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Microteaching, Take 2 & Housekeeping: Update for Monday, 22 November 2010

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Microteaching

Thanks to the groups that presented today.  Please watch your video, reflect on it, and submit your analysis – done individually or as a group – to me by Monday, 29 November 2010. Please use the format on the task handout and reviewed in previous posts.

Housekeeping

– Microteaching Analysis Due: If you presented last week, your analysis is due to me today.  Thanks.

– EDUC 315 Reminders: Please send me a copy of (1) a lesson you taught and your reflection on it, (2) a copy of your SA’s teaching timetable, and (3) your end-of-prac feedback form.  This last item should be the focus of a prac-wrap-up conversation tomorrow.

– Upcoming Classwork Items: (1) Read the Sims article and create an entrance slip for it complete with some of your own possible inquiry questions and (2) complete the Desired Results piece for one or more PLOs you’ll be using as you teach during the 2-Week Prac.  Bring both items to Wednesday’s class, please.

– Unit Plan Conference Schedule: Thanks for signing up for these conferences.  The schedule is below (mine on page 1 and Bob’s on page 2).  All meetings are in SCARFE 1310.  Please bring your completed Desired Results, your thoughts on possible assessment tools, and any key resources that you may use in your teaching to this meeting.

For your reference, here are a few 2-Week Prac unit planned in previous years.  While the template for these units is a little different than the one we’re using, take a look and get a sense of what your finished product might look like:

That’s all for tod… oh wait, I almost forgot.  Here’s a beginning-of-class-rant-related reminder about the importance of handwashing:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOeQh2-ci3M[/youtube]

– Lawrence

EDUC 315 Info, S.S.C., Instructor Think Aloud, Henderson Discussion, and Unit Planning Preview: Update for Wednesday, 10 November 2010

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EDUC 315 Info

– Lesson Plan and Reflection: Please provide a copy of a lesson plan you formally teach and your reflection on the lesson to me, your SA, and your FA (if I’m not your FA).  For lessons taught in weeks 5 or 6 of the Tuesdays prac, the plan should be delivered a minimum of 24 hours in advance of its implementation.  The reflection should follow shortly after the teaching and, again,  should be delivered to me, your SA and your FA (if I’m not your FA).  If you’v already taught a formal lesson and won’t be doing another one, please send the plan you taught from and your reflection on how it went.

– Teacher Timetable Hand In: Thanks to those who delivered me a hard copy or emailed an electronic copy of your timetable.  If you’ve yet to do so, please send it to me by Wednesday, 17 November.  Thanks.

– 2-Week Prac Unit Planning Topic: Be sure to sort out with your SA what topic you will be teaching during the Short Practicum in January.  The sooner you know, the sooner you can get started on considering your desired results and gathering resources.

Stop. Start. Continue.

In an effort to make EDUC 310/316 classes as beneficial for you as possible, I’ve created a survey to get your input on what is working and what’s not thus far.

Here’s a link to the survey:

It will probably take you about five minutes to answer the three questions (anonymously).  When the results are in, I will report out the findings… and take action!

I appreciate your support in my efforts to improve my teaching practice.

Instructor Think Aloud

I expressed my frustration at what I perceive as having too much to do and too little time to do it.  I noted that this was a feeling common to all the instructors/FAs in my office, as we were all struggling with how to address all the material we want to explore with you in rich and meaningful ways given the time constraints we’re working under.  For instance, the irony of presenting you a unit planning structure promoting deep engagement with ideas in a rushed and superficial way isn’t lost on me.

I aim to make all my decisions with respect to what happens in class based on what you need.  Then, after asking for your input on what topic you would like to explore in class today – microteaching or unit planning – and getting your input, we promptly ran out of time to get to the unit planing piece in any meaningful way.  The tension between breadth and depth continues.

(Not Paul) Henderson [Foster Hewitt’s “Henderson” Goal Call] Articles Discussion


– Mental Set: What questions about teaching and learning have you been thinking about while on practicum?

– Objective:

  1. To play with a discussion strategy – Socratic Seminar – that you can use in your classroom
  2. Studying these articles will lay the theoretical framework to help you understand the practice of teacher inquiry so you can thoughtfully engage with an inquiry question during Term 2 in POT/COM class.  The EDUC 310 Course outline describes the intentions, rationale, and evaluation of this task in some detail.  Here’s the outline:

– Input/Modeling: I mentioned that we would be using Socratic Seminar to discuss the ideas in the Henderson articles.  I showed you a video clip on SS and asked a few TCs who had done it about how SS worked.  The video showed an SS in action and that was the (brief) modeling piece.  Here’s the video:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCpBTf7ib0o[/youtube]

– C4U: With a quick show of thumbs, I sought information about the degree to which everyone knew what to do in the SS.  I supervised the conversations as they went on to make sure they were working.

– Practice: You broke into two groups and, with exit slips in hand, shared your thoughts on the articles with the help of our facilitators – Sarah and Miguel.  Each groups process was overseen by two observers in an outside circle.  In fact, I blended SS with Fishbowl, to some degree.

– Closure:  As the time ran out, I asked the groups to end the discussion.  Observers were asked to share what they heard in the discussion and to mention what they noticed about the group dynamic.  Jennifer noted that the conversation would likely have had more active participation by all if seated in a circle, a more inclusive arrangement that the boardroom table set up we used.  Aaron noted that the conversation started with one word answers and then picked up as time went on.  A cautionary tale for all teachers about the need for wait time to let student thoughts develop and conversations deepen before intervening.

Finally, I asked you to write down on your entrance slip one take away idea from today’s SS discussion.  You handed me your entrance/exit slip at the end of class.  Thanks.

If you’re interested in Socratic Seminar as a teaching strategy, there is lots of info about it on the interwebs,  Check out these sites:

Also, here’s a PPT slideshow that breaks down the basics for you:

Unit Planning Preview

If you can, please bring one or two of the really important PLOs that you will be building your 2-week practicum unit around.  In Wednesday, 17 November’s class we will be unpacking those PLOs and looking at what understandings, essential questions, knowledge, and skills flow from those outcomes.  Also, we may consider what assessment evidence will allow to to determine the degree to which the students are developing understanding of your desired results.

Here’s the template we’ll use to unpack the outcomes:

Microteaching

Please check the schedule (on the blog) to see when you present.  Also, review the rubric and bring your flash drive to class so you’re fully ready to go.  I’m looking forward to seeing some engaging lessons on Monday.

Phew!  That’s a long post for a short class.

Take care,

– Lawrence

EDUC 315 Info, POT/COM Calendar, and UBD Unit Planning: Update for Wednesday, 3 November 2010

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EDUC 315 Information

– Anecdotal Observation Forms:  I handed out a few triplicate observation forms for use by your SA as she or he observes your lessons.  Most SAs prefer to write up their notes on the computer as the lesson progresses but some observations – namely movement around the classroom – lend themselves almost exclusively to writing by hand.  Please deliver these forms to your SA and, if they want more, let me know so I can deliver them.

– Computer Passwords: You will need an SD43 or SD40 username and password to access district email and other online resources.  The sooner you can get these, the better.  To do so, please see the secretaries in the office.  One of them may be able to do this for you or, at the very least, they will be able to give you the name of the school’s computer site contact.  The site contact should be able to make the request for your usernames and passwords.   Let me know if you run into a snag here.

– Overhead Transparencies: [NOTE: This suggestion was given to my by Jan, the lead secretary at Minnekhada, and I’m passing it on to you at her request.] Unfortunately, acetate sheets used to make overhead transparencies have a bad habit of getting stuck in photocopiers and melting on the machine’s rollers.  This can put a copier out of commission for days.  So, before you attempt to make an overhead, I recommend requesting a quick tutorial.

– Yellow “Preparing For Success in Your Initial Practica” Handout: I urged you to take a look at this document that I passed out during our Pre-Practicum Preparation Seminar in September and make note of what you have already accomplished and what’s left to do.  You needn’t do everything on the list but it does give you a good idea of activites to engage in as the 2nd half of the Tuesdays prac kicks in.

Here’s a copy if yours has gone walkabout:

– End of Practicum Paperwork: You’re keeping informal reflections and your SA is taking informal notes on the lesson(s) you are delivering at this point.  The only formal paperwork that needs to be taken care of is this one-pager to be completed just before the final Tuesday on 23 November.  I recommend bringing a printed copy to school on that day so you can discuss your completed form with your SA.  Your SA should return the favour.  For easy reference, here are the forms.  By the way, they both gather the same information, but the TC one is in the first person:

POT/COM Calendar

There are a few out of the ordinary things taking place over the next few days so I wanted you to have the heads up.  Here goes:

Monday, 8 November 2010

  • 9:30 – 11:00: Communication Needs of Aboriginal Children and Families Lecture – First Nations House of Learning
  • 11:10 – 12:00: eFolio Presentation from eCoaches in SCARFE 1007 – Computer Lab
  • 12:00 – 12:30: Microteaching Preparation Time

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

  • 10:00 – 11:00 – Working with UBD Stage 1 – Desired Results & Discussing the Henderson article (Be sure to have your entrance slip ready to go)

NOTE: Bonus points to anyone who says the author’s name with the same flair as Foster Hewitt does while making this classic call from 1972:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMf2fAXPS1Q[/youtube]

UBD Unit Planning

In preparation for today’s look at UBD unit planning, I had you read the article “Put Understanding First” by UBD creators Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins.  I then had you pull three key words from your entrance slip and write those words down on a slip of paper.  Here’s the list of words that the class wrote down:

impacting challenging exciting transfer cross-curriculum questions scaffolding critical thinking frustration first rung public syllabus meaningful sequence rethink meaningful practical regurgitate meaning purposeful untraditional order focus facilitator meaningful opportunity practice understanding transfer meaning boring stimuli meaningful-sequence questioning political agora transfer meaning acquisition understanding strategies different approaches application-task guided-transfer pressured meaning connections critical thinking unclear-goals make-meaning transfer-learning transfer-ability life-skills connect-to-practical transfer boring captivate connection application inquiry

Amanda kindly entered all these words into the Create page of Wordle.net and we created this image:

According to the website:

“Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.”

Wordles have many applications in a classroom setting.  I urge you to think about how you can use this software in the work you do with your students on practicum.

The Wordle highlighted several key ideas promoted by McTighe and Wiggins in their UBD unit planning model.  I elaborated on this model in my PPT presentation and we will continue to look at unit planning in subsequent lessons.  Here’s my slideshow:

‘Til Monday.

– Lawrence

Magic Lessons, Conceptions of Teaching, and a Few Bits and Pieces: Update for Monday, 1 November 2010

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Delivery of the Magic Lessons

After considering how an ability to do magic tricks might be useful for a classroom teacher and reviewing the goal of this task – to comprehend and apply the Lesson Design components through the planning and delivery of a lesson, each group taught what they had planned.

The post-conference was structured around answering the questions:

  • What worked? Why?
  • What didn’t work? Why?
  • What next? Why?

When all lessons were delivered and debriefed, we revisited the Lesson Design Anticipation Guide that I used to introduce the topic.  Also, I urged you to use the Lesson Design structure when planning lessons of your own during prac.  It is tried, true and allows for a great deal of flexibility in the way learning experiences are structured.

Here’s a LD lesson planning template for you to use:

In addition, here are a few sample lessons from previous TCs that show you what a completed LD lesson plan might look like:

By the way, here’s an advanced version of Cups and Balls performed by Penn & Teller in Vegas.  Enjoy… but don’t try these tricks on your waterbed!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPyvAtQYVok[/youtube]

Inquiry Article Processing

We used the Carousel Brainstorming strategy to process the 2 articles – Freire & Danylewycz and Prentice – read for a prior class.  At the end, of this activity, I asked you to complete an exit slip that was a reflection on any new ideas that emerged during your thinking on and talking about the articles.  Overall, the goal was to examine conceptions of teaching – past, present, and yours (… for the moment, at least.)

Here are the three questions that guided our examination of the articles:

  1. What are some present day understandings of teaching and teachers?
  2. What are some historically significant understandings of teaching and teachers?
  3. What understandings do you hold about teaching and teachers?

Instructions for Carousel Brainstorming (Lipton, L., & Wellman, B. (1998).  Patterns and practices in the learning-focused classroom.  Guilford, Vermont: Pathways Publishing.) are below:

Revised EDUC 310/316 Calendar

I wrote the updated calendar on the board.  Here’s an electronic copy:

Permission to Capture Video / Still Images While on Practicum

We will be asking you to videotape at least one lesson on your long practicum and, to do that, you will need permission from the parents of your students.  Most students will have signed some form of consent for photography at the start of the year.  You need to find out who has consented and if the permission given extends to you taking video and still images for your educational purposes, namely for use in your ePortfolio and for the analysis of a videotaped lesson.

Here is a form you should use to get the required permissions, if need be.  Be sure to add in the details where prompted and, before you copy the letter to send home, to proofread the file to make sure it reads in a way you’re comfortable with.  While the gist of the letter should remain the same, you can feel free to make subtle tweaks to the style:

[NOTE:  This is a different form from the one I first posted.  There were some significant concerns with a lack of clarity in the original letter. – LH on 3 Nov 2010]

Print out one, copy as many as you need for the students in your home room, and hand them out.  Set a due date and over the Tuesday visits collect them in.  You have a lot of time on your hands now so you can chase those who have late forms.  Also, this will give you another opportunity to connect with the students in your class.

Looking Ahead to Unit Planning

As per the revised calendar, we will be starting to look at unit planning on Wednesday.  In preparation, I’ve asked you to read the article linked to below and to design an entrance slip – using the same process as the entrance slips you followed for the Inquiry Articles – for use in Wednesday’s lesson. Use this link to the article if you didn’t receive a copy in class.

See you on Wednesday.

– Lawrence

PRO-D Ideas, POT Reading, & Lesson Design: Update for Monday, 18 October 2010

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After fielding a few questions about the first day of the Tuesdays Practicum we got down to new business.  Here’s what happened;

PRO-D Day on Friday, 22 October

This provincial PRO-D day is a great opportunity for you to participate in some outstanding professional learning conferences. Most Provincial Specialist Associations (PSAs) organize a conference on this day and they offer reduced rates for teacher candidates.

You can access a list of PSAs and their websites (with conference info and registration) here.  Please note that there are general-subject conferences that may be of wider interest at the middle years level. PITA puts on one:

The advantage of attending a PSA day, apart from lots of learning, access to resources and networking, is the annual membership that is included, thus opening up many other professional learning opportunities during the year and beyond.

EDUC 310 Reading Schedule

We are transitioning from EDUC 316 – Communications to EDUC 310 – Principles of Teaching in our sessions.  As such, we will begin a series of POT-related readings and discussions.  Full details on the readings and the reading schedule can be found in the EDUC 310 Course Outline.  This was handed out earlier in the term but I’ve re-posted it here for easy reference:

For class on Monday, 25 October please read the following pieces from the EDUC 310 Reading Package (available for purchase at the bookstore):

  • Friere, P. (1998). Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters To Those Who Dare Teach. Westview Press, pp. 39-46.
  • Danylewycz, M. & Prentice, A. (1991). Teachers’ work: Changing patterns and perceptions in the emerging school systems of 19th– and early 20th-century central Canada.  In Prentice, A. & Theobald, M. R. (Eds.). Women Who Taught. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 136-159.

During- or post-reading, please complete an Entrance Slip that will serve as your “Ticket In The Door” to Monday’s class.  This response – that may be done in any format you wish (writing, drawing, collage, painting, interpretive dance, and the like), as long as it covers the content – is intended to help you to prepare for class discussion by focusing your attention on ideas, questions, and issues provoked by the readings.

The following questions may guide you as you prepare each week:

  • What does this text say that struck you?  Why?
  • What questions does the text provoke?  Why?
  • What ideas, events, or images does the text illuminate or challenge?
  • What dilemmas, tensions, or contradictions are evident?
  • How does the text intersect with (inform, challenge) your own understanding (of teaching, learning, knowing)?

Your Entrance Slip need not be lenghty.  For instance, if you choose to write your thoughts, a paragraph or so will suffice.

At the end of each class we will devote 5 to 10 minutes for writing Exit Slips.  These slips will allow you to return to your initial questions (in the Entrance Slip) and to reflect on them in light of class discussion.  Of course, something new may emerge in the context of class discussion and you may wish to focus your exit slip on that new idea.

Lesson Design: A Framework for Lesson Planning

In preparation for the lesson you’ll teach in your practicum classroom and for the microteaching task you’ll be completing as a part of this class, we turned our focus to Lesson Design, a model for planing instruction.  I followed this steps to introduce the topic:

  • Destinations Revisited (Sharing the Objective)

I showed a slide from the PPT presentation I used at the start of the year to set the context for the class.  I would be focusing on content today and weaving in teaching strategies and skills.

  • Introduction to Microteaching (Sharing the Objective)

I handed out the task sheet – Microteaching Task & Rubric 10-11 – and gave you time to find a group to work with.  In the end, we have 9 groups – 7 triads and 2 partnerships.  They are as follows:

  • Alice & Amber
  • Farisha, Kat K., & Sarah
  • Melanie, Tyrel, & Aaron
  • Amanda, Caitlin, & Kat M.
  • Sally, Ian, & Miguel
  • Jennifer & Lou
  • Lars, Jeremy, & Ross
  • Christian, Shaun, & Devin
  • Leanne, Jenna, & Maria

I asked you to consider topics of interest and noted that, seeing as you only have 20 minutes maximum in which to teach, you should keep your topic narrow; the (sexist, in hindsight) advice I give to my students when they are choosing a topic is as follows: Focus on a man, not man.  Teaching a simple skill works best, generally, although some TCs have had success with knowledge-centred presentations.  Here are few examples of presentations done in previous years:

  • How to perform the basic salsa step
  • How to perform CPR safely and effectively
  • How to make conversations work
  • How to make a drink tag
  • How to tie 4 knots: the bowline, the half hitch, loop knot, and the truckers hitch.
  • How to taste wine like a snob
  • 3 tips for taking better photographs

For next Monday’s class, please have your topic confirmed.  On that day we’ll pick the presentation order.  Lessons will be delivered in class on Monday, 15 November and Monday, 22 November.

  • Lesson Design – Anticipation Guide (Mental Set)

In preparation for our examination of the components of an effective lesson, I asked you to consider some statements related to lesson planning in an Anticipation Guide.  This is a very effecitve pre-reading strategy and it generated some interesing conversations in class.  Here are the statements you responded to:

Here are some details on one way to implement the Anticipation Guide strategy – Anticipation Guide Directions – and a link to a page on Anticipation Guides from the very good and very Canadian (it’s out of Saskatchewan) Instructional Strategies Online website.

  • Lesson Design Components Jigsaw (Input / Information & Check for Understanding)

I organized a Jigsaw as a means to process the content information related to the 7 components of Lesson Design.  You started in a home (or base) group, moved to an expert group to discuss one portion of the material, and then returned to home group to share your findings.  To aid info gathering process, I provided you with a graphic organizer designed around the organization of the reading from Bennett and Rolheiser’s Beyond Monet: The Artful Science of Instructional Ingegration. Here’s the chart:

After returning to home groups, each group member taught the others what they had learned.  In the end, all group members should know all of the content.  I tested this using a version of the Numbered Heads Together strategy to check for understanding.  NHT is a powerful strategy for building knowledge and randomizing participation.  The PDF below has details on how to use NHT in your classroom:

  • Lesson Plan Analysis (Modelling)

In an effort to model the LD process, I took a moment to break down my lesson plan into its component parts.  I aimed to include all 7 compoenents but, at this point had only done 5.  See the headings above for the breakdown.

  • This Is Where the Magic Happens (Practice)

With a nod to the wonderfully funny animated film Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, I introduced the magic tricks that would provide the content for the lesson’s guided practice piece.  Here’s the trailer for this little gem that was one of my favourite films of 2009:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP9wtdwgeok&feature=&p=CE0999AA7FAD93C5&index=0&playnext=1[/youtube]

The goal was to work with a partner to learn one magic trick, either Cups and Balls or Spell-a-Card. In the end, you will work together to create a lesson using the 7 components of Lesson Design to teach your magic trick to a partnership that learned a different trick.  It was a bit confusing at first – my bad! – but, eventually, we got things sorted.

We’ll pick up the lesson planning piece in next Monday’s session.  Don’t worry, you’ll have time to review the tricks on the DVD and practice before you have to perform it for your audience.

Cheers,

– Lawrence