LivHawkins18
|
Provide rich teaching for students ...
Star this Commitment
Week 3 of 3
LivHawkins18 commits to:
Completing 5 entries with all required components.
2
1
No more reports due
|
My Commitment Journal
 LivHawkins18
October 12, 2023, 1:59 PM
|
|
|
A. Graduation B. The self-assessment for the Graduation mindset really dived into graduation rates and what they say about a particular school or district. While I am not currently teaching, I will use Dorman High School as an example since that was my high school. According to U.S. News, Dorman High's graduation rate is 86%, which is around the median for the state of South Carolina. Additionally, U.S. News shares that about 61% of Dorman's student population is considered economically disadvantaged. These are many factors that can cause poorer students to not graduate. As a poor student myself, I remember the times I would fall asleep in class and miss out on instructional time because my family of 7 were forced to live in a single Motel 6 room until we could find a place to live. As the oldest child, I slept on the floor and did not sleep well as a result. Poor students face a lot of challenges that can make something as simple as graduating high school feel like an impossible feat and it is important that we, as educators, remain aware of those unique barriers and how to help. C. An insight I found through this mindset section was how important goals can be in the classroom. It is important to communicate with students to ensure that graduation is their current goal so we can help them remain focused on ultimately completing that goal. Another insight is how important it is to show students what their future after graduation looks like. My high school regularly hosted events during breakfast and lunch that included employers and colleges. One of these was a high school alumna who was working as a news broadcaster. Another event was a panel of first generation students from a local college. These types of programs can be powerful for all students, but especially those that are economically disadvantaged. D. One strategy that encourages the graduation mindset is showing students alternative paths. Showing them what is possible after graduation can be an essential motivator. This does not just include attending a four year college because that is not the only option out there. A four year college degree may not be appealing to every student so what is the point of focusing on graduating? Other paths could include tech school, trade school, culinary school, etc. It is important to show these students the many careers they could possibly take on so that they feel as though there is value in finishing up their high school education. |
|
|
LivHawkins18
October 5, 2023, 5:51 PM
|
|
|
A. Engagement B. One important thing that the self assessment points out is how important it is to have strategies for when students start drifting during a lesson. Depending on the length of your class, which can be long in some districts, it can be a lot for students to sit for an hour or so and listen to the teacher. It is important to know when students start drifting, because if the majority of students start to check out of the lesson then the lesson is not really doing its job at that point. Another point that comes up in this self assessment that I find fascinating is the part about learning as a choice. In school, these kids have to be there and in the classroom. The difference between schooling and teaching is how students are engaged. If a student is going through the emotions to get their grade, they are not engaged; the child is merely being schooled. It is crucial to engage students so that they choose to be receptive to the lessons and problems that we put in front of them. C. There are ways that we can make our lessons relevant to the students so that they are engaged. This is important because oftentimes students do not see the relevance or real world applications to the information and skills they learn in the classroom. This section also taught me how vital attention is in terms of engagement. A lesson that students are not paying attention to is a wasted lesson, and it is important to ask what can be done to engage students further rather than a lengthy lecture. Community is also an important aspect to engagement. I think community is also a key to previous mindsets, but it cannot be overstated how much more engaged a student can be if the classroom truly feels like a learning community. D. One way to engage students is to provide them with buy-ins. One of the hooks provided in the reading is competition. From my experience, students can be quite competitive and healthy competition can be very good for social development. I am a huge fan of the reality competition show Survivor and I have seen online ideas where teachers have implemented the aesthetics of Survivor into their classrooms. Although there is not voting or backstabbing (hopefully), it can be helpful to turn certain activities into competitions. I could split students into teams for the semester/year and have them accrue points from different activities and they earn some sort of prize at the end of the semester. This can be a great tool for engagement. |
|
|
LivHawkins18
October 5, 2023, 5:28 PM
|
|
|
A. Enrichment B. The self assessment for the enrichment mindset primarily focused on biases that we may hold as educators regarding poor children's ability to learn. I have unfortunately had teachers in the past who just assumed that I would not have the capacity to learn in their class, so they stopped investing that extra time into me. I used to fall asleep in class because my entire family was staying in a single motel room and I slept on the floor as the oldest child. I had a math teacher that eventually just gave up on the idea of me learning math and, to this day, I struggle to do even the simplest of math equations without some sort of help. It is essential that we check ourselves constantly for bias so that we can effectively teach students who may not be in the best place to learn. Our students all have immense potential regardless of where they come from. C. I learned from this section that it is important to assess each day what our students are able to take on, and being able to adapt our lessons to those needs. A student may not be in a good place for us to drop a large workload on them. We should be on the lookout for indicators that students have these needs so we can adjust things accordingly. Students may lack the cognitive ability some days to really focus on assignments due to the mindset of scarcity that they experience. When they, as a child, are forced to think about how finances are at home, they do not always have extra mental bandwidth to dedicate to readings and assignments. I definitely need to remain on the lookout for students in need of help and while designing lesson plans, I should have ideas in mind of how things can be changed given different circumstances. D. One strategy that the reading lays out for enrichment is the simple act of "pausing." It can be very impactful to pause the lesson at an important point, maybe even taking that pause as a time to tell students they should write an important piece of information down. Pausing can allow students time to soak information in and to take notes without getting lost. Lessons should not be tricky for students to follow along. |
|
|
LivHawkins18
October 3, 2023, 10:26 PM
|
|
|
A. Positivity B. One thing that I found interesting was how the self-assessment asked about ways in which we feel helpless to relay the positivity mindset to our impoverished students. Although I do not yet have any classroom experience outside of my Duke teaching this past summer, I can understand as an impoverished person how challenging this can be. Teachers are extremely underpaid so they are not in a position to enhance the material conditions of their students. This can make upholding a positive classroom environment quite difficult, as that student may not have the most stable existence outside of the classroom. From my own experience, poverty can make a student every easily discouraged so this will be something to monitor in the classroom. C. One question based on the reading I have is what are the most effective ways to really reinforce this culture of positivity in our classrooms. Obviously practicing this behavior yourself can do wonders, but how else can we make sure students are aware that their positivity is appreciated. I see this as easy in a classroom of younger students where something like golden star stickers will suffice, but I want to work with high schoolers. An insight I have is that high schoolers can sometimes be at a point in their development where positivity and kindness is not always "cool." What ways can we incentivize high school students specifically to practice positivity in the classroom? The students I worked with over the summer were very excited to learn, but a lot of students in public school may take a lot more to be positive - especially if they come from a place of financial hardship. D. If I were able to implement a strategy found in the reading, I would practice acts of kindness. I think something simple like letting a student get in front of me at lunch or sharing a song can do wonders for positivity. Doing kind deeds in the classroom can help foster a learning environment where the students see service as a key part of the educational community. |
|
This Commitment has no photos.
Displaying 1-3 of 3 results.
October 11 to October 18
Not Successful
No report submitted
No report submitted
October 4 to October 11
Successful
Success
Success
krharrison
- Referee approval report
LivHawkins18
- Committed user success report
September 27 to October 4
Successful
Success
Success
krharrison
- Referee approval report
LivHawkins18
- Committed user success report
.
