Focus on the Finish Line....not your next step
"Knowing where we want to end up helps us gauge our progress as we travel."
It was not until I began teaching and taking workshops through the district in unwrapping the standards, that I really understood what the goal was. So many times as teacher, we are focused on the short term goals, but through these workshops we can seethe progression of the lessons and standards we are addressing and understand how to best present and evaluate them. It also lets us know as teachers what other teachable moments we can include and how we can help the student make the connections they will need in the later grades. One of the ways that I have re-evaluated my own teaching using goals in mind is in the way I use and expose my student to new academic vocabulary. This week I chose to include the words subject and predicate to my students during their lesson about sentences. Although my students will not be evaluated on this,I know that this vocabulary will be used later on, and the more they are exposed to it, the better it will be for them when they have to make connections. I wonder why our school doesn’t have inter-grade level meetings to focus on the overarching goals for our students progression.
H.O.M.:
Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision
One of the points address by our readings was that the teacher must have a clear understanding of the goals. The dialogue with his colleagues helped in organizing and deciding the language necessary to clearly articulate what they wanted from the students. This process made his lessons more effective.As I evaluated how this particularly lesson connected with my own classroom experiences, I observed that this is one of the HOMs that I struggle with the most. It end to deviate and find that I don’t use the best language possible to communicate my thoughts. As part of this assignment, I selected the word “metacognition.”I find that there is an incredible amount of power in articulating our thoughts accurately. One of the most concerning issues for me as I struggle through it, is the way in which my own thoughts are forming.I am continuously realigning my thoughts, but I don’t wait for the final edition, before I begin communicating it. This is something that I will continue to work on as I keep in mind how valuable it is in formulating effective lessons and goals.
Taking Responsible Risks
As I was reading the articles, I thought about how we are evaluated as teachers and how some of the ways that great teachers take risks about their own performance evaluations in order to better serve their students. Although some may not experience it, I have found that depending on the administrative team, teachers are either given or deprived of the power to teach how they consider effective. Even in applying some of the Thinking Routines, I am concerned on how I will be evaluated,because if it’s not scripted, they don’t want to see it. I feel as though not including MTV’s is irresponsible. It seems to me that it does the job of some of the other questions that they pose. I like how the questions come from the students in these routines. They are not answering my questions, they are reflecting on their own curiosity.
Questions:
Hypothesize the effects of implementing Making Thinking Visible routines in grades (k-2). Evaluate the effects on the testing performances of those students receiving MTV implementation versus those students who haven’t.
Imagine an administration team comes to observe you and you are using MTVs even when it is not scripted in the pacing guides or text book. The administration team is focusing on your use of the district approved tools. Use the “See, Think, Wonder” to describe the scene you have just imagined. Speculate on what they would say to you and your own response.
How am I doing?
My feedback from the professor was positive. I have to continue to work on how I word my questions so that they are effective. This is why I have selected "Striving for Accuracy" as the HOM that I am going to be working on developing.