Saturday, March 9, 2013
Assessments
In a subject like science or math, we tend to work more with the quantitative versus qualitative measures of student "success". My class is broken into three assessment types; Tests and Quizzes, Lab Experiments, and Homework Assignments. Tests and quizzes are fairly self-explanatory; this summative assessment is similar to assessments given by the state and other testing companies that administer the SATs, AP's and ACT tests. In many ways this is how I assess my teaching. These tests show a "final product" for student understanding after a lesson or unit and can give insight into my teaching practices. The homework assigned is designed to instill prior knowledge in students before they listen to a PowerPoint presentation or complete a class or lab activity. This prior knowledge helps students have a foundation from which to build upon in classroom discussions and work. I "grade" these homework packets (stamped during class and collected at the end of the unit) based on completeness, effort, and ability. Some students have such a difficult time retaining papers in their binder that I will give them a couple "extra credit" points based on receiving back 100% of the pagers i have handed out to them. This assessment is slightly more formative and informal, with room to praise students improvement rather than ability. The final part of my assessment of students' learning is based on lab activities. These activities allow for students to self-differentiate, with students playing to their individual strengths. The lab work that is turned in and graded is parried against how well students were able to work together in their groups and come to a collective level of learning and understanding. Lab experiments go badly sometimes and I find these activities to be more about interpreting science and research rather than memorizing information and fact. This is also a somewhat more qualitative measure with room to track students' improvements as well as their understanding. A strategy that comes from our textbook that I thought was fairly novel for a science class is to debate an issue or topic. Science is viewed by many as "The Answer", and many forget that science is constantly changing and our understanding of the world around us improved. Having students research and generate talking-points can play to the more interpersonal learners and those that enjoy the competition of debating. Tomlinson states that students think about, apply and even expand on understanding fundamental to a topic. This higher learning is truly what we want for all our students and by challenging students to a task that is unfamiliar to most science classrooms may be both exciting and educational to students.
Blog Post 3/9/13 from in-class
How would you define school and class culture?
Class and school culture can be viewed as the ways and means by which schools and students function. School culture can by under- or overachieving. They can be focused on academic, social, or cultural topics, can encourage or discourage activities and ideas, or can prompt or preventing students to reach new heights. As teachers, we can facilitate an improved culture at out school and in our classes. We can hold students accountable and teach them responsibility. We can hold high expectations for all our students, regardless of ability levels, and encourage them to reach their self-defined goals.
What is the relationship between data and school culture?
As we saw from our exercise today, their is slight correlation between school data and culture. Some schools with higher API ratings had problems with student-overload and a high-stress environment. Other lower API schools had issues with student motivation and language and special needs students. I think the culture of the school is affected more by the demographic of students than their school-specific data measures and rankings.
How does SES (socio-economic status) impact school and class culture?
I do think there is the strongest correlation between similar school's demographic and socio-economic status and the cultures experienced at these schools. We heard from teacher candidates from lower achieving schools talk about their ethnic and academic demographics and how many students are full grade-levels behind the class. Parents need assistance in helping their children and many are lacking this help. Higher achieving school know that parent and community funding can "fill-in-the-cracks" when it comes to educational tools such as computers and enrichment activities. This also can be seen as a double-edged sword, with many students from lower socio-economic backgrounds working extremely hard to achieve when they show academic promise while many students from more affluent communities lack the motivation to achieve at their highest levels.
What are some pathways to success?
Differentiation can help each and every student maximize their learning in school. Students strengths must be identified and lessons and activities must be geared toward these strengths on a student-to-student basis. Teachers might start out the year with an activity that could identify their students learning preferences. Multiple Intelligences exist for different people and by teaching to these "intelligences" can benefit student and teacher alike. Teachers can gain new insight into how different learners take in lessons and use this information to plan for future ones.
Class and school culture can be viewed as the ways and means by which schools and students function. School culture can by under- or overachieving. They can be focused on academic, social, or cultural topics, can encourage or discourage activities and ideas, or can prompt or preventing students to reach new heights. As teachers, we can facilitate an improved culture at out school and in our classes. We can hold students accountable and teach them responsibility. We can hold high expectations for all our students, regardless of ability levels, and encourage them to reach their self-defined goals.
What is the relationship between data and school culture?
As we saw from our exercise today, their is slight correlation between school data and culture. Some schools with higher API ratings had problems with student-overload and a high-stress environment. Other lower API schools had issues with student motivation and language and special needs students. I think the culture of the school is affected more by the demographic of students than their school-specific data measures and rankings.
How does SES (socio-economic status) impact school and class culture?
I do think there is the strongest correlation between similar school's demographic and socio-economic status and the cultures experienced at these schools. We heard from teacher candidates from lower achieving schools talk about their ethnic and academic demographics and how many students are full grade-levels behind the class. Parents need assistance in helping their children and many are lacking this help. Higher achieving school know that parent and community funding can "fill-in-the-cracks" when it comes to educational tools such as computers and enrichment activities. This also can be seen as a double-edged sword, with many students from lower socio-economic backgrounds working extremely hard to achieve when they show academic promise while many students from more affluent communities lack the motivation to achieve at their highest levels.
What are some pathways to success?
Differentiation can help each and every student maximize their learning in school. Students strengths must be identified and lessons and activities must be geared toward these strengths on a student-to-student basis. Teachers might start out the year with an activity that could identify their students learning preferences. Multiple Intelligences exist for different people and by teaching to these "intelligences" can benefit student and teacher alike. Teachers can gain new insight into how different learners take in lessons and use this information to plan for future ones.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Assignment #1 PowerPoint
Here is my PowerPoint Presentation on Los Gatos High School's School Culture....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_8PFZ9i2PU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_8PFZ9i2PU
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Discussion #2 - How does School Culture affect Student Learning?
School culture is critical in shaping students' learning, both in the high school realm and in the time following high school, as students begin to enter the "real-world". Many students credit their high school experiences in "seeking knowledge" as the turning point in the way they view the subject of education. I remember personally being fascinated by calculus and the idea that all relationships could be described by a mathematical formula. It could be used to calculate and predict things that would take too long or too short an amount of time to experimentally measure. In hindsight, this event showed me the power of knowledge and, from that point forward, I would consider myself a life-long learner and student.
Teachers and school administrators help to create this culture, along with community and family expectations and sufficient funding, to facilitate this culture. Teachers can do many things to promote a positive school culture on a day-to-day and more long-term basis. Our textbook cites everything from daily routines and practices to positive or negative expectations by teachers (Wong & Wong. 2009).
The failure to establish a classroom and even a school-wide routine can lead to chaos for classes and teachers. Even in the high school setting, students crave the structure and predictability that routines can provide. This day-to-day structure not only established a better learning environment for the students, but it can also make the transition of the class to a new teacher, either a sub or subsequent teachers in high school, much smoother. In my experience student teaching, the easiest classes to teach are ones where routines have been established, students know and understand expectations, and where everyone buys into the educational goals.
The final piece of this puzzle is "selling" these educational goals to students... and to teachers. The more long-term culture measurement, established by school staff, is one of expectations. Teachers or staff that expect a lot from students, for them to achieve academically, compete fairly, and act morally, usually see these expectations fulfilled. Conversely, students who teachers have labeled as under-achievers, troublemakers, or disruptive, typically also fulfill these expectations, performing poorly academically, being the cause of interruptions in class, and jeopardizing other students' learning. Teachers are the monitors of these students and their interactions everyday shape the attitudes of their student body. Teachers who are encouraging, respectful, and hold their students to high academic and personal expectations see these students start to affect other students, slowly but surely changing the overall school atmosphere. This shift is culture, a culture driven by students and sustained and spurred by teachers, can create an environment where all students can receive the most out of their education in the classroom.
I also must acknowledge the fact that school funding can be the most restrictive factor in school ability to change culture. I have had the benefit of both attending and student teaching at Los Gatos High School, a very affluent community that prides itself in their youth demographic. This means that the school is able to provide students with resources that improve the school culture. Computers and lab equipment in science classes, facilities for the physical education programs, and enriching activities and clubs all cost extra and the brunt of this cost is payed for by residents. In other communities, students do not have access to these types of resources and are correspondingly less engaged and interested in their education. Likewise, teachers in underfunded schools are struggling to provide the necessary resources, pencils, paper, etc., let alone provide a class computer or fund a student club. This lowers their expectations, which in turn lowers the expectations of students. Students notice when their textbooks are decades old and when their class resources are lacking. In these school, the mere fact that they do not have adequate funding make the act of motivating students that much harder for teachers and staff.
Wong, H. K., & Wong, R. T. (2009). The first days of school: how to be an effective teacher.
Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications
Teachers and school administrators help to create this culture, along with community and family expectations and sufficient funding, to facilitate this culture. Teachers can do many things to promote a positive school culture on a day-to-day and more long-term basis. Our textbook cites everything from daily routines and practices to positive or negative expectations by teachers (Wong & Wong. 2009).
The failure to establish a classroom and even a school-wide routine can lead to chaos for classes and teachers. Even in the high school setting, students crave the structure and predictability that routines can provide. This day-to-day structure not only established a better learning environment for the students, but it can also make the transition of the class to a new teacher, either a sub or subsequent teachers in high school, much smoother. In my experience student teaching, the easiest classes to teach are ones where routines have been established, students know and understand expectations, and where everyone buys into the educational goals.
The final piece of this puzzle is "selling" these educational goals to students... and to teachers. The more long-term culture measurement, established by school staff, is one of expectations. Teachers or staff that expect a lot from students, for them to achieve academically, compete fairly, and act morally, usually see these expectations fulfilled. Conversely, students who teachers have labeled as under-achievers, troublemakers, or disruptive, typically also fulfill these expectations, performing poorly academically, being the cause of interruptions in class, and jeopardizing other students' learning. Teachers are the monitors of these students and their interactions everyday shape the attitudes of their student body. Teachers who are encouraging, respectful, and hold their students to high academic and personal expectations see these students start to affect other students, slowly but surely changing the overall school atmosphere. This shift is culture, a culture driven by students and sustained and spurred by teachers, can create an environment where all students can receive the most out of their education in the classroom.
I also must acknowledge the fact that school funding can be the most restrictive factor in school ability to change culture. I have had the benefit of both attending and student teaching at Los Gatos High School, a very affluent community that prides itself in their youth demographic. This means that the school is able to provide students with resources that improve the school culture. Computers and lab equipment in science classes, facilities for the physical education programs, and enriching activities and clubs all cost extra and the brunt of this cost is payed for by residents. In other communities, students do not have access to these types of resources and are correspondingly less engaged and interested in their education. Likewise, teachers in underfunded schools are struggling to provide the necessary resources, pencils, paper, etc., let alone provide a class computer or fund a student club. This lowers their expectations, which in turn lowers the expectations of students. Students notice when their textbooks are decades old and when their class resources are lacking. In these school, the mere fact that they do not have adequate funding make the act of motivating students that much harder for teachers and staff.
Wong, H. K., & Wong, R. T. (2009). The first days of school: how to be an effective teacher.
Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)