"So, Does Anyone Know the Answer to This?" - Fostering Student-Led Authentic Discussions

All of us dream of a classroom in which students are engaged 100% of the time. This in turn would make class discussions rich and entertaining, where the teacher is on the sidelines and students are free to assert their thoughts and opinions. Too often, however, class discussions are led almost entirely by the teacher. The teacher poses a question, such as "Does anyone know what it means to be  and the student(s) responds only if they are certain they know the "right" answer (AKA what they think the teacher wants to hear).

This may seem like a success to some teachers. If one student can respond with the "right" answer, all of the other students will hear this answer and comprehend it in the 15 seconds it takes to pose and answer the question, right??? NO. Through these types of discussions, the teaching is being validated, but is the learning? NO!!!

For students that are confident in their answers to these types of questions and like to share out to the class, it gives them more opportunities to share in class. For students that know the answers but are not as willing to share, it gives them a way out of participating. For students that simply do not know the answer, it does not keep them accountable for their learning.

In her article "Authentic Student-Led Discussion, Music to My Ears", Starr Sackstein writes that "fostering student voice means forcing them to be certain as they assert their ideas. Doesn't matter what the teacher thinks, only maters what they think in this scenario".

I love the idea of the teachers asking questions they do not know the answer. For some students, this takes off the pressure of having the perfect answer when sharing with the class. For other students, it gives them more freedom to go above and beyond where the teacher thought the conversation might go. I have found again and again that when I pose questions to my class that I do not know the answer to, I am surprised by how profound some of their answers are. They often contribute ideas and thoughts to the discussion that I had not even considered.

Most teachers are not naturals at fostering these types of discussions right away. Sackstein writes that when done correctly, student-let authentic discussions "are vibrant with opinions and support from the text and they engage a larger number of students". But at their worst, these discussions "can be exclusive and controlled by a few more aggressive participants".

It takes practice to become skilled and natural at leading student-led authentic discussions and teaching students how to do these without completely steering the conversation. In order to do this, teachers have to take several things into account.

One major element to consider is the personality of the class as a whole. Are they very chatty and willing to share their ideas? Or, are they quiet and not confident in their answers until they can discuss with shoulder partners to see what their peers' thoughts are?

Peter Smagorinsky lists several strategies in his text Teaching English by Design: How to Create and Carry out Instructional Units. One that might work for students in my classes is the fishbowl. In this strategy, there are several students in a center circle of the room that are given prompts to respond to. Students outside of the circle take notes and listen actively. Each student is given at least one opportunity to sit in the fishbowl. According to Smagorinsky, fishbowls "have the potential to move outside the boundaries of conventional interpretation and allow students to discuss the literature on their own terms" (Smargorinsky 34).

This strategy might be ideal for students in my class that need extra think time to piece their thoughts together or just need to hear other peers' opinions before they feel confidence to voice their own. Students that might struggle with this strategy are ones that continually have something to say and like to be heard.

Although this strategy may not be perfect for every single student in the class, it allows them opportunities to learn how to participate in student-led authentic discussions in which the teacher is the observer and is not there to tell them if their answers are right or wrong.


Sources cited:
Sackstein, Starr. "Authentic Student-Led Discussion, Music to My Ears." Education Week. Editorial Projects in Enducation, 6 Feb. 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.

Smagorinsky, Peter. Teaching English by Design: How to Create and Carry out Instructional Units. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008. Print.

Mamma Said There'll be Days Like This

Mamma said there'll be days like this.

Your roommates will give you Strep throat

your first week of Student Teaching.

There will be no microwave at your placement school

and you will forget a spoon for your yogurt, again.

You will sweat obnoxiously every time you 

teach. Or you'll end every day with a headache. 

No matter how many times you say "voices off and eyes on me,"

students' voices will be the furthest thing from "off" and 

their eyes will be anywhere but on you.

Your Mentor Teacher will have to step in to help manage,

and you will feel like a failure.

Two students did not bring their homework.

Seven students forgot their binders with all of their notes.

14 of them need a pencil, but, of course, they aren't sharpened.

So they'll stand there grinding their pencils in the 

sharpener while you're giving directions.

Your classmates will be filled with worry,

which makes you worry that you are not worried enough.

Nights and weekends will be spent working to support yourself, while

the bills keep adding up and the paychecks do not.

There's a story about a man who works a hard, tiresome job.

After a rough day on the job, he brings home

a friend to meet his family.

He stops at a tree outside his house

and touches the branches with both hands. 

He walks in the door with a smile on his face,

greeting his children and wife with open arms.

Struck by curiosity, his friend asks him 

about what he had seen earlier.

The man tells him that is his "trouble tee", where he

leaves his troubles from the job each night when he comes home.

And in the morning he goes to pick them up again.

In the morning,

there are never as many as he remembers hanging up the night before. 

Mamma said there'll be days like this.

Tomorrow is not today. Tomorrow,

Trevor* will finally bring his notes to class AND a pencil.

Your MT will compliment your lesson

or let you know you did well taking over for one of his classes.

The sweating-while-teaching will gradually dwindle.

You'll gain confidence in and outside of the classroom.

Leave your troubles on the trouble tree.

Pick them up tomorrow.

*Not real names

A Substitute Teacher How-To

Walk into class ready to take on another day with your seventh graders. See a substitute standing where your Mentor Teacher should be. Turn around and run – don’t walk – back to your car and leave. Just kidding, don’t do that. But you’ll want to.  
Take a deep breath and mentally prepare yourself for yet another terrible substitute teacher that the students do not respect. He will see you walk up, interact with the students, and try to maintain your MT’s regular classroom management strategies. You will immediately see the look of relief in his eyes as he thinks to himself: Nice, I’ll just get to take this hour off and let her lead the class. He’ll ask: “So, you’re, like here all the time and know what’s going on right?”  
Sob internally.  
You never have liked substitutes, even when you were in school. You felt like the entire day was wasted and liked having the structure of your regular teacher. 
Looking back, you won’t even remember what the lesson was that day. What is that saying people always say? – super cliché, teachers always have it painted on a canvas in their classrooms… Oh yeah: “At the end of the day, people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.”  
Well, sub, would you like to know how you made me feel? (Hint: The answer is no.) 
The bell will ring at 3:10 pm. You will calmly walk as fast as possible to your car. Drive enough blocks so that you no longer see students from your school walking on the sidewalk or being driven home. Once feel like you’ve put enough distance between you and your school, let it all out, girl.  
When you’re a teacher, you will appreciate subs more than you’ll ever know. But for now, it’s okay to wish they never existed and teachers were never allowed to take days off. 

My Struggle With Substitutes

At this point in my pre-student teaching I am actually starting to feel pretty good about my experience thus far! I just finished up teaching my week-long unit, and I finally feel like I am establishing relationships with students and they are seeing me as a co-teacher instead of just someone that comes in to help.

Besides teaching my unit, I have had several opportunities to take over as the main teacher for the class. There have been several times when the class has had substitutes that I will take over for the class because I know the classroom, students and expectations. I think it’s really beneficial for the students to have someone there that can maintain the sense of structure they are used to with their regular teacher.

HOWEVER…..

Substitute teachers REALLY frustrate me. I’m not sure what the process is for becoming a substitute teacher, but from the examples I’ve seen, I can’t imagine that it too difficult of a process. Most of the time, when substitutes see me walk into the classroom and see the students interact with me, they immediately think they get the hour off and that I will take over the class for them.

Seriously. I’ve had some of them say “So, you’re usually here right? And you’re going to take over the class, right?”

Uhhhh…..okay?????????????

Something I really struggle with during these days is classroom management with my kids. By the time I get to the classroom, the damage is usually already done and students are already walking all over the substitute, switching seats, pretending not to speak English, etc. One strategy I’ve learned to use is to maintain the classroom management techniques the students are used to. My MT has implemented several of them such as a quiet signal, warnings, etc.

Dave Foley’s article “6 Classroom Management Tips Every Teacher Can Use” offers several other tips for classroom management such as taking charge of the classroom by waiting “start teaching until all eyes are on you and everyone is in their seat” (Foley). However, one tip he includes that would not work for my classroom is to allow students to sit in their own seats. My MT and I have created a strategic seating chart that we feel is best conducive to their learning. Allowing students to choose their own seats would throw the flow of our classroom off and cause a lot of unnecessary disruptions.

Another thing I struggle with is the content of lessons that substitutes are intended to teach. It is really difficult for me to sit back and watch a substitute teach content that we have been working with for several days and have the students not be as engaged with it as I have seen them be during other class periods because the substitute do not know the students and do not know how to engage them.

If students are working on assignments, I try to always have them work in pairs as this is how they complete assignments with their regular teacher and tend to do well with collaboration. Students in my classroom thrive on being able to talk and share their opinions, so I try to incorporate that into their independent work as much as possible by sitting down and having discussions with them and their partner about the assignments. Another thing I try to incorporate is movement, which is listed as one of the 7 ways to engage students in Stacy Hurst's "Seven Ways to Increase Student Engagement in the Classroom."

While the substitute teachers cause a lot of unwarranted stress and anxiety in my pre-student teaching experience, I feel like it has given me opportunities to expand my classroom management, create stronger relationships with students, and taught me to prepare for anything. 

Articles cited:

http://www.nea.org/tools/51721.htm

http://www.readinghorizons.com/blog/seven-ways-to-increase-student-engagement-in-the-classroom

Ms. Brill's First KATE Conference!!!

WOW, I can't believe I got to attend my first KATE Conference last week. I am so grateful I had that opportunity - especially because I was able to attend sessions with my classmates. It was so comforting to have all the pre-service English education candidates with me at the conference to go through that new experience together. 

The sessions I attended at the KATE conference were amazing. One that was particularly helpful for me was the session for pre-service teachers. I loved that I was able to share my fears with other classmates and have discussions on how we can combat these fears. The presenter kept telling us that we are teachers, and we are warriors. I love that, and I think I’m going to make that my new phrase from now on.

I couldn’t help but feel like a proud mom when I attended the sessions my classmates lead. They all carried themselves so well and were able to keep the session on task. I admired them so much for their courage in standing up in front of teachers that have had their own classrooms for years and having the confidence to know that their ideas were valuable.

I have so much respect for the “real” teachers that attended these sessions and offered their input. It was so helpful to have people with experience in the session. I met several of them at the social at Public, and I think that is so valuable to me as a pre-service teacher. I could tell they cared about my success and wanted to get to know me.

My favorite memory from the conference was definitely when a teacher in USD 259 commented during one of the sessions that she had confidence in all the future teachers she saw at the conference. Overall, when I left the conference, I felt like my inspiration for teaching had been reignited. I am so excited to attend the KATE conference again after I have a class of my own and can bring my own advice through my successes and failures to pre-service teachers!

We are teachers, and we are warriors!

If I Could Write a Letter to Me

Dear Future Ms. 

          I hope this letter finds you happy and healthy in your life and in your teaching career! What has teaching been like now that you have been in the classroom for a few years? If you were to look back at where I am right now in my college experience, what is the biggest piece of advice you would give me?

So far in my education classes I have learned a lot about reading strategies, accommodating for diverse learners, and other strategies for improving my teaching. Something I hope I see this year and in my student teaching experience is more feedback from my peers in my education classes, my instructors, and my Mentor Teacher.

Classrooms, teachers, and students are always changing, so I think it’s important to include what I have observed in schools over the past couple years so you will be able to compare it to what you are experiencing in your classroom now.

Observing in the middle schools and high schools has been really beneficial to get real-world experience – at least I’m hoping so. I am interested to look back on my student teaching experience and see how helpful it was to my actual real-world teaching. The Mentor Teacher I am paired with has a lot of great ideas that I would like to implement into my classroom. I can tell that he wants to go beyond just teaching the bare minimum. I hope to one day have student teachers and inspire them as much as my Mentor Teacher has inspired me.

Education majors also have a unique experience in being a student that observes students. We are learning along with the students we observe but in different ways. Social media has a huge influence on students in the classroom now. It has an influence on their language, their writing process, and so much more. I am interested to see how social media will change and affect students when I am a teacher.

I have several predictions and goals for myself and my career in teaching. I predict that I will be teaching in a middle school somewhere in Kansas. One goal I have is that I will still have as much love for teaching as I did in college. One way I can achieve this is by staying up-to-date with new strategies and techniques in the classroom to make mine more interesting. Another goal I have is to make a difference in students’ lives. Every student has one teacher that made their middle school or high school years more special, and I hope to be that teacher for at least a few of my students.

Just as I have asked for advice to my future self as a teacher, I also have some advice for the future teacher in me as well. My advice is that even the most accomplished teachers have their off-days and mess up sometimes. No one has perfect lesson plans every single day of the year. Even college professors aren’t perfect. I also believe teaching and learning should go both ways between myself and my students. I need to be learning from my students just as often as I should be teaching I hope when I read this letter in a few years, a few of my predictions have come true and I have accomplished at least some of my goals.

Until then,

Ms. Brill

Homework: sometimes helpful but mostly it just sucks

Homework. Students hate doing it, teacher hates grading it, students don’t do it, teacher gets frustrated at students for not doing it – and then the whole cycle starts over again when the teacher assigns the next night’s homework. If we know how the cycle will go, why do we as teachers continue to repeat it?

One reason homework is assigned is to see if students are comprehending the content of that day’s lesson. This is quite counterproductive when you actually think about it. If the students are not comprehending it, they either don’t do their homework and get points taken off, or they do it, get it wrong, and still get points taken off. Teachers are often rushed through explaining the homework at the end of the class period while students are packing up their things and thinking about everything but listening to the teacher explain some assignment they will (maybe) complete hours later. In such cases, homework is not a reliable account of comprehension.

Another reason of assigning homework is to keep students accountable for contributing to the class. In my MT’s class, the homework is often used the next day as bellwork. For example, students will write Daily Oral Language sentences as homework and bring them the next day for the whole class to correct together. However, when students don’t complete or bring the homework to school, it affects the entire class.

I will often ask students where their homework is and why they do not have it with them. Many students will answer that they left their homework at mom’s, dad’s, grandma’s, etc., but did not the other parent/guardian was the one that drove them to school. This is obviously a consequence of students that come from divorced or single parents. In Robert J. Marzano and Debra J. Pickering’s article “The Case For and Against Homework”, they state that homework is often particularly harmful to “economically disadvantaged students, who are unintentionally penalized because their environments often make it almost impossible to complete assignments at home” (Marzano and Pickering).

While teachers are not purposely penalizing students at an economic disadvantage and others whose home situations cause them to be at a disadvantage, it is crucial that teachers take all students and all home situations into consideration when planning homework assignments. One quote from Marzano and Pickering’s article which I found particularly intriguing was that “teachers are not well trained in how to assign homework” (Marzano and Pickering). Looking back on my Curriculum and Instruction courses, I can’t remember a time where we explicitly went over strategies on how to assign homework. Is there even a way to teach teachers how to effectively do this?

Marzano and Pickering do suggest several strategies for assigning homework, keeping in mind those students that would struggle with completing homework in their home environments. One thing they suggest is to have the child “show or explain their written work or other products completed at school to their parents and get their reactions” (Marzano and Pickering). I love the idea of having parents included in the learning process without forcing them to be experts on the subjects. 

Articles cited: 

Marzano, Robert J., and Debra J. Pickering. "The Case For and Against Homework." Educational Leadership 64.6: 74-79. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Web. 25 Sept. 2015. <http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar07/vol64/num06/The-Case-For-and-Against-Homework.aspx>.