ImagineIT Phase 4: Problematizing the ImaginIT Project
While reading “The Dreamkeepers” by Gloria Ladson-Billings, I was struck by a few points the author made in Chapter six regarding culturally relevant teaching. Although many of the ideas in the book may initially seem rather ordinary, actually putting them into practice can be challenging. The first point, for example, says that when students are treated as competent, they are likely to demonstrate competence. In other words, students must be challenged with a task that forces them to reach higher levels of understanding. If a teacher does not truly believe that all students can learn and already have significant background knowledge, then they may hold lower expectations for certain students. Those students will likely “live up” to those lower expectations and a cycle may begin (or continue) where the student also believes that they are not capable of what their same-aged peers are capable of. The problem begins with not having enough in depth knowledge on the students, their current abilities, and their interests.
As I move toward implementing project-based learning (PBL), which involves student choice in projects and student driven knowledge acquisition, it is crucial that I understand each individual’s current knowledge on the subject of chemical reactions. Students’ ability levels vary greatly in my classes and I want to be able to properly challenge each individual student to set them up to both learn and succeed. Some students may already know how to write and balance a chemical equation, and I want to find a way to ensure that they are pushed beyond that point so that they gain a higher understanding of more complex concepts within the topic of chemical reactions.
There are two things that need to be done before implementing my second PBL project in my chemistry class. First, I will need to administer a pre-assessment to determine groupings for the project. My initial thought is to have homogenous groups based on ability level. The heterogeneous groupings for our previous project forced some students to lead and teach more in their groups which improved those skills, but I would like them to now push their content knowledge and problem solving skills to a new level in our next project. Second, I will need to gain a better understanding of what interests each student has that could relate to chemical reactions. Ladson-Billings also stresses the importance of scaffolding new knowledge by connecting it to things that students already know. This does not just apply to content they know from school, but more importantly, things that they know from experiences outside of school that interest them. These two initial steps will help me to get to know my students better and set them up to be engaged in a project that is challenging yet doable based on their individual abilities.
While reading “The Dreamkeepers” by Gloria Ladson-Billings, I was struck by a few points the author made in Chapter six regarding culturally relevant teaching. Although many of the ideas in the book may initially seem rather ordinary, actually putting them into practice can be challenging. The first point, for example, says that when students are treated as competent, they are likely to demonstrate competence. In other words, students must be challenged with a task that forces them to reach higher levels of understanding. If a teacher does not truly believe that all students can learn and already have significant background knowledge, then they may hold lower expectations for certain students. Those students will likely “live up” to those lower expectations and a cycle may begin (or continue) where the student also believes that they are not capable of what their same-aged peers are capable of. The problem begins with not having enough in depth knowledge on the students, their current abilities, and their interests.
As I move toward implementing project-based learning (PBL), which involves student choice in projects and student driven knowledge acquisition, it is crucial that I understand each individual’s current knowledge on the subject of chemical reactions. Students’ ability levels vary greatly in my classes and I want to be able to properly challenge each individual student to set them up to both learn and succeed. Some students may already know how to write and balance a chemical equation, and I want to find a way to ensure that they are pushed beyond that point so that they gain a higher understanding of more complex concepts within the topic of chemical reactions.
There are two things that need to be done before implementing my second PBL project in my chemistry class. First, I will need to administer a pre-assessment to determine groupings for the project. My initial thought is to have homogenous groups based on ability level. The heterogeneous groupings for our previous project forced some students to lead and teach more in their groups which improved those skills, but I would like them to now push their content knowledge and problem solving skills to a new level in our next project. Second, I will need to gain a better understanding of what interests each student has that could relate to chemical reactions. Ladson-Billings also stresses the importance of scaffolding new knowledge by connecting it to things that students already know. This does not just apply to content they know from school, but more importantly, things that they know from experiences outside of school that interest them. These two initial steps will help me to get to know my students better and set them up to be engaged in a project that is challenging yet doable based on their individual abilities.