Video 5.1: “Visible Literacy Through Success Criteria: This video was a little less than five minutes. The third grade class did a lot of choral response to the instructor’s questions about identifying the prefix “un.” The instructor asked the students to pair a visual and a drawing with the new vocabulary word. I can see this applied to all levels, not just elementary students. Having students verbally respond includes more modalities into the learning. Then by adding a gesture and drawing to the word adds in kinesthetic and visual modalities. I like it!
Video 5.4 Three Keys of Visible Learning: This was a short, less than two minute video that reviewed the keys of visible learning. 1. Know your impact 2. Know where students are in their learning 3. Never lose sight of the endgame – teaching for transfer The idea of knowing where students are in their learning is important. You have to start at their level and then transfer learning up to the next levels. I’ve been looking at impact when I begin working with students, I want to use the strategy with the most impact to enhance learning.
I appreciate the idea of keeping sight of the endgame. I worry sometimes we get caught up in the strategies or the "fidelity" of a scripted program and are afraid to modify to make sure students are really learning what we intend them to.
The idea of knowing your impact is important. I think it's easy to get caught in the day-to-day pressure of teaching that we forget the impact we can have on the life of a child, which makes our decisions of instructional techniques and strategies so much more important.
I really like when I am observing in a classroom and a teacher uses choral reading. It appears to me students are much more engaged and active in the text than when a teacher uses round robin reading of the text.
I also like the idea of keeping sight of the endgame. In our line of work, it is so important that we remember what we want our students to accomplish.
I chose "Video 2.3 Having Successful Collaborative Conversations" and Video 3.4 Teacher Feedback That Labels Students’ Actions.
"Video 2.3 Having Successful Collaborative Conversations" was about 10 minutes and discussed fun, safe, low risk modeling with assigned roles, practice of statements to agree/disagree, and facial expressions/body language to show active listening. There was an emphasis on providing direct instruction in these skills with ample positive feedback. In the high school example, the teacher also discussed choosing materials of complexity that requires collaboration to understand. I appreciated the idea of practice of these essentially social skills in a safe environment.
Video 3.4 Teacher Feedback That Labels Students’ Actions link actually went to a video about Visible Learning Through Success Criteria. It was a good example of clearly setting the success criteria for a task through repetition, visual aides, and feedback.
I enjoyed reading your synopsis because you did two other videos than I did. I was able to read what you wrote and understand what collaborative conversations were about.
The first video I watched was video 5.1 visible literacy through success criteria. The class was a 3rd grade class that was working on prefixes. I thought the teacher did a great job because he was always using verbal answers and keeping the class involved. The students were always paying attention and answering the questions he asked out loud therefore it kept their attention. They then went to groups and shared the answers they had written down. Finally the class came back together as a class and did the final wrap-up kind of deal. I thought it was a good lesson.
The other video I watched was 5.3 needs-based grouping. The teacher had pulled out a group of students who she noticed were going to need more help on a literature assignment. The other students were also in groups around the classroom and she worked in more of a small group setting with these students. She can better see what the students need to work on and in what areas they are struggling. I can see how this could be beneficial to the student and teacher alike.
Your synopsis makes me want to watch these videos as well. I love the small groupings of students and love how these videos showcase the benefits for students and teachers of having small group practices.
Dustin- I enjoyed reading your thoughts about the 5.1 video because I watched it as well, and I think we share some of the same takeaways, especially in regard to the attention piece. Throughout the entire video, I was thinking “Holy cow… This guy leaves NO room for down time!” Haha! I don’t feel like the instruction was at a pace where students couldn’t keep up, but he definitely utilized strategies that were able to hold their attention throughout the lesson!
I watched Video 1.1 Teacher–Student Relationships That Impact Learning because this is important to me. They spoke about how relationships promote positive classroom management, and having respect for your students - create an intentional relationship and be conscious of their needs. I think this is something that we do so effortlessly, that we stop thinking about it. I love the reminder to not go on autopilot - don't simply ask how their weekend was, recall something specific that they told you they were going to do and ask about that; it shows that you care to take the time with them.
I also watched Video 4.3 Reading Across Documents Collaboratively With Teacher Feedback since this is something I want to develop further. This video showed the teacher introducing the lesson of comparing two texts over the same topic, and students carrying out the lesson and discussing the texts assigned. It showed how students used specific pieces of evidence to support their claims and working together to understand the purpose of each article. The teacher then meets with the students to check their understanding, and then challenging them further and celebrating their accomplishments. I loved this video and seeing this in action. I know that some students would be against this kind of activity at first, but like the two students here they would get into the assignment more because they had to justify their position. I loved that the teacher was able to monitor each discussion and check in with each group. This is an excellent activity promoting cross text evaluation and collaborative discussion.
On teacher-student relationships I agree that some teachers do this effortlessly but unfortunately not all do! Those teachers are usually the ones who have alot of classroom management and behavior problems!
I watched Video 4.2 about Peer Tutoring. In the video, a high school student talked through what he did when he tutored other students. The video showed clips of him working with other high school students in a Language Arts class. He is helping them generate ideas, so the clip shows, what they did together and what they talked about. It was good to hear him talk through the process with each student, give them ideas, and use slang and everyday language in their writing. I wanted to know more about peer tutoring and how it works. Its one area that would be great for some gifted students to get involved in. I watched the Video 4.4 about Teacher and Peer feedback. The teacher made a point about starting the feedback with a positive. She teaches students specific terms and strategies to use when giving feedback with other students. Then students gave specific feedback to each other. One point she made is that many adults have a tough time dealing with criticism, and these kids are learning how to take it, use it, and become better writers because of it. I thought this video did a great job of showing how the teacher used peer feedback in her classroom and made it part of the writing process.
I watched video 4.1 (Teaching for Transfer). It started with a high school English teacher practicing skills with his students. He also worked with other departments to use the transfer skills across the curriculum. Another teacher keeps posting goals. 1) Closely read text and 2) Write a good argument 3)Can you get your point to your peers. Transfer goal are supported cross content and cross levels by different projects to see the learning connection. This video had several good examples of English transfer goals and how to implement them. I think that it is good that all the teachers in this video, kept saying it was cross content. The more teachers that can buy into something like this, I think the more value a student will get from it.
I also watched video 4.4 (Providing Teacher and Peer Feedback). Teacher reviewed what the expectations of good feedback. Specific is key and starting with positive feedback. Compliment sandwiches are a giving a compliment then a critique then ends on a compliment. Build up confidence and encourage them to try hard, instead of tearing them apart. It was very interesting to see students in the video actually use this and have clear understanding. Then the students came back to whole group as a teacher to share out. Teaches students to be open to hearing critique and how they are using that information. I liked that the examples were specific and there was some very interesting feedback from the students. No one said it was good, without getting very detailed and opinionated abut why they thought so.
I watched video 1.1 Teacher-Student relationships that impact learning: I completely agree that teacher-student relationships are essential to learning in the classroom. I like how the teachers in the video distinguished between just asking how the students how their evening or weekend was verses asking specific quesitons like how students did on a soccer game. Students really do like when teachers remember specific things about their life and not jsut generalize. Students can tell when teachers are being "fake" about their concern and when it is genuine! Teachers who have good relationships with their students have better classroom management with fewer behavior issues.
I also watched video 3.2 Questioning for surface , deep, and transfer learning: Moving students into the upper levels of Blooms requires this transfer from surface to deep. Surface is pretty basic but extremely important in order for students to be successful at the deeper levels. I like how the teacher guaged from the student answers she was getting on the surface level learning questions to see if her students were ready for the deep levels. This takes knowledge of the content on the teachers part to know when the transfer needs to start occuring. This is a big push in our district- moving students to the deep learning levels.
Carol, I agree that teachers forming relationships with their students is extremely important. Our interrelated teachers looping with with their students helps greatly to help build relationships with their students. When the teacher is new, it is harder for them to know their students. Trust is earned over time and consistency.
Video 5.2: Evaluating Your Impact Through Assessment This video talked about different methods of assessing student learning such as though discussion with students, listening to student talk, and using paper/pencil assessments. I liked how the teachers talked about assessment being a measure of how well they presented the materials, instead of it being about rather the student passed or failed.
Video 5.4 Visible Learning: Three Keys The first thing it discussed was knowing your impact on the students you are teaching and making yourself better and better. The second concept was the need to understand where students are in their phases of learning to appropriately match instruction to that students. The third area was to never lose sight of the end game, which is teaching for life long learning.
Video 1.3: Making Learning Visible Through Learning Intentions- This video was about using "learning goals or intentions" to show what the students should be learning that day or week. They make the goals or intentions visible so that the students and anyone coming into the room can see them. Students can use them as a guideline to help them see what they are to be working on for the class. It's the same idea as us posting the standards that we are working on. The video says it is important to tell the students what the intentions are at the beginning of class and it may be necessary to review them throughout the class to keep them on task.
Video 3.2: Questioning for Surface, Deep, and Transfer Learning- This video was about being mindful of the students prior knowledge or surface level. It makes it clear that students learn easier when they have a basic knowledge. It's easier for them to do the harder work if they understand and grasp the easy work.
One thing I really enjoyed about this book was how it constantly urged us to be transparent with our students, our teaching and their learning. Using posted objectives/goals and intentions, we hold ourselves accountable for the direction we're hoping to take the class as well as giving the students a map for where we are going.
Video 5.2 had several teachers who discussed the various assessment methods they use to evaluate the impact of their instruction. Some examples included talking with students, listening to students’ conversations, exit slips (which I thought was a neat idea, but not sure I’ve ever seen put into action before), student products, or doing something more formal like a test. Throughout this process, the teachers talked about referring back to which specific standard/goal they wanted the students to learn, and then adjusting their next steps based on if students had successfully demonstrated they’d learned what the teachers wanted them to. I cracked up a little when one teacher talked about if something goes wrong, he never believes it’s the student, but rather something in the way the content was delivered. I thought this was funny because it reminded me of a time when I was getting way more referrals from this one building than I ever had before, and the interrelated teacher and I had several conversations about how the school needed to re-evaluate their curriculum, instructional practices, etc. because there was no way 75% of the kids needed to be in special education, haha! I mean, looking back, it’s a mildly funny story that you just have to shake your head at, but back then I was definitely pulling out my hair.
Video 5.4 talked about the 3 key points that we should take away from the book. These included knowing the impact of our teaching on our students’ learning, understanding where students are in their particular phases of learning, and never losing sight of the end game. This last part especially reminded me of Stephen Covey when he says to begin with the end in mind. By really having a good understanding of how our strategies are affecting students, we can improve upon them to produce better and better results. Additionally, as we become more successful in this endeavor, our students will become more successful in being able to transfer what they’re getting out of our instruction, hopefully then being able to further utilize and capitalize on these strategies throughout their lives.
I watched 5.2- Evaluating Your Impact Through Assessment- This video talked about ho you need to use the assessments you have given to drive instruction and to decide who needs some more intensive support on different skills. The teacher used checklists and exit slips to assess students. She then used this information to see where students were struggling as a whole. She addressed the issues in a whole group manner. She then had a Needs Based Group for students who were struggling alot on specific topic; such as main idea. To help with this, she had the students pick four words from the text to help sum up the text. Then, from those four words they had to pick one word to sum up the text. The kids had a discussion to help deepen their learning. I agree with the practices in this video. I think it is important to take the time to look at our assessments given to see where students are struggling. It is important for us to address those areas of struggle.
I also watched 5.4 Visible Learning Keys: They said that the three things to take away from the book are: 1) know your impact and be clear about it. Use assessment to do this. 2)Understand where kids are in the phases of learning 3) Never lose sight of what the end game is. I think these are great reminders on what to do in order to be effective in our teaching. It is important to use assessment to drive instruction. It is also important to understand where our students are at and where we want to take them. This helps create expectations and goals.
3.1 Deeper Learning This was a basic video that explained the basic differences between surface and deeper learning. While surface learning involves mastery of facts and figures and the ability to answer specific questions, deeper learning is conceptual. It takes surface learning and is able to apply it to similar situations based on connections made by the student. The video explained that one of the main reasons why teachers have traditionally placed higher emphasis on surface learning is due to state testing. Since performance has been based on surface learning, teachers have taught with an emphasis on facts. As state tests shift toward deeper learning, teachers will change their instruction as well. This was pretty straight forward, so I found myself agreeing with it.
5.4 Visible Learning: 3 Keys This video summed up the goals for this book and what the authors hoped we as readers would get out of it. This is probably why so many people chose this video to review. The three most important things the authors wanted the readers to think about were: 1)Knowing your impact (teacher), 2) Knowing what phase of learning students are in, 3) Never losing sight of the end game/ our ultimate goal as teachers. She encourages teachers to remember that students learn what we teach them, so we must continually think about what and how we are teaching so that we can refine our skills and sharpen our methods. Secondly, students will be at many different levels of learning, so in order to meet their needs, teachers must constantly assess their learning visibly and modify teaching accordingly. Finally, she mentioned that teaching is a gift and a joy. Teachers must remember why we chose to be teachers. We affect students' in many ways. We must teach for transfer and help form life-long learners.
I watched Video 5.2, Evaluating Your Impact Through Assessment. Teachers can evaluate the effectiveness of their lessons to find those student who understood and those who didn't. They can do this through differing forms of assessment that includes student products, summative assessment, formative assessment, conversations with their students that include questioning and listening to group conversations, and exit slips. If a teacher finds that the majority of the class did not understand the concept or standard that was being taught, they can reteach. This does not just include a repetition of the lesson, but teaching the lesson in a different and, hopefully, more efficient way. If only a small group of students did not understand, the teacher's reteaching can occur in small groups. Assessing your impact as a teacher is an effective way of monitoring student progress and analyzing teacher effectiveness.
I watched Peer Tutoring, Video 4.2. Peer tutoring involves a peer of higher ability teaching peers of lower ability individually or in pairs. The example involved writing stories. The peer tutor helped a couple students get started and questioned to help them with the words they chose to write. One peer needed help with quotations marks and punctuation. The peer tutor occasionally asked the teacher questions as well to help clarify his thinking before giving wrong advice. This video was conducted with middle school students. I would say that, if peer tutoring were tried with elementary students, there would need to be a great deal of pre training for the peer tutors and they would need to possess a great deal of maturity. Their teacher would need to be in close proximity to answer questions and to make sure that the process was conducted with fidelity.
Video 5.2: Evaluating Your Impact Through Assessment This video had several teachers discussing how they use assessment to help them guide their instruction. They talked about that assessments need to be specific because all lessons can't teach all concepts. They talked about that sometimes when student's don't do well on the assessment, it has nothing to do with the students, but it could be the delivery of the lesson. I thought that was a great point! They also talked about that assessments can be both formative and summative, and that there is a place for each type of assessment.
Video 5.3: Assessment: Needs-Based Grouping This teacher does a whole group assessment and then determines from that assessment if small groups need to be made for specific instruction. These groups need extra instruction, and is a great example of differentiated instruction. She came up with the group based on their exit tickets from the day before. This is a great example of a simple assessment that she gains so much information from. "Reteaching is different. It's not that I'm going to say it louder or slower." I love this quote!! We need to monitor student learning and be able to reteach the concepts so that all students can be successful.
4.2 Peer tutoring in writing. In this video I watched a senior tutoring middle school students in writing. He comes into class 5 or 10 minutes early to be briefed on the days lesson. In class he works with students by reading through their papers together. This allows the students to hear how the paper flows, and correct any grammar errors. 2.1 DIRECT INSTRUCTION. In this video the teacher uses direct instruction to teach proper writing. They go through a variety of examples on different techniques of proper writing. When they are finished they practice their new skills in a writing activity.
Video 5.1: “Visible Literacy Through Success Criteria: This video was a little less than five minutes.
ReplyDeleteThe third grade class did a lot of choral response to the instructor’s questions about identifying the prefix “un.” The instructor asked the students to pair a visual and a drawing with the new vocabulary word.
I can see this applied to all levels, not just elementary students. Having students verbally respond includes more modalities into the learning. Then by adding a gesture and drawing to the word adds in kinesthetic and visual modalities. I like it!
Video 5.4 Three Keys of Visible Learning: This was a short, less than two minute video that reviewed the keys of visible learning.
1. Know your impact
2. Know where students are in their learning
3. Never lose sight of the endgame – teaching for transfer
The idea of knowing where students are in their learning is important. You have to start at their level and then transfer learning up to the next levels. I’ve been looking at impact when I begin working with students, I want to use the strategy with the most impact to enhance learning.
I appreciate the idea of keeping sight of the endgame. I worry sometimes we get caught up in the strategies or the "fidelity" of a scripted program and are afraid to modify to make sure students are really learning what we intend them to.
DeleteThe idea of knowing your impact is important. I think it's easy to get caught in the day-to-day pressure of teaching that we forget the impact we can have on the life of a child, which makes our decisions of instructional techniques and strategies so much more important.
DeleteI really like when I am observing in a classroom and a teacher uses choral reading. It appears to me students are much more engaged and active in the text than when a teacher uses round robin reading of the text.
DeleteI like the idea of adding drawing and gestures to help with retention of material learned.
DeleteI also like the idea of keeping sight of the endgame. In our line of work, it is so important that we remember what we want our students to accomplish.
DeleteI chose "Video 2.3 Having Successful Collaborative Conversations" and Video 3.4 Teacher Feedback That Labels Students’ Actions.
ReplyDelete"Video 2.3 Having Successful Collaborative Conversations" was about 10 minutes and discussed fun, safe, low risk modeling with assigned roles, practice of statements to agree/disagree, and facial expressions/body language to show active listening. There was an emphasis on providing direct instruction in these skills with ample positive feedback. In the high school example, the teacher also discussed choosing materials of complexity that requires collaboration to understand. I appreciated the idea of practice of these essentially social skills in a safe environment.
Video 3.4 Teacher Feedback That Labels Students’ Actions link actually went to a video about Visible Learning Through Success Criteria. It was a good example of clearly setting the success criteria for a task through repetition, visual aides, and feedback.
I enjoyed reading your synopsis because you did two other videos than I did. I was able to read what you wrote and understand what collaborative conversations were about.
DeleteThe first video I watched was video 5.1 visible literacy through success criteria. The class was a 3rd grade class that was working on prefixes. I thought the teacher did a great job because he was always using verbal answers and keeping the class involved. The students were always paying attention and answering the questions he asked out loud therefore it kept their attention. They then went to groups and shared the answers they had written down. Finally the class came back together as a class and did the final wrap-up kind of deal. I thought it was a good lesson.
ReplyDeleteThe other video I watched was 5.3 needs-based grouping. The teacher had pulled out a group of students who she noticed were going to need more help on a literature assignment. The other students were also in groups around the classroom and she worked in more of a small group setting with these students. She can better see what the students need to work on and in what areas they are struggling. I can see how this could be beneficial to the student and teacher alike.
Your synopsis makes me want to watch these videos as well. I love the small groupings of students and love how these videos showcase the benefits for students and teachers of having small group practices.
DeleteGood synopsis! I think I will watch these videos scene I know now that I have read your synopsis I will get something out of it!
DeleteDustin-
DeleteI enjoyed reading your thoughts about the 5.1 video because I watched it as well, and I think we share some of the same takeaways, especially in regard to the attention piece. Throughout the entire video, I was thinking “Holy cow… This guy leaves NO room for down time!” Haha! I don’t feel like the instruction was at a pace where students couldn’t keep up, but he definitely utilized strategies that were able to hold their attention throughout the lesson!
I watched Video 1.1 Teacher–Student Relationships That Impact Learning because this is important to me. They spoke about how relationships promote positive classroom management, and having respect for your students - create an intentional relationship and be conscious of their needs. I think this is something that we do so effortlessly, that we stop thinking about it. I love the reminder to not go on autopilot - don't simply ask how their weekend was, recall something specific that they told you they were going to do and ask about that; it shows that you care to take the time with them.
ReplyDeleteI also watched Video 4.3 Reading Across Documents Collaboratively With Teacher Feedback since this is something I want to develop further. This video showed the teacher introducing the lesson of comparing two texts over the same topic, and students carrying out the lesson and discussing the texts assigned. It showed how students used specific pieces of evidence to support their claims and working together to understand the purpose of each article. The teacher then meets with the students to check their understanding, and then challenging them further and celebrating their accomplishments. I loved this video and seeing this in action. I know that some students would be against this kind of activity at first, but like the two students here they would get into the assignment more because they had to justify their position. I loved that the teacher was able to monitor each discussion and check in with each group. This is an excellent activity promoting cross text evaluation and collaborative discussion.
On teacher-student relationships I agree that some teachers do this effortlessly but unfortunately not all do! Those teachers are usually the ones who have alot of classroom management and behavior problems!
DeleteI watched Video 4.2 about Peer Tutoring. In the video, a high school student talked through what he did when he tutored other students. The video showed clips of him working with other high school students in a Language Arts class. He is helping them generate ideas, so the clip shows, what they did together and what they talked about. It was good to hear him talk through the process with each student, give them ideas, and use slang and everyday language in their writing. I wanted to know more about peer tutoring and how it works. Its one area that would be great for some gifted students to get involved in.
ReplyDeleteI watched the Video 4.4 about Teacher and Peer feedback. The teacher made a point about starting the feedback with a positive. She teaches students specific terms and strategies to use when giving feedback with other students. Then students gave specific feedback to each other. One point she made is that many adults have a tough time dealing with criticism, and these kids are learning how to take it, use it, and become better writers because of it. I thought this video did a great job of showing how the teacher used peer feedback in her classroom and made it part of the writing process.
I wish more teachers used peer tutoring in their classrooms. To often peer tutoring is copying answers from someone else.
DeleteI really liked that idea of bring down an older student two work through the writing process with younger students.
DeleteI watched video 4.1 (Teaching for Transfer). It started with a high school English teacher practicing skills with his students. He also worked with other departments to use the transfer skills across the curriculum. Another teacher keeps posting goals. 1) Closely read text and 2) Write a good argument 3)Can you get your point to your peers. Transfer goal are supported cross content and cross levels by different projects to see the learning connection. This video had several good examples of English transfer goals and how to implement them. I think that it is good that all the teachers in this video, kept saying it was cross content. The more teachers that can buy into something like this, I think the more value a student will get from it.
ReplyDeleteI also watched video 4.4 (Providing Teacher and Peer Feedback). Teacher reviewed what the expectations of good feedback. Specific is key and starting with positive feedback. Compliment sandwiches are a giving a compliment then a critique then ends on a compliment. Build up confidence and encourage them to try hard, instead of tearing them apart. It was very interesting to see students in the video actually use this and have clear understanding. Then the students came back to whole group as a teacher to share out. Teaches students to be open to hearing critique and how they are using that information. I liked that the examples were specific and there was some very interesting feedback from the students. No one said it was good, without getting very detailed and opinionated abut why they thought so.
I chose to read your synopsis because I didn't watch either of these videos! Now I feel like I did! Thank you :)
DeleteI watched video 1.1 Teacher-Student relationships that impact learning:
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that teacher-student relationships are essential to learning in the classroom. I like how the teachers in the video distinguished between just asking how the students how their evening or weekend was verses asking specific quesitons like how students did on a soccer game. Students really do like when teachers remember specific things about their life and not jsut generalize. Students can tell when teachers are being "fake" about their concern and when it is genuine! Teachers who have good relationships with their students have better classroom management with fewer behavior issues.
I also watched video 3.2 Questioning for surface , deep, and transfer learning:
Moving students into the upper levels of Blooms requires this transfer from surface to deep. Surface is pretty basic but extremely important in order for students to be successful at the deeper levels. I like how the teacher guaged from the student answers she was getting on the surface level learning questions to see if her students were ready for the deep levels. This takes knowledge of the content on the teachers part to know when the transfer needs to start occuring. This is a big push in our district- moving students to the deep learning levels.
Carol, I agree that teachers forming relationships with their students is extremely important. Our interrelated teachers looping with with their students helps greatly to help build relationships with their students. When the teacher is new, it is harder for them to know their students. Trust is earned over time and consistency.
DeleteVideo 5.2: Evaluating Your Impact Through Assessment
ReplyDeleteThis video talked about different methods of assessing student learning such as though discussion with students, listening to student talk, and using paper/pencil assessments. I liked how the teachers talked about assessment being a measure of how well they presented the materials, instead of it being about rather the student passed or failed.
Video 5.4 Visible Learning: Three Keys
The first thing it discussed was knowing your impact on the students you are teaching and making yourself better and better. The second concept was the need to understand where students are in their phases of learning to appropriately match instruction to that students. The third area was to never lose sight of the end game, which is teaching for life long learning.
Video 1.3: Making Learning Visible Through Learning Intentions- This video was about using "learning goals or intentions" to show what the students should be learning that day or week. They make the goals or intentions visible so that the students and anyone coming into the room can see them. Students can use them as a guideline to help them see what they are to be working on for the class. It's the same idea as us posting the standards that we are working on. The video says it is important to tell the students what the intentions are at the beginning of class and it may be necessary to review them throughout the class to keep them on task.
ReplyDeleteVideo 3.2: Questioning for Surface, Deep, and Transfer Learning- This video was about being mindful of the students prior knowledge or surface level. It makes it clear that students learn easier when they have a basic knowledge. It's easier for them to do the harder work if they understand and grasp the easy work.
One thing I really enjoyed about this book was how it constantly urged us to be transparent with our students, our teaching and their learning. Using posted objectives/goals and intentions, we hold ourselves accountable for the direction we're hoping to take the class as well as giving the students a map for where we are going.
DeleteVideo 5.2 had several teachers who discussed the various assessment methods they use to evaluate the impact of their instruction. Some examples included talking with students, listening to students’ conversations, exit slips (which I thought was a neat idea, but not sure I’ve ever seen put into action before), student products, or doing something more formal like a test. Throughout this process, the teachers talked about referring back to which specific standard/goal they wanted the students to learn, and then adjusting their next steps based on if students had successfully demonstrated they’d learned what the teachers wanted them to. I cracked up a little when one teacher talked about if something goes wrong, he never believes it’s the student, but rather something in the way the content was delivered. I thought this was funny because it reminded me of a time when I was getting way more referrals from this one building than I ever had before, and the interrelated teacher and I had several conversations about how the school needed to re-evaluate their curriculum, instructional practices, etc. because there was no way 75% of the kids needed to be in special education, haha! I mean, looking back, it’s a mildly funny story that you just have to shake your head at, but back then I was definitely pulling out my hair.
ReplyDeleteVideo 5.4 talked about the 3 key points that we should take away from the book. These included knowing the impact of our teaching on our students’ learning, understanding where students are in their particular phases of learning, and never losing sight of the end game. This last part especially reminded me of Stephen Covey when he says to begin with the end in mind. By really having a good understanding of how our strategies are affecting students, we can improve upon them to produce better and better results. Additionally, as we become more successful in this endeavor, our students will become more successful in being able to transfer what they’re getting out of our instruction, hopefully then being able to further utilize and capitalize on these strategies throughout their lives.
I watched 5.2- Evaluating Your Impact Through Assessment- This video talked about ho you need to use the assessments you have given to drive instruction and to decide who needs some more intensive support on different skills. The teacher used checklists and exit slips to assess students. She then used this information to see where students were struggling as a whole. She addressed the issues in a whole group manner. She then had a Needs Based Group for students who were struggling alot on specific topic; such as main idea. To help with this, she had the students pick four words from the text to help sum up the text. Then, from those four words they had to pick one word to sum up the text. The kids had a discussion to help deepen their learning. I agree with the practices in this video. I think it is important to take the time to look at our assessments given to see where students are struggling. It is important for us to address those areas of struggle.
ReplyDeleteI also watched 5.4 Visible Learning Keys: They said that the three things to take away from the book are: 1) know your impact and be clear about it. Use assessment to do this. 2)Understand where kids are in the phases of learning 3) Never lose sight of what the end game is. I think these are great reminders on what to do in order to be effective in our teaching. It is important to use assessment to drive instruction. It is also important to understand where our students are at and where we want to take them. This helps create expectations and goals.
3.1 Deeper Learning
ReplyDeleteThis was a basic video that explained the basic differences between surface and deeper learning. While surface learning involves mastery of facts and figures and the ability to answer specific questions, deeper learning is conceptual. It takes surface learning and is able to apply it to similar situations based on connections made by the student. The video explained that one of the main reasons why teachers have traditionally placed higher emphasis on surface learning is due to state testing. Since performance has been based on surface learning, teachers have taught with an emphasis on facts. As state tests shift toward deeper learning, teachers will change their instruction as well. This was pretty straight forward, so I found myself agreeing with it.
5.4 Visible Learning: 3 Keys
This video summed up the goals for this book and what the authors hoped we as readers would get out of it. This is probably why so many people chose this video to review. The three most important things the authors wanted the readers to think about were: 1)Knowing your impact (teacher), 2) Knowing what phase of learning students are in, 3) Never losing sight of the end game/ our ultimate goal as teachers. She encourages teachers to remember that students learn what we teach them, so we must continually think about what and how we are teaching so that we can refine our skills and sharpen our methods. Secondly, students will be at many different levels of learning, so in order to meet their needs, teachers must constantly assess their learning visibly and modify teaching accordingly. Finally, she mentioned that teaching is a gift and a joy. Teachers must remember why we chose to be teachers. We affect students' in many ways. We must teach for transfer and help form life-long learners.
I watched Video 5.2, Evaluating Your Impact Through Assessment. Teachers can evaluate the effectiveness of their lessons to find those student who understood and those who didn't. They can do this through differing forms of assessment that includes student products, summative assessment, formative assessment, conversations with their students that include questioning and listening to group conversations, and exit slips. If a teacher finds that the majority of the class did not understand the concept or standard that was being taught, they can reteach. This does not just include a repetition of the lesson, but teaching the lesson in a different and, hopefully, more efficient way. If only a small group of students did not understand, the teacher's reteaching can occur in small groups. Assessing your impact as a teacher is an effective way of monitoring student progress and analyzing teacher effectiveness.
ReplyDeleteI watched Peer Tutoring, Video 4.2. Peer tutoring involves a peer of higher ability teaching peers of lower ability individually or in pairs. The example involved writing stories. The peer tutor helped a couple students get started and questioned to help them with the words they chose to write. One peer needed help with quotations marks and punctuation. The peer tutor occasionally asked the teacher questions as well to help clarify his thinking before giving wrong advice. This video was conducted with middle school students. I would say that, if peer tutoring were tried with elementary students, there would need to be a great deal of pre training for the peer tutors and they would need to possess a great deal of maturity. Their teacher would need to be in close proximity to answer questions and to make sure that the process was conducted with fidelity.
Video 5.2: Evaluating Your Impact Through Assessment
ReplyDeleteThis video had several teachers discussing how they use assessment to help them guide their instruction. They talked about that assessments need to be specific because all lessons can't teach all concepts. They talked about that sometimes when student's don't do well on the assessment, it has nothing to do with the students, but it could be the delivery of the lesson. I thought that was a great point! They also talked about that assessments can be both formative and summative, and that there is a place for each type of assessment.
Video 5.3: Assessment: Needs-Based Grouping
This teacher does a whole group assessment and then determines from that assessment if small groups need to be made for specific instruction. These groups need extra instruction, and is a great example of differentiated instruction. She came up with the group based on their exit tickets from the day before. This is a great example of a simple assessment that she gains so much information from. "Reteaching is different. It's not that I'm going to say it louder or slower." I love this quote!! We need to monitor student learning and be able to reteach the concepts so that all students can be successful.
4.2 Peer tutoring in writing. In this video I watched a senior tutoring middle school students in writing. He comes into class 5 or 10 minutes early to be briefed on the days lesson. In class he works with students by reading through their papers together. This allows the students to hear how the paper flows, and correct any grammar errors.
ReplyDelete2.1 DIRECT INSTRUCTION. In this video the teacher uses direct instruction to teach proper writing. They go through a variety of examples on different techniques of proper writing. When they are finished they practice their new skills in a writing activity.