Standard 2: Analyze learning to promote student growth
EDU6528 Accomplished teaching EDU6979Action Research in schools
Learning and Applied Practice
In today’s education, a big focus of teaching is about promoting student growth. All throughout the year, teachers spend a great deal of time to promote growth. Teachers spend a lot of time in PLC’s and then planning individual small group or one-on-one interventions. Zepeda[G1] states, “CFGS support teachers taking the lead in their own learning” (pg. 205). Additionally, She states, “Learning circles as a professional development model create smaller groups, enabling a more efficient and effective means of establishing learning communities”(pg 241). I explored these standard in a variety of classes from SPU: Accomplished teaching and Action Research in Schools. These three classes identified areas where analyzing data to promote student growth.
In Accomplished Teaching, I learned how to interact better within a PLC environment. The questions and discussions surrounding student data allowed me to change my practice to better suit my students. For example, I am able to identify common misconceptions I may have overlooked during whole group lessons. In learning this, I can work toward small group interventions that target specific skill requirements of an overall objective. Overall, I have become a better evaluator of my student’s individual needs. Dean et. al. (2012) states, “Identifying the criteria for performance helps teachers think about when and how they might assess students learning and provide formal feedback” (p.154). I believe this is the backbone of promoting student growth.
My Action Research class taught me how to conduct and collect data on student performance. I learned that collecting student data is not necessarily mutually exclusive to learning objectives. Student learning is greatly affected by social and emotional issues. In my experiment, I experimented with the effects of teaching students how to have “grit.” Grit is described as the passion and perseverance for long term goals. Grit researcher, Angela Duckworth (2007), states “Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is not a main predictor of success.” The purpose was to find correlation with positive affirmations and student success. Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B. (2008) Habits of Mind is pedagogical approach on learning through self-reflection. There are habits like empathy, metacognition, and perseverance. This approach lends itself nicely to Grit Theory by Angela Duckworth. In a study by Daniel Vollrath, the study shows an increase awareness for intellectual behavior in the classroom environment. If students are taught, for example meta-cognition, the students would have strong self-reflection skills in order to grow from their mistakes or even prevent mistakes in the future. Habits of Mind generates confidence in students as they navigate through difficult problems much like how Grit Theory works. Again, these skills are explicitly taught from the teacher. Students get a sense of worth because their teacher would spend a lot of time coaching rather than just transmitting knowledge. Vollrath (2016) explains that within education, making connections to the habits of mind in the classroom environment, for both teachers and students, allows for practice and application of these intellectual behaviors (18). It’s these connections that foster strong student and teacher relationships. After my experiment, I learned while student growth for academic success is important we must not forget the social emotional part of student growth. The whole child learning needs to be in place as I analyze and promote student growth.
References:
Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B. (2008). Learning and leading with habits of mind: 16 essential characteristics for success. Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Dean, C. B., Hubble, E. R., Pitler, H. and Stone, B. (2012) Classroom Instruction That Works. 2nd edition.
Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals. Journal Of Personality & Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087-1101.
Vollrath, D. (2016). Developing Costa and Kallick’s Habits of Mind Thinking for students with a learning disability and Special Education teachers. (Doctoral Dissertation). Retireved from Graduate Theses & Dissertations at http://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=grad_etd.
Zepeda, S. J. (2012). Professional development: What works. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.
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