School Schedules

            A classroom practice that I believe should be changed is high school schedules.  Our school district is currently on the trimester schedule where each student takes five classes per trimester.  Each of the core classes (Math, Science, English, and Social Studies) are taken for two out of three trimesters.  I teach in a typical math classroom and also in the engineering program, which is a magnet program within the normal school day, so students are placed together for math, science, and engineering electives at various points in their high school career.  As a program we are able to change the schedule and manipulate it in any way that we feel best serves the students.  I feel I can serve as a leader to move the idea of an alternate schedule forward in this aspect of the high school schedule. 

            One of the problems that we encounter as teachers in the trimester schedule is the student’s schedules have to change radically after each trimester.  A math student almost never has the same teacher from one trimester to the next.  This only gives us about 3 months to get to know each student’s learning style.  I believe the teacher-student relationship is one of the most important parts of student success and this is not enough time to really understand each of our students.

            Another problem is that students only have the core classes for two-thirds of the year.  It may happen that a student has math 1^st and 2^nd tri one year and then 2^nd and 3^rd tri the next year.  Math has a very specific scaffold and it is difficult to take a break from it for 9 months and then continue on at the same level.  

            A final problem is that there is no time built in the school day for intervention.  The students who are struggling just get pushed through the class until they fail or barely pass.  If they are unable or unwilling to come in before or after school, it is very difficult to give them the attention that they need. 

            We have looked at a few different options for alternate high school schedules.  A school in a suburb of Chicago has a rotating schedule where each day is different for each student.  It has times built in to each day that are for meeting with their teachers and working on content that they need help with.  Each day is different and each teacher has different office hours during the day that students may drop in and get help.  If they don’t need help there is areas in the school for studying and working on other work.  This has worked very well for intervention within the school day, but it is a complicated schedule and it puts quite a bit of responsibility on the students to seek help when they need it.  I think it could be modified and work well for our school.

            Another model that I have seen is one that the state of Massachusetts has recently implemented is a split of core classes and elective/lab classes.  One week student are in their core academic classes and then the next week they are in lab classes that consist of electives or science, math, and engineering lab classes.  All students take all core classes all year and are able to fit in more electives along with having the support of all-year-long core classes.  This could also be modified to fit our needs at our school.

            There is no perfect answer to the student-schedule question, but I think with how technology has changed, we need to better fit the current needs of our students.  Hopefully I can be part of that change in our engineering program and then help foster the idea as a whole school or district.  

Backwards Design

Backwards Design (BWD) is a method of planning instruction that we have used in the St. Mary's masters program.  It works almost exactly how the name describes it.  Instead of focusing first on individual lessons, you focus on overall ideas for the unit and then the assessment that will be used in the unit and then finally individual lessons.  The most helpful part of BWD for me is the first stage.  This past summer I took an elective class that focused only on the first stage.  It was helpful for me to look at what I really wanted my students to learn in that unit.  I wrote essential questions and overall enduring understandings more thoroughly and made it more clear for myself what I needed to focus on.  The unit I focused on was for my honors geometry class and it is a fairly simple unit that mainly introduces students to introductory vocabulary that is used throughout the class.  It was really nice to take time to think about how I could enhance that unit with better essential questions.  When I taught it this year, I was able to get students to think about two and three dimensions more deeply.  By planning the unit using the BWD method, I was able to better implement critical thinking in the class, which is one of my goals for the year.   

Action Research Abstract

This action research centers around standards based grading and how it improves student proficiency in two Intermediate Algebra classes.  Through research it was determined that standards based grading consists of separating the grade into standards, basing the grade only on academics, reporting the grade using defined levels of proficiency, allowing students to improve their scores, and communicating the grade in a clear manner. 

Standards based grading was implemented in each class by separating the tests into learning targets and reporting a separate score for each target in the gradebook.  The grade was weighted so that 90% was based on test scores and 10% was based on homework.  Work ethic, extra credit, and participation were not included in the grade.  Students were allowed a chance to improve their grade through retaking individual learning targets after each test. 

For this action research, data was collected in multiple ways.  Students and parents were given surveys regarding pre-conceived notions about grades.  Observations were made about student’s on-task time when given a review focused on improving specific learning targets as opposed to a general review.  Data was compiled showing student proficiency on each exam as compared to student proficiency after retakes had been factored into the grade.  Each of these types of data collection helped to give an overall idea about standards based grading and how it improved student proficiency.   

Presence

Presence is the "P" in AGAPE, which is the Lasallian framework that St. Mary's uses for developing the inner life of a teacher.  I see presence as what a teacher uses to develop a relationship with their students.  It has to with how a teacher is connected to their inner-self with a sense of purpose and confidence.  A teacher with presence works to help their students discover their own inner spirit.  

I think presence is appropriate for semester four in our master's program because we are starting the beginning of our school year and we have to start to build relationships with a whole new group of students.  It is hard to start these relationships and I think it helps to project confidence but also be approachable.  When you are present and honest with students, they begin to trust you and will be able to learn even more.  As the year starts, I keep this in mind and work hard to get to know my students and help them get to know me.  I let them see my inner-self and help them to think about who they are and who they want to be.  

Circles of Self

I did a circles of self activity where I had to choose 5 self-identities and then give up the least important identity one-by-one until I was left with the identity that was most important to me.  This activity was difficult because my identities are part of me and make me who I am.  It is hard to think about giving up friends, family, or interests that are central to my life.  

This activity is interesting to think about in terms of our students.  One of the questions that was asked was thinking about if we force our students to give up one or more of their identities when they come to school.  I hope that we never purposefully make a student give up their identity, but I can see how schools or teachers can do that without knowing it.  To change this, we can focus on getting to know our students and allowing them to talk about themselves and be proud of who they are.  

I also look at this activity and how it applies to my classroom in another way.  Students come to us as teenagers who don't necessarily know themselves.  We, as teachers, have the opportunity to help them decide what is important and what their identities are.  We can tell stories about ourselves and our lives and show our true identities and encourage our students to think about how they want to live and what they want their lives to be like.

Holonomy

For MEd class, we read a chapter in the book Cognitive Coaching called Achieving Holonomy.  I liked the writing and thought it had some interesting points.  The book defines holonomy in terms of how it can be used in cognitive coaching.  Holonomy is achieved when a person acts as both an individual and a significant contributor to a community.  They are influenced by what is around them, but at the same time influence that system also.  It is broken up into five states of mind: efficacy, flexibility, craftsmanship, consciousness, and interdependence.

Holonomy is shown in the MEd program in the way that we reflect on ourselves and our teaching and then bring it back to our schools and share it with our community.  It is an individual effort that ultimately will result in improving our teaching and we can share it with our colleagues to improve our teams.

The chapter talks about a study that asked employees in a business cooperation to rank the the parts of holonomy as most important to least important.  They ranked consciousness as the most important.  I am not sure if I can rank any part as more important than another part.  Interdependence could be the most important on my list because I think we can't survive without working together and we produce such a better product when everyone contributes.  But, without the other states, holonomy would not work as it is supposed to.

Each of the different states of holonomy can be seen in my classroom:
An efficacious person believes that they control what happens and that the outcome of a situation depends on their effort.  This is shown in how the master's program teaches us to look at our teaching practices and change and improve them.  As a teacher, I really think that what I do and how I act each day makes a difference to my students.

Flexibility is when a person can step back and look at a problem from a different view.  I liked how the chapter said "trusting their creative unconscious will work productively."  It is hard to stand in the middle of chaos (also known as 9th grade geometry class) and believe that things will work out in the end, but a flexible person can do that.

Craftsmanship is precision in the processes we teach and the language we use.  It continues to amaze me how my students will mimic my language.  When I started out as a new teacher I tried to simplify my language because I just wanted the lower students to "get it".  Now, I make an effort to use the technical terms along with the simplified version and I am always surprised how easily many of the students add those new words to their vocabulary.

Consciousness is a persons ability to be aware of what is happening to them internally and externally.  In the classroom this is shown through how we monitor and adjust to any situation.  The chapter talks about how it is a "gut feeling."  I think this is a big part of what makes a teacher good.  When we are getting our teaching degree, we don't learn how to respond to every single problem, but as we become more experienced, we know when our students need more time, when they need someone to talk to, and how we want to present ourselves in our classroom.

Interdependence is when a person contributes to the common goal, but also gains resources from their community.  This trait can be seen even at the basic level in our students and how they work with a group.  In my engineering class, the groups that present the best projects are always the ones that have strong individuals who work well together and share what they do for the good of the team.  Oftentimes a group that has the smartest students in the class is not the most successful because they don't know how to work towards group goals.  I think this is one of the most important traits of holonomy and we as teachers must realize it and work together so that our students get the best possible benefits.


Resources:
Costa, A. & Garmson, R. (1993). Achieving holonomy. Cognitive Coaching. New York: Christopher-Gordon Publishers

Action Research Abstract

  -->This is my first draft of my abstract for the review of literature about my current action research in my masters programs.  

Implementing High-Level Cognitive Activities in Geometry

Calla Athman

Blaine High School, Blaine, MN

This action research is focused on implementing high-level cognitive activities in a geometry classroom.  These activities will be used to increase retention and understanding of geometry concepts.  Research was conducted about a general definition of critical thinking, methods of implementing high-level cognitive activities, and the difficulty of measuring a student's ability to think critically.  For three units in the geometry class, students were given problems in which they had to use high-level cognitive thinking skills.  Strategies for approaching challenging problems were modeled in the classroom.  They were given surveys prior to and following the units where emphasis was placed on critical thinking.  Data from test scores before the critical thinking activities was compared to test score data after implementing the activities.  This action research is currently in progress.  The pre-critical thinking survey has been given.  Students are in the second unit where high-level cognitive skills are being taught and data is being gathered regarding students proficiency in each critical thinking task.  At the end, a conclusion will be formulated showing if there was an increase of retention and understanding of geometry concepts because of the additional critical thinking activities that were implemented.