Category Archives: Reflection

Popsicle Stick Participation

Today I tried a new method for engaging all students in discussion. I have a great group of students who have a ton of ideas to share. I have noticed that sometimes, there a few quieter students who get lost in the mix because I have so many students who are willing to share and discuss. This technique involves giving each student 3 Popsicle sticks. By the end of the discussion each student must have given away one Popsicle stick. For students who have a lot of ideas to share, they can only share 3 times. This encourages quieter students to share and students with lots of ideas to think about what they are choosing to share. I found this technique worked effectively for my students. I saw students who like to share a lot stop to think about what they were going to share and make their sharing count. Some students chose to share comments that were not always on task and were disappointed when there Popsicle sticks were gone and they could not share anymore.

All students contributed to our discussion on explorers and exploration and the energy and excitement in the room was tangible. Towards the end of the discussion some students had not shared and I made sure to check in with them to see if they needed more think time. Giving these students think time allowed them to feel safe when sharing and also gave other students the opportunity to have another turn to speak. I was particularly pleased to hear some well-thought out answers from students who rarely share in a group discussion. I plan to use this strategy again because I think it is beneficial to all students. Students learn that there opinions and thoughts are valuable and add to the discussion. I hope to encourage the quieter students to share on their own as they become more comfortable voicing their opinions in front of the class. I also hope to help students who love to share think about using their Popsicle sticks to share in a meaningful way that enriches the conversation.

I found that from an assessment perspective this was a low-tech way to quickly check in with my students on their understanding of the topic. I was able to tell who was following the conversation and understood the questions. Once everyone had shared I felt confident that all students understood what an explorer is.

At the end I still had 6-7 students who wanted to share and still had Popsicle sticks left. There was not enough time to have all students share in a big group and I felt that our class discussion and yielded a rich variety of answers. I had my students quickly pair up and share their remaining thoughts on the topic with a partner. I was then able to engage with a few students close to me who had questions or who had a thought they wanted to share with me.

Through the Eyes of a Student

I am half way through my 10 week practicum and taking a moment to reflect on teaching. I recently realized that before the practicum started I was thinking about my unit and lesson plans through the eyes of teaching and a teacher. I have begun to understand that my thinking has shifted and I am more and more seeing my lessons through the eyes of a student. When I began to plan I had not been with my students for an extended period of time. I had begun to get to know them as students and people but I didn’t really know them that well. I planned all these lessons and units for people that I was trying to visualize. Now as I teach them daily I have gotten to know them on a deeper, more personal level.

I am constantly learning new things about them as learners and as I result I am slowly getting better at teaching this group of learners. My class is no longer a semi-abstract group of students. Every day we learn and grow together and I make changes to our day and our lessons based on their needs and interests. There are days when things don’t go well or a lesson flops but I always know that the next day is a fresh start and we can try it again tomorrow.

There are also days when things go well. I have had many of those moments when I can clearly see, hear, and even feel that students are engaged in their learning. Science has been a great opportunity to try many different things with my students including incorporating technology. My students have researched, experimented, discussed and thought about, and learned about landforms, erosion, and biomes. We have gotten dirty outside doing erosion experiments. This was one of my favourite moments for three reasons:

One of the experiments did not go as planned and we had a 30 minute discussion afterwards about how the erosion was supposed to work and what we could learn from this experience.
Students were able to clearly describe three types of erosion using drawings and words the following day.
During student led-conferences students were excited to introduce me as the teacher with whom they did science experiments. They then demoed land erosion at the back of the classroom for their parents.

Learning about biomes has provided many great “learnable” moments. Students had the opportunity to teach their peers about different biomes of the world. As a teacher I learned two important lessons:

That students often need to be provided with detailed steps for various skills such as researching.
Once they have those skills, they are able to soar far beyond my initial expectations.

I was blown away by the presentations that students created. They had truly pushed themselves to learn about their biomes and to teach others in an interesting way. I was pleased to share this assignment with parents and students via Fresh Grade and to leave a few comments for students to reflect on. This gave me an insight into the value of a tool like Fresh Grade.

Students continue to learn about biomes in science this time with a focus on protecting BC’s biomes. I look forward to continuing to learn and grow through the eyes of my students.

Learning Doesn’t Have to be Boring

This weekend I was struggling to create a Social Studies unit on the fur trade. I had too many ideas bouncing around in my head and was struggling to pull them together. I went to two of my brothers who are in high school to bounce some ideas off of them. I said to my brothers, “Basically I don’t want Social Studies to be boring or worksheets, but not being boring or using worksheets it hard!” My one brother responded by saying, “That sounds like a good teacher because that’s what Social Studies usually is.” Now I know that there is a time and a place for teachers to use worksheets because they can serve a purpose when they are meaningful. Learning on the other hand should never be boring! My brothers have had some awesome teachers and I know they have had meaningful learning experiences but we have all had boring experiences as well. I know as a teacher that my students will find lessons I teach boring, however, I want to fight against creating boring lessons and units. I also don’t want to get so caught up in trying to create fun, exciting learning experiences that my lessons lose a sense of purpose and direction. This is the struggle that I and many other new teachers are wrestling with.

I’m an Art Teacher!

On Thursday my students once again engaged in a visual art journal lesson. This lesson had two major changes: first, it was taught in the afternoon and second, it was 1 ½ hours rather than 45 minutes long. I noticed a big difference in the energy in the room by doing this activity in the afternoon. The room was louder than when they have worked in the morning and the students were talking to one another much more. I had to decide whether this environment was productive or not. After walking around, listening to the conversations and watching the students work, I noted that most students were discussing their work and sharing different techniques they were trying for sketching. I also noted that students who were not talking about their work appeared to be on task.

An added component to this lesson was a brainstorming session about the techniques involved in sketching. I had created a few sketches as well as a video of myself sketching. I had the students watch the video and provide feedback for techniques they noticed me using in my sketching. They did an amazing job of brainstorming and came up with about 10-12 things they noticed. Once we had finished watching the video and brainstorming I decided to have the students choose 3 main things that they would focus on in their sketches that day. They replied that they wanted to choose 4! They chose to focus on smudging, not using an eraser, shading, and focusing on little bits at a time. This framework provided a great opportunity for me to do formative assessment based on a student created criteria. These criteria then allowed me to point students to specific criteria to try as I walked around and discussed their work with them.

After we had brainstormed about sketching, we brainstormed connections to the picture as we had done the previous week. One thing I noticed in both of these brainstorms is that almost every student raised their hand to share and make connections. Several students who I do not often see participating in group discussions were excited to participate and even put up their hand to share multiple times. I am unsure what led to this increased participation. It is possible that by the afternoon the students were more engaged in thinking. The increased energy and collaborative brainstorming might have also created a safe space for students to share. It is also possible that students connected better to this picture.

By creating the video and sketches myself I believe this helped to create the positive energy and sharing space. The students were surprised that I had created my own sketches (they also thought I was a really good artist which I’m not). I was open with the students that I had decided to try sketching without an eraser, something that I had asked them to do and they had struggled with. I think that they felt both challenged and more willing to persevere in not using an eraser when they saw that I was willing to try it and was able to create a good sketch without erasing. By watching the video, they also got some techniques for how to “fix” things they didn’t like without using an eraser. I believe that by being vulnerable by showing my own art and relating to the students by discussing my own challenges they felt safer about sharing their work with each other and me.

As I have done this lesson from week to week, I have noticed various students that I don’t always see engaged in work or who have difficulty getting started, deeply engaged in this activity. One boy who both struggles with getting started and finishing work on time has not only gotten to work immediately but this week he created five sketches compared to the first week when he created just one. Another boy who doesn’t always enjoy art was deeply engaged in the sketching this week. He was excited to show me his work and was covered in pencil lead from smudging. He excitedly said to me, “I created wind using smudging!” He also helped other students with the smudging techniques he had discovered. Several other students also played with smudging trying different techniques such as using a Kleenex.

Once again I have been struck by how this activity has helped me connect to the students. By consistently teaching this lesson each week this has become my activity. The students connect this activity to “Ms. Schoepp”. While I have had some good success with this lesson I don’t want it to become stagnant. Next week I hope to push the students to continue to work on sketching techniques. I also hope to bring in an artifact rather than a picture from a book. I noticed this week that after creating their first connection to the picture many students wanted to sketch what was in their head. I believe a number of the students would be capable of sketching without a stimulus. However, I have two reasons for continuing to have an inspiration. The first reason is that some students would not be able to engage in this activity without something to connect to. The second, is that “I can make connections to a picture (or now artifact) has been one of my lesson objectives because making connections is an important part of the grade 3/4 curriculum.

Playing With Technology

So far I have focused on using technology to record, share, and reflect on the learning journey. Today I was struck by how technology could be used to guide student learning and develop perseverance. Technology can help to track student progress, thinking, and failures. I attended a Makerspace workshop on Thursday evening and had the opportunity to explore Dot and Dash, Little Bits, Sphero, Osmo, and more. These various technologies had several things in common: they encouraged creativity and inquiry based learning. Many of the technologies allowed students to track their progress. Using these types of technologies lend itself to opportunities for formative assessment. This indirect connection between technology and formative assessment allows teachers greater opportunities to observe and assess student learning. While students work, play and explore with technology, teachers can be observing and assessing as well as taking photos and videos of students while they work. This can then allow teachers to upload these photos and videos and provide students opportunities to self-reflect on themselves learning. By reflecting on themselves learning, they might gain a new perspective on a problem they were working on that they didn’t recognize while they were engrossed in learning. Technology is now giving students access to new learning experiences such as coding which is offered through something like Dot and Dash. Technology provides students with new ways to visualize a problem as well as discover a new passion. This allows teachers to provide students with multi-modal learning experiences.

Self-Reflection as Formative Assessment

Reflection can take many forms. We can reflect alone or with others, reflect on experiences or on work, reflect at the beginning and end of a process. Whatever the form, self-reflecting can be powerful. Kallick and Costa state: “Reflecting on work enhances its meaning. Reflecting on experiences encourages insight and complex learning (2008).” Self-reflection can be a back and forth process between student and teacher.

Through technology students can reflect through video, writing, or drawing. The Early Childhood Research and Practice has found that instant video revisiting, which allows students to immediately view videos of themselves working and reflect alongside their teacher, has helped support student learning (Beyne, 2015). Through writing, drawing, and video students can reflect quickly in real time providing an authentic look at their thoughts. Technology also allows students to go back and look at their self-reflections and make meaning from those comments.

In my own teaching practice I have engaged in the process of self-reflection. Recently my students wrote self-reflection comments on an ongoing art activity. They combined various forms of self-reflection techniques including writing and visual representation. They chose one example of their work to upload to Fresh Grade and were then required to write two self-reflective comments. They were required to write one positive comment and one comment of something they could improve on, was hard for them, or something they found hard.

I helped support my students self-reflection by brainstorming questions and comments they could reflect on. Kallick and Costa suggests that it is important for teachers to set the tone for reflecting (2008). They state: “Reflective teachers help students understand that the students will now look back rather than move forward. They will take a break from what they have been doing, step away from their work, and ask themselves, ‘What have I (or we) learned from doing this activity?’ (2008).” By brainstorming with the students first they were able to focus on looking back on the work they had done over the previous weeks.

I was pleased to discover that many of my students not only wrote more than two comments but also wrote very meaningful comments that gave me insight into their process, both the joys and the struggles. By having the students reflect using technology, I was able to respond to their reflections and self-reflect on my own practice. Fresh Grade allows teachers to respond to student’s reflections and in this case see the supporting work that the students are reflecting on. By reading my student’s comments I was also able to see which students loved the activity (most of them commented that they did!) and which ones struggled. I could see individual struggles as well as group struggles. I discovered that the majority of students found the same objective to be a challenge. I then reflected on whether this goal was too challenging or pushed them just enough.

Self-reflection is part of an ongoing process and formative assessment. Technology can play a great role in helping students to document that ongoing process. Not only can students go back and look at their work, they can look back on their self-reflections. The process of good self-reflection is just as important as the work they are self-reflecting on. Costa and Kallick state: “Reflection is the time to consider what was learned from the experience. Reflection is a time to describe what students saw in their own work that changed, needed to change, or might need to be described so another person might understand its meaning (2008).” Writing meaningful self-reflections is an important skill for students to learn.

Beyne, H. (2015). Using technology for self-reflection in the classroom. Retrieved from: http://glpd.greenlightlearningtools.com/blog/2015/02/12/using-technology-self-reflection-classroom/

Costa, A. L. & Kallick, B. (2008). Learning through reflection. In A. L. Costa & B. Kallick (Eds.), Learning and leading with habits of the mind: 16 essential characteristics for success. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Sketching, Reflecting, and Asking Questions

This week I taught a lesson centered around the visual art journal again. This second opportunity to teach a similar lesson provided several important opportunities: a chance for my students to deepen their knowledge and understanding of this lesson, the ability to make adjustments to my execution of the lesson plan last week, and the chance to engage in formative assessment. For my formative assessment I looked through each student’s sketches and wrote comments for myself based on the lesson objectives: making a personal connection to art and sketching is different than making a good copy. I then took my comments and wrote questions to each student on a sticky note rather than the statements. Writing the questions on a sticky note ensures that the artwork is not wrecked. By writing questions to the students this gives them something to think about to improve without making them feel insecure. Statements could make the students feel criticized whereas the questions bring the students into a conversation with me about their work. I can then use those questions to discuss their work with them. Next week the students will be sketching once again and checking for simple, specific criteria. They will then choose one or more of their sketches to upload to Fresh Grade. They will then self-reflect on their sketches thinking about the question on the sticky note as well as a few questions that we will brainstorm together. The art journals in combination with the use of technology will allow students to look back on their journey in improving on sketching and making personal connections to a picture. Already I can see improvements in some of the student’s sketches. I hope to use some of the student’s pictures who demonstrate a strong understanding of sketching to help other students understand how to sketch.

Morning Sketches

Yesterday I introduced a new concept to my students through the morning activity. We opened the morning with a visual journaling art activity. In the activity, I showed the students a picture from a book, Owl Moon, and discussed with the students that they would be making personal connections to the picture. The instructions were given on our carpet area which allowed us to have a more intimate conversation about the activity. I asked the students to tell me some of their ideas about what sketching might entail. They were encouraged to not use erasers as this was not supposed to result in a perfect, final product. Finally, we discussed the learning goals for the activity, making personal connections to a picture and sketching.

When I sent the student’s back to their desks to begin working, there seemed to still be some confusion about the activity. I reworded the objection from “make personal connections” to “What does this picture make you think of?” With prompting from my SA I wrote this question up on the board as a reminder. I decided to wait a minute before giving further instructions about the activity as I noted that 90% of the students seemed to have begun to work. Quickly after, the students got down to work. The room was completely silent and the students were engaged in their sketches. I took this opportunity to walk around the room and ask students to explain their sketches to me. I also helped guide a few students when they got stuck. The students were open to sharing their sketches to me and I heard many great stories and connections to the picture.

In my lesson plan, I had decided that I wanted to play classical music. In the past when I have played music, I have started the music as soon as the instructions have been given. In this instance, I turned the music on after the students were settled and working. This time, the atmosphere did not change in the sense that students continued to be focused on their work. I discussed with my SA how the music provided an even safer environment for the students to share their sketches with me.

Once the students understood the activity, they far exceeded my expectations in making connections and creating sketches. One aspect of the activity that the students were challenged by was the notion that they would not be able to go back to their sketches and “finish” them. My SA and I discussed how they are used to creating a rough draft that leads to a final product. I explained to the students that we would keep their sketches in their art journals but they would not be taking them home or be given time to complete them. This was a great growth opportunity for students as it encouraged them to use their time well but did not force them to have a finished product at the end of the lesson. By placing the sketches in the art journal this will allow students to look back on their sketches and reflect on their progress throughout the year.

My SA and I decided that this lesson was successful and that the students enjoyed the activity. We decided that I would teach this lesson again next week, using a different picture. This will ensure that the learning goals introduced in the lesson will be remembered by the students and become familiar. This activity provides a creative way for them to be creative and get their brains going in the morning. Often morning activities involve writing which can be stressful for some students, particularly my students who need learning support in writing and reading. The students will continue to sketch in their art journals which will create a learning journey in art. For my own learning journey, teaching this lesson again will allow me to make modifications, reflect on how to enhance the assessment aspect, and continue to make personal connections with my students.

Practicum Observations

I have had a lot of opportunities to reflect on my inquiry question: How can technology enhance formative assessment? I have been involved in a number of Fresh Grade meetings, have assisted students in uploading work to Fresh Grade, and today uploaded my own assignment to Fresh Grade. The activity that I had the students working on, About Me (photo scavenger hunt) was uploaded for parents to view on Fresh Grade. I have had a chance to think about assessment through the lens of my lesson plans. While I have not officially assessed anything my SA has encouraged me to think about how I would assess each activity and what the purpose is. For example, with my About Me activity I had to decide what I would assess for in the written portion such as grammar, COPS, or detailed sentences. I ultimately decided I wanted them to focus on detailed sentences because I felt it fit best with the overall Big Idea. Today, when I watched the students orally present the About Me I wrote down comments based on the I Can statements I had written on the board. The day before I made comments on the written aspect. Tomorrow I will have the students do a self-reflection on three key components of the assignment: group work, sentence writing, and oral presentations. I continue to be interested in the self-reflection piece and quality over quantity when it comes to assessment. I have not fully formulated my inquiry question but I am observing lots of helpful things and having interesting conversations with my SA when it comes to assessment.I am also considering the difference between quantity vs. quality.