During the course of the class, I feel that I have grown in my data management. The use of data doesn't scare and intimidate me like it once did. Data can be and is a valuable tool and doesn't have to involve elaborate graphs and enormous amounts of numbers. Listed below are a few of the attempts that I have made to improve my teaching and to help instill the love of learning in my students.
Student Observations
I have always used observations in my classroom and collected data; however, most of my data collection centered around student behavior. I have now begun to focus on student's attitudes and engagement levels as they complete various assignments in class.
In my classroom, I am responsible for teaching all the academic areas. Just by observing my students, I have been able to tell a great deal about their strengths and weaknesses. I have been able to assess my students and their willingness to participate in various subjects. Some students would refuse to complete assignments, throw work on floor, rip materials, and/or begin disrupting the class environment usually during a specific academic area. Many teachers may mistake these weaknesses academically as behavioral problems. I do admit they are disruptions and are behavioral issues; however, the bigger picture is the teacher does not understand the student and acknowledge that the student is struggling in this particular area. Many behavioral problems and issues occur when a student is unfamiliar with the material or does not understand the information being presented.
This type of data collection has also helped me in the development of IEP goals, behavioral intervention plans, and goals that we focus on daily.
Focus Groups
Like student observations, I have always held focus groups. We actually refer to these as levels meetings. They are held on Friday afternoons and the theme, before this class, was to discuss the various behaviors exhibited during the week. Focus groups continue to be held on Fridays, yet our theme has expanded to discuss academics. We discuss activities, attitudes, and thoughts related to instruction provided throughout the week. Students discuss how the felt during the various activities and how well they learned the material. At first, students were reluctant to discuss their feelings, especially when they were negative, but once they realized this was an open forum, free from penalty, they opened up. I was able to learn a great deal about the students and myself. I believe that I learned more on Friday afternoons than they learned in the week. Across the board, my students enjoyed the performance tasks and those assignments that required less writing. They hated pen and paper tests!!!!
Student Choices
Before this class, I felt like I needed our daily schedule and routine (including lesson plans) planned out. I always had everything planned with extra supplemental worksheets for those "just in case" moments. I rarely deviated from the schedule. I have found that structured academics can be a great behavioral management tool. However, since this class, I have begun giving my students choices in their activities.
Student choices can be as simple as allowing students to choose to answer even or odd problems in math, giving them a choice board and requiring them to answer a portion of the questions, and working in groups. I found that many of my students enjoyed working in groups. This was surprising to me, because most of my students have poor social skills and usually do not get along well with others.
Vertical Planning
I believe the most important component that I have begun is vertical planning with the 5th grade and 7th grade teachers. As we do not have a planning period and have students from the time we arrive until almost the time the teachers depart, allowing teachers approximately 30 minutes each day to prepare lessons, hold IEP meetings, and plan.
As I began listening to my Ed.S colleagues discuss collaborative meetings, I began to realize how vital these meetings could be. Many of the GPS standards spiral from grade to grade and many of us are struggling to teach the same basic skills such as multiplication facts, adding, subtracting, and dividing. I began to think....why should we all be struggling to teach the same skills? After speaking with the 5th and 7th grade teachers, we decided to get together periodically and discuss methods/strategies that we are using in our classrooms the we found to be beneficial. This made planning so much easier! We will be holding our Multiplication Celebration at the end of next week. The three grade levels have had a friendly competition to see who could learn their multiplication facts. Of course, all of the students that participated will be included and rewarded for their hard work. We will recognize those students that participated by playing math games and enjoying some pizza.
Study Guides/ Test/Retest
I have begun to give my students study guides to aide in their coursework. I have found that this is a valuable tool that alleviates many questions. As I was completing this assignment for this class, I referred to the syllabus numerous times to ensure that I had met the requirements. I knew what was expected of me...How can I expect any less from my students. They want to know and need to know what their expectations are too. On their study guides, students were given a list of vocabulary terms and possible test questions that they may encounter on their test.
