Final Analysis: Pulling it All Together
How My Teaching Experiences Shed Light on My Inquiry Question
My teaching experience in Term III has shed interesting light on my inquiry question. Far from answering all of my questions, my teaching has instead raised more. However, I also recognize that some of my initial thoughts and ideas about my inquiry question have been confirmed. I found that questioning and discourse do in fact play a central role in finding the balance between providing necessary scaffolding and consistently putting the cognitive workload on the students. In my math lesson, for example, it was only through discourse and questioning that my students were able to arrive at a consensus that 5 girls and 0 boys, or 5+0=5, is a viable and possible combination. I had anticipated that they might have a difficult time picturing what this might look like. I wasn’t even sure that any of them would think of this combination, so I was prepared to raise it myself. One of them did suggest it, however. I asked the group a question about whether or not they thought it was possible to have 5 girls and 0 boys, and all of them except the one who suggested it said ‘no.’ I pushed them to explain their thinking by asking why they thought it wasn’t possible, and then asked them to think about whether they had ever sat at the lunch table with only boys or only girls. The ideas that evolved through this discourse and questioning was what eventually led to their understanding that 5+0=5 is in fact a combination.
My science lesson relied heavily on the role of discourse and questioning, as it was the most exploration and inquiry-based of all three of the lessons I taught. I learned a great deal from teaching this lesson about the importance of creating a space in your classroom in which discourse and questioning can thrive. Discourse itself, I learned, is a process or skill that must be taught. The ability to engage in meaningful and respectful discussion does not come naturally to young children who are excited about something and want to call out the things that they are noticing. They must learn how to listen actively to classmates and wait patiently for a turn to talk. In their article entitled The Role of the Teacher, Hiebert et al. (1997) explain just how important the teacher’s role is in creating a classroom culture that facilitates discourse.
The second major role for the teacher is to establish the kind of environment or culture in the classroom that supports reflection
and communication…One [responsibility of the teacher] is to focus the mathematical attention on methods of solving problems.
The second is for the teacher to make clear….in what sense she or he is an authority. (p.39)
While their discussion centers around the teaching of mathematics, I believe that it can be applied to all subjects. In order for a lesson rich in discourse and questioning to even stand a chance, teachers must establish clear expectations about both what the content of the discussion will be about, and the structure and routines that will support it.
My science lesson relied heavily on the role of discourse and questioning, as it was the most exploration and inquiry-based of all three of the lessons I taught. I learned a great deal from teaching this lesson about the importance of creating a space in your classroom in which discourse and questioning can thrive. Discourse itself, I learned, is a process or skill that must be taught. The ability to engage in meaningful and respectful discussion does not come naturally to young children who are excited about something and want to call out the things that they are noticing. They must learn how to listen actively to classmates and wait patiently for a turn to talk. In their article entitled The Role of the Teacher, Hiebert et al. (1997) explain just how important the teacher’s role is in creating a classroom culture that facilitates discourse.
The second major role for the teacher is to establish the kind of environment or culture in the classroom that supports reflection
and communication…One [responsibility of the teacher] is to focus the mathematical attention on methods of solving problems.
The second is for the teacher to make clear….in what sense she or he is an authority. (p.39)
While their discussion centers around the teaching of mathematics, I believe that it can be applied to all subjects. In order for a lesson rich in discourse and questioning to even stand a chance, teachers must establish clear expectations about both what the content of the discussion will be about, and the structure and routines that will support it.
How My Teaching Experiences Changed My View of My Inquiry Question
In addition to shedding new light on and confirming my inquiry question, my teaching experiences have also changed my view of my inquiry question. Before I taught any of my lessons I had a strong belief in the importance of balancing the difficulty of the content and the procedure as a way of scaffolding. Tomlinson (1999) argues that in order to find this balance teachers must sometimes give children a chance to problem-solve on a different level, bringing the content down a level while keeping the procedural challenge the same, or vise versa. While I still believe that this is often an effective way of scaffolding, I also now recognize the importance of knowing your students well before making such changes. I removed some of the cognitive challenge from my math lesson, for example, because I thought that the procedural challenges were large given how many new tools/skills I was asking my students to use. As it turned out, however I think the lesson was slightly easy for my students! I realized that I did not have a good enough understanding of those particular students’ math abilities to determine ahead of time how difficult I could make the content given the new procedural challenges. Knowing your students well, I now understand more than ever, means knowing them in terms of their abilities in each of the major content areas.
Another way in which knowing your students well contributes to a teacher’s ability to provide an appropriate balance between scaffolding and rigor is that it allows you to make lessons highly relevant to them. Tate (2005) argues,
…Connecting the pedagogy of mathematics to the lived realities of African-American students is essential to creating equitable
conditions in mathematics education…However, conventional pedagogy has often persuaded students--particularly African
American students—to consider school mathematics as a subject divorced from their everyday experiences and from their attempts
to make sense of their world. (p.32).
In my math lesson I tried to do just what Tate proposed by turning the double-sided counters I was using into a representation of 5 boys and girls going to the ice cream store. When I was met with some surprising blank stares, however, I realized that my students may not ever have gone to an ice cream store! There are certainly not any ice cream stores in or around the Blankenburg neighborhood. I assumed that an ice cream store was something that every student would be familiar with, but this was not the case. It wasn’t until I offered an example of having 5 boys and girls sitting at the lunch table in the cafeteria that my students seemed to understand the concept.
Another way in which knowing your students well contributes to a teacher’s ability to provide an appropriate balance between scaffolding and rigor is that it allows you to make lessons highly relevant to them. Tate (2005) argues,
…Connecting the pedagogy of mathematics to the lived realities of African-American students is essential to creating equitable
conditions in mathematics education…However, conventional pedagogy has often persuaded students--particularly African
American students—to consider school mathematics as a subject divorced from their everyday experiences and from their attempts
to make sense of their world. (p.32).
In my math lesson I tried to do just what Tate proposed by turning the double-sided counters I was using into a representation of 5 boys and girls going to the ice cream store. When I was met with some surprising blank stares, however, I realized that my students may not ever have gone to an ice cream store! There are certainly not any ice cream stores in or around the Blankenburg neighborhood. I assumed that an ice cream store was something that every student would be familiar with, but this was not the case. It wasn’t until I offered an example of having 5 boys and girls sitting at the lunch table in the cafeteria that my students seemed to understand the concept.
Questions I Still Have
Having analyzed and reflected endlessly upon my lessons and my teaching I am left with more questions than answers. The question that persists in my mind most is the following: If you have to provide a lot of scaffolding in order for students to understand a concept, does that mean that they understand it less? I thought about this question a lot especially in the context of my literacy lesson, during which I found myself having to ask a lot of scaffolding questions. The lesson was focused on identifying instances of cause and effect in Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola. The lesson followed the I Do/We Do/You Do model and my hope was for students to generate the third instance of cause and effect without my help. They were not at a point where they were able to do this, however, so I ended up asking a lot of scaffolding questions. In this case, the cognitive demand was quite high. After having analyzed and reflected upon this lesson I now recognize that there is no reason to rush into the “You Do”/independent practice phase of a lesson. In fact, it is best to avoid doing so until you know that your students can absolutely do it. Giving students enough time to play around with a concept and decompose it with teacher support is an important and necessary part of teaching.
Moving Forward
As I move toward more whole-class instruction in Terms IV and V I will continue to think about and evaluate my inquiry question. I will carry with me all of what I learned about finding a balance between scaffolding and cognitive rigor.
One of the biggest things I have learned is that often whole-group instruction simply cannot and does not manage to strike that balance for every single student. It seems to me, then, that the key is to set up your classroom and your behavior expectations in a way that allows you to spend a lot of time in small groups or with individual students. Whole-group direct instruction is important and effective when done in the most appropriate way and in the best time and place, and I hope to find a way of doing this well. But I also now recognize that some of the best whole-group instruction incorporates opportunities for the students who need it to get individual attention. Maybe this means giving the class time for independent practice when most of the students are ready for it, and sitting down with students who you think might not be to help and guide them—to scaffold. This is an intuitive idea, and is the kind of individualized instruction that I have seen good teachers do many times.
One of the biggest things I have learned is that often whole-group instruction simply cannot and does not manage to strike that balance for every single student. It seems to me, then, that the key is to set up your classroom and your behavior expectations in a way that allows you to spend a lot of time in small groups or with individual students. Whole-group direct instruction is important and effective when done in the most appropriate way and in the best time and place, and I hope to find a way of doing this well. But I also now recognize that some of the best whole-group instruction incorporates opportunities for the students who need it to get individual attention. Maybe this means giving the class time for independent practice when most of the students are ready for it, and sitting down with students who you think might not be to help and guide them—to scaffold. This is an intuitive idea, and is the kind of individualized instruction that I have seen good teachers do many times.