Thanks to our conversation today in class, I reflected on my reflecting and realize I need to go back and see how many posts I left incomplete--without proper reflection! What I noticed this week is that even sixth graders can be exhausted. Coming off of spring break, there were a lot of really TIRED looking students. I definitely remember tired Kindergartners from Korea, and it's kind of reassuring to know that exhaustion is universal. It's also important to note that I will need to go easy on the students around Christmas, spring break, prom, and ACT/SAT time (I know that prom is overlapped with the ACT exam at the high school).
Another point that my cooperating teacher and I talked about was the differing reactions to the Fukushima video between the boys and girls--the boys were really into it, and the girls were not (this is one of the reasons why I wrote about computer science for my science education article--gender differences in science education have been on my mind). It seems that by ages 11 and 12, there are stereotypical reactions based on gender to different science topics. It's not anything any of the teachers are controlling--it's culturally embedded socialization of boys and girls and something to be aware of.
Last but not least, another thing that stuck out in my mind--which I only am making note of now because of our conversation today in class--is that different teachers allow differing amounts of autonomy in the classroom, in regards to seating arrangements, raising hands, and grouping for collaborative work. I group my students sometimes but mostly let them choose their partners once everyone knows everyone else's name.
It's been my policy since I started grad school to pick partners the first few weeks, until people demonstrate that they know each other's names. The policy stems from my desire to create a classroom community. At the high school, the teachers sometimes pick partners and seating arrangements, in order to promote effective learning environments (I think). I've noticed that the same teachers will exert more or less control in this area during different terms, so the amount of teacher control also depends on the students--a more exuberant class body might lead the teacher to control grouping more than the same teacher would with a calmer student body. Finally, my cooperating teacher says that she does not control seating or grouping; she lets the students decide where to sit, and it works just fine in her classroom. I think that her policy would probably work with me when I teach high school. I am very informal, and I don't think my attitude in class (e.g., silly ferrous-wheel jokes and "Happy Tuesday" announcements) would be consistent with my trying to maintain an authoritarian demeanor.
Here is the original question: Focus on one student in the class. (You may want to pick more than one or a pair of students.) Try to see how much of the class period that student is actively engaged. How did you measure this? Describe directions or activities that engaged the student. Describe what was happening when that student was not actively engaged in the lesson. Explain how you will keep your students actively engaged during your lessons as a science teacher.
Another point that my cooperating teacher and I talked about was the differing reactions to the Fukushima video between the boys and girls--the boys were really into it, and the girls were not (this is one of the reasons why I wrote about computer science for my science education article--gender differences in science education have been on my mind). It seems that by ages 11 and 12, there are stereotypical reactions based on gender to different science topics. It's not anything any of the teachers are controlling--it's culturally embedded socialization of boys and girls and something to be aware of.
Last but not least, another thing that stuck out in my mind--which I only am making note of now because of our conversation today in class--is that different teachers allow differing amounts of autonomy in the classroom, in regards to seating arrangements, raising hands, and grouping for collaborative work. I group my students sometimes but mostly let them choose their partners once everyone knows everyone else's name.
It's been my policy since I started grad school to pick partners the first few weeks, until people demonstrate that they know each other's names. The policy stems from my desire to create a classroom community. At the high school, the teachers sometimes pick partners and seating arrangements, in order to promote effective learning environments (I think). I've noticed that the same teachers will exert more or less control in this area during different terms, so the amount of teacher control also depends on the students--a more exuberant class body might lead the teacher to control grouping more than the same teacher would with a calmer student body. Finally, my cooperating teacher says that she does not control seating or grouping; she lets the students decide where to sit, and it works just fine in her classroom. I think that her policy would probably work with me when I teach high school. I am very informal, and I don't think my attitude in class (e.g., silly ferrous-wheel jokes and "Happy Tuesday" announcements) would be consistent with my trying to maintain an authoritarian demeanor.
Here is the original question: Focus on one student in the class. (You may want to pick more than one or a pair of students.) Try to see how much of the class period that student is actively engaged. How did you measure this? Describe directions or activities that engaged the student. Describe what was happening when that student was not actively engaged in the lesson. Explain how you will keep your students actively engaged during your lessons as a science teacher.
I observed the middle schoolers and my students once and observed the high schoolers twice. I see the middle schoolers once a week and the other students twice a week. I selected a boy and girl for each school, as the middle schoolers especially seem to be differentiated in their interests by gender.
I made a table and checked off every ten minutes when a pre-selected student in periods 3 and 4 at the middle school paid attention during one class period. I checked off every ten minutes when two pre-selected students in physical science at GHS were paying attention in two class periods and when two of my students seemed attentive every ten minutes in one class period. The middle school's class period is 40 minutes long, and I checked at the very beginning through the end of class. The high school's period is one hour long, and I started ten minutes in through the end. My classes are 2:30 hours long, and I just started ten minutes in and went for an hour.
My sampling bias was geared towards challenging myself to observe the momst poker-faced or the seemingly least attentive students in the classrooms. I selected students in the high school whom I thought would not be attentive--the girl is extremely shy, seems uncomfortable, and has an IEP. The boy is extremely outgoing and seems to be engaged in his own conversation much of the time. I selected students from my class based on their inscrutability; I know it must be possible to gauge their expressions if I look hard enough for tell-tale signs, but I picked the students with the best poker faces to challenge myself. Sadly, since I only see the sixth graders once a week, I don't feel like I know them and just picked a girl and a boy at random.
I gauged their attentiveness based on making eye contact appropriately (on the screen, if a movie was going; at the instructor, if s/he was talking, etc.), raising hands to volunteer answers, taking notes, making relevant conversation with group members, and lack of distracted behavior like doodling. However, I do know a lot of visual learners (mostly boys) who are very attentive and don't take notes; they JUST doodle to give themselves something to do while they learn/listen, and they experience a great deal of academic success.
I found that the boy in the middle school paid attention 3/5 times I checked and the girl 2/5 times. Neither of them demonstrated attentiveness at the beginning or ending of the class period. They were engaged with appropriate class activities when doing computer research, working with a group, or watching a movie that interested them. This information is just a rehash of what I've posted before, since we had a movie today, and it was too difficult in the dark to gauge how engaged the children were.
At GHS, I found the girl to have a good poker face herself. It is difficult to what extent she is uncomfortable versus disengaged with the class. She was attentive 1 or 2 times out of 5 the first day and at least 4/5 times the second day. The chatty boy was attentive 1/5 the first day and 2/5 times the second day. Both students were more attentive when doing group, inquiry-based work and neither seemed engaged (the boy was actively involved in his own side conversation) at the beginning of the period or when homework was being corrected.
In my classroom, I found even my adult students disengaged at the start of the period (which I would not have predicted, given that we intellectually KNOW at the college age to pay attention). I noticed that the woman I observed just seemed exhausted the first thirty minutes and maybe was actively engaged 2/5 times. She does work full-time, but I also was explaining their take-home test that day and was doing a lot of lecturing.
I think I failed to read my poker faced male student. He always does an excellent job on his work but is really hard to read, and he never asks a question in front of the class. I am not sure if his home culture is similar to my classroom's, but I have the feeling that his cultural norms prevent him from what he would see as being loud and challenging in class. I recorded that his eyes were on me 4/5 times I checked, but he could just know to where to make eye contact to minimize interactions with the instructor.
In sum, there are a few challenges to reading students when lecturing:
* when they have a poker face
* when they are exhausted (which, actually, happened in the middle school today, with students recovering from spring break--exhaustion is not unique to grown-ups!)
* when there may be a cultural difference that makes interpreting their nonverbal and verbal forms of communication
* when exceptional students may have unique needs to meet in maintaining their engagement
Students do seem disengaged when:
* it is the beginning of the period; they need to warm up
* the teacher goes over the homework
* the instructor feeds the class information on test policies or other bureaucratic hoops
* the students are not working in groups and actively researching a topic
To sum up, lecture as little as possible. Run a student-centered classroom with plenty of room for collaboration.
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