In this incredible video, 6th
grade STEM teacher Donna Migdoi teaches Newton’s three laws of motion and kinetic
vs. potential energy in a collaborative and fun way. Students are broken into
teams, given a budget with which to buy supplies, and asked to design and
create a “roller coaster” track out of tube sections with a “car” using a
marble (students can choose a big or small marble.) I will discuss some of the elements of the
project that I think are exemplary, and how I believe this project assumes very
high academic, behavioral, and procedural expectations. After analyzing two
other teaching videos, I will summarize with my personal classroom
applications.
Multiple elements of the roller
coaster project show high teacher expectations. Students began today’s lesson
together in a “chiming” session. Chiming is what I would call reflection.
Instead of being teacher lead, as it is in my class, Mrs. Migdoi sat off the
table while the students sat at the big table and fed off of each other’s
comments. Of course this requires very disciplined and focused students to stay
on track and learn from each other.
After the chiming, students
performed a personal plan on their papers. They carefully labeled each part of
the plan/drawing, and then took their personal plans to their groups to discuss
the final engineered roller coaster track. In groups, they showed designs and debated
amongst themselves until they could agree on a design.
Designs were tested with computer simulations, and if the
track was not safe (too much speed) changes would have to be made until
students could simulate a successful design. This element of the project taught
systems thinking to the students. The
idea that each element influences the whole system, and in order to figure out
what was not working only one element could be tested at a time. The students
continued to work together throughout this process.
Additionally, a budget was given to
each team, and in order to buy materials for the tracks, students needed to
spend money out of their budget. Thus students had to figure out how to solve
problems without buying too many materials. It also created horizontal
integration by adding real life math to the project.
From the first step to the last, this project was full of
high expectations. During chiming, for example, one student from each team sat
at the big table to reflect, while the rest of the class observed the
reflection. My reaction is amazement at the level of class discipline that
exists. My 6th grade students would not be able to sit and reflect together at
the big table, let alone sit away from the table and listen respectfully to the
discussion. Incredibly high behavior expectations.
I was very impressed with the
correct use of language-- another sign of a well-trained class with high
academic expectations. The students were correctly using terms like
"rise" and "run" and "kinetic energy" etc. In my
class that is 100% ELLs, the students would get excited at the prospect of a
project like this, but then would not be able to think through their thoughts
in English fast enough and would likely resort the Chinese to communicate.
Nevertheless I am brainstorming ways to spice up some of my projects with her
ideas.
The second video showed a
Chinese teacher teaching mathematics to her students. The video can be found
here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7LseF6Db5g
In this video a Chinese teacher
is teaching math to non Chinese students, likely in an immersion school. The 2-minute
clip shows how the class chants through the multiplication tables together with
a rhythm. I am familiar with this rhythm in part because I have taught in China
for nearly 10 years. I suppose some might feel it shows some high expectations
in that students are all expected to memorize the times tables. On the other
hand I remember memorizing all of the multiplication table and didn’t think it
was particularly demanding. Having a song to help memorize the table would have
been helpful, but the expectation was for all students to memorize all of them
just the same. I don’t think I have observed any obvious higher standard among
the common Chinese citizen/student verses American students/citizens. It is
true that Chinese students perform exceptionally well on tests. Being more
familiar with the situation here than most, I feel confident in saying that
much of the superior test scores come simply from the numbers of people
competing for the spots in the schools that are taking the international
tests. Consider this; there are more
honor students in China than there are students in America. Combine the massive
numbers with the system students follow, and the reason for the high test
scores becomes more obvious. The system I’m referring to is an established
process for placing students in schools. Public schools are the most
competitive and cheapest. Only the best students can test into public schools.
Students who do not test high enough will need to pay 20 or more times more
money in order to attend a private school. Public schools are also ranked, with
the highest testing students entering the best public schools. This testing,
shockingly, begins in grade school. So the best test takers in 4th
grade move into more competitive classrooms and more competitive schools for 5th
grade. They also test into middle school and high school. Finally, they test
into university with the infamous “gao kao.” Far from the “no child left
behind” mentality which seeks to give immigrants and mentally challenged
students a fair shake at a good education, China’s system is ruthless. And
there are plenty of students competing for those top spots.
But there is a reason why
parents of these students are fleeing China’s education system by the hundreds
of thousands. Parents do not spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get
their children into American schools because China’s education is so great.
They are paying the big bucks precisely because the system is failing its
children. Only the best of the best of the best are able to study at the elite
high school which participate in the international tests. Meanwhile they are
competing against the AVERAGE American student, including non-native English
speakers and children with disabilities. If you were to take the elite American
students and contrast their scores with the average Chinese scores, you would
see the same massive difference in performance.
I think it is likely helpful for
students to have some kind of memorization tool to learn the multiplication
tables. I do not think that China does a good job educating it’s citizens and I
do not believe teachers, as a general rule, have high expectations for behavior
or performance in China.
The last video was perhaps the
most interesting to me. I have never seen this style of “whole brain teaching”
and am intrigued. I admit I don’t have a lot to say at this point because the
idea is new and strange. But there are a few things I liked… First, it seems
like there is tremendous classroom management. In order for the students to
learn all of the signs and dances they must spend time on a regular basis
learning and then reinforcing them all. The students do appear to be engaged so
maybe it is worth the time. The teacher had a hand signal for longitudinal and
another signal for latitudinal, and the students worked with partners to
reinforce what the teacher had just showed them.
I also see that the students are
regularly working together to either teach each other or reinforce the
learning. This is something that I try to do as well, but I don’t think my
students are ever as engaged as these students appear to be. Perhaps it is the
extra movement that really gets them going.
I’m not sure I am a fan of the
speed reading. It seemed like the students were enjoying themselves and doing
well, but I would get distracted if it were me. I think I would be so focused
on the word I was about to read that I wouldn’t have time to listen to my
partner and at the end of the activity I would wonder what had just been read.
Setting High Performance
Expectations Among My Students
I teach 8th grade
ELLs from China and South Korea. The roller coaster project was the closest
illustration of a relevant project from my perspective. I was very impressed
with the correct use of language-- another sign of a well-trained class with
high academic expectations. The students were correctly using terms like
"rise" and "run" and "kinetic energy" etc. In my
class that is 100% ELLs, the students would get excited at the prospect of a
project like this, but then would not be able to think through their thoughts
in English fast enough and would likely resort the Chinese to communicate. Nevertheless
I am brainstorming ways to spice up some of my projects with her ideas.
I am also always open to finding
memorization devices like the multiplication table. I think it is likely
helpful for students to have some kind of memorization tool to learn the
multiplication tables. I do not think that China does a good job educating it’s
citizens and I do not believe teachers, as a general rule, have high
expectations for behavior or performance in China.
Whole body, whole brain
activities sound really effective. I admit I don’t have a lot to say at this
point because the idea is new and strange. But there are a few things I liked…
First, it seems like there is tremendous classroom management. In order for the
students to learn all of the signs and dances they must spend time on a regular
basis learning and then reinforcing them all. The students do appear to be
engaged so maybe it is worth the time. The teacher had a hand signal for
longitudinal and another signal for latitudinal, and the students worked with
partners to reinforce what the teacher had just showed them.
I also see that the students are
regularly working together to either teach each other or reinforce the
learning. This is something that I try to do as well, but I don’t think my
students are ever as engaged as these students appear to be. Perhaps it is the
extra movement that really gets them going.
In my class, I intend to use
projects like the roller coaster competition as often as possible. I realize
that I will need to effectively train my students before I can expect them to
stay as focused as the students on the video were. I also need to set really
clear language usage expectations, along with consequences for not living up to
those expectations. I think this will require a tremendous amount of upfront
training, which will likely be very time consuming, however, once we have
established the appropriate procedures and expected behaviors, we will be able
to take on regular projects. I can see us asking the students to create their
own informational videos: where they teach their peers something fun using a
4-minute video. They would have to do research and work together as a team to
shoot educational videos where they speak English and teach something. Another
project idea is for the students to make presentations about their favorite
city. They could research and prepare a presentation for the class about the
great elements of a city they love. Finally, I think perhaps we could spend
time learning public speaking, and host a TED event or a speech or debate
competition.
Either way I think there are
numerous ways to apply the idea that teachers expectations can determine, to a
large extent, the performance of the class. Obviously this has repercussions
that last long after the school year completes.
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