High Performance Learning Environments
1.
Clear objectives and focus on shared learning
2.
Setting high standards and expectations of all
students
3.
Effective leadership
4.
High levels of collaboration and communication
5.
Regular assessment and learning
The first video
where Donna Migdol’s STEM students are working on a Roller Coaster project, is what I would describe as a complete student centered, high performance learning
environment. There were so many aspects of this class that were fascinating for
me as an educator.
First, the objective of the day’s lesson is very clearly
stated by Ms. Migdol both in her Lesson Plan and in her physical class. The
students know exactly what they are working towards which is getting the marble
to the end of the track. The part that really struck me was the element of fun
which has been incorporated in her lesson plan as well as in her statement of
the goal when she discusses it with the students.
Second, this class is exemplary in its integration of all
the 21st century skills. Ms. Migdol emphasizes on collaboration,
communication and critical thinking when she starts with the chiming where the
students demonstrate that they are well acquainted with expected behavior
because everybody is listening and there are no interruptions. At the same
time, Ms. Migdol clearly establishes the high expectations she has of her
students by giving each of them the independence to express their triumphs and
tribulations from the previous day’s work. At this point she encourages
critical thinking by giving students the opportunity to assess what went wrong
in the test for safety. There is communication because every group has a chimer
who talks about the group’s challenge while the others take notes. Here there
is collaboration because they are learning from each other’s success and
failure. Then comes in the skills of problem solving which are demonstrated by
the students first when they are working on the simulation where they are
required to test their design and see if it works or fails. If it fails they have
to identify the reason for failure and then suggest a modification. This is
completely relevant to what an engineer would do in real life and therefore
makes it so interesting, engaging and full of learning for the students. They
use the same process of identifying the problem and fixing it when they test
their marble drop. They become aware of their misconceptions and introduce
modifications immediately.
Third, the learning acquired by these students from this
project was cross curricular which is once again very relevant to the real
world where subject knowledge is rarely ever used in isolation. Ms. Migdol
facilitated this cross curricular learning beautifully whilst proficiently
demonstrating a very significant teaching methodology involving setting high
academic expectations for students -“Stretch It”, as discussed by Doug Lemov in
his book Teach Like a Champion. Doug Lemov talks about rewarding a right answer
with a follow up question that extends knowledge and tests reliability. Ms.
Migdol encourages deeper thinking by first asking students about which material
is better rubber or sandpaper? She follows that up with a “Why” – “Why rubber
and not sand paper?” and then further asks which one is more expensive thereby
reminding students to think about the financial aspect of the project.
Fourth, the whole class is an example of outstanding
classroom behavior. Ms. Migdol has quite clearly discussed her expectations
with respect to behavior in the beginning of the year itself. This is evident
from the fact that every student is listening and taking notes while the chimer
in each group is talking. Through this kind of behavior students demonstrate
respect for others. Students are never found sitting idle and are always
involved and contributing. They take on responsibilities suited to their
strengths and learning styles in the group tasks and complete their tasks
diligently, thereby showing responsible behavior. Ms. Migdol set high behavior
expectations by giving them complete independence and the students did not
disappoint her one bit.
Finally, the lesson was productive because of outstanding
classroom management where expectations were set out clearly and there were
norms and procedures in place to support these expectations. It is evident from
the lesson plan glog that there were procedures for tardy and missed work and
for toilet breaks. Students were well aware of what they were expected to do in
any given circumstance.
The second video is
that of a Grade 3 Chinese Math class. This video is limited in what it shows
because it starts with children memorizing their multiplication tables and ends
with the whole class answering a question together. This video clearly brings
out what Associate Professor Kan Wei of Beijing Normal University states in his
article titled “What makes Chinese Math lessons so good?”. He talks about whole
class instruction and engaging all students as opposed to learning in smaller
groups. That is what we see here where all the students are first memorizing
together and then repeating things after the teacher and finally the whole
class answers the question to the sum written on the board.
If one were to analyze this video in isolation and look for
the characteristics of a high performance learning environment then one would find
it difficult. However, to understand the method of education followed in China
one would have to look at the Chinese tradition where memorizing, learning tables
or routine practice of Math are rooted in their culture. High academic
expectations are set out very early on in a student’s life by parents, teachers
and society at large. In this video does the teacher specifically set out high
expectations by her actions? On the face of it, no, but it is understood that
she expects all her students to have memorized the tables because such is the
culture in China. Are there exemplary classroom management skills demonstrated
here? I would say none except that the children know that they have to raise
their hand when they want to answer a question. But as Yang Jun, a Chinese lady
teaching Math in England points out – “In China we don’t need classroom
management skills because everyone is disciplined by nature, by families and by
society.” Chinese Math teachers encourage logical reasoning and test knowledge
by asking questions of varying difficulty. They encourage the understanding of
Math in the real world. They also meet the individual needs of students. Their
classrooms may not clearly demonstrate the presence of high expectations,
behavior expectations or have specific rules and procedures like schools in the
West but if China ranked 6 in Math and 10 in Science in the PISA (Programme for
International Student Assessment) world rankings in 2015, they are definitely
doing something right as a country.
In the last video
Whole Brain Teaching (WBT) is being illustrated by Ms. Mackens in a Grade 9
classroom. If one were to look at this video and other videos of WBT without
learning more about the technique then some of the gestures and high decibel
activities would seem bizarre and overwhelming. However, having read and understood
the principles of this method of teaching it is easier to appreciate what is
being done here.
This method of teaching stresses on
improvement over ability. Therefore high academic expectations are not set out
immediately. WBT introduces a greater level of expectation at each new step and
finally takes a student to the highest performance. While each stage of
learning has direct instruction, engagement and collaborative learning, all of
these elements keep getting more complicated as the student moves from
“Beginner” to “Intermediate” to “Advanced” and so on.
One of the key components of WBT is the
belief that the highest goal for teachers is not academic instruction but
raising virtuous young adults. Therefore character education is an important
element at each stage. This method sets very high expectations on behavior and
inculcates not just basic manners in students but also the ability to support,
encourage and appreciate fellow students. For example – In the “Advanced” stage
of learning when a student makes a mistake, the whole class shouts out “You’re
still cool”. When hard working students are not successful, the class offers
support by shouting out “You’ve got grit!” “You don’t quit!”
The norms and procedures in this method
of teaching are standard across all WBT classrooms and are followed as
specified for each stage of learning. There are 5 classroom rules and The
Diamond Rule. These rules are:
Rule 1: Follow directions
quickly.
Rule 2: Raise your hand for
permission to speak.
Rule 3: Raise your hand for permission to leave your
seat
Rule 4: Make smart choices: Glorious Kindness,
Leadership, Courage, Invincible Grit, Creativity
Rule 5: Keep our dear learning
community happy!
The Diamond Rule: Keep your
eyes on the target!
In the same way the procedures are standard and make
a complete cycle which has the following steps:
- Attention Getter - The teacher uses this to get the students to focus on her.
- Mirror Words – This is used to get the students engaged and completely involved.
- Direct Instruction – Once the students are completely focused the teacher introduces one concept. The emphasis is on this being short, approximately a minute. But as the learners move from one stage to the other, for example – Beginner to Intermediate, the instruction becomes more elaborate like writing bullet points of the lesson on the board. But the concepts are taught one at a time and are kept short. There are more cycles as students follow the whole cycle for each concept.
- Collaborative Learning – This is the step where students teach each other and reinforce the concept.
- Scoreboard – Finally the assessment part which is done by different teachers throughout the year. The score board provides motivation to the students.
- Character Education – This is in the centre of it all and emphasizes on developing individuals with good manners and classroom etiquette.
High performance
environment in my classroom
I teach Math to Middle School students who are a mix of native English speakers and ESL students.I am convinced that a right balance of the three teaching approaches shown in
the videos will provide some spectacular results.
I would start with the WBT method and change it a
little to suit my personality and teaching style because I truly believe that
if as the teacher I am not, convinced, comfortable and passionate about my
method, I will never succeed. Therefore, I will adopt the short concept
teaching practice and introduce one concept. The mirror words practice for ESL
students will be particularly helpful when it comes to memorizing difficult
Math vocabulary. I will also use collaborative learning in the WBT format where
one student teaches the other. The character building part of this method was
the most inspiring piece. I will definitely use the “You are still cool!”, “You
have Grit!, You don’t quit.”, “Help me” and the deep compliments.
Since, there are parts of Math that need to be
memorized to enable quick calculations; I will use the specific Chinese Math
style of learning tables, formulae and vocabulary.
Finally, there is no better way to learn and
remember a concept other than applying oneself, understanding the real life
relevance of a concept and then engaging in a project which gives the student
the opportunity to practice what has been learnt. It is here that I will use
the Project Based Learning (PBL) method.
In order to ensure high performance from all
students I will:
- Discuss, concur and establish clear Classroom Rules at the beginning of the year.
- Have a scoreboard for good behavior and reward students with a star on this board at the end of the class every day.
- Treat all students the same and refrain from using any verbal or non verbal signs that indicate otherwise.
- Involve and engage each student in the discussions and question - answer sessions and break the class into groups to facilitate complete engagement as opposed to collective answering.
- Explain a concept and allow them to teach one another without interfering while I observe.
- Give them complete autonomy during the PBL stage. I will bring in chiming on different occasions to help them learn from each other.
- Direct questions to individual students and follow up correct answers with deeper questions.
- Include self assessments and assessment of other student’s work and have students highlight the successes and shortcomings in one another’s work.
- I will encourage students to support each other with helpful and deep comments rather than superficial ones. For example – “This is an exemplary application of the concept” or “I like how you used this tool to illustrate the concept.”
Finally, I will always be open to change. If something doesn't work, I will be quick to identify and fix the environment.
In the words of Alexander Den Heijer - " When a flower doesn't bloom you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower."
In the words of Alexander Den Heijer - " When a flower doesn't bloom you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower."
References:
Lemov, Doug. (2010, April 6). Teach like a Champion
Marzano, Robert J. (2007).The
Art and Science of Teaching
Roller Coaster Physics: STEM in action [Video File].
Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/video/teaching-stem-strategies
Wei, Kan. (2014, March 25). The Conversation – “Explainer:
What makes Chinese Math lessons so good”. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-makes-chinese-maths-lessons-so-good-24380
Battle, Jeff. (2010). Whole Brain Teaching: Learning The Way
The Brain is Designed. Retrieved from https://www.advanc-ed.org/source/whole-brain-teaching-learning-way-brain-designed
Anderson, Jenny & Wang, Amy X. (2016, December 6). In the world’s biggest
education test, one small country has raced past all the others. Retrieved from
https://qz.com/853656/massachusetts-ranks-nears-singapore-the-education-powerhouse-in-global-assessment-of-15-year-olds-who-are-the-best-students-in-the-world-according-to-pisa-2015/
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