Assignment #2
Recall the strategy you chose to
implement in your classroom and consider the following guiding questions:
- What strategy did you chose to implement?
- What was your experience with the strategy?
- How did your students respond to the strategy?
- What went well?
- How might you do things differently in the future?
→Post a “Comment” based on your
response to the guiding questions
→ Post a “Reply” to a “Comment” posted
by 2 different peers
I tried turn and talk with my students, read part of a story and asked questions, allowed them to turn to their neighbor and talk about it and then share out. Well the experience was eye opening to me. I realized I need to give more modeling in this area and I will try again. Some students was excited to share with me their thoughts. I hope to engage more in the exercise.
ReplyDeleteIt will get better with more practice.
DeleteExcited to hear that you have tried something new. And you are right! It is going to take practice. Young children need guidance with new activities, and they may not get it the first time. Modeling is important. I'd love to hear more about how you are using turn and talk with the strategies we learned about during our session.
DeleteI also try to implement the turn and talk strategy as often as I can. I have realized the more you do it the more talkative they become. My younger students still do not share much during this time but I am hoping by the end of the year I see some growth.
DeleteI have tried stating the Learning Goals more frequently. I am struggling a bit to remember, it's not natural yet. I feel successful stating the goal at the "beginning", that is more routine. I tried asking a student to "tell me what we did" as a wrap up. But that was not successful. The student said something random about his mom, and all the other kids talked about their mom... But as our trainer says... keep trying...
ReplyDeleteSounds like 3 year olds in the beginning of the year. Kind of cute. Keep trying, and I am trying as well. We will get there.
DeleteWay to go! You have to start somewhere! And it may not go as planned! But you are right, the important thing is to keep trying. Remember the difference between stating what children will do vs. what they will learn. As you practice it will come become more natural. What a great experience. I can't wait to hear more! Thanks for sharing!
DeleteI feel you! I need to work on asking the students what we just finished doing instead of me just telling them. Right now I'm just telling them what we are doing that day in the morning and then at the end of the day reviewing what we did.
DeleteI feel the same. I can restate and restate and these kids cannot recall. I have noticed some growth since, It is just a work in progress. Keep it simple and repetition sometimes help.
DeleteOur Pre-K team uses the letter of the week, the color, shape, phonics, number and vocabulary words. We have those on a black focus board next to our wall mounted dry erase board. It is a quick recall for students and they can talk about what they are learning by looking at it. I call it the "Focus Wall" and it has been successful. I have a mixed class of 3 and 4 year olds.
DeleteI tried a few things in my classroom. I had my co-teacher record one of my literacy lessons and found that I had a few things to work on. I found the kids engagement was minimal and I needed to find other ways to make it engaging for them. I also found that I need to model more. Another strategy I tried was stating the learning goals. I found that I had to restate the goals frequently and at he end of the day the kids were still unable to remember some of the things we talked about. I think that falls back to the engagement. It is a work in progress.
ReplyDeleteIt's the beginning of the year; and if you have 3 yr olds, keep trying, by the end of the year you should see lots of growth.
DeleteWay to go! Recording your teaching is such a powerful experience and a great step to improving your practice. It can also be overwhelming, so remember to break it down and focus on one thing at a time.
DeleteI am excited to hear that you are working to focus children on the learning goals. This can happen multiple times throughout the day. Remember the difference between stating what children are doing vs. what they are learning. Try providing wrap up statements at the end of the activity vs. the end of the day. It can be difficult for a young child to recall everything that happened during the day
Setting stage before an activity helps children understand the process and purpose of the activity before it begins. Making statements during the lesson can help direct focus and encourage children to stick with a lesson or activity. Finally the wrap up statements should come from the teacher at the end of the activity and helps children explain what they are learning.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience!
I love the idea of recording yourself while teaching. It really helps to see the areas that may need some work.
DeletePeers and administrators can provide you with feedback and give you ideas to improve your practice, but seeing yourself teach provides you with a powerful tool in improving yourself as a teacher.
DeleteContinue working with your kiddos, be consistent, you are absolutely right, it is a work in progress, you will see growth.
I tried Providing Feedback strategy with my students. I've been modeling how to answer questions and the thinking process and sharing their ideas. I've modeled how to have these exchanges teacher to student, student to teacher, and student to student back and forth exchanges. I've modeled using thinking process and explain their thinking and sharing. I have noticed my students are using more language exchanges and the exchanges are longer. Some students are actually explaining their thinking and others are agreeing. I will continue to encourage this.
ReplyDeleteThat's great! It is rewarding when you hear your students language develop, and they use it to express themselves, rather than physical reactions.
DeleteI'm trying to provide more feedback as well! I think I need to work on the modeling more. I feel right now I'm still focusing on making them more comfortable expressing themselves.
DeleteWhen doing a read aloud, I read it before hand and pick out 1 or 2 vocabulary words to discuss when I come to it when reading it to the class. I write it on a sentence strip and try to find an image that coincides with it. This helps me remember to continue fostering their growth of language.
DeleteI also write high order thinking questions about the book and put them on post-it notes. It is easy to read the book and touch on basic questions. Doing this keeps me accountable in pushing their comprehension and inferring.
@Ms. Barrientes - Sounds like you are working to expand children's learning and understanding. Don't forget to encourages efforts and help the children in your class stick with challenging activities. Modeling is great! You are right @J.Palacios!
Delete@C. Martinez - It sounds like you really work to prepare for your lessons. I am wondering how you encourage children to explain their thought process when you asks questions.
I've tried a few strategies in the classroom so far. Last year I was really good about stating the objectives and what we are learning that day, but this year I have kept forgetting. I'm slowly getting back to doing that. I'm also trying to provide more feedback to student answers since my students language skills are so varied. I try and point out what I liked about a student answer and why. Such as, "I like how Gabby gave us so much detail in what she said. That tells me she is really understanding what we read."
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear that you are trying new strategies. It can be hard to remember to focus children on the learning objectives. It's not just about what children are doing, but they are learning. Remember it involves three main steps: Setting the stage: This orients children to the purpose of the activity before it begins. Targeted statements to direct children's learning: This encourages children to stick with the lesson. Wrapping up the activity: This helps children understand what they have learned. I wonder which step you find easiest to implement?
DeleteI will admit, I was very quick to give a quick praise when students would come up to me and show me something they made while in centers. From the article (p.7), I read that I should comment on what I see children doing as they play. It encourages them to evaluate their creation and because of this, it will help them recall this later. Using, "I see you...." This is a great way to initiate conversation between student and adult.
ReplyDeleteThis has worked for me. I am trying to do it more often but it can be difficult when I am focused on small group. I know balancing the two will take practice, but this is something that is necessary. It is a work in progress!
Fantastic! Sounds like you are working to provide appropriate feedback to students that encourages them to respond. Keep practicing! And yes! We are ALL a work in progress!
DeleteI have been using "I noticed.." to provide feedback to students often. I like the sentence starter "I see you.." I will use this one too. Thank you.
DeleteI am working on stating the objective for my students. I must admit that in the midst of things I over look it at times but I realize the importance of repetition. I feel that the more consist I am on stating the objective to the students the more purposeful my teaching will be. I find that especially with my 3's the repetition is vital. For me I believe posting the objective on the board serves as a great reminder for me.
ReplyDeletePosting the objective on the board is a great reminder for the teachers in the room. It sounds like you are making progress towards helping students focus on the learning objective. You are right, repetition is key!
Delete"I feel that the more consist I am on stating the objective to the students the more purposeful my teaching will be."
This is a powerful statement! YES!! Purposeful teaching! Thanks for sharing!
I definitely can relate, there are times throughout the year in which I am really good at stating the objectives throughout my lessons, then at other times I get completely caught up in my teaching that it completely slips my mind.
DeleteI do agree that my lessons are more purposeful when I am being consistent with constantly reminding my students the objective of the lesson. I intend to get better at doing this too!
Just keep practicing with your students and I know it will work out! When you post the objective try to put pictures so the students can relate to it more and it is not just some plain writing on the wall.
DeleteYes Sarah, I can relate with how things slip our minds. We have so many things we want to touch on and it is very easy to leave something out. In my classroom, I have a focus wall. It has the letter of the week posted, then the phonics associated with it. I also have the color, shape, number and vocabulary posted. All are images and keep me on track as to what I need to touch on. If an administrator walks in and asks my students what we are learning, they refer to the focus wall and are able to give an answer.
DeleteI have been working on providing my students with feedback that encourages them to evaluate and communicate further. It is so easy to just say "great job," "that is awesome," "You're doing great," but providing them with feedback that is more specific to them takes practice. I have noticed that my students are more responsive when I provide more effective feedback. it is more personal to them, they feel connected, and are encouraged to engage in conversation because they feel that their work is valued.
ReplyDeleteI have the same goal. Providing the students with more feedback it effective and encourages them.
DeleteThis is the next goal I am working towards because I constantly just doing that. That is great that it is working that way for you in your class.
DeleteI implemented stating the objective before, during, and after the lesson. It has worked well. The students understand what they are doing and learning. It was a positive for my T-Tess as well. I also tired to provide effective feedback to students. I say "good job you wrote your name" or "you tired so hard to write your name, good job." It has been difficult to change my language with "I noticed..." I am still trying to master providing feedback.
ReplyDeleteI am working on stating the objective before, during, and after as well. I find that it helps my students understand why we are working on a specific lesson. Also, tying it to a center activity they can do afterwards gets their attention.
DeleteThe strategy I started implementing was the turn and talk. I first started using it during my read alouds. I asked simple questions to get the students interested like "what is your favorite color?'" or "what was you favorite part in the story?" When I noticed that the students were interested I began using it during my letter of the week. The students would have to answer "what started with the (letter)?" The students enjoyed it a lot and they felt like they had freedom because they were talking to their friends. The thing I would change is to monitor more closely and make sure that all the students are on topic.
ReplyDeleteThe turn and talk strategy is great to use during read alouds. I have them discuss what is going to happen at the end of the story and who their favorite character is and why?
ReplyDeleteThis strategy really helps students express their ideas to fellow students when otherwise they would be shy to express in front of the whole class. It helps build confidence and improves their language development. I enjoy hearing my students share with one another during read alouds.
DeleteWith my students, I have been implementing turn and talk during read-alouds and math lessons. I found that this is helping my students think about their answers and become more engaged in our stories and activities. It is also helping them with giving everyone their chance to share without interrupting and to build on each others ideas.
ReplyDeleteThat is great that it is working for you in your classroom. I have tried this strategy and I still have not mastered it. My students will turn and talk, but not about what our topic was. They get sidetracked. I intervene and remind them what we were wanting to discuss, but I feel my reinforcement shouldn't be there. It should be a student directed activity. I will continue to put this into our daily routines. Does anyone have any advice for me on this strategy?
DeleteProviding feedback to our kiddos seems to help them know if they are on the right track and understanding the focus of the lesson. Some kiddos will sort of shut down if they think they are answering incorrectly and then it is difficult to get them motivated to share again. I have to remind myself not just to say "Awesome!" or "Yay" but to give them a complete sentence of feedback. We expect the kiddos to use whole sentences and I think giving feedback in the same way not only provides a model of using complete sentences but makes the child feel appreciated and their input has value and this is important for our young kiddos to experience!
ReplyDeleteI have been working on learning goals to help my students and myself stay focused on the purpose of learning and not solely on completing the task. Setting the stage has helped me tremendously to stay focus on the learning goal and not wander off to an activity that I think the S will enjoy. Stating the goal has helped my students grasp the purpose of their own learning and then be able to express to their parents after school. I still find some struggle with wrapping up the activity since I always feel pressed for time. I need to plan for effectively and be more consistent on closing up the lesson before I transition to other learning goals.
ReplyDeleteI have attempted to use encouragement vs positive praise. It has probably been more difficult for me to attempt this strategy than it has been for the students. I have noticed the students feel a sense of loss as thought they are waiting for the praise. It's a work in progress. I'm sure in time and with consistency it will pay off.
DeleteI incorporated the scientific method into my teaching. I Implemented more experiments in our classroom. I got a lot of tips from a PD I attended "Science Experiments for ECE, " facilitated by Lisa Rosillo & Jennifer Varela. There, we watched demonstrations of creating an earth worm habitat, seeds and the need for light, my five senses. At the end of the PD we were given the tools to do these experiments in our classrooms. I photocopied the journal templates we were given and it has proven to be successful. My students get excited for the hands on approach, the predictions of what they think they'll be learning and seeing them record their observations. I need to incorporate more of this into my classroom. I love hearing their thoughts, conversations with each other and see them use their higher order thinking skills.
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