In chapter 3 of The Courage to Teach, Palmer writes about the paradoxes of teaching, and lists a few from his own experience. I would add one of my teaching mantras which is "support and push." That is, there are many occasions on which I need to encourage students, provide scaffolding, and nurture their tentative confidence. At the same time, I also know that it is important to push their thinking, provide challenges, and, to go back to Vygotsky, ensure that they are in their particular "Zone of Proximal Development."
Over the last two weeks of observing all of you, I saw some nice examples of supporting. Now, I'd like to hear about how you intend to push (gently, of course!) your students to question their own and others' ideas, to come to new understandings, and to use higher-order thinking skills. You now have Bloom's Taxonomy to help you construct Student Learning Objectives for your unit, and that framework can help you with this task. For this blog, I want to see at least three ways you plan to challenge or push your students to meet #19 on the Observation and Progress Report: "TC models and promotes high expectations, constructive criticism, and the challenging of ideas."
This can be for any of your classes. Maybe develop a challenge for each one. It's up to you.
Period 1: I’ve noticed that this class has trouble with being creative and with adding their own thoughts to their writing. They have been given multiple writing assignments that involve finding evidence in text to help support a thesis/statement, but when it comes time for them to explain their evidence they fall short. In other words they can match information to prompt, but I’m not sure they can tell me why they fit. So in response I’m going to start pushing them to write more reflective, creative, and expository. I think partly it might be due to the type of model my school has them write in which definitely teaches them structure, but can atrophy that muscle in writing that allows one to pull from their own mind and deviate from the path. I suppose the first step to this is to have them write more and write differently. I can start this with Do Nows that ask them to reflect more on their lives and thoughts, and then eventually branch out towards longer more substantial assignments involving a variety of different types of writing.
ReplyDeletePeriod 2: What I’ve noticed with this class is that they still struggle with making inferences. A lot of them are very literal minded and symbols and implications seem to be difficult for them to wrap their head around. Admittedly this seems to be the hardest one to figure out how to push them towards. Often when symbols come up in the texts we’re reading we stop and discuss them, but I feel like if I weren’t guiding them they would simply gloss over them. When we do discuss symbols and inferences we can make in the text it often takes them awhile and I worry that I might simply be putting it in their heads (or inceptioning them as I prefer to call it) which doesn’t help them when they have to do this on their own. When I noticed that a lot of students had difficulty with the concept of plot I set up a mini lesson and retaught it to them. Perhaps I could start with that and move on towards assignments. Maybe I could give them a list of symbols and they’d have to contemplate what they might mean as symbols. I could start with the “what do colors mean in literature” exercises where we go over what we culturally believe colors represent (i.e red=danger, blue=calm, ect) and branch out from there.
Period 5: They are a very independent group. When I tell them to do an assignment they will do it. They will work hard and they will got their job done, but that being said when it comes time to present their work, or read by themselves they won’t. This is my fault as much as theirs because I think I tend to mother goose them a bit. I like reading to them/with them and I’m not sure I have cultivated an environment where I could let them go and see what they can do by themselves. So I will challenge them by taking me out of the equation more and let them drive the class. We are starting a novel next week and instead of asking for volunteers to read they will all be required to read a small passage. When we get towards discussion I will pose a question and then step back and let them run it more. They are an independent group, but it is time to let them be more independent.
Often when symbols come up in the texts we’re reading we stop and discuss them, but I feel like if I weren’t guiding them they would simply gloss over them. When we do discuss symbols and inferences we can make in the text it often takes them awhile and I worry that I might simply be putting it in their heads (or inceptioning them as I prefer to call it) which doesn’t help them when they have to do this on their own.
DeleteI feel like i have a similar problem. What can we do to help our students? I like your mini lesson idea!
"Inceptioning." Love it! Strong, concrete ideas for each class, Joey. Nice.
DeleteAs I go through each lesson, and as Dr. Johnson pointed out, my biggest push is to give students more higher order questions. I need to challenge their understanding and give them opportunities to ask their own questions so that they are engaged in the activity and lesson. My questions need to have rigor, but within reason. Students should be able to seek these answers either on their own or with their groups. We do a lot of group work in the class and it is a great time for students to tackle those hard questions they may not be able to on their own. In addition, there needs to be higher order questions even within the whole group discussions. These questions can be related strictly to the text or involve textual or historical background. To put it simply, I need to challenge my students more with open-ended, higher order thinking, and other questions to heighten their understanding of the text we are reading.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, there is a lot of historical context surrounding the text they are currently reading ("The Crucible"). While it would be fun and interesting to go over everything and anything with the text, but it would be asking a lot from my students and from myself, not to mention time constraints. To promote the high expectations required of my students, what I would like to do is focus on two huge aspects in general and devote time and energy into these two aspects. Again, I would have to utilize thought-provoking questions about the text and the context. I want students to focus on aspects they may not have discussed before such as McCarthyism and, as suggested, some time devoted to learning about the Puritans. My goal is to provide students with the background text so they may use it when writing their final essays "Is Proctor a 'good man'". Using this context, they can also look into character motivations in addition to the historical context and allow students opportunities to make inferences and conclusions of their own.
Like Jess, I found that my students have some difficulties with inferences, which I found surprising "When we do discuss symbols and inferences we can make in the text it often takes them awhile and I worry that I might simply be putting it in their heads (or inceptioning them as I prefer to call it) which doesn’t help them when they have to do this on their own." "The Crucible" is a difficult text in comparison to their previous book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, especially since there has been little experience with plays (from what they have told me and from what I have observed myself. To be honest, I am also experiencing some difficulty with this aspect.
I am also having difficulty with inferences in one class. I consistently feel like maybe I am giving them the answers or ideas. I try to focus on higher order questions and guiding questions, but I feel like sometimes maybe I am guiding too much.
DeleteNote, got the name wrong for who I quoted. Apologies.
DeleteI think getting kids interested in how control was used to keep people in line back then might engage them and connect to McCarthyism. Teens don't like to be controlled, right? Who do they think has power over their lives? Back then it was the church. Now, what is it?
Delete11-1: This class is very talkative and insightful, but when it comes to full-class sharing, they’re much less keen. For instance, when we share our daily journals, it’s always the same few people that are willing to share – or no one at all. I tried to push them by having them all do low-pressure presentations (3 – 4 minutes about something they’re knowledgeable and passionate about) and those went well, but I still am not having the daily vocalizations that I was hoping for. In order to push them in that direction, I plan on implementing more “cold calling” in class and facilitating more low-stakes conversations, meaning conversations that don’t necessarily have a right or wrong answer, but just ask them about themselves and their experiences. This works well with the unit we’re doing as we are focusing on intersectionality and identity. Later this week I plan on introducing them to their final project for this unit, a RAFT-like assignment that has a performance as one of the options. As the students will be working in groups, I’m hoping that some will have the confidence (and desire) to choose that option. For my part, I’m going to continue to be encouraging of full-class conversations and ask more open-ended questions that ask for their personal opinions and experiences.
ReplyDelete12-2: I’m kind of having the opposite experience with this class – they are very comfortable talking as a full class, presumably because there are only 10 of them and because this is the second year they’ve been in class together. They seem less confident talking about academic matters. In my opinion, they’re underestimating themselves. I gave them a pop quiz the other day (gasp!) about the reading we’ve done so far, and almost all of them scored a B or better. That shows me that they know the material, so the next “push” I have to make is to question that material. I tried doing this early on in the novel we’re reading, The Things They Carried, but it fell a little flat because I did not prepare them properly for that conversation; I just kind of plopped it on top of the conversation we were having. This novel contains a lot of big ideas for me to grapple with as a teacher, so I need to also push myself to a next level of understanding in order to push them along in their relationship with the text.
Creative Writing: I am only teaching three more lessons of this class! My last day at Scituate is the 17th and Mrs. Stormont is taking back over during the last week and, because of scheduling, I’m basically done teaching this group. On Wednesday (our last day with me teaching), they all have what I’m calling a “Mini-Mini Memoir Portfolio” due to me, which contains a few pieces of their best writing. Tomorrow, I plan to push them in their writing more than I have at any other point this semester. The way Mrs. Stormont runs this class is that no writing is graded until it has been revised and prepared for grading (as is the case with these portfolios). Tomorrow, I am doing an individual conference with the students about one piece of their work that they plan to include. So far this semester, I’ve given them instructions on how to write a good memoir. Tomorrow, I will push them by giving them direct advice about their writing. I anticipate that it will be an awkward shift for everyone involved – they’re not used to having their writing critiqued in this way, and I don’t have very much experience in this type of critiquing. The push for me in this situation will be do to what’s best for my student’s writing while still being careful of their ego, though not so careful that I don’t give them the critiques they need.
I cannot believe you are almost done with your first placement!! I am interested to hear how your conferences went today.
Delete"it’s always the same few people that are willing to share – or no one at all."
DeleteI also experience this problem with a couple of my classes. Period 1 is usually very tired so it is near impossible to get responses out of them. My other periods have usually the same few students talking. I end up having to cold call quite frequently.
I am anxious to hear how everything goes now that you are almost done with your first placement!
William Strong talks about the difference between being the coach and the judge, and it's a fine line to walk to nudge them into making a piece better versus them trying to please you. Good practice!
DeletePeriod 2: This class is my inclusion class and they are very willing to talk and participate, but at times have difficulty verbalizing their thoughts. I notice that they understand a lot of what is inferred in a text, but for whatever reason are not able to get those thoughts and understanding into words. I tend to do a lot of scaffolding in this class, as well as ask a lot of open ended questions. One thing I did notice was that I am not allowing appropriate wait times for this class’s needs. These kids are eager to learn and participate, so sometimes it’s a race to raise your hand and answer, but they haven’t had enough time to think about it. So what I have planned for tomorrow is a sticky note toss. I will pass out sticky notes to each student for them to write their answers on. The students will be prompted to think for three minutes before they can toss their sticky note into a bucket I will put in the middle of the room. After everyone has tossed their answer in the bucket, I will read them aloud and we will discuss them as a class. I did this all of last week when I did a cultural lens read on a short story with them. They had to toss their annotations/questions/comments into a bucket while I was reading the story to them. It proved to be a really fun experience, as well as being a formative assessment for me to know how well the students could annotate, infer meaning from the text, and complete a solid close reading.
ReplyDeletePeriod 6: This class is proving to be difficult with class participation and students completing their work. It is a college preparatory class and there are large chronic absenteeism problems that negatively impact the rest of the class when these students return. I already use cold response techniques and have a 2-3 minute wait time, but it is like pulling teeth to get these kids to talk and participate. The best part is their written classwork and writer’s notebooks are filled with amazing stuff. So my big endeavor for this class is to get students talking and participating. I do have three students who are always willing to talk and share, but I feel like they have become the class’s safety net. I do want these students to still talk and participate, but I do not want them to carry the rest of the class through discussions. I have spent a lot of my weekend thinking about how to push these students to share their awesome thoughts and opinions. I have decided to make it a classwork grade for the time being. I’m not entirely sure that it is a great idea and I do plan to run it by my CT first thing in the morning. My thought was to require each student to talk three times to receive full credit for a classwork grade. My thoughts on this are that it will get students talking, but I’m not sure it’s the right approach. I feel like it’s almost a punishment—forcing students to verbally participate. My second idea was to have the students hold a Socratic seminar with this weeks close reading through a critical lens. My only hesitation with this is that the students will not participate, leaving a dull and short seminar.
It is a college preparatory class and there are large chronic absenteeism problems that negatively impact the rest of the class when these students return. I already use cold response techniques and have a 2-3 minute wait time, but it is like pulling teeth to get these kids to talk and participate.
DeleteSince you also mention that their writer's notebooks is full of creative responses, how do you want to push that same enthusiasm with vocal discussions? Would working in pairs help?
I think this is common for most of us. I wonder how we can alleviate that problem???
I agree with Danielle. Think-Pair-Share is a way for everyone to share in a safe way. Can you use a carrot (enticement) instead of a stick (grade)? If they're strong writers, maybe they need to write answers before responding verbally. Some kids just take longer to think out their answers or are afraid of being wrong.
DeletePushing against ideas and beliefs, and looking at why we hold them has been a recurring theme for the classes. In fact, one of the first things my ninth graders read this year was an article called “Willing to be Disturbed.” We looked at this in the context of setting up class norms, and looking at goals for the year. In short, the idea was to look at why we hold certain things as valuable, and making sure they are things we really do value (through challenging and stating), before we commit to them. IT was an interesting way to start, and I think they enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteMoving forward, the ninth graders are an interesting bunch. Out of my two classes, I have a decent mix of students who are always ready and willing to share and do work, and students who would rather not. It seems talking with friends is different than talking with classmates. So, that makes up some of the pushing I intend to do with them. I need them to be enthusiastic and engaged in the lesson, but I do not think I can achieve that by simply pitting my will against theirs. That would be a slippery slope, in the best case scenario.
So, moving forward, it is a search for the illusive “sweet spot” that will allow me to keep the energy and engagement levels, but transmuting that into energy and engagement for the task I have set them. I have some new ideas: reading more as a class, different kinds of groups, a more structured “schedule” for scheduling into (the order in which I do things), breaking things down even more (into mini lessons rather than big lessons), etc. Reading over some of my classmates responses, I think I have gotten some new ideas to try.
For my tenth graders, ideas have been the driving force for the first month of the class, and will continue through the unit I am teaching now. Challenging those ideas, how they are passed on, how we internalize them, all of that are points that we have been touching on, and will continue to touch on. From their own reading of “Willing to be Disturbed,” to looking at philosophy and stories, the idea of “ideas” is central to everything we have been doing.
As a class, I want to push them to ever-greater metacognitive feats. I have been giving them higher order questions, more as we go, and so I want them to always emphasize two things: the “why,” and the “how do you know?” I want them to infer, form opinions, challenge and defend those opinions, and change their ideas. If they don’t, then there hasn’t been any point to looking at ideas and beliefs. If you challenge all of your own beliefs, and none of them even begin to shift or change, there are two possibilities. Either you are infallible (and as we’re all human….), or you aren’t challenging them all hard enough.
This is what I believe (and I could be wrong). And this is what I want for this class (and my ninth graders, as well). I want them to get a sense of the power of their minds, so that when the time comes to decide how to use them, they can make an informed decision.
To this end, I am looking at ways to bring other audiences in besides myself, as interconnectivity of ideas often brings more reflexive ideas. Perhaps my students (10th and 9th) will find their way onto the web in different ways, at different times. Blogs are already starting to come online for the 10th grade, so I’m looking at different ways to expand on that. I’m hoping to challenge them to move out of their comfort zones along with me, so we can romp around outside what we would normally do.
So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to plan a unit that may or may not include Plato, a genie, Xanadu, and Denzel Washington. And I welcome any challenges to it.
This is what I believe (and I could be wrong). And this is what I want for this class (and my ninth graders, as well). I want them to get a sense of the power of their minds, so that when the time comes to decide how to use them, they can make an informed decision.
Deletethis is a good and interesting goal. I wish you luck with your lessons to help push your students there.
I agree that making teaching a contest of wills is a losing proposition! Nice work going to engagement first as a way to get to pushing for higher level thinking and work.
DeletePeriod 4: This group responds well to my requests to think more analytically, both as a class and in groups. I allow a lot of group work so that they do not hear my voice droning on and on. I move around as they work and catch flagging efforts. Often, I find opportunities here to push them to question their own and others' ideas. I double back and do class-wide reviews of the terminology I'm asking for in the 5 paragraph essay on memoirs. I do it frequently too, just in case I'm missing someone. First they annotated the memoirs they chose to read. If I had more time, I would grade on the quality of questions they asked as they annotated. As I went through grading the annotations, I tried to make note of questions they asked. I see now that I could look less at quantity of annotations and more at quality. The concept of thesis has been discussed frequently as of late, and this is analytical thought. I encouraged them to look at many different definitions and we are working on a classwide definition of thesis. I am honest when I hear the variety of definitions of this one word, (acknowledging my limited knowledge!)so I encourage expanding the definition as we go.
ReplyDeletePeriod 6: This group has more difficulty with higher order thinking. It is a very small class compared to period 4 (11 vs. 25), and this has its' advantages. Their grouping according to memoir choice was able to be changed at the last minute, when it was discovered that one memoir was too long, and contained a lot of military vocabulary. I let the student try it before moving on, so he would feel he could handle it if he wanted. The advantage of the size is that other groups can help a student like this without necessarily doing the work for him. I think absenteeisms play a part in this group and their ability to grasp the concept of thesis quickly. You really feel it when three students are missing from this group. The size helps also when I'm moving around catching flagging efforts. A student might hear me reviewing a concept with another and ask questions based on that conversation. The area where I plan to develop my teaching practice further is in the manner of questioning I do, hoping to bring about these deeper thoughts. I think I speak too much, specifically rephrasing my questions to prompt them. I have been told this could prohibit student engagement. I have been calling on specific students, in an effort hear from everyone and not let the talkers carry the class. This is an improvement. The next step would be to ask a student if they agree or disagree with what another student just said.
period 7: This group is plagued with absenteeisms. I am honestly struggling with class management here. I have double-backed and done some community building twice and will do more as needed. I believe I will need new strategies for building higher order thinking skills. The recent essential question assignment came back with no revisions to the 1st draft question, a clear indication that they all need more scaffolding with this concept. It is imperative for the success of their senior project, and they have expressed the most anxiety about it of the three classes.
I wanted to respond to one comment from above. Someone wondered how to push the same enthusiasm in class discussions as are found in writer's notebooks. I think this will come as students build trust in us. This will happen by letting writer's notebooks be private. I plan to assess writer's notebooks but not read details of an entry unless I have permission. I will be grading on length of writing versus detail. If a student wrote a full page on a summer memory, the chances are good they got into detail. I really believe lively conversations come in time. We cannot have the relationships our students have with their cooperating teachers this week, they have worked years for these relationships. I am trying to remember that I can be satisfied with the small positive connections I make with a student. I will have a day here and there with lively class discussion. I must celebrate all of it.
ReplyDeleteReally nice, Cindy! You are so right about the trust issue.
DeleteLots of teachers have trouble with revision--there seems to be a student aversion to it. Have you modeled it with a question of your own? Kids think they are supposed to get it "right" straightaway and don't realize that writing, like everything else, takes a lot of practice.