671: A Reflection on Assessment

For assessment, I have decided to choose Video Observation One from 670. I chose this assignment, because I wanted to go back and re-watch this video and see exactly what type of assessment this teacher was giving. I found that my reflection did not mention any type of assessment. The particular video I watched is #14010, on EdThena for social sciences. The following paragraph will include everything I have learned in terms of assessment upon rewatching this particular video. My learning process for this particular subject area can be shown when reading this, because it shows where I started before entering the program versus where I am now. 

In my first video observation, I noted that “she collects the written answers, which is like a de facto pop quiz, in my opinion”. This statement did not define what type of assessment, nor did it identify the subject matter covered. Upon rewatching, Using Ormrod (2014) I determined that this is a paper-pencil assessment. Since it was not planned in advance, and it was spontaneous, it did not fit the criteria for formal assessment.  In my notes, I also had that she “uses weather vs climate as analogy to compare, repeats it three times to indoctrinate the idea of debt vs deficit”.  I would could this a form of authentic assessment—to a degree. Although this teacher is not formally giving this as an assessment, she provides a blueprint to using the known to uncover the unknown. Additionally, a student brings up applications to China and the US debt to China, and the instructor engages.  This definitely falls under authentic assessment because students applying their learning to real-life tasks. In my assignment, I also wrote, “ (she) tells students to talk to their neighbors and discuss what they already know about the early 1900s”. I would say that this falls under formative assessment, because the key words are “what they already know”. This particular assessment can be equated to a pre-test on knowledge. 

I did not mention the informal assessments that the teacher may have taken or overheard, but after revisiting this assignment I saw that this teacher utilized three types of assessment that I did not know about prior to taking these courses. I will definitely implement authentic assessment, because as social science instructor it is my duty to relate the past to today. Additionally, the utilization of paper-pencil assessment was particularly helpful. These will give me an opportunity to see where my students are. I also plan to give formative assessments by asking what my students already know, which in turn I will walk around my class and see if I can use informal assessment as well. Evidence can be found here.

References

Ormrod, J.E (2014), The Many Forms and Purposes of Assessment, Educational Psychology

Retreieved from https://reserves.usc.edu/ares/ares.dll?  Action=10&Type=10&Value=201852

671: What values do I hold as a teacher? What do I bring to the classroom?

As a teacher, my values and what I bring to the classroom is exemplified in my autoethnography paper. This piece helped me grow as not only an instructor, but at as a person. The process of writing this indicates this. I start off by discussing my Indian-American heritage, which is important to my role as a social science instructor. As an Indo-American, I bring an understanding of eastern and western values. The learning process for this particular field can relate to me utilizing my past experiences to become a better teacher. As an instructor, I suggest that I this can help me bridge students’ multifaceted cultures and encourage them to embrace their identity as an American and other ethnic group. I discussed that I lost touch with my Indian heritage during my primary and secondary education. It is my goal to teach my students to embrace everything they are given.

Telling my story during my autoethnography made me realize how important autoethnography can be. They can create classroom community. What I bring to the classroom is the sense of community regardless of socioeconomic, sexual, mental, or cultural barriers.Freeman (2001) elaborates on this concept in their piece Using Adolescents’ Oral and Written Narratives to Create Classroom Community. As an instructor and former secondary school student, I understand that there is a need to talk and discuss stories. I discuss my own mental health issues. This allows me to become an advocate for students struggling with a myriad of mental health issues. I deliberately state in my piece of evidence that I want to be an advocate for my students. This can apply to the values I hold, and what I bring to the classroom, which is the overarching theme of my paper.  The piece of evidence also tackles the issue of Islamophobia, and how I grew from my predisposed notion. This portion shows my willingness to change my opinion and it will allow me to perhaps change any other predispositions when I become a teacher.  To answer the central questions once again, I value giving my students a voice that they might not have elsewhere. This can be personified through assignments like the “Struggle”assignment in I Learn America. As social science instructors, we are not only curators of history, government, and economics, we are curators of culture. By giving students a voice and perspective, I am instilling the idea that all cultures have value, not just the dominant culture. I am also willing to change my perspective based on what I learn from my students. The evidence can befound here.

References

Johnson, H, Freeman, L (2001), Using Adolescents' Oral and Written Narratives to Create                      Classroom Community. Retrieved from Ares.

671: Classroom Management

For Classroom Management, I am sharing a piece that I worked on with my colleagues, Linda Gudiel and Antoinette Frazier. Since the program and field is built on acronyms, I created our own  during our group meeting. A safe classroom climate can be condensed into the idea of Safety, Affirmation, Fairness, and Empathy (SAFE). Our particularly reading was focused on Fergus (2016), and the driving concept (and inspiration for SAFE) was “the degree to which boys in these single-sex schools felt that the educators who supported them influenced how intellectually interested they were in school. This in turn is also related to feels of safety, fairness, and belonging that they perceived in school” (Fergus, 186). My learning process for this subject was a bit different— I was a a difficult student to manage during primary and secondary school, so I feel like when we talk about this subject, I have a bit more empathy for so-called "trouble-makers" who actually have more to bring to the table, but are not given enough affirmation.

While our discussion focused on Fergus, we felt that this topic had to involve Jones (2013) and the discussion of Bill. This is an exceptional example of classroom management, because this case involved a very adept instructor, and a student who had difficulty focusing. I had a relatively different perspective on the overall punishment, but I felt like the method of dealing with this is correct. It had all elements of SAFE. First, the teacher was concerned with the overall safety of the classroom. She had given Bill a fair chance and showed empathy. Additionally, affirmation was brought in this case for Bill, because an outsider was brought in to diffuse the situation. None of these tactics worked on Bill, and ultimately, he was suspended. 

I think that applying these four steps (SAFE) should always be in the disciplinary process. When viewing The Class, I felt Francois Marin gave Souleymane all elements of SAFE, but unfortunately his colleagues were missing the most important point, which was empathy, and this ultimately led to his expulsion. I also believe he was not given enough affirmation. It is important for teachers to always give the students that believe they are not capable more affirmation. To implement this culture, it has to extend beyond just my particular classroom. I will always use this acronym when dealing with classroom management. I think above all; classroom management should put most of the emphasis on safety. From there, a teacher affirms the students that it will be a fair, empathetic environment. Evidence can be found here.

                                              

                                                 References

Fergus, Edward, et al. (2014) Schooling for Resilience: Improving the Life Trajectory of Black and       Latino Boys. 186. Harvard Education Press, an Imprint of the Harvard Education                         Publishing Group.

Benjo, C. (Producer), Scotta, C. (Producer), & Cantet, L. (Director). (2008). The Class. [Motion picture]. Paris, France: Haut et Court.

671: Differentiation

For differentiation, I chose my 672 course. This particular assignment was our project regarding integrated language development. We were given the autonomy to create our own fictional class and a coinciding lesson plan. My particular role within this group assignment was to create a differentiation model to suit the demographics of our class. The breakdown of our twenty first grade students are as follows: ten general students (we refer to them as mainstreamers) (50%), five ELLs (two Spanish speaking, two vietnamese, one mandarin, 25%), two GATE (10%), two bilingual Spanish (10%), and one student with an individualized lesson plan (5%).
Like the other areas I discussed, I utilized my past experiences to help with the learning process. I used what I saw in my classes growing up, and I used what I have learned from all of my courses at USC. 

This piece shows growth in not only ELD, but also utilizing the more knowledgeable other (MKO). Since two our our students were Bilingual Spanish speakers, they would be paired with the Spanish-speaking ELLs. The other group included our GATE, IEP, and other ELLs. The initial plan was to mix our gate students with our other students, referred to as mainstream. The teacher would work with the IEPs and other ELLs individually until they at least reached the ability to produce the phonics and understand the articles we were learning. From there, the GATE students would be called upon to teach this particular group of non-Spanish speaking ELLs the concepts of articles and prepositions. This gives the GATE students an opportunity to teach the concept, which is an effective way to learn the material, and gives an opportunity to these particular students to be involved with the rest of the class without too much instructor interference. I also brought up that this group may only be required for a speaking assessment rather than a written one.

I believe this piece in particular will provide the blueprint for how I handle a language learner that does not share the same language of any of their classmates. Depending on how many there are, I would take the opportunity to hold a 1:1 or 3:1 meeting with these particular students before releasing them to my MKOs so that I can benefit my with a stronger Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) by allowing them to teach. From my experience as a student, I learn better when I can learn from my peers and my instructor. Evidence can be found here.

671: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Evidence for growth in an understanding of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy can be found in a group reflection with my colleagues, Linda Gudiel and Antoinette Frazier. We put our focus on Camangian’s 2010 article that discussed the use of autoethnography We discussed that all of us grew up belonging to a culture. I discussed that I struggled with my two forms of identity, and there was a sense of disassociation with my Punjabi identity. Camangian (2010) describes this as “cultural self-hate”.  This piece in particular carries a lot of weight in the message that our course is trying to convey.  Ethnically speaking, all culture has value in academia—which is how I approach culturally relevant pedagogy. This piece gave me an opportunity to reflect on my own experiences. I recalled all the times where we were encouraged to talk about our own culture in primary and secondary education. In our meeting, I discussed that one time a girl had insulted the food of my culture, because we were encouraged to bring food from our culture. This was during elementary school. I also recall having the same thing happen to me in my junior year of high school, and everyone liked the food. The point being—this piece made me reflect on times where I felt like my culture was relevant. Yes, I am Indian, but in India, my group represents a minority. My teachers allowing me to share my cultural experience still resonates with me, decades later.
As a social science instructor, bringing in other cultures is essential. We are cultural curators, in that sense. While I may not plan to allow my students to bring food, there are some things that I can implement. For example, when viewing I Learn America (2011), I  found that the “Struggle” assignment was powerful, and I also found the use of autobiography in the “Self Portrait” assignment in The Class to be helpful. Once again, like my prior evidence, I found that I will carry this theory to the classroom by giving my students a voice about their own culture, without discrimination, in a SAFE environment. It is a great example of what Camangian was talking about in using autoethnography. This can even apply to the students that come from the dominant culture. To a large degree implementing autoethnography is a form of culturally relevant pedagogy.Sharing experiences and struggles within intersecting cultures is a central theme of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Evidence can be found here.

References

Benjo, C. (Producer), Scotta, C. (Producer), & Cantet, L. (Director). (2008). The Class. 

                [Motion picture]. Paris, France: Haut et Court.

Dissard, J. (Producer/Director), & Peng, G. (Producer/Director). (2013). I Learn America                            

               [Documentary film]. New York, NY: I Learn American Production.

Camangian, P. (2010). Starting with self: Teaching autoethnography to foster
critically caring literacies. Research in the Teaching of English, 45(2), 179-204.