Inquiry video

I have uploaded my video on the vimeo site. I filmed on 2 different days. I made them into one video but it was too large to upload. Therefore, I have 2 videos on domain two's site.

Inquiry Update #3

So I have been implementing my strategies of giving the students a reflection or activity for them to do when they think they are "done" and don't have to do anything. I can see how affective this was. At the beginning, I had over half the class off-task. Now that I've started using these activities, usually all of my students are on-task. Occasionally there will be one that isn't but I am so happy with the results. It is making their work more useful for them and keeps them going.

Inquiry update #2

This week I have been looking at my forms to see which students I can video. Luckily I saw this idea on some other people's blog for I totally forgot about it. I started giving the students a few extra things to do. This week I would just randomly count how many student were off task. I was amazed that there were 12 last week. This week the average was about 6. I feel like these activities are keeping the students more on task but I would still like to see more of them doing what they should be doing. I am going to give them some more things to do and see if I can get the number to decrease even more in the coming week.

Inquiry update #1

I am going to be focusing on making sure my students are on task and doing work when they "think they are done." Our school had a meeting with a behavioral specialist a few weeks ago. She gave us a check sheet where you can look at a student for 5 seconds and just check if they were on or off task. For my first week, I have decided to do somewhat of a pre-assessment. I used my check sheet on my small reading group. When I used the check sheet and looked at my students, I found that 12 of them were off task. I am going to start giving them things to do next week when they are finished. Reflections, extra work, practice spelling words, etc. I am hoping that by doing this, it will lower the number of off task students significantly.

Task Five: Instruction-Domain Two

First, I read the article entitled "How to Keep Kids Engaged in Class." The article was helpful and gave 10 rules of engagement to help keep all of your students on task and focused. A few of the rules I already use but some of them sound like good ideas that I am going to start using. The rules focused a lot on when you are working with a whole group. That isn't were my problem is. I have a problem when it is up to the students to work independently because I am working with others and they rush through their work and don't do their best or are goofing off and don't get their work done.

Secondly, I watched a video "How to motivate students." This video showed a 3rd grade teacher, which is great because that's what I am, and how she started motivating her students by having a mascot in the room. It happened to be a stuffed horse but you could pick anything. The students helped her come up with a list of what she should see from the students and what they need to do to deserve the mascot. She would walk around with it and hand it out to the student or table that was doing their best on their work or staying on task. Usually the student that was making the most improvement. She was going to begin letting them take it home for the night so they can explain it to their family and take pride in why they had it.

Lastly, I read a blog entitled, "How do I motivate my student?" I found this blog somewhat helpful. It gave 3 strategies to motivate. They were make learning fun, ask students what they want to learn about, and use mini-rewards. I liked the ideas but I wish she would have went into more detail and gave examples on how she did these things.

How does this relate to the work you do in your classroom?
This reading did relate to my classroom because I have these problems. I think it was good to read and get some ideas and new strategies to try. Once again though, most of them talked about when you are working with the whole class and keeping them on task when my struggle is when they are independent and I'm with small groups.
How does this deepen your thinking about this domain?
This has deepen my thinking because I have realized how important this is. After reading this material, I realize that motivating the students is one of the most important parts of instruction. If the students aren't motivated, they are more than likely not to try their best.
How could this fit into your inquiry plan?
This fits into my inquiry plan because it has given me a lot of ideas on the sub domain that I am struggling with. I now have some strategies and ideas that I can use with my students to hopefully improve this part of my teaching and classroom.

Task 4: Instruction

What domain did I choose and why?

I chose Domain 2: The Classroom Environment. I chose this domain for a few reasons. I think the environment is very important. If you set the environment right, good things will happen. I feel somewhat comfortable with my classroom environment but there are a few things I think I could use help on.

Which component from this domain are you most comfortable with?
I am most comfortable with 2b establishing a culture for learning. I think I make sure the students understand how important the content is, they know I have high expectations for them, and they take pride in their work.

Which component from this domain do you believe most strongly ties to instruction?
I think that 2 of them tie in with instruction. I think they are 2a and 2b, creating an environment of respect and rapport and establishing a culture for learning. I think both of these components need to be set into place to make the environment ready for instruction and the students know how to act and feel like they can take the risks with their assignments and group discussions.

Which component from this domain would you like to zero in on in your own instruction?
I want to zero in on managing classroom procedures. I like this area because it talks about small groups and noninstructional duties of the students. I have a little over an hour first thing in the morning where I have 3 groups working. They take turns meeting in a small group with me, doing centers with a partner, and doing independent seat work. I struggle with keeping them on target and busy when they've completed everything.

Question for the group....
If you have a rotation period like I mentioned above, what do you do to keep your children on task and busy when you are meeting with a group and can't guide them?

How the domains look in my classroom
*2a-My classroom has very good respect and rapport. The students know that I care for them and we have a mutual respect. I feel like the students care about each other and respect the fact that they are different. I have many children that always want to help the lower students instead of making fun of them because they can't read.
*2b-I have very high expectations of my students. They know what is expected of them from me and they know it has to be proficient or distinguished. I think excepting nothing less than that helps them with having pride in their work.
*2c-This is an area I struggle with. I mentioned it above. I have a rotation where students meet with me, with partners, and individually. I find it hard to keep them on task and busy while I am teaching a small group and they are on their own.
*2d-I think my classroom has a pretty good management of student behavior. I have had some pretty rough classes my first years of teaching. Every students knows what kind of behavior is expected out of them and they know the consequences. For the most part, the students are very well behaved and know what will happen if they misbehave. I don't know if I'm getting better at this or if I just have a much better class this year, but I am getting compliments on how well my class is behaving at least 3-4 times a week.
*2e-My classroom environment is very safe and learning accessible. When I first started teaching, I struggled with how to arrange my classroom. A few years later, I had to move my room around so my desk was in a certain place for technology. When I did this, I found an excellent way to arrange everything. I have a large table where I can meet with small groups, I smaller table where I can meet with a few students, a small table where students can do activities together, a carpeted area for students to read, and a computer area for them to use technology. I have my desks in 2 long rows in the middle of all this (the other things I mentioned outline the room).

Task 3: Instruction

Do all students have a capacity to learn?
I believe that all students have the capacity to learn. I don't think any of us could be teachers if we didn't believe that. As teachers, we all know that every child isn't going to learn at the same time or way as another, but nevertheless, they can learn.
What shapes this capacity?
There are many different factors that shape this capacity. The child's view on school, maturity, their home life, any disability they may have, etc. I have a student who is very low for 3rd grade. He was in the FMD room in K and 1st but moved back into the regular classroom since then. He is a student that struggled at the beginning of the year to read CVC words to me and would not write anything! Today, he has already may such progress. He will answer questions in class, write down everything he is to do, and is completing his work sooner than some of my average students. I am already so proud of him.
How much influence do you have upon this capacity?
As a teacher, I have about half of the influence. The students feed off of my attitude and thoughts about the subject. Of course, the other half comes from home and the community. There are many students at my school who feel they can't learn or don't like school. Most of the time, those opinions have come not from experience, but from things they hear at home. As teachers, we just have to work hard to make more of an influence than what they hear at home and make them understand they can learn and it can be fun.
How do these assumptions about learning shape our instruction?
My instruction is based on many different things. I differentiate my instruction depending on the students. Some of my students get harder work that I know they are capable of completing and it gives them a challenge. My average students have average work that isn't too easy or too hard for them to complete. My low students have easier work to complete. It is easier in the fact that if an average or higher student would complete it, it would take them a second. But for the lower students, it makes them think about the content and show me that they understand it without feeling the work is too difficult. It makes them feel successful and like they can learn. I also like to use the different learning styles to assign work. We have a test that the students can take and it will tell you if they are a mastery, interpersonal, understanding, or self-expressive learner. Based on that information, I know if the student likes to do work that is listed straight from the book, based on feelings, comparing it to other things they know, or doing something artistic.

Curriculum Design-Task 2

What is the purpose of curriculum and what role do we have as teachers in this purpose?
The purpose of curriculum is to make sure that all students are learning what they need to. Curriculum gives us an outline of what we as teachers need to complete and teach before the end of the school year. As teachers we have the role to take the curriculum and come up with some good activities and lessons to go along with the content. We have to make sure that we come up with lessons and activities that will help embed the content into the students brains. You need to make sure to have things that connect to real life and the students understand why they need to learn it.
How much control do we have in the designing of curriculum? How much should we have?
I think the teachers should have some control in the designing of the curriculum. Of course, we don't have any control on the core content is that we have to teach but we can have a say in how it is designed. I have the opportunity to this over the summer. Our district wasn't happy with our writing curriculum. The decided to work this summer to come up with a new curriculum. I along with others, spent at least 6 days working on forming this. It is still a working document and we will look at it again this coming summer. The committee has at least one member per grade for elementary grades, and a few people from the middle school and high school. I think allowing the teachers some control, it makes it more useful for us and we know more about how we want things taught.
How does curriculum that you have look like in your classrooms in a day to day environment?
The curriculum in my classroom has a bit of each article in it. I spend a lot of time trying to integrate as much as possible. I think it is the best way to help with making real life connections...and it makes you sane not trying to cram in all the content for each specific subject. I also use the backwards design. My school had 2 days of PD this summer on assessment. It was really focused on self-assessment and using the backward design. It is most beneficial if you come up with your final assessment first. This way, you make sure all the content will be covered in the assessment. You can then take the assessment and break it down into many different lessons. This makes sure you are covering all content.

Curriculum Design-Task 1

After reading the articles, I am torn between which curriculum idea is the best. I think you have to combine all of the ideas to make the best curriculum.

Wiggins talked about making students responsible and doing a lot of questioning to get them thinking. Questioning is something that my school does a lot of. We spent all our PD last summer learning about questioning and how to make it effective. Making students responsible is something that I think all schools struggle with.

Wraga talked about having common goals for each subject. This is something that has really taken place in my school this year. The district decided they didn't like the way that Writing was being taught in the school. Therefore, this summer the writing group, which included me, spent 6 days working on coming up with a new curriculum. We decided that we needed to put more focus on integrating the writing into all the subject areas. That way, you don't get what Wraga was talking about at the beginning of his article...something along the lines of students don't think that they should get point marked off for writing mistakes when they are doing some writing for social studies. I find this very common in my class. They know how to write when we are working on it, but when they have to write something for another subject, they forget all the rules for writing. We are hoping with our more integrated writing, we will see it carry over to anytime they have to write something. We also integrate our science or social studies material into our reading. This helps you get all your content in without screaming trying to fit it in by only doing it during its specific content area.

Applebee talked about a conversational, connected core curriculum. Again this is something that is somewhat used at my school but it is definitely something that needs worked on. Applebee wants the students to be able to connect the content to real life and have a meaningful conversation about it with their peers. This is something that I try in my classroom, but it isn't to the level that Applebee is wanting. I would like to hear some ideas if any of you are successful with this.

In conclusion, I thought all 3 of these authors brought great ideas to the table on curriculum. I know that in my classroom, I use a little bit of all of them to get the content covered and I think that is the best way it can be done.

EDG 615

This is my first time blogging. I'm a little unsure of how to do it but I'm sure we will all be pros by the end of this course. Looking forward to "meeting" all of you!