Please answer the following questions:
1) When you researched student centered classrooms and your particular subject, please describe what you discovered?
1) When you researched student centered classrooms and your particular subject, please describe what you discovered?
2) How can you make your classroom more student centered?
3) How do you envision implementing this strategy?
4) What stumbling blocks do you think you might run into?
5) What steps are you considering when you encounter barriers?
6) What might be an indication that you are reaching your desired state?
I discovered using projects to learn about the culture, history and areas Spanish is spoken can be beneficial to student's learning the language. Having students work together to learn the vocabulary may help the kids who are reluctant to speak out use the language more confidentiality. I envision continuing the implantation of student centered classrooms by having them use the language they are learning. Some stumbling blocks we may run into are the student attitude that they "can't" learn and understand another language. Steps I will take when we encounter barriers are to show the students that they can learn, speak and understand another language. indication that I am reaching my desired goal is to have the students do group presentations using the target language
ReplyDelete1) When you researched student centered classrooms and your particular subject, please describe what you discovered?
ReplyDeleteIt was difficult to find ideas for activities appropriate for the subject and grade I teach but I found several ideas that I can adapt to work for my students.
2) How can you make your classroom more student centered?
I plan to incorporate more strategies that allow students to guide their learning. I can do this by giving options of choices or free choice. Also, allowing students to guide a discussion while I’m more of a facilitator will allow them to guide their learning.
3) How do you envision implementing this strategy?
I plan to use more student led discussion, reflections, and exit slips to gain knowledge of where my students are and what they are interested in learning. I will give them more of an opportunity to share their voice in their learning.
4) What stumbling blocks do you think you might run into?
It is always difficult for third graders to do independent assignments and think on their own. It will be a struggle to encourage them to formulate and voice their ideas and learning in the beginning.
5) What steps are you considering when you encounter barriers?
I plan to start at the beginning of the year by encouraging independent work and allow opportunities for students to share their thoughts and learning. After they understand the expectations and learn to “think on their own”, I will allow more opportunities for them to share their ideas with their partners and teams.
6) What might be an indication that you are reaching your desired state?
I will be able to observe their ability to guide their learning through their ability to communicate this through journals, with their partners, in class/group discussions, and on exit slips, etc.
1) When I researched student centered classrooms, I found mostly strategies in how to run a more student centered classroom. I didn’t find examples of activities that would more accurately help me in envisioning how I would like to proceed.
ReplyDelete2) Our reading program is already conducive to groups, I can tweak these groups so that the students lead themselves and utilize the materials that are provided for exploration.
3) I will implement this strategy slowly. I already do stations in reading that I can begin to direct to more student centered. I am not reinventing the wheel, I am simply adding variety to achieve the end goal.
4) I might run into keeping things updated or enough activities to keep them engaged to begin with.
5) I know that I will have to continue to look and research ideas and activities for the students that they will be able to do on their level.
6) The students will be more independent and become students that don’t rely on me to provide the answers or tell them which way to go.
I had a difficult time finding lessons for written 12th English work. I found several ideas for discussions. I think the first issue I will face is rearranging my room. My 2nd issue will be to take the literature and written assignments and tailor them for a student centered classroom. I'm not sure at this VERY moment how I will incorporate the objectives of student centered into an individual written text. We have open-ended discussions, and we do peer reviewing, My goal is to implement multiple ways to create a student centered classroom. Because writing is an individual process, I think I will have stumbling blocks. I think original discussions and pre-writing techniques will be easier in a student centered classroom. I will work through any issues. When my 12th grade students are not only pleased with their individual work, but when they express their comfort and satisfaction in a lesson, will I know my "desired state" has been reached.
ReplyDelete1) When you researched student centered classrooms and your particular subject, please describe what you discovered?
ReplyDeleteI discovered that it was difficult to find specific strategies/activities to use in my 3rd grade language arts classroom but there are many excellent ideas to make a classroom more student-centered.
2) How can you make your classroom more student centered?
My classroom can be made more student-centered students by letting them take an active interest and be more directly involved in the learning process by taking charge of their learning. Students will be encouraged to work in pairs/groups to develop skills like communication, cooperation, and respect and value for others by assisting and learning from their classmates.
3) How do you envision implementing this strategy?
I will take the role of more of a facilitator and introduce strategies that are more student-centered. For example, one strategy I plan to use is the fishbowl strategy. This is a teaching strategy that helps students practice being contributors and listeners in a discussion. Students ask questions, present opinions, and share information when they sit in the “fishbowl” circle, while students on the outside of the circle listen carefully to the ideas presented and pay attention to process. Then the roles reverse. This strategy is especially useful when you want to make sure all students participate in the discussion, when you want to help students reflect on what a “good discussion” looks like, and when you need a structure for discussing controversial or difficult topics. I think fishbowls will make excellent pre-writing activities that will allow them to think about questions or ideas that they can explore more deeply in an independent assignment.
4) What stumbling blocks do you think you might run into?
The hardest part will definitely be relinquishing total control of the class and giving students more responsibility for their own learning. Another difficulty in my third grade classroom will be establishing the proper procedures to ensure that ALL students are comfortable expressing their ideas and opinions and equally participating in their learning groups.
5) What steps are you considering when you encounter barriers?
To help with establishing procedures I plan to work with students on establishing group norms and have them sign contracts that will serve as a reminder that they intend to follow these rules/guidelines while working in their learning groups. If students break these contracts, I will temporarily remove them from the group and have them work independently until they are ready to rejoin their group.
6) What might be an indication that you are reaching your desired state?
Students taking pride in their work/getting excited about learning and working respectfully with their learning group will be a tremendous indicator that I am moving in the right direction.
1. I was able to find examples of teacher-submitted lessons along with resources to implement the resources. I also found articles related to implementing the student-centered style of teaching into any classroom.
ReplyDelete2. I will need to create assignments that require students to work collaboratively where they will find information related to a particular topic/concept and present their findings to the class.
3. I plan to present my students with a task/problem related to the class. They will then be allowed to solve this problem using resources I provide them as well as resources they find on their own. In the end, the students will need to present their findings to the rest of the class.
4. I will struggle with giving up some of the control I have over my classes and work towards guiding my students through problems instead of giving them the answers.
5. I normally seek out the advice of other teachers to see if they have had similar experiences and what they did to overcome their obstacles.
6. Overall, the whole dynamic of my classroom should change - less lecturing, more student engagement, collaboration, etc. My classroom should not look the same.
1. I discovered an article about student centered classrooms. The author advocated not assigning homework and not lecturing, but she had good reasons for all of her choices. Here's a link to her article: http://plpnetwork.com/2012/10/08/flip-love-affair/
ReplyDelete2. I believe I can make my classroom more student centered by allowing students to come to their own conclusions about certain concepts.
3. I plan to introduce topic differently. Instead of giving students all of the information to begin with, I plan to allow them to discover certain concepts by asking the right questions and providing them with the resources to do so. They may not understand the academic vocabulary, but that will come as we go over it later.
4. Some students do not learn as quickly as others and will have trouble drawing their own conclusions.
5. I will have to work to ask the right questions and encourage them to think for themselves.
6. I will know that I am reaching my goals when my students can come up with ideas and conclusions without further questioning from me. They may begin to ask better questions than I can come up with and construct knowledge that I had not originally intended. I would be happy that they are able to finally direct their own learning in a student centered classroom.
1. I found many articles about student centered classrooms, but mostly I found links to amazon.com or other websites wanting you to purchase their books and ideas on student centered classrooms. This is obviously the "hot topic" and the direction education is headed for!
ReplyDelete2. I believe my classroom can be made more student centered by allowing the students to drive my instruction.
3. In one article I read, the teacher allowed the students to read his lesson plan for the day, but asked them how THEY wanted to accomplish the objective. I thought this would be interesting to try with a basic math objective.
4. One stumbling block I foresee is this question: How can students identify what they need to know if they don't know? Students may not realize they need to know expanded form of numbers using powers of ten, so they will probably not ever bring it up.
5. I hope I can identify barriers BEFORE they happen (fingers crossed) but if not, I will deal with them the best I can, and learn from them, because I don't just teach one class. By the end of the day, I should be good to go (lol).
6. When students make comments about exploring math at home, or excitedly tell me ideas for our next class, I will conclude that I am reaching the desired state of a student centered classroom!
1. When I researched my topic I found strategies on how to implement in my classroom, but not actual activities or ideas.
ReplyDelete2. You can ask questions to help get them to start the process of thinking of how to plant a garden and what we need and steps involved.
3. As for Social Science activities you might say we are planting a garden with peas and okra and tomatoes. Which one do you want to plant? Let the student make a decision on what to plant.
4. Stumbling blocks ~ everyone wanting to plant the same thing or not wanting to plant any of them!
5. We all cannot eat or do not eat tomatoes so we have to plant a variety of vegetables.
6. Students are excited about what you are doing and look forward to the finished product.
1. While researching for student centered classrooms, I found several news articles with ways to create student centered classrooms. I also found an account written by a teacher of her journey to create a student centered classroom.
ReplyDelete2. I can give my students more choices (ownership) in the way lessons are carried out. I also need to become more of a facilitator to my students. I need to give the students more options for lessons than just my own.
3. I must create more team building activities. Over time, I must step back and allow students to gain independence and pride in their work by finding answers to their own questions. I should become the facilitator to my children.
4. Letting go of complete control will be a stumbling block for me. Also, making sure that all students are on task and that all standards are covered would also be a stumbling block to overcome.
5. I will try to let students know my expectations at the beginning of the year. Slowly, I will try to lead students to a more independent, student centered type of classroom.
6. An indication that I am reaching my desired state would be seeing my students working together, working independently, and answering questions from the teacher as well as finding information that they are interested in once the process has begun. If the students get excited and want to delve further into the assignment or subject matter, I would know that this has been successful.
When I researched the internet about student led classrooms, I found a huge amount of information on teaching techniques that would lend itself to PBL. "Sciracy", pronounced the same as piracy, is a program that some teachers have incorporated in their classrooms for student led learning that not only has the students acting as teachers and learners, but also, as the researchers and consultants for local businesses to help their community grow. I could have my students research, consult, learn, and teach with the local farmers to ensure that their crops grow and they produce the maximum amount of product that they can and the students could be the ones to report all of this information as an opportunity for the farmers to exceed their own expectations for their crops. Finding willing participants (farmers) to let students in on their established processes might be a problem, but more than likely, I could find at least one person to be patient with my students as they construct knowledge and present their ideas to make growth larger for the farmer's crops.
ReplyDelete1.I found 2 activities/lessons that I really like and that tie easily into concepts in my classes. One was on the Fibonacci Sequence and how it relates to nature. Instead of just saying here's the rule, the students are presented with a situation and asked to predict the outcome. Through this, they discover the sequence. Then it is extended to other things in nature and other math concepts. (great cross curriculum topic w/ science). The second activity deals with ratio, proportion and scale models/drawings. This would be a great lead in to the big project that I use in Geo 1.3 that covers a huge chunk on the material for that class.
ReplyDelete2. I want to do more of letting the students use available resources and look things up for themselves. This will make them more invested in their learning and will hopefully help them remember it better. Just because I have "covered" doesn't mean they learned it.
3.I need to be sure that I present the students with good resources to use. I have worked over the last year to include links to resources on the Moodle pages but I need to work more on this. Also, I need to be sure the students know how to research for themselves. So often we assume students know how to do this when they actually don't.
4.The two biggest stumbling blocks will be time and my willingness to "let go". Lots of objectives to cover and very little time. But is it just covered or did they really learn it.
5. I need to come up with ways to tie objectives together better and consolidate.
6. Less lecture from me. More student guided learning.
1. There are many links that explain how to have a student centered learning classroom, but I did not find many activities that were student centered.
ReplyDelete2. I can make my classroom student centered by understanding student interest and passion. My classroom environment will promote interaction among learners. I need to give up absolute control and let students take the lead.
3. It will take time to implement each of the strategies I listed above. I must establish structure, routine, and classroom management. Students will not be able to take the lead until they can understand what is expected in the classroom, and that the outcome will be learning.
4. Problems that could arise would be noise level, not following norms, not engaging with the group or activity. Also the lesson may not go as planned. I will need to rethink and reflect to fix the problem.
5. When confronted with a problem I will stop and reteach what is expected. I will guide students through expectations and norms. Problems will arise, but must be fixed in order to have a productive student centered classroom.
6. I will reach a desired state when students can lead a group discussion and learn through collaboration with peers. Eventually students can ask questions and answer them with peers while I guide them.
1) When I researched student centered classrooms and language arts, the most useful information I found was on www.nea.org in "60 Student-Centered Teaching Strategies." Many of the techniques described in this article were familiar to me from ARI-PAL and Quality Core training, and I found that comforting because I began using many of these strategies several years ago.
ReplyDelete2) Although I use many of these strategies often, I can make my classroom more student centered by continuing to remove myself from the forefront of the classroom. I want to explore different seating arrangements in my room as well as student use of the boards.
3) This year, I would love to experiment with a Mr. Oros-style unit on essay writing--argument, expository, and/or narrative.
4) I know that students will not like this approach initially; they would rather have me tell them what to do rather than have to discover the information for themselves.
5) When I try my Mr. Oros-style unit, I plan to remain firm in my plan with the advanced students especially; for the more academically challenged, I plan to offer thought-provoking questions and possibly even suggestions.
6) When students become more intrinsically motivated, apply themselves seriously to the lesson, and reach out to their peers for help with schoolwork, I will know that I am moving toward my desired state.
1. In a STEM classroom, the teacher definitely takes on the role of the facilitator. The student takes an active role in their learning. Students are more responsible for their learning in this type setting. In addition, I will be able to informally assess students and guide future instruction based on interest level.
ReplyDelete2. I can make my classroom more student centered by connecting learning to real life circumstances. By creating opportunities for students to solve actual life problems, they become engaged and interested in their learning and can see the application to life outside the classroom.
3. I want to implement a student centered classroom by completing activities that allow me to determine their interests and needs. By creating a sense of community, students should see that their thought and opinions matter to me and their classmates.
4. Stumbling blocks that I foresee might include having to redirect students that are completely off track. Time management might be another issue.
5. When encountering barriers, I will refocus students' attention. I might also revisit appropriate classroom procedures. In addition, student groups might be redesigned.
6. An indication that would indicate a successful student-centered classroom would include seeing students take ownership in their education. In addition, when students are excited about learning and gather research prior to class, the educator is taking the right steps in creating the student centered classroom.
1. I discovered several activities that will be particularly useful with my moodle discussion forum. For example, I found a student-centered activity called "One Minute Papers" that require students to answer open-ended questions in one min and post them to the moodle forum. Students will be able to reply to one another's posts. Some questions might ask students what was the most important concept they learned or what remains unclear.
ReplyDelete2. To make my classroom more student-centered, I can incorporate more activities that have students make inferences prior to experiments or demonstrations in biology class. Students can also participate in more group discussions such as a "Think-Pair-Share" activity where they work in small groups to think about and discuss questions posed by me. I could then call on individual students or groups to discuss their ideas with the class.
3. To implement the various strategies I have found, I plan to walk my students through the process of how to work together in pairs or small groups while staying on task. I would try to instill in my students that every one can contribute in a positive way. I will be sure to set norms/parameters to help students learn in a student-centered environment.
4. I foresee more classroom management problems with my 9th grades students who might not be as accustomed to working in pairs/groups where they have more freedom to work at their own pace. It will take careful management to keep students on task and completing activities while understanding the concepts I expect them to understand.
5. My moto is to model for my students my expectations of them. Repetition of expected behaviors will enable students to perform in positive and acceptable ways. I believe it is just as important to reward students for proper behavior as it is to discipline poor behavior. Maybe even more so. Structure and consistency in the classroom is also important so that my students always know what is expected of them.
6. Indicators that I have reached my desired outcome will include students' ability to complete tasks independently and show that they have mastered certain concepts. Explaining expectations and giving students adequate time to practice concepts will ensure that they will understand those concepts. When students reach the point where they stop asking me for the answers, but instead are able to discover them on their own will also indicate that I'm on the right track. I will make sure that my students are given the resources they need to be successful in my classroom.