This week's quote is a gentle reminder of what our focus of teaching should be. Testing is one of many assessment strategies that tells the teacher not only how the student is doing, but how well the teacher is teaching. To me, the focus is really how well the teacher is teaching because testing should be fairly easy for your students if they are properly prepared. I understand that testing anxiety is a problem for some students, but this should be addressed in the teaching process. I also think that we need to spend more time on teaching students HOW to write exams before giving them an exam. Formative assessment before an exam should also include similar testing to help prepare the students for the summative exam.
Again, I believe most of the anxiety around testing comes from when the teacher makes the testing an issue. I believe that the real text anxiety problems can be a reflection from the teacher's attitudes. This happens when testing becomes a central focus because the PAT results reflect on the teacher's ability. How do we remedy this as a teacher? Believe in your student how you believe in your own teaching abilities. Teach your students how to study, prepare and write an exam. In plain language: If you teaching abilities are poor, how do you expect your students to do well on an exam? I believe that the PAT results are part of the teacher's performance review, not as a significant part of the students performance results. Again, it is our job preparing students throughout the year. PATs are exams to assure us, as teachers, that we have done our professional duty. I believe that we tend to involve the students too much in this process. The PAT results should be a focus between the teacher and the administration's performance. Our focus with the students should be on offering the students opportunities to grow by being critical, creative and curious learners. When our students become confident, so will their grades, their testing abilities, and their test score results.
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On January 12, 2017, our instructor Dr. Shauna Bruno from the U of A, invited Elders Roy and Judy Louis to teach us about a smudging ceremony. We talked about the process of the ceremony and the Aboriginal history and the beliefs associated with smudging. The following is my recollection of the dialogue and the discussions as they unfolded in the classroom at Red Deer College.
Smudging is a way of life for the First Nation's People. Once you have been taught by an Elder, you have the permission to teach others. The significance of smudging comes from various medicinal plants that we can find within the province of Alberta. The four plants that we were using are sage, sweet grass, tree warts and sweet pine. Each plant helps with healing. Elder Roy said that we can find at least one of these plants at all times in the natural terrain in the province. The smudge symbolizes the ritual cleaning of a person and the smoke rises and brings the prayers to the Elders. When we pray and smudge, we rub our hands together to clean our touch, our head to bring good thoughts, and our heart to bring good intentions. We offer a gift of tobacco to the Earth when we pick the plants and before we smudge. Kinninkinick is native tobacco. Other gifts can be two 4 meter lengths of a cloth with the tribe's colors. The Cree colors are red and white. The number four is very significant to the Cree people. It signifies the four souls and the four elements of the Earth. All actions, when smudging or talking, are done in a clockwise pattern. Smudging helps with attendance in schools and anxiety during exams for both FNMI and for the rest of the classroom. Dr. Bruno asked us to recognize the implications that happen when we make these types of changes in the schools. For me, the smudging offered me a warm invitation to cleanse my mind and my heart before we learn about the Aboriginal culture of Canada. The message that I heard from Roy and Judy was to sincerely listen to Dr. Shauna Bruno's lectures. I also heard the message of empathy through the visuals offered in the classroom. I truly believe that this class will not only foster a deeper understanding of the Aboriginal peoples' history, but will kindly remind me to appreciate all cultural differences that I encounter in the education system. ![]() During my IFX practicum placement, I was not convinced that I always needed to blow my whistle to communicate with the kindergarten students in my P.E. class. So, I begin to think of how I could I improve this process? Considering that many students are visual or auditory learners, I created two listening cues for my students. 1) I introduced the cues by talking about how important it is to address one another politely. 2) Next, I informed the students that we had some exciting activities to learn and if I need to give additional instructions as we learn these activities, I will say the following phrase: "I see" The students will stop and respond with "What do you see?" or I will say "I hear" and the students will stop and respond with "What do you hear?" (Remember to practice these statements a couple of times with your students.) My students responded exceptionally well using these listening cues! I liked these cues as they could be used to offer immediate assessment. In addition, I wasn't wearing out the whistle as I was only using it when we needed to switch activities or we needed to stop immediately. My advice: Save the intense tweeting for social media rather than in the gymnasium... Improving my instructional strategies gently reminds me to remember that I was taught mainly by assertive discipline many, many, many years ago. I know that this is not an effective way of teaching. First, assertive discipline does not allow for a relaxed and safe classroom environment; therefore, it does not encourage a higher level of student engagement. If we are to strive for the verbs at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy, then we need to focus on encouraging students to gain the skills and the attitudes to feel confident to compose, compile, design, generate, modify, organize, plan, reconstruct, relate, and specify the knowledge that we are teaching them. I know that effective instructional strategies are built from offering students learner-centered classrooms with positive classroom management. The key of choosing an effective instructional strategy is letting the student choose their own appropriate strategy and guide them to use their chosen task effectively to accomplish their goal. As long as the student's strategy helps the student to become an independent learner, my task of guided practice is successful.
Why must I remind myself of the differences between these instructional strategies? The reason is because we tend to teach the way we were taught. Quite simply, it's safe and I remember the methodology and the execution of this instructional strategy, BUT it's not a foundational way of building relationships. Relationships are built on the foundations of positive classroom management. This includes discipline with dignity. I must remember to protect the dignity of the students. I need to be fair and considerate of individual situations. I need to focus on rules that make sense to students and model the behavior that I expect from my students. I believe that through positive discipline, I can create a caring and learning environment. If students whole-heartedly believe in the intrinsic value of learning, mutual respect and encouragement, then the students will gain valuable skills for life after the classroom. Reference: https://education.alberta.ca/media/482311/is.pdf |