Class 14: Virtual Field Trips and final reflection

It was so great to see all the virtual field trip presentations! I appreciated seeing how each person/group incorporated technology differently and built an experience for students that would be memorable and engaging. It was also super-informative to hear each presenter talk through their lesson plan and the strategies they would use along the way. I gained some confidence that I’m relatively on-target, and I also picked up some new ideas, tools, and approaches.

I also appreciated the final reflection activity — and the fact that we could dribble our thoughts out in between the presentations. (As you know, I like reflecting, but it takes time to formulate my thoughts, especially thoughts about a 4-month-long adventure like this.) Reading over the comments was a great review of what we’ve learned…many important strategies and experiences came swimming back as I read over the comments. It is clear that asking for open ended feedback like that takes some bravery — you never quite know what you’re going to get — but I think that kind feedback is super-important, and the process of reflecting is also important for the student. So, thank you for modeling this for us…I am hoping to incorporate a lot of reflection/feedback into my classroom, and this seemed like a good tool.

Lynne, I will forever think of you when “I wonder” with my students. I wish you the best finishing up that doctorate, and hope to see you around!!

Dr. Stohr, I look forward to seeing you again in a few weeks for another amazing course!

Thank you to both of you for helping me build my skills, knowledge, and confidence, for listening with thoughtful patience as I worked through my frustrations with the messiness of lesson planning, and for kindling in me a true appreciation for – and interest in – Social Studies. I honestly never thought I’d ever say that last bit. πŸ™‚

-Lisa

Class 13: teaching hard history

It was fascinating to me how much of tonight’s class lined up with my takeaways from the Teaching Hard History conference — and really encouraging that several of the things I took away are considered best practices! (See my Reflection in Box: https://richmond.app.box.com/file/428881338757Β  Also in that folder are the PDFs of several of the resources from Teaching Tolerance. I showed these to the classmates at my table and they asked that I share them, which I will happily do.) Also, I heard a Teaching Hard History podcast (Kwame Alexander) that connected to the emotional response worksheet we went over. The podcast did a great job of discussing the emotional responses that many students experience (and why), as well as some ways to deal with them. I need to re-listen to that. Do either of you have any other recommended podcasts along these lines?

For me, finding good collections of source materials is such an important part of feeling confident about approaching these topics in the classroom. I don’t feel like I have enough experience yet to know when I’ve found a balanced or complete or even appropriate set of materials. I am grateful that I have had the chance to explore the TT resources, which I feel like I can trust, and I hope to find some additional reliable sources to add to my list. I suppose I will never really be finished with that part of the job…

You discussed the importance of bringing parents (with the approval of the principal) into the loop if I plan to address difficult/controversial subjects. But what if these topics are not contained to a unit, and are more of a thread running through history, all the way into current events? I’m thinking about racism/slavery, specifically, but the question could apply to other themes too.

 

Class 12: civil rights, strategies

I think the QFT is a great way to build questioning skills (yay, metacognition!), build interest, and get a great view of students’ prior knowledge. It was interesting to see how many of our group’s initial questions were closed-ended (even though we already knew a lot of the background details on this image), and then how much more interesting the questions became when we opened them up. I absolutely love the idea of leading students to develop their own questions that will drive their learning. Knowing my brain, choosing the “right” QFocus will probably take me a LONG time…any tips here would be most welcome. πŸ™‚

I like how the Four Reads strategy adds some helpful structure/guidance to the analysis of a document…seems like students could probably handle much more difficult content when it’s approached this way. I also like how such a simple thing like folding the paper up can make the task seem less overwhelming, easier to digest, and kind of mysterious. I actually like this method better than the National Archives analysis guides, which seem clunky and not quite aligned with some of the in-class uses I’ve come across thus far (I keep wanting to skip big chunks of the guide). If I’m specifically working on learning how to analyze and artifact or photo, great. So maybe use those when first teaching the skill. But if I’m using a document or image as a way to build interest, honing in on just the essential, relevant pieces (like in the Four Reads tasks) might be more effective.

Menti is so fun! I want to play around with it some to get a feel for how to incorporate it. I like that it has lots of choices to visually represent the data…good math/science connections. In the word cloud, I wish the related words would group themselves together, but that could be a fun language lesson (synonyms, precision in word choice, word gradients, etc.) — to print and cut a recent word cloud apart and sort/reorganize it. Or, we could group into broad categories and then do the cloud again to see how it changed.

Again, I really appreciated the dual-level teaching…giving us a taste of the student experience, and also explicitly addressing the teaching strategy. Thank you!

Class 11: BBK and Dust Bowl

The BBK activity is great! I enjoyed going through the process as a student and also having you explain, from a teacher’s perspective, the how and why of the process in explicit terms. That is one of the most helpful models for me — to see a strategy or method from both sides at once. Just going through it as a student, I tend to focus on the task, and not on the process. Just learning how a strategy works from a teacher’s perspective, I don’t get to see and feel it from the student’s perspective. So, thank you!! I can see how natural it would be to differentiate in this model, giving each student, regardless of their reading level or background knowledge, a turn being the expert. I expect that I will use this strategy frequently with my future upper elementary students.

I am so curious now about the government recommendations that were given during the 30s. I wonder if they were effective. I wonder if people had the resources to implement any of the recommendations, or if the government provided resources. I wonder why we hear so much about the Great Depression, but not so much about this — and wonder if students in the midwest learn about this more comprehensively. I also think about our current US food supply — and the fact that the midwest has just been destroyed by floods…this sounds a lot more like a national emergency than that other thing (which shall remain unnamed). I think I’ll plant a big garden this year….

As far as lesson planning goes, I think I’m in good shape. πŸ™‚ My main problem (and time-vortex), as I’ve mentioned, is in deciding which standard or topic to plan for. This time around, I gave myself a time limit to make that decision, and almost stuck to it…which saved me TONS of time. So, while my Maggie Walker lesson has still taken me longer than I think is reasonable, I’m nearly finished and feeling pretty good about it. Thanks for the extra time and support to work through the process!

Finally, I apologize for the late entry here. With my kids home on spring break, and getting into the flow with Maggie Walker, it honestly just slipped my mind. πŸ™

 

Class 10 Reflection: biography/revolutionary era/lesson planning

Hearing from classmates last night that they struggle with lesson plans in similar ways was encouraging in a weird way: I’m not the only one who spends 20-30Β  hours of work on a single lesson plan! (Yay?) But I’m still curious how some manage to get it done (well) in a fraction of that time, and I look forward to hearing from others about how they approached the Washington lesson. Regardless of my lesson-planning insecurities, however, I want to make sure you both know I trust you in this process, and I am ok struggling through the messiness. And, I really appreciate both of your willingness to be responsive to our needs.

I’ve been thinking about “classic” literature. I wonder about the value of reading WITH kids through this literature, intentionally, to help them notice the problems, so they can begin to discern for themselves. We have read to our girls every night of their lives, and still do. Many of the books we have read would not be appropriate in the classroom for the reasons we discussed in class — stereotypical portrayals, singular/white-centric perspective, bias, non-representative — not intentionally, but because they were “the classics.” Our parents gave them as gifts with great sentimentality of their own love for the book; Josh and I remembered what we read and loved as kids…and were often surprised by what we didn’t remember was in them. With the girls, we sometimes skipped or paraphrased offensive parts, other times we’d pause and discuss what the author had written and what the problem was. I’m sure most of that went right over their heads, but it made us feel better, and hopefully, some sunk in.

But, would they be better served by abandoning these books altogether in favor of more representative, honest, appropriate books? It makes me kind of sad to think about letting go of some…but it is easier if I think about WHO said they were classics in the first place, and if I have good stories with which to replace them (thank you for the book lists!). I am readingΒ Piecing Me Together (Renee Watson)Β now with my almost 12-year-old. Jade, the teenage protagonist, describes the daily microaggressions she endures from all angles, as she attempts to understand her identity beyond the limited view of what most people see: a black girl from the ‘hood. This is a pretty direct look at how constant, pervasive and powerful the system of prejudice and racism is. Kaitlin is an empath. I see her squirm when Jade is disrespected, or patronized, or heckled, or dismissed. It is obviously making an impact. I don’t have to wonder if it’s sinking in.

I think this was your point in your FB post about scaffolding social justice themes with classic literature…makes even more sense to me now.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/social-justice-framing-classics?fbclid=IwAR2NoVRbjJaNUmJOGJXVg-SmyhmVP1rrJZ1FV8TOi3aKnvg9m2ByA8H9gjU

 

Class 9: Maps, Geography & Lesson Planning

I love maps. (My girls and I made this one a couple years ago after Kaitlin noticed the Africa-shaped piece on the bank of the creek behind our house.)Β So, I knew working with the John Smith map was going to be fun for me. But beyond that, it was another great example of how slowing down, helping students focus in and look closely (as the teacher in the video series did), and letting go of the control of the content a bit — facilitating vs. directing —Β  can really help build interest at the outset. This interest, and the questions that linger after that initial discussion, will help students seek, draw out and assimilate so much more than if the unit were introduced through a typical didactic lecture. In marketing, we talked about this as a pull (vs. a push) strategy. Pharmaceutical companies use this a lot: they create some kind of urgency or interest among the general public, who then pull the product through the supply chain (their doctors) by asking about it or for it by name. This strategy works better (for the pharma co) than trying to get docs to “push” their products out to only the specific patients who need it. Slimy, I know. Clearly, the education application of this strategy is WAY more appealing to think about and use. πŸ™‚

I keep thinking of the trees: there were distinct types on the map, and I noticed that I’ve been staring out at the trees in my yard all morning trying to figure out what species he was noting, and why. I know that lumber was an important resource for England, and so I infer this map must have been intended in part to help the investors see what was there, or to help the loggers know where to find each type of tree. I’ve also been wondering what the landscape looked like before it was all logged…and what trees they may have wiped out in their insatiable quest for financial gain…didn’t we used to have redwoods or sequoia on the east coast? πŸ™ So, in my own experience, I see how the map activity set up a whole series of questions that I am now primed and motivated to find answers for…I will pull in and connect and assimilate content without even realizing that I’m learning the intended content…that’s the pull strategy working well. What a difference from sitting in a class, taking notes, waiting for the teacher to stop pushing information at me…

Shifting gears to the lesson plan discussion —

Molly’s request for an exemplary lesson — ideally three, actually: one that’s not quite there; one that’s on target; and one that’s above-and-beyond — would be so helpful to me, too. When we talked in class a couple weeks ago about providing exemplars in relation to PBA rubrics, it made so much sense to me, and I think it applies directly to us writing lesson plans, too. While some independent struggle, as you said, is beneficial — I truly do see that, and have experienced it — I think at some point, I’d learn more from seeing and adapting from an excellent example, than I would from trying to come up with it on my own. At least at this stage, when I just don’t have a concept in my mind yet of what an excellent plan looks like, having some model to shoot for would really help focus my learning on the salient skills, in a more efficient way: working smarter, not harder. πŸ™‚

I also really love the idea of providing something similar to what the districts would provide, and having us work that into a lesson plan — maybe do one plan that way and one plan the original/full way. It is a different process, though related skills, and this is what we will (I think!) actually need to be doing on a daily basis. I find that I spend the most time and the most frustration, just trying to hone in on the content I want to “teach.” I end up refreshing/learning a lot of content that doesn’t end up in my plan just to try to understand the scope and sequence, then reading a lot of crappy lesson plans online, getting partway into resources or ideas, then finding something else I’d rather do/use and starting over. I mean, I spend DAYS on this. I have always been a “boil the ocean” type, but even making a concerted effort to just make a decision and stick with it, having a wide-open choice is a huge liability for me. Once I have the specific SOLs/ideas nailed down, the rest flows pretty well. What’s most frustrating is that I won’t need to do that first part in the classroom very often — I will know the grade level, the content, pacing, and my students’ specific needs, and I will mostly just need to decide HOW to teach it. But when I’ve already spent so much time trying to figure out WHAT to teach in the lesson plans for class, I have little creative energy (or time) left to really focus in on the HOW, which is the part I really need to be practicing. All that said, I obviously do need to figure out how to be more efficient and directed in my initial research, so there is value in that struggle too…sigh.

I’m looking forward to the conference on Saturday! I’m trying to go in with an open, humble mind so I can absorb as much as possible and try to really widen my lens. I hope to come away with tools and confidence — or at least a pathway toward confidence — to be able to work through these important and complex topics in the classroom in a sensitive and honest way.

Class 8 Reflection: DBQ/QCRT

First of all, I’m so glad you shared Dr. Stohr’s Camel poem. It was a great illustration of one of the many ways students could process their field trip experiences. Other options could be a flipgrid with a 30 second description of their biggest takeaway, journal writing, writing a thank you note to the docent, drawing a picture, or creating a model of something they saw/did. It seems that some sort of group processing time would also be helpful in really helping students connect ideas and solidify the experience, either before or after the individual processing.

Secondly, I LOVED hearing from Ms. Barrett and Ms. Hetterich about how they implemented a DBQ in Kindergarten. (I sincerely hope I did not offend them too badly with my poor word choice!!) It was helpful to see a real project in action and get to hear about planning for it, how the students responded, how they assessed it, and how they plan to improve on it for next year. The big takeaway for me was to keep going back to that central, driving question to help anchor and focus the learning. I also loved Diane’s advice to just step in small and go for it…we don’t need to be experts before we try it (phew!)…I feel like that is something I need to really take to heart in many aspects of my life.

As for the QCRT: What a beast! I am glad is something we won’t need to actually use on a regular basis. However, I appreciate how it breaks down exactly what is expected of a high-quality assessment — just as the “UR Lesson Plan Template” breaks down exactly what’s needed to create a high-quality lesson. In daily practice, neither will really be used in their entirety. But, by becoming familiar with these more formal and rigorous tools, we hone our “sense” of what quality looks like, even when using a simpler process.

Class 7 Reflection: Learning Outside the Classroom

What an amazing resource VMFA is! I had no idea they had that interactive space on the first floor – super cool. I plan to bring my kiddos back there to watch how they interact with the space, and think more about how I can use it in my teaching. I thought the sensory/braille overlay station was particularly cool and can’t wait to explore that on my own. It made me think of the sound lesson I did for Science last semester — what a cool way to make sound waves more tactile. πŸ™‚

I love how many ways there are to interact with the museum’s collection. The website seems to be a treasure trove of lesson/activity ideas and images. The gallery virtual tour is super cool too. There are so many options, including self-guided tours, audio tours (can’t wait for the teen version!), docent-led visits, virtual field trips, and curated collections for independent exploration…there’s really no excuse for not incorporating these resources in some way!!

I hope they are able to extend the virtual field trip to lower grades – that was rather disappointing to hear that it’s currently only for 6th and up. I’ve experienced a virtual field trip with 3rd graders and they LOVED it. It is a very efficient option, time and money wise. It also provides an awesome way to frontload the process/skills before coming in for an in-person field trip. Having been through the process now, I suppose I could study up on facilitating the experience and do it on my own until they are able to accommodate younger kids.

One idea I had for my classroom is a mini gallery. It can either be a physical space in the classroom, or a virtual gallery on their computers — either way, it will contain a photo of a piece of art that connects to our content in some way. There will be some simple, self-service engagement suggestions there, like the grab and go cards at the VMFA (see/think/wonder; connect/extend/challenge; tell a story; etc.). Or, the questions can be more directly related to content (write a list of all the adjectives you can think of that describe this piece; Was this person a Patriot or Loyalist? What are your clues?; etc.) Or even just fun ones, like an I Spy list of details to find to encourage close observation. Students can visit the gallery as an early finisher activity, or it can be used as a rotation station during language arts or another subject (which would promote discussion). It looks like the digital collection at the VMFA will be a great source of high-quality images of engaging art for this mini gallery!

Thanks for giving us the opportunity to learn about and experience the resources available at the VMFA. I am really excited to incorporate lots of this into my classroom. I’d love to know some of your other favorite community resources — parks, museums, experts, etc. — for field trips, virtual field trips, and other in-class resources. πŸ™‚

 

Class 6 Reflection: Assessment

What you (Lynne) said about there being no need to make students memorize huge chunks of information just for the sake of it really resonated with me. I have always found big memorization tasks to be the cop out way of adding challenge to a class — a sort of lazy or just ill-informed attempt at “setting high standards.” Too many teachers just pack in extra details for students to spit back. It is easier to assign, present and grade for the teacher, but it just wastes time and mental energy — not to mention enthusiasm for learning — for the students, especially now that we all have such easy access to information 24/7. I think this happens a lot in advanced/gifted classes that are really just accelerated. These kids end up doing double the work of the regular classes, but not getting the time or opportunity to really think and process…so they’re actually being trained OUT of thinking…which in my opinion is the opposite of what we want to be doing. (This is why we pulled our daughter out 2 out of 4 of her accelerated classes for middle school — we wanted her to have more time to think and process and connect, not to mention explore some of her own interests, sleep, adjust to middle school, and interact with friends and family. To us, these things are more important — and provide better opportunity for success — than building the perfect transcript for Harvard…which she would never want to attend anyway. :))

So, the question is: how do I do it better in my own classroom? I think part of it is attitude: If teachers are willing to make the effort to think deeply, then they will be better equipped to create opportunities for their students to do the same. Another big part, it seems, is building (or finding) assessments that measure this type of higher order thinking. With the right assessments guiding instruction, “teaching to the test” is no longer a limiting construct. I am thankful that I will be entering the profession at a time when the standards-focused trend is subsiding in favor of a more balanced approach, and I hope that wherever I end up working, I will be lucky enough to land in a team of teachers that is already on board.

Dr. Stohr, our discussion of what makes a good assessment reminded me of my other/past life, in which I learned how to create, administer and analyze marketing research instruments (surveys, focus groups, etc.). Many of the same principles I worked with then seem to apply to building good assessments for education: ensuring both reliability and validity; norming; clarity and consistency in constructing questions; parallel structure; selecting the appropriate instrument for the type of data you wish to collect; etc. It is always encouraging when I can connect my past experiences to current learning — it wasn’t a total waste after all! πŸ˜‰ However, because I do have some experience with this, it is one of the reasons I am so picky about lesson plans and assessments I find online (or that my kids bring home!) — and why it takes me FOREVER to find something I am comfortable using or adapting for lesson plans. Although I am by no means an expert at creating instructional/assessment resources, I am pretty good at being critical of what’s out there…in other words, I know just enough to make me obnoxious!! πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ My challenge for myself is to get more familiar with where to find good resources, and more efficient at adapting/creating good materials so that when I’m sitting in a team meeting in a couple years, I can bring solid solutions to the table instead of pointing out problems.

 

Class 5 Reflection: Lesson Alignment

It makes perfect sense to me that intentionally helping students build their background knowledge (including frontloading key vocab) will help them understand and remember content better. I noticed during the tea party activity (which I will probably call Mingler, or Block Party, or something content-related), how the sentences on the strips jumped out at me and clicked into context when I read them in the passage. Simply having read/heard them already once made the passage more memorable. Also, doing Rate Your Knowledge ahead of time primed me to keep an eye out for Araminta Ross, which I will now remember much better! πŸ™‚ I love experiencing these tools in action and imagining how my future students might respond to them.

I was thinking about how to make sure 4th or 5th graders would actually keep moving around and talk with everyone during that Tea Party.Β Setting up the rules and expectations ahead of time would help, but I also thought that if free/responsible movement was too much for them to handle (or for me to manage), I could switch to a formation that ensures each student shares with every other student. One idea is to put the students in two lines, facing each other. Each kid shares with the person across from them, then everyone moves to the right to get to the next person. In this situation, there will always be two people at the ends who do not face anyone (actually, they face each other, but are too far away to talk), so I can have these people write down any question or comment they have so far about what they’ve read/heard. This way, everyone shares with everyone else and also gets to contribute two questions for class discussion. Alternatively, if it is not critical that each student hears every other statement, we could use the donut formation (two concentric rings, moving in opposite directions).

I am still a little unsure of when it’s best to assess prior knowledge, given the need to be prepared ahead of time (don’t some districts require printed plans to be submitted up to a week in advance?), and the shortage of planning time during the week. It seems like it makes sense to briefly check in about the upcoming unit/topic just after finishing up the prior unit, but then there is little time to adjust plans according to students’ needs. But if I check in earlier so I have more time to adjust, it will seem disjointed and confusing. Do I just plan for zero background knowledge, and then remove or adjust activities as needed? And then do I also plan for the other end of the spectrum? Or are all these variations just part of the differentiation plan? I want to be sure I’m prepared to meet kids where they are and then take them through each unit in a challenging, interesting and appropriate way…but what does that actually look like in terms of lesson planning, and how can I manage it logistically?