Blog Entry Week Six
Description
This
week in EDAT 6114 the reading surrounded the ideas of intentional groupings,
differentiation, and technology in the classroom. Teaching is about more than
designing a great lesson plan. A teacher needs to think about the individual
students in their classroom and take their strengths and struggles into account
when deciding on grouping students and what activities to use. The same lesson
in two classrooms should look completely different, because no two classroom
makeups are the same. A great teacher will use strategies and tools to make a
lesson accessible to every student in the room.
Analysis
Slavin
begins the chapter by describing the QAIT model created by John Carroll in
order to ensure instruction would be have the proper quality, appropriateness,
incentives, and time allowed for learning (Slavin, 2018, p. 214). Each of these
four elements is said to be necessary in order to create effective instruction.
When a lesson is high quality, “the information presented makes sense to
students, interests them, and is easy to remember and apply” (Slavin, 2018, p.
215). There are things such as intentional grouping, technology, and activating
background knowledge that can add to the quality of instruction. The content
also needs to be appropriate for the students in the classroom, which is
difficult considering our students enter the classroom at all different levels.
Reaching appropriateness will involve differentiation and adaptation. Some ways
to improve appropriateness include frequent questioning, careful ability
grouping, and remediation for the students who are struggling (Slavin, 2018).
The incentive portion of QAIT refers to the motivation students have and the
way the teacher creates that motivation to learn. If information is not
naturally interesting, which it can be, the teacher may have to find ways to
make it interesting for their students. They may connect lessons to interesting
topics, offering feedback and praise, or use of grades, certificates, games, or
prizes in order to increase the level of motivation (Slavin, 2018). The final
component is time. Time is measured in allocated time and engaged time.
Allocated time is the amount of time you allow for a lesson and plan to have,
while engaged time is the amount of time students are engaged in the lesson.
Multiple things can affect the time used for a lesson, both negatively and
positively. Ideally, well-organized and well-managed lessons will leave the
teacher with plenty of time to teach what they need to and allow students to
grasp the concept.
Slavin
also discusses grouping in this chapter and how teachers can use grouping to
differentiate for students’ needs. The first type of grouping,, which is found
to be ineffective, is between-class ability grouping. This form of grouping
separates students into classes by ability where one class would have all high
achievers and another class would have all the low achieving students. While
this has shown benefits for high-achievers, there are huge downfalls for the students
stuck in the low-achieving group. This eliminates exposure to positive role
models and the thought processes of students who are higher achieving. This
type of grouping also creates a stigma that surrounds the students in the low
achieving class, which decreases their self-esteem and creates a negative
relationship with school and learning. Regrouping is another grouping strategy
where students are grouped based on their achievement in specific classes such
as reading or math. This has shown positive effects because students are still
exposed to a mixed ability environment. Within-class ability grouping is one of
the most popular forms of grouping within elementary schools. This is where
students are placed into groups within their classroom for specific times of
the day and work in small groups with students at the same level as them. While
this type of grouping is used often, there are a few things that need to be
done in order to ensure the success of this model. The teacher needs to be sure
that they do not have too many groups to avoid loss of instructional time
during transitions, and maximized direct instruction time. This type of
grouping also does not often have the same type of obvious stigmas as other
types of grouping does.
Grouping
is a form of differentiation, just as peer tutoring, teacher tutoring, and
intervention are. Another way that teachers supplement instruction is by using
technology. Technology should not be used in place of lessons, but rather to
add to the lessons and give students more of a takeaway. Some forms of
technology used are tablets, computers, and interactive whiteboards. As long as
teachers set limits and teach online safety, their students can benefit from
the use of technology.
Reflection
This
chapter was one of the ones that I connected most with. The components of QAIT
are all essential for creating a successful lesson. I believe that o a lot of
creating an effective lesson is one that is connected to the students’ lives
and is interesting for them. The teacher must be sure that they are meeting all
of the students’ needs and doing what is best for every one of them, not just
the high or low achievers in the room. It’s also really important to keep time
in mind. I work with ELL’s, and time is a huge factor. It’s important to
provide an appropriate amount of wait time, while also making sure that you
leave yourself with enough time to teach the concept. Reaching all of your
students is difficult when they are not all the same level. I use grouping
often in my room, but usually I stick to within-class ability grouping. We use
the workshop model in math, reading, and writing. As a result, I do a lot of
small group work with students at the same level. I usually have three or four
groups depending on the subject. I don’t always meet with the groups every day,
but I feel like my students really benefitted from this form of teaching last
year. My students who were less likely to volunteer in whole group really
opened up in small group, and seemed to make better connections with peers at
the same level. The students also still got mixed-ability exposure because they
stayed in my classroom all day and we did mini-lessons as a whole group. I
think that it’s really important to consider the different types of groupings
and what they do for the students. We also have to consider that some students
may not follow the “norm” when it comes to what is helpful or not.
Knowing
that all students are different leads us to the necessity of differentiation. I
love using technology in my classroom to supplement for my students and myself.
I have a class website where my students are able to access all of the links
and resources we use in class. For math workshop, I have a technology rotation
where students play games and use online resources to better learn the
material. My students often make connection more quickly when using technology
and really enjoy learning material through using it. They also are able to
receive supplemental practice through videos, quizzes, and activities I can design
specifically for leveled groups. Technology is one of my favorite tools to use,
and one of my students’ favorites as well. The key to effective lessons is
engaging your students and the ability to get them to buy in. As long as they
are engaged and committed to their learning, they will grow.
Reference
Slavin, R. E. (2018). Educational psychology:
Theory and practice (12th ed.). Boston,
MA: Pearson Education.
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