This unit is concerned with how effective teachers ensure student achievement. "Student success in the subject matter," say the authors, "will be the result of how well the teacher designs lessons and checks for mastery.
How do you see their advice impacting you as a teacher? Respond and comment on at least two other classmate responses.
Just because we talk about something doesn't mean the students learn it. Learning does not have anything to do with what we talk about. It has to do with what the students DO: how they interact with the material and what they accomplish. The first thing we have to teach our students is HOW to be successful learners...how to research, how to identify appropriate and legitimate material, how to think, diligence, and passion. Spell out what you want students to learn and tell them. Tell their parents. Then UNCOVER what it is. Present information to students so they wonder about it. Be specific in your assignments--the greater the structure of a lesson and the more precise the directions, the higher the achievement.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to not correlate learning with how much material I cover from the book. Unit D says that learning has to do with what the students accomplish which makes sense but is still hard to separate the two. It is my hope that with the work that I assign [that will come with explicit instructions] that I am able to see how much my students understand from the lesson. This coming week it will be my focus that I informal evaluate my students and what they learn from my lesson. I want them to do more talking than I will do. For me this will from foreign from what feels natural to me. However traditional teaching methods and multiple worksheets are not how all students learn best. In my classroom I want to try and to develop a student center learning environment instead of a teacher centered environment. To mean that mean more cooperative learning opportunities as well as LESS of me standing in the front of the room lecturing at my students.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Leah: Leah both of our responses similar and it would that we are both on the same track in terms of we view learning. One thing that I am learning in this experience as a student teacher is that students no matter the age need explicit instruction with clear exceptions. That is part of giving them the tools that they need for success. How can your expect students to perform at a higher level if they don't know what they are reaching for?
This unit was really a review of things that we have learned throughout our education curriculum. I do have a few comments however. I have found that many teachers do not use their objectives to create the test. I do not understand this. Not only is it much easier, it also ensures that your tests mirrors the material that you have taught. The students have told me on several occasions that my tests are very "straightforward". Notice that no one tells me that my tests are easy. However, my students are not confused as to which material they are held responsible for and what I will be testing them on.
ReplyDeleteOne idea that I liked from the book, yet have never seen implemented, is the use of a test as a reteaching tool. If you really think about it, it does not make much sense to move students onto the next unit even if they have failed the test. I think that it may be a good idea to assign remedial activities to only those students who fail the test. Not only would this further convey the material, it would give the students an extra incentive to get it right the first time!
I also agree that most students have never been taught to take notes or read through their book properly. Though I am not a language teacher, I plan on using a day during the first week of school to highlight those skills. Fortunately, I can relate active reading and listening to psychological concepts and make it relevant. Then again, as I keep telling my students, psychology is everywhere.
@ Leah
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that students must personally uncover the material for themselves. I believe that one of the biggest challenges that teachers have is making their content relevant to today's youth. Students will be naturally curious and retain the material far better if they feel that it is something useful and interesting.
@ Belinda
I totally agree that traditional methods do not work for all students. I always try to differentiate my instruction, often throughout the same class block. I tend to have students that really like my artistic activities, others who love the musical things I have done, and still others who enjoy watching videos. My philosophy is to present each lesson from a variety of modalities so that you are not isolating an entire segment of your classroom population.
The unit is an absolute masterpiece as it addresses one of my main concerns as a future educator in that it somewhat highlights the need to move away from teacher-centric instruction. The only way I really have gained any feedback from the students as to how well they've grasped the lesson is if I let them "teach themselves". That is to say, allowing the students to gain knowledge through their own effort and rewarding that effort with both positive reinforcement and different forms of instruction that they deem as fun.
ReplyDeleteMixing it up has to be a priority and really tends to engage the students more than someone droning on and on.
@John
Excellent observation with the test being used as a reteaching tool. I honestly wouldn't have thought to use such a method had I not seen it in the book. Most of my students test well but there are a few that would benefit tremendously from this sort of approach.
@ Belinda
I can't tell you how often the kids have let me know that both my cooperating teacher and I do a great job in presenting material in different forms so that everyone gets what they need. After using a program at careercruising.org, the students determined their learning tendencies and we developed lessons around their learning styles. It really has worked wonders!
John:
ReplyDeleteIt really is a learned skill to be able to properly read a textbook and to know how to use the book to your advantage. Knowing how to use the index in the back of the book or understanding how the book is formatted and organized is so important. The students don't seem to grasp at times the difference between a title, a heading and a subheading. Because of this I find that in my classroom students aren't able to find the answers they are looking for without assistance. However, the fact that they also don't like to read their book does not help either.
I think it is important that students learn. This is why testing or questioning students on what they have learned is important. As a history teacher lecturing is something that will be almost required at some point in time. Just because you tell them something does not mean they will learn it. This means it is important that we quiz our students on what they have learned.
ReplyDelete@leah I agree it is important that we teach our students how to understand what information is more important than others. Teaching our students to be good learners is something we need to do.
@belinda For a teacher to have a student centered discussion this would require that students have background knowledge of the information they are discussing. This would be difficult for my students since they do not read.
The job of a teacher is to help student succeed and to help them further their education. The advice in unit D will impact me as a teacher because I want all my future students to achieve. Unit D give some effective ways a teacher can help students learn and achieve. For example, the section in Unit D about objectives is something I will use in my classroom. Wong states in the book that “Focusing on objectives makes a huge difference in students learning”. I feel like if you teach according to your objectives your student will learn the lesson and they will retain it. I feel that most student study to pass a test and they don’t learn for knowledge. We need to make objectives the certain of our subject to help our students gain knowledge.
ReplyDeleteJohn I totally agree that it’s not fair to move on to the next unit if the student fail the test from the unit before. I think as teacher our hands are tied because we try to stay on the pacing guide but it is important that the students understands the lesson.
Justin I think it is important to change up your teaching style too. Students tend to get bored if they do the same thing every day but if we do a different activity they might enjoy it. If students enjoy what they are doing the most likely will learn the objectives you are trying to teach them.
Belinda,
ReplyDeleteMeasuring objectives is a great way to insure student achievment. By focusing on the objectives, students have a clear and precise notion of what they are supposed to be learning. This way things will not get so jumbled up for them and comprehension will grow.
I think that we as teachers need to move away from teacher centered instruction and move towards student centered instruction. While teaching this semester I have learned that the students like to teach each other and they enjoy class a lot more when they are involved. History can be a very boring subject but when students get involved in activities then history can be fun and easy to learn. We have to break up our lecturing with a small activity so the students will enjoy learning our subjects. Interactive activities have proven to be successful for me.
ReplyDeleteKendra, I totally agree with you. It is important that students learn and it is very important that we as teachers show our concern for student’s ability to learn. A little bit of care and compassion can go a long way with a student and it can encourage them to be successful in the classroom.
Justin, Mixing it up is very important. Students get bored with the same form of instruction but they enjoy teaching themselves. I have observed that students enjoy a little bit of liberty because they are told what to do and when to do it for the majority of their day.
Brooke,
ReplyDeleteI definitly get where your coming from. Teaching English can also be very boring, and I too have realized that by allowing students to get out of their seats and actually participate physically in the lesson, hightens their responsiveness in the classroom itself. Students that are involved also are more likely to have higher grades based on their participation.
Throughout this unit, student learning and student success is obviously the point the Wongs are making. During my studies as a student, I have read, seen, and experienced the importance of student learning and the best ways to accomplish this in the classroom. According to the Wongs, the first step to ensure student learning is by creating an effective assignment and then testing the students to make sure they have learned and accomplished the objectives. We have learned that objectives help students anticipate, focus, and understand the purpose of the assignment. When the teacher and the students are moving towards the same goals, the students will have a greater chance of learning and doing what the teacher intended. When students know the objectives, they can be in control of their own learning.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, the teacher's role is to help students reach the highest level of achievement. As teachers, we should desire for all of our students to succeed. Therefore, we should work with other teachers in a team setting. The test says that a good school should assess and reassess, teach and reteach, and never stop until all students grasp each lesson. Teachers should be teaching the students the basic necessities like how to take notes and how to read a textbook. We should be assigning homework that coincides with the lesson objective and assessment. All in all, teachers who want to gain the largest achievement from their students should work together, assess together, and learn together.
One of my favorite parts in this unit is the story of "The Talking Dog." In the story, a lady tells women that she has taught her dog to talk. When she instructs the dog to talk and he doesn't, the women make a comment about this. The lady simply replies, "I said I taught the dog to talk, not that he learned it." I think this should be a lesson for all teachers. We must make sure that our students are actually learning the objectives and succeeding in school.
Kendra, I also took note of the section on objectives for the students. Throughout my studies at South, I know all of the teachers have made a point to make sure we all know how to write objectives. I understand how important objectives truly are now that I have been teaching in the classroom. Without objectives, the teacher and the students are lost. No one knows what needs to be accomplished, and the students have no idea what they need to learn. I have seen classrooms that are lacking clear objectives, and I do not want my classroom to be one of these. These classrooms are hectic, unstructured, and absolutely no learning is taking place. I will strive to always make clear and understandable objectives for my students.
ReplyDeleteBrooke, I completely agree that classrooms should be centered on student instruction. Not only should students be teaching themselves, but they should certainly be teaching one another. After taking EDM 310 and working with Dr. Strange, I am a strong advocate for student learning. I believe students learn best when they must research and learn things on their own. I believe a teacher should be there to guide the students and to make sure the students are learning the objectives. I also incorporate many activities and strategies for the students to work together, and I always see better results when this happens. I would love to see more schools start implementing a student centered curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI agree that whether or not the students master the standards depends on how the teacher creates and implements the assignments. The purpose of giving assignments isn’t to keep students busy so they will remain quiet. Students need assignments to show that they can accomplish the goals of the standards appropriate for the content area and grade level. They also need to know the standards they are required to accomplish, so I plan to post those standards somewhere in my classroom. By doing so, students can see the “why” behind the assignments. Plus, I will try to give real-world scenarios for additional reasons why the standards should be met.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 22, the purpose of tests is explained. One of the many things I have learned during my student teaching experience is that tests should be created before the unit is taught. By doing this, I will be able to guarantee that I am teaching what needs to be learned.
I know from my own experience that knowing what types of questions are on tests determines how I will study. So, I think it’s important to explain to students how tests will be written and maybe even show them past examples. Also, scoring guides are a definite plus for students because they will know what the teacher expects from them on assignments.
Brooke:
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you there. When watching students listen to a lecture, they tend to “zone out,” but when given activities that are student-centered, they are more involved. Sometimes learning takes place without them even realizing it!
Jamie Lynn:
Yes, we want to make sure our students master the objectives we design base on the standards, and it’s important for them to know the purpose of the assignments they are given. Also, I completely agree that they need to know the fundamentals in learning such as note-taking and reading skills. Like you, I liked the story of the talking dog. I know this isn’t the point of that story, but it reminds me of that old cliché, “you can take a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” I think teachers have a better chance of “making them drink” if they are given meaningful assignments and thorough explanations such as using scoring guides.
The development and implementation of clear objectives is a major priority for the classroom teacher. It took me awhile to get the hang of objectives and understanding what they were all about. Plus, Dr. Clark’s class taught me about the importance of having clear, observable, and measurable objectives and that students must be assessed on the objectives they are presented. I believe that there is a tension in the social studies in trying to make it interesting to the students and then having very clear objectives. As a student, I have sat in history classes where the teacher would just go and go with no clear objective. But my concern would be if you become too focused on the just the content to pass the standardized tests the students can miss the interesting information and the stories that make the social studies really meaningful. A teacher must set clear objectives and make sure that they are assessing what they are teaching. If a teacher does not have these objectives serving as a road map, the instruction will get lost and will be confusing to the students. Plus, the teacher will not have an objective way of measuring student success.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBelinda,
ReplyDeleteI relate to your post. It is difficult to separate what we are teaching from what the students are learning. I have found this challenging with students who have limited background knowledge in the content area. A teacher can attempt to develop high sounding objectives like "analyze" but it seems that some of that is a little past just getting the students introduced to the material.
I was at a workshop and one of the participants stated to ask if a lesson plan is good, ask yourself, "Can you teach this lesson to an empty room?" If you answer that question "Yes" then you may need to rethink your lesson plan. I think it is good advice and I plan to use it to help me frame how to think of student engagement within the lesson plan.
Brooke,
ReplyDeleteI agree that history can be very boring to some students if they are not some how intrinsically motivated to learn it. One strategy that I am intrigued about learning more about is using inquiry or presenting challenges or mysteries for the students to solve. I guess the challenge with this developing a problem that the students will find interesting and want to answer and will require them to interact with the material.
The key to students understanding material and mastering test falls back on the teaching methods. Students need to have a teacher that understand the material him or herself in order to teach it so the students will understand it. Students also need assignments that they enjoy doing and learning at the same time. Students tend to shut down and not do well if they are forced to do something they dont like. Make learning fun for your students.
ReplyDeleteBrian, so agree with what you are saying in terms of having clear objectives for the students. Students need to know what they are learning and make the learning understandable.
Jaime Lynn, I agree with what you stated about revaluate ans retest if need be for our students. There will be students that will not understand the material the first time around, so it is our job to make sure our students understand all material we are teaching for high acheivement from the students.
Unit D: The Third Characteristic -- Lesson Mastery (How to have your students do their assignments and pass their tests)
ReplyDelete"Student success in the subject matter," say the authors, "will be the result of how well the teacher designs lessons and checks for mastery.
It is very important that teachers write good objectives that allow the teacher to know whether or not the students have learned the information. These same objectives need to be used to create the test for the students as well. If this is done then the students should be successful at the test. If the teachers focus on the objectives during the lesson and creating the test it will have positive effect on the students learning.
In history classes there is an awful lot of material that the students are responsible to know for their EQT tests. With a lot of that information teachers still have to be able to assess students on whether or not they have learned the material. To learn the material teachers have to give it to students in several different ways so that they are involved in the material.
@ John
Test as a re-teaching tool. I think that this is a great idea to see where students are struggling, and can use it to assess if the students need remediation activities.
@ Leah
I really like that you said that it has nothing to do with what we talk about, and it is all about what the students do. I found this out the hard way during my student teaching experience. There were several times that I would cover a topic, and there would be a student’s that would act like it was a foreign language and never heard of it. I think that you are dead on right that students learn by doing more so than listening.