Derbann+Al-Kudmani

= Response Journal #1-Introduction = = = Hi, I am Derby Al-Kudmani. I graduated from the Univ. of Florida with a B.S. in Math. I am an American married to a Saudi. I have lived here for 30 years!! I teach 9th-12th grade mathematics at Dhahran High School. I have also taught in the USA and Riyadh. I have taught junior high and elementary levels too. In Riyadh I was the Director of a preschool for two years. As I am of an older generation than most of my peers, I feel that I could use some updating in recent curriculum and instructional design. I am hoping that this class will challenge me to recharge my classes in such a way as to make me a better teacher and my students better learners and thinkers for today’s world. And by using the backward design concept, I hope to affirm that my assessments will be more meaningful and appropriate for the students. =Response Journal #2= =Knowledge Alive=

==== The author, David Perkins, has questioned the way that most schools are teaching today. He has suggested that we need to look at what we are teaching and why. Are the courses that we require from our students viable for today’s world? He has introduced the concept of teaching the Knowledge Arts. These are the ability to create, communicate, organize and act on knowledge. ====

We ,as educators, need to show students how to manipulate this knowledge in different ways to handle their knowledge well and to think critically and creatively. The student should become a deeper thinker and follow their queries to other areas to widen their understanding. They need to become problem solvers and decision makers who can collaborate and cooperate with others.. Teachers can guide the way with open questions, making them think where did this come from or where does this lead. We need to generate a culture of inquiry and excitement.

This article has made me aware of many shortcomings in my teaching. However it makes me think of ways to change my practices and open more discussions and inquiries with my students. I also would like more student based discoveries to be shared openly and with acceptance. Personally, I completely agree with the author, his Teaching for Understanding and Second Curriculum strategies should guide all educators and curriculum writers to reexamine their plans and goals and to reset these criteria for today’s world. Education is a constantly evolving medium. It should not be static. Nevertheless I also think that not all change for change sake is good. =PREPARING FOR TODAY= Elliot Eisner directs us to prepare effectively for the present, which will enable the students for the future. He states that learning should be engaging, challenging and meaningful for optimum student involvement. Students need to learn //judgment// and how to make choices or resolutions to problems. //Critical thinking// is compulsory for analyzing and exploring ideas. We need to include //meaningful literacy// in varied aspects of our culture which would enable true understanding of different forms of expression such as music, art, math and dance. This would lead to the development of their own //mind.// These opportunities should be included in our school arena. The work place and the world in general will involve collaborating in harmony with others commercially and socially. A person needs individual strengths but also integration with their community. This can be achieved by community service, by being involved, volunteering and being accountable and reactive citizens.

Our parents tend to ask for grades first, not about how their child is really doing, are they learning, and are they content, do they feel a part of the class socially? We should be concentrating on teaching what will be relevant after school not in school. There is a tendency in our schools and our world for hoop-jumping, such as grades, graduation requirements, career advancements. Also many students/parents think certain higher level courses (AP Honors) or other choices are necessary to do the necessary hoop-jumping to get into the right university. All of us had to do this to achieve certain steps in our careers also. We tend to teach all of our students as one homogenous group that is all headed down the same path. I think that we should also consider and celebrate other paths for our students such as technological, vocational or military training.

In my math classes, we do a lot of memorization and practice of techniques but at the same time I try to involve the students on a higher level of understanding through analysis and critiquing of the problems. What happened? What was incorrect in your solution? What happens if we change this parameter? The classes do some collaborative group work especially on some of the tougher homework sections. We work extensively with symbols, graphs and tables, which require special visual and cognitive skills. However our courses are sequential and a certain level of achievement must be reached to enable further mathematical study. I like it when my students question the lesson or take another approach which is shared with the class, but then the syllabus calls me back in to get things finished. =Response Journal #3= **__ Constructivism as a Paradigm __** Constructivism is a Way of teaching that is student centered and guided by the teacher. The student will discover new ideas and process them in reflection with what he already understands. The goal is for more student involvement and student led lessons. This will have true meaning to the student and he will have active creation of their own knowledge and understanding. The teacher is there to guide or coach the student with open questions and prompts.
 * Response Journal #3 **

Constructivism relies on student collaboration, learning and sharing with others. By working in groups students may find new ways of looking at the problem and thus new ways of thinking about the solution. Communication skills are strengthened by the group interaction, students need to be able to express their ideas coherently to others. It is not so important to get the one right answer but to find your way to a solution. This should enhance interpersonal relationships and better retention. Relevance will occur when they apply this knowledge to the outside world and other situations. Active involvement by the student in leading his own discovery and questioning his own thinking is the key. This will give ownership to the learning and greater motivation .Students need to be interested and engaged in what they are learning.

Some negative aspects of constructivism are that some feel it lends itself to favoring the elite; those who are better prepared or have greater backup resources. Also some students will depend on the group to do the work and sit back and be passive. The louder thinkers will take over for them. Others who are in minority might feel too overwhelmed to speak against the majority. On tests it has been noted that traditionally taught students of the more direct instruction type made better scores on the basics. Assessment in constructivist classes can be difficult and may be of another form than the traditional tests format. Educators need to find ways of reaching all students as some may have special concerns and need a different outlet than group work, maybe emailing the teacher or phoning a friend. Administrators and parents would also need to change the way they view the workings of the classroom and the teacher’s role. Benefits of this type of learning are that the learning is transferable to everyday life, the students enjoy learning and learn more, they learn to learn and how to question and to be more creative in their thoughts .They concentrate on understanding not just memorization and they become more effective working in groups. Students become better negotiators and team members which will benefit them in the outside world. ** Response Journal #4  **  This is Brandt’s list for powerful learning and my examples for each topic.  **1. **** What they learn is personally meaningful. ** We have many real life applications in every math lesson. However some will never be used by most students; even though students can see the applications as useful. At the higher math levels, most learning is for understanding to reach a higher level. This is meaningful to them because they know that they will need it for further study and in their careers. Students get bored easily. If the class is not challenging they pay no attention. Luckily in my math classes, we are challenged everyday with a new topic. Sometimes they ask a side question about the solution or the topic in general and I challenge them to find out the answer, they always jump at the chance. There are many levels to each lesson and I try to accommodate all students at their appropriate level. Some students are better prepared than others, so we use pair learning or small groups to help each other. Most students at this level of math tend to hide their confusion to the teacher but not to their peers. For most of our math problems there are several ways to solve it. For example in Precalculus, we learn the algebraic solution and the graphical way. Some students prefer one to the other although both are essential. Also some prefer to work alone while others learn better with a partner. Math is sequential thus this is especially true for my students. We must have the background concepts learned to move forward with the subject. When a student is lacking, we must backpedal and try to fill in the gaps otherwise learning the new process is impossible. I have some 9th grade Geometry students who have poor Algebra skills and thus have trouble with the formulas in Geometry.  **6. Much learning occurs during social interaction. ** As I stated before, we do most of our work in pairs or groups. I also encourage email about homework with me or friends. Sometimes another student may explain a concept in a different way that the other student will finally get the idea.
 * __ Powerful Learning  __**
 * 2. ** ** What they learn is challenging and they accept that challenge. **
 *  3. ** ** What they learn is appropriate to developmental level. **
 * 4. **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"> ** Individuals learn differently. **<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'">5. **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"> ** Construct new knowledge by building on current knowledge. **<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">

Students have math homework every day, their answers are checked and daily feedback is given. Their mistakes are quickly dispelled. Sometimes we have a joint worksheet which they work on with a group, this way they get feedback from one another. In addition as I walk around the classroom, I can encourage, question and guide them along the correct course to success on the paper. Afterschool or lunchtime help is valuable for students who do not feel comfortable to ask in class. Students have many varied strategies to discover math solutions. There is not only one solution and many students do not realize that this is so. I have used many methods in class to help some learners connect to the topic. We have a few silly songs, for example the Quadratic Formula song or mnemonics such as SOHCAHTOA in trig, and PEMDAS for order of operations. In Geometry, we use diagrams, drawings and mappings to understand properties and proofs. Some students in Precal like to use the graphing calculator (and their friends) for checking their premises. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> **<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'">9. A **** positive emotional climate encourages learning. **<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> I try to keep an upbeat climate in my classroom by joking around and laughing. I sometimes have a puzzle or cartoon on the smart board as the students arrive. This puts everyone in a good mood even if they could not do their homework last night. Sometimes I find something mathematically cute on the internet and we watch it during class. It is also important to let students make mistakes without feeling bad about it. There is always something positive to relay to the students about their attempts. One day the bus from Jubail had a terrible accident on the way to school. This affected all the students who were worried to hear the fate of their friends. At this time I realized that the math lesson would probably not be learned and we just sat around and talked over their concerns.
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'">7. **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt"> ** Helpful feedback. **
 * 8. Acquire and use strategies **
 * 10. Learning is influenced by the total environment. **

Another example, if I gave a test and most did poorly, they are all in a funk. I usually immediately offer them a way to achieve extra points with some task or extra work.That lifts their spirits and they are thrilled to have a chance to relearn and rectify the situation.

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">**Response Journal #5** <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">//Justify the claim that the best lesson and unit designs are “backwards”.// <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The Backward Design Process is a technique for curriculum design. First, the teacher will list the desired results from the unit, using content goals and standards. After discovering exactly what the students need to know from the unit, the teacher then plans what assessments will demonstrate and show acceptable evidence that the learning has been achieved. This process assists the teacher in clarifying the goals of the unit.

The student should be capable of applying this knowledge in and out of context showing the transference of knowledge to different situations. Peer /self reflection and peer/self assessment should be encouraged. Reassessment by the teacher should follow and teaching adjustments accommodated.

The last step of the process is now to plan the daily instruction plans. Now that the outcomes are established and we know our assessments, we can narrow our plans, pick and choose, our activities, projects, and skills necessary to achieve our desired results. This should alleviate some of the mystery of grades as the student would be involved and know exactly the outcomes expected. Transference of knowledge is a difficult thing to accomplish as students are so involved with their “grade” rather than the learning.

High school mathematics is very skill oriented at first, but the real life applications tend to be realized later after many years of higher math as the student attains their life goal, i.e. engineer, doctor, scientist etc.This planning technique seems natural to me as a math teacher as I am always aware of what concept or skill I want my students to understand and thus designing activities that will accomplish this result.I have to constantly reassess activities to enable those students who are not reaching the goals to try again. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The teacher should become more of a facilitator or coach as the students are guided to their understanding. I feel that this process will further focus the unit plan and the student to their learning as goals and outcomes are clearly identified.

=<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">. = =<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">   = =     <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">        = <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> =<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> Response Journal #6 =

//What behaviors do you associate with student understanding?//
<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> //How do you distinguish between students “knowing” and “doing” versus understanding what they are studying.//
<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> In Math, we teach our students many skills and techniques to solve problems. When a student is given a problem and told which strategy to perform that is just doing. But when that student comes across a different type of problem either in wording, form or style then he must decipher the problem and then decide on the necessary skills used for the solution. This is understanding the math. To truly understand math we expect the student to be able to apply the learned techniques at the appropriate time to an appropriate situation. To apply these skills on their own with full confidence to a new situation is true understanding. They should know when and how to apply their knowledge to a wide range of problem solving activities. The student who comprehends the deeper meanings behind the procedures can explain their uses and adapt them to different situations. By just rote memory of math facts or following the examples given, they are not engaging on the level of understanding. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> A student who “messes up” the first time but tries again or tries a new approach understands that some techniques need tweaking when applied to a dissimilar situation. Also the true comprehension of math leads to the discovery that everything is connected and that there is not necessarily just one way to approach a problem. Math is intricately intertwined between the disciplines and several different perspectives could apply to the same question. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> Students working together in small groups, explaining, discussing, arguing and posing questions with each other are reaching understanding. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> I am still amazed when a student discovers a unique view on a solution that even I had not noticed at the moment. To see their eyes light up with enthusiasm as they discover that they really understand what is happening is a pure joy to any teacher.