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.

SED 406 Observation 1

            At Cranston High School East, I made arrangements to be in six different classrooms with seven different teachers in the social sciences department.  I asked to observe the most diverse group of classes possible, so I observed two US History Inclusion classes (which included special education and non-special education students), one AP History class, one senior Sociology class, an ESL History class, and a US History Self-Contained (special education) class.  For the purpose of clarity, I will focus on only one class, which was a US History Inclusion class.

            When I went into the classroom, I immediately noticed the American Flag hanging on the wall, and the students had just finished saying the Pledge of Allegiance.  It made me remember that public schools are a political institution in many ways. The students all seemed very thrown-off by my presence.  I introduced myself to the class, and some students kept watching me and seemed nervous throughout class.  One student told me that when they first saw me they thought they were in trouble, and that I was sent to “watch” them. 

            The classroom looked “typical.”  It had desks arranged in rows with a white board in the front of the room behind the teacher’s desk.  The walls were adorned with student essays (with their names blacked out) posters advertising colleges such as CCRI, drawings the students had drawn and addressed to “Mr. Miller” (the teacher), and a “Beatles” poster.  I got the sense that the classroom décor was very student centered, as most of the wall-hangings were produced by the students.  The hallways also echoed this theme, with student-painted murals and ceiling tiles.  The school felt like a balance between the traditional and the untraditional in this sense.  While the building is one hundred years old and very traditional, the administrators seem keen to allowing students to artistically express themselves within the building.

            There were two teachers in this classroom because it was an Inclusion classroom.  One was the history teacher whose responsibility it was to lecture and stand in the front of the classroom, and a special education teacher who circulated around the room providing extra assistance to students who needed it. 

            The classroom was reasonably diverse.  I saw white students as well as black students and Hispanic students (interestingly, all of the Chinese students I saw today were either in the ESL class or the AP class).  There seemed to be an equal representation of males and females, and I was aware of who was special education and had learning disabilities by involvement with the special education teacher.

            One student was very enthusiastic and sat in the front row.  He took up a lot of class time by shouting out answers and offering opinions on everything that the teacher was talking about.  Based on the teacher’s reaction to this student it was obvious that this was a typical behavior of this student, and the teacher was used to ignoring the student and trying to prompt the student to “Take it down a notch.”  This student made it difficult for other students to speak, so the teacher was constantly trying to address other students in the class to offer their opinions.  Many of the special education students were not apt to participate as much.

            The teacher appeared to share the power with the student who was over-participating.  The student was able to successfully drive class discussions in whatever direction he wanted, and the teacher would sometimes have to build off of discussion questions this student brought up.  It might be a little frustrating to be a student in this class because of the disparity between students who participate and those who don’t, and I got the sense that there were some students who would have participated more if this student did not over-participate. 

            It seemed like this school had many learning opportunities for students of many different levels.  Being a student in this school could feel appropriately challenging if you were placed in the correct level classroom.  One thing I found interesting was that a class discussion erupted about the lack of a GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) club at the school.  Apparently, the school has not gotten approval from administrators to have this club and much of the student body expressed strong disappointment and even anger over the issue.  I was an active member of my high school GSA, so I guess as a student at this school who does not have the resource of a GSA club but would like to have those types of resources may feel ostracized or not valued.  

SED 406: Observation Assignment #4

SED 406:  Observation Assignment #4

ESL US History Class

1)   What do you think the objective is?

How did the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation contribute to the creation of the Constitution?

2) What level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is that?

Because this is an ESL class, a great deal of the class is devoted to the understanding of key terms associated with broader concepts. So while the objective is more analytic, the assessment will also encompass knowledge of various key terms.

1)   How will you assess it in 10 minutes or less?

       A multiple choice quiz that will represent the definitions of different key terms and illustrate the broader objective of the creation of the Constitution.

multiple choice (10 points each)

1. What was a weakness of the Articles of Confederation?

a) the states had different currency

b) they proposed a kin

c) people kept loosing the articles

d) they proposed a strong central government

2. What is a Constitution?

a) a convention

b) a rule book for government

c) a building where government officials meet

d) a branch of government

3. All of the following are a branch of the government EXCEPT:

a) Legislative

b) Bill of Rights

c) Executive

d) Judicial

4. The first ten amendments of the Constitution are called

a) Congress

b) Supreme Court

c) Branches of Government

d) Bill of Rights

5.    The ____________________ branch makes laws.

a) Legislative

b) Bill of Rights

c) Executive

d) Judicial

6.    The Constitutional Convention met in

a) Boston, MA

b) Washington, DC

c) Philadelphia, PA

d) Albany, NY

7.    The leader of the executive branch is

a) the Supreme Court Judge

b) Bill of Rights

c) the President

d) the CEO

8.    Changes made to the Constitution are called

a) edits

b) amendments

c) void

d) Articles of Confederation

9.    The House of Representatives and the Senate make up the

a) congress

b) government

c) executive

d) branches of the government

10.  The _________________ branch says whether or not laws are constitutional.

a)     Legislative

b) Bill of Rights

c) Executive

d) Judicial

SED 406: Observation Assignment #2

In this observation assignment, your goal is to reverse-engineer a lesson plan. Watch the class, and write the lesson plan that teacher is using.

Do this by OBSERVATION, even if the teacher is willing to share their lesson plan with you. This is about improving your observation skills, not getting ‘the answer’.

Lesson Plan Template for SED 406 and 407 part 1 = planning
Teacher Candidate: Calla Hardiman	Subject: US Inclusion Class	Grade(s): 10
Name of Lesson:  1929-1936: “Stormy Weather”
Learning Objective(s), including Bloom's taxonomic level: (label A, B, C, *D) *optional Students will take an open-note quiz on Monday and be able to describe the stock market crash, and the Hoover Administration.   In groups of 2 or 3, students will analyze a photograph and answer the following: “What’s happening in the photo?” “List People, Objects, and Activities.” “List 3 things you might infer from this photograph?” “What questions does this photograph raise in your mind?” “Where could you find answers to them?” A)Students B) analyze, list, infer, write C) The photograph
Student Standards (GSE or/GLE or Common Core-in draft for math/science- list which): Historical Thinking Skills 1, 2 US Content Era 8 Standard 1
Teacher Standards (professional society and/or NETS  and RIPTS-list which): Represents black people, men, women, poor, and people of many different ages in the historical photographs that students are analyzing. Represents gender differences in question “Is jump-roping a boy activity or a girl activity.”
Rationale: Why this lesson? How does it fit into the curriculum and context?  Is this the introduction, conclusion, or somewhere in the middle of the unit of instruction? This lesson fits into the curriculum and content by representing the Historical Thinking Skills standard, and the content of the Great Depression.  This is in the middle of the unit of instructions.  Students have been provided with a background of the Great Depression through course readings, a film (that was viewed yesterday), and a pre-quiz.  They are preparing for a quiz on monday.  Today they are using primary source photographs of the Great Depression to explain the effects of the Great Depression on different social groups.
Materials/Resources needed, including technology: Chalk Board Primary Source Photographs “Photo Analysis Worksheet” Yesterday’s Quiz Notebooks
Accommodations and Modifications (special needs and learning styles)  This is an Inclusion classroom, so students with and without special education needs are in this classroom.  There is a Special Education Aid in the classroom circulating to the special education students for additional help.
What content resources support this knowledge base? (list at least 2) Text Book Primary Source Photographs
How confident are you in this topic as you start this lesson? very confident.  We are building off of a film about the Great Depression seen in a prior class session so students are familiar with the topic from many different sources (including the textbook, the film, and class lectures).

Lesson Plan Template part 2 = action
Bell-ringer: How will you get students seated, and ready for academic work? (without your voice)
Anticipatory Set: How will you introduce the material, interest the students, show relevance of topic?
Phase (change as needed)/Time	Teacher action	Student action	Questions/Assessments
e.g. Intro/5 min.	Instructs students to take out notebooks and worksheets to review for tomorrow’s quiz	Students take out notebooks and worksheets	Informal: “What year was the stock market crash?”
Review of previous quiz	instructs students to circle important questions on previous quiz to study for next quiz.	Students circle appropriate questions to study.	Informal: “What was the dust bowl?” “Where was it?”
Presentation or Open-ended/	Direct Instruction.  Concept: Document Analysis and The Great Depression Example: Teacher shows a picture of a dress and asks if the dress is blue and black or white and gold. Teacher uses this photograph and answers the following: “What’s happening in the photo?” “List People, Objects, and Activities.” “List 3 things you might infer from this photograph?” “What questions does this photograph raise in your mind?” “Where could you find answers to them?”	Example: Students engage is a discussion about what color they think the dress is.	Informal
Guided Practice or Convergent/	Direct Instruction: Instructs students to form groups of 2 or 3 to analyze a photograph. During group work, teacher circulates from group to group and helps students analyze photographs.	Group: In groups, students will answer the following questions about the photograph:  “What’s happening in the photo?” “List People, Objects, and Activities.” “List 3 things you might infer from this photograph?” “What questions does this photograph raise in your mind?” “Where could you find answers to them?”	Worksheet is mode of assessment
	Instructs the student groups to present their photo analyses	Students groups hold up their photographs and present their analysis (the people, objects, activities, inferences, and where they could find answers to their questions.)	Presentation is mode of assessment.
Closing/	The bell rang before the objective was completed.
HW/Application/	Teacher instructs students to study for the quiz on monday.
Review and Reflection: How will you review for students who are still having trouble?  Every class opens with a review of previous quizzes and homework assignments to get a sense of what students need help and who doesn’t.  Also, by using the special education teacher in the class to address students having trouble, students who need extra support will receive it.
Extension: What will you offer to students who have mastered this? By offering extra primary source documents or having students synthesize multiple sources, students who have mastered the content and basic source analysis can move on to more historical thinking skills.
*Closing: How will you review the material, and draw conclusions? (may be listed above) Every class opens with a review of previous quizzes and homework assignments to get a sense of what students need help and who doesn’t.

	Lesson Plan Template pt. 3 = reflection
WHAT?	What went well?
	What area of weakness needs addressing? Time management and classroom management may need improving.  The class seemed to not respect the teacher’s authority and class ended mid-objective.
	Which objectives were met? What is the evidence? Photo Analysis - the groups that were able to present demonstrated a that they were able to successfully analyze the photographs according to their protocol.
	Which students did not meet objectives? The groups that did not have time to present were unable to demonstrate whether or not they met the objective, but they may have.
	Was time managed appropriately? The bell rang and class ended before all the student groups were able to make their group presentations,
	Did any teacher mannerisms or actions detract from the lesson?  Misspelling many words on the chalkboard
	*What were the strengths and weaknesses of classroom management? got flustered when students were not engaged.  “Can you pretend like you care about your education?” “Can you hear me?”
SO WHAT?	Was the lesson engaging? The lesson was engaging because students had to present their photo analysis to the class, so they seemed to be more encouraged to do a good job.
	*What did I learn from my peer observation (address at least one aspect)  If there is a groups presentation aspect of an objective, time needs to be managed appropriately.
NOW WHAT?	How will this experience influence your professional identity?  I definitely want to include document and photo analysis into my teaching as much as possible, but I did not see it as totally beneficial to spend a third of class discussing a previous quiz and a future quiz.
	How will it influence how you plan/teach/assess in the future?  I want to remember the importance of time management.

Microteaching 1 Reflection

What went well?
I think that the classroom participation went really well.  I was glad to see that the ways I worded my questions guided class discussions well, and it was an effective way for me to informally assess how confident my peers were analyzing the sources I gave them.

What area of weakness needs addressing?
I said "um" a lot, even though I was confident and knew what I was talking about.  This is a habit I need to get out of because it is distracting and makes me sound like I don't know what I'm talking about.  I also feel as though there were places when I was rushing, so I need to address my timing.

Which objectives were met? What is the evidence?
I believe that on a basic level, the objective that "students will be able to identify how the French Revolution brought about the concept of nationalism" was met, bearing in mind that the lesson was only 17 minutes long.  The evidence was when I informally asked my peers after they had analyzed the 5 primary sources if the statement "l'etat, c'est moi" was applicable to a sans-culotte after the Revolution. A peer responded yes, and elaborated that it is different because the state was no longer a single person (like Louis XIV) but rather "everyman," or "the people," and that this separation from the state being represented by the monarch to the state being represented by the people was the foundation of the concept of Nationalism.  My peers were also able to use the primary sources comparatively to show how nationalism was a consequence of the French Revolution, which meets the objective that "students will be able to analyze primary sources to show the rise of nationalism."  Also, by correctly filling out the primary source analysis protocol worksheets, my peers demonstrated that the objective of "students will practice using non-text primary source documents" was met.

Which students did not meet objectives?
While my peers did not demonstrate primary source analysis on an individual level (because it was assigned as homework in the interest of time), I felt confident that at the group level, all of my peers were meeting the objectives.

Was time managed appropriately?
There was no clock in the room, which was challenging for me in terms of time management.  However, I was able to cover everything I wanted to cover. I did not run over time and I did not run under time.

Did any teacher mannerisms detract from the lesson?
As previously stated, I have a terrible "um" habit.  I would love to hear feedback regarding any other teacher mannerisms from the people who observed my microteaching that I am not aware of.

What were the strengths and weaknesses of classroom management?
The class size was so small that classroom management wasn't really an issue.  Everyone participated and took the lesson seriously.

Was the lesson engaging?
I would really like to hear from my peers who observed my microteaching to see if they thought it was engaging.  I am not one for power points, and I wanted to see if not having a power point made it less engaging.  Judging by class discussions and participation, however, I'd like to think it was engaging.  Everyone seemed to grasp the major concept.

What did I learn from the feedback my peers gave me?
I would love to get more feedback, but from what I heard briefly at the end of class, my peers seemed to like the handouts.  I like using handouts because it makes it easier for students who sit in the back or can't see as well, and I also like using handouts because students can mark them up with notes.

How will this experience influence my professional identity?
It will influence my sense of efficacy in the sense that "I can do this."  I think a sense of efficacy is important for a teacher to have and before microteaching I did not have it.  Now I can envision myself in front of a classroom and actually being able to put a lesson plan I created in action.

How will it influence how you plan/teach/assess in the future?
It will make me more conscious of time management, and organization in the future.  I'm glad the pains I took in organizing the lesson and materials worked out, and I will keep this in mind for the future.