Virtual Clinicals/ Outside Work

Virtual Clinicals/Outside Work

Case #42: Developing US History Content Vocabulary

This virtual clinical follows a class of 12 fifth grade ELL students as they work through vocabulary and its definitions. The groups work together to create definitions that center around US History, focusing on the Revolutionary War and the fight for independence. Students worked together in groups of four to come up with definitions for the words patriot, soldier, and tax. The format used by the instructor allowed for the students to collaborate and help each other with any definitions they didn’t know. Once they did this, they worked together to create a single definition to write down on their charts. According to the teacher’s write up, before the students engaged in this activity, they were taught the words in several different learning styles. After the activity, the students shared their charts with the rest of the class.

The teacher in this virtual clinical employed many tactics that we have been taught to use with ELLs in this course. We see her model Principle Six (Comprehensible Input with Scaffolding ) of the activity-based communicative teaching and learning (ABC) model when she increased wait time by asking students if they needed “thinking time”. By asking this and then providing it to her students, the teacher promoted independence and installed more confidence in her students. She gave her ELL students the time they needed to provide the answer they already knew without making them panic or feel that they were falling behind their peers. She also modeled the ABC model’s seventh principle (Prior Knowledge) by providing instruction in the meaning of these words prior to the activity. Using videos, PowerPoints, gestures, and song, she set her students up for success with this activity by teaching to the variety of students and their learning styles.

The teacher’s carefully planned groups also showed the importance of organization in the classroom. The pod style desk layout allows for students to have their own individual desks, and therefore have a private space, while also easily allowing for collaboration and community based activities as the day and lessons demand. Additionally, the teacher wrote that she carefully selected the seating arrangement based on student proficiency in English and so that students who had auditory processing disorders were having their needs met. Through this arrangement, students were able to help each other instead of relying on the teacher, again helping promote a collaborative and team based environment. The end result of all of the careful details implemented by the teacher allows for a successful lesson in which all of the students feel confident in their understanding of the vocabulary surrounding the American Colonists’ fight for independence and the Revolutionary War. This lesson goes to show how important the content that we are learning in this course is as it’s the small details that allow for the most effective learning environment to be created in a classroom.

Case #43: Discussing Individualism and Qualities of a Good Person

This virtual clinical follows a class of 24 sixth grade girls as they explore concepts relating to the examination of rights granted to citizens, individualism in America, and how to combat stereotyping. What is particularly interesting to note about this class is that the community that the classroom is in is 97% white with a history of KKK presence. The teacher included in her notes that prior to this lesson, her students had referred to African Americans as “them” and Caucasians as “us” in a discussion about civil rights. To start the unit, the teacher took her class to a location central to a civil rights case, which allowed her students to begin to look past their own experiences and attempt to try and understand the feelings and experiences of others. Through the utilization of surveys and reflections, the teacher was able to connect the lesson to the personal experiences of her students.

One aspect of the lesson that stuck out to me was the way that the teacher organized her classroom in order to be most conducive for success. In Chapter 4 of the Levine and McCloskey text, we learned about how the organization of the classroom is crucial for student success. In particular, the textbook mentioned that grouping can be very effective, as long as it is planned carefully. The teacher for this case clearly planned her groups carefully, as she not only made sure to give her students the opportunity to engage in discussion with those who they typically don’t sit with, but also took into account shyness levels, where to sit students so that they would be least distracted, and roles that would best suit her students’ strengths. Another aspect that stuck out to me was the teacher’s modeling of many ABC principles, most notably Principle One, Active Engagement. By taking her students on a field trip and then utilizing group discussions, the teacher provided her students with ample opportunity to actively be involved in the learning process. With the topic being rather deep and heavy, and with the students being so disconnected from the topic of civil rights at the beginning, active engagement was crucial to ensuring that her students understood the gravity of the question “What makes a good person”?

I found this particular case to be a very interesting watch. I grew up attending very diverse schools, both ethnically and religiously, so observing a classroom of students who all have very similar backgrounds is an experience different from what I’m used to. In particular, the discussion surrounding whether someone needed religion to be a good person was shocking to me because that isn’t something we ever debated in my classrooms. While we often discuss the importance of learning how to effectively teach a diverse classroom, I think it is also important to discuss how to effectively teach a classroom where everyone seems the same. I know that I personally would have struggled with how to respond to some of the discussions that were occurring amongst the students, so I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to watch and learn from an experienced teacher in this regard.

Case #181: Analyzing and Discussing “The Scholarship Jacket” by Marta Salinas

This virtual clinical features a sheltered English class of 24 seventh graders. They are analyzing characters in Marta Salinas’ “The Scholarship Jacket” and discussing their leadership qualities. The discussion is classroom based, following a socratic seminar format.

One of the first things that stood out to me was that the teacher did a great job of providing her students with building blocks to be successful. Instead of just throwing them directly into a socratic seminar, which involves speaking to the entire class, she had her students turn to each other and practice the format that their discussion would follow. Practicing what they would say before they spoke to everyone ensured that the students felt more comfortable participating, which in turn allowed for them to engage in deeper conversations that reached below surface level analysis. This strategy is particularly impactful for culturally and linguistically diverse students because these students are often the ones who don’t feel as comfortable speaking in front of the class. Practicing speaking beforehand didn’t diminish the value of the activity, as the students aren’t being tested on their ability to speak on the spot. It did ensure that students felt less nervous and anxiety, which will make the activity more impactful and the information discussed more likely to stick with the students.

Another aspect of this virtual clinical that I admired was that the students were comfortable being wrong and being corrected by their peers. When a student misremembered which character was responsible for a certain action, other students corrected him and he immediately continued with the correct information, not showing any visible signs of being embarrassed or like he had regretted speaking. Having the classroom be a safe space to be incorrect is something that I really value because it allows for much deeper learning to occur. During my K-12 education, I was often terrified to offer an answer and be incorrect because of negative experiences with teachers’ reactions. This led to me hiding my confusion, inhibiting my learning. My peers struggled with this too, and we would often leave the classroom, discuss the lesson, and realize that all of us had the same confusion but were too afraid to speak up. This is obviously a huge obstacle for students to overcome, and I hope to achieve the same level of comfort in my future classroom as the teacher in this virtual clinical has achieved. Throughout the lesson, I noticed her affirming students’ responses, encouraging them to dig deeper, and giving students plenty of time to come up with a response. I believe that these practices have contributed greatly to her classroom being a place where students feel comfortable being more vulnerable in their responses because they don’t feel a pressure to be correct. These strategies have obviously paid off because the teacher notes in her reflection that she was very proud of the progress that the students made and all of the connections that they formed to what she had taught in previous lessons.

Case #158: Engaging Critical Thinking through a Nuclear War Scenario

This virtual clinical follows a 7th grade class of 31 in a Social Studies course called Eastern Hemisphere: Africa, Asia, and Australia. In this lesson, the students were presented with a list of 10 individuals from which they could pick five to start a new society post nuclear war with. In small groups, the students had to discuss with their peers who they believed brought the most value and who they would collectively agree on adding to their list.

This virtual clinical was of particular interest to me because of how it provided students with the opportunity to debate what they considered a valuable trait to society. In the first group that was highlighted, two students disagreed on the value of having a policeman in the group and whether the presence of a gun was a good thing or a bad thing. In a different group, students disagreed on whether someone believing in communism was a deal breaker for them being allowed to join their post-nuclear war society. Both of these issues are related to problems in today’s world: police and differing views on capitalism/communism have and continue to cause heated debates amongst individuals. This lesson is providing students with the opportunity to learn how to disagree with and debate others respectfully, something that is very much needed as we move forward. When I first read the title of this case, I thought that it seemed a little bizarre for 12 year olds to discuss, but after watching the lesson, I can see the value of it.

The small groups were absolutely critical to the success of this activity. In his analysis, the teacher notes that he took particular care in assigning the groups so that there would be disagreement and that the students wouldn’t just agree with each other on everything. During the activity, he encouraged the discussions by walking around and asking students to explain their stances more in depth and asking students who he noticed not participating as much direct questions. These extra steps helped culturally and linguistically diverse students succeed because they were provided with more opportunities to jump in and participate where they may have otherwise felt uncomfortable speaking. Additionally, by dividing his rather large class of 31 into smaller groups, he was able to provide more individualized attention to the members of the groups. This case proves the importance of providing students with different class structures because it provided all students with an opportunity to succeed whereas the standard class structure does not.

NEA Aspiring Educators: Decolonizing Your Bookshelf

One outside experience that I recently had the opportunity to participate in was a discussion focused on decolonizing your bookshelf, presented at Student IEA’s Spring Conference. This lesson focused on our experiences as Aspiring Educators and how we want to provide our future students with a more diverse and inclusive experience in the classroom. The activity started by asking the audience what their favorite book was in their childhood, and then asking them to reflect on if that book was a window or mirror. We then discussed the statistics around children’s books. The Cooperative Children’s Book Center 2019 survey found that out of the 3,716 children and young adult books they surveyed, the main characters were:

41.8% White
11.9% Black/African
8.7% Asian/Asian American
5.3% Latinx
1% First/Native Nations
0.05% Pacifc Islander
3.1% LGBTQIA+
3.4% Disability
29.2% Animal

Seeing these percentages is absolutely revolting. After white, the next most common group represented is animals! Growing up as a white individual, I never had to specially seek out a book that I could see myself represented in. It was only once I got to Illinois State University and began to take TCH courses that I looked back on all of the books that I loved growing up and realized how lacking in diversity the majority of them are. With one of my endorsements being English/Language Arts, it is really important to me that I seek out more diverse and representative books for my students to read. The standard books that are included in every curriculum are not anywhere close to being adequate, and it is clear that the only way for students to get the access that they deserve is if I make sure they get it.

This course has heavily emphasized the need for representative literature, and everything that I have learned in this course was backed up by the presentation I attended. Culturally and linguistically diverse students often feel excluded from the classroom and one of the simplest ways to make them feel included is to make sure they see themselves reflected in the material and content of the classroom. If we truly value diversity, then it should be reflected in the literature students read, in the photos they see, in the stories they hear, and all other experiences they have in the class. When content is not diverse or has a tone of racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc., we must make sure to address it and discuss why those beliefs are unacceptable. Teachers shouldn’t just not be racist/sexist/homophobic/etc., we must be explicitly anti-racist, anti-homophobia, and anti-all of those other values. Our students deserve a classroom where their identity is not only tolerated, but valued, and that environment begins with the teacher.