Reflect after reading Chapters 8-11:
As you begin to imagine a full lesson in a thinking classroom, what practices will support student autonomy and ownership? How will you know if the practices are working?
Consider the following questions:
- What is resonating with you from the reading?
- What caused you to pause and think during this section?
Chapters 8 and 9 made me reflect big time. I see and value the need for autonomy but also value the opportunity to push kids further along when it comes to hints or extensions. It brought to mind a seasonal math concept review game that we do fairly often in class called Unlock. There's a set number of challenges and the kids work through them in student-selected partnerships and move their game piece as they compete each challenge. The hard part is making sure to ask them about their thinking and take their understanding to a higher level, especially when the kids are all moving at different paces. I need to work harder to give those keep-thinking type of questions at the ready to make sure they can deepen their understanding while not slowing their roll.
ReplyDeleteChapter 10 sure made me pause and think. I feel definitely guilty of what Schoenfeld called 'leveling the top' where i go over the most advanced solutions and hope that that review helps those that aren't there yet all of a sudden understand how to do the next one. I need to be better about consolidating from the bottom to make sure i'm not inflicting what I want the students to ultimately reach because then they are no longer engaged or thinking. I love the idea of using the gallery walk for students to see and speak about their own work and the work of their peers. This is something i will try to use moving forward.
Liljedahl mentions a few times in this book that thinking and engagement are closely related. When I work with teachers, I try to pay close attention to the engagement in the room throughout the various activities. During the portions where it seems like teachers are most engaged, I can practically FEEL the thinking that is happening among the teachers around the room. Not surprising, the most engagement and thinking occurs while the teachers are working in random groups on VNPSs together on a rich task. ;)
ReplyDeleteI was asked one time, "Would you like to be a student in your classroom? If so, why? What it is about your classroom or teaching that would make you want to be a learner in it?" This caused a lot of reflection out of me. We can all probably relate to being a learner in a situation where we had a negative experience. Was it because the presenter was doing all of the talking and thinking? Was it because we weren't allowed to stand up and move?Although I'm not in the classroom anymore, I often ask myself, "Would I like to be an elementary math teacher in Tahoma? What is it about the way that I lead and/or support that would make me excited/empowered/grateful/ to be an elementary math teacher in Tahoma?" Reflection is important. When we learn how to be better...we should do what it takes to be better. 💙
The idea of mobilizing knowledge will be so powerful to those that can embrace it. I feel that it is not only a shift in thinking for students, but could also be for teachers. But it can do so much to help create student independence. A mentor early on in my career once told me that if I am exhausted at the end of the day, I'm not doing it right. The kids should be doing most of the work in the classroom, not me.
ReplyDeleteSomething that stood out to me in chapter 10 was when reading about the gallery walks. I've done these in years past, but I had a bit of an aha moment when he mentioned having classmates explain what the group was thinking on the board they were looking at. Most of the time I would have one of the group members (preferably one who didn't contribute as much) explain, but having an outsider explain seems so powerful.
I had not heard that saying, if I'm exhausted at the end of they day I'm not doing it right. That's a good way to think about this way of teaching. I also agree with having someone else explain what another student did to answer a problem, I am going to try this soon, I think a good conversation between the students could result.
DeleteI like the idea about encouraging student thinking through ‘mobilizing knowledge’ discussed in chapter 8. By asking the students to get ideas from their peers would work better than giving them direct hints. The strategy (chapter 10) of making the group present the idea rather than their work is also good to make the students think deeper. The different concept of note taking in chapter 11 is also helpful.
ReplyDelete“Sequence of mode of engagement - doing, justifying, explaining, teaching, creating - not only increases challenge, but does so in a way that it can continue to engage, or re-engage, even the strongest groups.”(chapter 9) This is an important learning concept for me. I was not always sure why the students are having difficulties explaining the process of the work they have done. I was asking them to go from ‘doing’ to ‘explaining’ step. I need to ask them to justify their thinking. So, adding that step will encourage their thinking. I want to practice adding this step and ask students to justify their process of thinking in the work that they have done. The idea (chapter 9) of investing the first couple of weeks towards building the thinking classroom is very practical. That builds up a creatively thinking and engaged group of students, who can process the contents at a much faster pace.
This is a hard question for me, how will I support student autonomy in my thinking classroom. But I don't have a traditional classroom I teach a small group. I have started moving the desks everyday, so they don't see the same set up, I have put up an additional white board and sectioned off my larger whiteboard and ask them to use those instead of white boards at their desks. These were easy changes to make. These last few chapters are more about how I would teach them. I identify with the issue of having less control with what would be happening in my small groups. Many of my students are there because of behavior issues. They are not there because they are not smart, they are there because they have trouble caring or lack the initiative to want to try. I am curious though to try these methods and see if it would help. I really connected with the "flow", because in a small group I can differentiate as needed. I have never had them take notes, but I like the idea of having them at the end of class write down something new they learned, or a question they have now.
ReplyDeleteThe value of student autonomy in a thinking classroom definitely made me reflect on my current classroom and think about adjustments I need to make. I often worry about the 'copying' part and chapter 8 helped to change my thinking about this as groups collaborate and share strategies with each other. In chapter 9, keeping the students in 'flow' was a good reminder to me. This year I have a group that needs to be actively engaged and thinking or they get off-task quickly. When they are working in groups and 'flow' is lost, it can cause disruptive behaviors. I find, like the chapter suggested, that I have a difficult time getting around to all of the groups quickly enough and so definitely need to reinforce the idea and make a common practice of 'stealing' tasks from others.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that has resonated with me in these chapters is the idea of having students share, explain and reflect on each other’s work. Since reading about this I have tried it several times and WOW, so impactful. I have found that students are much more engaged when they are explaining the work of their classmates and the learning is huge. This is definitely a strategy I will be using often!