Student Centred. Hands-On Learning. It WORKS!

TEP Value #4: Reflective Practice

Throughout my practicum experience, I explored different classroom compositions, groupings, and the way I taught using differentiated instruction. I was noticing more and more the make-up of my classroom and how social, and engaged my students were when they were put into small group tables and able to work through problems on their own. The students enjoyed the challenges as they were required to work with materials and critically think about their learning process and be able to justify their process. Many of the students who struggled academically strived throughout this process and found success. 

I decided that as I went through my practicum, I was leaning further and further to the side of exploration, inquiry, and critical challenges as a way to teach the students to create a student-centered classroom.  The students were so engaged anytime we did experiments, were actively participating with their bodies through physical activity, or exploring how to accomplish a task with just enough instruction to try something their own way. This was evident through my human body unit for science. The students were so excited to participate in every experiment because it allowed them to explore aspects they were interested in, while working in small groups of differing academic abilities. Yet, I never did notice a difference in participation of students based on that, rather the extension of their individual learning increased. I attribute this to the level of their engagement, and to the memory of the experience. 

Throughout my methods courses and practice, I have realized the utmost importance of engagement levels of students to increase their success and learning. Throughout my classroom research course, I formulated an Action Research Project based on this topic. The following is my reflection and question because of this: 

REFLECTION

“To learn to succeed, you must first learn to fail” a quote from Michael Jordan, inspired me throughout my learning experience and something I truly believe. Throughout my practicum experience, students were at varying stages of their learning. Some students needed additional support, where others needed to be challenged. Many times students were just told to silent read when completed an assignment, worksheet or other work, while those who needed additional support could receive it.  There were various strategies implemented for differentiated learning to support all students but something I noticed that was impossible to deny was during one unit of mine in particular.

With my science unit, I incorporated many hands on learning experiments where the students were challenged with finding the answer themselves while using select criteria for judgment. This process allowed all students to discover answers, which made a noticeable difference in their level of engagement, as students could not wait to get their hands on the materials. In many circumstances, students would not discovery the answer right away, however they persevered and tried another approach until they were able to achieve the task using the criteria for judgment, or until a fellow classmate was successful. My question for the result of this type of learning environment stems from the quote “Children will forget what you say, Children forget what you do, but children never forget how you make them feel.”

QUESTION

My question originates from my personal experiences of hands-on learning being more engaging and enjoyable and the observations of the students in the class during my practicum. This is important to investigate further as the classroom is often taught through teacher directed instruction and I believe in “doing to learn” process. To investigate this process further, by using a survey of a grade 5 elementary school classroom of 21 students and 3 interviews of 3 of these students will be used to view how and why hands-on discovery (inquiry) based learning can cause students to all participate regardless of academic ability without having the need for differentiated instruction.

This Action Research really opened up my eyes to just how important knowing the students, knowing the content, being prepared, and being open to letting the students drive their learning, and the teacher as the facilitator. Because of this experience and learning for myself, I will continue to infuse my classes with experiential learning for the sake of the students benefit. From my Action Research, students shared that they felt they learned more from the experiential learning because they were fun, they were able to remember the experience and they got to try it on their own first. How can I ignore what my students have said? 

Fine Participation of Parental Involvement for Community Involvement.

 Standard #4: Educators value the involvement and support of parents, guardians, families and communities in schools. 

This artifact represents the support of parents and the community feel of the school I was placed at for my practicum. The grade 6 class annually puts on a Fine Arts Drama Presentation in order to fundraise funds for their Victoria Trip to the Parliament Buildings. The night is solely put on by parents. They donate the food, desserts, tables, decorations and their time to make this night go smoothly. The teacher of the grade 6 class has the responsibility of picking the play and supervising the students while practicing their performance. I was asked as well as offered my support as a way to contribute to the community that this event presented. The school has done a fantastic job at facilitating a community feel, as the night was sold to all members of the community and not just to the students and families of the school. This night was able to fundraise as it was intended, but also to bring a sense of community and support, not only to the school, but to all members of the community. 

The grade 6's were so self-sufficient throughout the process and depended upon one another in order to make the night a success. The parents were supportive in ways of the actual night and always asking the teacher and myself how things were going, offering support and help if ever needed. The night itself was beyond a success. It was flawless because of the involvement and support of parents, families and the community. I felt a part of this community because of how appreciated I felt after. The students were so grateful of the support and the help that was offered by all the people involved. 

Linking theory with practice, it is clear how this night was able to be such a success. The students felt so safe at the school and in that environment that they were able to take risks and ALL take part in the performance that night. I can imagine if this school did not feel so community focused that some students would feel unsafe and embarrassed to fail that they might not have stepped out of their comfort zone to do so. The parental support and involvement at this school also was very clear. The care and dedication of the parents is clear not only with this night, but also with the students academic and behaviours. Students at the school have very little behaviour and academic concerns, and I attribute this to the support and involvement of the parents and the teachers ability to inform and be part of the community by keeping them informed. 

This artifact provided a great representation for the importance of communicating with parents and their importance of involvement to create and establish a community of support. Based on this reflection, I will be carrying on the notion of community building in my classroom. With my class as its own individual community, but also as part of a larger community with the school and the surrounding communities. I want to be able to provide that sense of belonging and support to my students and parents. I plan on trying to establish this by coming up with events for my community, ensuring I create a safe and inclusive environment within the classroom to take risks, and to communicate and seek involvement from parents to allow them to feel the same feelings as my students. 

Epiphany. The Importance of Storing the Nuts.

Standard #6: Educators have a broad knowledge base and understand the subject areas they teach

This artifact represents the lessons on the digestive system I completed with my class. They were asked to create some kind of story in order to represent the process of digestion. This was to enable the students to demonstrate their knowledge of the parts of the digestion system and the process of digestion. Students were told they could write/type a story or create some other visual representation. This was the final task of our digestion system section of the human body. It was also a way that I could assess students on their ability to summarize information and provide evidence for language arts PLO's. This project also showed me how well I had actually covered the content for the students. 

I was so pleased with the effort that the students put into this work. Many students came up with creative ways to represent their stories. It ranged from the written stories, typed with hand drawn pictures, comic strips, and powerpoint presentations. The students were so engaged while working on this project because they were able to present the information in their own creative way. I provided just a written example to students to show what would meet expectations. It was so interesting to see how all my students met or exceeded expectations on this project and even at the end of the whole human body unit, they were able to recall their stories. I found that the students were so engaged in this project they were asking to stay in at recess and lunch eager to continue to work on the project. 

From my knowledge gained throughout my coursework, methods courses, and personal experience any time students are enabled to be creative and given freedom to represent their knowledge, they are more willing to put effort into a project if they enjoy it. I know some of my students love being able to create a picture with words and others enjoy being able to visually represent information and provide oral explanation. This also allows students of varying academic abilities to demonstrate knowledge to the best of their ability. For example, I had a student whose written output was below meeting expectations for the grade level, but if she was able to visually represent something and explain it, she was able to show me how much knowledge she had obtained and understood. Because of my knowledge of the human body content and of assessment practices, I was able to allow students to explore their knowledge, provide freedom of expressing it to me in order to find success. The rubrics I created to assess my students were only assessing the students' ability to summarize information, while providing evidence. 

This artifact is a constant reminder to me the importance of knowing the content to an extent that enabled me to be comfortable to allow my students to express their understandings in different ways. It demonstrates the importance of having a broad knowledge base and understanding the subject areas I teach. Because I understood the content, I was able to allow students to be creative and show knowledge through a cross-curricular context and to enable them to deeper their engagement levels regardless of their academic ability by doing so. 

Math CAN Make Sense!

TEP Value #3: Pedagogical Sensitivity

This artifact represents a class wide activity in which each student in the class was partnered up to represent a country to partake in our Math Measurement Olympics! The students coloured their team flag and put their team name on it. They each received a package of all the events in which they were to complete. Each even had a task to be completed that involved measuring the distance of an object, between objects, or just sheer distance after estimating the result. The Olympics were held over a week after we had completed all prior knowledge necessary to participate in the events. The results after each day were posted on our bulletin board at the back of the class throughout the week. We would announce the medalist for the event and all students respectfully and willingly cheered and congratulated them.

From my methods courses and experiences, students have a love of being able to try things for themselves, and have things that are relevant to them. We had our Olympics just as the Sochi Olympics were just wrapping up, so many of the students knew exactly how this was supposed to work. An important feature of this process was that students had to rely on their own knowledge, or use their partner which helped increase their level of engagement.

The students in this class were completely engaged and clearly enjoyed the experience. They were laughing and all wanted to participate in each and every event. They were respectful and kind to the rest of their classmates, assisting when their partner needed help with measuring or converting to appropriate units. The tasks were not focused on athletic ability at all, which many of the students enjoyed as the events involved flogging cotton balls with forks, throwing spoons as javelins, tossing paper plates, and even flicking q-tips for distance. The students were able to do things they normally are not allowed to do at home or school, move around the classroom at their own rate during the events for that day and peer tutor one another to progress towards successful measuring strategies and interact with one another all while using their knowledge and being engaged. 

This artifact provided a good representation of my Pedagogical Sensitivity as it showed how well I took an opportunity to teach my students in an engaging activity that was relevant to their lives but also allowed them an opportunity to engage in a new experience they had not yet completed before. It also allowed students of all academic abilities to work through different tasks to utilize the skills they had learned with the support of a peer to assist if needed. I found this to be a useful tool for students as it helped to establish further understanding of measurement in a context that was relevant for them. 

A Nut.

Robust Artifact Numero Dos

TEP Value #1: Integration of Knowledge and Practice

This artifact represents an experiment done at the very beginning of a science unit on the human body. Students of a grade 5 class were in partners to complete a very hands on experiment to demonstrate the process of digestion to show the importance and function of our stomach to break down foods chemically and physically. Students were also taken through the process of the Scientific Method to record their data and used observations to assist in their knowledge of the digestive system.

The class has various student needs with many students requiring differentiated instruction due to behaviour management and academic ability. The class culturally has some diversity with a few students of differing backgrounds. Regardless of these differences among students, all of them enjoyed the hands on exposure and experience of being able to work with the materials to aid in their learning. The students really appreciated being able to follow along as I demonstrated the process to have their own model to observe, as this was clear with their level of engagement and their desire to take the experiment further with questions and exploration with the materials. Students were able to correctly identify what all the materials of the experiment were to represent and discuss the process of digestion. The students even mentioned how much they enjoyed this learning experience because they didn't have to memorize anything, but got to experience it.

Throughout my learning through practicum from my Teacher Mentor, students and previous experience as a learner, teaching students through experiences is something that is memorable, and more easily retainable. It also requires my ability to teach the content comfortably and allow the students to explore and take their learning where they wish too. This meant I had to be prepared with the magnitude and direction of where student inquiry would lead them, and have the confidence to be able to answer questions and explain the process of digestion further. Throughout my methods courses, I have also learned the importance of student engagement in order to increase and maximize learning. This experiment engaged students because it was a demonstration of a process they are very familiar with, but were interested to investigate it further.

Interpreting the effectiveness of this lesson, I learned that the preparedness that I put into this experiment allowed it to be successful. I ensured to practice and do a trail of the experiment myself which allowed me to experience the difficulties the students might encounter as well. This led me to incorporate some additional preparation to ensure the ease of the process for the students. The students could not wait to get started on the actual experiment which kept them engaged during the learning process of the Scientific Method. This allowed the students to remain engaged in the method so when we were completed the experiment, students were focused on sharing there learning as well. What was interesting was that the students were able to recall the function of the stomach and why we require it to complete its function in the manner it does on the test and referenced the experiment.

This artifact provided a good representation of my knowledge of the content, students and effective teaching practices. It allowed the accomplishment of the task for all students and facilitated their learning through engagement through a hands-on learning experience. I learned from this lesson the importance of trying out everything myself before opening it up to students, because I encountered some difficult situations that I had not accounted for prior to completing the task myself. I also appreciated my knowledge of the human body and this system to allow me to further my students understanding beyond what the textbook requires because of their interest. I will continue to educate myself in varying areas of content and complete trial runs of experiments, projects and assessments and allow students to guide their learning while participating in this process.

Adjectives Tell Us… Differentiated Learning

BC Standard #5:Educators implement effective practices in areas of classroom management, planning, instruction, assessment, evaluation and reporting.Educators have the knowledge and skills to facilitate learning for all students and know when to seek additional support for their practice. Educators thoughtfully consider all aspects of teaching, from planning through reporting, and understand the relationship among them. Educators employ a variety of instructional and assessment strategies.

This artifact was collected after doing an activity on the different dress-ups you can use to improve writing. The whole class was to create a poster similar to the one we created as a class, but using their own noun to describe. The students were then instructed to describe their noun with different adjectives looking at the characteristics of the noun. The students had worked with the because clause and powerful verbs prior to this. Many students are focused when they get to add detail and drawings with their work as well as if there is technology incorporated into the instruction, as it is engaging and interactive. I used the Ipad to take a photo of my poster and the projector to display it. Within the class, there are two ELL students and two students who are designated ADD and ADHD.

            The activity instructions were to pick a noun and choose two adjectives to describe the different characteristics of the noun (which were given). During this activity, students were fully engaged and excited after I showed the example of the poster they could create. I also showed them that they could just write it out if they wanted. The majority of the students chose to do a poster and became curious because we were supposed to be working on our writing, and not on art. This was a great visual aid for the ELL students because they could see what the end product was. As well, I went through and got the students to help me with finishing my poster so they fully understood how to complete it. I provided written instructions on the board with a written example of how they could also do the task. Prior to the students beginning their own poster/written example; I went over the instructions orally. This was helpful because the students did not have questions about what the assignment was about. Many students were capable of coming up with their words and enjoyed being able to make it visually appealing. The students who were done quickly were using a thesaurus to improve their words or enhance their poster with more color and picture representations. They also understood what an adjective was and all the different things they could describe about a noun to make their writing more interesting. One thing I did not anticipate was the difference in effort that students made to make their poster colorful and others focused on having unique words.

            Throughout my courses, I have learned the importance of modeling expectations. This allows students to see ahead of time, what is expected, what the end product is and experience the process before attempting to do it alone. Another thing I have learned is the importance of differentiated learning. When planning this activity, I wanted to ensure I met the needs of multiple learning styles. If I had just given the students the instructions orally they might not have been able to complete the task, or if I had only decided to give students one method of instruction, they might have missed out on some detail. I did not require that the students color their posters or create one similar to mine. I just said that they were to pick a noun and use adjectives to describe that noun based on different characteristics. If I had decided to only have students write this out, some may not have remembered or enjoyed it as much as being able to infuse it with some color or create a visual representation. This allowed an opportunity for student choice, but was still assessed in the same manner as it was about the content and not the amount of color in the task.

            It was interesting to see the amount of students who had chose to do the poster representation of the Adjectives Tell Us… Activity. I thought that many of the students would have just picked the written format because of its ease. It was an indication that many of my students learn visually and that I need to ensure my lessons have this component. However, to also keep in mind that most of the students picked this, does not mean that they all learn this way, and that differentiated instruction and learning still needs to come from the teacher in order to engage all students of varying abilities. It was also a new way to see how my students with ADD and ADHD really were able to focus on this task because it did not solely evolve around writing, but more so creating. It also allowed my ELL students to identify with words they knew and widen their vocabulary for speaking and writing.

            From this artifact, I need to keep in mind the difference in abilities and learning styles in the class. This activity provided students with differentiated instruction and a choice in demonstrating their knowledge on the topic. It also allowed students of differing abilities to still learn from the activity to further their understanding of adjectives. I need to continue to implement this mindset in the process of planning, teaching and evaluating to come up with different strategies to facilitate learning.