Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

         I recently presented a current events project with my co-teacher Casey. This project entailed making a mini lesson for a current events activity. We chose to use a NewsELA article titled "Saving pieces of history, one bullet or belt buckle at a time." The article was about a man that discovered and collected Civil War artifacts. Together we designed an activity that incorporated the 5 W's; who, what, when, where, and why. We imagined that the students were fifth graders, and introduced the lesson by discussing the class' prior experiences with current events. Many of the students had experienced current events in their past school experiences. We then discussed the 5 W's and read the article. The article was a very fitting topic because the class was going to participate in an artifact bag activity in the upcoming week. After the article was read, we asked the students to get into their groups and fill out their 5 W graphic organizer. By using this organizer, the students were able to figure out the important details of the article. We discussed the results as a class, and reflected on the experience. Overall, I think the presentation was successful, and the feedback from my peers was very positive. I believe it is important to use current events in the classroom. Students should be informed of the events that happen everyday, all over the world. I will definitely use various strategies and resources, such as the NewsELA website, to inform my future students on current events. I hope that with new technology, teachers can make learning about topics in the news engaging, exciting, and fun!

Discoveries in the Field

What did you discover about students? Were your expectations met?
I expected the fifth grade students to all be bright, however they exceeded my expectations. All of the students participated beyond my expectations. The class was willing, ready, and eager to learn each and every day that the college students were there. I was very proud of all of the work and effort that the students accomplished throughout the fieldwork experience. It would be easier to have known the students prior to the fieldwork experience. If given more time, I would observe and get to know the students to be able to better understand what roles best fit each student.

What were your discoveries and lessons about yourself? How you performed, in planning in front of the classroom?
Despite my nerves and fears, I learned that I am more comfortable in front of the classroom than I expected to be. It was definitely a hard process to understand how to plan out each different type of lesson, but through this experience I am now more confident in my lesson-planning abilities. Planning each lesson was the hardest and most time consuming part of the entire experience. There were times that I stayed up till five in the morning trying to make the lessons perfect. I definitely feel that I can improve on my time management skills to be able to finish lessons earlier. I also learned that with team teaching I found it very difficult to relinquish control to be able to work in a group. I wanted everything to go as I planned, but by welcoming other opinions, there were more creative and great ideas that were added to the lessons and planning. It was hard enough to teach as a group, so to have other minds, and hands to work with made it a more obtainable task.

What were your discoveries and lessons about team teaching?
I felt that my group tried their hardest to perform to our best abilities, and succeeded. This experience has helped me in so many ways. To work in a group can always be a struggle, but I feel that my group worked very well together. We were all able to get together to work on the lessons, and rehearse how we were going to teach. My group came up with great, engaging activities and lessons, that the students really enjoyed. Getting along with group members, and engaging in effective communication is definitely key to a successful cooperative learning experience. Although there were varying opinions, my team teaching experience was definitely a positive one.

Cooperative Learning

There were many articles that I read on cooperative learning that allowed me to earn a better understanding of the learning process. One of the articles discussed the three ways students interact with each other which are that they can compete, work individualistically, and that they can work cooperatively. This article states "In a cooperative learning situation, interaction is characterized by positive goal interdependence with individual accountability." This is an excellent way for students to work together towards a common goal and the realization that they are responsible for their work and will be graded accordingly. The article "Why Use Cooperative Learning", outlined the advantages of using cooperative learning. They were:

• Academic Achievement
• Mixed groups earn better understanding of material 
• Best effects when groups are recognized/rewarded
• Better on tests (Reasoning and Cooperative thinking skills)
• Motivation and Retention
• Active participation in learning process
• More self esteem
• Are more likely to make friends
• Like the subject better
• Project Scope
• Conserve materials by working in groups
• Opportunities for students to engage in more substantial projects
• Learn Life Skills
• Jobs/Projects require division of labor and ability to communicate

One other article, "The Many Faces of Inductive Teaching and Learning" discussed a study that showed the effectiveness of different teaching methods which are inquiry-based learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, case-based teaching, discovery learning, and just-in-time teaching. This was an interesting article that introduced inductive teaching to me. Inductive teaching methods introduce a challenge to the student, and the student then learns what they need to know to address the challenge. I found all the articles to be extremely helpful and I will incorporate these methods into my future teachings. 

Learning Something New

Today I experienced making a test through Google Form for the first time. This first test was a test on the test items' guidelines. I really enjoyed creating the test and using this site. It was fairly simple to use and you are able to make each test unique with different fonts, coloring, and backgrounds, to actively engage the participants that would be taking the test. It was interesting being able to use the different forms of assessment questions and I would definitely use this program again. I would use this in the classroom for my students to be able to work at home or in the computer room. Students today are much more comfortable using technology, and would really gravitate towards this method of taking tests.

Reflecting on My Performance..

For my presentation, I used the site About.Me. This site is used as a resume and it is a professional way to represent one's self. I really enjoyed working with this site and would definitely use it in future careers as a way to uniquely stand out. Dr. Smirnova made a great point in discussing how teachers can use this site as a fun project for students to create profiles/resumes for different characters and historic figures. This is such a different technique that really makes a difference in the way a student engages in the class. I felt overall that I presented myself well, however I could definitely make improvements. In future presentations I will project my voice more efficiently, add more personal attributes to my slide, and try to engage the class in a more effective way.

Notes on the Second Week

This is the second week of Social Studies Methods and we are learning about the origins,powerful elements of Social Studies, how people learn, and the structure of knowledge.

Origins

• Multi Disciplinary

Powerful elements

• Meaningful

• Apply to real-world situations
• Engaging

• Integrative

• Draws on more than one discipline, subject, or skill set

• Value-Based

• Used to become a better citizen
• Strengthen a student's sense of democratic values and social responsibilities

• Challenging

• More opinionated answers
• Raise the bar for students 
• Incorporate different perspectives
• Really make them think (critical thinking skills)

• Active

• Exciting/Engaging
• Hands on and minds on
• Participatory
• Make use of manipulatives

How People Learn?

• When we read: 50%                                         10%
• When we hear: 45%       
• When we see: 60%
• When we see and hear: 70%                            30%
• When we discuss: 85%                                    50%
• When we do things (Practice/Apply): 95%     90%

Structure of Knowledge

• Students become journalist, scientists, mathematicians, historians, etc.

Top Level-Meta-Cognition

Second to top level-Generalization

Second to Bottom Level-Concepts

Bottom Level-Facts

Assessment Appreciation

I have been learning a lot about the different ways that teachers can assess their students. These include formative, diagnostic, and summative assessments. One of the sites I viewed, What is Authentic Assessment?, introduced new types of assessments, authentic and traditional. Traditional assessment is geared more towards memorization and test taking, which is very prevalent topic in today's educational world due to the heavy emphasis on standardized tests. Authentic assessment focuses on students completing meaningful tasks that allows them to put their knowledge and skills to the test. This article helped to show how these two different types of assessment can ultimately complement each other if used in a skillful fashion.

The article "Deep and Fragile Knowledge" stood out to me because it discussed how it is difficult for teachers to truly know if a student understands what they are learning or if it is just superficial understanding. I feel that throughout my education I would just learn to have an understanding of what the tests would entail. I was gaining inert knowledge. I would lose most of the knowledge I studied because I was only trying to memorize to pass and receive a good grade, not to learn things that I can apply to life and becoming an effective member of society. I found this article to be incredibly interesting, and I think it is important for teachers to be able to identify the type of knowledge that a student has on a topic throughout different periods of time.