There was some miscommunication between the teacher who scheduled the Inquiry Outreach program for this week and the teachers participating in the program. So my schedule has me starting my last class of the day at 12:40. The teacher doesn't dismiss her 6th graders (the program is for the 5th graders while the 6th graders go do Social Studies with the other 6th grade teacher) until 12:50. And I always show up 5 minutes early so I can get my supplies organized without wasting any of my precious 75 minutes fumbling through my stuff. Which basically means I get 20 minutes to observe her 5th/6th grade class doing their math assignments.
As long as I'm not bothering her, I'm going to continue for the rest of the week, because here's a chance for me to observe how another teacher handles students, to take time and reflect on the behaviors I'm seeing, etc. When I'm teaching, I get really wrapped up in what I'm doing and my observations of how the students react and what things work/don't work get trapped in my subconscious, and I don't take time to think about how to change what I'm doing until something reaches a critical level. Also, it's hard for me to learn what works/doesn't work when I'm only able to observe my own teaching. What I'm looking for is what other people do, how they handle the same kids I'll be working with later that day. I don't have enough time in my 4 days to get to know the students, the unique needs each one has for assistance in writing, staying focused, or getting involved they have developed solutions for with their teacher. I like getting to observe this room. It also helps that I'm getting a chance to observe 6th grade. Though I plan on teaching high school, SOU's MAT program basically requires being certified for multiple levels, so I need to know how to work with middle school too.
One of the things I observed was the self-management techniques that are in place in the classroom. They're working with the Accelerated Math program, which uses the computer to score and generate assignments and tests for each math objective. I hadn't seen this program in use before, and I like the way it gives them more freedom to move through material at their own pace. The program can even generate extra exercises to work on skills they're consistently missing on the assignments. While students are working on the assignments, the teacher can then pull certain groups up to the front to work on new skills. Lots can get done in a day, hopefully.
Although separating groups for varied-level instruction is a technique mostly found in elementary and middle school, I don't know why it wouldn't work in a high school class as well. It even seems like this is the time to really get into it - it develops a greater sense of community and team work and it gives them a smaller group they may feel more comfortable in for discussion. There's often time when they may be working on some reading, group discussions for assignments, or a lab, when I could pull a group forward either because they're a group that needs some extra help with a section or they're a group that needs an extra challenge. If I set up a class with collaborative learning groups, 2 or 3 lab partner pairs working together in groups of 4-6, then those CLGs and I could meet in smaller groups, set goals closer to their needs, challenges that meet their interests, and check in with each other for more regular formative assessment throughout the year.
I'm glad I saw that in a classroom this week. I hadn't thought so much about using CLGs in my classes before, but I'm now really excited about the idea. I'll need to do more research on it.
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