Since I started my teaching career without an education in teaching, I was prone to all the beginner mistakes that one can imagine. The mistakes were many and included such follies as not setting rules and procedures, believing hour long lectures is “just how teaching’s done”, and even showing a youtube video on Hindu practices without actually viewing the whole video first - yikes! (The last mistake had little to do with not having an education degree and more to do with lacking some good ol’ common sense).  

One of my mistakes included a mistake in perspective or belief. I had the dubious perspective that an education degree was a waste of time when all one really had to do was major in their respective field and then after obtaining all the knowledge needed, you would just saunter into the classroom and of course, teach. Well, it took me about twenty minutes in the classroom before I realized that there is serious method to the madness and since I totally lacked the method, well, total madness was the learning objective we most often accomplished.

Years of experience gleaned from “real” teachers and an annual recurring enrollment in the school of hard knocks has shaped things up quite well for me and my students. While I am grateful for this, I must say that the Teach-Now program is far exceeding my expectations and is serving as the polished finish on this rusty teacher.

There have been multiple activities and insights that have propelled my teaching ability forward exponentially. This lesson, however, has topped them all. Until this lesson, I did not really grasp the importance of standards to shape everything else that goes on in the classroom. What a revelation it is to be able to unpack these standards and watch closely as the big idea emerges from the nouns, the skills to be taught and honed arrive from the verb(s), assessments become more clear and focused, and relevant and pinpoint accurate activities can be developed.  

I look forward to the unpacking of each standard that I select for a unit and I know that through this unpacking process the lessons will be much richer and relevant, teaching more focused, learning more enjoyable, practical, and measurable, and assessment strategies more broad.

I have created my own standard unpacking grid:

“Why do we need to study British Literature in Cambodia?”

This 12 grade student had the same question I asked myself when I was approached about teaching this class at the close of last school year. Of course, I didn’t actually voice this question to the administration the way he voiced it to me on this day. But I did go and get some answers and fortunately, I had the foresight to teach these answers to the students before we began our British literature adventure.

“Great question!” I enthusiastically said. “One reason can be seen in our need to be able to really analyze people and time periods and relate those qualities and influences to the art and literary works of their time period. This just is one of the ways we come to grasp a fuller understanding of our world and the people who shape our cultures. We need to be able to analyze an author, for example, and see the connections between their character and personality and the literary work they produced.” Although I didn’t tell him, I knew that this was the reason I chose this particular standard for this Gothic literature unit where Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is used as our primary text.

Virginia State English 12 Standard | Reading 12.4.d

Relate literary works and authors to major themes and issues of their eras.

Through this unit students will become proficient at:

Identifying themes in literature

Identifying the major issues of the romantic time period

Understanding the concept of author profiling

Connecting common era issues with themes in literature

Connecting author personality with key themes in literature

Students will prove their proficiency through three formative and one summative assessment. Two Plickers quizzes will be presented in the unit as a check for understanding. In addition, a reflection paper on the learning outcome of the “anticipate” activity will serve as a formative check for understanding. As a summative assessment the students will create a storyboard that includes characteristics and personality traits of Mary Shelley, issues of the Romantic era and connect them with the major themes in Frankenstein.   

The first activity to engage and move students towards proficiency will involve anticipating the personality traits of the author, Mary Shelley, by reading a bio of the romantic era and a short bio on Mary Wollstonecraft, Shelley’s mother. The students will speculate on the personality of Mary Shelley by writing a fictitious bio. The students will then read a real bio on Mary Shelley and compare and contrast the real bio with their speculative bio.

The second activity to engage and move students towards proficiency will involve anticipating the major themes of Frankenstein by reading a second bio on Mary Shelley and the romantic era. Students will list speculative themes (at least 5) with an accompanying explanation. Students will keep this speculative theme activity and see how many themes they got correct (or close) as they read through Frankenstein.

The third activity will involve a mix and match game where student groups are given a many themes to multiple British literature text of the romantic era. The students will read excerpts from each novel and choose which theme belongs to which novel. They will need to give a reason for that particular theme connecting with a particular novel. The game will end with answers revealed and explained.

When considering reinforcement for classroom behavior, it is as important to offer as much positive reinforcement for good classroom behavior as it is for corrective reinforcement for negative classroom behavior (Marzano, 2007). The style, frequency, and consistency of reinforcement for both positive and negative classroom behaviors may make the difference between a classroom atmosphere of respect and learning and one where chaos is a norm.

The style of both positive and negative reinforcement for behavior is of critical importance. While it is often beneficial to offer positive reinforcement in public, so as to highlight positive student behavior expectations, it is recommended that negative reinforcement be as private as possible so as to not shame the student, nor allow for more of a disruption than the negative behavior has already caused (Marzano, 2007). For example, technology makes it possible to highlight and reinforce positive behavior in a tactful but public manner. During a classroom learning activity a teacher may have ClassDojo on the screen where students can observe points being awarded to students who are on task or participating (ClassDojo, n.d.). Other forms of positive reinforcement can be verbal praise, smiles, or encouraging words after class. In addition, it has been well documented that contacting parents to report positive student behavior can be a very powerful reinforcement tool (Marzano, 20017).

Negative behavior can be corrected with less public, distraction minimizing strategies (Marzano, 2007). With clear classroom rules and procedures in place, each student can be expected to know proper classroom behavior during instruction and activities. With these rules and procedures in place, a teacher can then confidently offer correction to students who are engaged in negative classroom behavior. With students who have particularly challenging diagnosis, like ADHD, a teacher may choose to collaborate with the student to minimize classroom distractions. For example, a teacher and student may set up an agreement where the teacher taps student on shoulder when the student is displaying behavior that usually precipitates negative classroom behavior (Marzano, 2007). Another strategy that ensures minimal distraction is to use a student management card (SMC). A SMC can be used anytime a student is displaying a disrupting and/or negative classroom behavior (see pic).

The presenting of the card to the student indicates to the student that they have been flagged for a particular negative behavior. In addition, the card lets the student know the consequence that they can expect if the behavior does not cease. As indicated on the card, the student keeps the card in the corner of their desk and if the negative behavior stops, the student may simply throw the chit away at the end of class. However, if the negative behavior persists, the teacher will simply indicate to the student that the consequence is being carried out.

With a plethora of options for reinforcing positive behavior and correcting negative behavior, a teacher can ensure that they are frequently and consistently managing classroom behavior in such a way so as to fosters a positive learning environment. Public but tactful reinforcement of positive class behavior and private, collaborative correction of negative class behavior helps make this type of classroom a reality. The conceptualization of this type of classroom management strategy can be seen in the flow chart below.

ClassDojo for Teachers. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2017, from

https://teach.classdojo.com/#/classes/5a031a1a21f124210ccf049c/points?_k=yn8mn8

Marzano, R. J. (2007, June 30). The Art and Science of Teaching: A Comprehensive Framework for Effective Instruction. Retrieved November 07, 2017, from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED509077

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, teaching is an art. Roller coaster physics, 3rd grade Chinese math, and whole brain teaching offer three diverse teaching strategies that all require training, practice, and seem to be quite effective. What a great reminder that teaching has no one-size-fits-all strategy or what I guess you could call a meta-strategy. Teaching requires creative teachers willing to learn, develop, make mistakes, and keep moving forward for the sake of the students and their futures.

The roller coaster physics class was, for me, the ideal learning situation. The teacher had obviously implemented and practiced excellent norms and procedures. From what could be observed on the video, it seemed every child knew what was expected of him/her and remained on task and engaged. There seemed to be an extremely high level of respect for one another (even the young girl with a severe speech impediment was not afraid to speak out) and this only aided their organized and safe learning situation. For a 5th and 6th grade class that was engaged to the level I observed in the video, student academic expectations must be consistently high. This high level of student expectation could be deduced from the teacher’s explanation of the unit and what she expected from each student.

The 3rd grade Chinese maths class is structured in a way considered “old school” by many western teachers and curriculum coordinators. Rote memorization, whole class focused on the teacher at the whiteboard, and student work being displayed on the whiteboard while peers observe student working out a problem have all but been disregarded for more more collaborative, creative, and less risky strategies. That being said, it is well documented that China (especially cities like Shanghai) boast top scorers on international maths tests. I have no doubt that procedures and norms are put in place, as students seem to know what’s expected of them. This teaching model may lend itself to a lower student expectancy than other models but likely students in this environment have very high social and parental learning expectations. In countries, like China, where education is valued so highly, behaviour problems are less frequent that in other learning cultures.

The whole brain teaching method seemed engaging if not a little overactive. As the website advertises, this teaching method is often found most effective for challenging learners. Student who have ADHD or any type of behavior concerns may find this whole body engaging way of learning necessary for engagement. Procedures and norms are obviously extremely high for this method of teaching. In fact, I am sure that as the year begins, there is a long process of teaching students the signs and procedures and then practicing often. Once in place, however, students will likely know exactly what’s expected of them in the classroom and this may result in less frequent behavior concerns and other distractions that take time away from learning.    

As a high school English and Biblical Studies teacher, I knowingly and unknowingly use some of these same strategies to create a learning environment that fosters high student expectations. Through my learning in this program, I have encountered strategies that I will implement to improve learning, behavior, and expectancy outcome in my students. After our learning from unit 2, it occurred to me that the few behavior challenges that I have had this year have been due to my lack of clear communication and implementation of rules, procedures, and norms as the year began. This is something I plan to change at the semester break. When class resumes for the second semester, I will be implementing some rules and procedures regarding the use of technology that I am certain will improve our class learning environment.

For this unit it became clear to me that I treat students differently depending on my level of learning expectancy that I have for them. Understanding this, I have taken stock of who and why I expect less from certain students and I have made a commitment to override my bias and ensure that I treat each student the same, exhibiting the same behaviors for each student. Today in class, I had a chance to mentally self-correct as I approached a student who I have a lower expectancy towards. I reminded myself that this student really does have the capability to learn at the highest level and my actions, tone, and demeanor adjusted to match what it is for the more “gifted” students.