Rosalind+Power

Lower Elementary Group Name: Rosalind Power Email: rpower@isgdh.org Unit: Traditional Stories
 * **Question** || **Response** || **Posted By** ||
 * **Stage 1 - Identify Desired Results : //To what extent are the targeted understandings... //** ||  ||   ||
 * **   Aligned with appropriate goals (standards, benchmarks)?     ** ||   ||   ||
 * ** Big ideas at the heart of the discipline (as opposed to basic facts and skills) in need of // uncoverage? //  ** ||   ||   ||
 * ** Framed by provocative // essential // and // unit // questions?    ** ||   ||   ||
 * **Linked to valid and relevant knowledge and skills? ** ||  ||   ||

My name is Rosalind Power and I have been teaching for about thirty years. All but the first four have been in international schools. My teaching career began in South East London but I ended up in Riyadh after a winter of discontent - lots of snow and difficult commuting! I have now taught in five international schools. Riyadh was followed by Mexico City, Moscow, Rome and now Dhahran British Grammar School. I have loved them all, in different ways. Living and working abroad is fascinating. Our two boys are now experiencing this type of life with us and I couldn't want for a better environment for them. Almost all my teaching experience has been with the early years, specifically 3 - 6 year olds. I am hoping that this course will help me be more articulate about my aims, objectives and planning. A drawback with teaching for so long means that I do certain things instinctively and cannot always verbalise my rationale. Clearer curriculum design and assessment techniques should certainly improve my teaching methods and inform future learning. The four year olds in my class should be direct beneficiaries as will a newly qualified teacher in my year group.
 * Journal 1**

A thought provoking article in which David Perkins voices his concerns with regard to current educational practice apparent across many school systems throughout the world in which the emphasis is on imparting knowledge. He argues that we should be teaching the knowledge arts. Getting pupils to create, communicate, organize and then act on knowledge is what we should be striving for and should be central to our teaching. My feeling is that international schools are possibly better than most 'national' systems at encouraging this type of learning. Typically we need to be more flexible in our approach and certain curricula positively encourage this style of teaching. Inquiry based activities are at the heart of the way we work in the Foundation Stage (3 - 5 yr olds) at Dhahran British Grammar School. We pride ourselves in being very responsive to the needs and interests of the children in our classes. I am not suggesting that we are perfect but we do try to emphasise transference of learning and giving the pupils the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge in various ways. Making thinking visible is particularly important when teaching young children. It is vital to 'model' language as well as thought processes and physical processes by speaking aloud and constantly questioning. Curriculum design would certainly benefit from taking all this into account. Activities that engage learners with all their senses are so important. Teaching through topics is a meaningful way of encouraging active learning and the knowledge arts.
 * Journal 2 'Knowledge Alive' by David Perkins**

Elliot Eisner would like to see schools preparing their pupils for the future 'by enabling them to deal effectively with the present'. He suggests concentrating on Eisner is rightly concerned that certain aspects of most educational systems prepare children to hoop jump rather than equip them with the critical thinking powers that they need. Exams/testing from an early age is an obvious example of this. In the National Curriculum for England the first official tests come when the children are seven. Inevitably children are taught to navigate the system. 'Practice' tests are given and despite teachers protesting that they don't 'teach to the test', they do. If they didn't, the children would not do well. At secondary level the system is even more constraining. Luckily for those of us teaching in the early years we don't need to be too concerned with hoops. Learner outcomes are flexible and knowledge can be both gained and demonstrated in a variety of ways. It seems to me that the IB system is the one that most obviously goes some way to meeting the aims suggested by Eisner. The idea of service is central, learning is broad and even Theory of Knowledge is studied. I strive to include all of Eisner's aims in my teaching and am lucky enough to have the flexibility to do so. The benefits of constructivism for pupils are many.
 * 'Preparing for Today and Tomorrow' by Elliot W. Eisner**
 * judgement
 * critical thinking
 * powerful ideas
 * meaningful literacy
 * collaboration
 * service/contribution 'to the larger community'
 * Journal 3 ‘Constructivism’**
 * This type of approach actively engages learners and encourages them to build upon their previous knowledge by reflecting on what they know before assimilating new information.
 * Pupils do not just sit and listen. They participate in the learning process.
 * They develop their thinking skills as a response to ‘good questions’ posed by the teacher.
 * They learn to work together in groups.
 * They learn to articulate ideas and findings.
 * Confidence and self esteem grow and, as a result, students feel able to tackle more complex problems.
 * Students become ‘expert learners’ and learn how to learn.
 * Higher-order thinking skills are engaged.
 * The process rather than the outcome is given importance.
 * This way of learning adapts readily to real life situations.

There are, of course, cautions that may apply to the constructivist approach but I suspect that they are heeded more by those reluctant to leave their roles as traditional teachers. ‘Group think’ might well be a concern. As a teacher it is important to be very aware of group dynamics and responsive to situations that may arise. A move away from examinations may leave teachers unaccountable for student progress in the traditional sense. Other reliable forms of assessment would have to be applied.


 * Journal 4 'Powerful learning' by Ron Brandt**

Brandt lists ten conditions that need to be present for powerful learning to take place. To start at the end of the assignment I beleive that all of them are viable and indeed essential to the four year old children in my classroom.
 * 1. People learn what is personally meaningful to them.** We learn about celebrations around the world as the year unfolds. However, we only do this in relation to the children in class. Last year we were able to celebrate Chinese New Year and Diwali. The Indian and Chinese children brought in costumes, artifacts and food to eat. This year we will celebrate neither as we do not have children involved with these. Instead we will have talked about Ramadan and Eid and will talk about other festivals relevant to this year's group.


 * 2. People learn when they accept challenging but achievable goals.** This is where differentiation comes in. Goals must be individual and appropriate. For example, with learning to write, one child might be learning to form letters correctly and another might be facing the challenge of learning to read and write 'tricky words' such as 'the'.


 * 3. Learning is developmental.** This is so very clear when teaching young children. Parents might hear me say, 'your son/daughter isn't ready yet'. This might equally apply to telling the time or learning to read. With reading children need to be able to see patterns and match objects before moving on to more specifics.


 * 4. Individuals learn differently.** Howard Gardner was one of the first to talk about multiple intelligences. As teachers we need to employ various methods and, indeed, different media when seeking to engage the children in our classes in active learning situations. I put great emphasis on song, rhyme and dance. Many children learn through their bodies. Being 'told' something is not enough.


 * 5. People construct new knowledge by building on their current knowledge.** It is most important that children are able to celebrate what they do know before moving on to what they would like to find out. We teach our young children through topics so that each area of the curriculum is linked. It is not a case of doing maths but it might be 'We've been learning about insects. How many legs do they have? How many legs do two ants have?'


 * 6. Much learning occurs through social interaction.** Working in small groups or with a friend gives children the confidence to take risks. It is a powerful motivator for EAL students who might not actually speak to the adults in the setting but who is eager to make friends. Role play is a wonderful vehicle for this.


 * 7. People need feedback to learn.** I would take this further and specify **positive** feedback. This ties in with the achievable target setting. Children respond to praise and they need to know when they are doing well or demonstrating good social skills.


 * 8. Successful learning involves use of strategies - which themselves are learned.** There are many occasions in which teachers can help students with strategies. Mnemonics spring to mind, other memory games, spelling rules, rhymes and specifics like 'counting on' when the numbers get too big.

10. Learning is influenced by the total environment.** As teachers in international schools we are all aware of the vital need to create an atmosphere of welcome, trust and familiarity. This must exist between teachers and home as well as within the classroom. Fight or flight. The child that is anxious will learn very little. We need to set up simple routines and guidelines to help students understand what is expected of them in terms of behaviour (there may be cultural differences) and enable them to settle in quickly into an atmoshere of mutual respect.
 * 9. A positive emotional climate strengthens learning and


 * Journal 5 The best lesson and unit designs are 'backwards'.**

By identifying the 'big idea/s' and following the three planning stages advocated in UbD when starting a new topic or area of learning one's approach is immediately very specific and purposeful. As soon as we have to consider how to get students to master key performances we look at planning from a completely different angle. Lessons become derived from targeted goals or standards. Teachers are forced to articulate their aims more clearly and assessment is no longer something that is done **to** the students at the end of a course but rather something that actively involves student and teacher alike as work progresses. It must be ongoing and wide-ranging in strategies in order to inform future learning activities. It is evidence of learning that is so important. Teaching becomes very focused and students respond well to knowing what their goals are. Even very young children, such as my class of 4 - 5 year olds repsond very positively to knowing exactly what is expected of them. Some children in particular do not see 'the big idea' unless it is made very specific as they become bogged down in the minutiae. When considering a new area of learning we, as teachers, have specific goals in mind. We also have certain things we HAVE to teach. However, I think the needs and interests of the children also need to be taken into consideration when planning takes place. Teaching in the reception classroom is very 'experience' based and there is a danger that these experiences are rather random. By planning backwards by design there should be no danger of this happening because the focus is on the end goals. It makes sense to me!

When children join a reception class at the age of four they come with a myriad of separate experiences. It sometimes seems that they arrive with snap shots of random information. It is essential that we, as teachers, help them to make sense of their world by encouraging them to examine what they already know and understand and to make links in their own minds. We also need to teach them to articulate what they understand and can help them to do this by modelling the process (thinking aloud). I know my pupils are beginning to grasp a 'big' idea when their questions range beyond what we might actually be studying and go into the realms of 'I wonder what.....? I wonder if.....?' using what they already know to make suppositions about something beyond. To take a simple example, we have recently been learning about dinosaurs. We learnt about meat eaters and plant eaters. Inevitably talk turned to what the meat eaters ate and how the plant eaters defended themselves. One child asked if a dinosaur with a spiky tail was like a cat having claws. The wonderful thing about thinking aloud is that it leads other children to follow the thread and soon the conversation had strayed away from dinosaurs but was very pertinent as it had led onto animal defences and concepts such as camouflage. As a teacher it is important to watch out for these opportunities and to maximise them - even to initiate them if no student response is evident at what seems to be the right moment. Being able to identify when children are knowing and doing versus genuinely understanding is vital if we are to produce pupils who are to become life long learners. The 'doers' stay within the box. We need to encourage all children (once they have a sound understanding of a particular concept) to think above and beyond; to apply what they know in other situations. With younger children assessment of learning tends to be informal and ongoing. It is always interesting to hear what they are telling their families once they get home as this gives us extra insight into the way in which they are processing the information they are learning at school. This reminds me that I need to do more observing and listening than I sometimes make time for.
 * Journal 6 Enduring/topical understandings**