Student Learning
Here are my reflections about my students' growth as well as my personal growth.
A never-ending learning process, the ripple effect.
A never-ending learning process, the ripple effect.
"How Great was Alexander the Great" Mini Q Documents and paper outline
I chose this artifact because it demonstrates this student's growth in document analysis and argument organization. In the first stage of document analysis, this student struggled to provide specific details from the document. After receiving the written feedback from me, he was extremely frustrated because he thought he answered the questions completely. After noticing that most of his peers had the same question, I created the feedback sheet, which I projected on the board, with sample answers for how great or not great Alexander the Great was. I used this as a re-teaching exercise because this is only their second exposure to DBQ’s. After re-teaching, I continued to walk around the classroom to assess for improved understanding.
The next day when the students turned in Documents D and E, this student improved slightly. He started using specific proof from the document to support his argument. Again, I provided written feedback on his worksheet, but this time I followed up one-on-one because I could tell he was still upset with my grading. During this one-on-one I asked him to explain his answer orally. This time he was specific and very articulate. When I asked him why he did not include that rational on his packet, he said that he thought I knew what he meant because I could see the documents. This led me to make an announcement to the class that I want them to write responses as if I CANNOT SEE the document.
On the last day, the students were required to outline a DBQ paper. On this major assessment, this particular student used appropriate and specific evidence. He demonstrated an understanding of how to use evidence to support his thesis in an organized format.
Without using multiple ways to assess student understanding, first through the homework grading, re-teaching, and walking around the room to provide immediate feedback both written and orally, this student may not have proficiently demonstrated the skills used in DBQ’s. He demonstrates growth through the increases use of specific evidence from the documents to support his thesis.
This artifact demonstrates my growth because I was able to use the data collected from a homework assignment to guide my re-teaching of the skills during the next lesson. Although this student was reluctant to let me help him, I took the initiative to make sure that he understood the task. The use of one-on-one re-teaching was an effective strategy for this student because there were less classroom distractions and I could immediately tell what he understood. I am better able to target reluctant learners and can specify specific strategies based on the background knowledge I have of the student, in order to make him or her the most successful.
Ancient Chinese Philosophies Test and Retest (French to English Version)
I chose this artifact because this particular student demonstrated extreme growth in multiple disciplines in this artifact. She is a student from the Congo who could only speak her native tongue and French. As an accommodation for her language barrier, we gave her all her worksheets and tests in French. She responded in French and we had the French teacher translate it. However, even with the French version, she did not understand the Chinese philosophies well. On her first test, a French version, she struggled with the concept of Taoism and Legalism and the quotes section. For the re-take test, my cooperating teacher and I decided to omit the quotes section and focus solely on the scenarios. During the reteach, I acted out all the scenarios. We made some English flashcards, and this student came in four lunches in a row to relearn the philosophies. Since our purpose was to demonstrate understanding of how each of the three philosophers would handle a situation, this student only retook this portion of the test. Not only did she perform much better, but she took the test in English and responded in English.
Through my drama reenactments of several scenarios, this student was better able to grasp the concepts I was trying to teach her. Since English is not her first nor her second language, the acting increased her understanding. The creation of flashcards also helped her English vocabulary. At this point, she only wanted worksheets and tests in English because her confidence was growing. This impact was not only an educational impact but an emotional impact as well.
This artifact demonstrates my growth because I included multidisciplinary techniques to improve student understanding. Since students have multiple intelligences, skill levels, and preferences for learning, this experience exposed me to a new way to teach material. The dramatics are both entertaining and can demonstrate the concept to those students that may not listen well or speak the language fluently.