Engaging Students in Learning

2. Instruction– The teacher uses research-based instructional practices to meet the needs of all students.

2.2 Engaging Students in Learning – Most activities and assignments are appropriate to students, and almost all students are cognitively engaged in exploring content.

This standard addresses student engagement in instruction. In order to meet the standard, instruction must be cognitively engaging to students. This means that the activities and assignments are at the appropriate level for student engagement so that they can explore content at the level in which they are able to comprehend the content while being challenged to expand their understanding.

In the eighth grade Social Studies class where I intern, to engage students in exploring what life was like during WWII in America, we set up a WWII museum in the library. Myself and cooperating staff gathered artifacts through the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) located in Seattle, as well as through the generosity of teachers and staff within our school community. By bringing the museum to the students, we were able to providing students with the opportunity to participate in a simulation of a museum experience. Because of the variety and quality of artifacts, every student was able to find a piece of the museum that deepened their understanding of the WWII era. Seeing the staff-related artifacts, students began to comprehend how many families were impacted by WWII. Students could read newspapers and magazines from the 40’s, which all described the war over seas, presented political cartoons and propaganda from that time, and depicted general American life during wartime. There was a real ration book, gas mask, victory garden manual, uniforms, pictures, medals, and flags. Information on all the artifacts were given so that students could read the context and purpose of each one.

In order to direct student attention during the WWII museum and keep them cognitively engaged, we provided a notetaker. To engage students in active learning, the notetaker employed certain macrostrategies such as summarizing and notetaking, nonlinguistic representations, questions, reflection, and cooperative learning (Barley, 2002). According to Marzano, “small chunks of content must still be actively processed by students” (2007). Therefore, to answer these questions, students picked artifacts that were the most interesting to them to comment on in order to break down the available material into smaller chunks. This allowed for student choice in which artifact to engage with on a deeper level. Students were then asked to examine the chosen artifacts using strategies consistent with the macrostrategies listed by Barley and her colleagues (2002). They described the artifact they saw, illustrated the artifact, predicted what purpose the artifact served, inferred author bias in newpapers and photographs, and asked questions for further inquiry. These prompts scaffolded the process of examining and analyzing artifacts and documents using these learning strategies.

These questions keep students cognitively engaged in the material presented. If students are either overwhelmed by the material presented or bored by it, they will disengage. Both reactions are indicative of the content material being either above or below student’s Zone of Proximal Development (McCormick, 2007). In order to lead students into learning in their ZDP, students should be directed in how to make meaningful connections between the content, skills and concepts. The prompting questions provided during this activity focus and scaffold that comprehension process, leading students to make meaningful connections between the artifacts and associated concepts, while using strategies and skills in the process. This student-centered learning experience was scaffolded appropriately, giving students ownership of their learning with adequate support.

From having this experience, I learned that a lot of preparation and communication is needed to facilitate this level of activity. Months ahead of time, faculty and staff in the school community are alerted to the museum’s future date, and asked to contribute their artifacts to the museum. It’s amazing what people will show up with! However, one must be courteous and allow for ample time for staff to find and transport these items. Communication with the MOHAI is necessary well in advance. Pick up and drop of the artifact “trunk” must be arranged. Inquiry into whether museums in the surrounding area have resources such as these is recommended as much as a year in advance. Communication with the library is fundamental as well. Librarians, if given enough time to prepare, can put up books related to the content of the museum, play music for ambiance, and prepare for an alternative schedule that day. Much goes into this rewarding experience!

Digital Collaboration

ISTE Standard 1: Creativity and innovation

Collaboration is the catalyst of the constructivist learning theory. The constructivist learning theory is based on the understanding that humans assimilate new knowledge through constant social interaction, testing of knowledge, and reflection. Ongoing mental processing happens in dialog and cooperative effort in forging new concepts. Processing the information depends on students finding meaning in application. Technology cannot replace the human mind, but it can facilitate the social collaboration required to construct meaning out of learning experiences (Bates, 2015).

Collaboration provides a rich learning experience when done face to face and interactively. However, for teachers and students to be physically present to each other is not always possible. Technologies are available to foster student collaboration necessary for student-driven construction of knowledge at any time. These technologies offer a collaborative digital space where text, images, documents, video and audio can all be shared simultaneously. When these technologies are used effectively, they can create an interactive textbooks, portfolios and projects that both teachers and students contribute to.

Technologies are available, not to replace face-to-face collaboration, but to foster constructivist learning through digital social interaction. Googledocs for Google and OneNote for Microsoft are two platforms where this can be done. Microsoft’s OneNote has extensive resources available that both teachers and students can utilize in creative ways in order to enhance learning experiences. Keon Timmers, an educator in Belguim, blogs about OneNote for his classes: “My students collaborate in the OneNote Class Notebook, allowing them to share resources, comments, requests, remarks, feedback and questions. While Danny posts a question, Stefan is adding some great sources of inspiration and Vanessa is solving Danny’s question.” What can be done with paper and pens, blackboards and chalk, can be done on OneNote in a more clean, creative, and interactive way. Students don’t just copy down what the teacher writes on a whiteboard, they have it saved to OneNote and can add, adjust, deepen and expand on that content.

Feedback and reflection is a key component to the constructivist theory of learning. Assimilating information and constructing meaning out of the content happens during the reflection process. Feedback from teachers and peers can be made on OneNote, adding audio or video when necessary. Students get this feedback in a more timely and informative way. Not only do students get feedback from teachers, but they get feedback from their peers too. Leon shares about this “…whole new process. My students began to spontaneously create and share tutorials. So now the OneNote Class Notebook contains both the theory, which I add, as well as insights and sources of knowledge from students. My students are learning from each other and even I’m discovering new ideas in their notes.” This way, everyone becomes a teacher. When students teach, they construct the meaning from the content and steer learning towards that. This is vital for deep learning.

Students can brainstorm together on projects using OneNote. They can brainstorm in and outside of the classroom. This teaches students skills in communication needed for the age of knowledge-based work. How to effectively and respectfully give peer feedback that utilizes the ideas of others and builds upon are skills necessary in order to create solutions in this age. Students can be in any part of the world and interact with each other using OneNote or a Googledoc.

Educators blog about their success using OneNote and offer ideas for educators and students:

 

https://blogs.office.com/onenote/education/

A simple example of what can be done with OneNote.

Epistimology

 

Works Cited

Bates, T. (2015). Teaching in a Digital Age. In T. Bates, Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidlines for Designing, Teaching and Learning . B.C. Textbooks.

Kalwaney, S. S. (2015, October 13). blogs.office.com. Retrieved from Microsoft Office Blogs: https://blogs.office.com/2015/10/13/bringing-the-teaching-portfolio-to-the-21st-century-with-onenote/

Timmers, K. (2015, December 15). blogs.office.com. Retrieved from Microsoft Office Blogs: https://blogs.office.com/2015/12/15/global-learning-and-collaboration-with-onenote/

 

Learning Environment

Category 5 of the Internship Performance Criteria address the learning environment in the classroom: The teacher fosters and manages a safe and inclusive learning environment that takes into account physical, emotional and intellectual wellbeing. This means that the classroom intentionally promotes an environment best suited to support students in their learning. Awareness of the physical, emotional and intellectual wellbeing of student’s at their particular stage of development is necessary. It is particularly valuable to create an environment that invites participation and provides communication. The classroom visual environment is intentionally constructed to allow for positive messages of inclusivity and communication.

In the eighth grade Language Arts and Social Studies room, student’s work is displayed. Student-made posters and projects cover the walls. As units’ move along and evolve, the displayed student work changes to reflect current involvement with material and content. By doing this, student-directed learning is validated and shown as valuable representations of engagement.  The evidence provided is an example of student work displayed in the classroom. Allowing room for student work to shine is an important feature of the classroom: “The purpose of this bulletin board is to display student work, not to be decorated by a teacher” (Wong & Wong, 96).

Integrating student’s own work as a part of the learning environment maintains a high standards for quality of work. Exemplary quality of work is valuable to the learning experience. Surrounding students with evidence of ownership and responsibility for their learning experience is important. Because students demonstrate such high levels of engagement while participating in projects and creative learning activities, celebration of creative participation cannot be discredited. Students can also be reminded of prior learning throughout the unit by referencing past projects. Visual examples of learning is made accessible for educators to build off of prior knowledge during instruction.

Also, both broad central focuses of the units as well as daily learning targets are displayed in the room. The central focuses of the units covered throughout the year are presented above the white board. Examples of these central focuses read, “individual actions reflect different perspectives”, “different cultural and social groups impact a society”, “global societies exhibit similarities and differences”, among others. These broad scoping ideas are addressed throughout the year.

Everyday lesson learning targets are written on the board. Examples of daily learning targets are “Investigate Triangle Shirtwaist Company using primary sources” and “Identify responses from Progressive Era presidents on how they attempted to solve problems of that era”. These central focuses are addressed by the daily learning targets displayed around the room for visual connection. In order to maintain student’s intellectual focus, clear communication of learning targets is necessary.

Instead of simply having the main educational concepts present in the room, I would like to be more deliberate with communicating standards, the central focus of a unit and the learning targets. Presenting the certain learning objectives to students has benefitted them by showing focus and intentionality to a lesson’s learning activities. Students show desire to know why they are learning a concept, skill or idea. They want focus and intentionality, specific or broad. By communicating more deliberately these things, students have a better sense of what is expected of them.

Wong, H. W. (2009). First Days of School. Mountain View, Ca. : Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc. .

Cognitive Development in the Classroom

There are two general ways to understand how the mind develops: Piaget’s Stage Theory and the Information Processing Theory. They are in not contradictory, but model alternative yet compatible interpretations of brain maturation patterns. Piaget’s Theory describes stages of rapid development which occur sequentially and abruptly from one stage to the next. The mechanisms for cognitive stage advancement are biological as well as induced by the environment. Cognitive conflict is the event where a child’s prior knowledge is no longer compatible with a new problems. Disequilibrium arises, and a child realizes that their previous ways of thinking are in contradiction with new stimulus. In order to relieve this conflict, and potentially jump to the next stage, a child must assimilate new information into their preexisting schema. Modification to cognitive structures should also accommodate new demands presented (Pressley & McCormick 2007). Learning turns into quite the event!

The role that I, as a teacher, play in encouraging children to develop and mature into new stages of development would be to present challenges to students that require just a little bit more understanding then they currently have. As a teacher, I intend to be very aware of the subtleties of this balance, presenting problems that are just beyond the student’s prior understanding but assuredly within their reach. Once the cognitive leap, big or small, has been made, I celebrate and cause students to realize what they have achieved in order to build confidence and self-efficacy for future dilemmas. I find understanding stages of development essential in to knowing what my students can accomplish and what the next step is for them. I seek to master the perfect balance between boredom (lacking any challenge) and stress (content far out of reach) in my lesson planning.

Information Processing Theory of development offers a computer-like model of the brain. It is a gradual development model because children’s short-term capacity and efficiency naturally increases over time. This development theory is all about short-term memory capacity, long-term knowledge, and the use of strategies (Pressley & McCormick 2007). Strategies are plans of action used to achieve a goal. In the classroom, some strategies include chunking information, note taking, repetition for memory, and creating diagrams to name a few. Children naturally acquire strategies independently, but I cannot underestimate my role in teaching strategies to my students. Strategies can be applied to any aspect of life and continue to be applicable in college and career situations. Mastering strategies is vital to success in the adult world, and I would be teaching them invaluable skills.

How children learn to associate and mentally organize concepts and schema into networks is an important aspect of Information Processing Theory. Information is represented in the brain in a couple of ways, one being concepts. A concept, being the mental representation of a category of related items, groups together associated things. Humans group items together in different ways; by definition, resemblance, hierarchically or categorically, etc. From this, we create networks across linking concepts. When we recall information, we activate a concept stored in our long-term memory as well as associated concepts along the network. The ability to remember recalled information is made stronger every time. This is why it is important in my teaching to revisit past knowledge multiple times and in different contexts.

Learning is making connections. The common theme between these two models of brain development is facilitating connection making. Connecting preexisting knowledge and worldviews to new stimulus information is how students create more accurate and complex neural networks as they advance in the stages of development. Linking old and new information, assimilating fresh ideas into established paradigms, discovering new and interesting ways to connect knowledge all contributes to the learning process. To witness a light bulb turn on for a student is to witness a new connection being made.

As a teacher, I am in a position to present digestible and meaningful new stimulus into my student’s awareness. I can offer strategies as tools to make necessary connections. These connections are not always made sequentially, but as the need for them arise in my student’s life. Like the drama of a narrative unfolds, so too the blossoming of a child’s learning process (Wiggins & McTighe 1998). Learning follows curiosity. I wish to create a learning environment rich in material to spark curiosity. A process of discovery is a powerful drive in the learning process, and as a teacher, I can enthusiastically support this process. What students are naturally curious about truly matters, and they will readily gather information on the topic their curiosity points to (Media 2011). As a teacher, I can be a stable support system during this process. I can teach students how to scaffold their knowledge, ask questions that lead to meaningful discoveries, and present topics that offer an appropriate level of challenge.