Understanding and Applying Standards

Planning the lessons that you are going to teach is one of the most important parts of the proccess, that's why standards are so important, since they are a guide that help you know what exactly you should teach your students.

The first time I looked the standards, they were a bit complicated and confused for me, but, after unpacking them everything became easier. Usually the standards are long sentences, that can be easily understood if you break them into small parts. It is also very useful to highlight the verbs, that are the actions that the students need to be able to do at the end of the lessons. The nouns help you to know where this actions should be directed. I think that the mission of unpack a standard is to make the teacher understand what is the learning goal for this unit.

Once you know what you have to teach, you need to plan how you will do it. That's when backwards mapping comes into action. You know what is the goal, but now you have to figure out how are you going to teach the standard. It is in this part when you create the objectives, the activities and at the end the assessment to check if your students have learnt all the concepts that you have taught. Using this strategy help me so much to find the way to teach, in my case, homeostasis. This concept could be divided into several lessons, with interesting activities that catch the students' attention, helping them to learn the concepts. There is a lot of information in this unit, and could be overwhelming for students and teachers if you give all the information in a non well organize sequence.

The third part of the process is to create a SMART objective, which indicates us the concepts the students should learnt by the end of the lesson. This objectives have to be specific and measurable. Once you develop the activities you want to do through the unit, it's easier to determinate this objectives, since you know the skills the students will need to use to meet the standard.

In conclusion, this unit help me to feel more confident about the standards and how to implement them in the lessons that I will be teaching very soon.

Standards and Backwards Mapping

I will use backwards mapping on the Standard HS-LS 1-3 for the subject  Biology at High School.

The standard is:

"Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that feedback mechanisms maintain homeostasis." 

This Standard can be founded in Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and it's currently used at AISJ, the school in which I am working.

This standard can be easily broke into a few lessons with several experimental activities which can help the students to develop critical thinking, creativity and group working skills. Students can have fun and learn by observing the results of their hypothesis and experiments.

The proficiencies that the students should have after learn this unit are:

1. Define the concept of homeostasis and positive/negative feedback.
2. Outline the consequences of a disturbance in homeostasis of an organism.
3. Express and perform information using charts or scientific posters.

The assessments proposed to make sure the students will meet the standard after this unit are:

Concept test

All the students have to know the meaning of the different processes that take place for the maintenance of the stability in a body. Without mastering this key concepts students will not be able to perform any of the future activities, since they will have to manage them easily. 

Study cases worksheets

The students, organized by groups, have to predict how the body will react towards some situations explained in a worksheet. This worksheet will be specific of one of the three processes taught in the unit; heart rate, glucose concentration or temperature. The teacher will monitor the groups and listen their hypothesis and how they work as a group.

Final project: design a experiment, do it and present it

Organized by groups, the students will have to develop a project to explain how one of the three processes mentioned above, change and why. They will have to make the experiments they consider and collect the data. At the end they will have to use this data to make a class presentation, which will be evaluated as a final assignment.

The activities or projects that students will do in order to meet the standard could be:

• Create a glossary of the most important concepts for the unit. This concepts should include  the new words such as homeostasis or feedback, as well as other words previously used, like endocrine system, hormone, etc.

• After explaining how work the three different mechanisms of homeostasis for this unit (heart rate, glucose concentration and body temperature) discuss in group some activities in your daily life in which you can observe them. Have a brainstorming for different situations how them work. To conclude with this lesson, divide the classroom in groups and give them a study case that they have to explain as a group (assessment 2).

• Use real research papers and posters as well as graphics to perform a science experiment. After explaining the different steps to develop a science project, organize the students in groups and assign them a homeostatic process; they have to complete all the parts of a research and at the end present it to the rest of the classroom.

Applying Classroom Rules and Procedures

When and how students should have a positive reinforcement? And if they misbehave, should I say something to them? How?

We know that positive reinforcement is a teaching technique that should be applied, but when and how? We have to take in consideration a few aspects:

• Elementary it's different from middle school or high school. This two (MS & HS) could share a few similarities, but elementary it's a bit different
• Positive reinforcement should be done to all the students in the classroom not only to a few ones, that could create conflicts between students

In elementary it's a good option to say thank you to a student or the whole classroom when they do a positive action like cleaning up after a break or leave the homework in their place at the beginning of the day. In these cases you can say " Thank you guys for cleaning the room up so quietly" or " Thank you guys for leaving your homeworks in the box, I can start grading them now" This positive comments will make the children know what type of behavior or actions are good from the ones that are negative to themselves or the classroom in general. If a student makes a positive action you can express your gratitude to him/her in front of the class or during circle time, so the rest of the class can identify the action as a good one to copy in the future.

In middle school it supposed that students know the basic rules they have to follow in the classroom with peers and teachers. However, it's also good to encourage them to keep acting this way with simply comments like " thank you for being so responsible" when they give you their notebooks for grading an activity. I think that at this ages the most important part is the academic and personal interactions. For example, there is a girl in 6th grade that hates to presents her work in front of the classroom. The teacher always encourage her to read her stories or reports (it's an English class) and by the end of her presentation always said to her " thank you for sharing it. I'm so happy that you are always trying to get over your fear of speaking in public, you're improving a lot!" This girl is everyday less shy and really improving her presentations.

If the teacher feels that the comment could make the student feel embarrassed, she should wait until the end of the classroom and tell it personally to the student. A e-mail to the student's parents is also appreciated by children.

These are some of the options you can choose as a positive reinforcement.

What's about misbehavior, WHEN and HOW deal with it in the classroom?

Misbehavior couldn't interrupt constantly your lessons, so the first option should be always getting close to the student(s) who are acting inappropriately in order to make them stop doing it.

Teachers have to set some rules at the beginning of the year, and make sure that all students know them. At first the teacher could be a bit more permissive since they are adjusting to the new classroom and environment, but after two weeks these rules have to be respected always, if not, there will be consequences. 

If the situation in not safe for the students you must stop your lesson and intervene. For example, a student is playing with the scissors and throwing them. He/She can hurt himself or other student, so you should stop what you are doing and ask the student to stop doing this, show him and the rest of the class that this could be dangerous and someone could be injured. If the student is doing on purpose, you have to send a e-mail to home and probably send the student with the principal or counselor (or the person in charge of misbehaved students).

Other strategies you can use to make those students who are not paying attention is the Teach like a champion technique "No opt out" to catch the student's attention back to your explanation. You can also set a color system; that means that when a student is misbehaving or even the whole class is not behaving properly, you can give them a yellow card. This card means that they have their first warning, the next one will be the red card, and this will have bad consequences for them. One of these consequences could be have less points on the next assignment, spend recess in the classroom or an e-mail to home explaining the situation.

This chart can be used to solve some little conflicts in the classroom:

To sum up, positive reinforcement is necessary in a classroom, since it will help students to discern the positive behaviors from the negative ones, but, it's also important to try to keep a good environment in the classroom avoiding the uncomfortable situations, trying to solve them as smoothly as possible.

Creating High Performance Learning Environments

For this activity we had to watch three videos with different strategies to create high expectations in the classroom and achieve them.

The first video, "Roller coaster Physics: STEM in action" shows how students from fifth and sixth grade create a roller coaster. The project last 3 weeks and include all the stages; design, trial and use. The students share their ideas for the design and collaborate. The second part of the activity, is to make sure the roller coaster is safe, and finally he get their final project.

The teacher set the objectives she expected for the lesson and it seems that students understand them since they know exactly what they have to do, which indicates that rules and procedures are set and everyone is aware of them.

As a student and future teacher, I think that this is the best way to teach a lesson. Learning by doing is proved to be the most successful teaching technique, it might be because children don't have to memorize any list or process without really understand why them happen. It easy to remember at the same time that usually you enjoy. This strategy also encourage some skills like critical thinking and collaboration, both of them very important in the learning process of a student.

The second video,"3rd Grade Chinese Math " shows how time tables are taught in China. China's teaching method is very different from the American, at least in math. It's similar to the Spanish system (which doesn't have the same results that the Chinese has). The classes consist in repeating the time tables until the students remember all the results. They memorize the time tables. As a student who learned to multiply by this method, I really hated it, but I still remembering all the time tables after 20 years, so this technique that can seem a bit hard for children is effective, since China has the best results for math.
I think that this lesson can be complemented with other teaching strategies to make it more attractive for students; some kind of multiplication drill competition could encourage students to make their best in order to win a symbolic prize.
In the second part of the lesson the teacher practice subtractions with the students. All of them try to participate and she tried to involve all the class in the process.
The students' behavior is excellent. Norms and procedures are properly design since the teachers have more prep hours than teaching ones. 
Personally, I prefer to teach math using worksheets or if it's possible, IXL, a math program with thousands of exercises that allows you to keep a record of your progress.

The third video  "Whole Brain Teaching" we can see how a teacher explains geography to 9th grade. She uses her hands and arms in order to help students to understand the concepts that she is explaining. After the teacher's explanation, students practice the same movements she did with peers, so they teach each other the same concept.
Norms and procedures are well defined for all. Students have to repeat teacher's directions, probably to make sure that all students know where or what they have to be doing.
I think this is a very nice way to make all the students participate in the classroom and follow directions without being extremely strict.

Establishing a positive classroom climate

Nowadays it's very common to find different nationalities in a classroom, no matter which grade. It's very important that children feel comfortable, that will help them to integrate in the community and make friends. If we want our students to be successful in their academic goals, we need to provide all the tools and resources they need to feel this way.

Teachers who manage this type of multicultural classrooms, have to pay special attention to the integration of these students in the community.

They also have to be aware of bullying. Some cultural groups are more susceptible to be bullied since they don't want to report the cases and be accepted by their peers.

It's very important to build a strong relationship between teacher and students. That is essential for having a good communication in case the student has a problem and feel comfortable enough to tell it to the teacher. Some children are afraid of telling their problems because other students can label him/her as a informer, that's why is very important that your students feel that they can trust you.

Building this type of relationship could be as easy as asking the student how everything is going, if they feel as part of the group, in case they need extra help with any activity you will be available, etc. You always have to let them know that you are a reliable and supportive person at school.

Some of the strategies I would like to follow to facilitate the integration and the participation of every single student in the classroom are:

• At the beginning of the year I will encourage students to introduce themselves. I would ask them for nationality, previous years and some details about their families, like how many brothers and sister or which language is usually spoken at home.

• After have some information about all the students, I will arrange the classroom by groups of 4-6 students from different nationalities or cultural backgrounds to encourage diversity and respect. I think that could prevent bullying since all the students will have the same "opportunities" to be bullied because of cultural reasons.

• As I'll planning to teach Biology, I can introduce some bullying cases that happened with some famous researchers. 

• I will ask students to bring some pictures of important places in their country related with the nature. They also need to write a brief description about the place. This will be use to decorate the classroom's walls.

This multicultural environment could be more susceptible of bullying. That's why it's very important to teach that diversity is something good. There are some interesting anti bullying programs. The school where I'm working uses "Second step" with low rates of bullying cases.

It's also important to teach respect between peers and teachers and talk about some problems happened in class.

Why do you need a mobile/tablet in your classroom?

Overall approach

Technology has an essential role in our daily routine, that is why children should master a productive and responsible use of them.

Integrate technology in the classroom has a positive impact to students, they can explore further than the traditional methods, like for example,  books.  While learners are having a lecture, they can use tablets or smartphones to watch real videos or images, so they can visualize the issue explained and keep this information in a easier way.

Communication is also important. Technology allows teachers, students and parents to stay in touch easily. Emails or a determinate platform can be use to share relevant information, so there will be a lot of data about students, knowing the specific parts of the content they are struggling with, facilitating  teachers' intervention.

For all of these purposes a laptop can be used too, but we have to recognize that a tablet or mobile it's easier to transport and the batteries last more hours than a laptop or a computer.

 

Best practices for technology in the classroom

Students can empower their presentations using real images of their work, it might be an experimental or a research project. Not only images can be used, they can also record video or voice and join it to the assignment. It will provide teachers an overview about how students can plan the activity, do their task and perhaps the most important part, process the information obtained into a project.

Tablets or smartphones could be used as devices for answer teacher's questions. Some students have a hard time each time they have to raise their hands and answer a question in front of their peers, using that system students can build some self confident. Using technology for this purpose, teachers can be sure the classroom  understanding about the topic she or he is teaching. It can be a very helpful tool in order to detect cases which need intervention. Imaging you ask a tricky question in order to check if students understand the content. They can choose their answer of a few options given to them or write some notes. Teachers will collect the data, analyze it and get a general view about how their explanations are working.

Think and share. We know that brainstorming has an awesome effect in creativity and critical thinking. Better solutions come up when you work as a team. Electronic devices can be use for that goal. After introducing the main concepts of your lesson let the students do some research; they can use YouTube for an interesting lecture, pictures, to clarify the instructions you gave them or interesting articles to discuss as a group. They can share with peers, discuss about them and have a deeper knowledge than if they do it by themselves or just keep the notes taken during class.

Information can be accessible from many places, having access to a lot of information that could not be available if they have to carry with them heavy books. For example, if the student has to travel, he or she can access his notes for all subjects in the same device. In teachers' case, they can check all their students' progress, grading and planning assignments.

Resources

·         Mobile learning (2015). Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/unesco/themes/icts/m4ed/

·         How Brandi McWilliams teaches with Ipad (2015). Retrieved from https://www.apple.com/education/real-stories/brandi-mcwilliams/

·         Teaching with Web-based resources (2015). Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-with-web-based-resources-edwige-simon

·         1.1 Ipads in Minnekota classroom (2015). Retrieved from http://www.minnetonka.k12.mn.us/administration/technology/iPads/Pages/default.aspx

21st Century skills

On this post, I will talk about which are the 21st century skills and examples of how implement them in a Secondary Biology class.

We can divide these skills in four categories:

• 4 C's
• Technology
• 21st Century themes
• Life and career skills

I think that integrate the 4 C's (Creativity, Critical thinking and problem solving, Collaboration and Communication) in a science area is essential. After the students have the basic theorical knowledge, they can start to work in groups, trying to solve problems and come up with a solution. This type of learning will be more satisfactory for the students and will increase their motivation about the subject; They will see that all the "boring" processes and definitions have an apllication in the real life. This kind of activities can make some students get interested in develop his/her career in this field.

For example, after a brief introduction to enzymes, the teacher asks the students to develop a experiment that could help us to know which of two enzymes work faster in a determinated process. This activity will develop the creativity of the students, they have to design an experiment, will increase their critical thinking and problem solving, they have to review all their knowledge about enzymes and create a logical step by step process, taking in consideration the possible problems and solutions. They have to collaborate with their peers, share ideas and points of view. They also will need to increase the communication, collaboration without communication is doomed to failure.

This activity also help to improve life and carrer skills, like flexibility and adaptability,they have to adapt themselves to the conditions and the available material. They have to develop initiative, self direction, leadership and responsability, they are in charge of the experiment, and won't have a person to guide them. They have produce a good experiment because this will be graded.

21st century skills also include some themes apart from the academic content. These themes are:

• Global awareness
• Financial, economic, bussiness and entrepreneurial literacy
• Civic literacy
• Health literacy
• Environmental literacy 

These topics could be included in the subject in some research activities. The students could complete their learning in a determined topic looking for some information or introduce a global/local new and ask the students to find more information about it.

Nowadays all of us now the importance of technology in our lifes, so it is very important to teach children how to use it properly. They should know how to find information and use the media, so it is a good practise to use the school's computer lab and give them a topic to find some information, so in case they need, the teacher can give them some advice.

Some examples of non 21st century skills' activities are:

• Grading the knowledge of an area based on tradicional skills (usually a test)
• Lessons based on teacher's explanation only.
• Lessons based only in the theorical explanation, without talking about possible applications in real life or benefits for the community
• Learning by heart test or assignments

Resources

• 21st Century skills (2015) Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/about-us/p21-framework
• What are 21st Century skills? (2015) Retrieved from http://thoughtfullearning.com/resources/what-are-21st-century-skills