Within this post you will find a video I would like you to watch. This is a video of Katie Bannon's Lesson. Woven in the video is an analysis of her teaching. I would like you to watch this video and begin to consider a new role you might have as a reading specialist. As a reading specialist you will need to become an expert analysis of teaching. I have provided this video to guide you in this process. What I would like you to do is to:
1) Critically watch/observe the teaching in the video.
2) Notice what the "experts" are saying.
3) Jot down notes on comments, suggestions, and thoughts you have in relation to the teaching AND the "experts".
4) As best you can try to imagine that you are one of the experts on the panel. What would you add to the conversation? What are some things that you valued, liked, and maybe learned? What suggestions would you give this teacher or "experts"?
5) Keeping the above questions in mind and the notes that you jotted down while watching comment in the "comment section" directly below this post.
6) Please have comments posted before class on Saturday, Dec. 8
Katie's lesson about the main idea had a lot of great ideas. I think that creating visuals for things is very helpful for both teachers and students. The evaluators commented on how she changed the language she was using during the lesson (big idea, main idea, etc.) and I noticed this too. Although it did not help Katie in this case, creating a chart that gets posted in the room is one really good way of making sure, as a teacher, you are saying things the same way every time. I use this trick all the time in my classroom, and because it is posted in the room, other adults who help in my classroom will use the same language. The other comment that the evaluators had that I agreed with was the one about directly stating what a main idea really was. I think that we are so used to doing shared reading and writing and asking open ended questions in our classrooms that we forget when we are presenting something for the first time, we need to take control and do more of the talking. Once a topic has been presented, we can invite more student participation when we review it.
ReplyDeleteKatie incorporated many useful techniques in her teaching repertoire. She engaged the students by sharing an authentic personal experience, used large and small groupings to work on skills. Katie seemed to have good classroom managment skills because she was able to pull small groups while her students were working independently at their desks. Her lesson had good direction, but she needs to incorporate think alouds throughout it and break new material into smaller chunks. Another aspect Katie needs to be mindful of is using consistent language when presenting a new strategy/skill. Katie seems to have a good relationship with her student that encourages their active involvement in her classroom.
ReplyDeleteAs I observed Katie’s teaching the first thing that I noticed was how well her students knew the routines and expectations. It was evident that she had spent a great deal of time modeling and practicing these behaviors with her students. I was also impressed by Katie's use of visuals. It helps our visual learners see exactly what they are expected to know. I agree with the experts in the video that this is a wonderful way to create consistent language within the classroom. I find that being direct and concise is difficult for me as well. I am planning to take their advice and be more thoughtful about how I explain things.
ReplyDeleteWhile watching Katie teach I was very surprised to see how engaged her students were in her lessons. I do think that it would have been helpful if she had offered some turn and talk time for the kids so they could discuss their new learning with a partner. I would agree with what the experts said about the importance of using visuals (charts) and making sure that one is using consistent language. Sometimes I struggle with making sure I am using consistent language in my classroom, but the use of charts and visuals does help with this. I also liked how Katie began her instruction whole group and then also continued that instruction when she was working in small reading groups or with individual students. When the experts were talking about Katie’s small group time, they noted that she talked to the whole group instead of having a one on one conversation with one student. This is something that is very important to ensure that all students are engaged even in a small group setting. Overall I think that Katie has great classroom management skills and that she is very connected with her students. These two qualities create a comfortable and nurturing learning environment.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that the experts liked and agreed with most of Katie's style of teaching. The comment about the change of language/terms for the main idea is something I agree with. It is something we, as a staff, are trying to be more aware of...consistancy in language across the grade levels. It appears to me that she has worked hard on classroom routines. Implementing the Daily 5 properly at the beginning of the year is one way that gives the teacher the for ability to move from group to group and have the students stay focused. (as you can tell, I really like daily 5) I also like the way she reinforced and repeated what the child wrote, indicating that it was more of a title, and restating and asking for a rewrite as a sentence, rather than telling the child they were wrong. It's like a bend in the road rather than a stopsign. The child didn't stop or panic, she just turned her thinking a bit and made it into a sentence. It didn't seem to bother her at all. I also liked the teachers descriptive language when she was describing putting her sweatshirt on. It sounded like a book. I need to work on that in my lessons and my writing...using more descriptive language in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteRight away I was impressed with how well her class focused on the speaker and were drawn in to what was being stated. I was not sure if that was due to the fact there was a camera there or if that was simply her classroom management and expectation style.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated how she had so many charts visible in her classroom. Those a great focal point for students when they may get stuck in their work.
I knew teacher proximity was an important element in teaching and management however I did not really think a lot about teacher location as a "signal". For example, she held in mini lesson in a comfortable relaxing carpeted space, however when it was time to focus on the text, she moved herself to a new teaching space.
I noticed she had a lot of one student response activities. I think it may have been beneficial for her to allow more turn and talk practice and then whole group reflection from those turn and talks. Another engagment tool could have been allowing students to use post it notes as the text was being read.
Katie’s definitely has well-established roles and routines in her classroom which made management seem like a breeze. However, instead of focusing just on her, I want to focus on some of the feedback from the “experts”.
ReplyDeleteI actually disagree with what they said about needing to use consistent language on her chart. She used big, main, major idea and by doing this she likely activated more students background knowledge as teaching main idea starts before 3rd grade, it just might not use the term main idea in younger grades. She should point out that these words are synonyms (and what that means), but I think using multiple prompts can be helpful in providing students with different ways to think about the teaching point. Consistency is important but so is providing multiple perspectives for thinking about something.
Without watching the complete lesson I can’t speak too much to the engagement piece in the beginning, but it seems like just having kids look at you doesn’t necessarily mean they are engaged. In her workshop lesson she should have had an active engagement piece where students were guided in practicing finding the main idea (and maybe she did that). But the experts seemed to insinuate that engagement meant looking at the teacher and sitting quietly. How many of us have done that in a meeting or workshop and just spaced out the whole time!
The experts talked about how she was bouncing ideas off of each other and students were giving feedback. From the snippets I saw, the teacher was providing question prompts for the students to answer, but students weren’t engaged in a conversation in giving ideas and feedback to each other. A cooperative learning structure such as numbered heads together would provide authentic conversation to a posed question and keep all students accountable.
At the end Katie didn’t really find out if there was mastery of the objective. Instead she provided leading questions that students likely didn’t digest and provide feedback about but just gave her what she asked for (thumbs up). A more effective technique might have been a think-pair-share or as suggested by one expert an exit slip.
While watching the video I thought about how normal her classroom seemed to me. I think her classroom is very much like any good teachers classroom would be. I didn't find it unique that her students were paying attention or that her students knew the routines because the date on the board said 2-11-2011. By that point in the year, I would hope the students would know the routine and be doing what they are suppose to be doing.
ReplyDeleteI did like the way she used the different words to describe "Main Idea". Just stating something one way may not reach all the students. I find myself stating things many different way hoping that my words will reach all of my students. Some students would understand the word "big" other the word "main". I find this to be a very helpful strategy to use with students. Her classroom appeared to be very ethnically diverse, so some students might have been LEP and using different vocabulary to help them understand is a great idea.
I also like the thumbs up evaluation at the end. If this is the first lesson of the unit, she doesn't expect the students to have mastery. She is just introducing and this gives her an idea of what she is starting with.
While watching this video the two words I heard popping up were: clear and immediate. Katie did a great job of keeping her lesson clear. Her expectations for classroom management are obviously clear as her students worked well during whole group and small group instruction. The charts posted were clear and precise. The experts talked about how having the chart paper next to her allowed children that might have been disengaged to quickly regain focus due to the specfic information on the chart within a close proximaty. The visual icon was important to this as well. Katie also kept her beginning attention grabber under ten minutes, then changed the format of her lesson. I do believe moving around and using different learning tools is extremely valuable.
ReplyDeleteKatie did a nice job of setting the kids up to share, then she would listen in and assess. She found the students that were able to continue conversation and keep the group thinking. She tended to listen very carefully and extend their thinking immediately by questioning.
One thing I would perhaps change is the consistency of her language (as the experts said). It is important to be routine with terminology. I also would involve a turn and talk a couple times to assess where my students thoughts were at and if I needed to adapt my lesson for certain students.
My biggest take away was that Katie was able to redirect by getting around the word "no" or "that's not right". This is an important skill to keep the student motivated and feeling successful.
I appreciated the repeated comments and praise for the organization and structure observed in Ms. Brannon's classroom throughout the lesson. I liked the story to draw the students into the lesson and agreed that students love hearing personal stories that help them relate to their teachers. I was also impressed with her ability to create small groups within her classroom and really provide those small groups and individuals one-on-one attention with high expectations and standards. She didn't just let any one student slide through the process.
ReplyDeleteThere were a few comments that I disagreed with. I didn't not agree with the suggestion that she should have taken the opportunity to move on more quickly. I feel that the set-up to a lesson isn't something that should be rushed through just because the students are focused and attending. The set-up to a lesson like this is where a lot of differentiation happens for different learning styles and if she had rushed through it and moved on to the independent practice she would not have had the sturcutre in place that allowed her to focus on small groups like she was. She would instead be completing some of that set-up that small pockets of students missed vs. being able to focus on providing students with the feedback on their work.
Additionally, I also disagreed with the suggestion to have preselected students picked out to respond during discussion. At my previous school we use the book, Teach Like a Chamption as a guide to our classroom instruction and observation. One component of Teach Like A Champion is 100% participation from each and every student. If you have students picked out that you know will answer correctly that sends a negative message to the rest of the class that they can't do it. And student notice these things!
Beside those two major points I agreed with th comments on the overall lesson.
Wow! I was impressed at how in tune her students were during her lesson. I think that maybe they had a little forewarning that they were being videotaped, but maybe not. I would like to know some of her early classroom management strategies or how she introduces routine and expectations. I think that the students would have benefited from having the opportunity to “pair share” or “turn and talk”. Giving them this opportunity allows them to express their ideas or practice the strategy they are working on. It also gives them a little social break during a longer lesson.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with the experts that it is very important to use visuals and that a individual uses consistent language when speaking with children. The visuals help students gain focus if they are slipping away. I use a visual chart every day in writing and it helps. They use symbols to help them remember what they are supposed to do and in what order. This is a goal of mine this school year, and I often find it hard and there is always room for growth. I like the consistency Katie had in her instruction between whole group and small group. I think this helps with the students knowing her expectations and what their job is as the student. When the experts discussed that she addressed the whole group in a small group setting instead of each group individually that struck me. I know that I can often times find that I spend a lot of time working with one student during a small group session without even realizing I am doing it.
I would suggest to Katie that she work towards maintain constancy in her terminology with her students. I would also suggest the “turn and talk”.
I agreed with most of the expert's comments. However, I felt it was more than just the space of where the teacher was conducting her first part of her lesson that made it seem informal. I think it was the rocking chair and the fact that it appeared "more homey" because of it, as well as having the kids sit casually on the floor. I think that made a vast difference for kids from their normal "work" mode of at their desks. Also, I did not agree that you shouldn't tell students a directive in more than one way. I think simple, similar directives that are coupled with what you first said is ok because many kids may have not understood the directive they way you said it the first time. Other than that, I agreed with the experts' opinion
ReplyDeleteGreat comments made by everyone, making this difficult to add any comments that haven't already been said :) However, I would like to say that I appreciated the classroom management going on and the engagement and expectation level of the children. It may be that the kids knew they were being filmed but regardless, it appeared to be well organized.
ReplyDeleteBeing a very visual person myself, I LOVED and appreciated all of the visual elements of this lesson.
If I had to make a constructive criticism, I would say that it would have been nice to see a few other strategies used than just a one-student response. Perhaps having the students turn and share with one another would be useful or posing a question to have a small group share their thoughts would allow for more voices to be heard. Also, to continue to keep students engaged (thinking about differentiated instruction) perhaps allowing students to use bookmarks or sticky notes during the reading would be helpful too.
While watching Katie's lesson on "Main Idea," I was impressed with her classroom management skills. Maybe it's just because I come from the world of Kindergarten and my kids have something to say about EVERYTHING, but her kids were very respectful and on task. She clearly had her expectations set in place as to how the children are to act in the different areas of the room.
ReplyDeleteI thought Katie did a good job of explaining the meaning behind the lesson. She gave a description of what "Main Idea" means and she gave several examples before letting the kids put it in practice. I think if this lesson would have been done today, we would have seen an "I can" statement on that chart paper somewhere.
Katie was very respectful of her students. She did an excellent job, like one of the experts said, of "redirecting" her students. When watching the part of how she redirected the girl from saying a title to making it into a sentence, I thought of my Kinders who will mix numbers around. They will often say 13 for 31 or vice versa. My response to this is, "You are thinking of the right numbers, but you have to switch them around."