laurentgibson.weebly.com€¦ · Web viewStrategy. Description. Effective-ness Rating. Date Implemented. Reflection/Comments. Next Steps. 1. Right is Right. Set and defend a high

Gibson, Lauren Lemov Strategies

Strategy Description Effective-ness Rating

Date Imple-mented

Reflection/Com-ments

Next Steps

1. Right is Right

Set and de-fend a high standard of correctness in your class-room.

+Effective

September 11th, 2014

I used this method in my second lesson plan. I asked the students how they thought the victims of the September 11th at-tack felt and some replied “sad.” —> Well why were they sad? What made them feel this way? How did you know that? Ask-ing these questions really made the students think at a deeper level and pull on context clues to find their answers.

Implement tech-nique again but with different content.

Right is Right Set and de-fend a high standard of correctness in your class-room.

+Effective


Since first implement-ing this strategy in my second lesson plan of the semester, I have tried to consistently use this technique while teaching. The second time that I at-tempted this strategy, during a mini lesson in mathematics, it went extremely well. My stu-dents now expect and understand this type of questioning and why it is important.

Continue to use this technique through-out all forms of in-struction. Set high expectations for my students and their answering tech-niques.

2. No Opt Out

A sequence that begins with a student unable to an-swer a ques-tion should end up with the student answering that question as often as possible.

+Effective


I used this strategy in my third lesson plan. I asked the small group a ques-tion and one student at-tempted to answer. When she was unsure of the correct answer, I asked if there was another student who could help her out. Once the second student answered correctly, I went back to the original student and made sure that she understood how and why that was the cor-rect answer. She lit up and said “Oh, ya that makes sense!” It helped me confirm that she truly was understanding the material.

Although i felt that this technique was effective, I feel that I need to focus more on reenforcing stu-dent engagement while implementing it; making sure that my first original stu-dent truly does un-derstand why the correct answer is correct.



Date Imple-mented


Next Steps

No Opt Out A sequence that begins with a student unable to an-swer a ques-tion should end up with the student answering that question as often as possible.

-Challenging

October 7th, 2014

Although this strategy was effective the first time that I tried it within the classroom, the second time was a lit-tle more challenging. My student was having an extremely hard time understanding a math concept that we were covering. Although I did try to have another student explain his thinking to her, she was unable to grasp the concept fully. I had to set aside time the next day to reinforce the material and the guidance she needed for true understanding.

Continue imple-menting this tech-nique throughout in-struction. Many times I have caught myself forgetting to go back and make sure my original stu-dent understands the material 100%, especially when rushed with time. Strive in perfecting this strategy.

3. Stretch It The sequence of learning does NOT end with a right answer; reward right answers with follow up questions that extend knowl-edge and test for reliability.

+Effective


I use this strategy as much as possible when teaching, formal and informal lessons. It really helps the stu-dents understand the material and critically think about the con-tent. This is one of my favorite strategies.

Strive to have all students, even stu-dents who tend to be more shy, en-gage in these types of conversations.

Stretch It The sequence of learning does NOT end with a right answer; reward right answers with follow up questions that extend knowl-edge and test for reliability.

+Effective


I absolutely love this strategy. I use it constantly through-out the day, hoping to help students comprehend mate-rial to the fullest. I find that having them explain their ideas in detail, helps them to understand and retain informa-tion much better.

Try to implement more frequently. Although I feel like I use this strategy a lot, I would like to incorporate this type of question-ing as much as possible.



Date Imple-mented


Next Steps

4. Format Matters

It’s not just what students say that mat-ters but how they commu-nicate it. To succeed, stu-dents must take their knowledge and express it in the lan-guage of op-portunity.

-Challenging

September 4th, 2014

I first implemented this strategy during a small group activity. I ex-plained to my students the importance of us-ing complete sen-tences while answer-ing questions and communicating to my-self and their peers. Al-though I feel like stu-dents were trying, they were having trouble re-membering to answer with the correct format. This was extremely new to them and I think they just need more time to adjust.

Try incorporating during whole class instruction. I think that it is extremely important for all of my students to be aware of and under-stand how to effec-tively communicate with each other, as well as their teach-ers,

Format Mat-ters

It’s not just what students say that mat-ters but how they commu-nicate it. To succeed, stu-dents must take their knowledge and express it in the lan-guage of op-portunity.

+Effective

October 7th, 2014

I use this strategy as much as possible, es-pecially during bell work corrections. It helps to prepare stu-dents for success be-cause it requires them to constantly use com-plete sentences and correct grammar. Whether it is verbally or written, I now re-quire my students to answer in complete sentences or reword their answer so that we are able to understand the full meaning of what they are saying. I think that this strategy is extremely effective and my students are fi-nally starting to get the hang of it.

Strive to make this type of communi-cation the expec-tation. I feel that my students are truly starting to get the hang of this concept, but still need a little more guidance along the way.



Date Imple-mented


Next Steps

5. Double Plan

It's important to plan for what students will be doing during each phase of your lesson as it is to plan for what you’ll be doing and saying.

-Challenging

October 28th, 2014

I used this strategy in my 4th lesson plan. I have been struggling with tim-ing so I felt that I needed to be more precise and detailed in my planning. I came across this strategy and thought it would be perfect to help with this challenge. I knew that I would be reviewing the different bones of the skeletal system with the students and decided that students should be taking notes in their science journals during this time, just using keywords. Al-though it was a great idea, the students strug-gled with it. I was un-aware that many of them had a hard time taking their own notes on blank paper and many could not keep up. It ended up holding up the lesson even more than normal, causing me to go over by 10 minutes.

Next time I need to be careful about what type of activity aIplan for them to participate in while “double planning.”

Double Plan It's important to plan for what students will be doing during each phase of your lesson as it is to plan for what you’ll be doing and saying.

+Effective

October 30th, 2014

This strategy was much more effective the second time that I tried it. It was ex-tremely beneficial for me as a teacher to have struggled with it the first time because it helped me to truly un-derstand the strategy better. The second time I double planned, I took many different aspects of planning into consideration and it went much more smoothly. Such a great strategy when imple-mented correctly.

Continue to use this strategy throughout planning. Although it is a little more time consuming, it truly helps with the flow of the lesson and the transition times between activities.



Date Imple-mented


Next Steps

6. Do Now A short activity that you have written on the board or is wait-ing on their desks before students enter the room. This means that stu-dents are hard at work even before you have fully en-tered the room. They are pro-ductive during every minute and ready for instruction as soon as you start.

-Challenging

September 2nd, 2014

This was a very chal-lenging activity for me. I thought that this strat-egy would be ex-tremely beneficial be-cause my students tend to have a hard time getting started in the mornings and are easily distracted. Al-though I think the idea is great, it didn’t go as well as planned. I had to continually remind students to stay on task and it ended up getting our schedule very off track due to timing and delays.

Continue to guide students in this activity until stu-dents are comfort-able and used to this new routine.

Do Now A short activity that you have written on the board or is wait-ing on their desks before students enter the room. This means that stu-dents are hard at work even before you have fully en-tered the room. They are pro-ductive during every minute and ready for instruction as soon as you start.

+Effective


This strategy went much better this time around. I went over the expectations of this new activity and the appropriate way for students to complete it. We now do “bell work” every morning as the students come in, in-corporating three dif-ferent activities and academic areas (Grammar, writing, and mathematics). The stu-dents are very comfort-able with it and love sharing their ideas and answers at the end of the activity.

Continue to pro-vide students with fun and interesting activities during bell work, making sure they stay en-gaged and inter-ested on the task at all times.



Date Imple-mented


Next Steps

7. Tight Transition

Quick and routine transi-tions that stu-dents can ex-ecute without extensive nar-ration by the teacher.

-Challenging

November 6th, 2014

I have always strug-gled a little when it came to effective and tight transitions. I at-tempted to use this strategy during small group meetings and centers, but found it very challenging. My students lost focus very quickly and started talking with classmates during ro-tation.

Make sure that students know ex-actly what is ex-pected of them throughout transi-tions and what they should be do-ing at all times. Set a standard for appropriate be-havior.

Tight Transi-tion

Quick and routine transi-tions that stu-dents can ex-ecute without extensive nar-ration by the teacher.

+Effective

November 13th, 2014

This strategy went so much better the sec-ond time around. I de-cided to set a 30 sec-ond timer in between each center and dis-play it on the board. Students were re-quired to have all needed materials for their next center ready and available by the time the buzzer went off. This helped stu-dents stay focused and on task between sta-tions.

Continue using time management techniques throughout transi-tions, helping stu-dents stay fo-cused and on task. Tight transi-tions truly help eliminate wasted time and confu-sion.

8. Precise Praise

Differentiate acknowledg-ment and praise, praise (and acknowl-edge) loud; fix soft, praise must be gen-uine.

+Effective

September 2nd, 2014

This has been a strat-egy that I have always used, but never knew there was a title for. I have always believed that praise and positive reinforcement is the most beneficial way to encourage and man-age student behavior.

Strive to differenti-ate praise more, especially when crunched for time.



Date Imple-mented


Next Steps

Precise Praise

Differentiate acknowledg-ment and praise, praise (and acknowl-edge) loud; fix soft, praise must be gen-uine.

+Effective

September 4th, 2014

My current students have been reacting ex-tremely well to positive and direct praise throughout instruction. Even students who had a hard time focus-ing or opening up to me at first, have been showing great im-provement in motiva-tion and focus.

Continue to praise students as much as possible. For every disciplinary comment or action made, make at least 3 positive, praise comments right after.

9. Strong Voice

Economy of language, do not talk over, do not en-gage, square up/stand still, quiet power. Make it a point to show that your words matter. Your voice never com-petes for at-tention.

-Challenging

November 13th, 2014

This technique was very challenging at first. I felt like I was trying to focus so much on my tone of voice, body lan-guage, etc. and it was a little over-whelming. I really need to work on slowing down and lowering the volume of my voice when demanding atten-tion. I feel that this is something that will take some time to perfect.

I realized that I need to follow through more. Be-cause this was my first time attempt-ing this technique, I held back more than I should have. I got ner-vous to stand my ground and a little flustered. I need to work on being more confident in myself and imple-menting these strong voice tech-niques.

Strong Voice Economy of language, do not talk over, do not en-gage, square up/stand still, quiet power.

+Effective

November 25th, 2014

The more practice I get with this strat-egy, the more com-fortable and confi-dent I feel while im-plementing it. Al-though I was ner-vous at first, my stu-dents respond so well with this tech-nique and it allows me to maintain full control of the class-room.

Continue to work towards perfecting this strategy. Be consistent and confident while im-plementing.



Date Imple-mented


Next Steps

10. Do It Again

When stu-dents fail to successfully complete a basic task you’ve shown them how to do, doing it again and do-ing it right, or better, or per-fectly is often the best con-sequence.

+Effective


My mentor teacher used this strategy at the beginning of the school year and I thought it was great. She encouraged my to use it when I felt it was appropriate or useful. Today the students were lining up for lunch and were acting ex-tremely inappropri-ately. I had them go back to their seats and try lining up again, the correct way. The stu-dents were extremely disappointed and cor-rected their behavior quickly the second time around.

Remember to im-plement this strat-egy for a number of various activi-ties, in place of other possible consequences.

Do It Again When stu-dents fail to successfully complete a basic task you’ve shown them how to do, doing it again and do-ing it right, or better, or per-fectly is often the best con-sequence.

+Effective

September 23rd, 2014

I now use this strategy whenever I feel it is necessary. My stu-dents react much bet-ter to doing it again, than they do to a neg-ative consequence that my be given instead. Whether its lining up, turning in their home-work, and gathering materials; redoing sim-ple tasks helps to im-prove their behavior every time.

Continually remind students what is expected of them and help them to strive to complete tasks correctly the first time.



Date Imple-mented


Next Steps

11. Sweat the Details

To reach the highest stan-dards, you must create the per-ception of order in your class-room. Clean up clutter, keep desk rows tidy, make sure shirts are tucked in and hats off, and you will de-crease the like-lihood that you will have to deal with more seri-ous issues be-cause you will decrease your students’ per-ception that those things might be per-missible.

-Challenging

November 25th, 2014

I am a very organized person and truly like everything to be neat and in order. Although I personally feel strongly about “sweat-ing the details,” it is hard to maintain when it is not your own classroom. This is an area that my mentor teacher doesn’t en-force as much as I would like to, so my students aren't used to abiding by it. I tried to explain the importance of maintaining a clutter free classroom but my students went back to their normals habits very quickly.

Discuss these concerns and ideas with my mentor teacher and see if she would be open to reinforcing these standards with the students as well.

Sweat the Details

To reach the highest stan-dards, you must create the per-ception of order in your class-room. Clean up clutter, keep desk rows tidy, make sure shirts are tucked in and hats off, and you will de-crease the like-lihood that you will have to deal with more seri-ous issues be-cause you will decrease your students’ per-ception that those things might be per-missible.

+Effective

November 30th, 2014

With the help of my mentor teacher, we are now continually requiring students to help maintain the classroom and meet a higher standard. Although the stu-dents still have some improvements to make, they are gradually getting much better at tak-ing care of their sup-plies, materials, and work areas.

Continue to en-force these stan-dards and make them the new ex-pectation of our classroom.



Date Imple-mented


Next Steps

12. Emotion Constancy

Earn students’ trust in part by having them know you are always under control. Tread cautiously around much of the lan-guage that other teachers use as a habit, thinking carefully about what they imply the goal of stu-dent decisions to be.

+Effective


This is something that I have always known and understood, but never knew was an ac-tually strategy. Today was the first day that I consciously paid atten-tion to my emotions and what they might be portraying to my students. I felt like be-cause I was more aware of my behavior and attitude, the better I reacted to specific sit-uations. It was a really great lesson for me as a teacher and my abil-ity to control my emo-tions and body lan-guage.

Continue to moni-tor and be aware of the way I con-duct myself, my emotions, and my responses within the classroom, ad-justing where needed.

Emotion Con-stancy

Earn students’ trust in part by having them know you are always under control. Tread cautiously around much of the lan-guage that other teachers use as a habit, thinking carefully about what they imply the goal of stu-dent decisions to be.

+Effective

September 23rd, 2014

This strategy is ex-tremely beneficial and is absolutely ef-fecting my teaching style in a positive way. The more I consciously monitor my emotions, body language, and re-sponses, the more I can see me growing more comfortable and confident in the classroom. I can also feel my stu-dents feeling more comfortable with me and my teaching style as well.

Strive to perfect this strategy and consistently moni-tor myself and my behavior, even when in a time crunch or over-whelming situa-tion.



Date Imple-mented


Next Steps

13. Normal-ize Error

Avoid chas-tening wrong answers and do not make excuses for students who get answers wrong. Get-ting it wrong and then get-ting it right is one of the fun-damental pro-cesses for schooling. Re-spond to both parts of this sequence, the wrong and the right, as com-pletely nor-mal.

+Effective

November 13th, 2014

I was a little nervous implementing this strategy because I wasn’t quite sure how my students would respond or if I would be able to de-scribe it accurately and effectively. Thankfully, my stu-dents seemed re-lieved once I started explaining how nor-mal it was to answer questions incor-rectly. I explained that it was actually a very important part of learning and will help them to grow.

Students were a little timid in an-swering directly after having this discussion. I want to continue to en-courage students to stay involved and engaged, speaking up when they feel it is ap-propriate.

Normalize Er-ror

Avoid chasten-ing wrong an-swers and do not make ex-cuses for stu-dents who get answers wrong. Getting it wrong and then get-ting it right is one of the fun-damental pro-cesses for schooling. Re-spond to both parts of this se-quence, the wrong and the right, as com-pletely normal.

+Effective

November 25th, 2014

I have noticed more students volunteer-ing and speaking up since the day I im-plemented this strat-egy. I feel that be-cause they now know that it is okay to answer incorrectly and that it is a natu-ral part of the learn-ing process, they feel more comfort-able responding, I love this strategy and the confidence that it gives to my students.

Continue to en-courage students to speak up, even when they aren’t sure of an answer. This is one of the best ways to learn!



Date Imple-mented


Next Steps

14. Seat Sig-nals

A set of sig-nals for com-mon needs, especially those that re-quire or allow students to get out of their seats.

-Challenging

September 2nd, 2014

My mentor teacher has a number of dif-ferent signals that she uses throughout the day for common needs and daily pro-cedures. Unfortu-nately, I had a hard time remembering all of them and re-sponding to them in the same way my teacher does. The students and I were getting confused and had to verbalize many of the re-quests, which de-feated the entire purpose of the strat-egy.

Work on getting all signals down cor-rectly to maintain consistency within the classroom.

Seat Signals A set of sig-nals for com-mon needs, especially those that re-quire or allow students to get out of their seats.

+Effective

September 4th, 2014

After studying all of the varied hand sig-nals, I attempted this strategy with my stu-dents again. It went so much better this time around. The students were very respectful, signaled their requests, and I silently responded with a head nod or hand gesture. It caused very little disturbance to our lesson and main-tained the consis-tency that my stu-dents need. Ex-tremely effective.

Continue working on these seat sig-nals and remem-ber to in force them for all com-mon needs and procedures. I want students to know that they are re-quired, especially during whole class instruction.



Date Imple-mented


Next Steps

15. Slant Five key be-haviors that maximize stu-dents’ ability to pay atten-tion. Sit up, Listen, Ask and answer questions, Nod your head, Track the speaker. Teachers re-mind students to be attentive and ready learners by urging them simply and quickly to SLANT.

-Challenging

October 30th, 2014

I was very interested to see how this strat-egy would work within the class-room. Although I think that it has po-tential, my students struggled with it. I think that it may have just been a lot of new information for them and confus-ing to take in on the first day. I think with practice it could be-come extremely beneficial for my stu-dents and their learning environ-ment.

Write SLANT on the board, with the letter definitions following, every day to remind stu-dents of this new strategy.

Slant Five key be-haviors that maximize stu-dents’ ability to pay atten-tion. Sit up, Listen, Ask and answer questions, Nod your head, Track the speaker. Teachers re-mind students to be attentive and ready learners by urging them simply and quickly to SLANT.

+Effective

November 4th, 2104

This strategy was much more effective the second time around. Although it is something that I think will take time to really make a huge difference, it is defi-nitely achievable. Anytime that stu-dents were disen-gaged throughout in-struction, I would simply point to the word SLANT on the board, and I would instantly see all of their posture im-prove. My mentor teacher also calls this “power position.”

Continue writing SLANT on the board daily, refer-ring to it through-out the day when students need to be reminded of the proper way to stay engaged and focused.













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laurentgibson.weebly.com€¦ · Web viewStrategy. Description. Effective-ness Rating. Date Implemented. Reflection/Comments. Next Steps. 1. Right is Right. Set and defend a high