For this week’s Teach-Now assignment, I was tasked with analyzing three videos which demonstrated teaching strategies to be used in the classroom. The first one was a project-based STEM exercise which reminded me of task-based language teaching in my field of TESOL. The second and third ones were heavily behavior-oriented and relied upon group cooperation and repetition to complete the lesson successfully. In my world of English language teaching, these strategies reminded me of the outdated Audio-lingual method.
The following blog entry reviews the norms and procedures along with both the academic and behavioral expectations found in the three videos.
Video 1: Roller Coaster Physics
This teaching-learning example was project-based and tasked the students with using their knowledge of energy and motion to design their own roller coasters. In doing so, the students had to work to together to first demonstrate their designs on paper, which was then followed by repeated testing using limited materials (e.g., rubber tubes, sandpaper) and simulation software.
Academic expectations
The academic expectations were high here because the students actually had to problem solve by themselves. Solving included designing, trying, failing, recording why they failed, and trying again. In the end, if they were successful it was because they used systematic thinking and did not simply regurgitate a memorized answer. Additionally, they had to solve with many constraints (i.e., limited materials). This made them better problem solvers because they could not simply complete this project through brute force (i.e., trying until successful without knowing why), but used their minds to come to the best solution. For example, they had to write out the specific type of loop and force (e.g., kinetic) they were referring to on paper.
Behavioral expectations, norms, and procedures
The norms, procedures and behavioral expectations here were moderate because cooperation and communication were necessary, but individual opinions were valued. For example, in the chiming exercise, students had to present discoveries and problems they had had and then other students were to chime in, making them all more knowledgeable. Another example is that everything they used cost money, so they had to be fiscally responsible. Overall, to ensure these norms and procedures ran smoothly, students were assigned roles such as manager or accountant.
Video 2: Chinese 3rd Grade Math
In this video, students in a Chinese language immersion class were learning arithmetic. The class was fully teacher-guided and the students were tasked with chanting the numbers in unison. Towards the end the teacher called on students as they solved a subtraction problem together.
Academic expectations
I would argue that the teacher holds high academic standards for the students who get the answer correct, but the group nature of this does not allow for every student to be tested and challenged. It is good that she selects students to answer and guides them along, but I am not sure that this is a very effective way of checking for understanding.
My first impression was that this teaching-learning approach was a bit similar to the gradual release of responsibility method where at first the teacher fully demonstrates her thought processes and then she guides them in solving a problem together. The weakness, however, of this Chinese 3rd grade math video is that there are no opportunities for the students to work together and independently demonstrate knowledge.
Behavioral expectations, norms, and procedures
As far as I could tell, this is an immersion lesson and their behavior expectations are to participate in group counting, sit and raise their hands to be called on, and of course speak in only Chinese. I think this is fine in that it is unambiguous what the students must do and the teacher enforces it very well. I imagine if this type of environment is continuous throughout the year, behavioral issues are minimal.
Video 3: Whole Brain Teaching
This style of teaching in the video tasked students with using their entire bodies to participate in the lesson. For example, when discussing latitude and longitude, both the teacher and students moved their arms horizontally and vertically. Another example was called the “Crazy Professor” where the students had to mime the information they read from a textbook aloud while their partners copied them.
Academic expectations
Similar to the Chinese math lesson, I am not very convinced that the academic expectations of the students are very high here. For example, in the “Crazy Professor” activity it is clear that the goal is to use kinesthetic learning to further cement the material in the students’ minds, but in no way is it clear that the learners are doing so. Therefore, I have no choice but to conclude that the academic expectations were not very high.
Behavioral expectations, norms, and procedures
On the other hand, behavioral expectations are exceptionally high and integral to lesson success. For example, in the video the teacher has the students repeat classroom norms and procedures (e.g., sit down at your desks on time) in unison. My first impression was that this is similar to behavioral modification exercises found in the military, an institution grounded in obedience. As such, I was impressed with the behavior and adhered to the classroom procedures by students. Furthermore, I was impressed by the seemingly warm relationship between the students and the teacher.
Summary: Setting High Performance Expectations Among My Students
After watching and considering these teaching-learning environments, I have come up with some ideas of how I would like to set high performance expectations among my future middle school ESL students. To set the context, I am imagining myself teaching international students with various language backgrounds. Additionally, I am imagining them to be around 15 years old.
First of all, I would like to return to the second and third videos which I felt to be very behavior-focused. While, as I stated, these were not exceptionally beneficial for learning, I do feel there is a benefit in group chanting when teaching English. For example, often times students are not familiar with the prosody of new vocabulary words. Beginning a lesson with group chants (which I lead) can serve to both introduce the students to how these words truly sound as well as help the students to settle down and focus on the lesson at hand. In other words, I can do this as a behavioral management exercise hidden within a vocabulary lesson.
For the majority of my teaching though, I would prefer to focus on project- and task-based learning exercises. Language is a communicative activity, and the assignment of roles and problems to solve help to expedite the learning process. In order to do this, I would use some combination of the gradual release of responsibility method, which at its core uses scaffolding, along with an assigned task.
For instance, one task might be to have the students imagine they are on a deserted island and they have to ration their supplies. One student might be assigned to write and record their findings, another to research (e.g., food expiration dates), and a third to report their findings and final decisions to the class at the end of the day. As with the STEM exercise in the first video, I would emphasize cooperation, communication, and utilize constraints by setting a reasonable time limit.