Wendy

=**Observation notes**=
 * Power Teaching Observation Task 1 - May 26**

College - Philosophy class and power teaching (whole brain teaching)

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 What tools for engagement do you observe? The teacher uses humor by incorporating silly tasks like repeating silly lines or waving the fingers & saying “whoo” to compliment a student on a job well done. The teacher keeps the instruction brief & checks for understanding often by calling on students to relay an idea to the class in their own words. Mistakes are shrugged off with a collective “It’s cool,” from the class. The teacher incorporates lots of partner activities by having students explain ideas to their neighbors.

 What strategy for encoding does he use most? I don’t completely understand the use of the word “encoding” in this question. In this lesson he is really appealing to the aural learning abilities of his students by having the students explain the idea to their neighbors & to the class when they’re ready.

 College – Aristotle’s Four Causes

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 What do you perceive to be one of the essentials of power teaching from observing this clip? It seems the essential theme of power teaching is to have students teach each other what they are learning. Gestures, descriptive language & enthusiasm are encouraged and rewarded by the teacher.

 High School Math on Slope

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 Make two more observations about the “essentials of power teaching” Power teaching relies heavily on mirroring and hand gestures. This technique probably provides added reinforcement of concepts for visual learners. Additionally, by gesturing the whole body is engaged in the learning process. Power teaching also relies heavily on sound affects – like clapping, sighing, silly phrases like “o yea,” etc. This technique keeps class lively & provides extra reinforcement for auditory learners. 6th Grade Math Class Operations

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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> How long does she talk before she expects the Ss to review? <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">She talks for about 20-30 seconds before giving students the chance to review.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> What role does positive reinforcement play here? <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Positive reinforcement is relayed between students when students are prompted to share with their <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">neighbors how excited they are to engage in a certain task, whether it is being able to do certain problems or learn certain strategies for completing problems. Positive reinforcement plays the role of motivator in this example.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> 4/5th Grade Teacher is 11 years old here

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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> How does she outline “expectations” or “standards” for participation? <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">It appears that at an earlier time students were instructed with how to respond to specific statements like “Class?” with the response being “Yes?” McKenna asks questions that specific questions that students are expected to discuss with their neighbors & gives them an opportunity to do so before reigning in the instruction again. Additionally, there is a pre-defined expectation that students need to use gestures when explaining things to receive extra credit.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> How does she keep the discussion open ended? <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">McKenna does a great job of asking open-ended questions to start with & when students express their thoughts she doesn’t pass any judgement on the statement made, she simply responds by saying “alright” or “ok.” It gives the students a free reign to express their ideas without being “wrong.”

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> Critical Thinking Skills in 4th Grade

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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> What impact would this style of teaching make in the schools you have seen? <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This method of teaching keeps students accountable to listening so that they can recall the information they’ve heard/seen. This is because there is an expectation that the students will listen briefly & then explain the information they have heard to their neighbor. There’s a level of peer accountability that could have the effect of 1. Engaging the student in really learning the material and 2. Building a feeling of team spirit in the classroom.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> College instruction on the Basics of Power Teaching

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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> What role do these elements play in this lesson?

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> Humor – <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Humor is expressed in different intonations of the words “Class” and “Teach” and is also used in a variety of different gestures associated with these words. Humor punctuates almost every micro-lecture.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> Gestures – Gestures allow/teach students to become involved in the message they’re sending to their partner in class.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> Refocusing – <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Refocusing keeps students hopping from one topic to the next with plenty of time for review.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> What is the most unique thing you see in this clip? – <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This clip in particular, in my opinion, isn’t any more or less unique than all the other “Power Teaching” clips I’ve watched today. What I find interesting about Power Teaching is its ability to focus & engage its classrooms. I like this clip in particular because it outlines the six specific strategies for training a classroom to engage in this kind of environment/classroom dialogue.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> Classroom Rules

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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> Compare and contrast the ways he presents the rules. What do you see? <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In each way Chris presents the rules he’s relying on the “call & response” method of instruction. The differences in how he recommends presenting the rules is by starting the call yourself, allowing a student to start the call or by stretching your voice intonation to give the impression that multiple characters are starting the “call.”

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> Smart Board and Mr. Howard

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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> Where can you find one of the boards to learn how to use them? <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">I do not know, but it sure looks like fun using one of these smart boards! J

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> Another lesson on Power Teaching

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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> Variety….is part of this method’s appeal. What does this method do for his “enthusiasm” and “creativity”? The variety in intonation of speech will likely keep his class enthused about what they're doing and thinking creatively because they are not doing the same thing exactly every time.

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">You will have seen many more links to examples of Power Teaching. <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Find one and ask two questions for others to respond to after you view it. =Teaching Unit Discussion Notes= Do - Look - Learn - Folder Last night I gave a presentation about my folder. I talked about the layout of the pictures & text. I talked about how I want to inspire my students and empower them to create communities that raise the bar. When I was up in front of the class, I think I remember seeing the right side of the class more than the left side of the class because the left side of the class seemed to be taking notes. Initially, that made me feel distracted & I responded by looking at the right side of the room more because they seemed to be "paying attention." I noticed that when I stopped looking at my folder so much to remind me what I was talking about I spoke with a more impassioned tone and that seemed to get everybody's attention. What I learned - next time I present I will try to be "more real." I'll tell more personal stories. The biggest thing I learned - don't stress, this is supposed to be fun! I also felt like I could have used some humor to lighten the mood a little, which may have helped me relax.

Do - Look - Learn - Team Builder Last night I facilitated the "Big Picture" team builder. I got the idea off the Internet from a game called "Zoom." I re-created the idea with my own pictures. I thought the team builder would be/could be a fascinating activity to do with a Social Studies Class. I didn't express that to the class very well. If I were to do this over I would talk slower, have a note-card to prompt me with the important points, and I'd tie-in the idea of "Point of View" and "Perspective" into the concept as it pertains to Social Studies. I liked the way Eric tied in the Autograph activity to his "Scientists." I also liked the Autograph activity & a teacher could re-work that activity to encompass a lot of different subjects/ideas. I also really liked the Worm/Cheese Debate & thought that could be applied many different subjects. I thought the other students who presented had an easy, relaxed demeanor which I would like to emulate in the future.