Connections

Before we began the WalkThrough this Thursday, Principal J brought us to one of the empty classrooms and introduced us to a learning activity called Connections. This activity is a "time for individuals to reflect- within the context of a group- upon a thought, a story, an insight, a question, or a feeling that they are carrying with them into the session, and then connect it to the work they are about to do." Principal J explained that silence was OK and that you did not have to speak, but if you wanted to contribute, you could only do so once. A second comment or idea could be given, time permitting, once each member of the group had already gotten the chance to speak. From Principal J's explanation, I concluded that the main concept of Connections was to provide a group of individuals with the opportunity to share their thoughts, feelings, ideas, etc. during a period of time designated for Reflection NOT Discussion. 

"Some people will say that Connections is misnamed, since people don't connect to (or build on) what other people have said. However, the process is a connecting one; and powerful connections can still occur, even though they are not necessarily the result of back and forth communication."

-School Reform Initiative Incorporated

When the Connections session began, the silence in the room was slightly awkward. After a minute or so (which felt like an eternity!), a couple members of our group spoke about what was on their minds. I didn't have anything that I wished to contribute, so I sat there silently thinking about our experience at District C thus far. Once I became comfortable with the silence, it actually became refreshing and welcoming, sitting alone with my thoughts and listening to others' musings. Some of the comments sparked new thoughts and ideas in my head. I can definitely picture using this activity with my students. It would be a motivating lesson starter. I think what I liked most about the session was the opportunity it presented for every member of the group to communicate their ideas, even those who may normally sit quietly during a debate or discussion. In addition, Connections is a great way to facilitate and stimulate new ideas in the minds of all participating members.

School Reform Initiative

Understanding by Design: Chapter 1

"To begin with the end in mind 
means to start with a clear understanding of your destination."
-Stephen R. Covey (UbD, 7)

I absolutely love this quote!

It eloquently portrays the fundamental meaning behind the pedagogical approach of Backward Design. To me the quote clearly states, plain and simple, an extremely logical approach to lesson planning. In today's educational climate, where state and national standards guide the knowledge and skills students must achieve, educators often get caught up in the curriculum and its content as a means of assessing knowledge. Backwards Design instead begins by asking the question...

"What should students know, understand and be able to do 

as a result of the lesson(s)?" 

Backward Design

Content-specific knowledge is used as a means of teaching students enduring understandings of larger concepts and skills that have lasting value in new situations and the real world. Instead of merely receiving knowledge, students can participate in constructing meaning.  

In Backwards Design, educators are encouraged to decide what evidence demonstrates that students have successfully mastered an understanding of the concept or skill being taught. It states that this should be done before planning the instructional activity or lesson. Teachers must ask themselves...

"What enduring understanding do I want my students 

to take away from this lesson?" 

The teacher must also decide what knowledge is most worthy and in need of understanding. Having the end goal in mind allows teachers to focus their lesson(s) around obtaining their intended results and to reflect on how understanding goes beyond the use of specific knowledge. (15) Planning learning experiences and instruction around student involvement gives them insight into how knowledge is generated, tested, and used.

Backward Design also calls for a continuum of assessments through quizzing for prior knowledge, a series of informal checks for understanding, and performance tasks and projects. This allows students to demonstrate understanding through a collection of evidence rather then a singular test or quiz. These assessments are designed prior to the lessons and serve as teaching targets. (17) 

"Student performance improves through 

ongoing inquiry and rethinking." 

During my time as an Education major, specifically during SED 406, I had an extremely difficult time separating content knowledge from skill and concept building. I could not grasp how to develop my lessons in order to teach deeper, Enduring Understanding. The concept of Backward Design opened my eyes to how effective curriculum and instructional design can be in achieving desired student learning and understanding.

Experiencing iWalkThrough

Before our first iWalkThrough at District C, I was completely unsure of what to expect. As Principal J explained the process to us, I sat across the table wondering what we would encounter during our tour. The WalkThroughs at District C are done weekly. Teachers are required to perform at least one WalkThrough a quarter, but they can volunteer to do as many as they would like. In fact, they are encouraged to do more because it allows the faculty to give each other advice and feedback.

WalkThroughs: "For Teachers, By Teachers."

-Principal J

I was fascinated to find out that the WalkThroughs are not only performed by the faculty and administration, but also by parents. The sense of community in this school is both comforting and overwhelming (in a good way, of course!) WalkThroughs are not unexpected, faculty and staff know what days they are being conducted and teachers are welcoming. They are proud to exhibit their effective teaching strategies and methods.

Principal J is an exemplary administrator. He explained to our group that he strives to be an instructional leader, keeping updated with the most innovated pedagogical practices and methods.

"I don't want to loose my teaching perspective."

-Principal J

He gives his faculty clear expectations of what he expects from them. As such, when he observes a struggling teacher while performing a WalkThrough, he leaves them comments and probing questions that allow the teacher to evaluate why their methods or practices may or may not be working.

Great Schools Partnership

As we began the WalkThrough I looked over the evaluation sheet. Some of the information was slightly confusing and I was slightly nervous and unsure if I would be able to gather accurate data during our short, three to five minute, evaluations. The first classroom my group observed was an AP Art History class taught by one of District C's "model teachers." Principal J explained that the evaluations performed at District C allow the administration to determine who the most effective teachers are. These "model teachers" can be observed by other faculty throughout the school year. As soon as we entered the classroom I could see why this particular teacher was used as a model. Although her class was by no means quiet, and even though students were working on different tasks, there was observable learning taking place. She eloquently ran her classroom in a way that made it flow with ease.

Our group was directed to leave the room and we continued our WalkThrough tour of District C. With each class that we observed, the data collection became easier. It was interesting to see different teaching strategies, some good, others adequate. I feel that viewing a variety of practices was a great learning experience. In each classroom I found myself picking out things that I liked and hoped to imitate in my own teaching practices and also things I didn't like or agree with, that I would avoid. Although I wish we had more time, the experience was amazing and I cannot wait for the next opportunity to perform the WalkThrough process!

Literacy Profile

I was employed as a Pharmacy Technician at Rhode Island Hospital Pharmacy for eleven years. When first hired, I was almost instantly enthralled with the IV Services area of the department. I wanted to learn the aseptic technique process utilized in the preparation of intravenous (IV) solutions. IV Services practices a collaborative system of step-by-step checks performed by both the technician and the pharmacist. The entire process is organized around formulation paperwork created to guide the IV staff through the preparation of a multitude of IV products.

Rhode Island Hospital Pharmacy: Aseptic Technique and Medication Safety

My third year at the hospital, I accepted a position as the Pharmacy Technician Specialist in charge of teaching Aseptic Technique and IV preparation. Every new technician was required to complete four weeks of training in IV Services, which included,

"Continuous, repetitive, hands-on work, preformed with the guidance and under the supervision of an experienced trainer."

During the training period, each new technician is required to become literate with reading the formulation paperwork, which provides the technician and pharmacist with the mathematical calculations that determine the final concentration of the product being prepared. 

"To a new technician reading this paperwork can be quite complicated because it does not read in the more familiar left to right, top to bottom order. Its flow and how to become literate in reading each formulation's directions is a process that must be learned through weeks of training."

During the initial days of training, I would introduce the trainee to the most common and essential terminology and equipment utilized. I would also read through the formulation paperwork with the trainee, answering any questions that arose as they began learning unfamiliar terms and concepts.
Next, I would physically perform the aseptic technique process explaining each step, in detail, as the trainee visually observed the process being performed. Around the third or fourth day of training, I would encourage trainees to begin hands-on learning by assisting me with preparing products, closely guiding them to resolve any inaccuracies in their technique as they occurred. Trainees are allowed to move through the training process at reasonably different paces, each day taking on more and more of the daily tasks performed.

"Trainers scaffold new technicians during their training 

until they are able to perform each new task independently." 

Trainees do not work independently until the end of their fourth week at which time they perform all tasks by themselves under the observation of their trainer. When working with each new technician I would try to keep in mind the frustration and anxiety I felt while going through the same experience and the pressure I felt to become literate in the pharmacy world.

Over the years, I became more experienced and knowledgeable in this Special Literacy.

"The skills I developed while working in the pharmacy field have made me more confident in myself and have encouraged me to become a more assertive and determined student."

My experience as a trainer has provided me with insight into understanding learning differences and the importance of finding what works for each specific learner. While some teaching methods work for some or most, by no means are they effective for all.

Expectations & Observations: Day 1

Right as I got on the big yellow school bus parked in front of Robert's Hall, I felt the butterflies. Remember the kind you got on your first day of school? You weren't really scared. It was more an apprehension of the unknown, an excitement for what was next. Dr. JH kept our minds occupied with an ISpy game and the next thing I knew we were in front of District C...

It wasn't quite what I had envisioned...

A large, old building. 

Atop a steep, grassy hill. 

Located on a large, busy main street. 

In the center of a very small city.

Instead...
 It was in a much more congested area, 

on a narrow side street, 

located within a residential neighborhood. 

There was grass, 

although much less then I expected, 

and there was a beautiful old tree that shaded a large span of the lawn. 

A nature mural, 

probably painted by an District C student, 

decorated the front stairs leading to the building's main entrance. 

As a self-professed history geek, 

I immediately noticed the old architecture of the building. 

As we entered the front doors my eyes were drawn to an old war plaque 

and I felt the building's history.

Upon meeting the staff, particularly Principal J, it was evident that good things were happening at District C...

"The positive energy and genuine enthusiasm of the faculty 

was infectious."

One of the undertakings at District C that really sparked my interest was the Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Initiative. The ELO Initiative at District C...

"Provides opportunities for students to get academic credit 

for student-centered, hands-on, rigorous learning 

in a real-world setting." 

Working with a mentoring teacher and other ELO community members, students are responsible for completing ongoing reflections and research in subjects chosen around each ELO students' particular interests and passions. Students are also required to create a final research project and to demonstrate their learning at a final presentation. Principal J proudly told us that there have been over 250 students in the ELO program within the last two years.

Expanded Learning Opportunities Initiative

Even having only visited District C once, I am already extremely excited for the experiences awaiting myself and my classmates this semester. I am overwhelmingly grateful to have the opportunity to collaborate with the faculty and staff in the 2013 pilot year of the Innovation Lab.

Wilhelm: Chapter Two

Parts of A Theory of Teaching Reading really struck me personally. I find myself looking back at being a student and I remember the frustration I felt being assigned Romeo and Juliet in Freshman English. The teacher used a teacher-centered approach in her reading instruction. She assigned us specific pages to read for homework. She then evaluated our understanding by asking us questions about what we had read. Then she quizzed us. I was completely lost from day one. I never understood how to read Shakespeare. I wished that I had some magic translator so I could understand what all the other students were talking about.

"I truly was interested in the story, 

but I was lost."

So now as an Secondary Education student, I can honestly say I disagree with my Freshman English teacher's approach, that of Bottom-up Theorists and New Critics which states, the teacher's job... is to transmit textual knowledge to the student [and] the student's job is to know what the text means. (35)

I agree more with Wilhelm's Learning-Centered Approach, in particular Guided Reading. As the author broke down the steps he used to teach his middle and high school students to read ironic texts, I was amazed at how this reading approach allowed students to use and master task-specific strategies that assisted them in reading other texts of the same genre.

"The students' reading was guided and then reguided until they were able to successfully guide themselves."
-Wilhelm, 46

I like how this approach allows the teacher to use their expertise as a reader to equip their students with the strategies they need to become successful readers themselves.

Decisions, decisions: Responding to primary students during guided reading.

Introducing Me

Hhm...
Who am I?
I am who I am.
I surmise that best sums it up. Many people spend their lives mastering their multiple social masks, perfecting the art of fitting into a myriad of social norms. I for some reason have never quite got the hang of it. And thus I have surrendered the need to be normal and have ascertained that my one mask is unremovable and therefore must suffice.
And hence, I am who I am...

I am a long-term student. I have been attending college steadily since 2004, receiving my associates degree in General Education from CCRI in Spring 2010. I'm proud to say that I graduated with High Honors. The amount of personal growth that has accompanied my education continues to amaze me. I began attending classes at RIC Spring 2011 as a History Major with the goal of getting into the Feinstein Education Program for Secondary Education. During my three years at RIC I have been steadily taking classes, oscillating between full and part time depending on what best fits with my personal obligations and until recently, a full time work schedule.

As for teaching, there is no one answer to why I want to be a teacher. In fact, it developed into my chosen profession during my first several years of floating through college without a clear path or destination. Not because I didn't want one but because when it comes to long term goals I am ultimately (and shamefully) indecisive.

However...

I met a group of kids (pre-teens) at a campground where I was a seasonal member. Being the youngest adult (and a true kid at heart) I became the unofficial camp counselor. My experience with these extraordinary kids solidified my decision.

  "I wanted to teach."

I wanted to inspire young minds and make learning a fun experience. I wanted to be a combination of all my favorite teachers, those whose teaching methods have assisted me in becoming a better student.

"I want to provide my students with the supports and opportunity to succeed, not just in the classroom, but in life."

I have always wanted to leave behind something, make a difference, however small, in the life of other people. I truly hope I will achieve this as a teacher.