A Critical Review of High Performance Expectations in Different Teaching Strategies
For the purposes of this task, I have reviewed the following teaching strategies in order to explore how teachers have different performance expectations in their classroom:
Academic Exceptions
The question for each of the videos here is: Are the teachers holding the students to high performance expectations?
From reviewing the video for Roller Coaster Physics along with the corresponding lesson plan one would be hard press to say "no". The content and application is of a very high level, something that you might expect students in a high school class to be doing. To have students in 5th grade studying concepts such as kinetic & potential energy, friction and Newton's Laws raises the bar for science to a new level. Add to that the integration of other subjects such as math as well as all the 21st century skills such as problem-solving, thinking, communication, and collaboration the teacher has set a very high standard for her students. One might ask, however, how she is able to ensure that all students are held to high performance expectations. While it is not explicit here, there are some telling signs in both the lesson plan and the video that suggest that all students are held to high performance expectations. Examples include students assigned to roles in each group and the accountability of being in a group that is transparent in the progress and submission.
Switching gears to the video for 3rd Grade Chinese math it would appear that while the content is high and therefore the expectations are also high, I was left to wonder how in such a classroom everyone is truly held to a high standard. Yes, they all may be participating in what appears to be a rote memorization task, but how is the teacher able to measure the level or participation and performance of the lower achieving students. The article sheds light on how well the Chinese students are performing in math, but there is very little evidence to suggest what exactly the cause might be. Now, one could easily put things together from reading all the articles and come to a conclusion that with such pressures on students and teachers in China with respect to education there comes with it almost organically a high level of expectation. This, however, is not evident in the video and can only be inferred.
Finally, the Whole Brain Teaching video I kind of got the feeling that this might have been a low achieving or even special needs class. After reading some of the material on the Whole Brain Website it was clearer to me that the teacher was using the concept that students learn better when they make use of their entire body when learning. This, however, still left me wondering how she was holding everyone to a high expectation for learning. The only thing that I could pull from this was the clear, active participation of each and every student in the class. Perhaps that is something that is a goal for the teacher due to class dynamics, I am not sure, but if it is, then she has met it very well.
Behaviour Exceptions
The question for each of the videos here is: Do the teachers have high behavioural expectations for their students?
In each of the three videos I would be comfortable concluding that all three teachers have high behaviour expectations for their students. The teacher for the STEM class has all the students working purposefully and collaboratively. At no time in the video does a student appear to be off task nor misbehaving. The teacher in the 3rd grade math class has them almost like robots, which could be argued is a negative thing, but since that it not the point of this section we can conclude that there is high behavioural expectations happening. It should also be noted that when there was a minor incident of a student not following the direction, the student quickly corrects the students and moves on. Additionally, all students raise their hands to answer questions, indicating that they know the rules and routines of the class. Finally, in the while brain teaching lesson the teacher has made excellent use of routines to maintain high behavioural expectations. While this might well be the intention as a result of other reasons, it is certainly evident that the teacher has good control of the students and that the students are well aware of the classroom expectations.
Norms and Procedures
The question for each of the videos here is: What norms and procedures have the the teachers set up to support student learning?
There are norms and procedures highly evident in all three of the lesson videos provided above. What stood out most for me with the STEM teacher is that she said that one of the norms for her class was to have fun and learn. Additionally, she has assigned roles to each student that ensures involvement by all students. I also liked how she began classes by reviewing what they have learned and what they will be doing on that particular day. By doing this students have a clear idea of what was learned and where they will take their learning in the current class. For the 3rd grade math class, I am life to wonder if this was a smaller section of review for a bigger class activity. I wonder if a classroom norm is for students to review a concept in a rote manner, in this case the multiplication tables. Trying not to be too critical of the teacher's method, it does seem effective in establishing a sense of routine in the students that can, in many ways be helpful. Finally, and likely the most obvious examples of norms being using in the classroom, is the whole brain teaching lesson. This lesson was full of routines that helped students transition, get ready for class, remember content and acts and even communicate to each other. Much like the transitions video we watched in the previous unit, this teacher has embedded content into the day to day norms of the class. By doing this, and including the movement aspects, the teacher stands a greater chance of seeing growth and success in her students.
Setting High Performance Expectations Among My Students
The question here is: How you would create learning environments for your students that are similar or in contrast to the three teaching situations illustrated in the above videos.
It is interesting that I would engage in this learning activity today, the very same day when I meet with my collaborative teaching partner for 10th grade mathematics. We were discussion which students should be recommended for IB Diploma Program Higher Level (IBDP HL) Mathematics and he said, "I want to tell all my students that anyone can do IBDP HL math. I want to challenge them to strive for greatness and not communicate to them that they are incapable of reaching the highest levels." For me, it was spot on and we began to discuss how we can do that. We both agree, and I will use that here, that there needs to be a balance of challenging tasks, teacher support and formative feedback. We need to set the students up to success and encourage, or even celebrate, them to take risks in their learning. For my students I expect that they all participate. I assign groups that allow for the strengths of each student to be necessary for group success. I encourage students to take risks and ask/answer questions. No one is left not addressed. I make sure that my students understand that I expect the best out of them and that I do not care about what the other teachers say or how they did in other math classes. I celebrate their success and encourage the rest of the class to do so. My philosophy is that everyone in my class has an important role to play in the success of the entire class's learning.
When I reflect on my own practices in conjunction with the materials covered for this activity: all three videos, Marzano (2007) as well as articles written by people like Strauss (2014), I can’t help by think that we I must begin with thinking about how I form my expectations. As both authors mention, we come into the classroom and have a belief about our students. And while we try and do our best not to let those impact the classroom, we unconsciously do by shying away from the low-achievers, by allowing them to sit in the back and not participate. We do it by not probing deeper into their understanding when they don’t get a questions right and, thus, not getting an understanding of the process that brought them to the incorrect conclusion. With that in mind the biggest thing that I need to do is set my mind right before the class even begins.
Finally in thinking about my students (high school math students) I can honestly say that the one video that stood out to me was the roller coaster physics lesson. The other two were fine, but I am not convinced that the activities and the way the whole brain learning classroom would work well with my class. I am also not convinced that a group of high school math students would get very much out of a rote lesson like in the 3rd grade math class. However, the contextual, real-life activity that was done in that class, with all the components such as business, planning, math, science, safety, and the way roles were assigned, I could see it being a very successful activity for my students. In fact, I have shared it with the high school physics teacher in thinking that we could make an interdisciplinary unit of some kind from it.
References
Marzano, Robert. (2007). The Art and Science of Teaching. ASCD. USA
Strauss, Valerie. (2014). What ‘setting high expectations’ for all students really means. Retrieved [Nov. 10] from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/05/06/what-setting-high-expectations-for-all-students-really-means/
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