Last week I began to reflect on the Lasallianconcept of Adaption and how I am currently and striving to apply it in my ownclassroom. In this post I’d like to target specific areas in which various
routines and strategies can be applied regarding Adaption.
Instruction (HOW I teach)
As I mentioned in my previous post, my
understanding of adaption in a classroom is giving students more control and
encouraging problem-solving towards an understanding versus giving them
the “right answer.” Most recently I’ve been very intentional about starting my
lessons with a question of some sort (essential question or a question
referring back to prior knowledge) to allow my students to make a connection to
what we are about to learn. I’ve noticed this has encouraged more participation
as my students are able to develop their own understanding and meaning as we go
along. I’ve also become more aware of how much talking and “guiding” I’m doing
while teaching. The less I talk and guide, typically the more they talk and
discover.
Discipline (WHAT I teach)
Adaption also plays a role in what I teach as I’ve
become more aware of what big ideas and understandings are truly crucial for my
students to know. If I’m not able to see why
the concept is important or how they
can apply it to a real-life situation, how can I expect my students to see
that? When beginning lessons or units with the adaption in mind I’m teaching
with a purpose to make a lasting connection with and purpose for the content. My
hope is that this will make the learning more authentic and applicable.
Environment
The concept of adaption has many connections to
that of a constructivist classroom in which the students have equal control and
ownership of their learning, the way they learn it, and the environment in which
they learn it in. I’ve always been very conscious to refer to the classroom as our room (versus MY room) because I feel
students take more pride in a space they feel they are a part of. The physical
layout plays a large role as well as it’s important to have a space conducive
to collaboration amongst students while also offering calm, comforting spaces
for learning and exploring. This is an area I will continue to work on and
hopefully improve in!
Assessment
This school year I was more intentional about using
formative assessments to guide my instruction and best meet the needs of my
students. I think this is a key idea when it comes to the concept of adaption
as my students are truly the ones guiding what we learn and how we learn it. Their understanding, or lack thereof, is shown
through these valuable assessments and it has allowed me to easily adapt and
adjust where needed to ensure that they are developing a deeper level of
understanding. This is an area that I know I’ll continue to grow within as
there are many forms of assessment that can be used and even more ways to use
the information they provide you with!
I love what you are doing and have done in your room to be a constructivist teacher. It's been hard letting the discussions go because I'm always such a time manager and need to get to the next thing. But when I've allowed them time to all share and discuss with peers I too have seen the richer conversation. They seem more eager to participate and satisfied that they could participate:)
ReplyDeleteI also believe in calling the classroom our space and referring things back to "us" and our "team." I've always thought this helped build a positive classroom community. This year however I had some very difficult behaviors in my room and my materials and classroom objects were often broken, wrecked and misused. How do you handle situations like that where they are breaking your personal things you've invested in?
Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI've found myself in those situations and it's always a difficult one. During those first 6 weeks we spend so much time talking about what all these items are for and how to appropriately use and take care of them. I also set consequences right up front for when/if something is misused. I can't tell you how many times students had to lose the privilege to use a pink eraser because they were jamming their pencil into it (after the expectation had been set). It sounds a little ridiculous to have to take something like that away but it also taught them the idea of "you don't know what you have until you lose it." If I had a repeat offender I'd have a social conference with them about what the behavior was happening and make a parent phone call if necessary. At one point this year I was out of the room for the day and two of my students decided to use the electric pencil sharpener I had just bought that weekend (not cheap...). They knew they weren't supposed to and when I came back they actually admitted to me they had done it. I had to contact their parents and we (the students, parents and I) decided that they'd have to split the cost of a new one. This set an example and I think they, and the rest of the students in my room, learned a huge lesson that day! My long-winded message: hold the students as accountable as you can and hopefully they learn that consequences come from their disrespectful actions.
**I forgot to mention above that the students who used the pencil sharpener ended up breaking it...hence the reason they had to buy the classroom a new one.
ReplyDelete