Quick Update: I have approximately 2 weeks left on my KPTP
unit with the Seniors and will begin teaching freshman over The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time
Indian by Sherman Alexie starting tomorrow!!!!!
I always struggle with what I’m going to write about in
these reflections but after reading this week’s assignment , I suddenly have
inspiration! Peter Smagorinsky’s chapter over scaffolding instruction was a
great support to the system that the district has implemented that I discussed
in my last reflection. The “I Do, We Do, You Do” has been pretty revolutionary
for me as my brain had never thought of instructing students this way.
Smagorinsky further describes it as an approach that
“relies on instruction that begins
with a teacher’s introduction of a concept or procedure through accessible
materials, has the students work initially on learning the concept or procedure
in small groups that enable exploration and error without penalty, and
ultimately has the students working independently as they are weaned away from
the teacher’s and fellow students’ support” (22).
One important thing to realize about this approach that
Smagorinsky doesn’t address is that this isn’t something you would have to do
for the entire lesson. Oftentimes, I try to think of points when my students
will struggle with something. Having spent so much time with them, I’ve started
to think in terms of what questions they will ask me and what things I will
need to clarify. Oftentimes, some activities are relatively straightforward and
I feel like my instructions are clear. However some worksheets I’ve given them
can confuse them and I want to make sure they do the best work they can. I
think that many times teachers think that they want their students to complete
the worksheet or activity fully on their own, without help from anyone. We want
them to be independent. However, I’ve come to realize that they can never be
fully independent if they don’t fully understand the material. Therefore, I’ve
tried to work through the first couple of questions or sections of a worksheet
with them as a class and in their groups and once I feel like they fully grasp
the goal of the activity/worksheet, I let them free to work on their own, as
Smagorinsky suggests. Sometimes this may mean I do one problems/example with
them, other times for a particularly hard concept, it may require us doing all
but one example together.
In addition to this chapter being a support for the
district’s ideas on instruction, I also found a few ideas presented in this
chapter that stood out to me.
Smagorinsky said that Cindy O’Donnell-Allen said that she
does not “want [her students] to rely on her for their interpretations, which
she felt would do them little good once they left her class” (22). I know that
a lot of my teachers simply told me what important information I needed to know from a text. They often told me and
my classmates how we should be analyzing it and viewing it. When I got to
college, I was surprised when the professors did a little of both. They allowed
us to share our opinions and also shared theirs. I think it’s natural for us to
want to share the information we know or we have taken from a particular work.
We payed a lot of money for our education! We should show that! However, I try
and hold off my views until they have shared theirs or simply tell them I agree
with them. I’ve noticed that many of my students come up with the same views
that I have and once they share it there is no reason for me to share.
These are just a few views that I took from this week’s
reading and some connections I made while reading it. I hope you all are
enjoying student teaching and everything is going well!!
