mslloyds-reflections

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 10 - November 1, 2020

There are multiple different types of formative data that can be collected and documented as evidence of student learning. The ODE resource ODE_FP0003 describes many ways to collect data, such as selected response assessments (selecting correct or best response from a list), written response assessments (construct an answer in response to a question or task), performance assessments (perform a task where they engage in real-time performance or create a product and graded with a rubric), personal communication assessments (evidence of learning provided by engaging in structured and unstructured interactions/participation), and assessment events (activities that serve as a source of information providing evidence of student learning). Along with collecting data and evidence of student learning through these numerous types of assessments, the ODE_FP0004 Analyzing Student Evidence and Providing Effective Feedback talks about the different instructional questions that can be asked to students, such as asking questions that elicit summaries or key points and details, encouraging students to interact with others’ responses and feedback, modeling response patterns you would like to see and teach students the question stems that elicit different patterns for reasoning and use these questions in small or large groups. In addition, the feedback that students receive during assessments should always be given in a way that promotes student growth and understanding and it should be meaningful. Teachers can use feedback to direct attention to intended learning targets and highlight strengths, address partial understandings, and can occur during learning. It is also important that the feedback does not do the thinking for the student, but encourages them to dig deeper to show better results or deeper understanding.

Providing good feedback is something that I think I need to work on during my 2 week unit and beyond. I do a good job of providing feedback when it is written or when I can refer to a rubric, but I often find myself essentially giving students the answer that I am looking for when trying to provide feedback. I don’t know if I do this when I feel flustered or like I am not explaining something well, but I would really like to improve on this. I think I will be better about this as I teach my own unit because I know everything that I would like my students to be understanding and what skills they should be improving on. I think that it is sometimes hard to give good feedback while teaching someone elses’ plans like I have done so far. I also am focused on creating different assessment types that allow all of my students to show what they know to the best of their abilities. It is slightly more challenging because of the reading program my CT uses and trying to teach virtually, but I think I have some good ideas so far for assessments and activities.

In the field, my CT does a good job of utilizing the different instructional questions that the module looked at. She models thinking and good reading behaviors for students and asks the types of questions that encourage students to reflect on what they have read and what it might mean on a deeper level. I think the students would do well if they were given more opportunities to reflect on each others’ work and look at the feedback they gain from their peers. They seem to be a pretty close knit group of students (which is probably easier to obtain when only 8 or 9 students are logging on daily) and they love having conversations about their classwork with one another. I think they would do well if they were given an opportunity to peer edit each others’ writing assignments that they sometimes do and give each other feedback as well. 

I don’t have too many personal memories with feedback and assessments. I feel like the assessments that my teachers did growing up were a lot of written responses and selected response assessments, but there were many opportunities for performance assessments as well. The feedback that I received was also pretty similar to the ones in the module, with a little bit more emphasis on rubric feedback. I think that I would have liked to have had more teachers model the feedback or the expectation, but this wasn't too much of an issue. I am just focusing on how I can provide good feedback to my students and promote their individual thinking without giving them the answers that I am looking for outright.

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 9 - October 25, 2020

The American Psychological Association (APA) wrote an article about behavior management during remote learning and some of the ways Covid might affect students behavior at home and in the virtual classroom. Along with a multitude of websites and resources (such as supporting children with ADHD, brain break activities, and advice for limiting media use) they also identified two points that teachers need to keep in mind when developing their classroom management plans. The first is that “expectations for  classroom conduct and social interaction are learned and can be taught” (APA). This is something to consider when in person as well, but just because many schools are continuing virtually for a portion of this school year it is not to be forgotten. The APA also says that “effective classroom management is based on (a) setting and communicating high expectations, (b) consistently nurturing positive relationships, and (c) providing a high level of student support”. Again, these ideas are critical for learning in person and remotely, but it is even more crucial to develop these relationships and still uphold high expectations for students regardless of the limitations that online learning entails. Along with these tips and the resources that this website also provides, the Teaching Channel also wrote an article about “3 Practices to Teaching 21st Century Skills in a Virtual Classroom”. The first practice is to create meaningful tasks. This is something that some teachers still struggle to do in person, but it is almost more important to do this during virtual learning because students are lacking so many opportunities for help, practice and feedback that they would normally be getting in person. The Teaching Channel says that meaningful and complex tasks provide opportunities for students to flex important muscles such as critical thinking. Meaningful tasks designed to scaffold the creation of student products can push students deeper in their knowledge and thinking” (the Teaching Channel). This is such a critical skill for students to develop that they will be lacking if they are not given an opportunity to practice during remote learning. Not only will meaningful tasks provide critical thinking opportunities, but this will also engage them so much more than an online lecture while sharing a screen. The second skill asks that teachers align their technology tools to 21st century skills. It is no surprise that technology is leading the way and changing the way education looks, but it should be used in a way that allows students to build their skills - not drive the instruction. They provided a chart with resources that teachers can use to develop certain skills like collaboration, oral and written communication, and creativity. These 4 skills are most likely to be forgotten about or left out of curriculum planning during virtual learning because it can be more difficult to do behind a screen. Here is the chart they provided:

Some of these resources include: “Online protocols for discussion, Piktochart infographics to synthesize research, Note.ly Stickies for brainstorming and Gamestorming protocols for synchronous work time”. The third skill they write about improving during remote learning is having teachers explicitly teach and assess the skills. This might include a teacher creating a “blended-learning workshop to model and proactive 21st century skills in a given context… students analyzing models of 21st century skills and applying observations to student work… students reflecting frequently on 21st century skills through student work and metacognition… [and] teacher feedback on individual student growth and progress of 21st century skills in a given project or unit each week…” (the Teaching Channel).

One of my biggest goals when I am teaching my two week unit is really working on that engagement and skills development, even though it is such a short amount of time compared to how much time they will be remote. I really like the chart that the teaching channel provided with websites and apps to use to develop those skills. I think the two skills that my students need to work on the most are written skills and creativity. In their conversations, I see how creative they can be, but working through the process of showing what they know and sharing their thoughts in a way other than just speaking would be really beneficial for them, and I think they would also have a lot of fun doing it. My CT also shared that they tend to be a little bit behind in their writing skills, partially because they are not used to typing as much without autocorrect, and it is a little bit more difficult to apply the rules of writing to type. Just giving them an opportunity to practice writing out their ideas or developing those skills would be super beneficial for them. I might like to have them use the app Storybird to practice some of these writing skills and I definitely want to use Padlet for showing their thinking or participation. The only struggle that I am seeing the students have with new technology being introduced is issues logging in and getting started, but I know that they seem to really enjoy using other websites and practicing what they're learning. 

Outside of the classroom management that my CT has in place (like asking to use the restroom or leave for a minute, and asking them to sit up and have their supplies ready as if they were in the classroom), my CT hasn’t done too much in terms of adapting for virtual learning. I know that the technology use is a little bit of a learning curve for her and she has expressed a lot of frustration at the lack of student engagement, but I feel like the use of some of the tech that the Teaching Channel shared would help with these issues. She does use technology quite a bit, like her online reading website that goes with her reading program and Kahoot often, but most of her class time is spent working through a powerpoint or having a book read to the students via her reading program with the occasional pause, ask a short question, get a few students answers and resume the audio recording of the book. I would like to see students doing more of the practice and applying in class as opposed to online for a homework or review once a week. When I have talked to her about student engagement and expectations, she said that she thinks a lot of students are having a hard time adjusting or are not even aware of the expectations that the school has and that she has because of how the end of the last year was handled. She said that since the district operated on Complete or Incomplete grades, a lot of students and their parents have not transitioned from that thinking to the current one where class is as back to normal as possible and the grades will be too. While these expectations should be communicated by the teacher and not just the school district (which I believe my CT has over ClassDojo) I can definitely see how it is hard and frustrating when these expectations have been shared but only roughly 10 of her 40 students have submitted anything or been online for a single Zoom meeting. For the work that is done over Zoom, however, I would like to see more authentic tasks done instead of reading from an audiobook essentially. 

In my own K-12 experience, I obviously did not have to try to learn virtually during a pandemic, but I do remember doing a lot of interesting activities, especially authentic tasks. There were a lot of really cool group assignments that could potentially be replicated on Zoom using breakout groups or just done individually as well. I think one of the benefits (while a curse in a way as well) is the use of technology and new ways of learning that I did not have growing up. Our technology use was so limited, but there are so many great resources now that teachers and students can use that an entire new world of learning can be opened up - it just opened up all at once very suddenly and I’m certain it is a lot to navigate. I think something that remains the same from when I was in school to now, even in remote learning, is the positive relationship that needs to be developed between student and teacher, and also a supportive environment where students feel like they can succeed. If I was in school (K-12) during a pandemic, I feel like this would make the biggest impact for me, since it was already so important to me during my typical K-12 experience. 

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 8 - October 19, 2020

How do teachers differentiate based on data?  Where do you see differentiation in the field?  How can technology be used with differentiation models?

Differentiation is a necessary element of planning and teaching students. It is framed around 6 key elements. The first is high-quality curriculum; this includes planning with the end in mind and thinking about what knowledge, skills and dispositions they should obtain from a unit or lesson. The second key element of differentiation is continual assessment, which means that teachers are “continually assessing each students’ progress toward the learning goals (KUD’s) guides the teacher in planning the next instructional steps in the classroom” (What is Differentiated Instruction?). The third is respectful tasks which asks that teachers create activities that are challenging, interesting, and worth doing for students. In differentiated instruction, these meaningful activities often mean that students are working on different things at the same time depending on their individual needs as learners. Building community is another part of differentiation, where teachers must create a learning environment that allows students to feel safe, accepted, and supported and also provides them with the opportunity to be productive and share in each other's successes. Flexible grouping is the fifth part of differentiation according to the “Differentiation Central” website. Flexible grouping is the idea of students working on their own assignments either as whole class, individually, or groups and partners that can be based off of similar or different skills, levels and interests. The final element of differentiated instruction is called “Teaching up” where “all students should be working at a level of complexity that is just above their individual comfort levels. By providing each student with reasonable levels of challenge and instructional scaffolding as needed, students learn that hard work results in successful growth” (What is Differentiated Instruction?). Technology can be used to help with differentiation through the Triple E Framework. This framework “measures the degree ot which the technology in a lesson is helping students meet the learning goals… the Triple E Framework focuses on the learning goals and not the specific technology tools” (Triple E Framework ). The 3 E’s of this framework are: Engage, Enhance, and Extend. Engage asks that the technology used allows students to focus on the task with less distraction, motivates students through the learning process and moves the students from passive learners to active social learners. Enhance requires that the technology used aids students in developing and demonstrating a more sophisticated understanding of the content, scaffolds students and creates paths for students to demonstrate their understanding of the learning goals in ways that they wouldn’t be able to in traditional instruction. The last E, Extend, looks for technology that creates opportunities for students to learn and apply their learning outside of the classroom, bridges any gaps between school learning and everyday life and allows students to build skills that are applicable to the “real world” that they can use everyday. (Triple E Framework Intro Video). 

So far in the field, I have not seen very many examples of differentiated instruction. My CT does use a reading program that is new to CCS called Into Reading. In this reading guide, they provide texts, materials and activities for the program (as well as a great online resource to actually use for teaching) as well as ideas for differentiation. I think that teaching fifth grade online is very hard to differentiate - the kids are pretty good with technology but not using the program or accessing these materials and there is very little opportunity to work collaboratively over Zoom. Her program does give different options for texts that could be read depending on a student’s reading level, ideas for teaching ELL students and ways to differentiate for them, as well as options for scaffolding discussion. I think that in the classroom, there will be more opportunities to put these differentiation methods into practice, but it is definitely more difficult virtually. 

While in school, I had a few classes that provided opportunities for differentiation. One of my high school chemistry classes was great at creating a partnership between the teacher and the student (like our EdPuzzle - Five Key Aspects of Differentiated Instruction) talks about. We were able to take more control of our learning and each student was given the opportunity to work on individualized activities at our own pace (within a reasonable time frame). This method of teaching surprised me, especially in a class like chemistry, but it was a really unique experience and was actually very helpful. I also remember examples of differentiation with activities and projects in school, like being given a list of possible activities or projects to complete that we got to pick. Classroom seating was another place I remember differentiation happening in the classroom - I might not have been aware of it at the time, but looking back, there were many teachers who put us in groups for specific activities and I can see where they might have picked specific groups of students with similar skills to work on an activity and students of differing skill levels. I think that one of the most prominent forms of differentiation that I remember was working at stations around the classroom. I remember having teachers that would have specific activities set up around the room with specific goals in mind, and the station you were assigned to were dependent on what you might need additional help and support on. While working with other students who were at the same level of understanding, it was a collaborative effort to improve and understand to meet the learning goals. 

Differentiated instruction is a must-do when planning instruction and curriculum. While I don’t think it has to be a drastic example differentiation, there must always be a way to accommodate students learning and adjusting that information to what they need as specific learners. I will absolutely consider where I can differentiate instruction in my own classroom and as I plan for my 2 week unit. I do see how it can be tricky, especially right now with Covid and the uncertainty of what you can and can't do in the classroom, but I am eager to get into the field in person with my CT to see how she addresses differentiation.

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 7 - October 11, 2020

What is the role of assessment in effective teaching (planning) and student learning? How do you see assessment being used in your classroom? 

Assessments are an integral part of effective teaching. There has been major shift in assessments in classrooms recently, as more research is being done about how to effectively assess and what it can show. As our EdPuzzle, “Why FIP?” points out, the world is rapidly changing, and schools are evolving with it. Schools are starting to teach students “how to be creative, solve problems, and use technology as a learning tool” and “apply what [students] are learning to real-life scenarios and more opportunities to develop the skills [they] need to be successful in college or in a career”. Along with this change in how students will learn, assessments are changing to accommodate these new goals. Formative Instructional Practice, or FIP, are the formal and informal ways that teachers and students gather and respond to evidence of student learning. Formative assessment, according to the FIP Module, FP0001  Introduction to Formative Instructional Practices, are used “for the purpose of improving learning”, meaning that these types of assessments provide a continual look at students progress throughout their learning of a topic. By using assessments, teachers can gather data of their students progress, document it, and use the information to alter their lessons later. The FIP Module, FP0003 Collecting and Documenting Evidence of Student learning points out 4 basic types of assessments that teachers can use. Selected response assessments ask that “students select the correct of best response from a list provided”. These are often multiple choice, true/false, matching, or fill in the blank questions. The second type of assessment is a written response assessment. Written response assessments have “students construct an answer in response to a question or task. This includes short answer and extended response items, and the responses are ‘judged’ by using predetermined scoring criteria”. Performance assessments are the fourth type of assessment this module identifies. Assessment “is based on observation and judgement, and is used to just both real-time performances, and products that students create”. Performance assessments also use a rubric to “judge” the quality of the assessment. The final assessment type identified is the Personal Communication. This is “information about student learning… gathered through structured and unstructured interactions with students”. This can be done by asking questions during instruction, listening in on student conversations or as they participate or perform in class, having students keep logs and journals, or having conferences. Along with FIP, learning targets should be established and inform students on what they should know and be able to do before even being assessed. Learning targets should be able to be addressed by using assessments to gauge if students were successful in doing these tasks and meeting goals. 

So far in the field, my CT has already given her students a selected response assessment - 25 multiple choice questions weighted at 5 points per question. It was completed over Google Forms. Before giving her assessment, she did review games via Kahoot (another selected response type of game). I am unsure if she provided her students with learning targets or learning goals, as I joined the field towards the end of her unit, but I do not think she provided her students with learning targets, because she has not referred back to any of them. In addition to her multiple choice test, she has given students a few worksheets to be completed for reading that are written responses. Students use context clues in their reading to answer questions or make inferences and make predictions, and they write them down (or type them). My CT said that with virtual learning, it has been extremely hard to do informal assessments because she can’t be in the same room as them to hear some of their conversations with each other or observe them and their writing. I think that the multiple choice test that she gave, while not necessarily as desired, is the easiest way for her to track student understanding remotely. I am unsure what she will be doing with the assessments and what she will do with that information, but I will be asking her when I meet with her next. I think, based on what I have seen so far in her class, that it will simply go in as a grade, and they will move onto the next unit. For my SS Methods class, I was given an Olentangy middle school teacher to speak to about assessments this past week, and he had a very different perspective on assessments. He only really uses assessments as a means of looking at where his students are currently at, what they would like to learn and how they would like to learn it, and bases his lessons plans on this information. He said that he does informal pre-assessments almost daily in order to adapt his lessons, and usually uses authentic tasks as his assessments by asking students to think creatively about the topic at hand and show what they know about it. Something that I thought was interesting that he said, which I have not heard a teacher do before, is not putting grades on the assignments, because he constantly provides them an opportunity to improve. In his classroom, it is not about memorizing material and reciting it, but rather, truly understanding it and making connections to other historical events and our current society. Even during an actual written response test, he will ask them questions to encourage deeper thinking, write feedback, pose other questions, and return the test to his students for them to continue. He really focuses on continual progress and using assessments as a way for him to know how to adapt to help his students do this. This perspective on assessment was really interesting to hear about, and I’m curious to compare it to my CT’s means of assessments and even content area assessment differences. 

In my K-12 experience, most of my assessments were selected-response tests or extended response. I think similar to how my CT might be using the assessments I’ve seen her do, my teachers mostly used their tests just as a grade to see how well we learned the information, rather than as a means to adjust for planning. I do remember receiving participation points for activities that seemed similar to a type of assessment, and the occasional class presentation. One of the few times I remember doing anything other than a multiple choice, extended response test or presentation was in highschool, when we were asked to recreate and modernize a scene from Hamlet to show our comprehension of the play (or at least one of the scenes). My girlfriend and I partnered up and employed my brother to star as Hamlet and created a silly video in my basement. While it seemed silly and it was a lot of fun to do, it was an activity that had us using many different skills (analyzing the scene, interpreting, writing a new script, planning, filming, editing) followed by a written summary/explanation and could also be used as an assessment as well. I would love to do an activity like this in my classroom one day (depending on the grade, having students work as groups in the classroom or outside of school like I had done). I would love to try this out during my unit this semester, but I don’t know how that would work with Covid-19 and socially distanced classrooms. Maybe individual projects? Writing a song and performing it (or recording on the computer at home and submitting?) Again, depends on the unit, but some fun ideas to consider. 

During my field placement, I would like to use authentic tasks to have students show what they know, rather than assess them overall with a test (like selected response). Many educators are shying away from exams like this because it does very little to show what students know; it mostly shows how good they are at process of elimination or guessing. I would like to use self-assessments throughout my 2-week unit to have students reflect on what they're learning, which would also help me adapt my lessons to what they need. In addition, instead of utilizing worksheets, like I have seen my CT using a lot of, I would like to create authentic tasks and activities for them to do, especially while they are actually doing the learning. This could be by making a flip-chart, having a discussion, drawing something. When I am able to narrow down what my unit will be about, I will have more ideas of activities students can do to show what they know. 

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 6 - October 4, 2020

Planning in the Classroom and UbD

Understanding by Design is used to help teachers meet their curriculum goals that have been set and encourage students to be successful in their comprehension. This strategy involves a 3 step process to planning that is completed in a backwards approach. Step one asks that “we consider our goals, examine established content standards (national, state, prov-ince, and district), and review curriculum expectations” (Understanding by Design Framework). Step 2 includes Determining Assessments and Evidence. It should also be noted that both formative and summative assessments should be used throughout a UbD unit. There are six facets of understanding that allows teachers using UbD to assess understanding, such as, explain, interpret, apply, demonstrate perspective, display empathy and have self-knowledge. As the UbD slides point out, “assessments are too often created without carefully considering the evidence needed or only as a means of generating grades” (Slide 34). By using UbD, the assessments are more thoughtfully created in order to truly assess students' understanding in a meaningful way. The assessments aid the teacher in adapting the lesson based on the needs of the students in order to reach the overarching goal. The third stage in UbD is actually planning the learning experience and instruction. With the overall goals and standards and the assessment plans already determined, the final step involves breaking down the individual days and planning what should be taught that day. By teaching with the different goals in mind, transfer, meaning making and acquisition, which are determined in stage 1, the teacher is able to plan the most appropriate lessons for their students. Grant Wiggins, in the YouTube video attached to this learning module, notes that one of the biggest challenges of stage 3 in UbD is holding oneself accountable and sticking with the plan of UbD, especially the goals created in Stage 1. He says that, often, “your goals call for transfer, practice and feedback, but your learning plan doesn’t mesh with that…” so he recommends “really just be disciplined about saying, if these are my goals, what follows for instruction?” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsDgfC3SjhM&t=31s 8:28). Developing a unit with this UbD method is tricky to begin doing, especially if a teacher hasn’t planned this way before, but the benefits and overall goal of comprehension and understanding are noticeable once the UbD plan is followed. 

    While I have not made many lesson plans, I look forward to trying UbD for the two week unit in my placement. Last semester, we did a practice UbD unit and this method of designing it really did help in keeping the tasks and information focused on the overall learning goals. The process of developing enduring understandings and essential questions was probably one of the most challenging parts of our practice unit, but they were extremely useful in finding new activities to teach and making sure it did have its relevance. The assessment portion of UbD is also one that I find extremely helpful. Not only do the more frequent low-stakes assessments help guide the unit and the planning to make sure students are understanding what they need to, but its also a great way to help the students themselves check what they are learning and what they might need additional help with, without overwhelming them with summative assessments that don’t actually help show what they know. More creative assessments are necessary for all content areas and should be used regardless of what planning model is used, but UbD really helps establish these goals and organize the planning process in a way that leaves nothing out. 

I am unsure if my CT in my new placement uses UbD or something similar, as I will start this week in the classroom. My previous CT used something similar to UbD, although I don’t think it was explicitly. She would write her learning goals on the board at the beginning of the unit and kept track of what standards were used, and be able to refer back to those learning goals with all of the activities she did in class. She also did more frequent formative assessments to track student understanding so that she was able to tweak her lessons for the next day based on what the students needed. At the end of the unit or at the end of a specific checkpoint, she would do mini quizzes and an overall summative test at the end of the unit. By the time the summative assessment came around, students were well prepared and had a good understanding of the content. I look forward to seeing how my current CT approaches planning, and working with her while developing my own unit under UbD.

The overarching idea of UbD is consistently circling a lesson back to the overall goal, and making it so known with the students that they begin to refer back to that goal on their own. Being able to make the connection between what you are doing and why you are doing it and how it connects to the overarching goals that have been set is extremely helpful. During my unit in my placement, this is something that I want to be able to see the students doing as we work together. I also think, as I said, it is such a great way for a teacher to keep organized while planning, and as a beginner teacher, this is super important to do. I look forward to practicing this planning model for this placement, and hopefully growing more comfortable with it so that I can use it when I have my own classroom after graduation.

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 5 - September 27, 2020

How does SEL affect teaching and learning?

Social-emotional learning is an amazing way to teach the whole student and help create a sense of community within a school. Currently, Ohio has a strong focus on social-emotional learning, stating their vision being: “Each Child is challenged to discover and learn, prepared to pursue a fulfilling post-high school path and empowered to become a resilient, lifelong learner who contributes to society.” (“Why is Ohio Focused on Social-Emotional Learning?”). Through the five goals of social-emotional learning - self awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making, teachers and staff in schools are able to develop a variety of skills that students need to in order to become successful young adults and adults. Within the Ohio standards for SEL, the standards describe how Ohio schools can help students work on these skills as well as “benefit from increased attention, learning memory and academic success that will put them on the road to a bright future” (ODE). Not only is SEL extremely beneficial for students during any regular school year, but especially right now with the drastic changes that have come from Covid-19. The “Returning to School: Supporting the Social, Emotional and Behavioral Health of Students and Staff” article points out many of the changes that students and even parents and staff have had to face, such as, “changes in daily routines, lack of predictability, increased fears about their safety and the safety of loved ones, and extended periods of isolation. And, in some cases: loss of a loved one, limited access to food and safe shelter, and ongoing safety and security concerns (abuse, neglect, exposure to violence).” These are situations that so many students will be put into that could and will have very negative consequences for their development socially and emotionally. Through SEL, a sense of community is developed in the classroom environment and students are able to develop skills to help them cope and understand these stipulations that have been put in place because of Covid. They will be encouraged to learn how to manage these strange emotions and situations and learn how to apply these skills to other situations they will encounter in their lives, among learning how to build positive and healthy relationships with others and learn to understand and manage their own emotions and feelings. There has never been a more important time to practice SEL in the classroom.

In my placement at HSSG last semester, I did a project on SEL. After getting to know some of the sixth grade students, I was able to sit down and discuss some of their concerns about being sixth graders and being in middle school. I realized that many of their concerns worked well within SEL. Some of these concerns included feeling disconnected from their fellow classmates and being unsure of how to handle stress/stressors that they were encountering, and these are things that SEL works to address. While my project focused on SEL in middle school classrooms, I became well aware of how beneficial it can be for any aged student. I became extremely interested in SEL after researching it more for this project and it is something that I absolutely want to focus on in the future. Here is a link to this project: https://socialengagement-mchd.weebly.com/. Now, with the environment that will be created in schools because of social-distancing, quarantine and such a long break from being in schools and socializing, I see that it is more of a “need to work on” rather than a “want to work on”. Students will need to develop these skills and receive this emotional support now more than ever, and teachers need to be able to address the whole needs of their students, including their social-emotional development as well as their academic development. 

Part of my draw to the process of SEL came from my own reflection of my time in middle school. As I worked with my field students, I related a lot to some of the concerns that they had and I found myself wishing that one of my teachers had researched and practiced SEL when I was younger. In the majority of classrooms that I was in during K-12, we focused on academic success and did not discuss emotional and personal relationships outside of the online health class that I took my freshman year of highschool. Many of my classrooms were not set up to help us learn about managing our emotions and relationships with one another. We did have a large focus on developing responsibility and self-management, but I think a large part of the success that comes from SEL is learning those skills in relation to personal, social and communal skills as well. By understanding that all of these necessary skills work together to make a responsive and educated student, teachers are able to give students a greater chance of success as adults. This is what SEL encompasses and I think I would have benefited a lot during K-12 and as an adult if more of my classrooms focused on this instead of just academics.

It sounds like an understatement or too simple to say that I would love to practice SEL in my classroom one day, but it is true. Especially working with middle schoolers, I think it is so important to help them manage the extreme changes that young adolescents brings, as well as just work to teach the whole student in order to help them reach their full potential and be their best selves. I am very eager to get into the “classroom” during this field placement to see how my CT may address some of these social-emotional concerns, especially during a pandemic. I think it will definitely be more of a challenge to offer help developing these skills, especially during remote learning, but I am willing to try my hardest to make sure the students I work with are receiving all of the support they might need during this strange time.

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 4 - September 20, 2020

How would you modify your classroom management plan in an online learning environment?

2020 has been undoubtedly one of the most challenging times for education in modern history. Education all around the world has been altered to meet the new needs that Covid has brought to the world. The article in this module, “Classroom Routines Must Change - Teaching Under Covid,” points out three important tips for teachers during remote learning, and hybrid learning which many schools are transitioning to. They point out that frequent communication between students, teachers and parents is essential this school year. This is uncharted territory for everyone, and with all of the changes and expectations to the way school will work, communication is extremely important. It can be extremely overwhelming for parents trying to figure out how to make sure their child is doing their schoolwork or balancing hybrid learning schedules, students are experiencing school in a way they never have before and changing the dynamic of the classroom, and teachers are trying to navigate a new way of teaching they have not really been prepared for while trying to think 15 steps ahead of what is currently happening. Communication that keeps everyone informed and up to date is key to teaching this fall. The second point that the article makes is that students still need to be challenged with cognitively demanding work. With this idea, however, it must be taken into consideration that learning digitally is going to be very difficult for some students who cannot easily get instant feedback or help from teachers. Their work should still include the opportunity to analyze texts, work through complicated problems, test hypotheses and have discussions. School work should still be meaningful and help to develop necessary skills while still being accommodated to distance learning. The third point that the article makes is that students will need more support than normal. They point out that students are coming into the fall term with unfinished learning from the spring. It is suggested to do a formative assessment at the beginning of the year to determine where students are at, what they remember and what they still need help with before jumping into their learning.

There are also a lot of changes with how the classroom is structured in general that needs to be taken into consideration. Creating a sense of community is extremely important when teaching virtually. Teachers should create an introduction video as well as provide students with a tour of the online learning platform that they can return to if they need help submitting or locating assignments and participating in general. Teachers also need to be mindful that many students are going to be uncomfortable turning on webcams during whole-class meetings. It might be beneficial for students to hold class meetings with smaller groups or to rotate between breakout groups that cut down the number of students slightly. I think that virtual learning can be an extremely intimate thing for students, which might be why many are uncomfortable. They are sharing their home and their personal lives with classmates who they may not be familiar or comfortable with. Along with these alterations for teachers to make for virtual learning, there is also a new way for students to learn “classroom” etiquette. As the YouTube videos in this module point out, there are many new do’s and dont’s to learning. Staying focused and limiting distractions is crucial to keeping engaged with the learning. Students also need to be mindful of lighting and camera positionings and limiting the amount of distractions they have in their camera that can affect their classmates focus as well. 2020’s learning environment is so different from what everyone knows, and it is a lot of information and change for everyone. 

I personally have found it very successful how most of my courses throughout remote learning have been organized. I am familiar with online classes from my two years at Columbus State, where I elected to take classes virtually instead of in person. In this regard, I am comfortable and familiar with the websites my classes have been held in and navigating a virtual classroom. I have not, however, had to do virtual webcam courses until Covid-19. I was completely unaware of virtual learning etiquette during video classes. While it seems like common sense for most of the pointers, I find myself distracted with animals in my room (or  mydogs popping up in front of the camera) or I find that I’ll forget to turn a light on and end up as a black screen when lighting fades towards the end of my classes. One of the etiquette considerations that I have struggled with the most is keeping my camera turned on throughout class. I know how difficult teaching remotely is for teachers, and not being able to see students makes it even more difficult, but turning on my camera is one of my least favorite parts of remote learning. I am fortunate enough to be able to complete my classes in the peace and quiet of my room, but I become extremely aware of my surroundings when I am in my room. I become uncomfortable showing my room in the background or seeing my wall with patched holes that still need repainted. I even feel weird about my bed being seen in the background if I sit at my desk, not to mention some of the camera angles that can be often unflattering. Sometimes, these little insecurities and anxieties distract me from actually staying engaged with the lesson, so I turn off the camera. This is something that can be remedied, but I know for many students, there are not as many options of places and ways to learn. I also know that teachers would much rather see a students face than a blank screen, so it can be a difficult thing to balance. 

Since I don’t have a field placement currently, I cannot make many connections to the field. I will reflect on my mother’s teaching set up though since that is as close to the field as I am right now (even though the grade level is much lower than the classroom I would be in). When moving to remote learning in the spring, her school primarily went to Google Classroom to house all assignments. She uses the app ClassTag to keep in contact with parents, so she was always updating them with the weekly assignments and tasks, despite there not being many because of the sudden transition. It was difficult in the spring for many teachers to quickly learn how to use a website or an app that they had not learned before, and for many of her urban parents to learn how to use as well. The goal quickly became: get as many students online as you can, and provide them with assignments to do to get them familiar and keep them working on something. Most of the assignments could be classified as busy-work, given out just to keep the students working on something during quarantine, and it was an extreme struggle to get them online and familiar with the websites. In the spring, my mother was only able to hold two virtual meetings which had about half attendance rate (only about 13 students out of almost 30). This fall, however, with a little bit more time to prepare and familiarize herself, my mother was able to set up a classroom space in our basement. She put up a small word wall and her pocket charts that she uses regularly and has transitioned to mostly virtual classes. She meets every morning as a whole group, giving an overview and doing a smaller lesson that all students will need to be present for (usually math lessons). She then has her class broken into four groups who meet at specific times everyday for roughly 30 minutes. During that time, she can provide specialized instruction based on their learning needs, do reading lessons, etc. When students are not in their group meetings, they are to be doing assignments on her Google page. During her virtual trainings over the summer she was also introduced to many resources that she has practiced with to be more comfortable. She created a virtual classroom on google to mimic her real classroom, and that houses all of the links that any student or parent might need. Her virtual classroom links the Google Classroom, the meeting links, reading resources and more. Despite being more confident and being able to have more meaningful and engaging meetings with her students, one of the biggest struggles has been the etiquette portion of remote learning. She has a great system in place with mute and unmute cards and lots of physical gestures that students can do throughout their meetings, but since it is a first grade class, many parents are also present during the meetings. There was one particular incident with a student forgetting to mute herself, and the entire class being able to hear her parent yelling and cursing in the background. I don’t believe there has been any other incidents like that one, but she is also running into the problem of parents being a little bit too involved. During a reading quiz she gave, my mother noticed a parent was reading the test to the daughter. When she asked her to let her child read the quiz on her own (as it was a reading quiz after all), she noticed the student looking up at presumably her mother behind the computer when she was unsure. Being able to accurately grade assignments and assessments for these younger students will be a challenge that she is still working through. I would be curious to see how middle level teachers handle this type of issue as well.

While I hopefully am not beginning my teaching career during a pandemic, I know how crucial it is to be familiar with virtual learning. While I do hope that it is over by the time I have my own classroom, I know that Covid is going to change the way the world works for a very long time, so it is best to be familiar and current with how to teach. While I had always been very interested in having a classroom that is very tech-friendly, I see how useful it can be to have resources saved and have students familiar with an online platform. In my teaching practices in the future, I might look into having a class website that students can log onto to print or turn in their assignments as well as some virtual assignments that they can do. I know that this does greatly depend on where I end up teaching and what resources the district has, but it seems like education was already moving in a tech-friendly direction before the pandemic anyway, so there is no better time to embrace that and learn how to do it than right now. If I was to teach remotely at some point, I think the concept of virtual breakout groups and small group meeting times is extremely beneficial. It not only allows a teacher to work more one-on-one with students, but it helps keep them engaged and offer them more instant support, similar to being in a classroom. Teaching and learning in a pandemic has also taught me a greater appreciation for organization, and in a way, simplification as well. This is a great skill to have in a classroom one day as well, regardless of it being a pandemic or in a “normal” classroom.

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 3 - September 13, 2020

How do you create safe and healthy learning environments?

In a classroom, it is very important to develop a culturally responsive pedagogy which is instruction designed with students’ cultural views, knowledge and ways of learning taken into consideration. Culturally-responsive pedagogy empowers students to succeed by celebrating and utilizing their knowledge and self-identity to instruct them. These classrooms develop learning communities within the classroom, have good organization and structure and have a tendency to restore and repair behavior in a respectful manner. The powerpoint, “Classroom Management Historical Overview” makes the point that “effective classroom management has more to do with developing relationships and orchestrating a productive learning community than it does on determining consequences for inappropriate behavior”. This is an important part of creating a safe and healthy learning environment. Creating relationships with students and getting to know them as people before students is an important part of creating a safe learning environment. The reading also talked about classroom management and how it is important to know your students before trying to manage the classroom. Oftentimes, with the majority of teachers being white, middle class and mono-linguistic English speakers, there is sometimes a disconnect between students and teachers. Misinterpretation and unnecessary disciplinary interventions can occur when teachers and students come from different cultural backgrounds. Some students’ cultural backgrounds can result in them behaving in ways that a teacher who grew up in the “traditional” white-centered school system would deem disrespectful and inappropriate, but in reality, this is just a lack of understanding and information. The article about “Culturally Responsive Classroom Management” also makes the important point that “by bringing our implicit, unexamined cultural biases to a conscious level, we are less likely to misinterpret the behaviors of our culturally different students and treat them equitably”. This creates the safe and healthy learning environment for all students and continues to provide them with fair and just educational opportunities.

In terms of discipline, I remember that during my K-12 years, it seemed like students with other cultural backgrounds outside of white middle/upper class seemed to be the ones to get in the most trouble and it seemed like they were the ones who did not care about being disciplined. I had never really considered that their own cultures may just handle discipline or acknowledgement of wrongdoing differently than the typical “white culture” that I was used to. I had also never considered that they may not have even been trying to do something deliberately wrong, that their cultural backgrounds may just be different than my own. I think this did create a bias in myself that I wasn't aware of until high school. I can see how this can be very damaging as white teachers who grew up similarly to myself begin to work in schools or with students of other cultural backgrounds than ourselves and have to rethink what we know about cultural norms and what is acceptable behaviors. Teachers who are unaware of this bias misinterpret behaviors as rude or unacceptable and in turn, damage student’s views of themselves as students or potential citizens. This was an idea that my urban novel discussed - many students in urban schools do not like school after so many years of constantly being seen as a problem or a bad student or a student unable to learn, simply because the system they are learning in and the people they are taught by are only considering students as the typical white middle-class student. I am very glad that I was able to open my mindset in high school and even more in college and through these courses. The last thing that I would ever want to do as a teacher is diminish someone’s self worth or value because I am unfamiliar or unwilling to change my mindset about education or a culture. 

Since I have yet to be in the field this semester, I am unsure of any examples of safe and healthy learning environments in the classroom for this placement. In my previous placement though, my CT did an amazing job getting to know her students and using what they care about and already know in her own lessons. She was great about making connections to her students that kept them engaged and motivated to learn. It also created a sense of caring that her students very clearly appreciated. Even during their “Warm Up” period (similar to homeroom), students began to get excited about their days after simply having a conversation about their interests and having their teacher reach out and ask about things that she knew were important to them. That CT also recognized that each of her students was different and required different things from her as a teacher, and she was willing and able to make these accommodations when necessary to help her students succeed. While that specific placement was not an urban school, similar principles will apply everywhere, and may be even more important and noticeable when they are done in an urban setting. 

Another idea for creating a safe and healthy environment is by utilizing social-emotional learning in the classroom. This was an idea that I became familiar with after a project for my placement last semester and something that I became extremely interested in. Social emotional learning is a method of teaching and learning that I would love to implement in my classroom one day. This way of teaching really focuses on teaching the entire student, and not just the academic student which is something that I feel like I’ve begun to discuss a lot in my studies of education. This ensures that teachers are not only seeing a student as an object to teach information to and only investing in this version of the student, but also helping to develop the student outside of school and as a person. Social-Emotional Learning develops five specific skills in students that are essential skills in life such as, self-management, self-awareness, responsible decision making, relationship skills, and social awareness. By learning about your students on a deeper level, you can begin to help them develop these necessary life skills. This type of learning environment has also been found to be very healthy and safe as it creates a community and consciousness for others which is definitely the type of classroom that I would like to have. In addition, teaching holistically is a great way to reach students and motivate them, as they see that you care for them and not just about the way that their grade represents you as a teacher.

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 2 - September 6, 2020

In my drive around the area that the CGA is in, I made a few observations about the area surrounding the school. This school is situated in an extremely urban setting in the center of Columbus near the Ohio State University. Within a few minutes of driving you can pass the Shoe Football Stadium and be in the middle of OSU’s campus. It is also in extremely close proximity to the Olentangy River as well as the Wexner Medical Center. Within a few blocks of the school, I passed many churches, at least 4 that I noticed as well as Thompson Park and Community Center a street over. This community center had a basketball court and a playground, as well as some open grass for children to play in. There also appeared to be a community garden on the property. One of the most prominent things I noticed during my community mapping was the homes surrounding the school. Many of the homes were small single-family homes but there were also many duplex/multi-family housing options available as well. There may also be a few apartments in the surrounding area, including a newly built apartment complex near the Ohio Health Rehabilitation Hospital. The homes were all located very close together with smaller yards. In general, I noticed that the houses were kept in two different conditions. Some of the houses were a little bit more run down with yards that were slightly overgrown. Other homes seemed to be pretty recently renovated within the last few years; it gave me the impression that some gentrification has been going on in the neighborhood and streets around the school. I would be very curious to see numbers pertaining to the demographics of the neighborhood, especially in comparison with the student demographics at the school. I am curious how the neighborhood and the context of teaching in this more urban setting would pertain to the students as it is a gifted and talented academy rather than an “average” neighborhood school - I think there would be a bit of difference between the students attending the school and the neighborhood surrounding it as students need to qualify to attend the school which might result in a lot of “bussing in students” from surrounding areas rather than the neighborhood around the school.

After doing a drive around the neighborhood/community mapping, I looked at the report card for the Columbus Gifted Academy as well as their school website for more information. In general, the Columbus Gifted Academy received an A on their report card for 2018-2019 (the most recent report card that I could find). Their ranking for closing the achievement gap was an A. I did have a little bit of trouble understanding the numbers provided completely, (for example, for Black Non-Hispanic students, the reading score says that it is 101.24 with 65.4 in parentheses next to it - 101.24 (65.4) and the math scores for the same group are 105.61 (63.5).) As I interpreted these numbers however, I believe that the number in parentheses is the percentage that these student groups scored higher than their counterparts in other schools. As well as receiving an A in the achievement gap portion of the report card, the CGA also received an A on the Achievement portion. These numbers were extremely interesting to see coming from an urban school (although, again, I do believe that the students who attend the school have to qualify to attend). Below are the achievement scores and the percentages of students who scored within this group.

Advanced Plus - 11.8% of students

Advanced - 42.4% of students

Accelerated - 28.3% of students

Proficient - 13.2% of students

Basic - 3.3% of students

Limited - 1.8% of students

Untested - 0.0%

54.2% of students score within the top two highest achievement levels (Advanced Plus and Advanced) and 70.7% of students score advanced or accelerated. These are very encouraging numbers to see, as it is always the teachers goal to take their students from having a basic understanding of the content to a proficient level, and to see CGA have so many students above proficient is amazing. As for their progress ranking, they scored a “B” and as far as I can tell from the rest of the report card, there doesn't seem to be a specific group of students that is not having their needs met, although that could be more clear by spending time in the school. As for the demographics of the school, during the time this report card was published, around half of the school is White students (about 271 out of around 467 students), 124 Black/Non-Hispanic students, 33 Multiracial students, 25 Hispanic students and 14 Asian or Pacific Island students. It does have listed on their demographics that out of 467 students, 100% of their student population is considered to be economically disadvantaged. 

I am very eager to have the opportunity to spend time inside of a school like this, although I do wonder how it will compare to schools where students just have a lack of interest due to their previous experiences. Although the report card says that 100% of their students are economically disadvantaged which can be assumed that a lot of urban schools have, I wonder if I will have some of the same experiences or “problems” with motivating and keeping students engaged, as they all work hard to attend a school like this (their attendance was even at 94.80% - a higher percentage than my majority white suburban high school’s attendance of 93.4%). I look forward to working inside of an urban school regardless and getting the opportunity to see the differences between the suburban schools that I have been placed in before and the factors that play into an urban student's life. As for the context of teaching during Covid, I am intrigued to see how it will play out as I begin to work with my CT. I wonder how technology will be used during Columbus’ remote first quarter (as of right now at least) and the opportunities and resources CGA has for students during remote learning and how attendance could be affected, considering their previous high rates of attendance. I am also interested in seeing if the student demographics change because of the financial strains that Covid has placed on many families, especially ones in urban settings.

While I primarily went to suburban, mostly white schools during my own time in K-12, I did have experience in an urban classroom in kindergarten. Because this experience was so long ago, I do not have much of a recollection of the workings of an urban classroom, and especially the context of the classroom during a pandemic as this has been the first time this has happened. The only experience that I have in an urban setting that I have strong recollection of, especially during a pandemic is inside of my mother’s first grade classroom at an elementary school in Columbus. The majority of the students in these schools come from lower income families and the demographics of the school are majority Black and Hispanic. Many of the students in her classroom also come from single parent households or have a heavy grandparent guardian presence. During the pandemic, the main struggle my mother has encountered is lack of resources provided to these students, such as limited chromebooks for them to take home, no printers, or even wifi. The other struggle that she has had, during the pandemic and before, is having parents actively engaged in their child’s education. This obviously does not go for every student and parent, and this is not a solely urban experience, but the lack of parental involvement has proven it difficult to keep students caught up. Many students come to school without their homework completed when they have it assigned and many come unprepared for assessments such as spelling tests so she relies a lot on observational and formative assessments. While the article “Failure Is Not an Option” poses a great point that parental involvement should not be an excuse for “failure” in the classroom, in my own experiences in my mother’s classroom and through conversations with her, it can be very difficult in such a young classroom setting to not have parental support outside of school to continue some of this fundamental practice (like telling time or counting money). During the pandemic as well, her first grade students do need help logging onto the computer resources such as Google Classroom to do virtual meetings with her, and many parents are not able to assist with this for a number of reasons (such as unfamiliarity with the programs, lack of internet in general, working long hours during the day, caring for others, etc). I am interested in comparing the experiences from a middle level classroom to the elementary classroom I am already familiar with to see what new challenges arise from older students to pandemic learning and teaching, and how my CT and mother address these challenges during pandemic teaching. 

When reviewing the information that I had collected during my community mapping and school research, I came across CGA’s Academic Mission Statement and their learning model. This school implements the “Depth and Complexity Model” into the classrooms in order through increased rigor and a curriculum that enables students to, “develop scholarly behaviors, consider knowledge through the perspective of career specialties, or disciplinarians, and to use a variety of critical thinking skills”. They encourage all students to think like a disciplinarian and use this disciplinarian mentality as “a tool for differentiation, research, and interest-based exploration”. This mission statement and vision for students correlates to the article read, “Failure is Not an Option”. This article shares experiences from schools in which student success is prevalent and looks to the commonalities from these schools. It states that one reason for success in schools is because “Principals and teachers have high expectations for all students and reject any excuses for academic failure.” (4). It also says that “all staff take responsibility and work together to achieve (and continuously improve upon) this goal and where “failure is not an option.” (11). I believe that one of the reasons CGA received such high ratings on their school report card in the progress, academic achievement and achievement gap portions is because of their academic model. I believe that this model encompases the high expectation and continuous achievement ideology that “Failure is Not an Option” highlights in the article. In Payne’s article, I did have some trouble agreeing with some of the statements made, however, one point that I agree with is that “relationships are key motivators for learning”. I think Payne makes the claim that they are the most important motivators in an urban setting, which I don’t completely agree with, I do think relationships are extremely important. Relationships allow teachers to understand and learn about their students' funds of knowledge which can then be used to create curriculum that students are motivated and eager to do. I agreed with Gorksi’s analysis of Payne’s article, however, especially in the points about Payne seeming to encourage students in poverty to “assimilate into a system they often experience as oppressive”. I do think it is extremely important in providing an education for urban students, that their cultures and interests are not forgotten in an effort to educate them the way that is seen to be standard. I also agreed with Gorski in saying that Payne’s recommendation for training parents in poverty but never recommending anti-classism training for educators is a harsh statement to make that doesn’t address an issue that students face. Students are supposed to spend a large amount of their childhood through adolescence in schools, and schools are often a highly influential place for students. By leaving all of the responsibility up to the parents rather than the teachers who sometimes make just as much of an impact (positive or negative) on a students life and their perspective of their future is a slightly ignorant statement to make. Both parents and teachers play an important role in the lives of a student, but teachers should be educated and ready to make anti-classist decisions for their students.

It would be an understatement to say that education plays a huge role in the lives of urban students. As I read about in my urban novel, many students' attitudes towards education and life itself stem from the type of teachers they have and the attitudes and ideas the teachers hold in their classrooms. From what I have learned and read about so far, urban teaching requires a more personal relationship between student and teacher and high expectations are extremely beneficial in motivating students to succeed. While this is also necessary for suburban schools, I feel like the more teacher support a student has in the classroom, the more successful they will be, and this could be due to the multitude of other issues that these students face in comparison to their middle class/suburban counterparts. In my own classroom, in whatever type of setting that may be in, I want to work really hard at creating relationships and getting to know my students so that they feel supported and advocated for. I look forward to getting into the field during this semester to see how my school addresses curriculum and students as well as the different ways that they keep students motivated and engaged. 

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 10 - April 5, 2020

How does understanding of young adolescents and middle level philosophy affect assessment?

Assessments are a very important part of teaching that allows educators to ensure their students are comprehending the material being taught and understanding the value of this information. As the article we read states, “parents use test scores to gauge children's academic strengths and weaknesses, communities rely on scores to judge the quality of their teachers and administrators, and states and federal lawmakers use scores to hold public schools accountable for providing high quality education every student deserves” (Furger). Assessments can be high stakes for both the teachers and the students, but they do not always have to be formally done. There are many different kinds of assessments, most of which are becoming more commonly used over traditional tests because of a greater understanding in the needs of students, especially in the young adolescent age group. Because of a more expansive understanding of the middle level philosophy, teachers are beginning to use a variety of assessments to gauge student understanding because we know that every student learns drastically differently. Through differentiation, we can get a clearer understanding of what students know and do not know. We also understand that it is more important to have quality understanding of a material rather than short-term superficial knowledge that usually comes along with trying to overwhelm all of the material onto the students. Another important aspect of assessment is assessing for application rather than understanding facts. It is arguably more important to teach skills  that students can apply to other disciplines and to their “real-life.” By being able to apply this understanding and skill set, students are demonstrating true understanding and comprehension of the material. This is not something standard tests can assess for. 

While in the field, my cooperating teacher did not give many traditional test assessments to her students. She gave smaller checkpoints at the end of each subtopic of her overall lesson (such as Economics 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0) that were just a few points to see where students were at, and one overall test at the end of the unit. For the most part, she would give the students informal assessments like entrance tickets at the start of class to check what they remembered from the previous day or use their in class activities and observations to check their understanding. In using these informal assessments, my CT was able to guide her lesson the next day and tailor it to what her students were struggling with. She was also able to create different versions of an assignment based on what the students needed - when completing a worksheet, she could have certain students answering some questions while others answered questions based on their understanding. I really liked seeing a teacher be very flexible with her lessons and being able to adapt them based on what her students needed. 

I think that the new outlook that middle level teachers have on assessments as not always needing to be a traditional test is a really great thing. In school, I have always had test anxiety that prohibits me from truly showing my understanding of the material. This is something that so many students struggle with, and it can be very harmful to only give traditional assessments because it can lead to students feeling incapable of learning, when it is truly just the high stakes environment they are placed in. I have always excelled in the activities that allow me to show what I’ve learned and apply it to something new. These types of activities have also helped me confirm my understanding and expand on what I am learning about. Being able to apply what you know is such a useful skill, and allows for much greater critical thinking skills that I would have liked to have developed in my young adolescents. As a teacher, I would love to implement the use of more informal assessments such as self-assessment, performance assessment and formative assessments to my curriculum. I think that this opens up the classroom to be a more creative and enjoyable place without the pressures of standard testing that limit so many students in showing their abilities. While it can be a useful tool to use and gather data, very valuable information can be gathered from observing and having students apply what they know.

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 9 - March 22, 2020

How does your new understanding of UbD, integrative curriculum, and young adolescent development affect your concepts of lesson planning?

Understanding by design, or UbD, is a collection of tools and strategies originating from backward design, used to help teachers meet goals that have been set and encourage student success. As Grant Wiggins says in our edPuzzle/YouTube video, it is “backward design from your goals, not backward design from content, but backward design from the effective use and meaning making with content.” The goal is to create content that students can use, not have students retain enough information to score well on an assessment. You begin with what you want students to know or take away at the end of an assignment or lesson and design the lesson accordingly. It is hugely beneficial for teachers to have an essential question that they refer back to as lessons are being developed to help guide what is being taught.

I have not had the opportunity to make many lesson plans yet, but I do know that it can be a tedious task, especially when lesson planning for something within a unit. I feel that, for myself, the UbD would help me tremendously because it centralizes the idea that you want to get out of what you are teaching and helps guide the lesson. Knowing what the big picture is and then fine tuning the specific details is a great tactic. When getting into integrative curriculum, UbD also seems like it would be beneficial because teachers can come together to come up with their main goals and their topics, and then they have the foundation for the specific content that they would teach individually. 

My CT did a version of UbD, I do not think it was explicitly UbD, but at the beggining of each of her units, she would show the students the standards that they would be working on and put the overall goal on the board for her students to refer to. I think an important aspect of UbD is consistently bringing a lesson back to that overall goal, and making it so known with the students that they begin to refer back to that goal on their own. Being able to make the connection between what you are doing and why you are doing it and how it connects to the overarching goals that have been set is extremely helpful.

Planning seems like it may be a daunting task, especially when you need to also try to plan accordingly and plan around what will benefit your students the most, but I think UbD would help reel it back in and simplify the process a little bit more. I look forward to trying this out in the future, perhaps even with my team when we work with our Olentangy group, and seeing how it can help not only me, but the students as well.

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 8 - March 15, 2020

How does your understanding of young adolescents and middle level philosophy affect curriculum planning?

When creating a curriculum for middle level grades, having an understanding of young adolescents and the middle level philosophy is extremely important. A huge part of the middle level philosophy is supporting students in various ways and in the classroom this can begin with the curriculum teachers create. When creating curriculum, an extremely beneficial technique to use is integrating curriculum with other content areas. As Dr. D talked about, there are different levels of curriculum continuum, with integrated and integrative learning yielding the best results. Integrative learning is ideal because it incorporates every topic being taught in every content area, creating a cohesive learning experience for students. While integrative and integrated learning are the most ideal for young adolescents, there are also other types of curriculum such as multidisciplinary, correlated, and completely separate subjects.

In my field placement, my CT, while teaming with other content teachers did not integrate learning when creating and planning her curriculum. They did separate subjects with the occasional parallel lesson. For the most part, my CT would make a reference to another class or topic in another class to help them make a connection but that was the extent of her expanding her curriculum to other classes. I would have liked to see her integrate her curriculum a little bit more with the other content areas, but I do think it can be a little bit more difficult in higher grade levels. This challenge does not mean that it is impossible, especially as you teach broad topics in integrative curriculum that the content itself can be applied to later.

I don’t think I have ever been in a class that had done integrated curriculum as well. While I do not think that it is common to see, I think that teachers should work towards integrating their curriculum among content areas. This would require consistent time and effort to get together and do planning together, but it is extremely beneficial for the students and creates a well rounded experience among the different classes students would take.

As a teacher, I hope that I get to work in a school that has a good group of teaming teachers that I can incorporate integrative learning into. If it does not, this is something that I can advocate for as advocating for integration of content areas and curriculum is also advocating for students. While integration is a lot of work, the results are undenyable. 

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 7 - March 1, 2020

How does the middle level philosophy affect curriculum?

With the middle level philosophy, teachers have a better guide to teaching curriculum that can be tailored to the unique needs of the middle level student. While we still have our standards that we need to follow, the specific curriculum that we provide can be decided based on what we know about our students. The idea of truly knowing who your students are and what they need out of the classroom has been consistently discussed throughout all of our readings and videos, and one of the greatest results from this child-focused curriculum is increasing motivation. By knowing what students need to succeed, we are able to supply them with that and keep them engaged.

In the field, my CT has a really good understanding of what her students need to be successful and what might be challenging for them. Because she knows that her first period class can be a little bit quicker paced while her second period may need more time, she is able to fine tune the specific activities that she will do or how much time should be allocated to an activity per the needs of the class. She may show more videos to her second period class because that class has students with IEPs and her ESL students, and she may provide more detailed or rigorous worksheets to her first period because they are able to complete it more efficiently. While the curriculum and lessons that she has is one that she has used year after year, she is able to make the necessary adjustments based on the needs of the class that particular year. As a result of her being conscientious of the specific needs of young adolescents, she sees greater results in participation and engagement. 

When I think back to my own middle school experience, I do not see as much of the middle level philosophy’s impact on the curriculum that we did. I am sure none of my middle school teachers were certified to teach specifically middle level because that was not a certification that existed, so they were not aware of the need to individualize curriculum to middle level students. While they did a great job with what they had, and many of the teachers had learned over a period of time teaching young adolescents, I can see where the philosophy really benefits the newer curriculum. Now that my brother is in middle school and some of the newer teachers in his school are middle level certified, I can see how the curriculum has changed to also include lessons on wellbeing and how they have tailored the classes to be more aware of the needs of the students. 

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 6 - February 23, 2020

What does it mean to be a professional middle level educator?

     Professional middle level educators are educated and aware of all of the distinct needs that young adolescents have. Professional middle level educators are also aware of the standards that have been put into place by professional middle level associations that guide them into being professionals. These standards, as described my AMLE give guidance on Young Adolescent Development (Standard 1), Middle Level Curriculum (Standard 2), Middle Level Philosophy and School Organization (Standard 3), Middle Level Instruction (Standard 4) and Assessment Middle Level Professional Roles (Standard 5). As middle level educators work towards mastering and completing these standards, they will become better teachers for the middle level.   

     Standard 5 says that “middle level teacher candidates understand their complex roles as teachers of young adolescents. They engage in practices and behaviors that develop their competence as middle level professionals. They are informed advocates for young adolescents and middle level education, and work successfully with colleagues, families, community agencies, and community members. Middle level teacher candidates demonstrate positive dispositions and engage in ethical professional behaviors.” I see a lot of this standard done by my CT in my field placement, especially through teaming. By working with other teachers who share the same students, she is better able to advocate and provide the best opportunities for her students. I have heard her discuss the behaviors of her students with her team as they work towards a cohesive plan to implement in all of their classrooms, as well as having good, open communication with parents as well about the progress of her students.     

     Standard 2 says that “middle level teacher candidates understand and use the central concepts, standards, research, and structures of content to plan and implement curriculum that develops all young adolescents’ competence in subject matter… Middle level teacher candidates demonstrate their ability to assist all young adolescents in understanding the interdisciplinary nature of knowledge. They design and teach curriculum that is responsive to all young adolescents’ local, national, and international histories, language/dialects, and individual identities (e.g., race, ethnicity, culture, age, appearance, ability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, family composition)” and this is a standard that I am excited to continue to work on and master. As teachers, we need to advocate for the whole-student and continue to motivate them in all aspects of their learning, but I am excited to use the skills that I have been learning in my content classes to teach the material that I am passionate about. We chose our content areas because they are things that we are interested in and the things that we love, so being able to effectively teach and share these interests with our students makes for a good professional middle level educator. When students see how much you are interested in what they are learning about, they are more excited to learn about it as well. What does it mean to be a professional middle level educator?

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 5 - February 16, 2020

What is the middle school concept? Why is it unique? How are middle schools different than junior high schools?

      In the EdPuzzle videos that we watched, there was a major consensus in the videos that middle school focuses more on development than junior high schools do. This has been a recurring idea throughout all of our readings and videos this semester as we’ve learned that young adolescents have unique needs that cannot be met by treating them the same as as high schoolers and elementary schoolers have. In the “Components of the Middle School Philosophy” video, they discuss the components of successful middle schools and how these implications make a middle school more beneficial than a junior high. They talk about teaming with common student groups as a feature of successful middle schools where teachers are able to come together to provide a cohesive and adequate education for their students needs. These teams of teachers can also provide advisory to their students that focus on the developmental needs of students rather than just educational needs. This understanding of how important the developmental and emotional needs of students are in conjunction with educational success is the unique factor between middle school and junior high and what makes middle schools more successful. 

    Teaming is a feature of middle schools that has been shown to be very successful for student success. My CT for my placement is part of a same-student team of teachers. The team is made up of different content area teachers, a language arts, math, science and social studies team that work together to accurately provide for their students. They are able to compare their individual curriculums and the needs of their shared students and work together to make changes or provide extra support their students may need. I believe that my CT also meets with the other social studies teachers in her building, however, when it comes to her students developmental and emotional needs, she talks to her team to adjust her lessons to what they might be needing. I’ve also noticed that she has a really great relationship with her students, taking the time to know about their family dynamic, things that they’re interested in, and their strengths and weaknesses academically and socially. With all of these things in mind, she is able to mold her curriculum or the activities she does in class to the needs of her students.

    When I was in middle school, my school did teaming with concentration areas, so all of our sixth grade language arts teachers were a team, seventh grade math teachers were a team and so on with each grade and content being a team. Sometimes it didn't even feel like there was actually a team in place, especially from the standpoint of a student because all of the teachers that I had were doing such different things and there was no uniformity. My brother is now in sixth grade, and nine years later at the same school, his teachers are part of a team that works with the same students. He very rarely has tests in different subjects on the same day because his teachers can coordinate their curriculum and he talks about some of his subjects overlapping from time to time. He just had parent teacher conferences where all of his content area teachers met together with him and my parents to talk about the things they think he does well with as well as the things they all have noticed together that they would like to see improvement on. It was a great thing having all of his teachers on the same page and all aware of his needs as a student. They were able to provide a plan that they can all uphold because they're all on the same page and want to see their common student succeed. Success can be maintained in all of the classes with all of the teachers knowing what he needs to be successful developmentally and educationally. 

    As we continue to talk about the importance of middle school and the uniqueness of it, the more I am reminded that being a good middle school teacher is not just about having students who retain information. It is largely about being able to support students emotionally and developmentally which can translate into their academic success.

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 4 - February 9, 2020

How do our knowledge and beliefs about educating young adolescents affect our work?  What will be your Legacy?

     This week we talked about “This We Believe” and reflected on our own individual beliefs about teaching and middle school programs. One of the most prominent ideas from our discussions in class and in our call with John Swaim was to find something that we care about and put all of our efforts into making it a reality. Talking more about “This We Believe” was very helpful because it helped give some examples of what teachers should be focused and dedicated to doing to ensure middle level students are receiving the best education for their unique age group. “This We Believe” says that there are four essential attributes that young adolescent education must have, including being developmentally responsive, challenging, empowering and equitable. Along with those 4 attributes to young adolescent education, there are 16 characteristics that educators must be aware of and work towards in order to allow young adolescents to be successful. By believing in these characteristics and working to achieve them everyday, teachers are able to advocate for the young adolescents in their classroom. 

     In the field, I have seen many of these 16 characteristics being put into action. In the schools that I have been in, I have seen all of the “Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment” characteristics being used, especially using multiple learning and teaching approaches and providing curriculum that is challenging, exploratory, integrative, and relevant. I have also seen guidance services used in the field and the environment of the school being safe, inviting and inclusive, although there is always room for improvement on this characteristic. One of the characteristics that I do not see a lot of is “Health and wellness are supported in curricula, school-wide programs, and related policies.” I have not heard of students taking health and wellness courses in middle school and I haven’t heard or seen many adults addressing these topics in their content areas where applicable too. Students do take mandatory physical education classes and the school lunches are relatively nutritious, but I do not see a lot of outright efforts to inform students of physical and mental wellness in all areas of the school.

     While schools are doing a lot more to educate students on health and wellness now, I think schools should start implementing actual courses on it in middle school. I can think of so many people who would have benefited greatly from taking a health course in middle school as opposed to highschool, myself included. I remember being in middle school and everyone’s bodies were changing and we were all going through so many hormonal and emotional changes and some kids were not aware of what these changes meant. I know it is the same way now; young adolescents are physically changing, they are developing sexual interests and mental health begins to change as well. I was in middle school when I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety and I never got to actually learn about what that looked like in the brain and learn how it can affect people until I took a health class in high school. It was very isolating, and left me feeling misunderstood because I wasn’t aware that many other kids were going through the same mental changes as I was, or having some of the same feelings. While I was lucky enough to have parents that saw my mental health wavering so young, many parents when I was in middle school, and still today don’t take mental health as seriously as they should and I feel like leaving kids in a lesser mental state untreated can lead to those issues becoming worse later in adolescents. Health and wellness classes would be a great addition to middle school curriculum to give those students an explanation for why they are feeling the way they are, whether it be the beginning of depression or just hormonal funks. I also think health and wellness classes and discussions are hugely important in middle schools because this is when the beginning of sexual interest and activity takes place. I think that getting young adolescents educated and aware at an earlier age promotes more aware adolescents and would keep many more students safe. My high school had one mandatory health class that could be taken from freshman year to senior year, and many students put it off until their junior or senior year. I knew a few kids that were getting STDs and a few girls even getting pregnant because they weren’t given proper education earlier in their adolescents. While it should largely the parent’s responsibility to educate their children on sex and bodily changes, schools can play a huge part as well in providing further education that some kids may not receive at home. 

     One of the biggest reasons I wanted to teach middle school is because I want to be able to provide a safe space for young adolescents and be able to be a support system for them. Looking back at my time in middle school, I know that I would have enjoyed it more had I had a teacher that I felt like I could have gone to if I needed anything or if I had felt “safe” enough to participate in their classes. One of the 16 “This We Believe” characteristics says that “Every student’s academic and personal development is guided by an adult advocate” and this is one of the things that I believe in most. I think students should be supported not only academically, but also personally as they are transitioning from being young children to adolescents and I think every teacher should make their students feel like they are supported. In our talk with John Swaim, he talked about supporting the whole student, and this characteristic completely encompases that. To give students the greatest experience and education, teachers must be their advocate and be able to support them when they need it. As middle childhood educators, we are doing more than just teaching them curriculum. We are also teaching them how to handle new situations they encounter and how to be social, functioning people who will one day be able to use these developmental skills to apply for jobs, make friends and be compassionate and well informed people.

[mslloyds-reflections]

Journal 3 - February 2, 2020

How would you describe the concept of “Promoting Harmony” with young adolescents in schools?

     Promoting harmony is vital to classroom and school-wide functioning. As we’ve been discussing in class, young adolescents is such a vital time in a person’s life where so many changes are happening. Creating a harmonious space and education kids on how to engage well with each other is an important step in providing for young adolescents. In the AMLE “This We Believe - 16 Characteristics of Successful Schools” article, it is stated that successful school environments are “inviting, safe, inclusive, and supportive of all” which I think is an extremely important part of promoting harmony in schools. We want our students to feel safe and welcome when they are at school, and in order to help them through this period of change in their lives and enter adolescents with more confidence and better social awareness, young adolescents is an important time to introduce harmonious learning.

     In the classrooms I have been in, whether it be in my mom’s first grade room, my EdPsych placement, my current placement or the multitude of classrooms I’ve been a student in, one of the biggest ways teachers will promote harmony is by the seating arrangements in their classroom. Most of the time, classrooms are set up in groups of tables. Being mindful of which students are placed in which groups is important for teachers; having a mixture of learning levels, skills, genders, ethnicities and attitudes can have a huge impact on students. By diversifying their table groups, students are able to interact with others who are different from them and they are able to learn from these differences and also embrace these things that make them all unique. Teachers can also provide different and diverse learning materials to their students to help promote the same thing. 

     In highschool, I took a psychology class with a teacher who was very adamant that we were all respectful and kind to each other and often had us celebrating the things that made us all unique. She did a great job of providing us with a diverse selection of learning materials and methods for learning because she understood that students succeed and can learn so much from others, and that harmony in the classroom is one of the keys to success. When I think of being in a highschool classroom, I often think of her room because of how calm and respectful it was and the positive feelings it would give students who were in her classes. Students were motivated, excited to come to class and strived to do well because of the environment. I would like to be aware like this teacher was, of how everyone's individual strengths can come together to make a positive learning environment for everyone. It is especially important in middle schools to be aware of the necessity for harmonious learning environments. Setting students up with the skills to work well with each other regardless of their differences and to celebrate each other and advocate for themselves and each other is one of my biggest goals as a middle school teacher.