I chose Domain 3 as the framework I would like to think more deeply about. I wanted to choose Domain 3 because I started teaching Lucy Calkins Writing Workshop, along with Making Words and FCRR Student Centers this year and I thought one would be a good lesson to focus on for my Individual Inquiry Plan. Since I am teaching in a more student-centered way this year, incorporating everything I am learning in school, I am interested to receive some feedback on how it seems to be going in my classroom. My students seem to really love to learn this way, and I love it because it seems a little less painless than trying to do most lessons whole group.
For example, I like the way Calkins approaches writing as introducing the student to the whole idea of writing and letting them go at it without tying them to one part of the big idea in the beginning. In centers, the kids are really enjoying learning together in an inquiry based way, and they love making words… trying to come up with as many as they can, always trying to discover the mystery word.
I am the most comfortable with Component 3e: Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness. I feel that I am flexible in making adjustments to the lesson when necessary. I feel that I am always trying to capitalize on each teachable moment. Which there are many, I think that technology has really helped advance teachable moments as well... I love to introduce students to things they have never seen before. For example, a couple of weeks ago, we were reading a story called "Mrs. Brown Went to Town" where at one point the animals are judging each other dive and jump off the bed, like in an Olympic match. We started discussing how judges score like this in the Olympics and I discovered one of my students actually went to the opening ceremony last summer. I pulled up the opening ceremony and some other Olympic pictures. Many of the students had never even seen Chinese people. That student brought in his own pictures the next day. This was a great teachable moment. I believe I am targeting this component well.
I feel that all the components in Domain 3 strongly tie to instruction. This is a hard question for me; I have been hearing, learning and working on so much active engagement this year. I believe I will say this ties the strongest to instruction because as Danielson says; active engagement is the"raison d’être of schools". While I was in the KY Reading Project this summer, I started to realize that I may not have been engaging my students as much as I thought I was. Many times I taught things whole group so I could make sure everyone was paying attention and on task, but yet I always had a few that were off task. So I have been really working on intentionally incorporating active engagement into all of my lessons, everyday.
This is why I would like to zero in on active engagement for my own instruction. I have become very aware of how crucial active engagement is and I have a better idea of what it looks like now. I am working towards providing active engagement into all of my lessons. I think I am doing a much better job, and as I said earlier, I would love to hear some feedback on how I am doing. Right now, I am asking the students to discuss different topics during a lesson.
For example, one day during writing I was teaching about the different genres of writing. I was creating a list of things I needed for a cookout at the pool. I started off by mentioning a few things, and then they worked with a partner to come up with all different types of things I could put on my list. In Making Words, the students work in groups to manipulate and form words, making as many as they can, listing them, and ultimately trying to solve the mystery word. They help each other spell and rhyme, and decode, it is really neat to see.
During a guided reading lesson, I always have the kids take a picture walk and come up with questions they have about the pictures before we read the story. Then I have them explain why the author did this or that in the story. Once in Social Studies, I had the kids choose a community helper to draw a picture of and tell how you become one, ex. doctor, and what that person does to help the community. I gave them a big piece of chart paper and they had to work on formulating ideas in group and work together to create their information. There are lots of other things I do like this, and I would like to make sure I am doing enough to engage my students.
My question for others to respond to is: How do you use assessment (other than observation) in your instruction when you are using lots of hands on activities for active engagement?
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Task Four Reading
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Excellent post and I will set you up with some others to get your question going. I am eager to hear how your inquiry into active engagement goes- so important and yes I am pretty familiar with Lucy Calkins- glad you are liking it.
ReplyDeleteKrista, I really liked how you tied “Teachable Moments” to the Component of 3E. There is no other feeling in the world than when you find one of those moments and you have the skill and experience to turn it into a really great lesson! I too use picture walks in my 6th grade Social Studies classes. Prior to a lesson, we will flip through the pages looking at the photographs, charts and diagrams. I will ask my students to explain what they think is going on in the picture or predict what the lesson will be about. It is an excellent way to get them engaged from the start.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your question, I will use a predetermined rubric to help me with assessing activities (it helps to eliminate any bias). I always provide my students with a copy of the rubric prior to assigning the task. Needless to say ….I thinks this is easier in sixth grade than it would be in the second grade. I believe you can assess concept attainment through interviews too. In my opinion, it is imperative to write your assessment while you are planning the lesson. Assessment needs to be incorporated as an integral part of instruction. (Danielson 86) I still know teachers that, in spite of this, create a test after the unit is taught because they feel like creating the assessment during lesson-planning means that they are teaching to the test. To me it makes more sense, if I know what I am assessing then I can plan better lessons. For my inclusion class, I can talk with or “interview” students that are having extreme difficulty in writing or with students that require a scribe. This interviewing process allows me to assess where they are making progress or having difficulties. The hard part is putting the information in a grade book or on traditional report cards. I like how some districts have the specific program of study skills listed and the teacher simply checks the skill if mastered or leaves it blank if the student is still working towards mastery. I absolutely dislike “letter” grades. Too many parents get hung up on the LETTER. I am more concerned about whether or not the student can actually apply the concepts. And….Whose to say that students earning an “A” in my class would earn an “A” in one of the other sixth grade Social Studies classes and vice versa.
There are two things I use most for assessment: “I can” statements and rubric. I have more than 400 students. Students will self-assess if they master the knowledge. Both students and parents like “I can” statements since it illustrates their ability with the language, they feel successfully motivated. For bigger students a rubric can help them keep on track. Students feel it is serious, like they participating in a big project.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog for task 4. I think a lot of times it is difficult to be as engaging as you want to be and when you finish a lesson you look back and think "I could have done this or this or this to make it more engaging for the students". I think that is a difficult part of teaching but it seems like you reflect often on how you are doing!
ReplyDeletealso I am not in domain 3 but in response to your question.....I work with Multiple Disabilities so the majority of my work with them is hands on. I assess them through
* Observation
* Rubrics (I make a rubric i.e. are they responsive? did they answer independently? were they on task? etc and rate them 1-5)
* Data sheets - I often make data sheets to keep track of how they did. Maybe I have a sheet with the number 1-20 down and if they choose the right numbers when ask I put a plus by that number.
Make sense? Hope that helps!
Krista,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog and am interested in incorporating writing workshop activities in my own classroom. How do you find the time? That's where I run into trouble! It sounds like you have a lot of great learning going on! I loved your examples of writing about the cookout and the community helper writing activity. Very neat!
I liked what CZ said about the "I can" statements and rubric for assessment. I use similar "I can" statements that I post weekly. We review them each day and, as individual students accomplish the goals, we check them off on a list. This helps students to see what our weekly goals are and hold them accountable for their own learning (to some degree). Heidi also had great ideas, such as a rubric rating of 1-5. I may implement something like this as well!
Great question- I think I have an unfair advantage because I am usually only working with four students at a time. This makes it easier to do quick assessments with one student while others are doing the hands on activity. I know many teachers (who have whole classes) will still try to pull one on one while the rest of the class does centers. I know it is not easy for them, but they feel this one on one assessment time is priceless!
ReplyDeleteMy students do something called an Interactive Notebook for each of the content areas. There is an Input section, which gives students instructions for the hands on activity, or provides more information to go along with the hands on activity. The most useful part of the Notebook is the Output, this is where students write to demonstrate understanding. They either respond to a question concerning the topic, or add to the hands on activity in another demonstrating way. I am able to collect these and use as a form of assessment every day for every lesson. This is also a great tool to show parents.
ReplyDeleteKrista,
ReplyDeleteI really liked reading about your teachable moment. I'm so afraid to deviate from my lesson plan. I'm too uptight. It must be this new teacher thing. I guess it's ok if things get off topic, but I'm so worried things will get so far off I won't be able to bring things back on topic. I hope as I grow as a teacher, I can really build and take advantage of these teachable moments. I bet the students in your classroom will never forget about that Olympics lesson!