Hello everyone!
This week we are exploring resources on how setting high expectations for our students can influence their achievements, being academic or behavior, and how norms and procedures can help teachers and students reach excellence in the classroom.
In these 3 videos below, we can find different classroom situations with different approaches and techniques to ensure engagement and clearly communicate expectations towards the students, and I have added my considerations about how the way teachers set their academic and behavior expectations, with the use of clear norms and procedures, can help students achieve great results.
Roller Coaster Physics: STEM in Action
Link to the video: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-stem-strategies?fd=1#
This class shows very important elements for a successful learning environment. From the project starts, where the teacher outlines the main characteristics of the roller coaster, to the simulation using different learning tools and resources, the teacher makes clear statements that translate into high expectations in academics. Using the right terminology when labeling their sketches (like clothoid loops, kinetic energy, centripetal force, friction) is a good example of enforcing academic expectations for the science they learned. She also emphasizes behavior expectations through collaboration and other strategies, but she is specially effective when she uses chimes. Students will discuss their findings, debate their attempts, successes and failures, all together to achieve greater results.
As the project moves on, students assume other specific roles, to ensure the success of the groups project. One member needs to be the recorder, which will be responsible for taking notes, about the materials used and the modifications made. There are specific rules and limited resources that each group need to control. So another one of the members becomes the accountant, that will control the costs for their project, keeping it under budget. The relation to real world problems brings more meaning to their learning.
Speaking in resources, she deliberately limits the amount of materials, and will release more alternatives as their problem solving skills develop, and the inquiry grows. Also, during this skills developing process, she is always making meaningful questions regarding their choices and decisions, becoming a continuous formative assessment for her. This allows her to identify low-performance students and make adjustments.
I really enjoyed to watch this class, as a DI team manager it gave me lots of ideas to apply to my future teams!
3rd. Grade Chinese Math Class
In this video, class management techniques are very effective, as the teacher controls the students very well. Even though I could not understand the language, I could notice that the students responded to her voice command very well, and she asked constantly for student participation. She uses gestures, with her voice, and students also respond to attention commands with gestures. While explaining the math concept, she would move from one student to another permitting more than one student to participate.
The Chinese method to teach math is based on repetition and memorization, and that is also clear in the video, where she counts with the students, and uses her fingers to help them counting, while they repeat the times table.
In my opinion, the teacher is very effective in class management, but I could not identify guidelines for academic expectations. In one moment the students seem to exceed her expectations when over-counting her, but I could not find any other evidence. On the other hand, there is a very clear sense of behavior, and seems that all students are meeting the expectations. Except for one blonde boy in the back, that seems to be not paying attention, but she does not address this issue in the video.
Whole Brain Teaching
During this geography class, the teacher uses Whole Brain Teaching techniques, to engage and set expectations to her students in a very clear way. She uses gestures to emphasize information, displayed in the screen by the overhead projector. Students follow instructions, and use peer instruction, repeating what was taught in the class by the teacher. This helps students with difficulties understand the content and meet academic expectations.
She uses the same strategy for class rules and behavior expectations. Using gestures and verbal repetitions, students seem to engage and understand clearly, and class participation is pleasant.
I liked it very much. It seems to me that students feel included, accepted and welcomed. The teacher when applying the techniques seem to have full control of the environment, but I would like to see a couple of minutes of a previous moment of this technique, showing a not so evolved class to compare with this one that seems to be very advanced.
Summary
After watching the videos and read the complimentary documentation, I would try to enforce the following in order to maximize my students outcomes, already putting in context I will be teaching 6-8 grade ICT:
- Everybody is welcomed, and will be noticed, valued and respected and part of our classroom and community;
- Collaborate! Give your inputs and listen to your peers. They might have the missing part of the puzzle;
- Got a question? Ask! You can ask you teacher, your peers, or research using your online resources, but don´t leave with a question unanswered;
- Clear evaluation rubrics, open buy-in code of conduct, allowing students to participate and be co-responsible for it.
- When developing a project, specially with multiple attempts, documentation is the key, so make sure to take notes, and share them with your peers.
Thanks! See you next week.
