Think Aloud Reflection

Me, doing my Think Aloud. 

Yesterday, I presented my Think Aloud to the class…and I believe that my presentation went fairly well! I was really nervous about presenting, but once I got up there and got going, I became much more comfortable. I chose to do a math worksheet, since math is my primary emphasis. After looking through several worksheets found from the GPS’s recommended resources, I settled on a 7^th grade proportion problem about building shelves of a bookcase. The worksheet involved a good amount of reading and interpreting, which I thought would be perfect for a Think Aloud.

Me, when I first saw this worksheet.

The only problem with my worksheet was its organization. It gave dimensions for objects, but didn’t clearly specify what was the length, width, or height. To solve this, I tried to explain to the class that we’d have to draw the objects in 3-D and attempt to makes sense of the dimensions by logic. The 9 inches matched, so they must both the length (from the wall); 1 inch must the height of the plank of wood, etc. Then, on the backside of the worksheet, it was a mess. The actual problem, which was a table, was located at the bottom of the page. But above it was poorly organized different pieces that fell into the table (i.e. lines on a graph, descriptions, and equations). To address this confusing organization, I made sure to tell the class “wow, ok this backside it a little confusing. Let’s make sense of it.”

Overall, I think I did pretty well. I received a lot of encouraging feedback! My favorite comment was that someone liked how I personified things (i.e. I call each line on the graph “him”). If there’s one thing I could improve on, it would be that this sort of worksheet was almost too long for a Think Aloud. Especially in a real classroom setting, I couldn’t think aloud this whole worksheet; the students would get bored and impatient!

323

Emily 

Subjects Matter Chapter 7 Response

I really enjoyed reading this chapter because we got a break from talking about textbooks, and instead learned about the importance of building community within our classrooms. Regardless of the grade level, course, subject, textbooks, etc., your student’s ability to succeed in, belong in, and find value in your class is arguably the most important duty we have as teachers. How can we expect our students to care about our class when they feel as though their teachers do not care about their interests and needs? How can we make our subjects more interesting and understandable if we never allow our students to collaborate and get creative with their peers?

There are so many little ways that teachers can build a better sense of community within their classrooms. For starters, I think it’s essential for teachers to make a point to get to know their student’s personal needs and interests from Day 1. A simple survey could ask the students about what they’re nervous about in the class, what they’re excited about, and also what their personal interests are. Teachers can use these answers throughout the semester to guide their lessons and activities. For example, I had a math teacher once who would use student’s names and something about them (i.e sport they played) to form word problems! We always loved that. 

Another simple way to build community is to value each students questions and answers. We’ve all had those teachers who tell you “That’s a dumb question,” or, “No, you’re wrong”. How will that ever help your students feel valued and encouraged to keep learning? Lastly, I think its super important that teachers allow students to have many opportunities to work with their peers. Sometimes concepts are better understood when explained by a classmate. And sometimes students just need to talk instead of sit in their desks and listen to you lecture all day!

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Emily

Subjects Matter Chapter 6 Response

A part of this chapter that really caught my attention was hearing about Jeff James’s teaching style found in the section entitled Substituting for the Textbook (198-9). James has a very unconventional approach to his science curriculum: he teaches almost entirely without a textbook. He believes that textbooks are boring, unreliable, and irrelevant material to both his course and to his student’s life. Instead, James makes his own text in the form of a PowerPoint or print out, which contains only the essential, relevant information that his students need. In addition to this, James ties in several trade books, scientific magazines, and even scientific novels (i.e. Big Bang: A Short History of the Universe) to both engage and inform his students. The textbook is used on rare occasions in his classroom as a reference book or to steal some diagrams or pictures from.

James also made a very profound statement that really moved me; he says: “As the science expert in the room, I’ve got to ask, what are the ideas that are fundamental to science, things kids have got to understand so they can continue their study of science in the future, and be able to consider a career in the field” (199). I love that. To a class full of middle schoolers, you are actually the resident science expert. You’re like Bill Nye the Science Guy!

                

So instead of allowing some textbook—which may even be over our own heads—to be the expert in the room, we science teachers should take advantage of our role as "experts" and use our knowledge to more appropriately communicate our material. We know our subjects, and we should know how to teach it well. Our students will benefit greatly from our expertise and passion for our subject, and perhaps it will inspire them to pursue a career in science someday.

309

Emily 

Synthesis #1

The most important idea that I’ve taken away thus far from Subjects Matter is the importance of supplementary materials and trade books within my content areas. Textbooks have really taken a beating in our class discussions and readings in these past few weeks, but for a good reason: textbooks can be a major hindrance to student’s education and interest in a content area. As a future math and/or science educator, my goal should be to engage and inform my students of my course subject(s) through my genuine excitement about my content area(s). I can’t do that if my curriculum is centered on a single, expensive, lengthy, and difficult-to-read textbook.

Richard L. Allington, an author and professor at the University of Florida, describes that many classrooms use textbooks that were written for two or more grade levels ahead of their student’s current grade level. While reading an above-grade level textbook is already a difficult task for most, it’s even more daunting for the students who are not even reading grade-level texts adequately. With textbooks like these, our students are not going to be able to comprehend the material and may fall behind and out of interest in the course. But also Allington believes that teachers can solve this textbook-reliance by situating the textbook as a general organizing framework or reference for the course, and then use ample amounts of tradebooks of multiple genres to convey the course’s content in a more understandable and interesting way. Allington also promotes student choice and individualized instruction as methods for aiding student’s comprehension and interest. There are so many supplementary resources out there—trade books, websites, and novels—that teachers can be using to reach their diverse learners.  

Finally, I want to end with a very relevant TEDTalk Video. The speaker in this video, Tyler DeWitt, is a high school science teacher who realized that his students were struggling to understand his course due to the fact that his textbook’s language was impossible to understand. Instead of blaming his students, though, Mr. DeWitt realizes that his students are not scientists and experts, and he adapts his curriculum to fit their needs in a much more interesting way.

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...sorry, I got passionate.

Emily

Subjects Matter Chapter 4 Response

While reading this chapter, I recollected on the time back in my 6^th grade history class when my teacher forced us to read The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank. In case you’ve never read it, it is an actual diary kept by a young Jewish girl named Anne Frank that entailed her experiences while hiding with her family during the Nazi occupation in the Netherlands.

When I was first assigned the reading, I was thoroughly annoyed that I had to read a novel for my history class in addition to our regular textbook-centered activities. However, once I dug into this beautiful text, I was enthralled. I distinctly remember staying up late to keep reading, telling my family members about each chapter, and having discussions the next day with my friends about the events we had read. I also remember shedding actual tears at the end of the diary, which is saying a lot considering I was a silly little preteen at the time. 

I think what made such a profound impact on me about The Diary of A Young Girl was the fact that it was not fiction; it was someone’s real life and real events. Instead of simply covering the Holocaust according to the textbook, my teacher believed reading this diary would allow us to put ourselves in the shoes of someone who actually lived through the Holocaust. As I’ve mentioned before, I am not a big history-lover. But because of this one novel, I developed a greater appreciation and interest in WW2 and the Holocaust, among other historical events covered in that course. To this day, I still fondly remember Anne Frank’s story and I’m grateful for my teacher’s (you go, Mrs. Butler!) integration of a text outside of the textbook. 

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Emily