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Lesson Reflection
Learning and using The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching by Goodwin and Hubbell definitely has made a positive impact on my instruction and on my interactions with students. As I created the lesson plan for this unit, I became more mindful and intentional about the “whys” and less about the “whats”. In other words, I was better able to prioritize the activities and texts I chose based on how those things would impact student learning instead of doing the same old things, reading the same old texts, just because that is what has been done before. Using the touchstones daily as a “do-confirm” list, has also helped me use the classroom time more efficiently, kept my students more motivated and engaged, and has led to growth in their literary and thinking skills. At the beginning of this unit, I gave the students a quick pre-test as a formative assessment of their skills. I shared the results of that activity with the students, and they set class goals (as well as individual goals) based on the data. Their discussion was very thoughtful. They considered what would be challenging but still realistic. After they finished the reader’s theater project, we reevaluated the data together, and they realized they had already met one of their goals. The class had shown excellent growth in their annotation skills. They discussed how by interacting with the text through annotation and through turning the story into a play made it much easier to understand the themes of the narratives. By meeting one goal, they were more motivated to continue working toward the other two goals. After they turned in their final essay projects, I collected the data and created a graph. The students compared the results with their formative assessment data and were excited to find that they had not only met their class goals, but exceeded them. Item two in The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching states, “I ensure students set personal learning objectives for each lesson.” (2013) I have not used this strategy often enough in the past. Observing the students during their goal setting discussions and then during their reflection discussions made me very aware of how significant this step is to student motivation and engagement. It helped them focus and take ownership of their own learning, which gave them intrinsic incentive to put out more effort and “dig deeper” into their learning. Another way the touchstones have improved my teaching is by helping me understand that feedback is a tool to deepen learning and encourage effort, not to just praise or evaluate a student and his/her work. I was much more mindful of the way I was giving students feedback, and I noticed that created a change in the way students gave each other feedback as well. During their conferences, they were asking each other questions to improve or clarify meaning instead of just saying, “Yeah, it’s good.” That was exciting to observe! Unfortunately it is easy for educators to get into a rut, and I feel that this course and the text have gotten me “unstuck”. I am excited to keep using the touchstones daily during my planning and my reflections to help me be a better teacher, the kind my students deserve. References Hubbell, E. R., & Goodwin, B. (2013). The 12 touchstones of Good teaching: A checklist for staying focused every day. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. I am in a fairly unique position. I attended a rural k-12 school district from kindergarten to high school graduation, and five years later I started teaching at that same district. I have taught every grade level in that district from second grade through twelfth. I’ve been the “newbie” working with the seasoned veteran teachers (the same people who had been my own teachers just a few years earlier), and now I find that I am one of the “old” teachers in my district; only a handful remain who have been there longer than I have. There have been times when there was an adversarial “veteran vs. rookie” climate within our school. One side clung to “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and the other to “Any change for the sake of change must be progress!” Those were the years that seemed the least productive and the most stressful.
During my teaching career, I have experienced some performance plateaus and ruts like those that Goodwin and Hubbell mention in the conclusion of The Twelve Touchstones of Good Teaching. I totally can relate to the “Winchester Mansion” effect as well (2013). I have been to more trainings and professional development than I can count. Most gave me excellent information and an abundance of tools to add to my repertoire of teaching strategies; however, most of the time it was hard to figure out how to juggle, prioritize, or piece together all of the different theories and programs. How can one person do anything “with fidelity” to see if it helps student achievement if that person is under a constant barrage of “the next new thing”? What I have liked most about the twelve touchstones is that they are concise, and they help me become more mindful and intentional about my practice of instruction. I can be more productive, be a better coach and mentor to my students, and a more effective and supportive leader with my colleagues. In the article Overcoming the Obstacles to Leadership, authors Susan Moore Johnson and Morgaen Donaldson discuss the traditional norms of teaching: autonomy, egalitarianism, and seniority. They point out that “If these norms remain dominant, many talented teachers who desire collaboration and expanded influence will become frustrated and leave education in search of another place to build a fulfilling career. Even more troubling—if these norms persist, they will continue to dissuade teachers from sharing vital knowledge about teaching and learning with their colleagues.” (2007) In order to be the very best for our students, we must be willing to collaborate and support each other. Fortunately, currently in my district we are working to overcome some of those barriers. Through our PLC work and even in our free time, we are working together to find new ways to increase student learning and achievement. I have already shared some of the information I have gained in this class from the text, as well as from our discussions, and my fellow teachers have been very open to learning more about the 12 touchstones. I will be sharing my final website project with them, and ultimately, I hope they can help me add resources to it over time. References: Hubbell, E. R., & Goodwin, B. (2013). The 12 touchstones of good teaching: A checklist for staying focused every day. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Johnson, S. M., & Donaldson, M. L. (2007, September). Overcoming the obstacles to leadership. Retrieved April 29, 2016, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept07/vol65/num01/Overcoming-the-Obstacles-to-Leadership.aspx Over the past few years, my school district has been sending cohorts of teachers through peer coaching training. We observe each other and have planning and reflective conversations with each other in order to further develop our professional expertise (Lipton & Wellman, 2014). Learning to facilitate meaningful learning conversations has helped me a lot, not only with my colleagues, but especially in my classroom with my students. I have been practicing inquiry questioning and making sure to plan those questions in advance in order to “advance the level of knowledge and understanding” I want my students to develop. I also have been more aware of limiting my own lecturing and letting students do their “fair share of talking” (Goodwin & Hubbell, 2013). I’ve noticed by changing these practices in my teaching, my students make deeper connections and find the content more relevant because they are processing their own thinking and interacting more with each other and the content than I had previously let them.
After doing the reading assignment this week in The Twelve Touchstones of Good Teaching, a couple other things I would like to try in order to improve my instruction is to journal and record my classes so I can observe patterns or identify areas where I can improve and give students more opportunities to integrate their own insights and ideas into the learning activities we are doing in class (2013). One routine I use in the classroom to encourage students to make their own explicit connections is through discussion and debate. For instance, this week my lesson asks students to read and annotate two stories, identify their themes, and analyze how the authors had developed or revealed those themes for the audience. After reading and annotating one of the stories, we played a “fishbowl discussion” game. The students are put into teams of four. Each team sends a person into the “fishbowl”. The players in the fishbowl each are given four “talking chips” and have a timed discussion. All other players outside of the fishbowl take notes on the discussion. When time is up, we count the talking chips that have been used, and teams are given points for chips played. *One note: I can take chips out of the “pot” if a player is too far off topic or just repeating the same information, or if they become rude or threatening. Once I take a chip, the team does not get it back, so they are at a disadvantage during the later rounds. We do four rounds, each one gets shorter. Students have learned to put their most talkative and assertive players in the shortest round. This means the quieter students get to participate in the longer rounds and have more opportunities to talk without being interrupted by students who often demand most of the attention. Sometimes we make it more challenging by banning any “repeats”, which means people in the later rounds have to take good notes, so they can make sure not to repeat ideas that someone else brought up earlier. Sometimes, I will also yell “Source,” and the student who is talking must tell the group the source of the information, especially when we are reading nonfiction texts and using text to support claims in arguments. If they cannot cite their source, I take a chip. My students get very excited about our “fishbowl talks” and request to have them when we are brainstorming ideas before writing. The winners never get any prizes, just bragging rights. By using some friendly and structured competition, the content becomes very relevant to them, and they push themselves to know the material better so they can earn points for their team. References Hubbell, E. R., & Goodwin, B. (2013). The 12 touchstones of good teaching: A checklist for staying focused every day. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Lipton, L., & Wellman, B. M. (2014). Learning-focused supervision: Developing professional expertise in standards-driven systems. Charlotte, VT: MiraVia. During my 20 years of teaching, I have taught every grade level from a second grade self-contained class where I started, to a block-plan schedule where I instructed ELA fifth and grade classes, to seventh and eighth grade ELA, ninth grade world literature, British literature, and finally to a twelfth grade concurrent credit class. The one constant challenge throughout all of those has been that there never feels like there is enough time.
I have learned many tricks through trial and error to make the most of every minute I have with students. Many of these were mentioned in Goodwin and Hubbell’s book The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching. I “account for every minute” when planning, and that includes trying to anticipate interruptions or possible obstacles. From the very first day of the new school year, I establish clear routines and procedures to reduce lost time. For instance, when students arrive, they know they will have a “do now” or “bell work” vocabulary activity (2013). For many years this was a paper-and-pencil type of task, but recently I have started using some technology for this. The Nearpod app is “an interactive tool for teachers to engage students with interactive lessons” on their cell phones or other devices. I can design a quick interactive lesson, and synchronize all their devices. They walk in the room, immediately get on their phone (or one of the Ipads or tablets I have on hand in my room), type in the posted PIN number to join the lesson, and get started immediately while I take attendance, pass out papers, or do other “housework.” We can do a “live session” where I control the pace from my computer, or I can set it so they can work at their own pace. The live session is nice because their responses or the results of surveys or polls can be shown on the SMARTboard. This provides them with some immediate feedback as well. I have found that the use of technology gets them to work much faster. Currently I have been trying to use exit tickets through Google Classroom to try to make the end of class as efficient. I purchased some graphic organizer templates for exit tickets that can be used easily through Google Docs and Google Classroom from TeachersPayTeachers. (The $3.00 I spent was well worth the time I saved trying to create them myself.) The nice part here is that students can get quick feedback from their peers. I also use clickers and other polling technology to break up chunks of time during a lesson. Now, here’s where I need to say that the reading this week left me feeling a little disheartened. I put a lot of pressure on myself to never waste time with students. On top of my academic content lessons, this includes planning some time for class and team building, which I feel is also important. I also even plan time to “check in” or get to know my students well. After reading about time audits down to minutes and seconds or having teachers lug their belongings in mobile carts from classroom to classroom to save a few minutes here and there, I think realistically we must remember that we are human. Just like kids, we need time to use the bathroom and have a little down time to process, and unlike kids, there are days that our age or our health places limitations on our pacing. The ideal would be that I could maintain the fast-paced, change-it-up-every-15-minutes, rigorous momentum that would keep kids entertained and engaged constantly for seven and a half hours straight, but is that realistic? It is important to constantly strive to make better use of our time, but we also need to not berate ourselves when we fall a little short. In Creating Cultures of Thinking, I really liked what author Ron Ritchart had to say about managing energy, not just time. Thinking in terms of energy expenditure, energy gains, and energy renewal can help teachers reflect on their own values, enthusiasm, and engagement. He describes an energy audit where you look at each activity of your teaching day and identify which activities energized you, which were neutral, and which drained you. Several studies have shown that “time well spent” or time spent doing what energizes you, is “universally valued and held at a premium in terms of eliciting personal satisfaction and happiness. Your energy as the guide in the classroom begets student energy. Likewise, if a teacher is stressed, negative, and tired, students are impacted negatively. The author suggests teachers build in recovery routines or occasions for downtime to recharge (2015). This is true for our students as well. According to Loehr and Schwartz, “our bodies naturally begin to crave periods of rest and recovery after about 90 to 120 minutes.” (2003) To be honest, as I get older, I think my body craves it more often! References Hubbell, E. R., & Goodwin, B. (2013). The 12 touchstones of good teaching: A checklist for staying focused every day. ASCD. Loehr, J. E., & Schwartz, T. (2003). The power of full engagement: Managing energy, not time, is the key to high performance and personal renewal. New York: Free Press. Ritchhart, R. (2015). Creating cultures of thinking: The 8 forces we must master to truly transform our schools. John Wiley & Sons. According to Mary Cay Ricci, author of Mindsets in the Classroom, there are four necessary components to creating a growth mindset culture in the classroom. (2015)
An educator with a growth mindset believes all learners are capable of growing and improving, even when they face challenges. I like the idea that ALL students should have access to “advanced learning opportunities.” No student potential should be limited because of a low test score or a bad letter grade in the past. Additionally, from being in the classroom for many years, I know personally just how important it is for students to have “grit” and be resilient in the face of a challenge. A fixed mindset makes learners feel helpless, “believing their aptitude to be something innate and not developed through effort.” (Goodwin & Hubbell, 2013) Too often, I have heard kids say, “I’m just not good at this,” or “I’m not one of the smart kids.” It’s tragic that so many kids (adults too) do not understand how failures and taking risks are opportunities for growth and can ultimately improve performance. In his video available on YouTube, Trever Ragan describes Carol Dweck’s series of experiments related to mindsets. He also explains how feedback that praises effort as opposed to ability increases student motivation and effort, as well as willingness to try solving harder problems. Even though I have become more mindful of the feedback (especially praise) that I give to my students, I still struggle with the vernacular. Many times when I am trying to give guidance or motivate students during a conference, my wording still feels awkward, and I notice that I still use some controlling or judgemental feedback. One source that I found to be very helpful this week was the link to Mindset Works, specifically the PDF entitled Growth Mindset Feedback. It offers language frames that can be used in different situations “to give learners feedback about their progress and results so they can specifically see their growth” (2002-2016). Another source I plan to use much more in the future is Ricci’s book Ready-to-use Resources for Mindsets in the Classroom. She provides templates and activities that teachers can easily insert into their curriculum to help students and parents understand how a growth mindset positively impacts neural networks in the brain. There are goal setting and planning templates for both students and teachers that provide a “roadmap” to help change the culture of the classroom (and the entire school community) to encourage a community of learners who help provide each other with feedback and support that focuses on effort and growth instead of innate ability or letter grades. (2015) One last thing I feel I should address is timeliness of feedback because it was an important component in our reading in The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching (2013). I agree wholeheartedly that feedback should have “an appropriate level of immediacy”, but I often fall short here. During conferencing and in our writing workshop, I am able to provide feedback in a timely manner, and also my students have numerous opportunities for self-assessment and peer feedback by using interactive rubrics and checklists, peer conferences, sharing and commenting on Google Docs, and in collaborative activities. However, when it comes to scoring or grading their writing, I am having a hard time moving away from the traditional methods of marking papers. It’s hard to teach an old English teacher new tricks! Plus, it obviously takes me too long to grade or score 100+ essays. Often by the time I am done with one set, students have almost finished their next writing task. And, of course, all that marking I did is rarely even acknowledged. Students quickly look at the grade and hardly ever look at the written comments. Their parents, on the other hand, will sometimes look over the corrections I’ve made. In the past I’ve even had parents let me know I missed correcting a spelling error on their child’s essay. In my district, I am required to enter weekly grades, so I’m still struggling with finding a better alternative to this old method, juggling old school parent and administration expectations and requirements with research based, growth mindset practices. References Hubbell, E. R., & Goodwin, B. (2013). The 12 touchstones of Good teaching: A checklist for staying focused every day. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Mindset maker: Growth mindset feedback [PDF]. (2002-2016). Mindset Work, Inc. Ragan, T. (2014, January 30). Carol dweck - A study on praise and mindsets. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWv1VdDeoRY Ricci, M. C. (2015). Ready-to-use resources for mindsets in the classroom: Everything teachers need for classroom success. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press. In 1913, Thomas Edison predicted that books would become obsolete in schools, replaced entirely by motion pictures (Smith, 1913, 24). I can’t imagine what he would think of the current “Knowledge Revolution fueled by personal computers video games, the Internet, and cell phones” (Collins & Halverson, 2009, 4). I have been fascinated by the way the classroom is rapidly evolving, incorporating new technologies at breakneck speed. Online grading programs, parent emails and Skype conferences, virtual field trips, educational apps and social networking, Google Classroom, discussion posts and blogs, unlimited information at the tips of everyone’s fingertips tucked neatly into plastic phone cases… these are all exciting, but they also create some trepidation. To incorporate all of these tools into learning, teachers must be trained, students must be given opportunities for access, and new literacies must be taught. It can be very overwhelming, especially to those of us who have been teaching in public schools for over 20 years. Somedays, it feels a little like juggling chainsaws to turn the traditional, rigid structure of pen-and-paper assignments to collaborative, multi-dimensional, fast-paced activities that keep students energetic and motivated to learn. Honestly, it makes me tired, but I know how important it is for my students to be lifelong learners and prepared for college and their future careers.
One thing I have learned about my 7th and 8th grade students is that they love to argue! They are passionate about their opinions. In The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching, the authors discuss “Structured Academic Controversy” (Goodwin & Hubbell, 2013, 71). This year I have used this with much success. We have been having monthly formal debates on a variety of topics, everything from “Should countries be allowed to claim territory in space” to “Does standardized testing improve student learning?”, as well as literary debates like “At the end of Frank Stockton’s story The Lady? Or the Tiger? which door did the princess choose?” The students are eager to get on their phones or on their computers and do research so they are well prepared to “win” the debate. The proposition and opposition teams adhere to strict speaking and listening rules, as well as a timed schedule. Students also take turns being “judges”. They use a very specific rubric to assign points for respect for the other team, using valid evidence from reliable sources, citing sources, and note taking. They have gotten so good at guiding these debates that my only role lately has been to keep track of the timer. I learn a lot about my students when they bring up evidence from their personal experiences in these debates. After the debates, students do a “Write About” activity to document their thinking about the topic after they have heard evidence from both sides. I would like to use this same motivation to get kids connecting online in group discussions. I have been wanting to try out Collaborize Classroom to continue our discussions online in a structured and private community. I think some students might feel even more confident to contribute their ideas through technology, especially when public speaking and face-to-face conflict gives them anxiety. According to Catlin Tucker in an article entitled The Basics of Blended Instruction, “technology shouldn't be something else you have to add to your already full plate. Instead, use technology to replace and improve what you already do.” (2013) Ultimately, this is my goal, to improve student motivation, engagement, and learning by replacing some of my outdated teaching techniques with richer, more relevant strategies. Also, by using technology, I do not have to be the only one they are relying on for feedback and support. “When students are connected online, they have a network of peers they can reach out to for support, and they begin to see one another as valuable resources in their class community.” References Collins, A., & Halverson, R. (2009). Rethinking education in the age of technology: The digital revolution and schooling in America. New York: Teachers College Press. Hubbell, E. R., & Goodwin, B. (2013). The 12 touchstones of good teaching: A checklist for staying focused every day. ASCD. Smith, F. J. (1913, July 9). The evolution of the motion picture: VI - Looking into the future with Thomas A. Edison. The New York Dramatic Mirror, 24. Tucker, C. R. (2013). The basics of blended instruction. Educational Leadership, 70(6), 57-60. In the past I have struggled with the overall concept of formative assessment. It seems too often I have heard it described as a “pre-test”, but through my research this week, I have gained a much deeper understanding of what it actually is. According to the book Formative assessment: Making it happen in the classroom by Margaret Heritage, “Formative assessment is a continuous process, integrated into instruction to collect evidence about how student learning is progressing toward learning goals.” (2010) This process should always include the student as an “active agent in learning”, working not FOR the teacher, but WITH the teacher to bridge the gap between what he/she already knows or understands with the desired learning outcomes. I love the idea that through this process the students are given tools and empowered to drive their own learning. The teacher’s role becomes guide as opposed to master. I was also happy to learn that many of the strategies and tricks that I have already been using in my classroom are part of this process. I use quick checks like thumbs up/thumbs down, exit tickets, white boards, clickers, red/green flags, etc… I will continue to use those formative assessments, as well as some of the new techniques I learned from the PDF linked in the interactive lecture, 56 Different examples of formative assessment. (Wees, n.d.)
Another “aha” I got this week was the importance of feedback to mediate learning. All too often, the majority of feedback that students receive is vague without any direction on how to improve. Many students and parents check our online gradebooks weekly to look at the “progress” being made in the classroom, but letter grades or percentage correct vs. incorrect scores rarely indicate the learning that is or is not happening in the classroom. Sometimes they only represent how many assignments the student has not handed in by the deadline. I wonder how it would be possible to shift this thinking. Formative assessments need not be “graded” in the traditional sense, but they should be used to check for understanding, drive instruction, and provide helpful feedback. (Dodge, 2009) During a training in which I recently participated, Dr. Anne Pierce discussed different types of feedback we provide to students. Feedback with judgment (both praise and corrective), personal observation, and inference often stops thinking. However, feedback using clear, observable data and meditative questions encourages learners to “dig deeper” and analyze their learning. To meet the requirements for this class, I am going to be teaching a lesson/module about understanding the ways an author develops theme in a narrative text to my 8th grade students. I have developed my short pre-assessment to find out if they can define theme, identify theme in a very short text, and list things from the story that helped them recognize the theme. We are currently on spring break, so I will be giving this assessment next Monday when we return to school. I have also collected some new formative assessments I’d like to use during the lesson to check understanding and provide opportunities for good, helpful feedback to the students. I’ve attached the pdf files of the activities I’d like to try. Some are collaborative, while others are independent activities. The files are all from Dodge’s book. (2009) Also, I plan to let students give input on the rubric we use for our final projects. Reference: Dodge, J. (2009). 25 quick formative assessments for a differentiated classroom. Scholastic. Heritage, M., & Stigler, J. W. (2010). Formative assessment: Making it happen in the classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Pierce, A., Dr. (2016, March 14). Learning focused Conversations: Peer coaching [Class Lecture]. Southeast BOCES, La Junta, CO. Wees, D. (n.d.). 56 Different Examples of Formative Assessment. Retrieved March 17, 2016, fromhttps://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nzhdnyMQmio5lNT75ITB45rHyLISHEEHZlHTWJRqLmQ/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000&slide=id.p Many important things have surfaced for me this week as I’ve done the reading, watched videos, and looked at the supplemental sources that were recommended in the interactive lecture, as well as in the discussion posts. Some of the class materials have also led me to seek out other books and online articles that provide a different perspective or go deeper into the neuroscience of motivation and goal setting. Having not been a formal student in a graduate level class for many years, I am in awe of the richness and vast amount of resources that are available so easily. Although I have found that notion thrilling, I have also found myself overwhelmed trying to tie all of that material into a neat bundle and put my thinking into a discussion post. My feelings of inadequacies in this area have kept me from posting before this evening, and my biggest “aha” this week has been to realize how my own students feel when they doubt their skills or ability to succeed. According to Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy, “People will engage in activities if they feel they are competent in them. Failure may be due to lack of skills or the efficacy to use them.” (Gregory & Kaufeldt, 2013) This has made me more aware in my classroom to pay attention to any subtle behavioral clues my students give when they are beginning to lose motivation because they are doubting their capabilities. It has helped with building relationships and classroom management.
Thinking about setting personal learning goals with students really made me want to learn about what motivates students to learn. In the book The Motivated Brain, the authors delve into the neuroscience of motivation and discuss a system they refer to as SEEKING. One of the interesting elements that stood out to me was that “dopamine releases when students have a chance to seek and explore using technology.” (Gregory & Kaufeldt, 2013) I feel that finding ways to incorporate technology in the process of setting goals, and then even finding ways for students to track their progress with technology, might be a way to seamlessly work this into their daily routines. Unfortunately, in a small, rural school district, technology is not always easy to get to. One idea for goal setting I liked from Enhancing the Art & Science of Teaching With Technology by Sonny Magana and Robert Marzano is posting the next day’s learning goal on a class website each evening (2014). Students could even generate predictions about new content that might be coming up. Also, the scale or the rubric that will be used could be posted on the site. I liked their ideas on using features on the Interactive Whiteboard to draw attention and remind students of the learning goals, like using the scrolling text function to have the learning objective or goal reminder moving on the screen to draw attention to it like the nightly news ticker. Another idea I think I will use is for students to paraphrase their learning goal, “creating examples and analogies to deepen their understanding,” and then their responses can be shared using polling software or an app that allows their restatements of the goals to be shared in a novel way. In order to motivate my students, I plan to use technology in a more intentional way to help students set their personal learning goals and track their progress. I want to use it to help me unpack the standards in order to become more efficient at creating clear objectives and essential questions to guide my teaching. I also want to continue working on ways to encourage self-efficacy in myself as a learner and in my students so they are more motivated to be engaged in learning and achieving their own goals. One last thought, “No one accidentally gets better at anything. It takes determination and work… Every act of learning requires effort.” (Goodwin & Hubbell, 2013) Ain’t that the truth! Learning to be a student again, especially while teaching, planning, grading, and being a mom is tough! I’m hoping I can build my stamina and get into a routine. The amount I’ve learned in less than two weeks is awesome! References Goodwin, B., Hubbell, E. (2013). The 12 touchstones of good teaching: A checklist for staying focused every day. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Gregory, G., & Kaufeldt, M. (2013). The motivated brain: Improving student attention, engagement, andperseverance. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Magaña, S., & Marzano, R. J. (2014). Enhancing the art & science of teaching with technology. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research Laboratory. Teaching day to day, instructing 70+ students on critical content while managing behavior, administrative and/or extra-curricular duties, and endless piles of paperwork often feels overwhelming. When my planning hour finally arrives, I have sometimes found that my mind is a whirlwind, trying to process and reflect upon my previous lessons and interactions with students while simultaneously trying to plan and prepare for the remainder of the afternoon. My initial feeling after watching the webinar and learning about the 12 Touchstones was relief. The idea of a do-confirm checklist makes sense. Not only does it encourage being more mindful and intentional as an instructor, but it provides a managable framework to "tame the whirlwind" and help me prioritize what is truly important, which is "to be first a teacher of the learner, ... and to be a good teacher of the subject." (Tan, 2012) I was familiar with many of the theories behind the 12 Touchstones, but Goodwin and Hubbell compiled them into a concise, clear list that I can use to "trim the fat" from my work. It will remind me to focus on those things that are the most important when I'm planning and reflecting.
Although I would like to work on all three of the imperatives for good teaching - be demanding, be supportive, be intentional - I think I will begin by finding better ways to ensure students set personal learning objectives and helping them do something with their learning. In the past I feel I have overlooked these at times, but I am reminded now of how important it is for students to have ownership of their learning. They will be more motivated to be engaged and to learn concepts more deeply if there is a real-world reason or opportunity at stake. References Tan, A. (2012, February 11). OECD - Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4EOUvX4QM0 Goodwin, B., & Hubbell, E. R. (2013). The 12 touchstones of good teaching: A checklist for staying focused every day. Alexandria, VI: ASCD. |
AuthorCarolanna Traver has been a k-12 educator for over 20 years. She is currently pursuing her MS in Teaching and Learning with an emphasis on English through CSU Global Campus. This site began as her portfolio project. Archives
July 2016
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