(Final Analysis)
(In what ways did your teaching experiences shed light on your original question?)
Although I was told that our overarching question did not have to dictate our lesson designs and lesson plans, I tried to incorporate some aspect of choice into my social studies, literacy, and math lesson because I wanted students to be able to showcase their strengths. (I used my Lea aquarium lesson for my science Term III lesson, which meant that my group adapted the lesson from a pre-established lesson plan.) Weinstein (2011) talked about how "one of the most obvious ways to ensure that learning activities connect to individuals' personal interests is to provide opportunities for choice" (p. 236).
In my Social Studies lesson, I had the students talk about the different people, roles, and places in communities in general and in our classroom community, specifically. Since my classroom mentor mentioned that the students would also be learning about maps, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to design a lesson around creating a classroom map. I thought about offering different mediums to represent the classroom. I considered having some sort of concrete spatial component such as having one of the options be constructing a model of the classroom with blocks. In the end, I decided to have each student create a classroom community map. I wanted to give the students an opportunity to incorporate an assortment of different materials. I brought in colored pencils, crayons, markers, construction paper, fabric, and paper streamers. I thought that the students might enjoy working with materials that were different from what they normally use. I wanted to see how they might use the materials to express their individuality in creative ways.
In my Literacy lesson, we worked on incorporating key details into stories about our experiences for our memoirs. I offered my students the opportunity to choose one of three different ways to share their memoir story with the group. Students could choose to be authors (write their story with words), illustrators (illustrate their story with pictures), or storytellers (tell their story through a verbal narrative). I wanted to give students an opportunity to showcase their logical intelligence (author), visual intelligence (illustrator), and verbal-linguistic intelligence (storyteller).
In my Math lesson, my students were able to write their own subtraction word problems. I thought that this would give them an opportunity to express their creativity in math in a way that they normally do not get to do. Normally, they are given specific word problems and then they can draw pictures that show how they solved the problem. Unfortunately, the students were not able to complete their word problems because we ran out of time. However, the students seemed to be engaged in the activity. At the end of the lesson, Matthew asked me when he could finish his word problem.
In my Social Studies lesson, I had the students talk about the different people, roles, and places in communities in general and in our classroom community, specifically. Since my classroom mentor mentioned that the students would also be learning about maps, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to design a lesson around creating a classroom map. I thought about offering different mediums to represent the classroom. I considered having some sort of concrete spatial component such as having one of the options be constructing a model of the classroom with blocks. In the end, I decided to have each student create a classroom community map. I wanted to give the students an opportunity to incorporate an assortment of different materials. I brought in colored pencils, crayons, markers, construction paper, fabric, and paper streamers. I thought that the students might enjoy working with materials that were different from what they normally use. I wanted to see how they might use the materials to express their individuality in creative ways.
In my Literacy lesson, we worked on incorporating key details into stories about our experiences for our memoirs. I offered my students the opportunity to choose one of three different ways to share their memoir story with the group. Students could choose to be authors (write their story with words), illustrators (illustrate their story with pictures), or storytellers (tell their story through a verbal narrative). I wanted to give students an opportunity to showcase their logical intelligence (author), visual intelligence (illustrator), and verbal-linguistic intelligence (storyteller).
In my Math lesson, my students were able to write their own subtraction word problems. I thought that this would give them an opportunity to express their creativity in math in a way that they normally do not get to do. Normally, they are given specific word problems and then they can draw pictures that show how they solved the problem. Unfortunately, the students were not able to complete their word problems because we ran out of time. However, the students seemed to be engaged in the activity. At the end of the lesson, Matthew asked me when he could finish his word problem.
(In what ways did your experiences confirm and/or challenge your original beliefs?)
During my Social Studies lesson, I realized that it would be difficult to assess the creative aspect of what I wanted to see in the classroom map. I thought that it was wonderful that Zakaya used the fabric and the streamers to create what looked like a frame around her classroom map and covered the back of it with a fabric collage. However, looking at my objective, it did not seem like she incorporated many people or places into her map.
My literacy lesson was the one that challenged my beliefs the most. I came up with the idea of providing the students with multiple mediums to express their personal experiences because two of my students are really remarkable and vivid storytellers. One of them in particular uses incredible expression whenever he talks to me during individual conferences. I wanted to provide those two students specifically with an opportunity to showcase their storytelling skills. However, what I did not realize was the fact that it is not enough to provide options. The students also have to embrace those options and have a desire to express themselves using that medium. In the case of my literacy lesson, neither of the two students chose to be a storyteller. I think this was partially because I did not model storytelling with the group enough. I also thought that the students might have all wanted to be an author or an illustrator because those they are familiar to my students.
My literacy lesson was the one that challenged my beliefs the most. I came up with the idea of providing the students with multiple mediums to express their personal experiences because two of my students are really remarkable and vivid storytellers. One of them in particular uses incredible expression whenever he talks to me during individual conferences. I wanted to provide those two students specifically with an opportunity to showcase their storytelling skills. However, what I did not realize was the fact that it is not enough to provide options. The students also have to embrace those options and have a desire to express themselves using that medium. In the case of my literacy lesson, neither of the two students chose to be a storyteller. I think this was partially because I did not model storytelling with the group enough. I also thought that the students might have all wanted to be an author or an illustrator because those they are familiar to my students.
(Questions I still Have)
One of the questions that I left thinking about after I taught my social studies lesson was "Did I give the students too many options?" I was thinking about this because I noticed that some of the materials went unused (i.e. the construction paper). I also could not tell if one of the reasons why some of the students did not finish their classroom maps was because they were overwhelmed with the number of materials that were sitting on the table. I know that providing students with the ability to make certain choices for themselves is important (Weinstein, 2011), but can teachers provide too many choices? Can having too many options detract from the lesson? How do the number of options effect students?
In terms of questions that my literacy lesson raised, I was wondering about the importance of introducing and modeling the different options that students can choose. How much modeling is needed when introducing a new method of expression? Are there any instances when modeling might take away from the lesson or should everything be modeled?
In terms of questions that my literacy lesson raised, I was wondering about the importance of introducing and modeling the different options that students can choose. How much modeling is needed when introducing a new method of expression? Are there any instances when modeling might take away from the lesson or should everything be modeled?
(What Goals Do you have for your teaching during these upcoming terms?)
In terms of my overarching inquiry question, I would like to continue finding ways to give students choice in what they are doing. I realize now that it is not just about providing students with options, I also need to work on finding meaningful options for my students to choose from. I also would like to work on establishing norms that might encourage students to take risks and try things that might be unfamiliar to them. One way that I could do this is to model new tasks more extensively. Students will not know if they want to choose an option if they do not have experience with it.