Clear and Unclear windows on Language Acquisition

What’s clear to me is that language can be acquired at any age, and while the 3-7 year old ear and brain can still distinguish some sounds that older kids and adults cannot, adults and older kids have other mental tools that help us acquire language.  Also clear is that need of language and interaction with others using language helps the learner acquire it.

I did get an idea from a music teacher in the program:  using musical sounds to get attention.  Instead of just using words, using sounds or sound effects can also be effective and maybe more effective because of a change in pace.  I have a small can you turn over and it “moooo”s.  It makes me smile everytime I hear it.  I will try taking it to class for a change of pace.  Instead of saying “ladies and gentlemen,” I’ll simply “moo.”

What’s unclear is how best to use information on language acquisition in my high school math classes.  I’m unclear of how to make my classes better for ELL students, or any student, because I understand better how language is acquired.

11-1-09 Preparing for the week ahead

Starting next week, I’ll be the teacher of record for 3 new math sections that my school is adding due to our high enrollment.  The two geometry and one algebra 1 classes will have 9^th and 10^th graders.

I am anxious about the transition.  The students will be coming from several teachers, all different in their styles and all in different places in the book.  Because one teacher is piloting a new textbook, there’s a chance I’ll get a few students who will be changing textbooks.  My mentor teacher often explained poor classroom behavior with “students don’t do well with change.”  There is truth to that.  None of us really like change.  Even if it’s something we wanted, it’s still hard to change.

I think my strategy for the transition will be to be: be gentle to the students and to myself; do a lot of communicating (listening more than talking) so that each side knows about the other and we can reduce the fear of the unknown as much as we can; focus on learning (and hopefully learning math).

I’ve run through a few different ways to run the first weeks in my mind.  I can start by hitting the curriculum and making that the focus, which is how my mentor teacher started.  I can start by getting to know the students, and make that the focus, which is what I’ve only read about, but not yet lived through.   I am considering the latter, with emphasis on understanding the concepts.  When I look at the curriculum, I want the students to grasp the concepts before diving into the skills practice, something that I haven’t seen a lot of.  I am considering adapting what I’ve seen one of the other teachers do well:  get the kids talking about math.

I am nervous because I’m considering something very different than what I’ve seen my mentor do.  I’m considering a more democratic classroom, where I give recognition that some of the control is in the hands of the students.  It’s so easy as a novice to stick to the tried and true, which is mimicking my mentor and being, in her words, a “benevolent monarch.”  I recognize I’ll fall into that pattern if I’m not careful.  But I also know that I need a participatory and engaging classroom to be effective for the students and rewarding for me, and I think that happens best when the students recognize they own part of the process.

Aside from HOW my classes will work, I want to focus on the students UNDERSTANDING the big ideas, the key concepts.  I haven’t seen a lot of this happening, and when it does, it’s usually been during one-on-one conversation, something that’s hard in a large classroom.  Because I want my students to focus on understanding the concepts, I want to have them talking and writing about math, something very different than I’ve seen so far.  Is this a great idea for a novice teacher?  I question myself because it would be less risky to learn how everyone else does it before fiddling around with something so different.  However, I remind myself that it’s risky to lose half the students by boring them with worksheets and skills practice when they don’t get the concepts behind the skills.

That brings me to this week’s blackboard prompt: “identify the ten most important skills, attitudes, or behaviors a teacher must possess in order to instruct 9^th and 10^th graders effectively. Self-assess your ability and attitudes against this list.”  I’ll be better prepared to answer this more thoroughly after I get to know my students.  Meanwhile, here’s a start:

1. Create opportunities to reflect.  I learned last summer that learning happens when we reflect over the event. I found writing prompts were effective in forcing me to reflect. I’ll be giving my students chances to learn to write about math and reflect.
2. Practice procedures.  Especially because of transitioning, my students will need to practice how we do things in the new class.  And because many will have short attention spans and selective memory, we will probably be practicing procedures many times.

EDU6133 differentiation reflection

As we discussed the reading on differentiation, one common response was “this is a great idea but there’s no way I can do it all and still have a life.”  And I agree.  I think the point is to see the value of differentiation, and go gradually down this path.  It helped me this week to learn that one of the teachers I’ve been observing has about 30% of the students disengaged, while the typical stat is 50%… it helps me to have realistic expectations of my classrooms when even a master like him keeps just 70% of the students engaged.

One student in the class looked as differentiation as something we do primarily for the slower students.  This is true in many cases, but certainly not all.  I’ve given extra credit because students have finished what was given—something that the more advanced students can do.  The extra credit is beneficial as differentiation if it’s an extension of the lesson, and not just busy work.

I think of math as a learned language—one that most people have to try to really understand, and not something that you just look at, or talk about, or read about and really “get.”  When I think about the differentiated classrooms I’ve seen, there’s not a lot of practice and drill type of work going on.  This is where I really could use a role model, a math classroom, to help me see how this is going to work.