Response 2

Articles:

Kai Smith (16 February, 2011) Supporting Transgender Children in the Primary Classroom: A Reflection.

http://www.genderandeducation.com/issues/supporting-transgender-children-in-the-primary-classroom/

Safe Zone Training: 2012-2013.  NDSU. http://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/safezone/2012_2013_Safe_Zone_Packet.pdf

For the summary and connection to the readings, tune into the video:

If your interested in learning more, check out the power point presentation Katie and I made:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15rzXK7kctgRFlFJL4ZaaqMu4XX2o5SBntjoiTWMcg_s/edit

Lauren's Response to Question 3

Lauren's Response to Question 1

Response 3

Thinking about classroom order and equal opportunity at my practicum site, I immediately think about the seating charts in my two periods of math.  In my first period, students are grouped by ability and each “group” can have their own type of distractions and interruptions.  In my second period, my teacher has placed the students who have the hardest time focusing and participating right in front of him.  So when he teaches and uses the board at the front of the room, the trouble makers are right in front of him.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a sub for two days in a row.  It was the same sub both days.  There is this group of boys that disrupts the class verbally – in a loud fashion.  The sub kept addressing the boys’ disruptions.  However, there were also a group of girls who kept disrupting the class.  Their disruption was passing notes.  It was not causing an audible distraction, so the sub did not address it.  However, two boys were very displeased by their distraction and started getting angry about the sub not doing anything about it.  This passing notes distraction ended up being an audible distraction and a physical one once a boy got up and snatched a note away.  He ended up having the whole class’s attention during the sub’s lesson.  To me, this goes back to Lampert’s finding a balance.  I think the sub was letting the note passing go because he deemed the distraction not worth disrupting his lesson to address it, while he did stop teaching to address the boys who were shouting.  These thoughts have now led me to ask myself: what distractions are worth bringing attention to and which ones are not?  And is there a line that can be crossed that changes the distraction? 

Question 2 Response

Stanchfield, J. (2012). More Ideas to Engage Learners From the Moment They Walk in the Door. WoodnBarns, Retrieved from http://woodnbarnes.com/uncategorized/more-ideas-to-engage-learners-from-the-moment-they-walk-in-the-door/

I found this article on a blog called “The Inspired Educator Blog”.  This article is a follow up from a previous article.  The main point of the article was to address the importance of engaging students in the first few minutes of your lesson.  Stanchfield discusses that students tend to remember what happened first and last in a lesson.  She calls this a bookend learning experience.  As soon as students walk through the door, they need to be engaged.   Most teachers start class with taking attendance or collecting homework.  However, these activities are not engaging and can impact student engagement.  A lesson beginning should set the tone for the rest of the lesson and may make a difference in whether students will be engaged and stay engaged throughout the lesson. 

This reading connects with our course content because I feel as though we have been trying to make math more engaging.  Teaching math in a traditional way is not very engaging for students.  When we talk about reform teaching, math becomes more authentic and students are more eager to participate.  Often, the beginning of a lesson is what I remember most.  Thinking about the group lessons we have been teaching I remember trying to fit people in a 1 meter by 1 meter box and pulling colored paper out of a bag.  When I think about these activities, I can remember what each group taught.  Without having these activities to remember these lessons by, I am not sure if I could tell someone what lessons my peers have taught these past few weeks.  The beginning of a lesson is very important.  When I start to make a lesson plan, I know what content I want to teach, but I always seem to spend a lot of time thinking of different ways I could excite my students enough to be engaged for the whole lesson.  The process of coming up with a good lesson opening can be challenging, but it is so worth it if I can create something that will engage the majority of my students.

Question 1 Response

Response to Question 3

Response to Question 2

Article that I read:
Scholastic Administrator. (2012). Nothing to fear, how to build a classroom based on trust. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=11644

Response to Question 1

Question 3

I found the dilemma posed in the first part of Lampert's article as very interesting. I am wondering what sorts of situations you have faced in your practicum where you may have felt you needed to choose between classroom order and equal opportunity. If you don't think you have faced this particular dilemma please share of a similar experience, and then thoughts on the best ways to handle it in the future.

Question 2

1. Based upon the article or chapter you chose to read, please do the following:
1. Cite your reading so we know where and how to find it.
2. Provide a one paragraph summary of what you read.
3. Synthesize in a second paragraph how your reading connects with or extends or troubles or... our course content.
4. Work with your group members to incorporate ideas from this reading into the discussion representation so that it expresses your thoughts and opinions about the piece - like any discussion representation, this can take any form, written or otherwise.

Question 1

1. From Lampert p. 192: "These images of teachers - as cognitive information processors, as implements of researchers' knowledge about how to produce learning, as stressed and neurotically defensive, and as members of opposing camps - portray the conflicts in teaching as resolvable in one way or another.  In contrast, the image of the teacher as dilemma manager accepts conflict as a continuing condition with which persons can learn to cope.... it puts the teacher in a different problem solving relationship to the social conflicts and behavioral patterns in her[his] work."  Consider the instructional decisions that Torrey and Remi make in our methods course, those of your CT, and even your own in practicum this semester and in previous semesters too.  How does Lampert's perspective inform our understanding of these instructional decisions in various learning environments?  How might this help clarify your own principles and practices?  How does Lampert's insights help you address the question, "What is my practice?"

Please respond to question 1 :)

Alright, here is our blog:) I would love it if you all would respond to the readings with a video. I am going to test this out and show you how to do it, and then you can create a little video for each question! Thanks for being awesome and if you don't have access to a webcam you can definitely choose to respond in writing.

Video uploading instructions.

1. Choose to create a new post

2. on the right side of the tool bar click the icon that looks like an dramatic movie theatre "lights, camera. action" thingamobobber.

3. Press, "choose movie to upload" and you can just locate it on your computer.

4. then voila, publish!