaching students and increasing their chances of learning. Woolfolk’s research revealed on page 8 that “when teachers established warm, caring relationships with their students, similar to those of an extended family, the students were more engaged.” Favorable relationships between teachers and students has been found to increase the student’s academic performance which in turn increases the teachers’ sense of efficacy.

Reflection

It comes as no surprise that a good relationship between a teacher and student would foster improvements in behavior and performance of students. But, what surprised me was the data that Woolfolk shared on page 8 about the positive effects on test scores for students who had favorable relationships with their teachers for three years in a row, and then the contrast to the negative effect on test scores for students who had poor relationships with teachers over a period of three years. This brought to light how important it will be to establish positive relationships in the classroom with my students to not only help built their own confidence and grow academically, but also to help increase my sense of efficacy and confidence in my ability to help every student, even those who seem hard to teach, to grow on many levels.

I remember one year when I was in 4^th grade, I had a wonderful teacher who went out of her way to form relationships with each of her students. She asked questions about our families and our hobbies and was genuinely interested in each one of us. She even came to our sporting events and birthday parties held outside of the classroom. She really went above and beyond the expectations of a teacher, but the extra time and energy she put it really made a difference in the student’s academic performance. Her classes were known around the school for having the largest growth jumps on the MAPS test each year, and the parent attendance at school sponsored science fairs and math family nights from her classrooms were always the highest in the school. Every kid in third grade wanted to be in this teacher’s class for fourth grade, and every parent wanted their kid to be in this teacher’s class too.

My sister is a second grade teacher at a public charter school in Milwaukee, WI. The administration places a huge emphasize on forming relationships between the teachers and the families. The teachers are required to make home visits with each of their students prior to and into the beginning of the school year. Visiting the family’s homes and seeing the environment that the student lives in is valuable information for the teachers. Meeting the siblings, the parents, grandparents and even cousins and aunts that live in the house with the student helps the teacher relate her classroom to the different living conditions of the students. The kids are thrilled to have their teacher visit their houses. For those students nervous about that first day of school, having meet the teacher in the comfort of their own homes is a real benefit. The adults in the house also form a bonding relationship with the teacher after welcoming the teacher into their homes. At the visit, the teacher and the parents exchange cell phone numbers and keep in contact throughout the school days via text messages. These formed relationships are a valuable motivator for academic performance too because now the students have an additional incentive to apply themselves because they want to please their teacher so that she will text their parents to let them know they are doing well. As this school is very data driven, they measure growth in the classroom by standardized tests, and they relate and record positive growth jumps back to the successful partnering between the teachers with the students and the parents. The classroom has become an “extended families” as Woolfolk discussed on page 8. This bonding and growth and the ability to touch even the “difficult” students and help them to grow, helps to increase the” teacher’s efficacy” which leads to confidence and increased incentive for the teachers to be even more deliberate in their actions to be an effective teacher.

In my future classroom, I want to be deliberate to make positive relationships with my students to foster academic and social growth in my students. Evidence that Woolfolk presents and evidence from my sister’s school, as well as my own experience with teachers, show the importance of these relationships. Even in the shorter amounts of time I have in my observation hours this summer, I have become cognizant of forming relationships with the students and observing the relationship that the teachers have with the students. These relationships will be key to reaching the more difficult students and ket to increasing my sense of efficacy.

Concept 2: Assisted Learning

Summary

In chapter 2 Woolfolk discusses cognitive development by analyzing Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s theories. One idea she highlights from Vygotsky’s theory is called “assisted learning.” On page 65, Woolfolk restates what Vygotsky’s theory “suggests that teachers need to do more than just arrange the environment so that students can discover on their own. Children cannot and should not be expected to reinvent or rediscover knowledge already available in their cultures.” Instead, students need to be guided with additional “information, prompts, reminders and encouragement at the right time and in the right amounts.” This will allow the students to learn at a pace that suits their individual learning level while at the same time, helping them to build on what they are learning.  The teachers also guide the students to “make their own discoveries.” Learning from doing helps students to remember better what they have done to get to a solution, plus it helps students to learn new things as they branch out into new areas. In order to keep the students on track as they are learning on their own, teachers need to be “asking questions that refocus students’ attention.” This assisted learning will guide students into new areas of learning, while helping them to feel confident and willing to step into new discovery areas knowing that they are being supported by their teachers.

Reflection

Reading through chapter 2, there are a lot of logical ideas that can be helpful to teachers, but some of the ideas, like assisted learning, did not come to mind until I read about them. Once I read about the technique, I realized that teachers have used this concept in my classes here at Trinity, and it has been a very valuable learning tool for me. Woolfolk mentioned “giving detailed feedback and allowing revisions” as an example of assisted learning.  I had recently been discussing how helpful it has been for me when teachers allow for turning in a “final rough draft” for a research or English Literature paper, and then the professor takes the time to read through it, provide comments and give you the opportunity to revise the paper for your final draft. This practice was implemented in my English, Criminal Justice and history classes here at Trinity. Having the opportunity to see areas for improvement based on the professor’s comments, and then taking the time to actually learn from the comments and make the changes, was a great learning experience for me. The comments, along with the revisions were not only helpful on the final draft of the paper for that class, but they also helped me take what I learned, and apply it in other papers that I had to write. Revising a paper after receiving comments was so much more valuable to me than just writing a paper, receiving comments and never doing anything with the comments. You learn so much more by actually correcting and doing, than just reading about something.

As a teacher, this practice of assisted learning will definitely take more time and energy. Now, thinking about the time it took my professors to read through the 12-page research paper rough drafts of each of the students in my class, and the time it took to actually write up all of their comments, and then read through all the final drafts of those same papers, I know the extra time that it took. The comments the professor provided for the rough draft were much more detailed so that the students could understand and apply the direct changes to their papers. I learned so much through this process, and I have now gained a greater appreciation for these professors, and the time they put into allowing us this option of assisted learning.

Seeing the great value in this process, when I become a history teacher, I will definitely use this assisted learning technique to allow my students to turn in their rough draft of papers for comments and then allow them to revise their papers and turn in final drafts.

Another examples of assisted learning that I see in my classes here at Trinity is from this class, Educational Psychology.  Dr. Snoeyink, provided us with a sample of a blog post. This helped us to see the expectations for the assignments and gave us something to refer back to as we are doing our own assignment. Without the example, we could have gone off in our own directions and not completed the assignment as was expected. It is so helpful to have an example to know and be able to complete the assignment as the professor expects.

When I become a teacher, I will think back to the examples of assisted learning from my own classes, and I will use these ideas in my classroom. I will also look for unique ways that will help the students in my class learn based on directing and guiding the students to explore learning in new ways. I’m learning the value of my own experiences as a student in the classroom that I will be able to take with me as a become a teacher.

Concept 3: Relationships

Summary

This concept of the importance of positive relationships was carried forward from chapter 1 into chapter 3 on page 92 where Woolfolk said that “Research has documented the value and importance of positive relationships with teachers for students at every grade level.” Woolfolk relates something that seems so simple and expected, like a teacher’s respectful communication through direct eye contact with a smile to increasing students’ desire to excel and their interest in studying. Woolfork talks about two types of caring: academic caring which she defines as “setting high, but reasonable expectations and helping students reach those goals,” and then personal caring which she defines as “being patient, respectful, humorous, willing to listen, interested in students’ issues and personal problems.” On page 93 she says that students “need to be cared for before they could care about school.” Woolfork’s research concludes that good academic instructions, coupled with positive teacher/student relationships, are the key to creating motivated students who will wants to learn, and this, in turn, helps test scores to improve and academic gaps to lessen.

Reflection

In my past experience as a student, I can now look back and see the effect of positive relationships on academic growth and performance. I was fortunate to have developed good relationships with the majority of my teachers throughout the years. These positive relationships truly created a desire inside of me to try harder because I wanted to please my teacher. I remember in 3^rd grade, I had a teacher that would get so excited each time we did well on a test. Specifically, I remember we had math timed tests that she called “mad minutes.” There were four sets of these test, one for addition, one for subtraction, one for multiplication and one for division. We were timed and had to get through as many of the problems as we could in one minute. The goal was to have everyone get through all the problems in one minute. This teacher worked really hard to help us practice and come up with strategies to learn the math so we could quickly recall the answers and write them on our paper. She was so encouraging and never gave up on the students who took longer to reach the goal. Since she was so kind and so sincerely wanted each student to move on to the next level, the students were all motivated to study harder so they could pass.

Since students spend the majority of their day at school with their teachers, establishing a good relationship is important. As Woolfolk notes on page 92, “teachers are sometimes the best source of help” for “students facing emotional or interpersonal problems.” I noticed as I was completing my observation hours last semester that the teacher I was observing had formed a very unique relationship with a student that allowed him to know her well enough to be able to tell when something was bothering her. This student was usually a very bubbly student who typically was a very active member of the daily discussion in class. One day she came into class and was extremely quiet, and when the teacher called on her, she said she didn’t do the reading and could not answer the question. As soon as the teacher completed the lecture time, and gave the students time to work on their homework, the teacher went over and quietly talked with the student. He had already developed a positive relationship with this student on a daily basis so that he could recognize when something was wrong. The student felt comfortable with the teacher too, so she was willing to open up to the teacher and look to him for guidance and support with the issue she was facing.

As a teacher, it is so important to be kind and caring on an academic level as well as a personal level as Woolfork discussed. When I become a teacher, I want to be able to encourage my students to succeed academically by giving them the tools they need to succeed, but I also want to form personal relationships with my students by getting to know what they like to do outside of class, and by getting to know things about their families. Developing these personal relationships with my students will help me to be able to recognize when something is out of sorts in their lives, like I witnessed with my cooperating teacher, so that I can reach out and help them too. Getting excited about my student’s academics successes will help to keep them motivated to try their best and will ultimately lead to success in the classroom too.

Context For Learning Description of School and Students

Trinity Christian College Field Experience Form

Context for Learning

Description of School and Students

About the School Where You Are Observing or doing Field Experience

School Name and City: Field Middle School, Northbrook

Type of School: Elementary school, Middle School, High School, or Other:   Middle School

Setting: Urban, Suburban, or Rural: Suburban

Write your responses to the three questions below in paragraph form.

1.       List any special features of the school or classroom setting (e.g., themed magnet, classroom aide, bilingual, co-taught with a special education teacher, pull-out program).

I am observing in five 8^th grade social studies classrooms at Field Middle School. Each of the classes have around 20 students. One class has a classroom aide because there are two students in that one class with IEPs. The classroom aid sits with the two students and quietly helps to keep the two student’s attention on the teacher when he is talking. When the students are given time for individual work, the aid works one-on-one with these two students. On the day a test was administered, the aid took the two students into a conference room to take the test alone. They were both given additional time, and the aide read the questions on the test aloud to them and answered any questions that they had while taking the test.

2.       Describe any district, school, or cooperating teacher requirements or expectations that affects the planning or delivery of instruction, such as required curricula, pacing plan, use of specific instructional strategies, or standardized tests.

In the district that I am observing now, the school is given the standardized MAPS test. Since there is not a social studies section on the MAPS test, my classroom teacher was not affected by this, but I did talk to one of the math teachers who told me that when his students take the math portion of the MAPS tests that he cannot be the one to administer the test because he is evaluated on the growth of the students on the math portion of the test. The district doesn’t want the teacher to be in the room to have an opportunity to influence the students if they ask a question during the test.

3.    For special education only: List any educators with specialized expertise in the school/district (e.g., specific disabilities, subject-specific pedagogy, English language development, speech therapists).

About the Students in this Class [Give a brief or one word response]

1.    Estimated percentage of students eligible for free/reduced lunch: 30%

2.    Grade level(s): 6-8

3.    Number of

a.    students in the class: 20

b.    males: 12

females: 8

c.    English language learners: 5

d.    students identified as gifted and talented: 1

e.    students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans: 4

4.    Complete the chart below to summarize required accommodations or modifications for students receiving special education services and/or students who are gifted and talented as they will affect instruction. As needed, consult with your cooperating teacher to complete the chart. The first row has been completed in italics as an example. Use as many rows as you need.

Special Education Category	Number of Students	Accommodations, Modifications, and/or Pertinent IEP Goals
Example: Learning Disability	Example: 4	Example: Close monitoring, follow up, and Resource Room
Learning Disability	2	Group testing, multiple choice instead of essay test
ADHD	2	Extra time on tests, written copy of teacher notes

About the Class You Observed

1.    How much time is devoted each day to instruction in the classroom? Describe the class periods (if applicable)? Choose a content area of your specialty or major. How much time is devoted to teaching that subject? Because this is a middle school social studies class, 90% of the 40-minute class period is devoted to instruction.

2.       Is there any ability grouping or tracking? If so, please describe how it affects your class.

No, there is no ability grouping or tracking in the classes I am observing.

3.       Identify any textbook or instructional program you primarily use for instruction. If a textbook, please provide the title, publisher, and date of publication.

The unit being taught in the classroom I am observing now is the Genocide unit.  The teacher uses only primary sources and there is no textbook.

4.       List other resources (e.g., SMARTBoard, manipulatives, online resources) used for instruction in this class.

A document camera that connect to the projector to share notes and review questions is used in the classroom. Many primary source video are shown as part of the instruction.

5.       What do you know about what your students know, what can they do, and what are they learning to do? What do you know about your students’ everyday experiences, cultural backgrounds and practices, and interests?

The students in the class I am observing are learning to think critically by analyzing primary source pictures and articles. The students in these classrooms are culturally diverse spanning white, Asian, black and Indian. They are interested in sports, reading and absorbing new knowledge.

  

6.       Describe one teaching event. What best practices in teaching were used?

The teacher I am observing has a good command of the classroom. The students respect him and pay close attention when he is speaking. He maintains a very effective classroom management style that fosters good discussion time. The teacher sets an expectation that the students will come prepared to class and answer when called on, and they do.