Double Journal Entry #6

1. Teaching from the textbook, lectures, discussions, and readings are the paradigm that is showing signs of wear. Students aren't just learning from the knowledge of the teacher anymore. They are learning from project based research and curricula, as well as, performance-based assessment. Students are working together within the class to address open-ended and complex questions. Teachers are taught to be more of a coach than a teacher. They are there to guide students to learn on their own.

2. Project-based learning involves students completing tasks that require them to make a realistic product, event, or present to an audience. The five key components that Thomas (2000) identifies are: central to the curriculum, organized around driving questions that lead to students to encounter central concepts or principles, focused on a constructive investigation that involves inquiry and knowledge building, student driven, and authentic focusing on problems that occur in real world and people care about. For example, Shepherd (1998) studied the results of a unit in which a group of fourth and fifth graders completed a nine-week project to define and find solutions related to housing shortages in several countries. This increased their confidence and helped them think more critically. The second study followed two British school systems over the course of three years. Boaler (1997, 1998) studied two different schools, one was a traditional learning community and the other was a project based one. It resulted with the project based school did better on a National exam with conceptual knowledge questions than the traditional school setting. Project based approaches also help advance students in their use with technology.

3. Problem based learning is meant to teach students to think. During a problem based learning activity, students work together to solve a problem with a solution that they developed. The students come up with the strategy, evaluate it, and then construct a new strategy if needed. Most of the times these are real world situations and can have multiple solutions. Problem based learning is a great way for prospective teachers to learn to apply theory to specific school context and resolve problems within the classroom. Through problem based learning, teachers can practice other alternatives to their own practices. Also, studies have showed that problem based learning is comparable to more traditional instruction in facilitating factual learning. Students who participate in problem-based experiences are also thought to be able to better generate more accurate hypotheses and coherent explanations than those in a traditional learning setting.

4. Learning through Design means that students are learning through building their own artifact that requires understanding and application of knowledge. In these activities, students create and assess their own artifact. Students will collaborate and be designated different roles to play in the creation of their artifact. This type of project allows feedback, and requires a great deal of thought and research. This project can allow students to encounter trial and error. Students can require understanding of complex systems.

5. There isn't much of a difference between the three approaches. They are all focused on the students teaching themselves and just letting the teacher guide them instead of the teaching lecturing them on facts.

6. If I had to pick one, I think I would chose the project solving approach. I think this one gives them a little more creativity than the other two.

Double Journal Entry #5

"In an ideal classroom everyone treats what is to be learned with a reverence that generates mutual respect among teachers and students" (Woodruff 2001, 192)

I chose this quote because I think respect within the classroom is a very important thing to accomplish. There are always going to be those certain students who don't respect the teacher and the teacher's way of teaching, and there are also going to be those students who feel that the teacher does not respect them. I believe communication is a factor in these problems. I am a strong believer that there needs to be an open line of communication in the classroom. I have always been one to want to be honest with everyone. I have been in situations where being honest with someone may hurt their feelings or tell them something they don't want to hear but as long as you can send the message the right way its better to be honest than to lie. I will always be honest with my students and I expect the same from my students. I want my students to respect me and if they ever feel like I did them wrong, then I want them to feel comfortable enough to talk to me about it and we can figure out a solution. As of now, I am in a Kindergarten class for my clinical and the teacher teaches them respect on a daily basis. We discuss not talking while someone else is, raising our hand to speak, treating others as we want to be treated, and keeping our hands where they belong. This is where it all starts. The students are very polite and for the most part, a great group of students. There are more boys than girls in this classroom so of course it gets a little rowdy but they are smart, capable students. Even though these students are so great, they still have to be reminded daily to be respectful and they know what being respectful means. By the time the end of the school year comes around, I know they'll be ready to move on to first grade and act like first graders.

Reverent listening in teaching is the awe and wonder, knowledge, modeling, respect, and transcendence of teaching. To be a reverent teacher, one must awe and wonder at their subject area. This teacher loves the subject they teach and feels like they were put on earth to teach it. This teachers is so passionate about their subject it spreads to their students. A reverent teacher also has knowledge of not only their subject matter but of their students as well. This teacher listens to what their students have to offer and is open to suggestions. The teacher will fit what is being taught to the needs of his/her students. This teacher can use his/her imagination to make the subject come alive for those students that need it. This teacher is also a leader and provides examples to his/her classroom. "One cannot connect and model until he or she has listened and learned about what others need, desire, and dream." (Reverence and Listening in Teaching and Leading 2781) A leader listens to what their students have to say and incorporates that into what needs to be done. A leader can also teach respect. A reverent teacher needs to teach students that we respect each other because that is how humanity is. Respect is not something that is earned, we should just respect others because we want to be respected. We respect by listening to one another and communicating. Finally, a reverent teacher should be transcendent. A teacher should teach good habits, and practice these.

This supports culturally responsive teaching because us as teachers needs to be able to listen to our students to see where they are coming from. We want to know our students and their backgrounds so we know how to teach them and we can identify with them. Teachers need to be able to understand their students and their situations to be able to teach them in the best way possible.

"Reverent listening is not to be confused with humiliation and domination by others who force us to listen,and even less so, with the kind of incompetence that wants to be told what to do"

I took this quote as how the teacher expects us to be quiet and listen but when we are younger, we just want to talk and visit with our friends then the teacher has to "yell" and tell us we "need" to be quiet and pay attention. I was never a student who was "yelled" at to be quiet because I was there to learn and I knew that but being a teacher candidate now, I see those students who just want to talk and all the teacher wants is respect. That is what a teacher is there to do, we are there to teach and the students are there to learn. This reverent listening is all about the respect of listening to one another and knowing what is appropriate and when.

I had a great science teacher while here at college, I'm sure we can guess who this is, that I felt like was a reverent teacher. She really listened to our ideas and what we had to say. She accommodated her lessons to help us and she was really passionate about her subject matter. I learned to love science because of her and I felt like she truly cared about each and every one of us. I know I had a really hard time last year and one week was especially worse than the others and I failed a test that week. She came up to me and asked me what had been going on because she knew that wasn't me. She told me if I ever needed her, she was there to help and her door was always open. The next test, I passed with an A. She came up to me then and made sure to congratulate me and tell me "Much Better!". I knew I could talk to her about anything and I respected her and she returned the respect as well.

I think factors that contribute to a "toxic" school culture would be the teachers that demand respect. Respect shouldn't be demanded. It is just given and sometimes students need to be taught how to give it. I also think when teachers don't listen to the needs of their students, things can turn toxic. Some schools can be all about the high-stakes testing and will focus on what that entails instead of letting the students have some time to express themselves through their other classes such as art, music, or PE.

"One cannot connect and model until he or she has listened and learned about what others need, desire, and dream." (Reverence and Listening in Teaching and Leading 2781)
I will use this quote again in my blog because I think it is a very important one that every teacher should use in their philosophy of teaching. Students need to be heard. Its as simple as that. A teacher may have to change their lessons in order to accommodate the needs of his/her students and that is okay. We as teachers want what is best for our students.

http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5357

I really enjoyed this activity. I think students need to be praised at first for being so polite. This would help remind them to be polite all the time.

Culturally Responsive Teaching

Literacy, language, and power are three things that a teacher needs to understand in order to be culturally responsive. When you hear a person in power speak, how do they speak? Do they speak with an Appalachian accent? Educators know that people in power have great literacy skills and speak in Standard English and that they must teach their students that but also make sure that their student's do not lose their dialect. Us as educators need to let our students know that it's not wrong to speak the way they do but we should also teach them how to code switch. It is very important to not let the students feel that they cannot succeed because they are from the Appalachian area. In the article, "...As soon as she opened her mouth!” one quote stated "Bright, capable, young men and women do not think they belong in college because they are hillbillies." One should not feel unsuccessful because of where they are from. I saw another article that stated “Not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or equal motivation, but children have the equal right to develop their talent, their ability and their motivation.- John Fitzgerald Kennedy” This quote represents the way every teacher should feel, especially those in the Appalachian region.


"We believe that a meaning-centered model ... allows bilingual students to take full advantage of their first language abilities, and to surpass the limits set by their more limited knowledge of their second language." Moll believed that educators should let students use their first language abilities in the classroom and then work on their second language abilities. To overcome their cultural deficits, teachers need to assure students that they can succeed. Teachers can show them things that they understand really well and incorporate their interests into lessons. The teacher in the article made a thematic unit around construction because that was what the majority of the community had jobs in and the students were very interested in it and the community became involved as well.

Teacher may not know this but they can actually contribute to poor literacy instruction by not understanding cultural deficit and cultural difference. A teacher may think that her foreign exchange student from Central Asia has already learned and excelled in mathematics so she doesn’t help that student as much as she helps the others or for cultural deficit, a teacher may think that her Appalachian “hillbilly” student will never learn or succeed because of where they are from. These assumptions can contribute to poor literacy within that classroom.

I also believe that by letting students use their own dialect in the classroom this will help them focus more on learning and less on worrying about being corrected by the teacher for not talking correctly. Also, a teacher can show the students the similarities between their dialect and Standard English to increase the use of Standard English.

I do believe that the Where I Am From project supported culturally responsive teaching because it gave a good incite to the lives of our peers and it gave the teachers a better understanding of their students lives and the way they were raised. I think it helps show that even though we are from the Appalachian region, we are all still going to college and making a good life for ourselves and that contradicts the stereotypes we normally hear.

In my future classroom, I will do projects like the Where I Am From one to help me get a better understanding of my students and it will help me know how I need to approach instructing them. I will let my students use their dialect within the classroom but also teach them to code switch in the proper situations. I will use thematic units on things that they are interested in to help with their understanding as well.

My Where I Am From :)

Where I Am From

Double Journal Entry #4

1. I learned that by not expecting students to lose their dialect, and having them understand the difference between how they talk and how they should write in Standard English, can actually help them use proper Standard English better. By having the students learn the similarities and differences between how they speak and Standard English can help them learn code-switching. This way students will know how they can talk in different situations. I also learned that letting students use their dialect in the classroom can actually help them be successful. Student's do not like to be corrected all the time so if a teacher is focusing more on their answer than on how they spoke, the student may feel like they can answer questions more often and become more involved in class. Teachers also tend to copy pedagogical instruction and teach their students how they were taught but this is not always the right way to teach. A lot has changed over the years and there are new and better ways to teach things.

2.In the article it says that you should acknowledge the similarities and differences of the student's dialect with Standard English, this would be building bridges of meaningfulness between home and school experiences. I also saw where the students could inquiry on the patterns of how their dialect started in their families or the local area. This could be a class project and it will get the community involved as well. Also by doing these things, the teacher is acknowledging that their dialect is legitimate and worthy of being taught within the curriculum.

3.I honestly cannot remember much of my years in elementary school, middle school, or even high school. I know my English classes in high school were a joke. We did a lot of reading and study guides, maybe a few papers. My freshmen year in English class, we didn't even have enough books for the whole class so a group of five of us had to share one textbook. All I can remember is reading, there was very little English involved. I can remember the teacher saying "ain't ain't a word!". From that saying right there, I don't think my instruction was very culturally responsive.

I think this reflects culturally responsive teaching because if this word is in a child's dialect, let them say it but then let them know their options of when they should use proper English.

Where I Am From

I am from hair bows, from Barbie, and frilly pink dresses.

I am from the tan house with the steep driveway on the old back road, near the camp hosting the Strawberry Festival and the sound of neighbor kids riding their bikes back and forth.

I am from the crab apples growing in my Nana and Pap's yard, that tasted oh so sour.

I am from the Stivason's, old fashioned and strong-willed, and the Cox's who keep an open-mind and heart; from the support system of dance recitals and local football games, and family get togethers and frequent phase ten matches.

I am from the love of a mother who has always wanted me to have the best, who passed on her warm heart but not her love of cleaning
 ...and from the strength of a hard working father who has always wanted what was best for me, and make a better living for myself and my future children.

From being told to look after my little brother whose growing up too fast, and watches out for me more than I can watch out for him..
 ..and from being an independent, strong-willed but soft hearted young woman has got me right where I want to be.

I am from a household where you be who you want to be and believe in what you want to believe; from knowing that we'll meet our lost loved ones again in a better place and that everyday is a blessing.

I am from the only small town that I've ever known filled with a loving family who feels the same, where home cooking includes chicken, homemade mashed potatoes and corn on the cob and if it's mom's cooking then you know it'll be good!

From the father who taught me to shoot better than the boys (bet no one would of ever guessed that), the Nana who taught me to always wish on butterflies, and the Pop Pop who never got to see his little girl grow up..

I am from a new world now where I am on my own, studying and working consumes most of my time, my fiance has taught me to believe in that fairytale ending and that love is very real and everlasting, my friends have become the sisters I've never had and the girls who have made me who I am today..

..and no matter where my life takes me, my roots will always bring me back to that little girl in the pink frilly dress with the hair bow to match.