Sunday, August 20, 2017
Blog Post #4
Joe Ruhl, in his TED talk, “Teaching Methods for Inspiring Students of the Future” states that authentic learning happens when students are engaged in the 5 Cs. What do each of the 5 Cs look like in your classroom with your students? (If one is not currently present in your classroom, describe how you could change what you do to be able to see that C in action.)
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Choice- I give my students the choice to sit where they want in the classroom. It is up to them to keep these seats. If they misbehave twice/ can't handle the seats they chose, I assign seats. I also do the same when it comes to a group project.
ReplyDeleteCollaboration- I use the kagan 4 person strategy. There is a card that goes in the middle of the groups and assigns each person a number (1,2,3,4). They collaborate with all students in their group at some point.
Communication- I do open communication in my health classroom. This allows students to become more comfortable with our classroom setting.
Critical Thinking- I do this a lot in my Do Nows when it comes to health class. Usually it is a situational question. For example " what would you do if you saw someone upset in school".
Creativity- Students show their creativity when it comes to our suicide prevention posters. I allow almost anything to be on their posters (as long as it relates to the topic/ is appropriate.) Creativity is worth 25 points for this project which is a lot!
Choice: My students are grouped into pods for small group, but I allow the students to decide where they want to sit if they are at the rug or during breakfast/lunch.
ReplyDeleteCollaboration: During my small group, we have centers going on. The students have 4 stations they get to work at with their pod. It is so fun to watch and listen while they collaborate together.
Communication: Every morning, I greet the students at the door with a hug. The students and I communicate in the morning about how they are feeling.
Critical Thinking: I typically have the students do some critical thinking questions to start off the day just to get their brains thinking. I have some questions up on the board that ask, "If a friend is crying, what can you do to help them?" They also ask a lot of would you rather questions. I try to keep them preschool friendly.
Creativity: In our classroom, creativity is the number one thing. I always let the students work be their own work. The students have free reign to art supplies and paper. All the crafts I plan out, typically never look how mine do, but that is how it should be. The student's work is their own creativity, and it should never be fixed to look perfect.
1. Choice
ReplyDeleteThis is a category I could brainstorm more. As an elementary music teacher, I often do not have time to do things outside of my set lesson. I also have to tame the chaos that happens as they transition from room to room. One thing I do, is offer choices at the end of class when we have extra time. I let the students vote on game ideas or on a song to sing.
2. Collaboration
I have the students siting on assigned sit spots in my room. They are colored and numbered. I will often group them in different ways based on their number, color, or pick a partner. We are constantly collaborating.
3. Communication
I try to be very attentive to my students inside and outside of the class. I have recess duty and that is a great time to chat about personal things. I always try to ask them about their hobbies and events that they have coming up. I often run into kids outside of the classroom and always greet them warmly. This helps the students feel more comfortable with me and more open to learn when we are in class.
4. Critical Thinking
I have students talk to their partner or pair share, so together they can help each other understand what I am teaching. I also ask open ended question that make them think, especially when we listen to music. We think about what may have inspired the artist to write the music in a certain way or style.
5. Creativity
Music is all about creativity. We love to improvise, make our own songs, and add elements to make the music more interesting.
Choice - In my gifted classroom, there is a lot of opportunities for the students to choose what they want to learn. We will sit down and discuss what we could study next.
ReplyDeleteCollaboration - My students have many opportunities to work together ( this is an important skill to reinforce for gifted kids)
Communication - Because my gifted classes are small, my students find it easy to communicate with me and with each other.
Critical Thinking - The gifted classroom is all about critical thinking and higher order thinking. They have many chances to problem solve.
Creativity - My students have many ways they can show their creativity.
Trina Merideth's Response:
ReplyDeleteThe 5 "C"s look like this in my classroom -
1. Choice - my freshmen choice novel creative project is ideal for choice. I take students to the library to pick out a novel of their liking and reading level. After completing the novel in the allotted time frame, students get to pick from the "Bingo Board" of creative projects to showcase their novel in hopes that other students will be interested in checking it out and reading it.
2. Collaboration - this is ideal for the "Survivor Challenge" I use for Fahrenheit 451. Students are put in teams of two with 6 challenges that they must collaborate and then present on via a slideshow, Canva or other form of technology. Examples include: 1. pick a new quote for book readers, 2. Write 5 new similes for Montag, Clarisse, Captain Beatty, Faber, and Mildred 3. Create a new "way" to hid books and get them in peoples hands 4. Create a new pair of shoes to promote either a character or the novel 5. Design a new reality tv show for your age group 6. Create a new symbol for the firemen. Students collaborate on each of the challenges and then present to the class.
3. Communication - this ideal for the short "TedTalks": we do in class about each part of the novel. Students are asked why each of the parts are named.
4. Critical Thinking - this is a constant as students are asked to respond to questions from the novel or characters.
5. Creativity - at the end of the novel, students write a literary analysis essay and then create a slideshow featuring those 2 traits with only 3 slides.
Choice - When we do stations, at least one station is a build it station where students get to choose what image they'd like to build (that usually relates to the theme of the month).
ReplyDeleteCollaboration- When doing our library stations, there are a few different stations where students work together to solve problems which call for them to work together, communicate, and problem solve.
Communication-When doing our library stations, there are a few different stations where students work together to solve problems which call for them to work together, communicate, and problem solve.
Critical Thinking-When doing our library stations, there are a few different stations where students work together to solve problems which call for them to work together, communicate, and problem solve.
Creativity- When we do stations, at least one station is a build it station where students get to choose what image they'd like to build (that usually relates to the theme of the month). They can build it any way that they want with the materials provided.
I'd like to do a better job of putting each of these into action in every class. Stations seem to be an obvious choice, but how do I keep them fresh from year to year? Do I have everyone do the current stations I have this year & a whole new set of monthly stations next year & rotate through 3-4(?) sets? Do I have each class do different stations? (Seems exhausting to set up…but, 6th graders need different skills than 1st graders do.)
1. Choice - For several assignments, we give the students 2-3 choices on how to demonstrate the knowledge of the standards. Some deal with writing, art or some combination of the two.
ReplyDelete2. Collaboration - I often pair the students up in unique ways to get the students used to pairing up and working with people. The happens at least weekly and has become a normal part of class. It can be reflective or creative work.
3. Communication - We often have the practice where students are paired and have to come up with an answer that requires team work and justifying answers. This can only be accomplished through communication.
4. Critical Thinking - I often give these pairs open ended questions where they have to come up with an answer. There isn't jut one right answer. They will have to back their answer up through their critical thinking.
5. Creativity - I love letting the students create, especially when it comes to their choice projects. The students have come up many incredible projects over the years when they are able to create especially based on their interests.
Choice - This is an area that I can work on in adding to my class. Since I homeschool I feel that my children do get some choice in what we are studying (special interests of theirs) however for our core curriculum they really don't have a lot of choice. I would like offer them more choices in this area.
ReplyDeleteCollaboration - There are several times when we have done activities where we "phone a friend" to help answer a hard question or to take a survey so we can chart something in math or social studies.
Communication - I feel think communication is super important. I love to reiterate to my children and the students I teach at various co-ops that there is no dumb question. If you don't understand or have a question about anything or just want to chat that I'm here for them.
Critical Thinking - I love challenging my children and students to think critically. I do this by asking/giving them what we call "IQ Builders" challenges or gamify what we are learning about ... example would be spelling words with Bananagrams.
Creativity - I am passionate about creativity and I'm always looking for ways to bring art or some unique fun way of teaching a subject. I think it's fun to get dressed up and act out a scene from our lesson or run a grocery store and go shopping for math class. Hands on activities that can really enhance the lesson we're learning are fun!
Caring - This is easy for me with homeschooling my children. However, I find this to be harder at our co-ops. Especially when we don't meet every week. It's not that I don't care about the students. I definitely do! But I feel like it's harder to get to know them since I see them only once a week or even only once every two weeks. I would like to practice their names at home so when I see them it's not like I'm relearning their names all over again.
In my class of gifted high school students we focus on life skills that they can use after they get out of school.
ReplyDeleteChoice - Two of my older students participate in job shadowing where we setup either a job where they will work and even get paid or they will volunteer at a place each semester. We usually find a new place each semester or if the student really liked a previous job we will let them choose to do that activity again. As for the other two students in my class I let them choose the classes they enjoy doing such as chorus, Physical Education, or Art.
Collaboration - An activities we work on as a group is that we clean the tables in the cafeteria after breakfast, delivering mail in school, In charge of filling the vending machine and counting the money, and the last group activity we work on, which is the one I like the best is that we make door decorations for both nursing homes in our community.
Communication - Communication is a key task in my class for life learning skills. I work with one student to write a letter to his parents. This letter will be about what he had done the days before in school. He will then type it in an e-mail and send it. My other two student is on the lower end of communication scale and one of them even use a device to communicate. We work very hard getting them to talk with other students and teacher.
Critical Thinking - I work very hard with my gifted students on both problem solving and making the right decisions.
Creativity - Creativity is highly use in my classroom, as I mentioned earlier where we made door decorations for nursing homes. Also my class is in charge of the bulletin board outside the kitchen where the breakfast and lunch menus are displayed. As a class we come up with ideas and decorate the board.
Caring - I mention in an earlier blog that my class is associated with a group called Best Buddies where we spend time outside our classroom not only with our class but with other students from school. We do many different activities such as going to the movies, going bowling, going to at least one competition in each sport at our school, and we even have an event where we meet at Pizza Ranch and have a meal and decorate pumpkins for Halloween.
1. Choice - I try to give my students as much autonomy in class as possible. A way my students do this is by completing an assignment that has 6 total questions on it, but they get to pick any 5 of the questions they want to answer. It can even be as simple as letting them pick if they'd rather end class by playing a review game on the computer or an educational board game.
ReplyDelete2. Collaboration - during class discussion, I allow my students to participate in turn-and-talk discussions, where they just turn to the students who are placed around their desks and they have a discussion together. This allows them to hear other points of view and compare ideas.
3. Communication - I try to find the time each day to ask one student in each class something about their personal life. It could be sporting events, musical performances, pets, siblings, etc. This allows me to get to know my students on a deeper level which helps build rapport.
4. Critical Thinking - during our Figurative Language unit, as well as other units, my students complete digital escape rooms. Each slide requires them solve problems to get them to the next room, and eventually break the code to escape.
5. Creativity - My students complete many One Pagers throughout the year. They can complete their One Pagers many different ways. If they're artistic, they can draw pictures. If they're talented writers, they can write poems. As long as they follow a basic rubric, they can essentially complete their One Pager any way they want so they are able to express their individual creativity.
Emily Gulbrandson
ReplyDeleteChoice: I let them choose to do a math game with a partner or by themselves. I also will give the choice between different math games/activities. I could also give a couple choices between English review games.
ReplyDeleteCollaboration: We play math games together. The students work together to diagram sentences. Students collaborate to complete the review games.
Communication: Students read the paper they wrote out loud to the class. They share what concepts they have been working on. Students compare and contrast the different charts we use in class.
Critical Thinking: Students label each part of a sentence with the correct part of speech and also diagram sentences. Students create math problems in order to "knock out" numbers on their number knockout boards.
Creativity: Students create their own sentence depending on which grammar concept we are learning. Students also will draw pictures to go along with vocabulary words. Students write a paper each week.
When I was a special education teacher, a lot of my lessons were tailored to certain goals my students were working on within their individual education plans.
ReplyDelete1. Choice: In a resource room setting, I feel like I gave lots of choices given the circumstances. One example would be while working on writing, I would allow students to choose what they wanted to write about at times. Another example was that I allowed students to have the choice of sitting at their desk or sitting on beanbags during individual worktime as long as they were working (of course taking turns on the beanbags too)! My last example for this category would be that students were given a choice on how they wanted to show their knowledge on a certain topic we learned about whether it be doing a comic strip, creating a presentation, writing a short story, etc. Students love when they are given a choice to feel like they have a say in their education.
2. Collaboration: Every class had different ways to collaborate and discuss. My classes typically were small-group settings, so we had lots of discussions and could talk amongst one another with topics we were learning about. Students also had the opportunity to discuss with one another and be comfortable learning and growing together. This was one thing that I loved about special education and how close my students and I were able to build strong teacher-student connections.
3. Communication: I was very attentive and tried to really get to know all of my students on my caseload as well as students in the middle school. Lots of my students had friends that were not in special education that they would talk about and I would get to know their friends that would come to my classroom which made it fun! I loved building rapport with all of my students and attending activities or performances which I mentioned in another blog.
4. Critical Thinking: Students have to use critical thinking and problem solve in many different ways in the resource room. One example would be during math class, especially word problems. Students would have to break down the problem and figure out what the question is to be able to answer it.
5. Creativity: Like I mentioned in the “Choice” category, I gave students a choice on how they wanted to show their knowledge on a certain topic we learned about whether it be doing a comic strip, creating a presentation, writing a short story, etc. This also shows creativity in whatever option they chose. I found all of my students to be creative, even if some of them didn’t think they were. This goes back to Dave Burgess’ chapter “Ask and Analyze” where some people do not think they are creative and some people are creative. I always used to think I wasn’t, but in time I find that I am creative in many ways which I was able to instill in my students previously too!
I really liked his quote for teachers to be Guides on the Side, rather than a Sage on the Stage! I feel that as I have had teachers or presenters that acted like they knew it all and it was a privelege for me to sit and listen passively. Not very engaging and not very respectful. Here are my five Cs:
ReplyDelete1. Choice - as an art teacher, I provide many opportunities for choice in my lessons. I like to call it "freedom withing structure" as I do believe emerging artists need certian guard rails in place. To me, it isn't good teaching to say, Draw whatever you want! So, Choice in the art classroom may look like a choice of materials or media, or the opportunity to add, edti, enhance a lesson objective.
2. Collaboration - I am working on this area and tend to go in seasons where I do more student collaboration, then a season of more "solo work". Artists are unique in that we like to do things ourselves, but do benefit from collaboriation. One collaboration I do in my drawing class is a small group grid drawing where each peice is done solo, then pair up to compare, then join the others to put together the individual gridi squares to compete a whole.
3. Communication - I give students opportunity to communciate about their work verbally as I do daily desk checks. They also communicate in writing as they complete a reflection on the process. This focus on commucation is helpful when I am asked by the IEP team to tell them strengths and weaknesses in these areas.
4. Critical Thinking - Art, by nature, is a problem to be solved and I try to teach crititcal thinking strategies that coordinate with the lesson. For example, in our watercolor painting lesson we make predicetions what the colors mixed will look like, and then experiement and compare.
5. Creativity - With art, drawing and photography, there are many opportunities to be creative and that is in essence the act of creating something from nothing. We focus on deep thiking in our concept stage and I like to teach students not to settle on their first thought, but to push their brains to think higher and harder to see what can grow from these first ideas. I try to teach discernment beyond just making art, but making (creating ) meaningful art.
Here’s what that looks like in my classroom when teaching about the United States Congress, the two chambers, their interaction with the other branches of government, and how it connects to seniors’ everyday lives and near-future experiences:
ReplyDelete1) Choice – Students decide which policy issues or bills to focus on during lessons, giving them the freedom to explore topics that interest them and connect directly to their lives, such as student loans, taxes, or voting rights. This lets them take ownership of their learning and see how Congress affects their future.
2) Collaboration – Students work in groups to simulate a legislative session, with some acting as Representatives, Senators, or members of the President’s staff. They must negotiate, compromise, and strategize together to pass or block bills, mirroring real Congressional collaboration and interaction with other branches.
3) Communication – Students practice explaining Congressional processes and the roles of the executive and judicial branches clearly to peers. They might debate a mock bill, present arguments, or write short reflections connecting policy decisions to their own lives.
4) Critical Thinking – Students analyze how the House and Senate pass legislation, considering how bills become law and the checks and balances involved. They evaluate why certain bills succeed or fail and predict real-world consequences, like how a law could impact their near-future experiences.
5) Creativity – Students design mock campaigns, public service announcements, or creative presentations about a policy issue that affects their future. They might create infographics or short skits showing how Congress impacts everyday decisions, like healthcare, jobs, or voting rights, making the abstract process tangible.
By framing the U.S. Congress and its interaction with the executive and judicial branches through these 5 Cs, students don’t just memorize facts—they see how government directly affects their lives now and in the near future, and they actively practice the skills they’ll need as informed citizens.
In my ECSE classroom, all of these are present in ways that match my students’ developmental levels:
ReplyDeleteChoice: Students get to make decisions about which activities to explore, what materials to use, or how to participate in a learning center. This supports autonomy and engagement.
Collaboration: Students work together during play, sensory activities, and group projects. They learn to share, take turns, and help one another.
Communication: I encourage students to use words, gestures, or assistive communication devices to express their needs, ideas, and feelings. Circle time, storytelling, and peer interactions support this skill daily.
Critical Thinking: Students practice problem-solving when navigating obstacles in dramatic play, building activities, or hands-on experiments. I scaffold tasks so they can try multiple strategies and learn from trial and error.
Creativity: Students are encouraged to explore art, music, imaginative play, and open-ended activities where they can express themselves uniquely. For example, in the art area, they choose colors and materials to create pieces that reflect their ideas or experiences
Choice- During several projects throughout the year, I give students the choice of how to complete their project. For example, during the Ancient Egypt unit, while learning about religion/mythology, I have students get into groups and they have to research one of the Egyptian deities. I give them the choice of choosing which one to research and how they want to complete their project.
ReplyDeleteCollaboration- I have students work together often, from projects to daily assignments.
Communication- I encourage my students to learn how to properly communicate with their classmates while also encouraging them to ask any and all questions that they have.
Critical Thinking- While teaching history, I often have my students try to think of how the current topic impacts their life today.
Creativity- I need to work on this piece, as I often don't encourage their creative side as much. I will work to give them more artistic options or even more opportunities to recreate a story from the past.
In my preschool classroom, the 5 Cs are present throughout the day.
ReplyDelete1) Choice- It’s important to give preschoolers choices to help them feel important and independent. They get to choose where they sit, what they play with at free play, and what they use to do their work. If we do art projects, I give them choices of colors for paint, paper, etc…I give the leader choices to pick the group activity, song, and dance we do.
2) Collaboration- students get to collaborate in their center groups. Many times at large group I will have them turn to a partner to discuss the question. We also will sometimes break up into groups to work on a project.
3)Communication- the students are constantly communicating with each other and with me. Language skills are really building at this age so I encourage lots of talking during large group and using their words when communicating with each other.
4) Critical Thinking- I ask many higher order thinking questions during our story and discussion time. We talk about how the characters might be feeling or to put themselves into situations like that.
5) Creativity- I encourage creativity in the students’ artwork and in their play. We have specials rooms that we can bring our students to where they can really explore and express themselves- art, music & movement, dramatic play, and fine motor. I include sensory boxes in my centers as well and it’s fun to see their imaginations and creativity blossom.
1) Choice: I feel giving students choice whenever possible is vital to creating a classroom climate where students feel respected, seen, heard, and that they belong and are appreciated. It says to them that we trust them to make good choices and fosters confidence in their decision making skills. At the start of each new month, students choose where they will sit and problem solve when more than one chooses the same seat. Students are given a list of activities to choose from while I do fluency checks twice per week. They choose weekly partners for their partner reading and Study Buddies. They are often given the chance to work with a partner or complete the skill page independently. When doing centers or projects for novel units, there is Choice Board from which to choose their activities. I use a lot of games to reinforce math and reading skills. Often I have two games from which students choose to play that particular session. Students choose what to write about in their Journals each week.
ReplyDelete2) Collaboration: Collaboration is a big component of most all I do in the Title classroom. Many of our activities are hands on, are practice or reinforcing in intent, and involve students working together to complete them. At such times, my role is that of a mentor or facilitator, and the students take on the role of teaching and learning from each other.
3) Communication: Due to the nature of the Title classroom with its small groups of 3-6 students per session, my students have opportunity to more readily ask questions and to express themselves more freely and more often...at times a little more often than we have time for! :) This is such a great benefit of a small group setting. They strengthen their speaking skills, such as speaking clearly and loudly, and making eye contact. They gain skill in organizing their thoughts to express themselves more clearly, and they learn it's okay to ask when they need clarification. Overall, it is such a great confidence builder for these students that have not seen as much success in the classroom as some of their other peers. Whenever possible, I try to have my students explain their thinking to me, whether it be discussion questions over stories or novels we are reading or math skills we are working on.
4) Critical Thinking: I try to incorporate this by way of open ended questioning, opportunities for students to express and explain their opinions, or applying a math skill to a real world problem. I love to incorporate technology into our lessons. Sites like Padlet and Figma are wonderful for posing a question or problem for students to "think through" together. School AI has a great Bell Ringer tool where you can pick a topic, problem, or book to discuss. You design the prompt of what you would like to be discussed or solved. Then, your students, individually or cooperatively, answer an initial question. AI responds and facilitates a discussion with the student or students.
5) Creativity: This is an area that I feel like I just do not have the time to utilize very often. We meet in 30 minute blocks and our time together is dedicated to remediating and reinforcing skills. I need to work on this! I think that the projects we do with some of our novel studies are creative in nature, and we often "act out" our vocabulary words. Students choose a word from the list and come up with a short skit to illustrate the word which we try to guess. With math, I really cannot think of anything we do that is very creative...often hands on, but not creative. Definitely, I need to give this more thought!
Choice: I like to give my second graders choice in what they do whenever possible, regardless of it is a choice between two things that need to get done or multiple. Even at such a young age, I’ve notice the impact choice has on their engagement and desire to learn and work hard. Rather than feeling forced to do the necessary, they feel they have power to do something they want to do.
ReplyDeleteCollaboration: Collaboration is easily one of my favorite things to utilize in the classroom. I’m often struck by the different conversations I hear between students as I circle the room while they work together. The relationships that form and deepen through collaboration are a beautiful thing.
Communication: Second graders are quite good at communication because they often want help on things. It was my job to turn the communication down a path that would ultimately help them better learn to do things on their own.
Critical Thinking: I believe teaching kids how to use critical thinking/problem solving skills is a necessary thing that sadly isn’t highly focused on these days. Kids need to know how to think deeply and to put in effort when things are difficult. It’s not an easy thing to teach second graders but I do work on it.
Creativity: Creativity comes more easily to some than to others, but I know each student has high potential to be creative. I liked to give my students the basics and then to see where that took their little minds. The end results were often surprising! In second grade, I did often guide their creativity while encouraging them to branch out in certain ways.
Choice (Characteristic of the Classroom Where Many Learning Activities are Available Designed to Meet Diverse Learning Styles)
ReplyDelete- In my careers exploratory, I have let students decide how they wanted to their final career research. There were some things that I required were included in the information shared, but they were free to choose how they wanted to share the information at the end. I have had student create PowerPoints, poems, songs, brochures, and short stories. The made presentation day more interesting verses everyone sharing information in the same way. Students also like have some control on how they chose to put together what they learned.
Collaboration
- I use collaboration frequently during my lessons. Most the time it is in the format of turn to you shoulder partner and tell they what you understand from what you just read, etc. And from time to time I have student complete group project. During group work, I am pretty clear on group norms and ensuring member roles are defined. Group work allows for good collaboration as well as learning skills needed to work with others.
Communication
- Communication is key in my classroom as students are encouraged to talk by asking questions, clarifying, or simply adding to the learning. Communication happens between me and the students and among students themselves.
Critical Thinking
- This is an area that I may need to include more of in my lessons. On way that it is included in my classroom is during my budgeting lesson where students are assigned a career and have to figure out how to live on the salary they are given by making choices (housing, transportation, etc.).
Creativity
- Students are given freedom to express in my classroom, from picking presentation format and finding solution to real world activities. Finding ways to allow students to be creative makes the classroom more engaging.
I see the value in the five Cs and plan to implement them more in my lessons to create more authentic learning experiences for my students.
Choice – Students get several choices in my classroom. 1st, they get the choice to sit where they want in the classroom and they can keep that choice as long as they have good behavior. I also allow students choice of what assessments to complete and how to complete them. I do need to get better at allowing them to come to me with the choice(s) and not me giving them the choices to choose from.
ReplyDeleteCollaboration – Students are given the freedom to collaborate as much as they want and with who they want with academic integrity priorities. Often, students do not seek out collaboration as they have flexible due dates meaning as long as they communicate with me, they are given some grace to when they submit assignments and complete assessments.
Communication – In my class we have a simple rule, we can discuss and attack ideas but we do not attack people. In the beginning of the year, this is a challenge, but with the proper guidance and molding, by the end of government, street law, psychology, sociology and economics, students are pretty good as respecting ideas and communicating their points of view.
Critical Thinking – This is and has been easy for me as I feel as though social studies lends it self to critical thinking. I enjoy lecturing, but I make sure that I give them the tools to be critical thinkers and challenge not only what we read or view, but also me.
Creativity – My weakness, I need to do a better job of incorporating creativity not only in my lessons (this book study as inspired me to at least try) but also in my assessments. Part of that works back to the 1st “C” choice in the fact that I need to let students be creative in their ability to show me their understanding through their own lens. I need to let them be creative and show me what they have learned instead of limiting their responses through me choices either in specific questions or open-ended questions that are guided to what I think comprehension means.
Choice: Choice is one of the key components for success in a classroom. Choice gives the learner an opportunity to reflect and make decisions based on their strengths and preferences. Students will have ownership and be more invested in the task at hand if given a choice. In my classroom, I let them choose their seat, their method of practice (paper or online version), and offer choice boards when possible for activities.
ReplyDeleteCollaboration: In the math classroom, thinking and problem solving make everything meaningful. Very rarely will you leave high school and not collaborate with others in your career or daily life. It takes a lot of patience to preteach how we work in groups and how to stay on task. Middle schoolers tend to get off task quite frequently, but we are not doing any justice if we do not allow this time.
Creativity: I would say that my students are very creative. They are constantly finding new ways to solve problems. This is an area that I need to do a better job of allowing in my classroom. Sometimes we get so involved in our routines but I need to reflect and ask myself how I can change things to allow more creativity from the students. This again goes with collaboration and pre-teaching.
Critical Thinking: Critical thinking in the math classroom needs to be allowed so that application of the skills can result in students that can problem solve. I am seeing an increase every year where students quit if a task is more than 1 step. Is this society, the abundance of technology, or this generation having the world at their finger tips in an instant? Nonetheless, it is our job to make sure we are allowing our students critical thinking opportunities. My math department is currently doing a book study on "Building thinking classrooms in Mathematics". We all want to improve with this.
Communication: This is my favorite C!! Without communication, none of the other ones matter. Students need to learn how to communicate in an era of technology. It is our job to teach them how to communicate in person, online, etc. In my class, once the grades are put in and students are missing work, they have to communicate with me when they are finished. I do not keep going back in and checking each assignment in each class period to see if they are done. This forces students to send me an email or come in and talk to me about their grades. We get in great conversations and I feel I know them better because of this.
Blog Post #4
ReplyDeleteJoe Ruhl, in his TED talk, “Teaching Methods for Inspiring Students of the Future” states that authentic learning happens when students are engaged in the 5 Cs. What do each of the 5 Cs look like in your classroom with your students? (If one is not currently present in your classroom, describe how you could change what you do to be able to see that C in action.)
Choice: Students choose where they wish to sit when we change the desk arrangement. The daily helper chooses a class game at recess. Students choose from several options for free time. They often choose from a set of review activities.
Collaboration: Students work together to complete many assignments. They fill in review lessons from class outlines, students read together in small groups, and they complete group projects. Students often check their work with a neighbor and help one another determine correct answers.
Communication: Students who collaborate in class need to be able to communicate with one another their ideas and problem-solving strategies. Partnering with students to complete an assignment helps build their communication skills. It's easy to see which students communicate well and which students have a difficult time working with others.
Critical Thinking: I ask many critical-thinking questions on assessments to encourage students to explain their thinking and reasoning. Thinking critically teaches students that there isn't always a correct or incorrect answer. Students who think critically are often able to solve difficult math problems simply by decomposing problems into easier problems that they have already learned.
Creativity: Creative thinking is developed in hands-on lessons as well as art and writing lessons. Creativity allows students to express themselves in a way that is uniquely them.
Caring: This "c" is so important. Students can read the teacher as well as we can read the students. They can feel if our love for them is genuine. When we decide to truly love our students, then we are going beyond teaching subjects to teaching children.
I think his last (6th) C is the most important. Caring to me shows that we have built relationships at a very personal level. Students will go to bat for teachers if they know that teachers truly care about the students and show them that they do. If I were to rate the other 5 Cs, I would have to say that Creativity was probably my lowest ability in the classroom. In the book Dave gives great examples of what to do when you have a creative thought. Use your phone or index cards and write them down and push yourselves passes comfort levels and he gave two examples of what to do in the event you are struggling with it. Choice, Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking are the other 4 Cs. Joe gave his examples that he created his lesson design that all teaching strategies are incorporated into his daily lessons. Which also gave Joe the opportunity to answer student questions and have deeper dialog with his students. Giving students choices in their own education gives them buy-in to their own education. His classroom design and instructional strategies also gave students ample opportunity to collaborate, communicate, and more deep critical thinking options for his students. When all six of the C are covered in each lesson there sure is better opportunities for authentic learning.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed and appreciated Joe's ted talk and his insights. I test with students one-on-one and the 6th C is the one that I do best. I love taking the students in that one-on-one situation and visiting with them about life, what is going on outside of school, family, extra curriculars, loves and down time, life, and school subjects. This is the best and my favorite part of my job. I do like how he put choices at the top as that is very important, especially when we are teaching for the test. There are so many ways for kids to learn and discover that are not in the teacher's manuals and are not scripted. I believe that if you offer choices, the rest of the C's fall into place and it becomes a place that students want to be.
ReplyDeleteJoe Ruhl, in his TED talk, “Teaching Methods for Inspiring Students of the Future” states that authentic learning happens when students are engaged in the 5 Cs. What do each of the 5 Cs look like in your classroom with your students?
ReplyDeleteChoice-My students take placement tests in IXL for both reading and math every other month-these tests create recommendation activities for them and they can choose what recommendations to work on when they do IXL time during both reading and math rotations. I also have “Hands On” activities as a station, so when kids are working at either the reading or math “Hands On” stations, there are different “Hands On” activities to choose from-not just one. Three to Four activities are created for the same skill.
Collaboration- In my room, students work together at many points throughout the day. They work with partners to peer edit during writing workshop, complete projects for the books they read, work in groups to complete performance tasks in math, and also work on projects in both science and social studies. For example, in science this week, students are working in groups to create world climate maps.
Communication-my students are always talking to each other. My lessons are embedded with questions and students have many opportunities to share what they know and add to what they know as they listen to how their partners respond to questions asked before, during, and after instruction. I move around the room all day letting my students know I’m there if they have questions or need guidance. If I see students not interacting, I will try some different techniques to bring them into the lesson so they feel comfortable and safe to share thoughts and ask questions.
Critical Thinking- This type of thinking occurs when time is given for students to “struggle” with content. When my students are working on something that’s challenging, they are given time to troubleshoot and come up with ways to get around obstacles so they can work their way towards completing a project or task. For example, my students are working in groups to solve a performance task in math. The task is very challenging and I let my students know that it’s okay to struggle with things. When they struggle, they will get to a point where their problem solving skills kick in and they will start to refer to all the strategies they know. When working with projects like performance tasks, it’s important to correctly complete each step because one step leads to the next.
Creativity-There are many opportunities for students to be creative in my classroom. Writer workshop is one avenue-as students work to create beautiful pieces with their words. Providing examples of good writing through the use of mentor texts also helps drive up creativity. The use of creative examples in every subject can help students get ideas to spring board off of. Reader’s theater is another activity I do with my students and this allows students to share their creativity with both me and their peers. Of course, creating a safe and loving environment from the get-go will help students feel comfortable enough to really shine and let loose.
ReplyDeleteChoice- shows up when students get options during centers or free play activities. For example, they might decide to do the art table, Legos, dolls, or work with other manipulatives. Giving them those little choices keeps them more excited about what they are doing.
Collaboration- happens a lot during or free play time. I see students building together, sharing materials, and figuring out how to do something in a small group. This doesn’t always go perfectly, but it is an important part of their learning at this age.
Communication- is ongoing in my classroom. My students communicate often about what they are doing. Maybe they are explaining what they built or what they drew a picture of. They also communicate by sharing their ideas during our circle time. I also try to communicate with my students often, by providing encouraging feedback.
Critical Thinking- is present when we are learning something new. Maybe it’s a STEM activity and they are trying to figure out how something works. (For example-How will we make our bridge stand using these materials). I try to promote their thinking by asking questions, to get them thinking about what's next.
Caring- is something I stress in my classroom every day. In order for my students to care about each other, I also have to show that I care about each of them. We talk everyday about what caring and kindness means and looks like. When someone does something kind, I try to point it out as an example for everyone. We also recite a Kindness Pledge in my classroom every morning.