Journal Sample 1
What happened?
In a study hall today, one the ELL program students was working on her essay. She asked for help, and I gave her help. After we finished working, I looked up and saw an entire page of sentences about why our society is better than that described in The Giver. I then realized that this student was going to be completing the entire assignment; at the beginning of the paper-writing we were thinking that she and a few other students would only complete one body paragraph and an introduction and conclusion or three body paragraphs. Now it is nearing the end of the unit and she has done all of the paragraphs and is ready for more. As I realized all of this, I told the student to look at how much she had done and how proud I was of her and of her good friend, another ELL program student. As I write this, I am realizing that every student is going to write all the paragraphs, far exceeding our expectations.
Why did it happen?
Throughout the writing process we (okay, I) took time to accommodate assignments by providing writing frames, taking out certain components of the body paragraphs (like the counterargument, which was very difficult for us to explain and difficult for four students to understand and produce), explaining in more depth the required components, and checking in frequently with students.
In addition, the two girls I mentioned have a great deal of support form their ESL teacher and the ESL coordinator, both of whom take great efforts to help give us the support that will help us support the students (such as looking over lesson plans, telling us the English level at which the students are proficient, providing journal prompts, etc).
What might it mean?
I think it means that scaffolding can get students much further than I expected. There were four students in particular—two English Language Learners and two girls who have IEPs for learning impairments—who I thought would not be able to do as much as the rest of the class. But they did! They had a lot of support—from paraeducators in the case of the girls with IEPs, from the ESL teacher in the case of the other two, from supported study halls, and from us language arts teachers. We were able to take advantage of all of this support and move them forward.
What are the implications for practice?
I think the biggest implications are (1) Take students as far as they can go with each assignment and (2) Utilize the supports that are available in the school.
With regards to (1): It was essential that neither I nor my CT stopped students’ progress at the point we expected them to stop. Rather, we kept taking them further, never letting on that they were doing much more than we could have imagined. This was an important lesson for me, because I think it would have been easy to limit students based on my own assumptions. The students’ completion of the assignments told me that I am no ogre, so I should be very attentive as students work in order that I may usher them forward or allow them to pause and absorb more information.
With regards to (2): We had to achieve a delicate balance as far supports go—between making good use of the supports, and depending too much on them. By that I mean, we could have gone on one extreme—not using any of the support staff or resources at all—or on the other extreme—not helping students because they have support staff (like saying, “Oh they’ve got a paraeducator, I don’t need to work them”). I think in this unit we had a really good mix of core teacher support and specialty teacher support. Learning this balance now will have significant implications in the future. I am understanding that I can do a lot to help students as a classroom teacher, and that I can help students even more by seeking out the teachers that support their special needs and know them in a different context.
What Happened?
We have started into a new topic on energy, temperature, and properties of matter. The students had a homework assignment over the long weekend to read the chapter on temperature and heat and answer a number of homework questions. While discussing the homework questions yesterday and today, the question, ”what happens to the temperature of ice as it is transforming into liquid water?” came up. In the first class my CT explained by way of a graph showing temperature change versus time. In the second class, my CT was called out of the classroom and I was asked to fill in. I took advantage of the situation and had the students all stand up and conduct a demonstration. I had them place their hands on the lab table and explain that they represented ice, frozen in place by their hands. They could move their body as a representation of temperature, but they could not remove their hands from the table. As I went around and tapped them, representing an energy increase, they could increase their temperature by moving more, but not remove their hands. As their temperature reached 32 degrees Fahrenheit, I explained that now, as I tapped them, the energy I was giving them had to go to extracting their hands from the table, representing turning from ice to liquid. Their temperature was not increasing, because the energy was going towards changing them from ice to liquid.
My CT came in while we were doing the first demonstration. She asked me to do it in the other two classes today. She also did the tapping of students, as I was getting a little nervous about touching students. We had a new student in one of the classes and I am not sure she felt comfortable about me tapping her.
While a number of the advanced students obviously got the idea, I am not sure some of the others did. D. asked me why we were doing it. I explained it to him after everyone sat down. Also, the class got a little wild as a result of this exercise. My CT tried to warn them to be quiet in the last class, but the energy was still there.
Why Did It Happen?
I’ve wanted to try this demonstration since the first week when the possibility came up in Earth Science class. I believe it might have worked better with them, as they typically had a little less energy. While it didn’t quite work as planned, I think it might have helped a few students to understand. I tried scaffolding it to boiling point by asking whether the temperature would change during boiling and a few still said yes. But, their comment was that a liquid was already free to move where it wanted to, so I think the confusion was on how a liquid is held together.
What Might It Mean?
Not everyone is visual and not everyone is going to get the visual representation of ice and water that I tried. Also, if the noise level gets too high, the idea may be drowned out. I think that if I just had one table stand up and demonstrate the idea that I might have been able to maintain control. This would have allowed me to designate one responsible student to be the energy provider instead of myself. Also, a couple of follow up formative assessments might have helped me get a better idea of where everyone was with respect to the understanding I was trying to convey.
What Are the Implications for Practice?
It’s a good thing I am a believer in making mistakes and trying again, because it is apparent I am going to have to adjust my lesson plans several times to get it right. Every class is going to be different. I have to take into consideration the time of day and the mix of students. I need to make sure that I follow up as quickly as possible with a formative assessment so that I can quickly adjust. No one said it was going to be easy J.