Task 5: Domain 3 A

Article: Understanding How Adolescents Think

Movie: Big Thinkers. Howard Gardner on Multiple Intelligences

Blog: Just Plain Good Teaching: Part Two. Engage the Body and the Brain

How does this relate to the work you do in your classroom?

All three internet sources that I researched talked about student engagement and how important its effects are in the classroom. In the article, Raleigh Philp discusses the need for continued growth regarding active engagement. How do we know our students are being engaged? Do we really understand what it is that engages the students? Philp discusses really understanding the tween/teen brain. Not all parts of the adolescent brain is fully developed. Are they just being slow or non participative when they say I don't know? Or is this a true statement on their behalf. In my classroom, I often get frustrated with the kids, especially when they let their emotions gauge their participation/learning in the room. They are always upset about things, and I tend to get very frustrated when they can't "leave" those problems at the door. However, Philp mentions that often their emotions can guide their outcomes from an early age. He also talks about having several different activities that last no more than twenty minutes. I will continue to work on switching things up to keep students engaged. Both the movie and the blog touched on active engagement in terms of multiple learning intelligences. Are we teaching too much? Is what the kids are learning not enough to stay with them when they leave school? All these things really got me teaching. But as I have mentioned in previous blogs, there are timelines and content to cover. In the movie, the man stated that students are being taught too much. They have a miles worth of knowledge that is only an inch thick. How do we change this? Well, he calls for political backing. Legislators must make a commitment with education to try something new with the hope that it will be successful. Engagement is always my main focus. Without that, it would be a pretty boring 7.5 hours.

How does this deepen your thinking about this domain?

As I researched these sources, I really began to think in more detail as to the significance of active student engagement. Active engagement might take more creative thinking on the part of the teacher, but it can also mean that students are really enjoying themselves in the classroom. It has really got me thinking in more detail about the structure in my classroom. Is it too structured? Am I too worried that I am not letting "loose" so to speak with my activities. Students don't need to be sitting the whole time, they need to be up stretching enjoying themselves. The main thing I would like to work on is incorporating music into my classroom. Learning has many different faces and I think I have not met those other faces. I want my students to have fun, but I want them to learn in the process. I am really working towards getting to that "comfortable" place where I feel like I really know what I'm doing with confidence.

How could this fit into your inquiry plan?

As far as my inquiry plan goes, I would like to really focus on the types of activities I am doing. I always start out with a vocabulary word of the day and then a smartboard daily language activity. I am up for suggestions in terms of how to engage students with a 90 minute lesson regarding reading, since this is what I teach. I would like to focus on activities that get the kids out of their seats and moving. If you guys have any suggestions that would be great. I'm stuck!

Task Four: Domain 3

Domain 4

Which component from this domain are you most comfortable with?

3b-Communication with students. Teachers communicate with their students through language, sometimes verbal language but body language as well. I feel that in my classroom I really make an effort to talk to my students to get a feel with how they perceive the everyday activities in my classroom. I always make sure that I target several different modalities. Instructions are always given in a variety of different ways. I always verbally speak the directions to them, write it on the white board and put the directions on the Smartboard for those visually impaired students who need text enlarged. With the directions posted in a variety of ways, students are aware of the expectations and know that everyone is required to complete the task. Setting these high expectations and communicating with my students they are all aware of what I want to see from them during the day.

Which component from this domain do you believe most strongly ties to instruction?

3c-Engaging students in learning. Learning happens when students are engaged. When you are able to grab their attention there are endless possibilities to what can happen in the classroom. There is a flow to the classroom as well, there is less behavior problems as well when students are engaged. When students are not engaged, lots of distractions can happen. I see this everyday working in a Special Education setting with 75% of my students that have a diagnosis of ADHD. Keeping them engaged is a full time job in itself. However, I am getting more creative and instruction happens when they are engaged. Engagement is everything ultimately!

Which component from this domain would you like to zero in on in your own instruction?

3d-Using assessment in instruction. Assessment has always been an important part of education and the more we use assessment the more we begin to see how assessment can play an even larger role that it already is. I often will assess students for knowledge of comprehension, but I have difficulty knowing what to do with those results. I may be targeting a specific skill, and when I am doing this I often do not know how to assess that skill in a non-traditional way. Assessment is something that I struggle with overall. I hope that the more I use assessments in the classroom and the more data that I collect, the easier it will be for me to transform that into hard data that shows learning happening.