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#Post#: 102--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quantum Teaching
DIR By: Pam
Date: July 19, 2011, 6:35 am
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I really appreciate your comments Rebecca, because I feel
the same way about children being lonely. In the early years of
school, parents and teachers can sort of fill gaps when friends
are not there. It still is a problem and it seems to get worse
as children get older. I try hard to work with students that
have behaviors that drive other students away from them. Still,
even our social first graders get left out and feel they don't
have friends. Then there are the ones that always are having
problems. I too wish there was a magic solution to have each
student in our school feel part of the group and surrounded by
friends.
#Post#: 103--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quantum Teaching
DIR By: Karen
Date: July 19, 2011, 4:33 pm
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This was very interesting reading, I can think back to some of
my favorite teachers, they did some of the things talked about
in these chapters. They were positive and encouraging, they
took time to ask me about things in my life outside their class,
and the atmosphere in their classrooms was joyful, and
non-threatening.
A quote I really like; "The degee to which we enter our students
world is the degree of influence we have in their lives." For
most of my teachers who did this, it didn't really take very
much time, just a little effort on their part, but it meant a
lot to me. This is something that will definitely be out of my
comfort zone to try to do when I am subbing. It is easy to do
with the students that I know well and have associations with
through my children or at church, but not so easy for me with
those I don't know well.
I like the concepts in this reading, but it would have been more
helpful for me to have some examples of how to implement them.
#Post#: 104--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quantum Teaching
DIR By: Susie
Date: July 19, 2011, 7:26 pm
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Julie, I have to admit that I did a quick cringe when you were
talking about the two almost seniors--although I don't think
your or their comments refer to me, as I don't teach sophomores,
I'm not sure. In any case, it did give me pause!
The reading from Quantum has been a good reminder for me. I
am really not comfortable with a lot of the strategies, but the
intent is very much right on focus. I have lots of ideas about
how I want to do things somewhat differently next year, and this
reading combined with Penny Kittle's book Write Beside Them,
encourages me to do more with writer's conferencing. It's a way
to celebrate more, as well as to grow better writers. It's
definitely been a good experience to go back to being a student
this summer--among other lesson reminders is one about how it is
sometimes difficult to work in groups not of our own choosing.
It's also brought home again the value of modeling and using
think-aloud strategies to teach metacognitive skills.
We assume that kids will learn to work together--that
cooperation is an important skill to acquire. But it is a
revelation to bump up against the actual difficulties which can
arise from attempting that cooperation. Teaching those skills
involved in cooperation means practicing what one preaches. How
humbling to realize how difficult it can sometimes be!
#Post#: 112--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quantum Teaching
DIR By: Hans
Date: July 25, 2011, 1:18 pm
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OK. I'm back from another crazy week. Where is the summer
going?
Josephine Crosby was my Senior English teacher in Lovell. The
class was very demanding with research papers, mounds of
difficult reading, weekly essays, quizzes and tests. I remember
the class well, but I remember her comments to me one day even
better. I stayed after class to chat with her about my ACT
scores, which were not that impressive. She had a mountain of
paperwork on her desk and was clearly trying to get through it.
But she put her pen down, looked me in the eyes, and told me I
was genius. She looked past the test scores and saw my true
potential. Nobody had ever called me that before. Usually I
was being called things on the other end of the spectrum. Small
wonder then, that I'm an English teacher today.
I have always felt that when I truly care about a student, I can
ask for so much more from them. They will bend over backwards
to please the people they percieve as caring. Over the years, I
have often started my Mondays with a quick question of how
everyone's weekend went and if they did anything cool or
exciting. I'll listen to stories, ask questions, and just kind
of find out more about my kids. This also teaches them the art
of summarization, as they only get about 30-60 seconds each. In
the past, I have wondered if this use of precious classroom time
was justified, but I think after this week's reading that it is
- so long as it isn't abused. Back in Oregon, I was known (and
probably will be here when folks get to know me better) as a
quirky and weird teacher. But I like that reputation. I always
say I will do whatever it takes to get a point across in a
lesson. If that means singing an aria, dancing, making silly
noises or faces, wearing a dress, etc., I will do it. I lost my
pride with my hair a long time ago. :-) I just want kids to
be successful. Like many others have mentioned, I rue the fact
that there never seems to be enough time to really nail all the
preparation required for each lesson. But I think if it comes
to a choice about spending time on final preparations, or
talking with a kid about their day, I'll choose the time with a
student.
#Post#: 113--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quantum Teaching
DIR By: Karen
Date: July 25, 2011, 6:41 pm
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I couldn't find the video clips on ELL. I am sure it is right
in front of me, and I would appreciate some help finding them.
I also couldn't post anything under that subject, I see it has a
lock on it, but I don't know why or how to get around it.
#Post#: 114--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quantum Teaching
DIR By: Julie
Date: July 25, 2011, 10:27 pm
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Karen, did you get to the ELL clip? Try going to the Reading
Rockets web site.
Susie the comments about the English teacher was certainly not
about you! :)
#Post#: 115--------------------------------------------------
video clips
DIR By: Julie
Date: July 28, 2011, 3:48 pm
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I reviewed the video clips from Uncommon schools. Then I
explored the website. I thought it was interesting that most of
their teachers do not have education degrees, but degrees in
other areas . I was also interested in learning that they have
a month of professional development before their classes begin.
It looks like an interesting charter school organization. I
don't know that I am sold on all the chants, but I do see that
it keeps the attention of the students. I also was interested
in the comment by one of the founders about the need for all the
teachers to feel a sense of urgency to get the students where
they need to be. I think that we felt that urgency when we
started our Reading First Grant, but I honestly don't know if we
all feel that sense of urgency as strongly now. The videos on
assessment and rigor helped me remember how we need to scaffold
for students and to assess at a high level to see what level of
achievement has been attained. I liked how the teachers are
trained to handle interruptions. I am going to try to wait when
someone is distracted before going on with the presentation.
However, with this class coming up I might just be standing
quietly for a longer time than I am talking! There are some
other videos that have been interesting to watch on edutopia.org
#Post#: 116--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quantum Teaching
DIR By: Pam
Date: July 28, 2011, 8:25 pm
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I am still trying to get through all of the video tapes
connected with the ELL conference. The one on differentiated
instruction was quite liberating. The three experts recommended
many ways to teach reading. That helps me feel better when I
use holistic activities with high and whole groups even when we
are asked to be very explicit. I do need to remember that our
stuggling readers must have a lot of explicit instruction.
Always I need to remember to keep their interests in mind and
try to motivate.
I also watched the clips from Uncommon Schools. I agree
with you, Anne, that a self interrupt works better with some
groups than others. I did love the way that one teacher did
cold calls with a snap. I'm not sure that I could ever mix the
names in my group that quickly and call on them cold like that.
She was so talented in giving the right positive reinforcements.
Again, that technique reminded my of Feldman's training.
#Post#: 127--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quantum Teaching
DIR By: Carrie
Date: August 5, 2011, 3:53 am
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Some of my favorite things from this reading are:
Each interaction has the capacity to heal or damage. So
important for all of our interactions with people and our
families!
Listen, Listen. Listen
Sometimes I find my self thinking too much on what I want to say
instead of listening.
My teacher thought I was smarter than i was - so I was.
What a great thing to be acused of!
Hiam Ginott "Children are like wet cement, whatever falls on
them makes an impression."
I really enjoyed this reading!
#Post#: 128--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quantum Teaching
DIR By: Adrian
Date: August 5, 2011, 5:49 pm
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Ok, so now I am a little worried about my job as a sub. If more
of the full-time teachers read this, they just would be able to
not show-up and their students would be on auto-pilot. Actually
most of them are anyway. I have been in some of our classrooms
in the past few years where procedures were in place to
accomplish most of the things Mr. Wong describes. So now I
wonder, are these teachers this good instinctively or have they
had this training already? I do disagree totally with one of
his statements. Something to the effect that procedures are the
only way to have structure in the classroom. That may be true
in the inner-city, but I have seen some of our kids organize and
discipline themselves pretty well in some fairly chaotic
situations-but then, thats our kids.
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