Week 15 and 16

The past two weeks have been focused on finishing the Civil War. Due to the fact that this is one of the biggest units I teach during the war, I am tied to my teaching partner. Therefore, I did not try any new techniques or strategies. It was a typical day to day progression of lecture, notes, and video. Nothing to exciting. I have spent the last three weeks teaching as I have always done and not enjoyed it. The students excitement for class has dropped and the number of disruptions,i.e. student conversations, has increased. The fun of teaching and learning just was not there. Knowing this, I decided I needed to stop trying to be like my teaching partner, and get back to my new ideas and try to be as innovative with my lesson design as I could. I made this decision with only the test left. One review day and then the test day before winter vacation. What I decided to do was reward them for taking all those notes the pas three weeks. I told them I would let them use them on the test. Immediately things in class picked up. Their engagement went way up. They asked a bunch of questions and we had great discussions. I explained my reasons for letting them use their notes. I told them that the test was not of their memorization skills, but of their ability to understand the main concepts and key events of the Civil War. Also, I told them they deserved to be rewarded for their work in taking notes over the unit. This reinforced my desire to change. I need to do my own ting, and if my teaching partner wants to stick to the same old routine, that is just the way it will have to be. I felt stifled the past few weeks. I was not excited about class, and it became somewhat of a forced march through the war. As soon as I finished grading the tests, I began to look at ways to teach reconstruction. I am excited again, and hope that I can come up with some new lessons that will keep student interest and enjoyment up. Have a wonderful holiday break, and remember, Happy Teaching!!

Week 14

The past week was quite uneventful. I did not have anything new planned. The students are in the middle of presenting their Civil War photographic analysis presentations. This is an activity I have done for the past three years. The students are assigned a photo of from the war, they research the photo in order to find out the story behind the photo and present their findings to class. The change I instituted this year was that instead of having all the students present over a 2 to 3 day period, I am having them present in chronological order. They are presenting in coordination with our study of the war. I am hoping to make better connections between their presentations and the content. We are 2 days into the presentations and the connections are being made. The disappointing piece is that the presentations are far below the quality of the past years. I have been trying to figure this out and feel that a couple of the changes my teaching partner made to the project have not been good. He wanted to make it more rigorous, and I am all for that, but I believe it is to complex for seventh graders. The project has engaged the students, but it is frustrating watching sub par presentations. The data I collected this past week was from student exit cards about the project. I kept it simple, on a scale of 1 to 5, what is you enjoyment of the project. The rehire have been at a 4. I anticipated this, knowing how well students in the past enjoyed it. I plan to continue to do the analysis in the future, but wil go back to a more basic analysis. What do you see in the photo? What can you learn from the photo without conducting any research? What have you learned about the photo through your research? We will see how the rest of the presentations go this week. Until next time, Happy Teaching!!

Weeks 12 and 13

With last week being a two day week for the students, I decided to revert back to my old ways and use PowerPoint along with lecture. I wanted to see how the students would react to this. On Monday, they were not that enthused about having to sit and take notes, but for the most part the day went off without any issues. A few students did make comments that class was boring and it wasn't the highlight it normally is. Our topic for these two days was focused on the causes of the Civil War. Tuesday was much more difficult. It was the last day of the week for them, they were excited about that and the fact that it was almost Thanksgiving. After I did my usual routine of starting class by quizzing them on past events that occurred on this day in history, I told them to take out their notebooks. While I turned off the lights and turned on the Smartboard, they balked mightily at what we were going to do. This happened in all my classes. The day did not go smoothly. There were many interruptions in each period. Students were not focused and uninterested in the information. The results of the day were pretty much what I thought they would be. The students commented on how much they missed being busy in class. They learn better working with the information instead of being told it. This approach just doesn't work for them. The response validated my action research.
This week, I wanted them to be active. In order to assess their understanding of the causes, I let them work in groups to write a song or rap that demonstrated the relationship between the different events we discussed, thus assessing their knowledge of the content. The students were excited to work together, but apprehensive about getting up in front of class and performing their song. To help with this, I decided to play a game with the class to help the fear subside. We played a game called radio. The students said it was kind of like telephone. It was loud, but they had a blast. They were laughing, having fun, and two days later, I realized it had worked. For a class period and a half, they worked to come up with a song/rap. The lyrics they were creating were ingenious. Some groups created songs from scratch, while others took familiar tunes like We will rock you and Row, Row, Row your boat, and inserted their own lyrics. They really got into the activity. Those two days of work flew by and all students were engaged. Students were challenged, yet they said they enjoyed the work. They expressed that by having to work with the content, they better understood it and were seeing the relationship between the events. Performance day did not disappoint. What I had seen during the work days was good, but the final products were amazing. First off, all students went up in front of class and sang their songs. I think my ice breaker worked. The songs were well written, tunes/beats were present, and the rhymes they came up with were really good. The activity was a huge success, and they said they want to do it again later in the year.
What I learned the past two weeks is that I need to create as many opportunities to get the students busy and active. Sitting and taking notes does not engage the students of today. Also, the more hands on they are with the material, the more they understand and retain the content. Until net time, Happy Teaching!!

Weeks 10 and 11

The past two weeks have been pretty much like the rest. The students continue to respond to the design of class. It has been a lot of business as usual, except for one major success this past week. The topic we have been covering the past two weeks has been the expansion of the U.S. from 1800 to 1850. I used PowerPoint for about ten minutes twice. No problems with that, students took notes and were engaged. They received three readings on the information that they worked with in a couple of different ways. One reading I had them read and answer the questions. We then went over the answers and expanded on the information in a large group discussion. The middle reading, I had the students HUGS it. This is a reading strategy that I wanted to try to help increase comprehension and also mix it up from reading and answering questions. The H stands for highlight. I demonstrated the process of highlighting and we discussed that they should only highlight about 1/3 of the reading. The U stands for underline. They were to underline words they did not understand. We then went over the words to help understand the words. The G stands for gunk. In their notebook, they were to write any obstacles that they are facing that is blocking them from understanding the reading. Once again, we went over this piece as a class. Finally, the S stands for summarize. Their homework was to summarize the reading. The next day,s in their PODS, they read each others summary, and picked out the one they thought was the best. I read those back to class, and we discussed why these were chosen as the better summaries.

In order to assess their understanding, I tried another new technique I learned in my OB1 class last weekend. It is called academic choice through power learning. Once again, in their PODS, they worked together to accomplish the assessment. This activity puts them in charge and allows them to make choices. The first task is P, plan. With the three readings they were to discuss the main points of the information. O is the part where they go over their options of what they want to produce with the groups main points. W is the work stage where the group creates a visual that expresses the key concepts they chose from the readings. E is the exhibit stage where one member stays to explain the visual while the other members go around the room and see what others created and ask questions of the other groups. R was a whole class reflection of the content and the process. In order to keep the students focused and use their time effectively, I gave them time limits for each task. Using my handheld stopwatch, I told them how much time they had for each task, and provided them a countdown. By keeping the time from them, it allows me to stop early if they finished early or give more time if I felt they need it. This was very effective and kept them on task and the process moving. The response to the activity was overwhelming. They loved it. They chose what they thought was important from the content. I facilitated the activity, but they were in charge. All day long, every class was fully engaged. The students said they liked being in control, felt the timed stages kept them focused, and most importantly they realized they had understood a lot of the content. They really enjoyed the entire process and want to do it again. Finally, fro homework, I had them evaluate each others contributions to the group as well as evaluating themselves.

It was a great two weeks that culminated in a way I never expected. This was as big of a success as I have had this school year so far. It was wonderful seeing them engaged and having fun, and most importantly, the products they produced demonstrated understandings of different concepts that proved they got the content. I will definitely use this strategy again later in the year. Until next time, Happy Thanksgiving!!

Week 9 and AR summary through first quarter

This was a short week do to conferences. We spent three days in the computer lab where the students were creating concept maps. We have a computer program called Inspiration, it is designed for making visuals such as webs and concept maps. They were to create a visual that explains the three branches of the federal government and how they balance power between them. They loved the assignment. I used it as assessment as learning. The students commented on how using the information, being hands on, really helped them understand and remember the information. They did a nice job, and I would say the week was a success.

To summarize my AR research as of now, I need to discuss the three types of data I have collected so far. To begin the year, I gave the students a survey on their enjoyment of school and social studies, reading, writing, and finally the best types of instruction to help them learn. The survey worked well. Almost all questions scored high. Fours or higher to be more specific. Not a lot of room for improvement. The lowest scoring answer was on gauging their success in a lecture style classroom. This scored on average in the twos. I hagan the year trying to really connect with the students. We spent the first week learning their learning styles and motivations in school. We also spent time setting up pods, talking about the type of learning environment they wanted to have in the classroom. I let them have voice. I spent a lot time listening and asking questions. My observations were that the students liked this first week. It was all about them. They came each day excited for class. All students participated and I was able to connect with all of my students.

After the first week, we began our study of U.S. History. I have been trying to design lessons that promote collaboration amongst the students. I want them to be the ones running class. I wanted to spend more time facilitating and guiding them through lessons, instead of lecturing and driving the class in ways that work for me. I changed up my assessments as well as my lessons. I have gotten away from multiple choice, true/false type tests, and have assessed posters, letters, concept maps, and news headlines. The student have really bought into the idea of assessing for understanding, instead of rote motorization of material. I have found, that the more hands on activities I have them do, the more engaged they are, and the more they demonstrate a solid comprehension of the material. Students have said they are really understanding the main concepts, and like this style. They find class fun, and look forward to coming to class. I went the entire first month without using a PowerPoint. It was great to not be the one pressing on the gas to get class going. The kids were the energy. I now use PowerPoint as a once in awhile technique. By doing so, they are more attentive than students in years past. They ask a ton of questions, and we have had great discussions.

I will continue to create student centered lessons as well as fostering more connections with students. The environment established early on needs to be maintained, and I feel that I am doing so. I am not satisfied with one good quarter, I want to have a great semester, and eventually year. Until next time, Happy Teaching!!

Week 8

This past week was a worker bee type week. The topic in class was the U.S. Constitution. More specifically speaking, the three branches of government. To accomplish this, I printed a packet for each branch, and had the students work on them on their pods. We discussed each branch through a question and answer sessions on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It wasn't the most exciting week, but I felt pressed for time, and needed to cover the information quickly. To gauge student understanding, this upcoming week I will have the students create mind maps to demonstrate their understanding of the information. Until next time, Happy Teaching!!

A goal for myself

I want to continue to try new techniques in the classroom and share the happenings with my other teachers on staff. I want to try to get more teachers to try new things. Many give it lip service and then return to the way they have always done things. I want to encourage them to mix it up and maybe, just maybe, they will see the positive effects of teaching with 21st century techniques.

Weeks 6 & 7

The last 8 days of class went extremely well. During week 6 we did two constructivist activities. The first dealt with the Boston Massacre. I provided information leading up to the event, then I had the students read three different accounts of the events. From those, as a class, we pieced together what we believe actually happened. The kids were into it, and this activity engaged everyone. Then we looked into the events of Lexington and Concord. The class was divided into groups of eight. Each group read eight accounts of the events of April 19th. Then, we sat in a square, and held a Socratic seminar on the eight accounts. Again this went well, however, the readings were a bit more difficult than the ones on the massacre, and some students struggled. The seminar went well and the kids enjoyed it. To assess their learning I had them right four headlines. Two from the perspective of the colonists, and two from the British side. The headlines were great and they demonstrated the understanding of the students. MEA week, I needed to cover the Revolutionary War in two days. I used power points fro two days. Again, this went well. Asking the students about the use of lecture and PowerPoint, they said they did not mind it because I have not used this teaching technique much. They like the variety of techniques, and want me to continue to mix it up. In the upcoming week, I am planning to go back to the students in PODs, and have them work together to understand the forming of the new nation. Until next time, Happy Teaching!!

Weeks 4 & 5

The past two weeks have seen the students really settle in. I am starting to see the true sides to them. The challenges have begun, however, these challenges to keeping them engaged have been easier to handle with my new approach to my practice. The more activities I have them do, be it simulations, games, primary source documents with questions, and discussion have kept these disruptions short lived. Overall, things continue to go well and the students are mostly excited to be in class and are learning the key concepts.

One of the main points of my research is giving the students voice and choice. This past week we participated in a simulation about the period leading up to the Revolutionary War. They loved the simulation, it went great and they had fun. To assess their knowledge I had them write letters to their cousin in England. I had the students create a class rubric. They love doing this. They know what is quality work and what is not. They exhibited a maturity I did not know they had. The next day I had them share their letters with the members of their POD. They graded each others and their own using the rubric. Once again, they enjoyed this. They had the answers and the control. It was fun to see. Tomorrow I will have them write about what they learned from the activity of grading and evaluating.

As far as data so far, the first survey went much as I expected. The students for the most part enjoyed social studies in the past and enjoy school. My observations have been positive. Kids are more engaged and comprehending the main concepts. Their enjoyment is apparent and their responses to questions about class have reflected this. I have only received one somewhat negative comment. It had to deal with the noise level at times. I found this interesting since it came from a student that is one of my talkers. I have thought about the comment and have come to the conclusion that the student does not like the POD they are in. I will change up the groups this week and see if what affect that has. Until next time, Happy Teaching!

Week 3

Life in a middle school classroom can be quite challenging, and over the years I have struggled with many of those challenges. The past week was a repeat of the first two. The kids have been great. They are participating in the activities and even managed to remain focused through a PowerPoint styled lecture. I have not experienced any behavior issues as of yet. After talking to a few students this week about class, they are excited to come to class, and like the design of it. The pods are working well. They are engaging in quality conversations and creating thoughtful products such as posters and answers to questions. I have yet to assign seats and they seem to have embraced the freedom to choose their spots. They are not creatures of habit. Some students aare sitting in 2 to 3 different seats a week. Meaning the pods have been mixing since the start of school. This upcoming week we will be creating concept maps of the colonial regions and presenting the maps to class. I am curious to see if the environment will continue to move forward without any hiccups. Until next time, happy teaching!!

Week 2

Things continue to go well. This week we started our first unit titled American Ideals. We are looking at the our beginnings as well as key documents that have helped form the foundation of America. During the week we read a play together. The students really got into this. They enjoyed playing the characters and it kept everyone engaged. All students had a role and spoke at least one line. I assessed their understanding by giving them a short two question take home assessment. The results were very good, most earned 8,9,or 10 out of 10. To begin the American Ideals unit, I had them create patriotic posters. They decided the criteria for what they wanted to be graded on. I did not tell them they would self assess until after they presented their posters. They were surprised that I let them do this, but were enthused to do so. They graded very fairly. Not everyone earned 10's. I thought they reflected accurately on their work. It has been two weeks and I have not used a PowerPoint. I hope to continue that during this week. I conducted student interviews about how they thought things were going in class. I received positive comments from all. They like the opportunity to collaborate and find class "fresh". Many said it is their favorite class. The challenge now is to keep it fresh and their favorite. We'll see, happy teaching!!

Week One Reflections

My goal during the first week was to establish a classroom environment where the students felt safe, felt that they were truly respected, where their voices would be heard, and they would have fun. My assessment after this past week is that it was a success. I heard feedback from the special Ed department that their students in my class were raving about what we were doing. These are some of the most difficult behavioral students in the school and I had connected with them. I feel really good about this beginning with these students. I made the first week all about the student, and the result was the easiest most calm first week I can remember ever having. The students were as calm as me. We had many laughs and shared a lot about our lives one another. This week, we begin with the curriculum. It will be interesting to see if the atmosphere from last wek will carry over into this week. Until next week, Happy Teaching.

and now the journey begins...

The question I hope to address and answer through my research is: How can I increase student engagement on a daily basis in a U.S. History classroom by improving the classroom environment?  I want to try to get them engaged and keep them engaged as long as I can each and every class period.  I will start my year off by setting the environment in the room.  In the past, I set the tone, I was dictator.  I plan to make it a collaborative effort with the students this year.  Hopefully, by giving them a voice, and listening to those voices, together we can establish an environment that we all believe in.  The first week will include many discussions as well as team building activities.  I will ask them to be reflective on what has and hasn't worked for them in the past.  My goal is to make this year about them, not me.  I want to create lessons that will play to their strengths.  hopefully, by doing this, they will be more into what we are doing in the class, and will want to participate.  I plan to write out the questions I want to ask before each day begins.  By doing this, I can help focus in on what it is we need to accomplish, but by asking questions, they get to participate.  Finally, early on I will set them up in PODS and give everyone a job to perform.  I want to give them a role to fill and also promote collaboration.  Until next time, happy teaching!!

Hopes for the year!

As I prepare and plan my journey for the 2011-2012 school year, I have a clear picture in my head of what it is I want to accomplish.  I want to create a student driven, collaborative classroom.  I decided on this topic because I am tired of being the engine everyday.  What I have been doing everyday in my classroom has been focused on what I do, not on what the students will do.  I am going to change my practice from a teacher led lecture-discussion format to an active learning-constructivist classroom.  When I talk to past students, I am disappointed in their comments of what they remember from class.  They focus ed on fun things that had nothing to do with the content.  I want to change that, and in order to do that, I need to change my approach to teaching.  I teach in an affluent community.  We are a small suburban district that is desired by many families from school districts that surround us.  We have a total student population around 2500 students.  Currently there are 624 students who have open enrolled into the district.  The middle school that I teach in has 853 students.  92% are caucasian, 3% black and Asian respectively, and the final 2 % are native peoples of the Americas.  As a district we have 9% of our students on free and reduced lunch.  We are very fortunate that the community invests greatly in our schools.  If we need something, be it volunteers or equipment, we do not need to wait long.  I am lucky to teach in this district.

In order to set up my classroom for the vision I have for my new approach to teaching, I first need to establish the proper tone for the type of environment needed for this change.  My action research is centered on establishing and maintaining this environment.  The question that is driving my research is, how can I engage the most students on a daily basis in an U.S. history classroom. To establish the proper tone, I need to build a trusting relationship with my students.  I have to communicate to them right away that this class is about them.  They are the most important part of the class. In order to do this I will be giving an interest survey about school and social studies.  I want to hear their voices. Next, I will be having students reflect on their past learning experiences in order for them to better understand who they are and what works for them.  All along, I will be sitting down one on one with students throughout the first quarter to show them that I am interested in their lives.  I will continue to meet with students throughout the year to maintain that connection and get feedback on how class is working. I have never done this with students.  I always assumed my relationship with students were fine, and that was good enough for me.  I only cared about them in terms of my class, and I did not share much about me with them.  I realized that if I was to transform my environment to one that will feel safe, provide a positive learning experience, and be enjoyable for students, I needed to connect with them. 

I want my class mantra to be "student voice and student choice."  I need to keep the focus on them.  Give them the attention.  The more I can involve them in their education, give them the control in a safe, inviting environment, the more student engagement I hope to achieve.  Until next time, Happy Teaching!!

Starting out, the beginning of life as a blogger

Welcome to my journey through the 2011-2012 school year. In my profession, education, I have heard how some teachers are using blogs in their classes to help foster student interaction, as well as changing the framework for what 21st century homework should be. To be up front, I am a bit leary of blogs, twitter, and Facebook, however I am teaching students who are using all these methods of communication each and every day, and I need to modernize my approach to my practice. This blog will serve two main purposes. First and foremost, it provides an avenue for me to chart the new techniques that I will implement this year. I will reflect on how the lessons went, report my observations as well as share feedback from the students. This blog will allow me to share my reactions and feelings as the year progresses. Successes and challenges will surely be addressed. Secondly, using this blog will allow me to see the advantages of blogging, and how I might be able to incorporate a blog into my teaching.

Currently, I am in a graduate program working towards my master's degree in education. This blog is part of the process, and there will be times when my entries will be part of an assignment. Please feel free to ask me questions and leave comments as you follow my journey this year. I hope that both my followers and me will grow as educators and individuals by sharing through this process. Thanks for following, and Happy Teaching!!