A WOW moment at the end of many minor wow moments.
A reminder that people are "punished be rewards" (Alfie Kohn, 1993). My project looks at the use of rewards to change student behavior. So twentieth century of me. But is it? Curiosity, that most powerful of twenty-first century skills, is what I am hoping to rekindle in the minds of my seventh graders. Can an brief, small reward really motivate curiosity? Can I use social rewards of lining up at the door with their friends to motivate more quality questions? Is hot tea or the chance to create a work of art with their peers using only a large block of wood, a hammer and nails an extrinsic motivator that will motivate or demotivate my students? Daniel Pink points out that the larger the reward, the poorer the performance (Daniel Pink, The Puzzle of Motivation, 2009). Pink points out extrinsic rewards can work short term on mechanistic work; can changing a class culture to one that supports curiosity be seen as mechanistic? Ken Robinson suggests that leadership is about climate control. Is my study misplaced? Am I testing the behavior modification of positive rewards, or am I testing if I can change the climate in my classroom through encouraging more quality questions. My new climate will attempt to create the autonomy that Pink states leads to motivation, while meeting one of Robinson's three principals on which life flourishes: curiosity. Can I create the climate that allows for Robinson's "seeds of possibility" to grow (How to Escape Education's Death Valley, 2013). By encouraging student questions, I can then provide answers or lead them to where they can find answers. This may allow them to build their discipline box of the subject that I teach. They can then synthesize the information and make it their own. Without these first steps, the student cannot use their creative mind to think outside of the box. Gardner states, "you have to have a box before you can go outside of it" (Howard Gardner, Five Minds of the Future, 2007). Finally, I want to create a "culture of learning that thrives on participatory life long learning" (John Seely Brown, A new culture of Learning in a world of Constant Flux, 2010). What if... thinking beyond this semester of work, I motivate with chances for 20% time, or FedEx days in my classroom? Bringing it back to Daniel Pink's challenge, I can find a better motivator- rooted in human nature and based on autonomy, mastery, and purpose!
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I am most interested in how student engagement can increase by teaching about and defining quality questions in the typical classroom. I know and use some inquiry based lessons in my class, but what about the times when my students are not in an inquiry project? What then?
My research question is, "What are the effects of positive behavior treatment on the quantity of quality student generated questions in the middle school classroom?" I have found very little recent research into this topic. Most research is focused on involving the students in inquiry projects and generating questions through these. There is one researcher from the 1990s and early 2000s who does, however focus here. Her research takes place in a country highlighted in the Darling-Hammond book, Singapore. This researcher is Christine Chin. Although Christine Chin's research is focused on the sciences, I find her insights to be applicable in my social studies classroom as well. She has shown how systematic teaching of quality questioning strategies engages students in a deeper level so that their performance is increased. I look forward to reading more of her work while hoping to find similar work with more recent research. According to NAEP, in the 2014 Civics test, white students scored 23 points higher on average than Hispanic students (http://nationsreportcard.gov/hgc_2014/#civics/gaps). According to NAEP, a student score of 178 was “Proficient,” while a score of 134 was “Basic.” In this administration, white students scored 164 while hispanic students scored 141. Research has shown that student questioning is both helpful and a “meaningful learning tool” to enhance the learning process (Ng-Cheong, Joan & Chin, 2009). Unrau and Schlackman have shown that there is also a significant decline in motivation in the middle school classroom (2010). This decline may influence the number of questions that students ask in class. According to Warren Berger, the number of questions that children ask steadily declines as children go through school (2014).
In the 7th grade classroom used for this study, I have seen more and more of my students who seem to be disengaged from the learning process and have stopped asking questions. Although, their test scores from CAASPP are comparatively high, there is a large gap between the scores of the English only students and our ELL and RFEP students. I see this reflected in my classroom with engagement through in-class questions. Students who generally ask more clarifying or greater-depth questions do better than students who do not. Further, this gap in student achievement can be seen in national scores as well. Through this research, I plan to teach effective questioning strategies as well as apply a positive reward to students who ask quality questions. If I can increase the frequency of quality student-generated questions, I may be able to help lessen the score gaps between my white and Hispanic students. How can a video about puppy mills be inspiring?
Oh, I need to know so much more!
Besides researching academic sources, I need data on my class.
Keeping something simple that is not simple...
What can I do to support my students in developing quality questions? I do not mean only quality inquiry questions, which are certainly important as lifelong learners, but in the day to day classes and lessons. Too often many seventh graders settle for being sponges, absorbing information that they are given. I want to help my students become active learners who seek out knowledge, ideas, and, yes, even wisdom. How? Arts-Infused Project-Based Learning: Crafting Beautiful Work... this project based learning project description caught my attention. As I saw the collaboration through a project that ultimately required students to create a 5 minute audience inclusive theater product based in a historical event, I was reminded of the divergent thinking that Ken Robinson described in the RSA video (forward to 7:43). The students were given an open assignment with the expectation that there could be many possible ways to express their learning. Phenomenal! The Minecraft Cell: Biology Meets Game-Based Learning Using Minecraft to teach? Best question is "How can Minecraft teach?" I have said no to minecraft in my home for two years even though my children want to teach me. Maye it's time to see that this game and other games can, if I open my mind, be learning tools! Flexible Classrooms: Providing the Learning Environment That Kids Need What a great idea to help create the best learning environment! I am already moving towards this with standing table spaces and counters to sit on, but I now see that I can push this so much further! I know that student engagement can be so much more. When I first saw this I was skeptical of how it could work for 7th grade, then I saw Justin at 3:02. I am hooked! Students need to be allowed to create, experiment, and make mistakes! Students need to communicate beyond their devises. Students need to move, not sit.
All these videos remind me of the joy my students are expressing at coming into the 7th grade. Last year's teachers are very proud of their paperless classrooms. All work is done on Chromebooks. The students hate it, and their former teachers complain of their behavior issues- They wont sit still! Too bad these teachers are using technology just like Mr. Ditto from Teachers (a 1980s movie). My students rejoice at paper and pencils! Using technology just to use it is useless. I sometimes let slip that technology needs to be a tool, but this it wrong. Technology needs to be a stocked tool chest... allowing students and teachers to use the right tool for the right job. Don't forget that every good tool chest still contains paper and pencils. My notes as I watched the videos: Adora Svitak: Teachers should learn from students. Do not overly restrict, have high expectations! Support ideas. Let kids “grow up to blow you away!” Dalton Sherman: believe in the students and they will rise to the occasion. Ken Robinson: learning revolution… know your talent and let it flourish. Education squashes natural talents! Reform is no use, it is “improving a broken model.” We need a revolution. We are too often stopped by the “tyranny of common sense.” Education needs to feed our spirit, our energy. Human teaching needs to be like agriculture, make it so that students can grow! Ken Robinson RSA: ADHA… grows with our system… arts are losing and that leads to aesthetic experiences (fully alive) being lost. Divergent thinking: the capacity for creativity… an ability to see many possible answers, to see lots of possible answers. Most great learning happens in groups! A Vision From Today’s Students: loved the end with the chalkboard forcing the teacher to move… no, “encourages.” After reading, admittedly only four chapters at this point, I find this book to be well written, well documented, and depressing. When the author finally offers ideas to improve, I think the systemic changes are too big for me to tackle. I can and will do what I can for my students and the district that I work with, but a call for state wide or nation wide change seems too colossal for one person (or even the 10 in our cohort).
One main difficulty that I ask you, my reader, to help me with is how the author, in the first three chapters, seems to paint almost all of your school issues on race issues. More often than not, however, when I looked to her studies in the notes, I see that the studies point more to poorer classes rather than on race. I find this offensive. The focus on race seems a red hearing. If instead the focus is on creating a more equitable class system and helping to create a healthy middle class, I would not be as turned off nor as depressed about her findings. In fact, her race baiting does not seem to be supported until she shares the study by Oakes (57) about admittance into honors classes. This study shoes racial inequity, but was conducted in 1992. I question and truly believe based on my California experiences that this does not occur at such a level today, 24 years later! Does it still happen, yes. Does it happen often here in California? I doubt it. The change is happening and will continue. Change must happen, as Darling-Hammond begins to show in Chapter 4, in the states, not the federal government. I look forward to the author's analyses and possible solutions in the coming chapters. I do hope, however, that the racial focus lessens. |
About MeAfter teaching for 20 years, I've decided to pursue a master's degree! Archives
July 2017
CategoriesThis is me working on my classwork... usually at night after the heater is off.... sitting long times makes me cold!
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