Post 5 A

First and foremost, as a teacher, I want to be able to create a learning environment that is safe and productive. In order for students to learning cognitively, they have to be able to ask questions and learn effective skills that will help them to critically think. The essential skills that I want my students to know and be able to relate to are communicating in a respectable professional manner, keeping grammar in mind. I want to prepare my students for their professional career as well as their high school career. My main focus is to not only to teach students mastery of English, but make it relate-able to both vocational and university paths. If students are learning life skills including literature skills, they are more apt to listen and pay attention if they know for a fact that they will use those skills again. I want them to learn that memorization is not application or comprehension. So many students in today's classes are solely relying on memorization to get them by. I know this for a fact because I was one of those students, but when I would try to recollect on things that I had memorized in school, I couldn't. I thought that memorization was learning. The only form of learning. I understand that students in math, science, or sometimes English need to memorize certain things. But when our students start relying on memorization instead of application or truly understanding material, they are at a disadvantage. I want to make students aware of this increasing issue and help instill skills of cognitive learning.

Wolford Post 5 Free Response

One of the key things for every child to realize is that we all learn in different ways and just because one person can remember everything, does not mean that we all have to be able to.

*This chapter had a lot of good information on the learning process. It is amazing to me that some people can remember things from years and years ago, while I have a hard time remember what I wore two days ago. I found myself relating to the young girl studying for biology test, and then getting to the test and not being able to remember half of what she needed to know. I do the same thing so many times, I feel comfortable with a variety of the topics on the test, but then I always find myself focusing in on a few specific things I think will be on the test and forget all the other things that I thought I knew. Construction I feel is a very big part of being able to remember and learn something, however there are times when I can not even think of something to relate the material to. Therefore, what do I do in that case? My question as a future teacher, is how can I find a way to relate materials to specific interests of each child so that they are able to process and understand the information that I provide them with?

*When reading about concepts and memory I was somewhat surprised, because I would view storage as being the place in which we store all the information we have learned, and memory as the capability to memorize and regurgitate information when needed. However memory is the ability to save and store, while storage is the ability to add information to what we already know.

*I personally am a big fan of visual imagery when it comes to learning, because I am able to use that picture when trying to regurgitate that information.  However, the one big problem would be putting something in the wrong place when it comes to putting things into an image.

*The biggest thing is to have a knowledge base, in which a learner can add onto as they acquire and learn new information. However, as a teacher gaining that sense of each child’s knowledge base is very important, because you can’t start teaching division if a child does not know how to add or subtract. Every little piece of information pieces together in order for a child to understand future information, therefore without one piece the puzzle is incomplete.

*As a teacher one of the most difficult things will be discovering which children learn easiest, and in which way each child learns. However, once a teacher discovers that two children learn through visuals, while five children learn through elaboration, and then the other 3 children learn through organization, how does the teacher implement these types of learning into each learning experience, so that all children have an equal chance at learning and understanding material?

Teachers were never the problem...

Another look at poverty and education...

http://inthesetimes.com/article/15849/teachers_were_never_the_problem

Nathaniel Restorative Practices

Restorative justice
-The use of circles is a big side of this approach.  Forcing the student to see the effects of their actions and how much damage they can do with small social settings is an effective means for managing students. 
-The traditional classroom management has always seemed more dictatorial and this seems to give far more control to the kid rather than the teacher handing out discipline.

The transformation of West Philly High
- I liked the uniforms of the student body which would promote the community feel and we are all in this together mentality.
-I also liked the fact that some individuality was allowed one boy in the circle was letting his t-shirt show under his polo shirt and another girl was wearing traditional Islamic head wear as well.
-The circle was being used to build community as a place to air each other's feelings towards each other and prevent escalation. Forcing the children to communicate lets them hear from their peers also.

The hostility to harmony video
-the one lady had to say it out loud "somebody's gonna get hurt over what words?" which impressed upon the girls how silly their actions had become.
-when she spoke up people started to open up and realize how bad their actions had become and community growth was initiated

QTC #4

11.    Based on our readings and class discussion, how will you create a learning environment that is conductive to learning?

a.     Arranging desks and the classroom in a way that encourages learning and participation from all students.  I will make sure that the students face the front, there are little distractions, and the desks allow plenty of room for students to work comfortably.  I will also be sure to arrange the classroom to make interaction between students easy. 

b.    I will communicate actively with the students to develop an overall care and respect for them as people.  Continuing positive relationships is going to be key to having a successful learning environment.

c.     I will have a set of rules that the students will be expected to follow.  These rules will only be to improve the learning environment.  Examples of these rules would be to be respectful of each other, raise your hand to speak, and listen to the teacher. 

d.    I will be a flexible teacher that is able to modify the assignment and lesson to accommodate for all students’ learning styles.

e.    A sense of community is crucial when creating a learning environment that is most conductive to learning.  I will create this sense of community by communicating often with the parents and the children through phone calls, parent conferences, and written letters.
2.    Now consider your CSEL case study.  Develop a full continuum of responses for dealing with the misbehavior or your case.

a.     To deal with the misbehavior of Willard form the CSEL case study, I would use the points above to make my classroom an adequate learning environment for Willard, hoping that this would improve his inability to sit down and concentrate on his work. I will be actively communicating with both Willard and his parents about his behavior in class. I would make it known that my classroom expectations do not allow him to get out of his seat and disrupt the students during class like he does during my class.  I could arrange the desks to where Willard would be able to work with a classmate, and this could lead to him feeling less inclined to walk around the classroom and get into other student's possessions. There are many different techniques that I could try in order to get Willard to stop his inappropriate behavior.  

Restorative Justice

1) I thought that the restorative practices were extremely successful for all three different scenarios in the videos. I was impressed with how much it reduced the aggressiveness in the school climate. The first video talked about changing the climate and attitudes. By having the children sit in circles they were able to build positive social cultural attitudes. Even the teacher admitted to reducing her aggressiveness. Students talked about being able to express their feelings and having other respect them. 2) I enjoyed how they viewed discipline behavior in a different context. In the second video they talk about dealing with issues based on a situation level rather than "these are the rules and this is the punishment" view. It taught children about what is appropriate in a social context and what isn't. 3) I was impressed to see how effectively these practices worked for all age groups. All the videos were different situations and age groups, however, these restorative practices seemed to be appropriate for all situations. People were focused on asking how they felt rather than what they heard or knew. At the end of the third video there was a moment of forgiveness and as a viewer I could tell that tensions were disseminating in the atmosphere. Questions I might have: !) How could I make this effectively work in a environment with young children who are still very egocentric? 2) As a leader of these restorative practices, what behaviors would I have to practice and model in order to make a circle successful about being open and responsive?

creating a learning environment conductive to learning

Ways I might create a learning environment conductive to learning:


1. Assign tasks that are intellectually challenging and meaningful.


2. Create a community of learners environment where everybody feels comfortable to give opinions and ask questions and make mistakes.


3. Create an atmosphere that I (the teacher) am on your side in learning this stuff. We both have the same goals.

restorative discipline

The biggest thing that stood out to me from watching the videos is how uncomfortable I think I would be in one of these circles.


Despite my squirmishness about it all, I am impressed by the goal of trying to understand the perspective of others and get to the root causes of the problem.


If the change in climate of the Philadelphia school is as dramatic as the videos claim, and the change can really be attributed to restorative discipline practices, I am impressed.


Questions I have include:


Does this really work, and how can we really measure if it works? Anecdotal evidence doesn't really impress me. How can we collect hard data to tell what effect it has?


How much time does all this take away from me teaching math?

Restorative Justice

What stood out to me...

1. The teachers and administrators understand the students' backgrounds and recognize that the students do not have the social skills necessary to work through their problems so this method teaches those.

2. One of the teachers stated that she not only saw a difference in her students’ behavior but her own as well.

3. The teachers stated that most of the problems arise from miscommunication.

 

Questions I have...

 

1. One of the teachers said “we punish but don’t talk.”  How did we get to that place?  In other words, why have we traditionally used punishment as the main way to control behavior and why is it taking us so long to shift to methods like restorative discipline?

2. Are the young (elementary age) students able to fully understand what is going on during these "circles?"  I have always been taught that young children don’t have the emotional capacity to “talk it out.”  (My dad always said you can’t reason with a child.)

Restorative Justice - Chapter 13 (Activity 2) - M Swaney

Restorative Justice Reflection

3 things that stood out:

• In 2008, violent acts were down 52% at West Philadelphia HS due to changes that had been made using restorative justice.
• The need to understand the issues that students bring with them into school.
• The thought process of "how do we heal and clean-up the messes" that we make. Understanding that everyone makes mistakes and what harm was caused (healing the harm rather than punishment).

Questions about the restorative approach to managing difficult behaviors:

• How would restorative justice work most effectively with students who tend to respond with violence (ie, fighting) particularly at the MS/HS level?
• How do school officials and teachers most effectively reach out to students who experience or are impacted by bullying?

Activity Two

The Transformation of West Philly High School
     Point that stuck out:  "The Circle" activity = climate and attitude change which caused a significant decrease (52% and the following year an additional 45%) in violence and disagreements among students.  They had a voice. 
     Question:  How did instructors fit this in with their time consuming schedules? 
     Question:  Does “The Circle” provide the necessary social skills students need? 
Restorative Justice: elementary 
     Point that stuck out:  Traditional vs. Restorative (rather than directly punishing, we look for the "harm and the heal").  
     Question:  How much harder would an instructor have to work with children that internalized "home" problems and then brought them to school?
     Question:  What if teachers could not extract that vital information which caused a student to "harm" another student, initially harming the student that inflicts the pain?  Vicious cycle that much? 
From Hostility to Harmony 
     Point that stuck:  Reparation of relationships through discussing feelings (harm vs. heal); an "adult" approach where students make an impact on other students.
     Question:  What would happen if the circle discussion turned to violence--if the situation could not reach an agreement?
     Question:   Is this conducive for all students, or students that handle situations more maturely (loose terminology so use it how you will)?

Restorative Justice- Brittany Edmonds

Three things that caught my attention in the videos:

1.) In "Restorative Justice: Elementary," I liked that the speaker mapped out the comparison of Traditional School Discipline and Restorative Justice Discipline. It helped me understand how exactly the discipline aspects was changing in a positive way focusing on "harm" instead of "punishment."

2.) In "From Hostility to Harmony," the students started from a place of anger only talking about why people did things or why they reacted in a certain way, but when an adult stopped them and asked "not why but how did that make you feel" the entire room shifted from tension to repairing.

3.) In "West Philly H.S." I like the implementation of "the circle" it makes students attitudes change and rebuild relationships that otherwise wouldn't have been repaired. Expression is spoken freely and taken in by surrounding students in a understanding cooperation.


Questions addressing Restorative Justice:
-How are schools implementing this procedure? Is this a requirement for all schools in a certain district that have adopted this way of discipline?

- Has Knox County adopted this way of discipline?

Wolford QTC Post 4

1. Based on our readings and class discussion, how will you create a learning environment that is conducive to learning? (Bullets are fine).

*create a layout in which all students feel capable to participate and so that they are not distracted by others around them

*create good relationships between me and my students, making them feel comfortable and so that they always feel comfortable to discuss anything they are struggling with, with me

*making sure that all interactions are as positive as possible, trying to reduce the amount of conflict in the classroom, make sure that children realize that every part of classroom activities are important to their learning experiences
*give children an equal sense of control and responsibility in their roles in the classroom, do not make them feel like little children instead respect them
*make sure that all limits are clear to the children, help them to help me establish rules for the classroom so that it is known that they are all aware of the rules of the classroom
*have a goal tracker as for progress for all students, and making sure that productive work is always being provided for the children so that their time is not wasted when in the classroom
*making sure that everyone feels welcome in the classroom, whether it be that they are ethnically different, racially different, or different in terms of gender, just making sure that everyone feels accepted and welcomed in the classroom

Question2:

*I really like the fact that they made the point that children aren’t getting the social realizations that they need. They may understand that fighting is wrong, but they do not understand why it is wrong. Which makes great sense as to why there are so many discipline problems in our world. If we do not make it clear as to why a behavior is wrong then children will never realize why they should stop a certain behavior. The main thing to realize is that is more than just a punishment. However, how do we get children to realize that certain things are appropriate at certain times in life, while at other times they are not?

*I really like the circle technique. It allows children to speak amongst everyone, so that everyone is aware of what was said, and things do not get changed around to cause more problems. It also gives everyone a more sociable realm of people in which they know they can talk to about their problems, when they may not have someone at home to talk to their problems about.

*I like how they discuss multiple ways to handle or deal with a problem during the circle technique, instead of just getting out the problem.

*I really liked the “healing the harm” section. To often we get so wrapped up in discipline, that we do not really focus on fixing the problem from happening again, instead we just worry about correcting the problem in that moment. Then in some cases our way of fixing the problem during the moment can cause more harm than help for the child.

How do we get to the bottom of these things? How do we get children to realize how looking at someone a certain way, may not come across to the person they are looking at they same way in which they are thinking?

How do we keep things from escalating while in the circle technique?