I have in this week watched three videos
of teaching-learning situations and would like to give my analysis about them.
STEM in
Action ( Grade 5/ Science / Motion)
Academic
expectations:
Firstly
I would say this is a high achiever class; it looks like everyone in the class
is a high-expectancy student. I also believe, based on their ways of
interaction in this particular lesson, these students have had many practices
of working as a team before landing in this last leg of the project.
I
could see that it was a well-planned and systematic project based lesson. It is
definitely student - centered. The students were expected to share and
communicate their problems; to discuss and collaborate; to apply critical
skills for self - evaluation and modification. The teacher expected students to
share and solve problems without much of her involvement. Students were
expected to communicate their ideas and become smarter through this learning
mode. They were expected to take ownership and leadership in the project; to be
good problem solver with barely enough materials as well as be responsible and
independent learners. Certainly the teacher has stepped back in this last leg
of teaching to allow students to take sole responsibilities of learning. This
is evident in the way she prompted the students with questions to challenge
their critical thinking skills.
Behavior expectations:
For
grade 5 level , this group of students were overly well behaved. They were expected
to be totally on task and knew exactly what they were doing. They were so drawn
into their work that there was no time for casual chat. The teacher didn’t have
a need to mention any behavioral expectations.
Norms and procedures:
The
teacher must have set her class procedures very well as the smooth transitions
in the activity showed high student performance. They knew how to transition
from sharing their problems to discussion, from taking out their note books to
sketch their work to running to the computer and finally to move around to work
on their models. There seemed to be no flaws and no time wasted in the entire
lesson because the students knew exactly what they were supposed to and were
learning independently.
3rd Grade Chinese Math class
Academic
expectations:
This is a typical traditional Chinese class
lesson whereby the teacher stands in front of the class and the students are
cooped up in rows facing the white board.
In
the first part of this lesson the students were expected to belt out the
multiplication facts, while the teacher wrote the answers on the board. The
louder they sounded, the cleverer they were meant to be in their learning. In the second part of the lesson the teacher
was teaching the students to solve a subtraction problem. Again, students were expected
to belt out the process loudly. However not everyone proofed that he/she knew
the solution.
Yes,
the students performed and behaved very well in routine learning. However, the
teacher did not give chance to every student to showcase his/her understanding
of math. This was more a teacher – centered lesson as the teacher was belting
out the answer while solving the subtraction problem.
Behavior expectations:
The students were expected to sit properly throughout the
session, legs crossed and hands behind their bodies. And they were doing so
throughout the session except for one student in the third row. It was
beautiful that these little ones knew how to be obedient in class. They were
indeed submissive. By the sound of their response in class, the students seemed
to be participating well in the activities.
Norms and procedures:
The
students knew very well the verbal transitions from the first activity to the
second.
When the teacher called for the first part, the students knew how to respond to
the second immediately. Some of them knew to raise their hand to want to give
answers.
Having
said that, I am not convinced that this kind of learning style produces high
student performance. I only see these
students as highly obedient and submissive but I can’t infer that their critical
thinking and problem solving skills were challenged.
Whole Brain Teaching
Grade
9 Power teaching
These
high schoolers were expected to not only know their facts but also to be able
to reproduce and “teach” their peers the facts learned with expression and gestures.
Their cognitive and social skills were stimulated. They needed to be well
versed in class.
Behavior expectations:
In
this Whole Brain class, the students were highly motivated and focused. There was
no room for misbehaving, as they needed to receive and reproduce and dramatize
their learning throughout the session. Active learning was taking place the
entire time.
Norms and procedures:
The
students knew how to respond upon the verbal calls; they knew how to mimic the
teacher’s tone, as well as the movement and gestures for every call. The
positive effect of these norms and procedures has truly supported the class
performance.
Setting High Performance Expectations
Among My Students
There are some strategies I have learned from
these videos that I would like to apply in my classroom to ensure high
expectation outcomes. Certainly the
project based learning mode is the number one strategy. It is the most
fulfilling teaching experience for me to practice this in my Music classroom. I
expect my students to collaborate and discuss how to perform in unity, problem
solve and think critically to create and compose music, take responsibility of
handling the instruments and take ownership of their performance. Finally, I
want them to be independent learners.
I
would also take from the WBT to implement successful transitions and procedures
such as the “I Say, You Say”, mimicking the teacher’s tone, and adding motion
while reciting the rules. I find these are also great tools in catching student
attention.
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