Reflective Journal Entry #4

Description

This week’s reading focused on different types of instruction in the classroom. Each type brings something different into the classroom, so to have a successful unit they all should be used.

Analysis

            How a teacher goes about teaching a lesson to a class can make or break them. Slavin (2015) states that there are seven parts to a lesson: (a) stating the learning objectives and orienting students to the lesson, (b) reviewing prerequisites, (c) presenting new material, (d) conducting learning probes, (e) providing independent practice, (f) assessing performance and provide feedback, and (g) providing distributed practice and review (p. 163). Each of these parts of a lesson is as important as the next. Depending on the subject and grade level that a teacher has, each lesson will require “different forms of the lesson structure” (Slavin, 2015, p. 163). Some may take only one day and class period while others may take a few days – however long it takes to ensure that each part of the lesson is covered.

In the beginning, a teacher must grasp students’ attention and make them eager to learn the material. They also need to inform the students of what they will be working on and learning. After these two steps, a teacher needs to review previously learned material that will be of importance to this lesson. The next part of the lesson is presenting the new material to the class. When introducing the material to the class, placing emphasis on the most important parts of the lesson is vital (Slavin, 2015, p. 168). A teacher should make sure that they are very clear in their teaching and should explain the information effectively. Demonstrating and having students work examples are important in certain subjects such as math. For example, a teacher cannot just write down the quadratic formula and explain how it is used without showing example problems using the formula. In classes that may not have problems quite like this, demonstrations, models, and illustrations are tools that a teacher should use. These assist in “giving students clear and lasting images of the main principles” at hand (Slavin, 2015, p. 169).

After the initial instruction, learning probes are necessary. A teacher needs to check for student understanding by asking questions and conducting discussions. Once the students have given a little insight on what they have learned, of course, the students need independent or group practice to help solidify the information in their own minds through experience. Research states that a teacher should spend more time on the instruction and less time on the independent work – only about 10 minutes or so (Slavin, 2015, p. 175). Essentially, a teacher should want it to be enough time for the student to practice the topic at hand but so much enough time that they get bored with it and the time becomes wasted. The last thing that a teacher needs to do is to distribute practice and review with their students. Homework is the main type of review students receive (Slavin, 2015, p. 177).

Each lesson may require a different mode of instruction, however. Humanities classes such as English or world history may benefit more from in-class discussions, where students have the chance to explore open-ended discussions. Furthermore, Slavin (2015) notes that “Research finds that discussing controversial issues increases knowledge about the issues while encouraging deeper understanding of the various sides of an issue” (p. 182). In addition to controversial issues, discussions can be about opinionated or subjective topics as well as topics of moral or ethical significance (Slavin, 2015, p. 182).

Teaching for transfer of learning is also very important. “Real-life” learning is the way to get most students’ attention, so bringing in relevant opportunities from outside the classroom can prove effective. If students do not see a use for the material in their life, they are not as prone to trying their hardest. A teacher also should not teach material to a student and assume that they know how to transfer that knowledge to an actual practical situation. For example, a teacher could teach students the formula for determining the volume of a cone and a cylinder using the volume formulas. Then, the teacher could have students complete an activity that makes them determine which would be a better financial deal: a full cone of ice cream or a full cup of ice cream. If it is not presented to them in a way that they have been introduced to, they may not know how to use the information they have learned in any context.

Reflection

            Planning lessons is something that I feel I learn more about each day. After implementing a lesson, I go back over it and see which steps worked best and worst as well as what I think I should do the next time I teach it – or even how I can reiterate the same content from that lesson a different way another day. Independent practice is probably the step I struggle with the most out of the list above. First, I found it interesting that research says that independent work should be limited to a small amount of time (Slavin, 2015, p. 175). A friend who teaches in a different district has complained multiple times before about how his academic coaches insist that teacher-led lessons should be kept to a minimum and that independent work sessions should take up over half of the class. Slavin (2015) points out the opposite, however, so that point really caught my attention.

To expand on planned length of independent work, I have noticed that some students need more time than others and that some refuse to even attempt the work if I am not telling them the exact steps that they need to take for every problem. I believe that students learn best when working on their own. Of course, guidance is always beneficial for students who are getting off track, but when they work independently, they can solve problems and actually see the mistakes that they are making. Seeing what they did wrong and learning/remembering how to correct it can be more helpful than getting something right the first time with the risk of forgetting it later because it did not stand out in their minds. I like to give an assignment and an allotted time frame and then go over the work before class is over for students to check their work. This could help students because as I am going through the correct answers, they can check their own work, and hopefully they will see where they went wrong if they made a mistake. On the other hand, many students see this as an opportunity to take a break and then just pick back up when I write out the answers. I am still working with how best to address this issue in my classroom – in both planning and actual practice.

While it has not been that long since I have been in an education class or another general education classroom as a student, being a math teacher, I do not have as many opportunities to hold in-class discussions as an English teacher might have. Therefore, I have not thought much about the benefits in my own classroom over the past couple of years.  Slavin (2015) does make really interesting points about the benefits, though, particularly as it relates to controversial topics. Maybe if I find more real-life connections to bring to my class, I can find more opportunities to use in-class discussions to deepen my students’ understanding of a particular concept. Of course, this real-life transfer of knowledge is important on its own, not just as a way to kick-start a discussion in the classroom. My students ask me at least once a day how they are going to use the information that I teach them in the real world, and sometimes it can be difficult to explain to them if we are just beginning to talk about a particular formula. I do try to give as many word problems as I can to help them see how the information could apply to their life, using examples that I think are relevant to them – or, at least, will be once they graduate and enter the “real world.” If they are not taught how to relate a concept and practice using the information that they have been taught, it will just be lost knowledge that is never used, forgotten after a short period of time. This can be harmful for the students themselves, of course, because they might find themselves in a situation where they could benefit from the information, but it can also affect test scores, which schools seem to be focused on more and more with each passing day. Therefore, the use of real-life scenarios in math problems is going to become a key objective for me.

References

Slavin, R. E. (2015). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (11th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.