Reflecting on RITELL

I am so glad I went to the RITELL event on campus last Saturday because it combined so much of what I'm learning about in 406 and 407.  The part that stuck out to me the most was teaching literacy to ELL students through the use of picture books.  It made me think about 407 and the different reading strategies to teach students to encourage literacy.  I like the use of picture books for ELL students because, as explained at the event, even if students are unaware of what all the words mean in the story, they can still know what is going on by the pictures.  This is a two-fold method of teaching two separate literacies.  One literacy it is teaching is the English Language.  As students see pictures and hear the words, an association between the words and what is going on in the pictures will develop which will help build a literacy of the English language.  The second literacy this promotes is a content literacy. For example, if a student is reading or being read the book "I Am Oney Judge," which was a picture book discussed at the meeting which is about an eighteenth century slave, they are getting content knowledge from the pictures even if they don't understand the words.  They are seeing the style of dress, the type of technology available, the race of the subservient characters versus the other characters, and the daily tasks of colonial life.  This is promoting a literacy in history.
I was excited to see the connection between picture books and ELL students because I recently taught an ELL class at Central Falls High School for 407 where I had students reading and illustrating what they read as a means to promote English Language and History literacies.  It made me feel more confident about that lesson plan.
I am glad I went to the RITELL event also because it made me see myself even more as a teacher. Pretty much everyone at the event was a teacher, and I didn't feel out of place despite this.

Reflection on Microteaching II: Indirect Instruction and UbD

What went well: I think that my execution of my lesson as a UbD lesson was great. I started with my essential question and linked it to an enduring understanding. My essential question was, "What is history, and what does an historian do?" My main objective and enduring understanding was that history is an argument, and it can be argued from many different perspectives, one being the perspective of "women's history."
After explaining what my classmates could expect to learn from the lesson, I provided some pre-reading ideas as I passed out excerpts from primary sources from the French Revolution and the Enlightenment. My pre-reading ideas were to remember the genders' of the authors of each source (3 men and one woman), and my "during-reading" instructions were to try to think of ways that Enlightenment thinking supported women's rights, and ways that Enlightenment thinking supported women's inferiority. I also had an "after reading" activity, where after each excerpt, students had to write one-2 sentences describing what the excerpt was saying.
An underlying objective of this lesson was to have students use primary sources to argue whether the Enlightenment supported women's rights or did not support women's rights, and the evidence of this objective being met was through a facilitated class discussion after the students read through the excerpts.
I think that the class discussion went extremely well. There was good participation from everyone, and everyone was using the primary sources to defend their arguments. Some students were more willing to argue than others, so I prompted students less apt to talk with different points to argue by saying this like "Do you think....?" This was a good way to get everyone talking because soon everyone was engaging in a good historical argument. The class discussion showed me that the students were able to understand the primary source material, and it also showed me that the students were able to support their arguments with the sources ("Well, Voltaire said this, which supports what Rousseau said here." "But what about Condorcet?") I believe that the lesson was engaging based solely on the discussion.
After I was satisfied with the depth of the discussion about the Enlightenment thinking and women's equality, I turned again to my Essential Question and Enduring Understanding when I asked students to tell me whether or not they agreed or disagreed with the concept of women's history as a means to look at the past. My classmates felt that by approaching the Enlightenment from the perspective of women's history, they did have to talk about men, politics, and social issues, while when they approached history from a traditional perspective they did not have to talk about women. Two classmates expressed that they were initially skeptical about the idea of women's history, but now they saw that it could work in most situations. When discussing the role of women's history, most of my classmates used the word "important" to describe the male-centered traditional study of history. I used this to relate back to the essential questions of "what is history and what does an historian do?" I explained how historians decide what is important, and most historians have traditionally felt that men in history were more important. History is a point of view, and history is an argument. I feel like this lesson was a good example of indirect instruction as well as UbD.
Time was manages appropriately, and I believe I handled my distracting mannerisms in this lesson more than I did in my first microteaching lesson. I tried to follow the 4 second wait time consciously, and I feel like that was a strength to classroom management until I noticed some of my peers speaking more than others, when I then intervened by directing questions to specific people. This experience influenced my professional identity by reinforcing what kind of history teacher I want to be. I don't want to teach history as a list of irrefutable facts, but rather, I want to teach history as an argument fueled by many different perspectives that all draw evidence from primary sources. The class discussion showed how different people can read the same documents and have different arguments about them, and use the same sources to argue different things. Overall, I think the lesson went really well.

10&11

I really like the idea of extended inquiry for reading and units, especially applied to the study of history.  I feel like the big picture can be easily lost in the slew of names and dates that are associated with teaching and learning history, while broader ideas like how the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century translates into todays world or how ideas of freedom evolved pre and post slavery can get lost. It is important to me that I teach my students how the past informs the present, and this fits neatly into the extended inquiry.  I also love the idea of setting up the context and doing pre-reading exercises.  For example, a pre-reading exercise could be students writing what a typical day for them looks like before they read about everyday life in colonial America - that way they will be able to compare the past and the present in a personal way.
I think it is so important for students reading about history (or anything for that matter) to be able to picture what they are reading about in their minds.  It makes reading more enjoyable and easier to comprehend.  It also makes transferring information easier.  For example, if students are able to picture an event like Pickett's Charge, then they will be able to get a more in-depth understanding of different sources all detailing the event.  I never thought of this as a skill that needed to or could be taught, but it makes sense that it should and could be taught.  I guess sometimes it comes naturally to people, but some students need help in developing that skill like anything else.

8&9

Reading these chapters made me wonder ask myself, "why not?" I love the idea of having book clubs and of having time for independent reading.  I think it is important because not every student has the best environment outside of school for reading, and I think it is great if a student needs clarification about what a certain word means, or anything like that.  When I was in high school, I lived for independent reading time.  I loved to read so much, but my home environment was not always well suited for quiet reading.  I was the kind of student who used to skip class whenever I didn't want to go, or I would secretly listen to my disc-man and hide my earbuds behind my hair to ignore the teacher.  But whenever I had a class where there would be independent reading at the end, I would immediately perk up and look forward to the class. I felt like the teacher cared about us and wanted us to be able to read what we wanted to read.  When I read these chapters I was thinking about students who might really respond well to independent reading and class book clubs - not all students will like it, but for others it could really foster a lifelong love of learning, and make class something to look forward to rather than skip.
Also, by having independent reading and book clubs in the classroom, it will send a message to students that reading is valued.  If it is valued in the classroom, it is valued outside of it.
Another plus would be the ability to provide students with one-on-one feedback and attention regarding something that interests them. I feel like all students deserve some level of individual attention, and by giving students time to read in class, I could address students individually regarding their strengths and things that they need extra help with.  I do not see this as a waste of time at all.

I also really liked the idea of having a classroom blog or some other internet means of communicating outside of class.  Especially for students who might be shy and unwilling to participate in class, it could provide a space for students to express ideas and learn collaboratively, and to also learn about responsible ways to use the internet.

6&7

I'm constantly surprised and happy about the many different techniques suggested by D&Z in terms of how to use a textbook.  Especially as an aspiring history teacher, I don't want my students to feel like they have to regurgitate the information in the text book, I want them to feel like they can argue with their texts. That being said, I don't want to throw the text book out the window, but rather teach students how to use it to their advantage.  I liked the different suggestions the book offered to cover a large expanse of textbooks while still being able to achieve some level of depth in the subject.  The one that stood out to me the most was the idea of jigsawing.  I feel like this way, everyone will get a general overview of all or most of the content, and everyone will also walk away with a deeper more solidified grasp on an aspect of the text.  I like the idea of making students accountable for a small section of the text book because, if anything else, at least they are walking away having learned something. It also makes the textbooks less intimidating.
I was one of those kids that just never could get the hang of reading the textbooks - especially history textbooks.  My AP history teacher that would assign reading from the text book every night, and the next day in class he would assign a 10 question quiz on the chapter.  Everyday I was lucky to get 2 or 3 of the quiz questions right, even if I did read the textbook readings.  Something was just not clicking and in retrospect, I was never taught how to go about reading the textbook.  I was convinced I couldn't get a hang of history until I took the AP exam and was the only kid in the class who got a 5.  My teacher was shocked - it turns out, I understood the history content and historical thinking skills despite having a D+ for a grade - that D+ was my grade for how well I understood the textbook, not the content of the subject. That is what I thought about when the teacher from D&Z mentioned that many people think the textbook is synonymous with the subject.  Textbooks are great resources, but students need to be taught how to use these resources.  Its like a computer - a computer is a great resource, but first you need to learn how to use one.

In terms of making the classroom into a community where students are able to take risks and feel comfortable, I feel like this is a no-brainer.  It hearkens back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs in a way - students can't learn unless they feel safe and comfortable.  I was a gay youth and I definitely remember dreading some classes because I knew the teachers weren't comfortable with me and my identity, and I remember being able to learn so much more in classrooms where I felt like teachers cared about me as a person. Even more than that, I feel like it is important for the classroom to be a community because it is teaching students how to behave in the world.  Students who are taught that compassion and respect are valued will let these qualities follow them into the world. Schooling is a political thing in many ways in the sense that it is creating new citizens.  Having the classroom as a model of community can have a fantastic ripple effect to the future.

A Balanced Reading Diet and Reading Techniques

Chapters 4 and 5 of Daniels and Zemelman talk about two major aspects of assigning reading.  The first is that students learn best when they have a varied "reading diet," meaning their reading assignments aren't all text book readings but "real" books and articles are included.  The stress here is on a multi-genred approach.  The argument against this idea is time constraints, but Daniels and Zemelman argue in favor of student's deep understanding of a concept rather than a brief glossing over of many different topics.  One thing that surprised me was the suggestion to use non-fiction works outside of English class.  For example, they suggest to use non-fiction works to set the scene and peak interest in students studying history. This really got me thinking about how I could do this, and how it could benefit my students.  I then remembered a series of books I used to read when I was little, around the age of 10. They were called "Dear America" books, and each book is written like a diary of a young person. While fictional, they are based on historical research and seek to portray things like living conditions and major events, and they are written in the style of a primary source.  The end of each book contains pictures and examples of primary sources, and they are all pretty short.  I wonder if any students would benefit from reading these fictional first-person accounts, especially if they struggle with reading textbooks or find history boring.

Another concept was letting students have some choice in the books they read.  Daniels and Zemelman argue that lifelong readers decide what they want to read, therefore, "in every subject area, some reading materials should be chosen by kids for themselves, selections that reflect their own view of the topic, their own connections, and interests" (56). I feel like student choice has long been the domain of English class, but I don't see why history teachers can't also allow some student choice.  One way to go about this is to have a classroom library full of relevant reading material.  Students can choose what they want to read from here and know that it is relevant to history.  Students can also, with some guidance, choose a book outside of the classroom library.  Students are more apt to digest and enjoy a material that they choose, and by being able to digest and enjoy the material more, they will also be able to learn a lot.

The second aspect of assigning reading is to teach students reading strategies.  One strategy stuck out to me as particularly helpful in assigning reading for history: the "Bookmark" strategy, where students create a bookmark to mark their place in a book, and to also write notes directly on their bookmarks as they read.  After they read, they will have notes to look back on to study with.  For example, I could ask my history students to write down examples of technology in the book A World Lit Only By Fire as they read. This will help direct their focus and know what to look for in the text.  This reading strategy falls in line with our UbD reading, because I would be identifying the desired outcome (what was technology like in the middle ages?) before students even start reading.  If I didn't identify this desired outcome, students would most likely have just skimmed through the book, and not have been able to answer the question "what was technology like in the middle ages?" as thoroughly.

SED 406 Observation #3

For my observation on classroom management, I opted to write about the AP class.  When students entered the room, they filed into their seats without needing any prompting or redirection.  I didn’t know if seats were assigned or not, but I did notice that racial groups were sitting together.  The students needed no redirection or prompting from the teacher when it came to focusing on academics, though the teacher did need to work a little hard to draw discussions and talking points out of the students.  When I asked the teacher about this after class, he said that this group of AP students seem less motivated than other AP students he has had in the past and that classroom discussions are rather stagnant without his prompts. 

When the teacher began to lecture, all of the students independently took out either notebooks and pens or laptops or tablets, presumably to take notes, I noticed a big difference between this class and the inclusion classes I observed earlier in this respect because the students in the inclusion class seemed to need constant prodding: “Take out your notebooks. Take out a pen or a pencil. Write this down. Stop texting.” Attendance was not taken because it was a small class of only eleven students.  The teacher informed me that this class was offered the same time as an AP language class, and that many students opted for the AP language class instead of AP history. No time was spent trying to catch students up to speed because no students were absent the day before and no students arrived to class late.

            The teacher opened up his lecture by discussing some current events that were relatable to the period under study.  He casually led the class in a discussion about social media, corperate collusion of sites like hulu and netflix, and how these businesses put blockbuster video and Hollywood video out of business.  This conversation moved on to discussions about monopolies during the Progressive Era, and with special attention paid to Rockefeller and Vanderbilt.  He tried to draw in students’ interest by telling them the Vanderbilt had a house in Rhode Island, and the students seemed disinterested. 

            At one point, a small student misbehavior was corrected.  The teacher very respectfully to a student wearing a hat, “Please take your hat off. Thank you.”  I asked the teacher about this later on, and he told me that he didn’t think it was effective to yell at kids about things like that, especially since if you ask most students kindly and respectfully they will listen to your direction. 

            At the end of class, the teacher wrote on the board: “Assess…’WWI justified Wilson’s suspension of Civil Liberties,’” and then read the statement out loud.  He then said “For next Monday. Yes, this is time for argument.  Do you guys remember reading about the Alien and Sedition Acts? When your talking about Wilson, you’re talking about points in American history where civil liberties have been suspended before.  Draw in past examples of this.” No students asked any questions about the homework, and as soon as the teacher began talking about the homework assignment, students were closing notebooks, laptops and tablets. The bell rang (the intercom buzzed) slightly after, and the students filed out of the room quietly.

            After class I talked with the teacher for a bit about his classroom management.  He talked about how he sees a huge difference between AP classes and other classes because in AP classes he finds that classroom management is generally not an issue.  Especially in a class as small as 11 students that is not an inclusion class, he does not have to spend class time dealing with classroom management. 

            I saw many different styles of classroom management in other classes I visited.  For example, in the ESL class I observed, the teacher informed me that the students all have arranged seats, and he arranges the seating in a way that no two students who speak the same language sit next to each other.  This way, if a student wants to talk to their neighbor, they have to use English because it is their only common language. In one inclusion class, classroom management was largely the teacher telling all of the students what exactly to do every second of class and making remarks like “Can you pretend like you care about your education?” to the students.  Another inclusion classroom managed their class by the teacher’s humor.  He tried to keep the mood light with jokes and by joking around with the special education teacher in the room. This seemed effective because the students wanted to be in on the joke.  Another class I observed – a senior classroom – was managed by threats of detention to multiple students throughout class.  One student actually got detention after multiple threats had been made.  The threats of detention seemed to detract students’ attention and focus from the lesson, and after one student received detention, they were not engaged for the rest of class and instead was using their cell-phone. 

            There were systems of school-wide management in play as well.  As I sat in the main office in the morning waiting for my department chair to come, I watched two different parents come in to discuss their children’s suspensions.  The intercom was a tool used to check in with teachers and to inform classes of a group on a field trip having returned.  I watched a secretary manage the substitute teachers by telling them what teachers were absent that day (there were two) and what classrooms to go to.  I also was told that the school operated on a rotating schedule system so that each class was had at a different time of the day during the week.

            I think that school structure can contribute to student learning by providing tangible expectations.  On a smaller level, I think that there are pros and cons of all different types of classroom management and they all contribute to student learning in different ways.  I also think it is important to talk about how classroom management varies based on the students in the class.