The first sentence says it all doesn't it, "tweens think they know it all". They are all experts in something, even procrastination or sleeping. Never really thought of it that way, but it makes sense.
React to the statement "education's job is to not always be there for the student, but to give them the skills to be their own source of education during their life".
Have you done peer teaching in your classroom and how did it go? Did you think of it the way she has descibed it, teaching reinforces the skill for the teacher.
Mrs. Wolpert-Gawron suggest six ways to reinforce teaching skills to students. Which of these would work best in your classroom? Have you used any of them? Success?
Have you made an effort to focus on speaking the academic language in your clasroom and if so what could you share with other teachers? Do you find it valuable?
What are your thoughts after reading about student created rubrics and assessments?
If you are not a classroom teacher please share your thoughts as well. Everyone's ideas are important to this collaborative book study.
My Language Arts teacher in 7th and I had the same teacher again in 8th...Jean Henderson and I were in the same class...she did this with us! (This teacher was my all time favorite teacher...Note: my husband had her and he hated the class...so what works for one...doesn't always work for another.)
ReplyDeleteWe had to teach a short story...we had to make a lesson plan and we could create a worksheet. I loved it...I made a crossword puzzle for the vocabulary that went with the story. I was so proud when the teacher copied it and I got to pass it out to the class. That was way back before there was a website that would do it for you! It probably looked horrible! :)We also got to create a quiz for the story. (See I just told a personal story...did it help you think deeper?)
In the chapter there were examples of Wordl(Word clouds)...Mrs. Ferguson I know used that with her students. It is just a fun thing to do.
I love the rubrics. I think it is worthwhile to do this.
The statement, "education's job is to not always be there for the student, but to give them the skills to be their own source of education during their life," makes me think of teaching how to do research. Each year when I am trying to advise the best ways to research a topic, there are many students who just come straight to my desk and say, "I can't find anything about my topic." I am so tempted to turn to the computer/ipad and start searching "with" them, but it is really me searching "for" them. I have to constantly remind myself that by doing it for them, I am handicapping them. I try instead to get a peer who has had better luck to help get them started. They need to be forced to dig for information. This is the only way they will learn to solve problems throughout their lives. Once they fight through the discomfort of trying a new skill, that is when it really sinks in and starts to click for them.
ReplyDeleteI do use peer teaching. I have mixed emotions about peer editing, but the pros, for me, outweigh the cons because the person doing the editing is learning so much by searching for ways to improve the current draft. Additionally, just like the book points out, the person doing the editing is really being forced to commit some of these things to memory. As mentioned before, peer teaching is also helpful with research. I even tried this with vocabulary instruction for a time--that didn't work as well as I had hoped, but I still think that the ones who were up teaching the words were learning them more easily. Sometimes, peers can teach us things in a way that others can't. I remember math classes in school where I would have a friend explain a difficult concept to me, and I would pick up on it much faster. Their peers speak a language they can understand.
I do try to use academic language in my room. I remember how I felt when I got to college and had no idea what some of the academic terms were that were being used. I don't want them to lack in exposure to these terms. They are less intimidating to the students when they are used frequently.
I like the idea of student created rubrics. I have used student created assessments before, and I think they really learn to sort out what is important and what is less important when they create a test or quiz. I will definitely be doing a student created rubric this year.