Reflection 5

The benefits of cooperative learning strategies

 During my third day-a-week visit I had the chance to observe a poetry lesson in year 8 in which a cooperative learning strategy, a so-called “Co-op co-op activity” was used (Davidson & O’Leary, 1990, qtd. in Arthur, Gordon, & Butterfield, 2003).  Working in groups of six, students were given a poem and asked to write down six different keywords on six big cardboards, one keyword per cardboard. The keywords served students as the titles of the six poems they were then asked to compose cooperatively. Every student had to compose one line for each of the poems. After the poems were completed, students were asked to read them out in their groups, to choose one poem, and to decorate it together before presenting it to the class. The activity clearly illustrates the advantages of cooperative learning, one of the most noticeable being the natural integration of academic and social skills in one activity (Arthur et al., 2003). Besides practicing their writing skills, students practice a wide range of social or “interpersonal skills”. First of all, they actively participate in “face-to face interaction”, in which they use a wide range of communication skills, such as active listening or turn-taking, or decision-making skills, when selection a poem for presentation, for example (Arthur et al., 2003). All students are “individually accountable”, that is, every student needs to compose a line for each poem so that the group can achieve its common goal (Arthur et al., 2003). This means that every student needs to take responsibility for his/her learning and that his/her contribution is as important as the contribution of all other group members (“positive interdependence”), which , in return, has got a positive impact on students’ intrinsic motivation. Another advantage is that academic content is explained and discussed amongst peers and hence on a level to which students can better relate, which enhances understanding. (Gillies & Ashman, 2000, qtd. in Arthur et al., 2003).

References:

Arthur, M., Gordon, C. & Butterfield, N. (2003). The impact of curriculum and instruction. In Classroom Management: Creating Positive Learning Environments, (pp43-52). Thomson: Southbank, Victoria.

Reflection 4

The complexity and importance of lesson planning   

Before delivering my first lesson, I sat together with my supervising teacher in order to ask her for some advice on lesson planning. The first tip my teacher gave me was to be very clear about the outcomes and indicators before beginning with the actual planning process. “Cognitive clarity” of the teacher is in fact a fundamental to successful teaching and learning, as has been corroborated by research (Killen, 2007). Not only the outcomes, but also and very importantly, the individual lesson steps always need to be mentally present to the teacher in order to convey them in a structured way and with “verbal clarity” and help students achieve in the best possible way (Killen, 2007).
Another aspect I was asked to take into account and which might seem unimportant at the first glance was the time of the day when the lesson was supposed to be delivered. For example, I was advised against introducing a new topic in the 5th or 6th period due to the poor concentration of students. The gender-specific nature of learning styles was the next point raised by my teacher, a very interesting aspect I have not thought about before since I have only taught at co-educational schools so far. I was told that male students generally prefer to do things rather than talking about it. Unfortunately enough there is only brief mention made of this in the guides I found on lesson differentiation. My practicum teacher advised me to take this into account when engaging my students in brainstorming. Rather than asking them to “just” think about ideas they associated with the lesson’s topic she recommended me to make them jot down their ideas into their workbooks. This again brought to mind the crucial importance of knowing your students well in order to differentiate the curriculum in the best possible way and adequately cater for them. Hence, part of my “homework” before starting my four weeks block is to do some research and reading on gender differences in learning styles.


References:

Killen, R. (2007) Using Direct Instruction as a Teaching Strategy. In Effective Teaching Strategies: Lessons from Research and Practice, (4th ed.), (pp 101-124). Thomson Science Press.

Reflection 3

The tremendous impact of ICT on students’ learning        

One of the projects I had a closer look at when visiting a Year 12 technology and design class, was the creation of an architectural package with the help of professional software. The project is a very illustrative example of the significance of ICT as a “mindtool” or “constructivist knowledge construction tool” (Finger, Russell, Jamieson-Proctor, & Russell, 2007) and also of how students can learn “with computers” rather than just “learning about” or “learning from computers“ (Finger et al., 2007).

First of all, the student had to teach himself how to use the software. Although the student had access to free tutorial software and received assistance from the teacher, he actively had to use lower-order skills according to the revised Bloom’s taxonomy, such as “remembering” and “understanding” to familiarize himself with the program in a first step. In a next step, in the process of creating, in which the student was likely to have encountered various problems, he had to draw on a wide range of higher-order and multidisciplinary skills, like “applying” and “synthesizing”, and “think in meaningful ways to use the application to represent” his ideas, that is, the house plans and the virtual tour (Grabe & Grabe, 2007). Besides that, the student had to engage different intelligences, such as mathematical/logical and spatial intelligence. Furthermore, by becoming a knowledgeable user of the professional software, the student took an important step towards his career goal to work as an architect, which is a great example of how ICT can make a learning experience valuable beyond the classroom (Grabe & Grabe, 2007).

References:

Finger, G., Russell, G. Jamieson-Proctor, R., Russell, N. (2007). Transforming learning with ICT: Making IT happen. Frenchs Forest. Pearson Education Australia.

Grabe, M. & Grabe, C. (2007). Integrating Technology for meaningful learning. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Reflection 2

Meaningful learning through projects

In my one-day visits I had the opportunity to observe lessons from a wide range of KLAs. A very insightful experience was the visit of the HSC design and technology class just a day before students presented their ICT-based projects on which they had been working for the last twelve months to an HSC external examiner. By talking to the students and learning more about their projects I reflected on two aspects in particular: projects as an excellent way to engage students in “meaningful learning” (Grabe & Grabe, 2007) and a great opportunity for students to use ICT and develop a wide range of skills and intelligences across different KLAs (MI / Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy). In this blog entry the focus will be on the first point:

“Project-based learning” constitutes an “authentic task approach” in which students are confronted with challenging and complex problems for which they cannot immediately provide a solution (Grabe & Grabe, 2007). Hence, the set task requires them to activate and apply a great variety of knowledge and skills over a sustained period of time, such as valuable higher-order, planning and problem- solving skills, just to name a few. Furthermore, the projects constitute a student-centred approach in which students actively construct both “declarative” and “procedural” knowledge rather than passively acquiring “inert knowledge” (Grabe & Grabe, 2007). As the teacher does not act as an instructor but as a facilitator by scaffolding and guiding the learning process in an appropriate way, students have to take responsibility for their learning, which makes learning more relevant and meaningful to them. Students had to set time plans and constantly reflect on the progress of their work in a “Design Project Management Plan and Journal”.

References:

Grabe, M. & Grabe, C. (2007). Integrating Technology for meaningful learning. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.