Choice Words Ch 4 p.31 The "inverse of agency" is "victimicity". I have been very concerned over a boy, J, who transferred in this year. This paragraph describes the academic and emotional behavior that we see in the classroom. His posture alone would reveal him to you.
Later on in the chapter, on p.40 "Children who doubt their competency set low goals and choose easy tasks, and they plan poorly"...I felt he was being described again. It is a struggle daily, in spite of many wonderful supports like Title I and Bridges, to combat his low self esteem and frequent lack of interest.
That paragraph extends to p. 41 and conversely describes "children who hold a strong belief in their own agency." Many of you know our girls, B and E, who have been at HT since 1st grade and who, in spite of significant disabilities probably have more of a sense of agency than any 2 children I have ever met. Thier work ethic is beyone compare. They are tireless, proud, and determined. (They also have moms who present the same way.) So much of their success in Room 6 this year is due to their own emotional strength, rather than any teaching or strategy.
Ted here! " we often encounter classrooms in which children are bing taught strategies yet are not being strategic." This quote made me think of the article sent out recently. Students are being given information because someone or an expert tells us we need to teach some bits of information. Students don't learn to think when supplied, they learn when they apply what they learn and know. I appreciated the thoughts in the reading because it makes students responsible to solve problems and to believe in themselves. Currently my students are doing report writing and they are invested, connected and genuinely interested in their own learning.
Choice Words Chapter 4 P.37 "Why questions are the essence of inquiry... Why can also be applied to the logic of behavior and decisions as an invitation to review and make conscious a process and its associated values. Asking why children do or say the things they do helps them develop the consciousness and hence ownership of their choices." I know the answer can often be "I don't know" with the retort "What would it be if you did know?" Perhaps there is a conversation stemming from 'why' that can lead to a positive review of actions/feelings and a plan to act differently next time. It's finding the time and patience in a hectic day with so many demands; to find the island of tranquility in the midst of chaos to process through a why scenerio can be challenging, but I feel it can be very rewarding if the outcome helps a student grow.
"The side benefit of the "How did you...?" question is that as children articulate their strategic action, they teach their strategies to other students without the teacher being the authoritative-source-from-which-all-knowledge-comes."
I try to hold my students accountable in this sense. I explain to them that they can be teachers. I truly feel that when a strategy is explained through the voice of a second grader it seems more realistic and useful.
I especially see this during math lessons. My kids are constantly explaining to their peers. I also see the "lights come on". I like to ask what strategies were used while they are reading as well. I enjoy peers getting helpful hints from each other regarding strategies. When you ask, "How did you do that?" it makes them more accountable and it increases their knowledge.
Choice Words P- 36 “’Good’ can be praise, but when it follows “wonderful” to another student, it can be “faint praise.”
I really try to be very specific when I am praising children. I tell them exactly what I am praising them for. There are times, when one child really does deserve a more powerful adjective than another. I try to give the student being praised extra details about why this work is so special compared to some other work that they have done.
P- 39 "If children are not making errors, they are not putting themselves in learning situations."
This quote takes my mind in a couple of different directions. It makes sense that children need to learn to be thinkers and problem solvers. They can't become problem solvers without first facing problems that they need to figure out. As an educator, it is always a balancing game for me to decide how much help to give students. We want them to be successful so badly that it is easy to help them too much. When I work 1:1 with a child, it is easy to give lots of wait time for them to really think about an idea or an answer to a question. In small groups, it is definitely more challenging. Some children seem to only wait so long before they blurt out an idea. I encourage children to give their peers “think time.” In order to keep myself in check, I try to ask myself, "Who is doing the thinking and learning?"
We also want to make sure to provide students with enough of a nudge in the right direction to help them build confidence. Many times, more independence will come with some confidence. Some children rarely begin an assignment without having help from an adult. Some really believe that they can’t function or do things “right” without help. Others want to kick back and take a break while letting someone else do the thinking. It can be hard to tell if a child really doesn’t know something or if they just aren’t trying. I think you can learn a lot about how much work a child can do independently when you let them know they will complete unfinished work at recess. I am proud that I know some of my students well enough to be able to decide when they should be able to do an assignment on their own and when they will need help getting started.
Top Johnson quotes: Explicitness: “the better you know something, the more risk there is of behaving egocentrically in the relation to knowledge. Thus, the greater the gap between teacher and learner, the harder teaching becomes…” (1978 Donaldson as quoted in Choice Words) “the assumption that just being explicit will make better instruction assumes language is simply a delivery system for information, a literal package of knowledge…” (Johnson p. 8) Teaching is a precarious balancing act. Good teachers need to know when it is important to be explicit in conveying information and when to let students strive to figure things out. According to Johnson, this gives children agency: the rush of gestalt that is empowering and leads children to more internal rewards. Johnson warns us that there is a big difference between giving children just enough important knowledge and vocabulary to whet their innate curiosity, spurring them on to self -discovery; and over instructing them to learn what to know and how to do it. The latter robs the child of that splendid “by-Jove-I –think- I’ve –got –it moment.” A good teacher can pinpoint a child’s general learning zone (ZPD) and carefully lead a student to become a more adventurous learner. Speech is Action: “A teacher naming a child “class poet” , inviting her to wear that mantel, can also make it so.” (page 9) Thank you Peter Johnson for reminding us how powerful a teacher’s words can be. Teachers know that the right phrasing at just the right moment from one who cares could transform a reticent learner, igniting a spark that could change a life or, at least put it on a better path. It is a darker period for educators, we feel over worked and underappreciated. It helps that some still defend us and know we so often affect the lives of our children in a myriad of positive ways. I believe that children are all born to be poets, writers, artists…But it is up to the adults whom they love and look up to, it is up to us to honor them with the title.
If we have learned anything from Vygotsky (1978), it is that "children grow into the intellectual life around them". That intellectual life is fundmentally social, and language has a special place in it....To me, the most humbling part of observing accomplished teachers is seeing the subtle ways in which they build emotionally and relationally healthy learning communities- intellectual environments that produce not mere techinical competence, but caring, secure, actively literate human beings.
I know I strive for this in my classroom. I want my children to be kind hearted, civic minded thinkers who question the good and the bad of the world around them. Literacy is looking someone in the eye, repsecting disagreements and having passion about things that interest you. I teach my chidlren that reading will take them to new places and will open doors for them that they can't possibly imagine at seven and eight years old. I teach them that success is about effort, caring and being the best they can be. Being a literate person is far more than how well you read the words on a page. I want my students to think like scientists, historians, mathmaticians, poets and the like when they select their next book to read. I encourage my students to have a critical eye for the world around them and help them make connections between what they read, hear and see and the many things they know. As curious learners, we need to embrace a child's desire to experience the world, relish in it't beauty and reach beyond the limits of what they know. We need to teach children that through their reading and writing they can embrace social justice, see new parts of the world and be good citizens.
"When a teacher waits for a child to figure something out or self-correct, it conveys the message that she expects the child to be able to accomplish it. Failure to wait conveys the opposite message." (Choice Words,p. 56) The last time Stephanie Spadorcia was at Hilltop, she and I had a conversation about this. She has noticed that across classrooms where she has observed (not just at Hilltop), 'waiting' is really difficult for teachers to do. We don't want kids to 'struggle' - our immediate response tends to be to want to jump in and 'rescue' the child who is having a hard time coming up with an answer. But I think Peter Johnston is absolutely right about the message that that conveys. My Reading Recovery training has taught me to wait when a child pauses - I can learn a lot about a child by how he or she approaches difficulty. But, even though I know how important this is and even working one-on-one with a child, there are times when I am so aware of time constraints that I jump in when I shouldn't. Add more students to the equation, with the same time constraints and the concern that the other children will be impatient or make the child we are waiting for feel bad and it's even harder for me to wait. This is something I really need to work on.
(continued) One day, a while back, when I was coming into Jodie's class, I was able to watch the end of a lesson that Tomasen was doing with the children. She asked one particular little girl what she was wondering. This little girl is very quiet and rarely volunteers to answer a question for the whole class. It seemed like we waited forever for her to finally answer. Some of the other children tried to tell Tomasen that this little girl was very shy - they were coming to her 'rescue', as well. But the children were very patient and quiet and Tomasen let this child know that her answer was worth waiting for. It was wonderful to watch.
Choice Words Ch 4
ReplyDeletep.31
The "inverse of agency" is "victimicity".
I have been very concerned over a boy, J, who transferred in this year. This paragraph describes the academic and emotional behavior that we see in the classroom. His posture alone
would reveal him to you.
Later on in the chapter, on p.40
"Children who doubt their competency set low goals and choose easy tasks, and they plan poorly"...I felt he was being described again.
It is a struggle daily, in spite of many wonderful supports like Title I and Bridges, to combat his low self esteem and frequent lack of interest.
That paragraph extends to p. 41 and conversely describes "children who hold a strong belief in their own agency." Many of you know our girls, B and E, who have been at HT since 1st grade and who, in spite of significant disabilities probably have more of a sense of agency than any 2 children I have ever met. Thier work ethic is beyone compare. They are tireless, proud, and determined. (They also have moms who present the same way.) So much of their success in Room 6 this year is due to their own emotional strength, rather than any teaching or strategy.
Ted here!
ReplyDelete" we often encounter classrooms in which children are bing taught strategies yet are not being strategic." This quote made me think of the article sent out recently. Students are being given information because someone or an expert tells us we need to teach some bits of information. Students don't learn to think when supplied, they learn when they apply what they learn and know. I appreciated the thoughts in the reading because it makes students responsible to solve problems and to believe in themselves. Currently my students are doing report writing and they are invested, connected and genuinely interested in their own learning.
Choice Words
ReplyDeleteChapter 4
P.37
"Why questions are the essence of inquiry... Why can also be applied to the logic of behavior and decisions as an invitation to review and make conscious a process and its associated values. Asking why children do or say the things they do helps them develop the consciousness and hence ownership of their choices." I know the answer can often be "I don't know" with the retort "What would it be if you did know?" Perhaps there is a conversation stemming from 'why' that can lead to a positive review of actions/feelings and a plan to act differently next time. It's finding the time and patience in a hectic day with so many demands; to find the island of tranquility in the midst of chaos to process through a why scenerio can be challenging, but I feel it can be very rewarding if the outcome helps a student grow.
Choice Words
ReplyDeleteChapter 4
p. 32
"The side benefit of the "How did you...?" question is that as children articulate their strategic action, they teach their strategies to other students without the teacher being the authoritative-source-from-which-all-knowledge-comes."
I try to hold my students accountable in this sense. I explain to them that they can be teachers. I truly feel that when a strategy is explained through the voice of a second grader it seems more realistic and useful.
I especially see this during math lessons. My kids are constantly explaining to their peers. I also see the "lights come on". I like to ask what strategies were used while they are reading as well. I enjoy peers getting helpful hints from each other regarding strategies. When you ask, "How did you do that?" it makes them more accountable and it increases their knowledge.
Choice Words
ReplyDeleteP- 36 “’Good’ can be praise, but when it follows “wonderful” to another student, it can be “faint praise.”
I really try to be very specific when I am praising children. I tell them exactly what I am praising them for. There are times, when one child really does deserve a more powerful adjective than another. I try to give the student being praised extra details about why this work is so special compared to some other work that they have done.
P- 39 "If children are not making errors, they are not putting themselves in learning situations."
This quote takes my mind in a couple of different directions. It makes sense that children need to learn to be thinkers and problem solvers. They can't become problem solvers without first facing problems that they need to figure out. As an educator, it is always a balancing game for me to decide how much help to give students. We want them to be successful so badly that it is easy to help them too much. When I work 1:1 with a child, it is easy to give lots of wait time for them to really think about an idea or an answer to a question. In small groups, it is definitely more challenging. Some children seem to only wait so long before they blurt out an idea. I encourage children to give their peers “think time.” In order to keep myself in check, I try to ask myself, "Who is doing the thinking and learning?"
We also want to make sure to provide students with enough of a nudge in the right direction to help them build confidence. Many times, more independence will come with some confidence. Some children rarely begin an assignment without having help from an adult. Some really believe that they can’t function or do things “right” without help. Others want to kick back and take a break while letting someone else do the thinking. It can be hard to tell if a child really doesn’t know something or if they just aren’t trying. I think you can learn a lot about how much work a child can do independently when you let them know they will complete unfinished work at recess. I am proud that I know some of my students well enough to be able to decide when they should be able to do an assignment on their own and when they will need help getting started.
Top Johnson quotes:
ReplyDeleteExplicitness: “the better you know something, the more risk there is of behaving egocentrically in the relation to knowledge. Thus, the greater the gap between teacher and learner, the harder teaching becomes…” (1978 Donaldson as quoted in Choice Words)
“the assumption that just being explicit will make better instruction assumes language is simply a delivery system for information, a literal package of knowledge…” (Johnson p. 8)
Teaching is a precarious balancing act. Good teachers need to know when it is important to be explicit in conveying information and when to let students strive to figure things out. According to Johnson, this gives children agency: the rush of gestalt that is empowering and leads children to more internal rewards. Johnson warns us that there is a big difference between giving children just enough important knowledge and vocabulary to whet their innate curiosity, spurring them on to self -discovery; and over instructing them to learn what to know and how to do it. The latter robs the child of that splendid “by-Jove-I –think- I’ve –got –it moment.” A good teacher can pinpoint a child’s general learning zone (ZPD) and carefully lead a student to become a more adventurous learner.
Speech is Action: “A teacher naming a child “class poet” , inviting her to wear that mantel, can also make it so.” (page 9)
Thank you Peter Johnson for reminding us how powerful a teacher’s words can be. Teachers know that the right phrasing at just the right moment from one who cares could transform a reticent learner, igniting a spark that could change a life or, at least put it on a better path. It is a darker period for educators, we feel over worked and underappreciated. It helps that some still defend us and know we so often affect the lives of our children in a myriad of positive ways.
I believe that children are all born to be poets, writers, artists…But it is up to the adults whom they love and look up to, it is up to us to honor them with the title.
My favorite quote from the text...
ReplyDeletepg 2
If we have learned anything from Vygotsky (1978), it is that "children grow into the intellectual life around them". That intellectual life is fundmentally social, and language has a special place in it....To me, the most humbling part of observing accomplished teachers is seeing the subtle ways in which they build emotionally and relationally healthy learning communities- intellectual environments that produce not mere techinical competence, but caring, secure, actively literate human beings.
I know I strive for this in my classroom. I want my children to be kind hearted, civic minded thinkers who question the good and the bad of the world around them. Literacy is looking someone in the eye, repsecting disagreements and having passion about things that interest you. I teach my chidlren that reading will take them to new places and will open doors for them that they can't possibly imagine at seven and eight years old. I teach them that success is about effort, caring and being the best they can be. Being a literate person is far more than how well you read the words on a page. I want my students to think like scientists, historians, mathmaticians, poets and the like when they select their next book to read. I encourage my students to have a critical eye for the world around them and help them make connections between what they read, hear and see and the many things they know. As curious learners, we need to embrace a child's desire to experience the world, relish in it't beauty and reach beyond the limits of what they know. We need to teach children that through their reading and writing they can embrace social justice, see new parts of the world and be good citizens.
"When a teacher waits for a child to figure something out or self-correct, it conveys the message that she expects the child to be able to accomplish it. Failure to wait conveys the opposite message." (Choice Words,p. 56)
ReplyDeleteThe last time Stephanie Spadorcia was at Hilltop, she and I had a conversation about this. She has noticed that across classrooms where she has observed (not just at Hilltop), 'waiting' is really difficult for teachers to do. We don't want kids to 'struggle' - our immediate response tends to be to want to jump in and 'rescue' the child who is having a hard time coming up with an answer. But I think Peter Johnston is absolutely right about the message that that conveys.
My Reading Recovery training has taught me to wait when a child pauses - I can learn a lot about a child by how he or she approaches difficulty. But, even though I know how important this is and even working one-on-one with a child, there are times when I am so aware of time constraints that I jump in when I shouldn't. Add more students to the equation, with the same time constraints and the concern that the other children will be impatient or make the child we are waiting for feel bad and it's even harder for me to wait. This is something I really need to work on.
(continued)
ReplyDeleteOne day, a while back, when I was coming into Jodie's class, I was able to watch the end of a lesson that Tomasen was doing with the children. She asked one particular little girl what she was wondering. This little girl is very quiet and rarely volunteers to answer a question for the whole class. It seemed like we waited forever for her to finally answer. Some of the other children tried to tell Tomasen that this little girl was very shy - they were coming to her 'rescue', as well. But the children were very patient and quiet and Tomasen let this child know that her answer was worth waiting for. It was wonderful to watch.