Module 5

Module 5: Flow, Homework, Exit Tickets

Concept 1: Flow

Summary

In chapter 12, page 486, Woolfolk discusses “flow.” She defines flow as “a mental state in which you are fully immersed in a task with deep concentration and focused attention.” You are said to be experiencing flow when you are super concentrated on a very challenging project that you are enjoying. When you are in flow, you are intrinsically motivated, and you usually produce “higher quality, more creative products.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was the first to analyze and define flow. He discovered that when people have “clear goals, immediate feedback, and can apply their skills,” they are more likely to reach this flow state. In schools, finding a good balance between students’ specific interests (differentiation) and the classes’ shared interests (integration) would help to reach “flow” in the classroom. DeLeon Gray likened this idea to teenagers need to stand out, and fit it, at the same time.

 Reflection

Often times we hear people say something like, “don’t bother me now, I’m in the zone.” Hearing this you would know that person was focusing really hard on a project, and making good progress, and they did not want to stop what they were doing and loose the “flow” they were in. However, before reading this chapter, I had never known there was an “official” term set-up for “being in the zone.” I thought it was really interesting to see the idea explained and documented in this chapter. I can honestly say, I can count the number of times that I have actually thought of myself as being “in the zone.” I am more of a person that has trouble focusing and staying on task. My mind wanders, and I constantly have to bring myself back into the “zone,” so I was really interested in reading this section.

I think the key to helping students get into the “flow” is what Csikszentmihalyi found in his studies. As teachers, we need to help students define clear goals that interest them and then work with them to encourage them and help them put all they have into those goals. When students are invested in the task, they will have a much better chance of getting into the “flow.”

As a teacher, I can see how being in tune with the class’ interest as well as the individual students’ interest will help to foster this state of mind. When the teacher gets excited to see students engaged and immersing themselves in their work, the students will be more motivated and excited to continue. If the environment encourages students to find passion in the work, there is a much better chance that the students will find passions and follow thru on the activity. I think this environment can also help the teacher to get into the “flow” because the excitement becomes contagious. As the teacher’s goal to help the students reach their goal comes to life in the classroom, the teacher will get into the “flow” too. I look forward to getting into this type of “flow” with my future students.

Concept 2: Homework

Summary

In chapter 14, page 567, Woolfolk discusses homework. She talks about how the subject of homework has been debated for over 100 years, and how the trends for and against homework come and go. Many studies have been conducted over the past 75 years, and many inconsistencies have been found. There is a group that says “homework does not boost achievement,” and that students will “simply grow weary of learning.” And then there is a group that says “evidence indicates that students in high school who do more homework have higher grades.” There are many issues involved with homework like kids who needs help on an assignment cannot always get help at home, homework interferes with family and community time, and the amount of time it takes one student vs another to complete homework.

 Reflection

As a student, I have never been a fan of homework. I participated in a lot of sports growing up, and practices and games were always after school. By the time I got home from practice or a game, and ate dinner, I was tired. The last thing I felt like doing was homework. A lot of times I would rush through my homework so that I could have a little down time before it was time for bed. I especially did not like when teachers gave us busy work for homework just to say they gave us homework. I would have to agree with Berliner and Glass that “No matter how interesting an activity is, students will eventually get bored with it-so why give them work both in and out of school?”

The one class I can see the value in homework would be in a math class. I never minded having math problems for homework, because I think the repetition and practice in math is important. It did always seem like math teachers only gave a reasonable amount of problems that didn’t take too much time, if you understood the concepts. But, there were several times where I recall being so frustrated with math homework. Our math books used to have the answers to the questions in the back of the textbook. The teachers would tell us to check our answers. Often times, I would think I understood the concepts, but then when I checked my answers, they were not correct. A lot of the problems were “new math” and my parents weren’t able to help me. I can understand the students that Woolfolk mentioned in her book who were getting frustrated when they had questions on their homework and couldn’t complete it because they didn’t have a resource to help them at home.

I know there will be some times where homework will be necessary, but as a whole, I don’t expect I will be a teacher that gives much homework. Social studies is not the type of class like math where there is a lot of skills you can practice at home, or where repetition is beneficial. Maybe when it comes time for research or to do some reading, but overall, I want to be respectful of my students’ time to be with their families, participate in sports or just have a break from school, so I will limit the amount of homework I assign. And, I will definitely never assign homework on weekends or holidays, and I will never assign busy work for the sake of saying I assigned homework.

Concept 3: Informal assessment: Exit Tickets

Summary

In chapter 15, page 603, Woolfolk discusses informal assessments. These informal assessments are “ungraded assessments that gather information from multiple sources to help teachers make decisions.” The two examples Woolfolk describes are exit tickets and journals. Exit tickets are a quick question regarding the teaching for that day that teachers can give to the students at the end of class. The students answer the question on a sheet of paper, and then hand the paper to the teacher as they exit the room for the day. This allows the teacher to see what area of the teaching that the students are not grasping, and then the teacher can plan accordingly to help the students with the concepts the next day. This is not graded, and the students don’t even have to put their names on the paper. The sole purpose is for the teacher to get a pulse on how the students are understanding the concepts that are being taught for that day.  

 Reflection

I really like the concept of exit slips, especially now as I understand them better as a teaching tool. When I was in middle school, I had a teacher who would make the exit ticket seem like a pop quiz. We would be ready to walk out the door, and she would tell everyone to take out a piece of paper, write you name on it, and answer the following question. She would give us a hard question. She never said if she planned to grade it or not, or what she was planning to do with it. She said it was the only way we could exit the class, so it was our exit ticket. This caused a lot of anxiety for us as students. So when I saw the title in the book “exit ticket,” I immediately remembered this class. Once I started reading the “true” definition of exit tickets, I wondered if my teacher had misunderstood this, or had a different definition, or if she just really used them as an informal assessment to help her see what we were not understanding. I never remember her going over any concepts from prior days, but maybe she did, and I just didn’t even realize it.

Now that I know the true purpose of an exit slip, I think it is such a valuable assessment for a teacher to see how the students are grasping the concepts. I also think it is important to give the students full disclosure on what is the purpose of the exit slip. The teachers will get a much more accurate feel for the students’ understanding if they communicate the reason behind the exit slip. I think the idea of not even having the students put their name on the slip is a good idea too. That way students will not be afraid that the teacher will think they are “stupid,” and they will be more likely to answer their question honestly. I really like the idea Woolfolk gives to have the students write down the “’muddiest point’” which is the “idea that was most confusing or unclear” so the teacher knows exactly what the students are struggling with. This way, they can go over those concepts again to help the students get a better grasp of them.

In my future class, I think I will make a habit of using exit slips to see what area the students may be struggling with so that I can provide additional teaching. I will be sure to explain the purpose of the tickets to the students to ensure we get the most benefit out of using the tickets, and to relive any stress they could cause for the students.

Module 4

Module 4: Critical Thinking, Reciprocal Questioning, Motivation and reinforcement

Concept 1: Critical Thinking

Summary

In chapter 9, page 364-365, Woolfolk discusses critical thinking.  She defines critical thinking as “’an effortful and deliberate cognitive process that entails reflection on and evaluation of available evidence.’” She states that guiding actions and influencing beliefs are the goal of critical thinking. There are three skill categories needed for critical thinking that Woolfolk cites from The Delphi Report. They are 1) cognitive skills which include evaluating and analyzing, 2) affective disposition which includes being open minded, inquisitive, and facing biases and 3) approaches to specific problems which includes keeping the focus on relevant information. Based on research Woolfolk says that critical thinking skills can be taught to students of all ages from first grade – graduate level. The three most effective elements she mentions are dialogue, authentic instruction, and mentorship. Using these skills over and over again is important to keep in practice and improve the critical thinking of the individual.

 Reflection

As a history major, I have had numerous opportunities to use the critical thinking skills Woolfolk outlines on p. 366 for history which are sourcing, corroboration and contextualization. When we analyze a primary source, we always use contextualization. Before reading the document, we look to see the place, time period, and events that took place in that time period. Using that information, we have the stage set for the document before we read so that when we do read it we can read the document within the context of the time period. We also use sourcing and look to see where the document originated from, and determine if the material will have any biases, and if the source is reliable. We also use corroboration to connect the material in the document to any other documents we may have read and determine if there are similarities or if any of the information contradicts something in the document.  

Critical thinking really is a different way of approaching a document, especially historical documents. I agree with Woolfolk that is takes a lot of practice to learn to analyze and form an opinion on things that are read. I have noticed since I have been taking a lot of history classes and using these different techniques to analyze documents, that I do find myself asking these same questions of information that I read on web sites, or when I hear politician speak, or even just when I am reading the daily news on my phone. I feel I am able to recognize bias so much more than before I have had this practice with critical thinking. Critical thinking is a good skill to practice even to evaluate stories your friends tell you, or with someone who is trying to sell something to you.

As a middle school history teacher, these critical thinking skills will be very important to teach to my students. After reading this section of Woolfolk’s book, I too now see how important it is to practice these skills often. I will encourage my students to use these skills to analyze news, things their friends tell them and advertisements, in addition to using the skills in class to evaluate historical documents.

Concept 2: Reciprocal Questioning

In chapter 10, page 405, Woolfolk discusses reciprocal questioning.  With reciprocal questioning, students of all ages can be put into groups and work together to answer questions about material that was just read or studied in class. Woolfolk shows a sample list of partial questions that the teacher can give to the students that they can use to create questions that they ask the other people in their group. The others can answer and then take turns going back and forth asking and answering the questions. This process produces better discussion in groups because it is guided by the question stems which are created to help the students think more deeply about the material and then also relate it to their lives or things that they already know.

Reflection:

I know from my own experience when teachers just put students into groups and ask them to discuss the material they read, it can be very hard to start up and continue the discussion. I think it is extremely helpful to have a set of stem questions like this to guide the discussion. This summer in the social studies class I observed in, the teacher often had the students break into small groups and discuss the material that had been presented in the lecture. The teacher would give each group three different questions and ask them to discuss those questions. Then he would have the groups report back to the class a summary of what they had discussed. Having the questions written out ahead of time for the students was very helpful to jump start the discussion. I think it is also a good practice to have each group report back to the class how they answered their questions so that the groups could learn from each other too.

Often times, I have been put into discussion groups with other students where we have not been given a list of questions to discuss, and the group has trouble getting started or goes off on tangents. I think the questions are really a good idea to help guide the discussion and keep the group focused on the important parts of the material to be discussed. The reciprocal questions are a good idea because they make sure that each person actually participates in the discussion. The questions also do not allow one person to dominate the discussion. Since reciprocal questions are with a pair or a trio of people, the group size is small enough too where each person in the group will be an active part of the discussion. I also like the idea of the teacher providing the stem of the questions. This will get the students thinking in the right direction, but it will also help them to formulate appropriate questions that will tie into what they have read. This is also good practice to help students learn how to create questions from material so they will eventually be able to think of questions like this on their own when they are in discussion groups in the future. I also think having the students formulate the questions from the stems helps them feel empowered to ask the questions of their peers.

As a middle school social studies teacher, I will definitely make use of reciprocal questioning. Middle school can be an awkward age for students to work with partners or groups, so I will be sure to assign partners or groups to remove the awkward aspect of finding a partner. I think this will also help the students to talk with others in the class that they normally wouldn’t talk to. Since the social studies curriculum involves a lot of reading, the stem questions can lead the students to think about the material in a deeper way and allow them to formulate questions around that material. Knowing they take terms asking and answering questions back and forth, I will know that each student is equally participating in the discussion.

Concept 3: Motivation and reinforcement

In chapter 11, page 431, Woolfolk talks about motivation and reinforcement. As we observe others, we see different behaviors, but usually we do not try the new behavior until something motivates us to try it. Then, to keep that behavior going, we need to be reinforced. Because, if we try something new and do not receive positive feedback or encouragement, odds are we will not continue the practice. Three forms of reinforcement that are discussed are direct reinforcement, which is when you are immediately praised with words of affirmation from someone else for completing a behavior that you saw modeled; vicarious reinforcement, which is seeing others receive praise for an action so it motivates you to continue; and self-reinforcement, which is receiving the praise from yourself to motivate you to continue a behavior. The self-reinforcement can be intrinsic, just feeling good that you completed something; or extrinsic, where you reward yourself with something tangible for completing a project. Woolfolk notes that as teachers “all that keeps you going in the face of difficult students and demanding parents” is self-reinforcements.

Reflection:

As students step out and try something new, it is important that they feel encouraged by reinforcement so that they will continue in that practice. I know for myself that sometimes it is hard to stay motivated to complete a task that seems very hard and overwhelming. When I was observing in a class last semester, one of the assignments was a research paper. At first, when the assignment was given to the students, several students felt overwhelmed by the thought of completing such a large assignment. To help keep the students motivated, the teacher decided to break down the research paper assignment to have checkpoints of reinforcements, and to help keep the students motivated. First, the students were to turn in their topics for the paper, and then the teacher would approve the topic and give them some guidance to move on to the next step which was the outline. In class the week before the outline was due, the teacher worked with each student on their outline to make sure they were on the right track. Once the students’ outlines were approved, and they received direct reinforcement from the teacher, they were ready to move on to writing their rough drafts. These steps of reinforcement made what at first seemed to be an overwhelming project, turn into a great learning experience for the students.

There are a lot of things that I have to do that I necessarily do not like to do, and I use extrinsic rewards to motivate me. I never really thought about how often I do this until I read this passage and realized that I do even on very small scales. One example is that I really like ice cream, so when I am starting to lose motivation on completing homework, I will often set a goal of getting so much of my homework done, and then reward myself with a break and ice cream, once I reach that goal. This extrinsic reward keeps me going to reach the goal, but also gives me a boost of energy to get back at my homework and continue to the next goal. I also motivate myself to complete a paper or a big assignment by remembering how good I will feel when it is completed.

After reading Woolfolk’s comment that self- reinforcements might be all we have during some years with “difficult students and demanding parents,” it will be important to remember this comment and even use this as reinforcement to know we are not alone. I know for me, just knowing someone else has been through what I am going through can help to keep me motivated too.