LLED 360

I really enjoyed the games we played with Graham for a lot of reasons; the first one being that I love playing games, especially after being in Drama/Theatre in highschool for 5 years and being a camp and orientations leader. I love playing ice breakers, low to high risk games, and improv games; it’s a way to get familiar with a group of people (read: class). Certain games also show different dynamics with the group of players. When we played the stomping game, you could see which group of people synched well; you could see the mischievous people intentionally altering the rhythm; and you could get a feel that we became more comfortable with each other as our rhythm became more consistent around the ring.

An important literacy for teachers to have is energy and body  literacy. A teacher should be able to read the room and see where the student’s levels of energy are and hopefully adjust their lecture accordingly. It’s pretty bad to see a very enthusiastic teacher tying to push her super -duper activity on a very low energy crowd, or seeing the same class fall asleep because the lesson was super dry.

Another thing that is interesting about these sorts of games is that they do not require English literacy. There was one student who came late to the stomping game yet he knew how to play almost immediately after observing. These sorts of games are very intuitive and could be used with all sorts of ELLs and proficient English speakers together.

-Linh

Ironically, as I was reading through this chapter on classroom discussions, many activities in this class as well as a few of my other classes were also focused on simulating and practicing meaningful classroom discussion. Participating in a variety of discussion activities from think-pair-share to the horseshoe continuum as well as reading through chapter 5 in the Zwiers textbook really solidified for me the impact classroom discussion can have on the type of learning that can take place. Even as university students and future educators, we too can at times forget how to stimulate discussion and discuss in an open-minded and non-judgemental manor and it was interesting to see the different ways our instructors managed and guided the discussion forum – especially when discussing hot topics such as assessment and corporate presence in high schools. Regarding this week’s reading, I was particularly interested in the 8 suggestions Zwiers discussed on page 115 about how to improve discussion-leading abilities as educators. Children lead by example, and if we as educators can be successful, open-minded discussers, then our students are likely to adopt those same strategies. I really liked the first strategy Zwiers mentions about motivating students with current issues, mysteries, and case studies – to list a few – because I think it’s really important to get students excited about discussion. We need to make it relevant for them and hook them in so that they will get excited about discussing. We do not need to limit talking about this such as Shakespeare just to the book, but also link it to current issues in order to make it more real and relevant for our students. Another suggestion I connected with in the reading was number 4 which talked about strategically redirecting tangential comments back to the main point of discussion. Often times children do have a lot to say, especially when excited about the discussion, and may go a bit off track. However, I do not think they should be punished for this by being made to feel like they answered or responded wrong. My grade 10 English teacher was great at doing this when we as a class would be discussing poetry or a novel we were reading. He never made it seem like our responses were wrong, even if they were quite off-track. He found some way to validate any response and then steer it back in the right direction, which I think was great because he made everyone feel like they were contributing to the discussion and it encouraged us to continue to participate. Finally, I really liked Zwiers last suggestion, number 8, where he suggests creating a list of class norms for classroom discussion. As tedious as this sounds, I think having the students contribute in deciding discussion etiquette will help them become more open-minded participants as well as hold them accountable when they do get fired up or opinionated about different topics. This way, everyone is clear about the expectations and will be more likely to follow them.

This chapter was enriched with practical advice and tips on the difficult but essential task of fostering classroom discussion. I recently heard from one of the instructors in this program that BC’s Ministry of Education is beginning to refer to teachers as “facilitators of learning”––an apt title I think for the topic of this chapter. There is no surprise that current teacher education is moving away from what Pablo Freire refers to as the “banking concept of education” where we simply store a wealth of information into the minds of our students, hoping with all out hearts that they can retain it. I like how one of the ways the reading challenges this is through the questioning of our the questions we use as teachers. Thinking of my experiences, I realize I need to definitely give people more time to think about my questions before quickly jumping in to rephrase it or add another layer onto it. I also found the various “activities to improve discussion” section highly informative. My personal favorite is that “simulation” activity––I think that is a wonderful way, if done correctly, for students to tangibly and critically step into the content, and to begin to engage with the ideas on a more close level. Overall I found this chapter exploding with relevance and usefulness for us teachers, it is definitely worth revisiting when I start planing my lessons for my practicum.

For my inquiry class this week, each student must bring 3-4 significant objects for a class activity. For our activity, we must divide ourselves into groups of 2-3 students and interview another person on their objects. Each interviewer’s task is to ask questions that explore their classmate’s thoughts and beliefs about education, with the ultimate goal of interpreting their partner’s teaching philosophy.

In our LLED360 reading this week there is a section where Zwiers emphasizes how important it is for teachers to focus more on the process of group work activities, rather than the product (139). This idea resonated with me because it reminded me of my own interpretation of one of my significant objects, and how it relates to my thoughts on education. One of my objects is a Polaroid camera that was given to me on my 21^st birthday from a group of my closest friends. I love taking pictures because it helps to capture past memories of my life. I have always believed that the journey is more important than the destination, and I can relate this to one of my views on education. As important as it is for teachers to focus on getting their students to learn a prescribed outcome, I believe it is more important for them to focus the bulk of their time in planning and executing different fun and engaging ways that will help their students to learn the content.

For example, the most prominent memories of my vertebrate structure and function course consisted of everything I learned during the fascinating lab dissections I got to do. Having to compare and contrast the different forms and functions of different vertebrate classes was easier to accomplish when my lab partners and I got to work together and share our ideas on why certain traits evolved in different groups and how these traits may help a particular group survive. Not only did I learn course content through these lab activities, but I also learned how to respect my group members by providing appropriate academic responses to what they said (especially when I disagree with them). When I look back on this course, my group work in labs definitely stood out more than my memories of sifting through endless pages of lecture notes.

This week I found the focus on classroom discussions particularly interesting. Most teachers take advantage of the educational benefits of student discussions, though the way teachers go about facilitating these discussions can be very different. I have been in many classes where teachers would initiate a class discussion with a few questions and wait until someone responds, with little or no prompts; often in these scenarios the class is silent except for the one or two students that would maintain the discussion.

On the other side of the spectrum, I have had a class where the teacher insisted that all students must speak and at the beginning of each seminar we would go around and respond individually to the readings, the teacher often supplying additional questions related to each student’s response. There was virtually no group interaction save the conversation the teacher was having with the student while the rest of the class watched.

Clearly neither is ideal: a more balanced approach would be much more effective in encouraging the collaborative development of ideas. In our education classes we would often use the think-pair-share approach where students can gather their thoughts and discuss with a small number of people before sharing with the class. This method is highly applicable to the high school classroom in that it allows students the opportunity to prepare and organize their thoughts before sharing; in addition, it gives shyer and/or ELL students a chance to share their thoughts in a lower-risk setting, allowing these students to feel that they have contributed to the discussion even if they do not choose to share in front of the class later. Oftentimes unwillingness to share in class does not necessarily indicate that students have nothing to say, but rather they do not feel comfortable enough to share. Therefore, it is the teacher’s/facilitator’s responsibility to ensure a safe environment where students do not feel the pressure to give the “right” responses.

“Math text differs greatly from a novel, which differs from a science textbook chapter, which differs from a historical document” (p.163).

Throughout blogs, I have mentioned how language is not only a barrier in English class, but also in other classes. Chapter Seven points out various ways to help students with academic reading. One method I really liked was Partner Problem Solving. The textbook shows how the activity can be used to solve a math problem. I, however, believe that this activity can be used in any subject. For example, the problem solver and listener can reflect on Shakespeare play through this activity.

I think this would be a great activity for my economics or accounting classes. In economics or accounting classes, there is minimal interaction between students. Often, the classes involve lecture and independent problem solving. Through this activity, students can interact and think aloud their processes. This would also be a great exercise to help ELLs with their language development.

Working in small groups has been found to be one of the most successful ways of providing a more intimate learning environment and necessitates participation from the students who may stand to benefit from it the most. The potential of this format is often squandered on activities that require little to no critical thinking. The time and resources needed to organize and facilitate stimulating group work often seem so consuming that they may be entirely overlooked by educators.

Group discussion can be split into two formats: seminars and deliberations. The seminar is one of the most widely used formats as it requires a great deal of critical thought and active participation from all students, a collaborative process which can lead. Deliberations require abstract predictive thought to take all factors into consideration to determine an appropriate course of action. Many group activities benefit from an often organically occurring combination of these two forms.

It is much more important that new content and concepts are thoroughly learned than simply exposing students to a larger quantity of material while receiving little in-depth coverage. Small group discussions allow students the opportunity to engage with the material in a way that is otherwise impossible with traditional lecture-based mode of instruction. Students can exercise their comprehension of new concepts and language, develop their own thoughts, and guide one another towards deeper, holistic understanding.

Everyone has had frustrating experiences in the classroom with small groups. In my practice, I intend to implement small groups whenever it is appropriate to do so, but will be sure to avoid situations where students may become dependent on one another for assessments. It is this interdependence that can potentially lead to a great deal of inequity in engagement and discord within the group. When the scope of the work is reduced and the pressure of assessment is eliminated, students may begin to thrive and develop without any kind of external impediment.

I really enjoyed the activities Graham took us through on Wednesday’s class, as I’ve always been interested in bringing drama into the classroom. One that I think would be very helpful to ELL’s is On the Line. The premise is that the teacher or leader of the game presents two opposing statements, and each is tied to an end of the line. Students then place themselves along the line depending on what their answer is. I had played this game before as an icebreaker activity, but seeing it in the context of last class made me aware of the potential benefits for ELL students. It may be easier for students to place themselves spatially than to explain in words or writing how they’re doing. It’s also more dynamic than sitting the entire class. In an English class, I can imagine using this with a question such as “do you find this character relatable” or something along those lines, have the students line up, and talk to people near them to prompt discussion. The only thing that may be an issue is asking about understanding, and having students, ELL or not, feel self conscious standing at the end of the line for not understanding, especially in front of their peers.

Wednesdays class with Graham was an interesting experience. The class played a series of theatre games that Graham had led before we ended up working on our lesson plans again. One game was a simplified version of May I? In this game the class stands in a circle and one student initiates the action. To do this a student has to may direct eye contact with another student and show a hand gesture towards the student that indicates that they would like to come over. The student who is being signalled to acknowledges by saying yes and the student who made the gesture then can proceed to walk over. It is then up to the student who said yes to continue the hand gesture to another classmate so on and so forth. During the run of the game classmates would get confused who was looking at who are started to walk without even asking permission and once in awhile there was small confusion. Granted this all took place in a small work space and there were many people involved. But that only stressed the fact that the participants had to be very specific with their eye contact and gesture.

What struck me was that over the last two months our class has been discussing the importance of language. The idea of “bricks” and “mortar” words that will help us communicate our disciplines language to students. But what we need to do os learn to communicate with our students starts even before we open our mouths. If we cannot make direct eye contact and be physically engaged with what we are presenting then we may have already lost the students attention before we begin to speak.

I think that Zwiers’ academic collaborative skills are extremely important n math because they are very similar to skills that students need to have to effectively do individual work. Working in groups where students are able to develop these types of skills will also help them develop their individual skills and make them better equipped to succeed in math class. Given the right pairings/groupings, students who are better at these skills will be able to model them for other students who need extra work.

Over the last month of so in this program, I have become a big fan of using group activities to get students to explore and discover mathematical relations on their own. The approach seems very effective to me for many reasons. First, I think it increases the likelihood that students will be able to remember the material. As a student, I always remembered the concepts that I discovered on my own more than concepts that were dictated to me in a way that made them something for me to memorize or forget. Second, I think it allows students to use and develop their academic collaboration skills. Similar to the idea of using language to authentically do and think from chapter 3, these are skills that need to be developed, honed, and used on a regular basis. In terms of these skills, I think the idea of ‘use it or lose it’ is very relevant. Lastly, I think that these types of group situations can be very helpful in exploring the relationships between different mathematical concepts and finding and understanding multiple ways of approaching the same problem. Students are able to come to a shared understanding in some situation, as Zwiers suggests, but in math they are often able to do this in a variety of ways. Working together can give students an opportunity to see different approaches to problems which can help develop their understanding and, ultimately, make them more well-rounded math students.

Some of the group/pair techniques are difficult to use effectively in a math classroom but I was drawn to the idea of using a jigsaw type of technique. Once again drawing on the idea of having students solve the same question using different methods, I think an activity where students are given the same question and then break off into groups to solve it could be very effective. Different groups could solve the question and then present their methods to the classroom. Some groups may have come up with ways of solving the problem(s) that other groups did not think of. This could be really effective as an end of the year review activity.