Creating High-Performance Learning Environments
Video Analysis
In this post, I will be looking into academic expectations, behavior expectations and norms, and procedures in three different classes, and come up with the conclusions useful for my own class!
Case 1 : Roller Coaster Physics
In this video, the teacher holds high-performance expectations for students by asking them to work in a variety of ways. The students are able not only to use one of their intelligences, but combine multiple ones and make them important each step of the way. They are expressing their logical thinking, but they also have a chance to present their knowledge orally and use linguistic representations of their knowledge. This is essential for the teacher who is looking for the knowledge of 21st-century skills. Students will not only learn about using different tools but they will understand that all of them are connected and how each of the tools is helping them to progress.
Behavior expectations are on a very high level. This is a must condition so that a teacher can assign classroom jobs to all students and make sure that they are able to work together and to see the value of their own work as part of the whole. The learners are asked to listen to one another and to respect other’s thinking and opinions. This has been modeled through chiming, where the teacher asks the students to understand that listening is one of the best ways to learn and to respect others. They have to be aware that they will also have their turn in talking.
This class has strict norms and procedures that the students need to follow in order to succeed. The teacher is effectively using the 21st-century skills of communication and collaboration. The students are ready to learn in a way which most of the 21st-century workplaces expect them to. They are asked to listen to others and present their findings clearly so that everyone can have both an active and a passive role during the learning experience. By using chimes as a formative assessment, the teacher can track the students’ performance and the way they are thinking about a certain topic or area of learning.
Case 2: 3rd Grade Chinese Math Class
High academic expectations are also found in the Chinese math classroom where the teacher is using a variety of songs and rhymes to make the students remember the tools necessary for their learning. One of the better ways that the Chinese math teachers adopt is that, through songs, they teach different approaches to calculation, and for their formative assessment they ask the students to find their own ways of calculation. Students are reflecting on their learning, listening to the others and sharing their ideas and findings with them.
In the Chinese classroom, there is a very high expectancy of behavioral management. Most of the time, the teacher is using whole class instructions and the students don’t have a chance to play around and lose time. They also use a similar approach to chiming and that is that the students need to share their findings with others and come up with solutions to problems.
In this video, the norms and procedures might be even easier to see as these are enveloped during the whole class, from modeling students’ understanding to review and formative assessment. Students are expected to learn as a whole class and to show their learning progress through it. The only thing that this and the last lesson don’t emphasize too much on is an individual student performance. Even though the procedures in the last two videos are excellent for whole class instructions, they lack differentiation and students are only using one of their multiple intelligences at a certain time. This is why the first class is much more helpful to higher achieving students to succeed in achieving even more as they would be accustomed to learning at their own pace and finding the best solutions for themselves.
Case 3: Whole Brain Learning
The students are able to express themselves through rhythm and movement and show that they understand the content by being able to not only show it but also explain it to other students. The most important part is that all three class have in common is that they encourage problem-solving through summative assessments. This means that the students are faced with certain problems and that there expected to resolve them by either working collaboratively or by having to use their prior knowledge.
In this video, the teacher uses techniques which are similar to the ones the Chinese teachers use in their math lessons but are significantly different as they fit with the students’ background and way of expression. This means that the teacher didn’t use techniques as a "one way fits all" but as a way to approach certain students and make their learning experience much more enjoyable and meaningful to them. The teacher also had visual representations of behavioral achievements which shows that the teacher was well prepared to approach this part of the learning process.
Similar to the previous video, norms and procedures are enveloped during the whole class, from modeling students’ understanding to review and formative assessment. However, there is a space for adding the focus on individual student performance, and the first video might be the most inspiring for me in those terms.
Setting High-Performance Expectations Among My Students
I’ve been teaching A2 level Economics to the students who are preparing for their Overseas University Studies. All of them are EAL learners, 18-19 years old, who have been working hard for years to pass international exams and continue their studies abroad. Most of them come from the families on high income who are able to finance their international education, and this is where the additional pressure comes from. Much has been expected of them, in both academic and non-academic areas, and the students are familiar with the high standards set by their parents, teachers and the school.
It’s quite interesting that one of the cases included here targets specifically Chinese teaching strategies in Math education. Economics is a subject that teaches them critical thinking skills, evaluation, and analysis of economic environment, and there is no much place for repetition and memorizing. Of course, there is a lot a complex content to be adopted, but we are learning the content through the application, and not repetition, which, I believe, helps the students achieve high scores at the CIE tests that mostly target the mentioned skills. On the other hand, there are many things to be appreciated about the Chinese approach to teaching Math, and some of their approaches I’ve been already using in some parts of the curriculum. For example, for the use of graphs and basic math application, insisting on the format/checklist for drawing graphs in economics analysis helps minimizing the number of mistakes they’re making, using a variety of examples which differ in difficulty helps in scaffolding, and rubrics and checklists for the essay writing they have to practice as much as possible (especially as ESL learners) make a huge difference in their exam results. One of the things mentioned in the article about the Chinese teachers of Math which I highly appreciate is the fact that all of their teachers teach a single subject, which is very important for the higher levels of high school and gives the teachers more opportunities to specialize and become the masters of the content. I have enjoyed watching all of the three videos, but the one that really impressed me was the first one. I believe that there are many opportunities to include PBL in my class, and even more in cross-curricular connections with the other subjects. Each project my students are doing in Biology of Physics could include support of my students in terms of Cost and Benefit analysis, externalities, government intervention, sustainable development etc. Really inspiring videos!
References
Kan Wei Associate Professor, Beijing Normal University. (2017, October 27). Explainer: what makes Chinese maths lessons so good? Retrieved October 30, 2017, from https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-makes-chinese-maths-lessons-so-good-24380
T. (2011, June 13). Third Grade Chinese Math Class Retrieved October 30, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7LseF6Db5g
Team, G. (n.d.). Roller Coaster Lab. Retrieved October 30, 2017, from http://edu.glogster.com/glog/roller-coaster-lab/1gku0vrn4cn
R. (2011, May 31). Whole Brain Teaching at Richmond High Retrieved October 30, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iXTtR7lfWU&feature=youtu.be
Roller Coaster Physics: STEM in Action. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2017, from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-stem-strategies#
Whole Brain Teaching – The fastest growing education reform movement in the world! (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2017, from http://wholebrainteaching.com/
Comments to the other video analysis:
1.
Hi, Marlene, you did a great job! This is a very detailed post, and you have very reasonable views on the teaching strategies in your Math class. I really liked your comments on the Chinese style of Math lessons, and I do agree that PBL is much more interesting and useful, not only in Math but in most of the classes, including Economics. However, as somebody who lives in China for five years, I would definitely question the best method depending on the cultural background of the students. It took me a while to understand that students here have different learning style, and in Math, it seems that repetition of the procedures works better with them. I had an opportunity to meet a principal of one international school here in China, who decided to completely change the way Math was taught in his school. They have introduced 100% flipped classroom and PBL system, and there were no traditional classes anymore. The whole project looked completely amazing! However, the results (limited to only a couple of years) showed that this system has improved the grades of only limited number of students, the average grade fell, and Asian (mostly Chinese) students got even lower grades. It would be great to explore this a bit further, and hopefully, find some good research on this topic!
2.
Hi Peter! I really love your post and the way you organized the content. More importantly, I strongly agree that you Art class should inspire the students to look for their own way of thinking. Repetition is not a method you want to base your lessons on. Your approach is very beneficial, especially for the young learners, and especially for the Chinese students, who are often struggling with creativity and taking risks. Finally, I really liked the connection you found between your and Science classes. Great job!
Discussion forum post:
I've really enjoyed watching all of these three videos, and I believe we are able to pick some of the teachers' approach from each of them and adjust them to feet the needs of our subject and age groups. My favorite is the first one which demonstrated high-performance expectations that enable the learners to combine multiple intelligences, present their findings and learn about how each of the tools they're using helps them progress. Behavior expectations have to be at the high level to make the PBL productive, and the students learn how to respect each other and listen to each other. The 21st-century skills of collaboration and communication are used effectively, and the video shows an interesting and fun learning experience for the students. I find this video the most inspiring for my teaching practice, as it fits the needs and the skills I am trying to develop with my students. The second case is focused on Chinese math classroom and the use of a variety of songs and rhymes to make the students remember the tools necessary for their learning. Asking the students to find their own ways of calculation is a good form of formative assessment, requiring them to reflect on their learning, listen to others and share their ideas with the rest of the group. Behavioral management and norms and procedures are much more strict here, but there is an obvious lack of differentiation and the students are using only one of their multiple intelligences. Many people would argue that Chinese style of teaching it too military for the West, and I personally do not prefer the style. However, we have to be aware that this might work very well in some parts of the syllabus, at some age levels (e.g. young learners), and in some cultural environments better than in the others. I have identified some parts of the content where similar strategies could work very well (especially the part of Economics which relies on the use of Math). Finally, the last video does show the strategy which offers much more enjoyable and meaningful learning experience for the students. The students are able to express themselves through rhythm and movement and show that they understand the content not only by showing but also explaining it to the rest of the group. However, individual performance could be more emphasized, more differentiation added, as well as the use of their multiple intelligences.
Discussion forum comments:
Hi guys, I also have to agree that the repetition method can work very well with the young learners, and it can definitely have a value in a Math class. While reflecting on my Economics class with 18-19-year-old learners, I am trying to use this method only in specific situations/parts of the syllabus, but not as a general, widely used teaching method. My subject is all about the development of the critical thinking, evaluation and problem solving, and much of the content is adopted through the application. For that reason, the first video, and PLB are definitely my choice.
Hi Vanja, Great post! you are vey thorough in your analysis. I like that you explain why the repetitive style is not great for our students. They do get it a lot from their other teachers, if they did not go to an international school. So our job as foreign teachers is to prepare these students for learning styles in our home countries. Real-world applications can also help to make the information more meaningful.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post, Vanja! I thought the way you wove our analysis and perspective into highlighting the overall methodology of the classes was very well done.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the first approach really fosters all the 21st century skills, and the different forms of student interactions provide a great rage of differentiated assessment. I also think that the Chinese Math lesson approach does not provide as much opportunity for differentiation. Yet, I am always amazed at how well Chinese students perform in math. In the international school I work at all Chinese students seem to have a very strong grasp of math, which sometimes even seems to exceed the understanding of the teachers. It is a huge conundrum for me. However, I wonder how much of these math concepts students will be able to apply in the real world when the problem at hand is not specifically labeled.
Hello Vanja, excellent post! Not only was your content great but the organization of the general layout of your blog was outstanding. Yes, I can understand why economics couldn't be taught in a rote memorization sort of way. I can also see how it promotes critical thinking, something in short supply, it seems. But surely you must teach in a very awesome way since not all economics teachers can promote critical thinking with that subject. High five to you!!
ReplyDeleteHello Vanja, I really like how you describe the details of academic and behaviour expectations and how norms and procedures works in each case. Every classes offers different techniques and you chose which one is the most suitable for your class. Thank you for sharing, I always find your works being nicely done and they challenge me to set a higher bar on mine.
ReplyDelete