November 14, 2007

  • Better Until Best

    Do you remember this really old saying?

              "Good, better, best,
              never let it rest,
              until your good is better,
              and your better is best."

    Superlatives are everywhere, especially in my teaching experience this year.  Good?  Better? Best?  This has been the most challenging school year for me since my very first year of teaching.  I've always had English Language Development learners in my classroom, however, I feel that this year's batch of students come to my class with severe needs in reading, writing and mathematics.  I also have a couple of students from other classes who come to my class for Resource Special Education.  After the first round of quarter assessments in reading and math, I see just how deficient the prescribed district curriculum is targeting all their academic needs.  I also have more students this year that have been identified with slow learning disabilities (SLD) and I am constantly revising my teaching strategies to help the kids overcome their hardships by incorporating multi-sensory (kinesthetic, visual, auditory and tactile) opportunities to gain access to for them probably feels like a "hidden knowledge". 

    I've realized how important it is to "teach to the highest" and to look at who is sitting in my classroom.  I think that because these students consistently score low, I see how most teachers would probably opt to "dumb down" the curriculum and let the kids just answer worksheets and workbooks all day long and get away with it.  That's not giving a child an education, that's busy work!  I also feel that these students have been accustomed to heavy amounts of spoon feeding, and they wait for the teacher to always show them the answers instead of relying on their own newly acquired knowledge to take risks in proving their answers correct.  The students have developed a habit of being passive learners because the curriculum is taught passively. 

    I've been trying to undo what has become habitual for my students.  Teaching to the highest is a better avenue to take because when I do it this way, there is plenty of room to scaffold for the kids who don't "get it" and still plenty of opportunity for the more advanced students to feel challenged.  I have to "divide and conquer", conferencing with kids individually, partnering them and putting them into small groups.  I have to know these students really well in order for me to prescribe something that the kid needs to practice until they can take ownership of their own learning.  My energy is zapped out of me, but it's alright.  There's no way to live and work in ease.  This is how it's going to be until June 19th, 2008.

    One of the hottest buzzwords in the world of education is metacognition, or the awareness of a student's own thinking process.  I know that as a teacher, I was dead guilty of not soliciting enough reason to assess a student's metacognition.  I tend to call on students and question their reasoning when they give me a wrong answer.  The ones that answer intelligently and correctly, I leave them alone and they sigh with relief.  It's not like that with me anymore.  Everyone is subjected to questions because I want the other students to hear the thought processes (metacognition) that wrapped around their reasoning--whether it's wrong or right, the correct solution will be funneled down the filters eventually.  What I have observed is that when I question a student about their correct answer, "Do you think your answer is correct?  Why do you believe so?", guess what they do?  They change it to the wrong answer!   It was like that in my classroom, but lately I've been seeing some of the students think aloud and support their complete answer.

    Also, another thing that I do not acknowledge in my classroom discussion is speaking in incomplete, single-word responses.  I just don't move away from the discussion question until the student has elaborated their response with enough reasonable words.  With the use of thinking maps (concept maps), I chart every response down down on colorful butcher paper because there's not enough space on the whiteboard and not enough ink from dry erase markers to help the kids understand the connection between listening, reading, speaking and writing.  The kids have to constantly see that there are structures and patterns to the English language, and by the end of the day my whole classroom is wallpapered with words.  I take them down each day, and start the whole process again the next day.

    It's Wednesday.  It is the "next day" and I'm starting the whole process again.  You will probably cower if you see just how much I do in my 6 hours of teaching, 2 hours of planning and reviewing for the National Boards.  My calendar today says that I squeezed in 2 parent conferences.   Tonight, I also have art classes and I won't be home until 7pm.  It's a 12-hour day for me, but I'm growing used to it.  I wish I could take an easier work load, but that is not an option for me. 

    Also I have to come to work with a "mindful eye" as a teacher, and this verse in 2 Chronicles highlights how God's eyes scopes out widely.  I think this is a key habit for any teacher, to have a wide-view lens for seeing the needs of all students!
    2 Chronicles 16:9 (NIV)
    For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him...

    And in closing, I'll just let God's Word stand on itself and let change my heart to be able to carry out these daily classroom tasks.
    1 Corinthians 15:58 (NASB)
    Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always
    abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in
    vain in the Lord.