As a teacher I make choices everyday that affect adolescent learning (I teach grades 7 - 9) regarding the following parameters, taken from Dr. Anderman and Dr. Sinatra’s work:
(a) the types of tasks that they will use in class and for homework assignments;
(b) the types of rewards that students can earn;
(c) assessment procedures;
(d) grouping arrangements (e.g., heterogeneous vs. homogeneous);
(e) how much autonomy will be afforded to students;
(f) whether or not they will hold high expectations for all students
Gallery Walk Display. (Winter Term 2016). Grade 8 Biology. Student Poster & Research Project on Food & Digestion.
Welcoming diversity in the classroom
Adolescents within the inclusive modern day classrooms are very diverse (high achiever, low achiever, motivated, not motivated, behaviour, concentration capacity, organization skills, language skills and literacy, handwriting, written vs. oral abilities, cultural differences, socioeconomic status, maturity, hormonal changes, growth variations) not to mention multiple intelligences of course, sensitive to feedback, responsive, but also require tailoring, differentiation, and engagement and recognition. I feel that the single most instrumental element in my strategy after careful planning of course, is engagement and recognition -- they need to know that they are being noticed by their teacher, be it STSE, trigger videos, animations (Phet animations from U of Colorado), Gizmos (really popular!), and demos (yes, Chem demos like sodium in water, ethanol fueled rockets etc. are most helpful) … I also try to establish a historical context along the lines of the work by James Burke (Connections - TV series by James Burke).
Student Rocket Competition. (Spring Term 2016). Grade 8 Chemistry. Cross-curricular Connections: Physics Newton's 3rd Law, Tech aerodynamics and design.
Then there really is not one correct regimen for teaching because learners are so diverse in their background, aptitudes, multiple intelligences, and future career aspirations. Hence, my takeaway is that in a 5-day week, we should diversify our teaching methods -- for instance no 2 days of the week should utilize the same instructional activities or methods. Eventually with more experience, I would like to extend this rule to a month.
Lesson 1: hands on project where students actually build, draw, create, experiment, write computer code, play drama role, play/write a song/poem. PBL - problem-based learning, novel situation
Lesson 2: classical teaching: 'sit/absorb'
Lesson 3: Flipped classroom: having watched the lesson/listened to the lesson the night before via a video/podcast, they come to class prepared to ask questions, collaborate, tutorial style or engage in differentiated tasks
Lesson 4: Preparation of standardized test/science literacy - careers, transferrable skills, STSE, STEAM. They serve to ensure that all teachers and all students in a nation are following comparable guidelines and that educators are actually doing their jobs -- standardized tests have their value in so far as they are a test not just for students, but for teachers. Hence, in lesson 4, we can do some sort of practice and readiness for future national test questions --
Lesson 5: Technology: using iPads, students recap their learning on Friday by creating a podcast and making a summary of what was done during the week, what they learned, what they want to learn more, etc....
By doing this, there should be ample opportunities for the teacher to assess student abilities and their progress, not just an end score .....
Research shows (Anderman & Sinatra, p. 30) that increasing formative assessments and feedback in an ongoing basis while also reducing stress by not making the test score the only parameter of major assessment is also helpful and something I try to do. In other words, classwork and good collaborative learning and cooperation counts! Not just and just summative tasks and test scores! This I find reduces adolescent stress and allows them to not lose hope but instead gain hope and bring their best every day. Many times students are stressed and ask "what happens if I fail that test, or I did not do well on the last test, what can I do to remedy" and I always tell them that the future is theirs to conquer!
Indeed, Anderman and Sinatra state on p. 30: “Our recommendations for classroom assessment include encouraging a change in focus toward assessment models and techniques that promote, rather than simply measure, science learning. We encourage a greater role for formative assessment, a focus on assessments that require higher levels of critical thinking and reasoning, group-based assessments, and a move away from the extrinsic emphasis on grades.”
References:
Anderman & Sinatra. The Challenges of Teaching and Learning about Science in the 21st Century: Exploring the Abilities and Constraints of Adolescent Learners
http://sites.nationalacademies.org/cs/groups/dbassesite/documents/webpage/dbasse_072608.pdf
Course Content: Teaching and Learning with Young Adolescents. Section 2 - The Adolescent Learner
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