Becoming an Even More Student Centred Teacher

Becoming Even More Student-Centred

Teachers_________ Secondary School (Singapore)

25 June 2015

Thank You to:•All of you for attending and for looking for ideas you can use in Term 3 and beyond

George Jacobs - Background•Doctorate in Educational Psych•Singaporean, born in the U.S.•In SG since 1993•Taught at RELC till 2000

•Freelance with NIE, MOE, etc. •Half time with James Cook Uni (SG)•Vegetarian Society

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First, a Bit of Classroom Management•Groups of 4 divided into pairs – most common•Mixed groups based on past achievement and perhaps other factors. T decides

•Ss have #s based on where they sit in their group, e.g., S on the right is #2

•Pairs are groups

Attention Signal - Why•Ss are in groups and T needs their attention•To reteach something•To highlight something a group is doing well

•To explain the next step in an activity•T needs a quick, easy way to request students’ attention

Attention Signal - How•Many possible Attention Signals: bell, whistle, squeaky toy, clapping

•What’s your experience?•T claps 5 times, Ss clap twice

How Will We Communicate?•This workshop is guaranteed through 2042!•Feel free to catch me after the workshop or to email me

•I like email•[email protected]•www.georgejacobs.net

Agenda•What is Student Centred Learning (SCL)•Giving Feedback•Questioning Strategies•Students Teach•Implementation Framework

What Is Student Centred Learning (SCL)•Please do Circle of Writers (One at a Time) in groups of two

•One piece of paper per group of two•Take turns to write one element of SCL (each person writes in a different colour)

•After each SCL element you write, please briefly explain

•See if you can go back and forth 4 times = 8 SCL elements

Elements of SCL•Space for participants’ ideas

Feedback

Strategy 1 – Feedback from Students•We teachers can learn in many ways, including from student feedback

•When we ask our students what they think of our teaching, we increase student ownership of their own education, a SCL hallmark

•Of course, just as with evaluations by principals and others in the education hierarchy, evaluations by students provide data for dialog, not inflexible mandates for or against change

•Thus, for example, just because a majority of our students do not like a particular aspect of our teaching does not mean that we must change that aspect. Similarly, just because most students like a certain aspect of our teaching does not mean that we must keep it forever

Student Evaluations•Many data collection techniques are possible•Questionnaires with a 5 point scale, ranging from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree (plus, space to write comments)

•Short, specific questionnaire items may be best, such as ‘Gives clear explanations’; ‘Talks too much; ‘Is fair’; ‘Gives too tough assignments’; and ‘Has a sense of humor’

•Focus groups•Feedback as a topic for reflective journals

Your Input, Please•Do you think feedback from students is useful?•Do you currently collect student feedback?•If so, how? •On what areas do you/could you collect feedback?

•How do you/could you collect feedback?

Strategy 2 – Celebrating Negative Feedback: “An enemy will agree, but a friend will disagree”

•When criticized, most people, including me, immediately feel an urge to defend ourselves and even to retaliate against those who gave the criticism

•However, such defensive behavior in the face of student criticism makes it less likely that students will risk providing negative feedback in the future.

•Instead, perhaps we should thank students for their feedback, invite them to explain the evidence for that the feedback and how the feedback might be used, as we welcome more such feedback in the future

•Even if the feedback is flawed, the fact that students give such feedback should be celebrated

•Even if we suspect that students give the feedback with less than constructive intentions, we can respond as though the feedback was given with the best of intentions

•Goethe, the 18th-19th century philosopher, wrote, “Treat people as they are and they will remain as they are. Treat people as they can and should be and they will become as they can and should be.”

Role Play•In groups of two take turns – one person is a teacher and the other is a student/caregiver

•The student/caregiver gives the teacher some negative feedback

•The teacher responds in a positive manner

Strategy 3 – Don’t Forget the Positive•When we give feedback to students, it is easy to focus only on the negative, on what is wrong in students’ work

•After all, why tell them about what they are already doing well?

•However, focusing on the positive has benefits, including•Boosts students’ confidence•Encourages students to repeat what they have done well, and students’ good work can be a model for peers

•Makes us feel more positive•Positive feedback can include feedback on meaning, not just on form, e.g., in a student project

Try Giving Positive Feedback•People enjoy mangoes for many reason. First, mangoes can be

find in many beautiful colours. Secondly, mangoes taste wonderfully. Thirdly, mangoes have many nutrients. This nutrients include Vitamins A and C. Therefore I try to eat at least one mango every week when they are in season.

•Take turns with your partner to give positive feedback on this student draft

•While focusing on the positive, we still need to point out errors, although maybe not every error needs to be mentioned

Strategy 4 – Peer Feedback•Prompt feedback aids learning, but it is difficult to give quick feedback to 30-40 students

•Peers can help, and, by giving each other feedback, students learn, i.e., “Those who teach learn twice”

•Lower achieving students benefit from feedback from their higher achieving peers

•Higher achievers learn more deeply when they explain to classmates

•We cannot expect students to give the same feedback that teachers give

•The feedback task needs to be doable, especially for low achievers

•We need to teach students how to give feedback, including the need to include positive feedback

•Including the positive makes it doable for lower achieving students to give feedback to their higher achieving peers

Confidence in Peers•Lack of confidence in peers’ guidance constitutes a major stumbling block to SCL

•Part of overcoming this reluctance to listen to peer feedback lies in using doable tasks

•Another part of students developing a habit of looking to peers lies in teachers encouraging students to look to their peers as a first resort when students have questions or otherwise need help

•TTT = Team Then Teacher or 3 + 1 B4 T, i.e., ask your 3 groupmates and 1 other group before asking the teacher

Task – Preparing for Peer Feedback•Think of a task students will do early in Term 3

•On that task, what is some doable feedback that students can give their peers?

•How can you prepare students to include explanations as part of this feedback? For instance, going back to the short text about mangoes, we could talk to students about how nouns, pronouns and adjectives need to agree in number, e.g., This is singular, but nutrients is plural; thus, This nutrients does not work.

Strategy 5 – Self Feedback•SCL encourages students to take charge of their own learning

•One way for them to do this is to monitor their progress.

Self Feedback •To make this strategy quick and easy, students choose one task they did earlier in the same term or a previous term

•They compare their earlier work and the feedback received on that work with their more recent work

•The work should be related either in terms of content or format

More Self Feedback •Work with students to prepare a simple ‘can do’ list to check as the term progresses, whether they now can, e.g., •Write a recount text using an appropriate style and structure

•Explain why reducing meat consumption is environmentally friendly

•Do ______ mathematical operation•Discuss pros and cons of the decision to leave Malaysia

Task – Self Feedback•Choose either Strategy 1 or Strategy 2•Strategy 1 – Choose two tasks which students can use to compare their work and look for progress

•Strategy 2 – What are some points that your students could put on their Can Do lists?

Questioning Strategies

Questioning Strategies•Motivation is complicated •So many factors affect students’ willingness to try hard to learn, and these factors interact with each other in myriad ways

•Success and the prospect of future success figure prominently in many theories of motivation

•This next strategy looks at how the ways we conduct questioning can help all students believe in their prospects for success

Strategy 1:Don’t Fly with the Eagles

•Teachers may be tempted to “Fly with the eagles” •For example, we often ask questions about what was just taught or ask “Is that clear?”

•Often, a few students can answer the content questions or these same students reply that everything is clear

•In such cases, it’s very tempting for us to fall into the trap of believing that everyone understands and then go on to the next topic.

How To Welcome Everyone On Board?•How can class proceed at a pace comfortable for all students and not just the eagles, while at the same time not boring the eagles?

•One way is for students to work in groups of 2-4 with an eagle in each group [Eagle is a relative term; even NT classes have relative eagles]

•Then, the eagles have to be taught, in part by our example, to appreciate that “if something is not clear to everyone, it is not clear”

•And, the eagles need to see that “those who teach learn twice”

Everyone’s Job•However, not all the responsibility falls to the eagles to help their lower flying classmates. The lower flying students also need to:•let others know when they do not understand •do their fair share, whatever that may be•try their very best to gain understanding and skill peers and others teach them

•prior to class, reread materials and search on the web to enhance their understanding, rather than making their first option to ask others.

Question •Are you ever tempted to “Fly with the eagles”?•If so, how do you resist the temptation?•How do you help everyone to fly with you?

Strategy 2 – Make It Real•A hallmark of SCL are tasks/questions similar to those that people (not just students) might encounter in the world beyond school

•In this way, students more readily see the relevance of their studies, and they feel better prepared for life outside the classroom

•For instance, tasks in Maths class may be similar to those done by people in their jobs or in their daily lives.

Task•What materials among your current teaching materials link to real world tasks?

•How do you highlight these links to students?•What is another task you can add that links to life beyond school?

Strategy 3 – Students Write Questions•Traditionally, tests and other assessments have been prepared by teachers and other educational professionals, often in conditions of secrecy

•In contrast, when we open the assessment construction process to students, we reduce their anxiety and increase their engagement and understanding

•Discuss with students the sorts of tasks/questions that might appear on the assessments

•Also, discuss the criteria for possible responses to the tasks/questions

•Invite their input; even offer to use items that they construct (without necessarily telling them which of their items you will use)

Exchange-A-Question•Ss work alone to write one or more questions/problems of the T-specified type(s)

•They write answers to their questions on another piece of paper or another place on their device

•Ss exchange questions but not answers•After Ss have answered their partner’s questions, the two partners compare answers

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Teaching Students How To Write Questions•We want students to answer their own questions in order to encourage them to write doable questions, i.e., questions that are not too difficult

•If students can write a certain type of exam question, they will probably be better able to answer that type of question

•Students also need to understand the scoring rubrics for their questions

•What is a question type you might want to ask students to write? How can you teach them the elements of such questions?

Synthesis

Verbs•create•invent•compose•predict•plan•construct•design•imagine•propose•devise•formulate

Starter Questions•Design a ...•Compose a song about...•Can you see a possible solution to...?•If any resource was available, how would you...?•Devise your own way to solve...•What would happen if...?•How many ways can you...?•Create new and unusual uses for...•Develop a proposal which would...

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Try Exchange-A-Question•Do Exchange-A-Question with your partner•Make two-digit addition problems for each other•For example, 37 + 44•Remember: Introduce CL techniques with easy content

Exchange-A-Question – Second Round

•Look through the slides we have gone over•Write two questions for your partner•Remember to write answers for your own questions

Strategy 4 – Prepare Students for Formal Operations Thinking•Do you remembers Piaget’s for stages of cognitive development?

•This video will refresh your memory•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRF27F2bn-A - this one only

•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw36PpYPPZM•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQtQ_p1fcsI•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt3-PIC2nCs

An Incorrect Answer to a “What If” Question•Question: What if SG had never left Malaysia?•Answer: ‘Malaysia’ starts with the letter M, and ‘mangoes’ starts with the letter M. Therefore, if SG had stayed in Malaysia, we would now have more mango trees, and mangoes would cost less.

What If Questions•Change of Scale- What if an egg were as tall as a building?

•Change of Purpose- What if a shoe became a boat?

•Change of Place- What if a banana changed places with a taxi?

•Metamorphosis- What if humans slowly turned into birds?

More What Ifs•Substitution- What if your best friend had the face of Mickey Mouse?

•Changing Laws of Nature- What if gravity suddenly ceased to exist?

•Multiplication- What if people had more than one face, several eyes, or limbs?

•Hybridization- What if elephant genes were crossed with those of a butterfly?

Task•What is a hypothetical (What if?) question you might write for your students?

•What would be the characteristics of a good answer?

Students Teach

Students Teach•Many metaphors have been used to describe teaching, including Teachers as Entertainers and Students as Audience

•In this metaphor, students are the passive customers, waiting to be entertained, except that stand-up comedians seldom give tests to their audiences; that wouldn’t be very funny.

•As one teacher explained it, “We teachers seem be the ones who are exhausted at the end of the day, while the students rest their bodies and minds.”

•When students teach us and their classmates, they learn from the experience

•For instance, when I was in high school, one day, my Social Studies teacher asked for volunteers to teach some of the upcoming topics

•I foolishly volunteered and was assigned to teach about the governmental structure of the Soviet Union

•It was an eye opening experience, not so much about the Soviet Union, but about how tough teaching is!

•From that experience, I gained newfound respect for teachers

Strategy 1: Look for Opportunities To Let Students Teach•A simple way is for them to teach their group mates, which should be easier and less threatening than teaching the entire class

•For instance, each group member has different information (either given to them or found by them), and each takes a turn to teach their information to their group

•This could be as simple as every student telling about themselves or each doing a separate question and sharing their answer and how they arrived at the answer

What Collaborative Learning Techniques Do You Know and Use?•Jigsaw•SUMMER•Everyone Can Explain Mobile•Stand Stir Stop Speak•See appendix for the steps in these techniques

Help Students Learn How To Teach•Remember that your students may be as blur about teaching as I was; so, give them a couple teaching tips, such as:

(1) teach from a mind map or other graphic organizer to help you remember the main points and present them in an organized way; (2) make sure that your “students” understand all the terms you use•What other tips can you give students to improve the way they teach their peers?

Groups Teach Groups •Instead of one group or one group representative at time comes to the front and teaches the entire class, how about groups teaching groups with all group members having a speaking part?

•For example, in a class of 40, divided into groups of 4, groups 1 and 2 could present to each other, while at the same time, group 3 and 4 present to each other, etc.

•The audience use a feedback rubric•What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of such an arrangement?

Strategy 2 - We Should Listen to Our Students•Sometimes, students do not listen to us teachers•However, students are not the only ones guilty of uncivil behavior; we teachers sometimes fail to listen properly to our students

•The following story about teachers not listening to students involves a primary school teacher who did not let his student finish her thoughts

•Instead, the teacher was so sure he knew what the student was going to say and that the student was wrong that he continued to interrupt her

•Once a stern teacher asked a student to make a sentence beginning with the word I

•The student started with, “I is …” •But before she could finish the sentence, the teacher, with a disappointed look on his face, interrupted the student: “No, no, no. It’s ‘I am.’”

•The quivering but determined student attempted to start again with, “I is …”, but again, the teacher, his face reddening, snapped, “How many times do I have to tell you? I is first person singular. Thus, the correct form of the verb to be is am. Are we clear?”

•With a defeated look on her face, the dutiful student mechanically stated, “I am the ninth letter of the English alphabet.”

Strategy 3 - Student Expertise•One way for students to teach us teachers is to talk about topics that students know but we teachers do not

•With such topics, roles are temporarily reversed, with students being the ones with more knowledge, and teachers depending on students

•Students learn about explaining clearly and patiently, while teachers are reminded how it feels to be the one receiving help

•Also, many students are very shy to ask for help, but maybe if they ask us first, students will feel more comfortable asking us

Students Know More Than Us About?•What are topics on which students might know more than you

•Examples might be their families, past experiences, culture popular among their age group, their opinions, their daily habits, the electronic devices and software they use, and where they live

•Education topics: what they like about course materials and activities; what they find easy to understand; how they schedule their homework; with whom they study

Strategy 4 – ‘First, Seek To Understand Before Seeking To Be Understood’ – Stephen Covey•Take time to understand what students are trying to say

•Plus, as we strive to understand what students are trying to communicate, we should look for the good and build on that

•Seek to understand by paraphrasing what students say

Task•Share with your partner your opinion about something and explain why you hold that opinion

•Your partner will seek to paraphrase what you said (no need to repeat word for word)

•Is your partner’s paraphrase accurate?•Now, change roles

Conclusion•Please use Circle of Speakers to take turns with your partner to list ways that this workshop, in which you just participated, has exemplified SCL

•Please give specific examples

Implementation Framework•In this workshop, we have looked at three areas in which we can promote SCL

•In each area, various strategies were suggested•Please choose three strategies – they can be from different areas or from the same area – that you would like to play with in Term 3

•Please choose doable strategies•Make a plan for implementing each of the three strategies

Appendix1. Jigsaw2. SUMMER3. Everyone Can Explain Mobile4. Stand Stir Stop Speak

1. Jigsaw (for the official version: www.jigsaw.org)

•Heterogeneous groups of 4 – Home Teams

•Each S receives & reads a different piece of information – pieces can be color-coded or numbered to avoid confusion

•Ss leave Home Team and form Expert Teams with Ss who have the same piece

•Experts learn and prepare to teach their pieces

•In Home Teams, Ss take turns to teach•Individual quiz on all the pieces

2. SUMMER•Formerly known as MURDER •Hythecker, V.I., Dansereau, D.F. and Rocklin, T.R. (1988) An analysis of the processes influencing the structured dyadic learning environment, Educational Psychologist 23: 23-37.

•Done in pairs using a text that has been divided into sections

•S = Set the mood = a bit of chit-chat before starting

•U = Understand by reading the section silently = each S reads the section alone

•M = Mention the Main ideas = one S summarizes without looking at the page

•M = Monitor the summary = partner checks for accuracy – roles rotate for next section

•E = Elaborate •connected ideas and experience•applications•questions: don’t understand & want to know more •additions to what is presented•agreements and disagreements•reactions

•R = Review = A summary of the entire text

Why SUMMER•Ss focus on main ideas•They connect these main ideas to what is already in their minds

•Increased comprehension and retention when SUMMER is used in a pair or alone

•Ss continue to use the SUMMER script even when reading alone

3. Everyone Can Explain •Each member has a #: 1,2,3,4•T asks a question/gives a task•Ss work together to respond•Grp checks that everyone can give & explain the grp’s response

•T calls a #; S with that # gives & explains their grp’s answer

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Everyone Can Explain - Mobile•Same as Everyone Can Explain except for the last step.

•Instead of 1 S at a time giving and explaining their group’s answer, the S in each group whose number is called moves to an adjoining group.

•There they give and explain their group’s answer and receive feedback and questions.

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4. Stand-Stir-Stop-Speak•Example of adding physical activity•Everyone Stands and Stirs up the class by walking around the room by themselves

•T says ‘Stop’ and everyone stops where they are

•Ss pair with whoever is nearest and Speak to that one person on the prescribed task

Please Thank Your Partners