Moving Forward
In this section, I want to address three primary questions: What did I learn about my teaching? How would I revise the plan if I were to repeat it? and, What would I do if I were to extend the unit with follow-up lessons?
What did I learn about my teaching?
Classroom management was, unsurprisingly, an area where I have much work to do. Some of the improvements I need to make, such as better situational awareness (as in the times when one student was dancing in front of the camera instead of listening to his peers), will take a combination of intention and practice. Others, however, can be addressed by specific changes. When I taught the lesson later, I made two primary changes to anticipate management issues. First, I gave specific guidelines for using materials before handing them out; second, to anticipate students being distracted by the camera, I gave them ten seconds before the activity began to “get their sillies out.” I believe these were both successful – although the second group had significantly more behavior management issues (which I anticipated due to the students involved), the materials and the camera proved to be less of a distraction than I believe they would have been otherwise.
What did I learn about my teaching?
Classroom management was, unsurprisingly, an area where I have much work to do. Some of the improvements I need to make, such as better situational awareness (as in the times when one student was dancing in front of the camera instead of listening to his peers), will take a combination of intention and practice. Others, however, can be addressed by specific changes. When I taught the lesson later, I made two primary changes to anticipate management issues. First, I gave specific guidelines for using materials before handing them out; second, to anticipate students being distracted by the camera, I gave them ten seconds before the activity began to “get their sillies out.” I believe these were both successful – although the second group had significantly more behavior management issues (which I anticipated due to the students involved), the materials and the camera proved to be less of a distraction than I believe they would have been otherwise.
In terms of instructional techniques, I think I could have been more thoughtful and judicious in my use of talk moves. I think I gave specific guidance reminders too frequently, rather than expressing more clear expectations for their independent work. I also on numerous occasions gave suggestions – but, not wanting to be too pushy, I made them fairly quietly and half-heartedly, to the point where, reviewing video, it’s not clear anyone was really listening. Not to say I should have been forceful, but if I felt half-heartedly about giving those tips, maybe that was a good sign I should have refrained entirely.
How would I revise the plan if I were to repeat it?
In addition to the management changes described above, I made a few revisions to the lesson when I taught it again. The biggest structural difference came at the end, where I wanted to find a way to raise the “what are rocks?” point more clearly. Rather than handing out non-rock objects like gems or marbles, I took a different approach: I placed a series of non-rock objects (gems, marbles, paper clips, unit cubes, etc.) in their pile of rocks, and challenged them to come up with a word that could be used to separate the rocks from the non-rocks. While this task more effectively gets at the query, I knew it would be a serious challenge – I doubt I could have come up with a good answer prior to engaging in a study of rocks and minerals, and even now I’m struggling to find a good answer aside from “man-made” or “natural.” Still, I wanted to try it; it ultimately did confirm my concerns, as students were generally unsuccessful (this group also took longer to reach this point, and were more distractible, so in retrospect I should probably have left this exercise out). While leaving students stumped isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I think I could soften this activity a bit going forward – such as by asking them to look for traits that put all the rocks on one side of the pile, but that might also include some of the non-rock objects.
What would I do if I were to extend the unit with follow-up lessons?
I think a good follow-up lesson would be to build upon the classification skills and observed traits from this first lesson while beginning to learn about rock formation. For example, I could give them information on rock categories and challenge them to apply their observations to those categories – for example, I could provide the definition of “sedimentary” rocks, and challenge them to guess which ones were sedimentary and sort accordingly. Students could then pick individual rocks that they think are most likely to be sedimentary and share their reasoning with the class. I could then reveal the correct answers, and ask people to guess why they might have been wrong (if they were). The lesson could be repeated for other categories of rocks (either formal categories or ones based on properties), and eventually to differentiate rocks and minerals. At that point, the distinction could finally be made (“I have a secret for you guys – only some of those samples are actually ‘rocks.’ Some of them are ‘minerals.’ Let me give you the definitions, and see if you can sort the rocks from the minerals…”). By the end of this lesson, students would be expected to have honed their skills from the first lesson (through applied practice), but will also be aware that rocks fall into categories depending on how they are formed (and possibly depending on what they are made of, if that is an observable category for this task – clearly I need to do more research!), and begin to become familiar with the distinctions between categories.
How would I revise the plan if I were to repeat it?
In addition to the management changes described above, I made a few revisions to the lesson when I taught it again. The biggest structural difference came at the end, where I wanted to find a way to raise the “what are rocks?” point more clearly. Rather than handing out non-rock objects like gems or marbles, I took a different approach: I placed a series of non-rock objects (gems, marbles, paper clips, unit cubes, etc.) in their pile of rocks, and challenged them to come up with a word that could be used to separate the rocks from the non-rocks. While this task more effectively gets at the query, I knew it would be a serious challenge – I doubt I could have come up with a good answer prior to engaging in a study of rocks and minerals, and even now I’m struggling to find a good answer aside from “man-made” or “natural.” Still, I wanted to try it; it ultimately did confirm my concerns, as students were generally unsuccessful (this group also took longer to reach this point, and were more distractible, so in retrospect I should probably have left this exercise out). While leaving students stumped isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I think I could soften this activity a bit going forward – such as by asking them to look for traits that put all the rocks on one side of the pile, but that might also include some of the non-rock objects.
What would I do if I were to extend the unit with follow-up lessons?
I think a good follow-up lesson would be to build upon the classification skills and observed traits from this first lesson while beginning to learn about rock formation. For example, I could give them information on rock categories and challenge them to apply their observations to those categories – for example, I could provide the definition of “sedimentary” rocks, and challenge them to guess which ones were sedimentary and sort accordingly. Students could then pick individual rocks that they think are most likely to be sedimentary and share their reasoning with the class. I could then reveal the correct answers, and ask people to guess why they might have been wrong (if they were). The lesson could be repeated for other categories of rocks (either formal categories or ones based on properties), and eventually to differentiate rocks and minerals. At that point, the distinction could finally be made (“I have a secret for you guys – only some of those samples are actually ‘rocks.’ Some of them are ‘minerals.’ Let me give you the definitions, and see if you can sort the rocks from the minerals…”). By the end of this lesson, students would be expected to have honed their skills from the first lesson (through applied practice), but will also be aware that rocks fall into categories depending on how they are formed (and possibly depending on what they are made of, if that is an observable category for this task – clearly I need to do more research!), and begin to become familiar with the distinctions between categories.