In a Title 1 Public school,
students enter the classroom at drastically different academic levels.
Particularly for the 10th graders I work with, our classrooms hold
exceptional learners and many special education students, ELL students, and
students who are grade levels behind. Not only that, but their English class
the previous year lacked a substantial amount of rigor. While observing my mentor
teacher, I noticed many ways that he required high standards for learning. I
also observed how students quickly adjusted to his expectations; however,
sometimes they lacked the endurance to be able to fulfill these expectations effectively.
SPU’s program standard 2 explains
that a teacher can use well known and researched methods to support student
learning needs. This includes using high level questions, engaging activities,
and then reflecting on teaching to adjust to further meet student needs. This
program standard requires that a teacher knows the students in her classroom
well, understands their learning needs, and can adapt methods to effectively
support student growth in the subject area. After noticing that my students
struggled to read independently in class, I proposed an idea to my mentor
teacher. I was reading Teach Like a
Champion, and they supported the technique of fast pacing, and that it was
the key to keep students engaged and develop their stamina while reading. I
wanted to try this method with our students who wanted to rise to our level of
rigor, but struggled to read independently. I planned convergent and divergent
questions mixed with student led and teacher led reading. Students were engaged
in a lesson that allowed them to participate, respond, and reflect on the
reading, constantly changing the method of participation.
For my exit task and student
voice, I asked my students to debrief the process, since none of them had seen
this method in an English classroom. They were asked to rank the lesson from a
1-5, and explain why they thought this method was helpful (or not). I was
surprised to see how many students enjoyed the new style of learning. Not all
students enjoyed this process, but I noticed in the coming weeks that all
students could recall information from the section of the book we read with
high levels of accuracy. Because students were actively participating
throughout the lesson, they demonstrated what they were learning; this helped
me to know that both exceptional students were gaining knowledge and struggling
studentswere learning too. Many of my students asked if we could use a similar
process in the future.
As a teacher, I learned that this
method of instruction, along with others, is important to serve the needs of
all students in the class. If I only use this method of high engagement, my
students will never develop the stamina to read independently. Conversely, if I
only allow my students to read independently, I will never meet the demanding
learning needs of my classroom; many of my special education students and low
level students would fall behind. I also realized that using student voice is
essential to the reflection component of standard 2. Without student feedback,
my reflection on next steps to take would be meaningless.
Implementing this method of
teaching was successful and my students appreciated this change of pace in our
classroom. To continue developing my skills in instruction and program standard
2, I want to include formal student voice assessment at least once a week. This
allows me to intentionally reflect on how my students engage with the learning,
rather than just what their informal and formal assessment shows. Even an
exceptional learner may be bored while effectively participating. Second, I
would like to utilize reading groups. While I would love to use this method of
pacing more often, in our class students read at different paces. If students
implement reading groups, another method of instruction, they may be able to
these activities with the students leading. To effectively implement this
practice, I want to observe a teacher who does it effectively, because my
mentor teacher has not yet implemented this in the classroom.
