--Schemata & reading-to-learn process
Teachers need to connect students’ schemata with the new learning they are delivering. When students don't have a working schema, teachers need to help students create one using the schemata they currently have. That way, students can apply what they already know to the new content, and use the new schema moving forward as they navigate the following lessons.
--Instructional
Frameworks should be teacher-directed, text-based strategies. It was really helpful to have all this information laid out clearly and plainly. It's something I know I will come back to as I create lessons.
Questions for me to ask myself as a language teacher: Am I modeling how
to engage in reading? Am I helping students achieve my goals for them in the lesson? Am I helping them achieve their goals for
themselves? O'Brien mentions that this last question can be easily overlooked. What are my students goals for themselves? If I don't know what they are, or think they don't have any, then I am not connecting to the source of their potential intrinsic motivation.
--It sounds like as I get into lesson planning on a regular basis and use various tools to do so, I will need to remember to draw focus to the pre-reading phase, making sure students have the appropriate information before they even begin to read.
--Promoting self-efficacy and self-regulation in the during-reading phase -- this makes perfect sense to me, and O'Brien's lecture helped me think about this concept in a different way than I had before. I want to look out on my classroom and see students who are working themselves through the reading material on their own. I want to know that students have been able to do their homework and are prepared for class. But to do so, I need to step back to the pre-reading phase, and make sure that my students truly have the tools they need to be self-monitoring.
--Finally, I really liked the example lesson on Native American folklore. I think my favorite part was -- surprise -- the assessment they chose! What a cool idea. I love the creativity and originality of having a skit performance as an assessment for this lesson. It's perfect, and as O'Brien mentioned, I think I'm starting to see how having an assessment at the end of a lesson really gives a lesson value. Students understand that they need this information to perform a skit for their teacher and peers, and I think this is a great way to tap into intrinsic motivation, where the students end up valuing the lesson as much as the teacher.
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| A depiction of the Ojibwe trickster Nanabozho, who often takes the form of a hare. Courtesy of |
Hi Julia!
ReplyDeleteI like the ideas presented in your blog regarding students self-efficiency. The concept behind being self-efficient is of course something that teachers have to be aware of and understand how to teach. What fascinates me about your post is your discussion about self-regulation and students having the knowledge on how to self-regulate. Some of that self-regulation happens automatically. For example, if a student reads a passage from a book and thinks, "What did I just read?" that is self-regulation. There is an alternate stimulus though and it is both visual and auditory. If a student hears other students flip pages at a quicker pace than that student, he or she may think "I need to read faster" which can have both positive and negative effects.
Also, I agree with what you said about that assessment tool. Assessments that break from the norm are often the ones that leave the biggest impact on students. In addition, this alternative assessment actually excites children. Imagine that, an exciting assessment. As a soon-to-be music teacher I understand the nature of performance assessments first hand and I can fully appreciate the feeling of seeing a work (theater, music, visual art, etc.) come to life after being refined, rehearsed and otherwise improved.
The refined piece of wood-work you've posted at the bottom is a nice touch to the blog too!
Julia,
ReplyDeleteI shared many of your thoughts on this blog, as assessment really should be something engaging for the students as well as the teacher. The best part about a skit is feeling like you're having fun while showcasing your learning instead of feeling accountable for prescribed information. Connecting students to their work like this allows for real ownership of the finished product. I also agreed about encouraging self-regulation for reading tasks, and think that students would benefit a lot from evaluating themselves and creating personally meaningful goals and methods of realizing them. We have such a good source of creative potential at our fingertips when leading a class, but many teachers tend to suppress it so that standards can be met. Having clear goals is important, but the teacher's and the students goals should both be considered for evaluation of progress.