Reflections

Reflection #1 - May 26th, 2010:

The way that educators have tried to instill knowledge into children has gone through various changes over time; as we saw during our lecture on Monday evening. However, the Standards for the 21st Century Learner offer educators a guide or path to allow them to model lessons and teach in a way that allows students of various learning styles to comprehend information. As I looked back on the PowerPoint slide show from Monday night, I concluded that none of the other methods or formats used before by educators to teach gave all types of learners the ability to gain knowledge, create new knowledge, share that knowledge and then pursue personal growth like the Standards for the 21st Century Learner model does. I think that as students learning this model of instruction, we start our careers as educators at an advantage because we are learning a model of instruction that gives an educator flexibility in that whichever standard you choose to model a lesson around it can teach skills, dispositions in action, responsibilities and self-assessment strategies.

I also found the information about how children learn and the different areas of the brain very interesting and informative. There were a couple of things that stayed with me the most from this information. One was how the lower brain, the part of the brain that deals with survival, was the part of the brain that was most crucial to stimulate. I would have thought that the cerebral cortex would have been the part that needed to be engaged the most, but, after realizing that students really just want to know what they have to do to survive and get through the task or tasks at hand, it made a lot more sense to me. I also was really intrigued to see the information about how the first 10 to 15 minutes and last 10 to 15 minutes of an instructional period are the times where students are the most likely to learn the best and retain the most information. It made me think about going through school and remembering the few minutes used at the beginning of the period to take attendance which could have instead been used to start a new lesson or continue a lesson from a previous class period.

While this course will definitely be challenging, I welcome the challenge and know that understanding the various methodologies, theories and standards will help me be the best educator that I can be.

Reflection on Cooper chapter 1 - May 27th, 2010:

The preface and the first chapter of Cooper's text give great insight into what an effective teacher should be. The five general areas of teacher competence give a road map to a new teacher that shows them what they need to know to be able to do their job efficiently. All five of these general areas are crucial in being able to instruct a wide variety of learners in the various subject matters that are covered in a school's curriculum. The plan, implement and evaluate model that was shown in chapter 1, helped me understand the interdependence that all three have with each other and how a reflective teacher can modify one of the three parts sometimes during a lesson, but mostly before or after a lesson to make sure that what needs to be changed to make the lesson effective. The bottom line is that being able to bring about the intended outcomes of the lessons that you teach allow students to progress not only as learners, but as people. Being able to evaluate all parts of your instructional method allows a teacher to not only better themselves but I think also allows a teacher to help their colleagues in the future. The other main issue that I felt was covered in the chapter was the topic of knowing the students you are instructing and their backgrounds. I feel that this knowledge is especially important for teachers that have to either get a job in a neighboring county or region of their state or another state entirely. Understanding the demographic makeup of your student population allows you as a teacher to modify instruction to meet the needs of the students you are trying to reach. I also agreed with the section in the chapter that dealt with moral and ethical issues and dilemmas. As a teacher, we always have a spotlight on us to act and demonstrate qualities of an upstanding citizen not only to the students, but to the greater community at large. Showcasing good ethical and moral decisions in the classroom or library transfers over to the students and they are more likely to be willing to learn and be a contributing member to the school community, which is the goal of every educator.

Reflection on June 3rd class - June 3rd, 2010:

I really enjoyed tonight's class. I felt that the Socratic seminar methodology is engaging and exciting for students and gives them a fantastic opportunity to collaborate which is one of the main goals of the 21st Century Standards. I also understand the need for us as library media specialists to understand what a DBQ is and its purpose in education. Even though I never liked doing them as a student, I understand how scaffolding the questions leading up to the essay portion of a DBQ follows Bloom's Taxonomy and allows students to pull information and answers from the questions they previously answered to help them fully answer the essay portion. Unless the state Regents board changes their mind about including them on state tests, a working knowledge of DBQ's are necessary for any educator to have. Learning about critical thinking skills gives educators the necessary knowledge on how to create and mold questions that actively engage, motivate and challenge our students.

Reflection on Cooper Chapters 2, 3 and 5:

These chapters really gave a fantastic overview of information about objectives, planning and how to phrase questions. The tips in chapter 2 on how to write well defined objects are going to help me out when I student teach and will allow me to try to filter out objectives that are either too general to specific. The list of verbs to use when writing objectives will also help me a great deal with designing lesson plans and units plans. Chapter 3 gave great advice and information about writing lesson plans and that the only way to get better at them is to do them. I also agreed with the idea of looking at others and learning from them about their style and tactics to improve or modify your teaching style and add to your repertoire. I believe that confidence comes from experience and that experiencing more in the educational field allows an educator to become more confident when various situations are thrown at them. I also liked how the author of the chapter compared a lesson plan to a play and the five parts that every lesson or unit plan must contain to be effective. Chapter 5's focus on questions and questioning reminded got me thinking about the amount of times when I went through school that teachers used "okay", "right" or "yes" when someone answered a question correctly and how it really limits the educational experience in a classroom. The small amount of time between questions also was quite eye-opening to me as well. One second between questions doesn't allow anyone to raise their hand to add a point to an answer or to ask for clarification to an answer. Reading about the multiple intelligences was also interesting as most questions only address two of the eight types of intelligences and how we as educators have to do a better job of modeling questions to include these types of learners. The section on teacher feedback was also interesting to me. Realizing as an educator that your body language as well as your choice of words can have a profound impact on how a student reacts is a huge responsibility that we have to take very seriously. Being able to differentiate our feedback as well as allowing it to really help students improve their performance and grow as learners. The most important point of the chapter overall in my opinion was the section dealing with being able to allow various types of students answer questions and not neglecting any group of type of student. Including everyone in a classroom environment motivates everyone to be active in classroom discussions and I feel that an active and engaged classroom is the best type of classroom to have.

Reflection on Marzano Chapters 1-4:

On page 5 of Chapter 1, there is a passage that I think sums up why as educators we have to differentiate learning. "The inference that can be drawn from this illustration is that no instructional strategy works equally well in all situations. The effectiveness of a strategy depends in part on the current achievement level of a student, in part on the skill and thoughtfulness with which a teacher applies the strategy, and in part on contextual factors such as grade level and class size. Instructional strategies are only tools." Teacher directed tasks will only work as well as how the teacher crafts the work or questions and student directed tasks will only be as successful as the student wants them to be. For either tasks I believe that graphic organizers are a great tool to help with either type of directed task. I feel that student classification tasks allow students to be creative in organizing items or objects into a group together and thus gives their critical thinking and evaluation skills good practice. Metaphor and analogy tasks are also crucial to students as move along in their educational careers as they are used in so many different ways in everyday life and a lack of understanding them may cause important information to be lost on an individual who isn't as strong with these two skills. Summarizing and note taking are also two skills that all students need to have a good understanding of. Most college courses hinge on the individual being able to summarize the information presented to them throughout the course as well as be able to take notes of high quality, allow students to succeed in these higher learning environments. Being able to give students notes is one thing; but students being able to take notes themselves that they can use to study for tests, use for projects or give others information from is key. I especially enjoyed the section on effort. I always was interested when my teachers told us about how they got to where they were in life or how they got through a difficult situation. It always made me feel like I could do whatever task was in front of me and do it well. With that being said, having students be able to recognize their level and quality of their effort is also key to enlightening them on either how hard they worked to achieve something, or, how much more effort needs to be given to achieve a desired goal. I feel these chapters give a lot of information to the reader, but, all of it is necessary to be able to give students the type of education they will need to succeed.

Reflection on June 7th Class:

I really enjoyed listening to everyone's lessons plans and got some fantastic ideas from everyone. I'm definitely a person that starts to generate better ideas as I hear different people's ideas and visions for something. I also enjoyed learning more about critical thinking and how crucial the right type of questioning and varying the types of questions asked to students is. I also enjoyed revisiting the topic of differentiation and always remembering to give all different types of learners the ability to grow and learn in your classroom and the important role that brain research findings has in education.

Reflection on Marzano Chapters 5-8

The topic of homework is one that always has had supporters and detractors. How much is too much? Is it really just busy work at home? Being a student who isn't the greatest test taker, I always used homework as a way to help a a test score that wasn't up to my standards. In my opinion, it is essential to any students education to be not only do their homework and complete it correctly, but to get feedback and constructive criticism about it from their teacher as well as the purpose for why it was assigned. The chapter about non linguistic representations made me think of the various types of graphic organizers I made in school and how they helped me visualize what I was trying to accomplish. While I'm not much of an artist and I can't draw well, giving artistic learners the ability to be creative in an assignment and giving visual learners the option to make a graphic organizer is what being a 21st Century teacher is all about: giving students with various learning styles the ability and opportunity to complete work in a way that is conducive to their learning preferences. Cooperative learning is also something that I enjoyed when I was a student. I think that when students of various learning styles, abilities and backgrounds are put together, great things can happen. I feel that students don't just learn about the information being taught and about their peers, but they also learn about being able to effectively communicate in a group setting which is a life long skill. With that being said, it is still important for teachers to make sure not to let make their groups too large or to use it too frequently because anything used too much loses it's effectiveness. Setting goals for your students is helpful, but, allowing your students to set their own goals and push themselves beyond those goals is something that I would have imagine every educator wants for their students. I also believe that well structured feedback is another very important tool that allows students to know where they stand and what they need to do to be even better than they already are.

Reflection on Cooper Chapters 4,9 and 6

Involving your students in learning not only focuses them onto the task or tasks at hand, it also makes their active learners which means that they will most likely retain more information that is being taught to them. Sitting passively in a classroom doesn't do much for any student and wastes valuable time which really they can't ever get back. Using planned beginning's, planned discussions and having a well thought out planned ending allows for the students not only be actively engaged in learning throughout the class period, but, shows them the framework on how you as a teacher helped them learn a topic. What I liked about Cooper's chapter on cooperative learning is the section on what isn't cooperative learning. Informal group tasks, too much socializing and a lack of structure destroys the value of cooperative learning and can be distracting to others in the classroom, which is something that as a teacher makes your job that much more difficult. The methods presented in the chapter such as Think-Pair-Share and 3 by 3 by 3 give aspiring teachers, like us, frameworks to make sure that our students don't fall into traps that make their cooperative learning experience unsuccessful. The various strategies presented in chapter 6 allow the reader to take various paths to make sure that our lessons reach as many types of learners as possible. The multiple intelligences must always be in the forefront of our minds when crafting a lesson or unit and we must always remember not to judge students based on things as gender or culture. Being able to see how students progress throughout the school year, being able to be flexible in your teaching style and making sure that you make your classroom a place where everyone has the ability and opportunity to learn in a way that makes a student feel like they are able to excel is allowing a student to succeed in the 21st century.

Reflection on June 7th Class:

I really enjoyed tonight's class. Differentiation of instruction is something that can never be discussed enough. I believe that it is the key to being a great educator. The RAFT activity was also fun and I enjoyed all the topics that were developed and how creative each one was. RAFT is a really fun strategy that you can use to easily accommodate various types of learners by have many different roles, formats, topics or audiences. I also liked the casual conversation about various topics such as being involved with extra-curricular activities. Kids know a teacher who doesn't really care about their job or doesn't take it seriously. Being involved in extra-curricular activities, going to school dances, sporting events, concerts or other school functions excites the kids and conveys to them that you care about them and the hard work they put into projects or activities outside of the normal classroom setting. Finally, seeing the different types of databases, as well as "The Big 6", was helpful and is another tool we have going forward in our careers.

Reflection on Cooper Chapter 10:

Assessment is probably the most publicly scrutinized aspect of teaching. The way that an educator chooses to assess their students is usually a combination of tasks which give every type of learner in their classroom the opportunity to succeed. However, we all know educators that don't assess their students in a diverse enough way to allow all types of learners to succeed and feel that they do not have to change their methods because they have enough students passing state exams or enough students are passing their classes to satisfy district requirements. I feel that as we enter a phase in education where an incredible amount of focus will be placed on test results, that some educators will be able to adapt their assessment strategies as to make sure that all types of students are able to succeed, learn and grow in their classrooms while maintaining district, state and national standards of testing scores. In my opinion, I think that feedback given to a student either on a returned test to a student or immediately after a test is probably the most effective and helpful in achieving desired results. I also love the portfolio idea of keeping student's work. It allows them to see the progress they have made over the course of a school year as well as feel proud about what they have accomplished. While most library media specialists do not write test questions, it is crucial for us to know how to write a good question as we can use it for a variety ways in the classroom such as worksheets, surveys and questionnaires. Since most library media specialists do not assess tests, we should probably try to spend our time inquiring, observing and analyzing students to make sure that ones that are struggling or disruptive are give more attention or taught with a different strategy. Being able to reach students and giving them the opportunity to succeed is crucial to being an educator and the methods and examples in this chapter will help me reach every student that walks through the library door.

Reflection on Marzano chapters 9-12:

Chapter 9 gave a great overview of how to guide students through the process of generating and testing a hypothesis. I think that this is probably one of the most difficult things to teach and using the various models listed in the chapter such as problem solving and historical investigation, allow students to gain experience in this difficult task in a fun but challenging way. I also think that making students explain their conclusions after testing their hypothesis allows them to see what their strengths and weakness were and is a strong way of self-assessment. Chapter 10 deals with activating prior knowledge and how crucial it is for students to use this skill to further their learning. Utilizing graphic organizers and teaching students how to analyze the information they are dealing with are crucial life skills and it is necessary that we as educators help students develop. Chapter 11 was about teaching specific types of knowledge. As an educator, being able to provide lots of examples, show students key details numerous times and organizing this information in a way that students can easily process is key. I also believe that having students focus on a sub component of a process allows them over time develop that sub component in a way that it becomes a second nature. Chapter 12 starts with two activities: identify clear learning goals and allow students to identify and record personal learning goals. These two goals are intertwined throughout the individual examples in every subject at every grade level. I believe that this shows the importance of keeping these two activities in mind whenever creating a unit plan. I also believe in allowing students to know what is expected of them. I feel that this gives students a goal to reach and motivates them to succeed in the task. Furthermore, self-assessment after a unit allows student to reflect on what they have done well and how they can improve in the future, which, as teachers we must do as well if we expect to get better at our profession. These chapters are invaluable to a new educator and give the framework to examples that can be used in the classroom to actively engage the students we instruct.

Reflection on Harada Chapters 1-7:

I feel that this book is extremely helpful to us as students going into the library media specialist field as the tactics, strategies and methodologies that have been presented to us in the other texts that we have read are modeled into ways that a SLMS can use, not just a subject teacher. I also liked that the theme throughout the book is how the different strategies can be used to assess the understanding of the information that we as library media specialists and/or as a collaborating teacher with a classroom teacher we give the students. The second chapter, which focuses on assessment in the library media center, while short, contains important information. This was the first time I came across the term authentic learning, which is when instruction involves higher levels of thinking and problem solving and provides a meaningful experience to the student. I think this term is a very good way to identify very key goals that as educators we want are students to possess and master so that when presented with complex problems in the real world, the will have a strategy to try to solve them. Backward design was another new term that I found through this text and while I already have been writing our example lesson plans this way, thinking about what students must be able to do at the end of the learning experience, knowing the educational term for it makes it more useful for me in the working environment. The reinforcement of the importance of key assessment tools such as rubrics, logs and checklists and the very detailed examples of them in action drove home the importance and power of these assessment tools in the library media center setting. My personal favorite type of assessment tool is the conference as I think that the personal interaction between the student and teacher allows for the teacher to know how their students are doing and react appropriately to their needs as well as show students that their teacher cares about what they are doing and how they are going about completing their task. The thing I liked best about chapter 5 were the detailed figures of the various types of graphic organizers and seeing the K-W-H-L chart. I had done the K-W-L charts countless times in school, but, I had never seen a K-W-H-L chart before this chapter. I think that the how will I find out section, the H, is a fantastic way to modify a tried and true traditional classroom graphic organizer into an effective tool for any SLMS. Chapters 6 and 7 went over two examples of backward design, chapter 6 was an elementary level example and chapter 7 was a middle school example. Both examples were very well written and demonstrated the type of language, questions and format that should be followed and that throughout the process of finding information in either library media center setting and how absolutely crucial it is that students know what it is that they must demonstrate to their teachers to be able to succeed.

Reflection on June 14th Class:

Monday's class was another great learning experience. The topic of differentiation is one that is so crucial that we as new library media specialists are knowledgeable about. I think that thing that I realized by the end of Monday's class is that being able to differentiate instruction is a skill that becomes crafted over time and experience. The various maxi and mini strategies that we discussed were also interesting and most of the mini strategies seemed quite easy to implement into a library media specialists everyday routine. The maxi strategies seem like they will take time and experience to fully master in the classroom environment, but, if we do try to just try to differentiate a unit a year, by the time you know it, you will have successfully differentiated most if not all of the units, which should be the goal of every educator. Finally, the thinking aloud method is a tool that I believe gets kids wondering and questioning, which ultimately leads to understanding and learning, in a fun way that allows you as the teacher to act as if you desperately need your students help to get to the bottom of the question that you have.

Reflection on Cooper Chapter 8:

Classroom management is a topic that is something that causes a lot of worry in new teachers. I am no exception to this. How should I handle a student who constantly disrupts the class? What would I do if there were a student who isn't motivated to meet the expectations that are set in the classroom? The answers to these questions while found in Chapter 8, are also developed in time and experience dealing with various types of students in different types of situations. Being able to develop a classroom culture that is warm and inviting in crucial to allowing students to see that you care about them and their education. Showing the traits of a leader and role model to students as well as being someone that they feel comfortable talking to and learning from allows a student to grow in your classroom. I also liked seeing that the topic of bullying and peer harassment was covered. This topic is one that should always be at the fore-front of every teacher's mind. However, with the increase of cyber-bulling, it is increasingly more difficult to be able to address this. I also enjoyed learning about norms for behavior. I believe that establishing routines and rules for conduct allow students to understand what is going to happen when rules are broken and when certain things are going to occur during the day. All of the points and topics covered in chapter 8 will help me when I start my student teaching and I am sure that I will refer back to this chapter often as I go through the experience of student teaching.

Reflection for June 21st Class:

Monday's class really brought everything that we have explored together into one theory that is able to allow us as educators to effectively plan what we need to teach our students, the way to do it and how to make sure that the information they learn stays with them for life. What I really liked about UBD was the template that lays out what the planners, or in many cases collaborators need to make sure that they have in the plan. I also think that our class brainstorming session really displayed the power of collaboration when designing unit plans as well as just individual lessons. For me, this educational strategy gives every educator the power to integrate the various standards that we are faced with meeting: 21st Century, State and Local or District Standards, and allow educators to develop units that are able to meet these standards in interesting and innovative ways. The UBD format also allows fellow teachers, administrators and also students see the way that you plan to get them motivated to learn the material. Overall, I think that this class was invaluable in allowing us as new library media specialists be able to effectively collaborate with the various staff members that we will be working with.

Reflection on Marzano text:

Marzano's work "What Works in Classroom Instruction" is a fantastic reference for all types of educators about various aspects of the profession. I especially liked that a lot of the chapters have a focus on areas which as educators starting in the 21st Century classroom, have to be knowledgeable about. However, I also enjoyed that Marzano focused on aspects of teaching that have had the same methods for many years. Topics such as Homework and Practice and teaching vocabulary terms and phrases I felt got re-defined and re-focused to work in the 21st Cenutry classroom. The research from the various studies conducted at the end of each chapter provides a great "real-life" example of how the strategies or theories explained in the chapter work in the classroom. I think that the main point that Marzano wanted to get across to the readers of his work was that teachers must keep up with what really is effective and works in the classroom. Various theories, examples and strategies come and go, but the ideas and theories presented in this text have all been proven not only by being in the classroom, but, also from scientific research. As time goes on, research on the effectiveness of various methodologies and strategies will continue to be done and will continue to provide data about how we as educators are doing making sure that our students are getting the type of knowledge that stays with them forever and that we are adapting to the ever changing educational landscape.

Reflection on June 24th Class:

I enjoyed our class tonight. I felt that it pretty much brought everything that we have been discussing throughout the duration of the course together. It is really interesting that everything that is currently implemented in education relates back to brain research and how kids learn. I was wondering on the car ride home how much different the educational system would have been if this information about brain research had been known 20 or 30 years ago. Also, seeing how UBD, DI and Essential Questions all intertwine to make an educational experience as rich as possible was quite enlightening. I also enjoyed looking at the various projects completed by Linda's students as it shows the importance that integrating new technologies into classroom instruction can have on making projects new and fresh. I also loved the quote that was from Tomlinson and McTighe which placed knowing the students you are dealing with as the most important thing for any educator to do. I think that currently in education, with so much emphasis on how students do on standardized tests, both state and federal, that knowing your student is taking a back seat to getting them prepared to do well on the test questions no matter the students learning style or preferences. I hope that educational leaders will realize that a variety of assessment strategies, including standardized test scores is the way to fully understand how a student is doing at learning the information and how a teacher is doing making sure that their students are gaining enduring understandings.

Reflection on June 28th Class:

I really enjoyed seeing everyone's work. It was very interesting to see the ideas and the visions that everyone else in the class had and I think that all of them could be successfully executed in the classroom. I also loved in the inquiry method to research as I also find "The Big 6" hindering to a kid's natural instincts to explore and wonder while finding out about new information. This method not only fosters that, but it requires it. I really had a great time in this class and I feel that I have learned a great deal that will help me in my future library media center and while I know this is only the beginning to the learning that will take place throughout my career, I think that I've started with a lot of essential knowledge that will be the foundation of my teaching style and philosophy.