I'm posting a day early... I'm going to the lake so I didn't want to forget!! Hope everyone's summer is going great!! This week covered 2 chapters so I will post a question for each chapter to comment on.
Chapter 4: Engage to Build Cognitive Capacity
1. Which higher-order thinking skills do you think are most important for you to build in your class: attention, problem solving, critical thinking, working memory, processing speed, or self-control? How will you go about building these skills in students?
Chapter 5: Engage for Motivation and Effort
2. What have you learned about the mind-set of students who simply engage less? What strategies can you use to build the learner's mindset in all your students?
1. Attention and problem solving are two skills that I ran into problems with many times this past school year that I will focus on this coming year. It was very eye opening last year how many students struggled to solve problems academically as well as socially. I think collaborative problem solving would be especially great to do at the beginning of the year when we are getting to know each other. Solving problems together will create help students feel like they can ask questions and depend on each other if they need help. Using both academic problems and real world problems will help students see that they can use the same steps to solve any problem that they come across. I love the pause and chunk solution to help with attention. I get so caught up in what we need to get done during a lesson that sometimes I forget to stop and give them a second to process all the information. It would also be great to use the pause and chunk and add in a time for them to turn and teach their partner what we just learned after that have had a chance to process it.
ReplyDelete2. As I was reading Chapter 5, I thought of several times where I used "comfort talk" to make a student feel better about themselves academically. Then he went onto say that by using "comfort talk" it created a lowered expectation that was acceptable. This was a DUH moment for me. I will definitely be using the "it is so much better to be blunt than use comfort talk" advice when it comes to affirming students and their ability to learn. "Your brain can change!" :) This book has made me more aware of word choice when I am talking with students. I also enjoyed how the author highlighted how important it is to affirm their effort in daily interactions as well as the questioning strategy that was suggested in rounds.
1. I loved how chapter four opened with the fact that IQ measures are not fixed-- they can change. This negates the idea of "It is what it is." The truth is, it is what you make it. This past year I worked with third graders instead of second so I automatically had higher expectations and assumed they would be way more independent. I was surprised how many students didn't know what to do when they got to a problem and didn't have an immediate answer. I believe my students areacademically capable, but they need those problem solving and critical thinking skills to apply their knowledge to new situations. We made an anchor chart for our math problem solving unit, and I was surprised how much we utilized the chart for other situations and content areas. I will put a big focus on teaching students how to problem solve in a variety of ways with a simple list of steps.
ReplyDelete2. It talks about how all students can be motivated but that it is harder for students in low socio-economic homes. I could definitely see how this could effect the students. It was really frustrating this year when I had a students parent sit in front of his son and tell me how much he hated school and hated math. This student came into math not wanting to put forth any effort and unless I had a chance to work independently with him or pump him up daily--- indepedently he would do anything but his work. I think he improved a lot with his attitude and he made a lot of choices in his work. Letting students make more choices seems to be a big deal to my students, and I love letting them be apart of the lesson. I loved the idea of the drumroll drawings where one student gets a simple standing ovation and the other gets to answer the question. I would like the students to be able to earn more ways into the bowl such as if they get a Big 3 ticket, or earn a green or better day? I would still want to make sure all students had their name in the bucket at least once so I would keep all students engaged. I would also like to include project learning more into the science and social studies content to make the learning more hands on and give the students a chance to bring their learning into real life situations.
1. I found the working memory section to be the most intriguing (and the most-highlighted part of my reading). We have all felt the frustration of saying, “go to your seat, get out a pencil and paper, then read a book,” only to find 5 students who followed all the directions, half the class with a book and no pencil/paper, one student wondering the room, and one student still sitting on the carpet staring at the teacher! It never occurred to me that we can (and should) train the brain to hold and process increasing amounts of information. It is highly likely that [most of] our students listen to all the directions, but are only able to hold one or two pieces in their working memories, not all the information given. Because it takes so little time each day, this would be a good place to focus that good have excellent results for students for behaviorally and academically.
ReplyDelete2. What I took most from the discussion of student’s mindset is the emphasis on being positive and affirming students’ efforts. In this chapter, they gave some great examples of how to respond to students’ answers without addressing the content, but rather thanking students for participating and taking a risk to share their answer. As teachers we focus so much on assessment and measuring student progress that it can be easy to overlook the effort that students are putting in or not putting into a task. While we have numerous charts and graphs to celebrate learning objectives, how many do we have that celebrate effort? One of my strategies In preparation for next school year is to compile a list of some of the phrases from the text to have “ready” for my students that celebrate their engagement and contribution.
1. I feel attention and self control are both for kindergarten land. Those are 2 items I felt my class had problems with last year. I like the activities they used for attention building. ex Simon Says and Green Light Red Light. I thought it was a good idea that once they had mastered playing the light game, then start switching it up by using different colors, shapes, a drumming beat. Great ideas to keep it fresh. Also I like the redirects with, quick find a partner in 9 seconds or "Raise your hand if you'd like to do something you've never done before. Good. Now turn to your neighbor and say "I'm ready!" Great strategies to incorporate into my classroom. For self control, I liked the idea of the calendar day to use for the delay of time the students had to respond to me. Like if it is day 4 of the month, then they have to count to 4 in their head before raising their hand. I also liked the thought of teaching self control like them reminding themselves that if they stand quietly and calm in line, then I will get to eat earlier than if I'm disruptive.
ReplyDelete2. I believe, we as teachers, are supposed to help a child have faith in themselves that they can do it. Some struggle with that than others and it's our job to try and build that self esteem. Mr. Jensen's examples are awesome. Affirming students' ability to learn, their trust in you, their choices, attitudes, and effort will help do this. I like the way he said be clear and constructive. I need to make sure to strengthen my positive feed back and ask probing questions without criticizing.
1. I was really struck by the statement that " working memory at age 5 is a greater predictor of academic success than IQ is at age 10". I found this part of the chapter to be the area I will focus on. Of course in first grade we already use visual and sound I will make it a focus effort to work on building working memory. The author states that research shows" that building a strong working memory takes only 5 to 10 minutes of practice a day for 8-12 weeks." What a great way to begin the first trimester! I think these activities will work during a morning meeting or during lessons.
ReplyDelete2. One thing that really stuck out to me was when the author asked" is my question inclusive or exclusive?" Simply phrasing the questions to students differently may help students respond. I need to think about my questions and how they make students feel. As the author stated earlier that students need to feel safe. I also liked the reminder that a smile or simply an acknowledgement of their effort goes a long way. The affirmations were very helpful. I'm thinking of typing them out and reading them to myself everyday so that I will remember to talk to my students in ways that will encourage them more.
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DeleteThe inclusive and exclusive questions resonated with me also. Great reminder that word choice is very powerful.
DeleteCh. 4:
ReplyDeleteI was really excited to learn we have the opportunity to develop students' IQ's. So many times, it is frustrating to hear-"they just have a low functioning IQ" as an excuse.
I think building attention skills and training working memory are 2 key skills for my second graders. Two strategies I plan to use more often are redirects and increasing the buy-in. Kids love challenging each other and working with each other. These are 2 easy things to use with our current curriculum.
I also think training students' working memory is important. It was encouraging to see 5 min/day for 8-12 weeks will build memory. Kids love sounds and games and these can be engaging and quick to use. I also plan to implement the number bag activity to practice memory with math facts. Every year we struggle with this and I would love to see the students find more success than in previous years.
1. Who ever thought that attention skills could be taught explicitly? I love the idea of practicing attention skills through the game “Red Light, Green Light”. I never thought to change the colors, add icons like shapes, or even use drumming to vary the game to increase attention. Sounds like a fun way to get the class started. I can see it now for kiddos, quarter note means go one step forward, half note means two steps forward, whole note means four steps forward, quarter rest means one step backward, eighth notes can be tip toe two times quickly in place, sixteenth notes means criss-cross quickly in place.
ReplyDeleteI can also do this while teaching different types of tempos. Largo means walk slowly around the room, andante means to go at a walking pace, presto means to walk really, really fast (since running isn’t allowed in my room).
I can use this for teaching the four different kinds of voices to the younger kiddos. Hold up a sign of music notes and the kids can start singing, hold up a sign of someone shushing/using the quiet sign and the kids can start whispering, hold up a sign of someone shouting outdoors and the kids can begin shouting, hold up a sign with kids speaking and the kids can use their speaking voice, finally I can add of sign of Mrs. Rich’s holding a stop sign and the kids have to be quiet. LOL! BRILLIANT!! I will work to find a way to incorporate this game with each topic I am teaching so that I am working on this skill all year long. The wheels are turning!!!
2. "Make It Their Idea!!” I am definitely working on providing more choice in music class. It is my goal to have a class with more student-led lessons/activities. Two ways I am working to promote this is to allow each group of students a choice between learning activities and choosing the order to accomplish the activities (when applicable). Let’s say we’re learning a musical and choosing between lesson activities isn’t possible, then allowing the class to decide the order of events for the day. For example, if we need to review lyrics and start choreography on another song, let the students vote which one is first. To keep whole class decisions from potentially being time consuming, I would provide only two options and the one with the most votes goes first. When I know I have a prearranged sub, I could allow the kids to choose Hot Potato, Limbo, Musical Chairs, or Sing-Along Video.
1. I really feel like all higher-order thinking skills are important to teach if the students do not have them. However, if I could go back and choose skills to teach to my last class I would have to choose attention and working memory. I would always try my best to incorporate brain breaks throughout the day. But, at times it was difficult. However, I keeping hearing and reading more and more about the importance of brain/movement breaks and the positive effects it has on increased student performance. So, my goal for next year would be to schedule breaks into my lesson plans to make sure I find time to take them. In addition, I would like to incorporate more buy-in strategies at the beginning of my mini lessons to grab even the most difficult students' attention. Again, that is a strategy I have tried to incorporate but with little consistency.
ReplyDelete2. I find the whole idea of mindset very fascinating. I learned a lot about it at the Character Plus Conference I just went to. After learning about it, I was already planning on introducing the idea to my students this coming year and monitor its success. So, my plan was to introduce the idea of Fixed (I can't do this) and Growth (I will try my best no matter what) mindset to the students. My plan is to discuss these topics during morning meetings. Schools have been very successful in teaching these concepts to students as young as kindergarten and have been able to successfully increase students' confidence and academic drive. So, my goal will first be:
A. Define and teach Growth and Fixed Mindset
B. Model what it means and looks like
C. Check for understanding (all student will be able to define and explain in their own words what it means).
D. Incorporate the concepts into everything we do to increase academic drive and success.
1. The one sentence in Chapter 4 that stuck out to me was at the end. It said, "Average teachers teach a skill until students get it right; highly effective teachers work with students until they can't get it wrong." I think we sometimes get so caught up in the content of what we teach, we forget about the students themselves. I think all of these skills are so important. I hope to work on them all throughout the school year. I think training working memory is such an important to skill to learn and to continue to develop. Reading the statistic about working memory at age 5 being a greater predictor of academic success than IQ at age 10 really stuck out at me. I think adding in some of the solutions with my content for only 5-10 minutes a day is something I want to work toward. I want to use word baskets at the beginning of the year as ice breakers and getting to know each other activities and then gradually start using it with each area. I think there are so many ways to use some of these ideas throughout the year.
ReplyDelete2. I think that building a student's mind-set is one of the most important jobs we have, as teachers. Many students walk into our classrooms already feeling like they are stuck where they are, so why should they try to put in any effort. I really want to work in my classroom this year to focus on their capacity to grow. I want to focus more on their effort and use some of his affirmations.
1. I think in my classroom I would like to focus on buliding attention skills and training their working memory. I think that these two actions go hand and hand with each other. I find that getting and keeping the student's attention can be a continued distraction from the 10-15 minute mini lesson that I am teaching then which becomes 20-25 minutes and less effective. The constant redirections can really add up quickly. I would like to add to turn and talks the time factor. I have a partner chart, but this simple switch up could definitely help them to stay focused on what type of partnership they will be engaging in at this moment. I also liked the red light, purple light activity to break up longer periods of the day. As for training the working memory, I think as time passes my memory is not as reliable as it once was. I think building the students' working memory will increase the number of students who are able to attain knowledge to meet their learning goals and master the skills needed to build on those skills. I found it interesting that the author said the only way to strengthen that working memory is to train it. I find often saying well they had it and now they have lost it. I dn't believe that is is gone forever, but training them to store and use infomation will be benficial. The strategies given were very simply and easy to incorporate strategies that I think will help to train their working memory and increase their attention skills.
ReplyDelete2. I think that the feedback to students is an important part of the learning process. I think back to when I was in school and you would wait and wait and wait for that important 10 page paper to be returned or the test to be graded. We can give our kids immediate feedback, specific and fulfilling feedback. This year my personal development goal is student learning goals. I am excited to plan positive and effect feedback to each student in my class and see the effect it has on their overall growth and engagment in the classroom.
1) In my new classroom and position, I would definitely have to say that building attention skills would be the most important. I feel like kids are already interested in technology but, if they can't continue to stay focused they are going to miss how to use it properly. I hope to 'hook them in' by using examples on the Dell Board and letting them come up to help. I also am going to have them make predictions and use the 'pause and chunk' strategies. I also plan to keep the students moving from the carpet, to their seats, and back to the carpet again. This is a strategy that I have always used in my class and it really seem to pay off. I would really like to try the redirect method as well. I think the kids would really find that enjoyable!
ReplyDelete2) I love the "Make it their idea," concept! I feel like this hits home too with my 2 year old. It's always about giving her choices ;) I would always have classroom jobs and no matter what, I ALWAYS made sure everyone had one. The kids absolutely love to know that you need them! I have never actually let the kids write the rules although, we do a class constitution at the beginning of the school year. I really enjoyed reading the 'solutions to use' section of this chapter because it seems very positive. Sometimes kids just need to hear that they have the ability and that you are taking the time to notice their strengths. I also feel like it is extremely important to be honest and provide regular feedback to all students. All students can grow and become engaged with positives!
1. I think all of these skills are highly important but thinking about what we want to accomplish in a school day I think attention is very important and one that I would focus on building right away. I agree with what Tiffani said, we plan our mini lessons to last 10 minutes but they always seem to go way longer because we are constantly trying to get their attention. So it makes sense to spend that time in the beginning of the year teaching kids how to sustain focus so that later on we can pull off those 10 minute minilessons, which the small chunks of content is what they need. I think creating a hook is something that I already purposefully did when writing the connection of my mini lesson. I always wanted to grab their attention from the start. I think even tough the connection is short it is so powerful because you can either hook them or lose them from the start. The pause and chunk made me think of our mini lessons and how powerful the mid workshop teaching points can be. They can allow us to keep the minilesson brief and then chunk up the time to come back to something later. I know time gets in the way so mid workshops are the first to go but after reading this and the importantce of pausing and chunking I think we can get more out of our students if we break up their independent reading and writing time.
ReplyDelete2. I love what the author said about there being no such thing as an unmotivated student; there are only students in unmotivated states, sitting in demotivating classrooms. It is inspiring to know that we have the power to house a classroom full of motivated students if we can figure out what drives each of them to work hard. The action that stuck out to me the most was the Managing Risk action. I've had those kids that were scared to take risks and I've been that kid in the classroom, feeling uncertain not wanting to be wrong or get made fun of if I was. When the author said when a student trusts you, they will take bigger risks reminded me of my 3rd grade teacher. I took risks in her class because I knew it was alright to put my hand up and give a response whether it be right or wrong. Just like he said at the end of the chapter showing you care has more of an effect on student motivation than your level of content knowledge.
Ch. 5:
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that really stood out for me in this chapter was when the author said there was no such thing as an unmotivated student, just students in unmotivated states in demotivating classrooms. I agree with posts about word choice. Positive affirmations are important but they should not be "comfort talk." Feedback is also important and I agree it must be clear and concise. I know I try to do this often with students' writing, but I will try to do more throughout the entire day. It is exciting but also frightening how much our words can impact our kids.
It seems as if many of us feel that working memory and attention are at the top of what we plan on working on this year. I feel that many of the students are not able to recall simple information and after reading this chapter I now understand why. It seems strange that we have to teach working memory activities, but it makes perfect sense. Everything is automatic now a days. Children expect immediate feedback and have strategies to help their learning. They need to be taught that their are some things you just have to be able to recall over and over again. (Math facts, sight words, PIN numbers for lunch, etc.) I am rally going to try and incorporate some of the ideas from the book into my lessons.
ReplyDeleteI read chapter 5 while I was getting an oil change and thought much of this chapter is common sense. The expectations you set for your students will be the expectations they will try to achieve. I did think that some of the information about giving all students a chance to answer without being afraid is a good idea. In my classes of small groups, I feel that the students become very comfortable with one another because they are usually all about the same ability. The fear of feeling "stupid" are gone and they talk freely among each other. This is why small groups are helpful and in my opinion successful.
If IQ was fixed, then there would be no point in teaching. But, since it isn't, we can have fun teaching. I have been using recall for a long time, but only thought of it as developing listening comprehension. It is a much grander and more important idea to use it develop working memory. I particularly benefited from the information on fostering self-control. Although I completely agree and sort of intuitively knew that prioritization, prediction and inhibition were factors, breaking it down into those three skills helped me better understand how to teach it.
ReplyDeleteAs always, my summer project--Jasmin Z.--humbles me at least weekly. I have learned a lot from her. Practicing the idea of sharing your own story, I told her a little about my background and that we were poor. "You were poor?!" she marveled. "Then how did you get this job?" What a fascinating response! For her, to internalize that not only intelligence is fluid, everything is fluid, would be a real turning point. I need to give more praise for trial-sized efforts.
In chapter 6, Understand Labels, I recognized a different expression of a believe I have held for a long time about language learning--the word must be taught, even over-learned, in order to trigger the information that was learned around it. I liked Get it Right and I will implement the concept as much as I can. Students need to know and understand that whether or not something is accurate is important and will be helpful to them in many ways, whereas "just about right" and will steadily deviate their understanding and relentlessly lead them away from what they need to know and could gain.
Thanks for sharing :)
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