Classroom Collaboration: Discussions

              “Students in classes with traditional lecturing were 1.5 times more likely to fail than were students in classes with active learning” (www.pnas.org) Homo sapiens are naturally a very social species, and I believe that students' social skills should be practiced and taught in school as well as content. After all, part of school is about teaching kids how to be functional adults. Too often teachers hold long lectures in their classrooms that students lose interest in very quickly. One positive way to get the same messages across to your students in an engaging manner is to make the classroom have more of a collaborative nature. The best way to go about making a collaborative classroom is by having more open discussion in class. Discussions can be a beautiful thing in the classroom if done correctly. They force students to actively think about the content that they are learning in class while incorporating that skill building component. Another great thing about discussion is that you can tie in real life issues and morality into the lesson. This will further increase the level of engagement of students in the lesson.

             As a student, I have always had a very difficult time staying focused in lectures and lessons that do not actively teach the content. It’s not that I am just bored and don’t care for that class but I just don’t find lectures particularly interesting, and I do not retain the information best from just listening to someone talk about it. I have talked to many of my fellow classmates and they feel the same way. It seems most students today need an active classroom with application to the real world in the lesson. In one of my classes, we have been reading off the promethean board for the last hour of class all year, and I would say 90% of the class had a very difficult time staying focused. Instead of just complaining, I and a few classmates talked to this teacher about bringing in some discussion about the text we were reading. The next class instead of just sitting through a a story shared to us, we were asked what we thought the morals of this particular story was, what lessons were taught, and if we agreed or disagreed with the author’s/narrator’s view. Almost immediately, students that did not regularly participate in class were saying some really great things, and a great discussion started about the philosophies of the story, and how it relates to issues today. “To accept the author's vision and thinking or reject it” (Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading, 2013). I walked out of class that day still thinking about what was discussed in class, instead of being tired and bored, as did other students. The mark of a great class is not that the student leaves with answers, but that the student leaves with answers and more questions.

            Discussions need to have some framework however; it often fails when students are given absolutely no structure to stick to. This is one of the most common objections to teachers making their classrooms more collaborative is that students will end up going on tangents and then everyone will start talking about whatever they want. The role of the teacher in discussions is often debated. I believe that the teacher should carefully guide the discussion and act as a participant, without completely taking over. This is often the issue with Socratic seminars, teachers act as the boss of the conversation, and it shuts down the open feeling that discussions should provide. For example, the teacher should ask thought provoking questions that let students connect to their personal lives like “Is ‘live life in the now, and don’t worry about the future’ a good philosophy for high school students to live by?”. This way students can really think about how to use the information and lessons they are learning in their own lives.

            Students often think that teachers are on a level above them, instead of just people. Talking with your students in this manner will help reduce this difference in “class” if you will. If students feel that their teachers are working with them, as opposed to just supervising the work, they will feel more connected and open in class and will be more likely to contribute to the class more often. This connection will build rapport between student and teacher, which is a very important aspect of school, as you can read more about in my first blog post. This will also improve connections between students, which is a very important skill for students to learn.

            Collaboration and discussion is a great way to engage students efficiently, especially in reading. Having a discussion about a reading assignment gives students a reason to read what they are assigned. Also, students will be able to pick up on some things that other students might have seen that they missed, furthering their knowledge on the text. Instead of just asking your students to silently read in class, you should encourage them to share what they have gathered. This collaboration can make students look deeper into text than they might have before, because they can see why they should read.

            No student likes sitting in a dark, dull, lecture based class where they feel like their time and individuality is being wasted. School is supposed to be a place that brings students creativity to the surface, not keep it bottled up until a lecture is over. Having deep connected discussions with your students is one way to make them feel more connected and engaged in class. It creates collaboration, while teaching skills and content simultaneously. If a discussion is executed properly, students will leave with more knowledge, and will still be thinking about what they discussed.






Works Cited:


Freemana1, Scott, Sarah L. Eddya, Miles McDonougha, Michelle K. Smithb, Nnadozie Okoroafora, and And Hannah Jordta. "Scott Freeman." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.





Beers, G. Kylene, and Robert E. Probst. Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2013. Print.

Homework that Helps

            Homework has come to be one of, if not the most, stressful things that kids worry about today.  If you asked 100 high school students what stresses them out in school most, I guarantee that at least 75 of them would say homework.  It has come to the point that for some students, it has completely changed their view of public education from a place of learning, to a place that brings stress and anxiety.  There is a difference between busy work, and true practice.  This is one issue that some teachers face in school, and I want to offer my input on the problem.  I personally think homework should be comprised of thought-provoking questions that are an extension of the lesson in the previous class.  I feel that teachers too often hand out worksheets with questions that are simple one-word-answer questions.  Although that does help you “practice your skills” in that class, it most of the time is just purely repetitive and tedious. This causes students to be more stressed out and anxious over pointless work, and may negatively affect the students' views on that class.  Homework should be a short but thought-provoking assessment for students to further improve their skills in that class. 

One subject that is up for discussion about homework is the amount that is given to students.  In my experience, there is no right amount of homework to give.  It should not be excessively long, but it should be long enough to stimulate real thought on the subject.  I personally think that homework should just be a list of questions that expand on what was taught in class, and ask for synthesis to a real-life situation.  For example, we had one of these kinds of assignments in my Latin class.  A story was read to us about a wolf wrongly killing sheep, and were told to write about what morals were expressed through that story.  We were told to apply the moral of the story to the Roman empire, and to life today.  Many of the students who stay silent most of the class time started becoming a lot more engaged in the subject.  I still think that this assignment could have some more options that could leverage student choice, further advancing the amount of effort put into the work.  To make this happen, teachers could make two variations of every homework assignment that cover the topic and practice skills differently while making sure both assignments are similar in difficulty.  For example, one of them could ask questions that require the students to synthesize the homework to something else, acting as an extension.  The second one could be for the students who aren’t feeling ready enough to take it to that level, and need to practice the skills and content being taught in class.  Of course this doesn’t tailor to the needs of every kind of student in the class, but it still offers more student choice and personalization than the standard homework assignment.

 Real life application is very important to students today.  Students have a hard time staying engaged in class when they can’t see that what they are doing will ever be used in the outside world.  Every kid wants to learn, but they want to learn things that will help their lives outside of school. This concept of real life application should be added into every homework assignment.  For example, if you were learning about how to write a persuasive piece, a question could be to make a small magazine style advertisement about a product they made.  The product should have next to no requirements, therefore allowing student choice, and could be presented in the beginning of the next class.  This way multiple things are being practiced in one simple and easy activity.  Now, there are still some classes that the material is purely used in school, like Science and Math.  For these classes, a good way to show some practicality is to have some cross-subject connection with other subjects.  This happens naturally to an extent in science classes like physics and chemistry, but the math department seems to stick to itself.  Students would see more practicality in their math homework, if there were some questions in there that are also applicable to their science classes.

Collaboration is often frowned upon on homework assignments.  Letting students work together on their homework assignments does not hinder their concentration, but could help them understand the material more.  Instead of sitting hopeless and confused about the work, just waiting for the next class to ask questions, they could be asking their classmates.  Also, in the working field, it is very seldom that there is a project with no collaboration.  Students’ collaboration and cooperation on homework could teach them how to effectively work as a team, and improve their social skills.  This could also bring more ideas to the table, that one student did not think of, but the other did.  This could teach kids more ways to learn the content, and different ways to look at similar situations.  This collaboration on homework should not just be at home, but when they get back into class as well.

            A big issue I have with most homework assignments, is that after they are turned in to the teacher when they are due, they are not brought up again.  This makes the students that don’t do their homework think it doesn’t matter, and for the kids that do go above and beyond on their homework feel like all their hard work was a waste.  When homework is turned into class it should be discussed.  Referring to the concept of having two variations of every assignment, the kids that did the extension activity could discuss what they learned in their assignment with the rest of the class.  This would make the kids that did the assignment that was more about practicing their skills can still learn the concepts that the students who did the synthesis learned.  This discussion would make all the students in the class more connected, and make them feel that there was an actual point in doing the homework.

            Many students tend to argue that homework is boring and pointless, but I think that it can be very important.  Homework does not have to be either of those things, and one way to prevent that is to incorporate things that students do in their normal lives into their homework.  One way to do this is to make homework assignments that use technology.  For example, if students are learning about literary devices, they could be told to watch a movie or TV show and record one of every kind of literary device.  This way students can be learning in a way that is not tedious, or even boring for that matter.  Another way to use technology to improve homework assignments, is to tell them to tweet all the things that they learn in their homework.  Twitter is an amazing tool to bring into homework and the classroom if done correctly.  Twitter only allows 140 characters per post, which is what makes it so beautiful.  This causes students to be very concise when expressing what they have learned.  Another thing that makes twitter so great if used in this way, is all the students in the class will be able to see what the other students learned from the lessons, further extending the information retained.  If technology is incorporated into homework, it is also a fantastic way to let students practice their 21^st century skills.  “21^st century skills comprise both content knowledge and applied skills that today’s students need to master to thrive in a continually evolving world” (Teaching with the Tools Kids Really Use, 2010).

            Homework is most important when reading.  Students need to know how to read and gather as much information as possible from text, because it is something they do without realizing it every day in their life.  The only way to learn how to read and gather information from reading, is from reading itself.  Deep reading is a very important thing that students will need to be close to masters at, for it is going to be very important in college, and in the rest of their lives.  “Our concern was that we still saw too many readers who plow through a book giving It little thought; too many readers who finish the page or the chapter and then, rather than express a thought, ask a question, or leap into the conversation, look up to the teacher and wait” (Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading, 2013).  Too many students today just read their assignments quickly to get it out of the way, without actually having any deep thought about what they have read at all.  One way to fix this issue, is to have students discuss what they have read in their homework with each other in and out of the classroom, and make personal connections.  After all, one of the only things that make a reader feel like they like a text, is that they felt like they connected with it in some way or another.  Discussing the things that were in the text that connected personally in their lives could make students read deeper into the text, and retain the information from it more effectively. “Though some now say we shouldn’t spend time in classrooms encouraging students to make personal connections to a text, we think that meaning is created through those personal connections” (Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading, 2013).  From what I have experienced in my 10^th grade English class is that whenever a reading assignment is given, most students end up not even reading it.  One way to get more students to read, is to give them choice.  Instead of giving your students an assignment like “read the Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift and record any events of satire”, give them a choice to find their own satirical works to take notes on.  This will create more real life connection to the text and what they are learning, and help them see the practicality of why they need to learn it.

            Homework is a very sore subject among most students, but it absolutely does not have to stay that way.  With the help of both student and teacher, homework can become what it is truly meant to be, practicing both skills and content in an engaging, simple, and thought provoking way.  If all those things are done correctly, it could completely change the view of school for many students.  Students thrive when they see they have choice, and know that what they are learning is up to date with modern technology, and relevant to their daily lives.  When homework is efficient and to the point, it will not just be busy work for students, but an opportunity for them to extend on what they learn in class, and share with their peers.  These changes will engage as many students as virtually possible, and create a more personalized system of education.

Works Cited:

Brooks-Young, Susan. Teaching with the Tools Kids Really Use: Learning with Web and Mobile Technologies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2010. Print. 

Beers, G. Kylene, and Robert E. Probst. Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2013. Print.

Building Real Rapport by Kellen Pluntke and Ryan Hur

One of the key components in a successful classroom is having a positive teacher-student relationship.  Having a positive relationship with your students will motivate them to do the best work they can, and keep all your students engaged throughout the school year. A student will do great work for a teacher that inspires them to work harder.  A teacher can affect how a student interacts and behaves in class just by having good rapport with them.  It is so important for kids’ mental health and future success that they know that people care about them. Since students spend almost more time in school than they do with their families, the care that teachers show is essential in their lives.  Teachers can never know what is going on in a student’s life until they truly get to know them.  Students’ personal lives can greatly affect their in-class performance, to the point where the students’ full potential could not even be realized.

            All this responsibly is not just on the teachers.  Students need to know that they can go to their teachers to talk about things, not just school issues. I (Kellen) have had my life changed by some of my teachers, because I finally decided to open up to all of them, and just let them know about what’s going on in my life.  I have personally struggled with a mental health issue – namely, anxiety - and this year school started to get very hard for me. Once I went in to every one of my teachers and opened up about these issues, I got nothing but support.  All of them talked to me about how they understood what I was going through and they said they would be more than happy to just talk to me about everything.  Ever since I decided to do that, school has improved so much in every way possible.  I started participating more in class, getting my work done, and my grades came back up to almost all A’s and B’s.  Teachers started making some small accommodations for me, just to make me a little more comfortable. For example, music is a big part of my life, and it is something that always calmed me down when I had anxiety issues.  I explained this to my teachers and they were completely open to letting me use music to aid my learning in class.  My classes did not change otherwise, and the workload wasn’t any easier, but since I knew that I had all my teachers on my side, I could do it.  I hope that every student going through personal issues in their life has the opportunity to open up to their teachers, but it is on them to do that.  Teachers however, still need to have an approachable “vibe” if you will.  I would not have been able to go to my teachers like that if I didn’t feel like they were going to take what I was saying positively.  The connections that I made with those teachers has given me my own support system, and it changed not just my school life, but my life all together.

            One thing that teachers can do to help the students feel more comfortable in their classes, is to incorporate modern technology into lessons. When doing this, technology should not take over the lesson, but simply add to it.  But integration of technology just for the point of bringing it into the classroom is a waste, it needs to complement the lessons that are already made, never the center of it.  Kids use social media all the time, and it can be used positively to help them and the world around them if done correctly.  For example, all the #bowtieboys try to keep our twitter accounts running with good tweets and research that support the topics we represent.  This same concept can be used in the classroom. “Educators need to recognize that these sites can be a place where teens learn social skills and practice improving interpersonal relationships” (Teaching with the Tools Kids Really Use, 2010).  Social media is a great way for students to practice their 21^st century skills, which are arguably some of the most important skills students can learn in school.  This integration of something that kids are comfortable with into the classroom will make kids feel more connected and engaged.

            A fantastic way to do this is to have students tweet things that they have learned from lessons, books, and discussions in class.  That way if all the students are not reading the same book, or having the same discussion, they can still see the main points and ideas brought on by those sources.  For example, if half the class is reading To Kill a Mockingbird, while the other half is reading A Tale of Two Cities, both groups can tweet about the main ideas and lessons they have learned from their book, and read about the lessons from the other groups book.  This will promote the students’ productive use of technology, while improving their online presence.  When both groups are finished with their books, a full-on twitter chat can be run by the teacher about what they have gathered from their book, and all students can say what they feel on the subject, and how it relates to issues in the world today.  The end twitter chat would act like a Socratic seminar, but is in text so it is easier for assessment. This would make social media “a place for groups of students to collaborate as they work on a group project” (Teaching with the Tools Kids Really Use, 2010).    This idea, if done correctly, would teach students how to use social media effectively, incorporate technology in an effective way without taking away from the meaning of the lesson, and it has relevance to real world issues today.

Also, the addition of technology will make the content seem more relevant to students, which is a huge component to how engaged the students are in that lesson.  Everyone wants to learn, and when a student can see that what they are learning in class can help them in the real world, they will want to learn even more.  This simple method of integrating technology can help teachers maintain that positive “vibe” I mentioned earlier, which will make students feel more connected to their teachers.  This connection can make the student feel much closer to their teacher, thus making them more open to their teachers about personal issues. 

             I (Ryan) have been labeled a slacker by the vast majority of the teachers I’ve had in the past. They see me on the surface and disregard me as an unintelligent floater, who will never respect their class. These thoughts about me and students like me can play a major role in the way we perform in school. While the reason may very well be a lack of motivation or a lack of interest, lots of students have internal issues that are not easy to share, and may be prohibiting their success in school. I have lived with severe Generalized Anxiety Disorder my entire life. I have learned coping skills over the years yet, it can still happen and make it hard to pay attention and be present in class. If a teacher could act as a sponge to soak up everything I might need to get off my chest about something that could be causing an anxiety attack that can be the biggest factor in my performance in school. I am not a straight A student. I haven’t been all of my high school career. As teachers fail to make personal connections with me, I fail to see the point and meaning in the work I am assigned, and my grades suffer. I go home and I am berated by my parents. “We know you are smarter than this” they would say after seeing my pitiful grades. I go back to school and am greeted with a frown as I fail to turn in my homework yet again. Teachers see these things on the surface and turn me away as lazy and unmotivated, yet the small number of teachers I have made a connection with, I have worked unfathomably harder for them and shown them who Ryan Hur truly is.

            While I was reading The Greatest Catch, by Penny Kittle, she inspired me to think that teachers can make a deep and true connection with their students. Penny astoundingly proves that a connection with a student is fathomable, all it takes is a first step on the teacher’s side. An unspoken wall is naturally built between the teachers and the students as soon as they step foot in the classroom, it is up to the teacher to destroy that barrier. One of my favorite of the many heart wrenching stories she tells is about Russel. A boy who hasn’t had a father in the picture, and his mother works too much to have an impact in his life. This is the perfect example of a student who could benefit extraordinarily from a productive relationship with a teacher. Russel couldn’t read, therefore, the system failed him. Kittle pushed Russel to do the best he could, and it seemed as if he did, but due to the way standardized tests operate, the system didn’t see it that way. Nevertheless, the connection that he made with Kittle had an impact on his life. All a teacher needs to do is make a real reach into the student’s life. Ask them simple questions, and make them feel wanted, because maybe they don’t feel that way outside of a relationship you build with them.

            As students who both suffer from mental health issues, we know how important it is to have a positive connection with your teachers.  It is utterly important that students change their perception on teachers, from an inattentive figure that’s only purpose is to teach to the test, to a person who really can make a difference in their life.  When this connection is made, students will feel infinitely more pleased with their school experience, and be far more productive.  While using technology to ease this process along, students will start to feel more comfortable, and learn some great skills along the way. All it takes is a teacher who shows that they genuinely care about the work they do.  Students perform stupendously for teachers that they connect to, and are comfortable with. The relationship between a student and teacher effects a student’s quality of work, happiness in school, and makes school seem less stressful and much more manageable.

Works Cited:

Brooks-Young, Susan. Teaching with the Tools Kids Really Use: Learning with Web and Mobile Technologies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2010. Print. 

Kittle, Penny. The Greatest Catch: A Life in Teaching. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2005. Print.