I am also working on a bilingual comics app called Dim Sum Warriors. More of that later. When you have time, take a look at www.momisateacher.com

Warmest wishes, Yen Yen Woo

“My first day as a teacher was filled with mixed emotions.  The nervous feeling initially set in but after a few days I was finally able to relax (a little).  However, now that I am almost at the end of my first year, the feelings of mixed emotions walk in the building with me in the morning and leave with me when the final school bell rings.  There are some days where I feel defeated, whether it is by the students, faculty, administration, parents or curriculum. And then there are others when I feel on top of the world because my class got through a lesson or one child simply thanked me for making school fun” -Stacy Jones
            Stacy’s experiences in the above passage illustrate both the positive and negative feelings a first year teacher experiences.  This teacher notes how she had to manage administration, faculty, students, and parents, along with the unexpected.  From this statement we can take away the sentiment that the first year of teaching is anything but simple.  Burke (2010) revealed the shocking statistic that nearly fifty percent of all educators quit the profession within their first five years.  As graduate students in the education program at Long Island University at C.W. Post, we think that perhaps a deeper understanding of the first year of teaching would provide first year teachers, and ourselves, with the needed help, support, and realistic expectations to alleviate some of the hardships endured and provide for a successful first year.  It is through our research that we hope to demystify the struggles associated with the first year of teaching and provide some insight for those who are embarking on this journey.  Ultimately, our goal is to uncover how first year teachers in mixed income districts on Long Island manage the physical, social, emotional, and professional experiences of teaching.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:
Preparation for Teaching:

We began our research by reviewing the literature on teachers’ feelings of preparation for the first year of teaching. We found that most of the studies focused on the need for a mentor, more field experience, and more guidance and support during their first years of teaching.

In a study conducted by Cahill and Skamp (2003), the researchers analyzed novice teacher’s perceptions of what would improve their science and technology teaching on the primary school level. In their research, they surveyed a random sample of 100 Australian schools in which there was a least one novice teacher, in order, to determine what factors respondents perceived to contribute to their confidence to teach science content.  Out of these surveys, 46 were returned to the researchers who checked for answer consistency.  These factors included data on the personal characteristics of the novice teacher, past science and technology educational history, school professional experiences, the school culture in their first year of teaching, and self-reports of the teachers’ own practice as it related to science and technology education.  It was found that the novice teachers’ schooling (K-12) had little impact on their confidence levels as future educators.  Likewise, tertiary science and/or technology discipline study units were found to have only a minor positive influence on the confidence levels of respondents.  On the contrary, it was found that curriculum/methodology studies had a strong positive influence on teacher’s confidence levels.  Similarly, a number of block practicum sessions, observations of other teachers, and teaching of science or technology lessons during practicum sessions all contributed positively to teacher confidence.  It was also found that approximately one third of respondents identified their first year of teaching as the greatest positive influence on their confidence to teach.  That being said, over 80% of respondents reported a need for more assistance in teaching from their colleagues during that year.

Colleague support and the help of a mentor can be an important factor in surviving the first year as a new teacher (Street 2004). According to the research compiled from an experiment where fifteen highly effective educators took on the task of mentoring 15 student teachers, many new teachers feel as though they are faced with a “sink or swim” situation as they enter the educational field.  Mentors act as the bridge between a new teacher and an experienced professional.  When done correctly, mentors not only teach a new educator how to create lesson plans, but more importantly, how to survive the first year.

In a study by Herbert and Terry (2000), the authors reported on the successes of a first year teacher.  For this study, the researchers chose to focus on one, twenty-four year old female, beginning her first year as a physical education teacher.  The study was conducted over the course of nine months.  During this nine-month period, the authors recorded seven, 30-90 minute interviews with the participant regarding her first year as an educator.  In addition to interviewing, the authors observed the teacher throughout different aspects of the school setting.  The article supported the idea of establishing a friendly repertoire with seasoned teachers in order to make the first year of teaching a positive one.  Seasoned teachers are aware of the culture of the school, the administration, other faculty members, as well as information on the students and parents in the community.  By having a basic understanding of the school climate, a new teacher can approach situations in a manner that reflects the schools aim and objectives, which will create a more positive experience.  The study concludes by stating that new teachers should use the resources available to them, mentors or other faculty members, to learn as much as possible in order to experience some of the successes obtainable for first year teachers.

Despite what we have learned about the kinds of support that new teachers need, Burke (2010) analyzed the data from the 2003/2004 Schools and Staffing Survey administered by the National Center for Education Statistics on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education.  This study found that only 5.7% of new educators received reduced teaching schedules, 8.2% received a reduced number of teaching classes, and 27.1% received classroom assistance.  It is therefore, not surprising, that nationwide, forty to fifty percent of new teachers quit the profession within their first five years.

Philosophy of Teaching:

After reviewing numerous studies on teachers’ philosophies of education, we found that many educators lose sight of their methodologies once they are working in the field.  This was alarming because despite learning about the importance of student-centered teaching methods in their training to become educators, teachers’ often resort back to teacher-centered approaches when they feel that they must gain control over their classroom.  Our research suggests a need to further cement the importance of student-centered teaching in order to create more effective educators.

A research article by Markic & Ellis (2010) explores student teachers’ beliefs about student and teacher-centeredness based on subject matter.  This study discusses data collected from 266 first-year science education students from four separate German Universities in each of the four science domains.  The sample was comprised of first year science education students: 80 in chemistry, 45 in physics, 75 in biology, and 66 in primary school science.  Qualitatively, these students were tested using a rating scale based on a 13 point checklist of teacher-and- student-centered attributes in three areas (teacher, students, and environment).  Additionally, education students were asked to spontaneously draw themselves and their students in a typical teaching situation.  This tool was used to create a snapshot of the teachers’ beliefs. One of the main purposes of this study was to determine whether children’s distaste for chemistry and physics stemmed solely from the subject matter, or whether varying teaching styles added to students’ negative connotation with these subjects.  In multiple studies, it was found that chemistry and physics teachers are more content-focused, teacher-centered, and less oriented on the theory of constructivism.  It was found that the majority of future chemistry teachers from this sample showed teacher-centered beliefs, despite the fact that modern theories of learning and constructivism call for student-centered approaches.  This tendency toward teacher-centered beliefs was strongest in physics education students.  On the contrary, students planning to become secondary biology or primary science teachers had more student-centered beliefs.  The results of this study are of grave concern and point to a need for a change in teaching practices to mirror that of modern educational theory.

Modern theories of education, although proven to be more successful in the classroom, have not only been neglected by educators, but administrators as well.  In the article by Thomas Farrell (2005), the participant in the study discussed how he had to forgo his beliefs on how to conduct his own classroom in order to please the school’s administration.  The new teacher in this study was very much in favor of the student-centered approach to learning because it allowed the students to learn by doing rather than listening to a lecture.  Although this teacher felt very strongly about his personal classroom philosophy, he was unable to practice his beliefs because they didn’t adhere to the school’s policy on education.  Although he disagreed, this teacher was forced to implement the teacher-centered approach to his classroom.  New education philosophies promote the idea of student-centered classrooms; unfortunately, there are schools, like the one in this study as well as others, that are unable to break the traditional teacher-centered approach to education.  This conflict between personal philosophies and school philosophies presents a struggle that new teachers may face.

Similarly, Brindley and Parker (2010) conducted a study to reinforce the differences that exist between what new teachers are taught in education programs and what is expected in their classrooms.  To complete a thorough study, the researchers followed three students throughout their two-year masters programs in education.  Once they completed their programs, the study continued throughout their first year of teaching.  The participants were interviewed, observed, and asked to keep a journal to document their experiences.  In the case of each participant, the educational beliefs and philosophies established at the conclusion of their masters programs did not survive through their first year of teaching.  It was concluded that these teachers had to overcome their personal beliefs towards education and follow the direction of their school district.  The teaching philosophies and beliefs of each of these teachers focused around the concept of a student-centered approach to learning.  Each of their philosophies were influenced in some way by this constructivist approach to education whether it was seen in the teacher’s choice of learning, lecturing, or seating.  However, these first year teachers had no choice but to forfeit their beliefs about student-centered approaches and adhere to the educational philosophy of their school district.  Once again, this study reflects upon the conflict regarding educational ideologies that can occur.

DATA COLLECTION & ANALYSIS:

In order to uncover information that would allow us to truly understand both the positive and negative experiences endured by first year educators, we conducted in-depth interviews of six Long Island high school teachers working in districts of varying socioeconomic statuses.  Two teachers taught in Syosset, a school with high socioeconomic standing, two teachers taught in East Meadow, a school with average socioeconomic standing, and two teachers taught in Baldwin, a district of low socioeconomic standing.

During this process we created questions pertaining to their experiences, difficulties and successes throughout their first year of teaching.  Each participant was interviewed for two one-hour sessions.  The first interview covered each teacher’s experiences prior to entering the educational field. The second interview focused on their experiences during their first year of teaching as well as their reflections and thoughts afterwards.  The interviews were recorded and then transcribed for further analysis in an attempt to find common threads between our participants and the research.  Through these interviews, we hoped to gain an understanding of the first year experience as well as the best ways to overcome many of the demanding responsibilities faced by first year teachers.

FINDINGS:
            After analyzing and comparing our interviews, we found many underlying themes that were consistent with existing research articles.  Our findings emphasized the need for more collegial support for novice teachers, including the help of a mentor or supervisor.  In a study conducted by Cahill & Skamp (2003), they noted “there can probably never be enough support for individual novice teachers, attending to the many challenges presented by their first class, but systems, school administrators and individual supervisors must take seriously the need to guide novice teachers in their initial year of growth.”  This idea was a major thread amongst all participants in our study.  It is evident that all first year educators should be provided mentors to help them develop into successful teachers.  In order to obtain New York State Professional Certification, teachers are required to have at least one year of mentored experience.  Unfortunately, as made evident in our study, this requirement is often overlooked.  Our participants expressed the desire to have more support and guidance to be better prepared to successfully handle aspects of teaching that are not explicitly discussed in education programs.  For example, one participant, Asher, suggested that in order to appear prepared and professional for conferences or parent meetings, teachers should have organized information on each student including grades, classroom behaviors, and suggestions for further academic success in the classroom.   Asher’s suggestions stressed the need for administrators to more strongly enforce and encourage the guidance of mentors for first year teachers.

Along with teachers revealing the need for mentors, they also expressed the importance of their student teaching experience.  These two factors were found to prepare teachers the most for their futures in the classroom.  Through our research, we have identified the importance of a good student-teacher, cooperating-teacher relationship.  New teachers entering the profession often have common questions and concerns regarding their professional development.   However with the help of cooperating teachers, many of these concerns can be put to rest.  Some of these topics include: what to teach (the curriculum), how to manage a classroom, how to appropriately develop and implement effective lesson plans, how to deal with administrators and parents, and how to remain positive despite the many obstacles they might face.  According to Jon Dexter, “the job of a mentor is to show a new teacher how to do everything that goes along with being an effective educator.  They offer constructive criticism, tips, advice, and a shoulder to lean on.”

Another theme that resounded in our research was the need to reinforce the importance of the constructivist approach to learning.  All of our participants expressed their desire to teach in a student-centered manner. That being said, they also revealed a need to utilize a more teacher-centered approach in order to successfully maintain order and balance in the classroom.  We found that teachers felt they needed to find a balance between the two styles of teaching to create the most functional and beneficial learning environment.  According to Jim Jimson, “Teaching should be done using a student-centered approach so that the kids feel like their opinions matter.  The goal of learning is not to have kids just spit back information, but to truly learn for themselves.  Nevertheless, at times, a teacher-centered approach is needed so that the material can be covered in the allotted time.” Similar findings were discussed in a research article by Markic & Ellis (2010).  This article explored student teachers’ beliefs about student and teacher-centeredness based on subject matter.  In combination with our findings and our research, we have discovered that the constructivist approach should be implemented regardless of subject matter.  In order to better accomplish this, administrators must organize programs that instruct educators about the importance of using a combination of teacher-and-student-centered approaches with an emphasis on student-centered in order to engage and optimize student learning.

Although the first year of teaching is full of challenges and hardships, our interviews have allowed us to find general trends which may make the first year more manageable.  We have compiled the most important tips that our participants have provided in order to supply future educators with suggestions of how to prepare for the first year of teaching.  During your student-teaching semester, take advantage of any opportunity available to gain experience with parents, students, administration, or other faculty members.  The more you can be exposed to during student-teaching, the more prepared you will be.  Another important tip is to observe the different methods a teacher uses to manage the classroom and to make note of the success or failure of these methods.  Furthermore, new teachers should make an effort to reach out to parents, befriend the custodial staff and secretaries, participate in extra-curricular activities and school related functions, embrace school culture, document everything, be prepared everyday and do not be afraid to reach out and ask for help when needed.  To quote one of our participants, “Be friendly, get involved, volunteer, be visible and be open to advice.  We don’t always have all the answers, communicate with the grade or subject area colleagues, speak to your administrator and always be available.”

Although this research has provided us with a large amount of insight into the first year of teaching, some questions still remain unanswered.  In the future, we hope to uncover whether these suggestions ring true amongst other people in the school community, such as tenured teachers, administrators, superintendents, principals and the school board.

CONCLUSION:

As prospective teachers, our goal was to provide others and ourselves with information to help guide us through this journey to becoming an effective first year educator.  Through our research, we were able to uncover the various aspects of the first year of teaching and the many suggestions that new teachers offered.  In this way, we compiled expectations and advice to better prepare those entering the profession.  It has become apparent that the first year of teaching is anything but simple.  However, with the guidance from cooperating teachers and mentors, as well as the aforementioned advice, it can definitely be manageable.  The bumpy road we all must follow to become a first year teacher will be followed by great reward.  For every obstacle we must overcome, there will be a student who, with our help, will achieve great things.

References

Brindley, Roger, & Parker, Audra.  (2010).  Transitioning to the classroom: reflections of second-career teachers during the induction year.  Pergamon.

Burke, Arthur. “How Well Prepared and Supported Are New Teachers? Results for the Northwest Region from the 2003/04 Schools and Staffing Survey.” REL Northwest 097 (2010). Print.

Cahill, M, & Skamp, K. (2003, March). Novice’s Perceptions of What Would Improve their Science Teaching. Australian Science Teacher’s Journal, 49(1), 6-17.

Farrell, Thomas.  (2005).  The first year of language teaching: imposing order. Elsevier.

Herbert, Edward, & Worthy, Terry.  (2000).  Does the first year of teaching have to be a bad one?  A case study of success.  Pergamon.

Markic, S & Eilks, I. (2010). First-Year Science Education Student Teachers’ Beliefs about

Student- and Teacher-Centeredness: Parallels and Differences between Chemistry and Other Science Teaching Domains. Journal of Chemical Education, 87(3), 335-339.

Street, Chris. “Examining Learning to Teach through a Social Len: How Mentors Guide

Newcomers into a Professional Community of Learners.” Teacher Education Quarterly(2004): 7-24. Print.

We are a group of graduate level students studying about classroom management from veteran teachers in lower, middle, and upper-income schools.

As new teachers to be, we feel that learning about classroom management will be important to our success as teachers. When we say classroom management, we are referring to the structure and organization of a classroom, how a teacher models behavior, how to minimize disciplinary problems, while creating a learning environment conducive to learning. We also wanted to learn about classroom management in schools ranging from higher income to lower income areas, whether or not a child has breakfast can make a difference of how they learn. Our research questions as we interviewed and observed veteran teaches are:

How can the teacher find the balance between engaging students and having effective classroom management skills?

How do the needs of students’ different socio-economic backgrounds change the dynamics of classroom management?

How often do you use humor in your classroom?

When you are speaking to students in the classroom, do you use different pitches of your voice to grab the students attention?

If a student makes a derogatory comment, how do you handle this situation?

What type of disciplinary methods do you use when rules are not followed in the classroom?

Through protocol, how do you handle a situation when a child threatens someone in class?

The broad goal of the group was interviewing and researching different classroom management strategies. We tried to zone in on the importance of what types of strategies were the most effective, and which strategies didn’t work so well. We have compiled all of the strategies that we have discovered that seem to work best. For most of us, as new teachers in a public/private school, we worry about how well we can manage our students in the classroom. The group took into consideration what types of strategies and situations most teachers will be involved in, and what the best ways are to regain control without losing one’s cool.

We began this study with several initial questions: How can the teacher find a balance between engaging students and have effective classroom management skills? How do different social classes change the dynamic of classroom management? By understanding different classroom management techniques, how can future teachers learn these strategies?”

Review of Literature

In our topic we sought out several classroom strategies and ideas that can be useful in the class. We found information on “flogging,” humor/tone, discipline, and protocol.

l. Flogging is referred to the act of ignoring the disruptive student by sarcastically agreeing with their remarks of ignorance. For example, a student can clam that you are the worst teacher that she/he has ever had and for a response you can reply with, “well maybe you’re right” and continue on with the lesson. This allows the class to continue on without any further interruptions and the students can stay focused on the lesson. Through the use of humor/tone in a classroom, a teacher can grab the attention of the students through jokes that relate to the lesson, and pitches in the voice that keep the student involved and aware of what is being taught in the lesson. Disciplinary methods involve ways of dealing with unacceptable behavior within the classroom, depending on how the child is acting in the classroom. While protocol involves the methods of how you go about dealing with the disruptive child in the classroom.

Our group member, Rich Blumberg, was introduced to the term Flogging. The veteran teacher that he observed had been in the teaching profession for twelve years. This veteran stated that the term “Flogging” was founded in a textbook used during one of his doctrine courses. Flogging is ignoring the disruptive student by sarcastically agreeing with their remarks of ignorance. In the case presented by Rich of this experienced teacher we see how a student tries to distract the teacher from the lesson by rudely shouting during a reading session, “Mr. Palsnic, you have got to be the worst teacher in the world.” Now, here is where the flogging technique comes into play. Instead of getting his feathers ruffled, approaching the student and reprimanding him/her during the class time, Mr. Palsnic would simply turn towards the novice making a minor response to their quote by saying, “You know what? You’re right probably right,” and continue with the lecture. Dumbfounded, the student will not know what to do because the teacher so graciously accepted the possible truth of the statement they had made. Ultimately, the student’s attempt at distracting the class, is resolved, patiently and wittingly.    

Through the Peters studies he looking at the humor and tone aspect of classroom management. In the literature that he has read, he tried to focus on how effective certain styles of humor could be useful in the classroom. While reading the article, “All Joking Aside: Five Reasons to Use Humor in the Classroom,” by Michael E. Skinner, the author stated, “Students learn and retain more when humor is used . . . students exposed to lectures with humor outperformed their peers who were taught the same material without humor.” (p. 19). As Peter noticed in the classrooms that he observed, he saw teachers who used humor had more interaction with their students, than teachers who did not use humor. He also noticed and discussed with the group that a teacher he interviewed in a middle-income New York school that this teacher treated all of the student with respect. This teacher would always speak to the student as a person rather than a child and treat teach student with respect in his classroom. While Peter was reading further in the article by Skinner, he noticed that Skinner believed humor creates a positive learning environment. Humor helps keep the classroom climate at a high healthy level where, “students feel emotionally safe, and free to actively participate and experiment” (p. 20). Peter also read about classroom personalities and how to manage them. As teachers and future teachers know, there will be multiple personalities to deal with in the classroom. In a article by Richardson and Arker, “Personalities in the Classroom: Making the Most of Them,” the authors provided Peter with an understanding of how to deal with childrens’ personalities and their learning styles. If humor is used properly, it can help you to understand a child’s personality which can help you understand a child’s learning style. Most of the website articles that Peter has read, say that humor must be used in a respectful way that allows student to be comfortable classroom setting. From the readings that he has done, Peter has noticed one reoccurring fact of humor; students learn and retain more when the teacher uses humor in the classroom. 

Andrew’s part of the study focused more on the various disciplinary measures that could be taken in the classroom. Through observation, research and interviews, he discovered numerous ways to deal with different problems that may arise within the classroom. He learned that sometimes, all that is needed may be a stern look towards the problematic student or students. Other times, if a problem is more severe, sending a student to a dean of discipline, making a phone call home or issuing a detention may be more appropriate. One similarity between all of these different methods was that they all are only effective as much as they are feared by the student. For instance, since Andrew focused on upper-class areas, the students feared a phone call home because most of them came from families that were active in their child’s lives. Students would dread a phone call home because, nine times out of ten, the parents would both agree with the teacher’s decision and reprimand their child. Andrew found that, with a well-developed rapport between teacher and students, discipline problems happen far less frequently than in a classroom where the students have no respect for their teacher. 

Jennifer’s focus was on classroom protocol. The literature she reviewed said that the teacher should use what works best for him or her and be open to whatever changes will improve learning for their students. The missing voices are what, why, and where are the input of parents . The gaps are whether these teaching methods are working. We used our interviews to fill in the gaps about what works and what doesn’t.

Data Collection and Analysis

The group collected data through interviews with veteran teachers, and observations in their classroom, we chose at least two teachers each, with a total of eight teachers interviewed to obtain more ways of effective classroom management. We chose the teachers to interview based on the school we observed. The teachers were all very willing to do the interview  and excited to be able to help out future teachers with strategies for successful classroom management. These teachers were all veteran teachers that have tenure, at least ten plus years of teaching, and they provided strategies that worked for them along with some strategies that did not work for them. Also, the teachers all taught different subjects in the schools, and every teacher has their own strategies that work. Our interviews lasted an hour long for each teacher, which allowed us time to receive an in-depth answer for each question that became really useful for our research in classroom management. Some of us transcribed the interviews that were conducted while, one of us used a tape recorder in the interviews, and then listened to the recording again and chose key phrases to answer our own questions after the interview. After the interview, we wrote notes of what we saw of the teacher we did interview. We tried to see what worked well, how the students responded to what the teacher did and, with the different strategies shown, we analyzed what made these strategies so effective. We were curious about how these students reacted to the teacher when these strategies were used? Furthermore, we wanted to connect the ideas that the teacher presented to us with how they actually managed their classroom. Basically, did they practice as they preached?

We then started to read through our data and see what findings hold truth and which ones seemed to be bias. After separating the biases in our research, we started to combine our findings to form coherent ideas.

Findings

For collecting the data for this project we visited teachers of high wealth, middle blue collar, and lower level societies. The interview between us and the teacher’s were conducted during a free hour period in the teacher’s lounge, their classrooms, or other settings of appropriate secludedness on the school grounds. Forty-five minutes was the time frame of a full class period, so the interview was completed without any hassle. These interviews were not recorded by audio or visual technology; everything was documented in writing. During the observations notes were taken to connect the interview responses with the instruction of the classrooms that were observed.

To find out on how humor played a role in classroom management in a middle-class school setting, I tried to find categories that would fit well with each other. In several classrooms that  Peter observed, he was able to  noticed that most to all students are actively engaged with the lesson. In one classroom that he observed in a middle-income school in New York, the students are sitting in rows facing the board, and the teacher goes over the events/lesson for the week to the students. The teacher teaches the lesson, but while the lesson is being taught, the teacher used Social Studies puns and jokes, no matter how corny to keep the students aware of what is being taught in the classroom. For example, one teacher was going over events that happened in World War I, and his joke was, “The milk for Moscow is better than from Pascow,” considering that the capital of Russia is Moscow, and this teacher was able to have some smiles on the students faces while teaching the lesson. Also, from what Peter have noticed is that most teachers tried to stay away from sarcastic remarks toward students, because you could lose the entire classroom, and then build trust issues with the students in that classroom. Through the findings, he noticed the several personalities in the classrooms that were observed, and try to take into account of how these veteran teachers able able to understand and deal with those personalities in their classrooms. In Richardson’s article, “Diverse personalities impact relationships, motivation, and ease learning in the classroom and work environments.” (p. 78). While these personalities in the classroom, teachers must be able to understand how students can work with other students in the classroom. Teachers need to be able to understand a child’s humor, and personality in order to provide a healthy learning environment in the classroom.

In order to determine how different discipline methods could be employed in an upper-class classroom setting, I (Andrew) tried several of them, when they were appropriate, at a private school that I substitute teach at. What I learned was that the disciplinary measure taken needs to fit the level of misconduct on the student’s part. For instance, If I caught a student whispering to his or her neighbor for a pencil after I had asked the students not to speak, I would typically only need to give a stern glance. In this situation, a detention would be an overly dramatic punishment. I also found that the students responded well when they felt that the disciplinary measure was appropriate. As long as they didn’t feel as though they were being treated unfairly, they were quick to acknowledge that they had misbehaved.

When comparing our interview to the research we found a lot of similarities. For instance, in the movie School of Life, the presentably younger teacher, Michael D’Angelo, introduces multiple ways that the “flogging” term is used. Flogging, when used in the movie, doesn’t seem to pertain to just distractive behavior, but can also be used towards common questions in general. One incident in the movie where Mr. D’Angelo is coaching the basketball team he quotes, “We’re down by thirty goals.” A student responds, correcting him, “Uh… 30 points.” D’Angelo wittingly replies, “Thirty goals *and* thirty points? Okay, so we have no chance of winning this game. But are we all having fun?” (School of Life) This is a great way in which flogging can be used in a humorous way towards keeping the students focused. So we see, it’s not only the classroom that proper management techniques can be used, it’s any educational setting; that’s including coaching.

Through continuous findings on humor, we have noticed several themes that have emerged. Mostly a teacher would tell you that there is not one good strategy to combine humor with an engaging activity, but there are strategies that can help. One theme that I came across was classroom environment. This depends on how certain teachers set up their classroom, and how that set up is made for optimal learning. Most of my findings on the environment of the classroom revolved around safety, acoustics, and brightness of the classroom which keeps the students attention in the classroom. Humor was also seen as a positive environment for the learning experience. The use of humor help have healthy climates in a classroom, and help maximize the learning experience because it activity engages students in the learning process.

Andrew found, specifically through his observations and assessment of his interviews, that discipline in the classroom is crucial. Although it is always best to try to prevent a problem before it happens, misconduct on the part of the students is practically inevitable. How a teacher deals with a particular student-related problem is a good indicator of how his or her classroom management skills are. By knowing your students and knowing how to properly address certain problems, a teacher with a good understanding of discipline can work towards reducing the frequency of misconduct in the classroom.

We each chose a school and teacher with experience and tenure. I, Jennifer, chose the teacher I used in my research because he was recommended by one of his former students. I conducted more than a 3 hour session interviewing. I didn’t tape the interview because the teacher didn’t want to be taped. I went home and reviewed the results of my data collected. I transcribed my data. I didn’t use codes for categories The themes leaned were that learning is Universal and good teaching ig the key. I learned how to be a great teacher. By that I mean what to do and not do. A what works and doesn’t work?

Conclusion

We chose to research classroom management, because as future teachers we want to know how we can effectively engage students while having an effective classroom. The questions that we brought up were based on, how we can be effective in engaging students in the classroom of different social structures, and how these different techniques will be useful, not to just us, but other teachers as well?

Preparing ourselves as teacher is the our first priority. Great preparation will lead to perfect classroom management. By keeping ourselves prepared for any situation we will be able to improve our lessons without having any breakdown or relapses towards our main goal of having the students learn. Keeping our classrooms, but most of all ourselves, in a organized, professional and relaxed, understanding fashion, will help us as the instructors to develop terrific classroom management for our learning environments.

Through Peters research findings he noticed that humor is more than just joking around. Humor is a valuable tool in a teacher’s tool belt, when used effectively. With the use of humor, teachers can grab a students’ attention for a lesson, and have then engaged while that student is learning. Furthermore, the group realized that humor can be very motivational for lessons that may seem boring, as long as teachers can connect the lesson and ‘joke’ together. Students will then be able to answer a test question because they will remember the ‘corny’ joke that their teacher said in class, and that could make the difference for a student to do well on a test.

Andrew has found that discipline is much more than yelling at a student for talking. Appropriate disciplinary measures demonstrate what sort of teacher you are. No matter how clear you are with what is and is not permissible in the classroom, it is likely that at least one student will attempt to push the boundaries. Some teachers will be pushovers and allow misconduct to continue which tells the students, “the rules will not be enforced.” Other teachers will be overly strict and give punishments that are excessive for the bad behavior. Ultimately, it is the job of the teacher to decide how best to respond when a student breaks the rules.

According to Jennifer, the implications are that her teaching will be bases on the instructor I interviewed. The reasons I was interested is because I wanted to be the best teacher ever no matter what economic level I will be teaching.

References

Hart, Robert. “Classroom Behavior Management: Educational Psychologists’ Views on Effective Practice.” (2010). Emotional and Behavioral Difficulites. 15:4. p 353-371. <www.ebscohost.com>

Richardson, Rita C., & Emily Arker. “Personalities in the Classroom: Making the Most of Them.” Kappa Delta Pi (2010): 76-81. Web. 25 Feb 2011. <www.ebscohost.com>.

Rosanne Milliken (Producer), & William Dear (Director). (2005). School of Life (Motion picture).Canada: Gynormous Pictures

Skinner, Michael E. “All Joking Aside: Five Reasons to Use Humor in the Classroom.” Education Digest. (2010). p 19- 21. Web. 15 Feb 2011. <www.ebscohost.com>

As time flies by and the world becomes more technologically advanced the issue of cyber-bullying becomes more of an issue. Cyber bullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group that is intended to harm others. In this day and age it is beyond easy to get on the Internet. In fact, people can contact the Internet through cell phones, I pads, I touches, computers, and other technological devices. In a poll of 1,000 children, one third of teenagers ages 12 to 17 and one-sixth of children ages 6 to 11 have had mean, threatening or embarrassing things said about them online. Most of the bullying comes from social networks. These networks consist of mainly Myspace, Twitter, and the most popular Facebook. Unfortunately, these networks are not the only access to cyber-bullying. Aol (America online), aim (aol instant messenger), and even emails are very common ways in which people cyber-bully. Communities, friends, families, and the police are cracking down on cyber-bullying and are not taking the situation lightly. You never know when someone is going to act on a threat that is said to be a joke over the Internet. It cannot be taken lightly at all.
With the problem of cyber-bullying on the rise schools are now being faced with an important question. Who maintains the authority to monitor and reprimand students for these harmful situations? Where will the line be drawn between home life and school life? While districts are recognizing the problems that correspond with online bullying it is difficult for them to actually develop an authority while the students are at home.
There is no doubt that online banter is causing problems in many teen lives across the nation. In the most famous story from west Islip (http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-03-25/news/27059918_1_cyberbullies-social-networking-sites-police-probe) a teen who recently committed suicide is assumed, by some, to have done so because of teasing on the internet. While her parents do not believe this to be the case, it is important that internet usage becomes a monitored activity at home and in the classroom. This is such a tragic story and many believe that there is a need for some sort of regulation. In a related and more direct story (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1) a young student killed herself because she received several messages from a boy who “thought she was not a very nice friend”.
There is an obvious need to protect our youth from this form of abuse. (http://www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying) This article, provided by the national crime prevention council, highlights many ways in which we can encourage our students to promote positive internet usage among our students.

http://0-web.ebscohost.com.enterprise.sacredheart.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=112&sid=27ad180a-0b01-4a6f-b43d-7405cdd04028%40sessionmgr10&vid=5

We are a group of graduate level students who are going to be teachers of students learning English as a Second Language. Weicen’s interest in English Language Learners (ELLs) stems from her learning English in the United States at the age of 22. Wendi is also currently observing in a classroom with 14 new immigrant students. Nicole is going to be a teacher of English Language Learners.

Because of each of our team’s personal connections to the education of English Language Learners, we began this research project hoping to answer the following question:

How do successful teachers of English Language Learners practice and reflect on their teaching?

As we read more in the research literature, we found that America has a rapidly growing population of non-English speaking immigrants. It is estimated that the population of English Language Learners is over 9.9 million which includes 5.5 million students classified as Limited English Proficient (U.S. Department of Education). It also surprised us to find out that the population of English Language Learners grows more than two times faster than that of English speaking students in U.S. According to the U.S. Department of Education, by 2015, it is projected that 30 percent of the school-aged population in the U.S. will be English Language Learners (David & Nonie, 2006).  In any school now, there is a high likelihood that any teacher will encounter students who are learning English as a second language. We hope that our research can help ourselves and others understand the experiences of English Language Learners and identify the teaching practices that teachers have found to be useful for helping English language Learners achieve academic success.

Teacher Strategies in the Literature and Popular Texts

Research Literature discusses how teachers are not properly prepared for teaching ELL students, therefore are not maximizing the opportunities for ELL students to achieve academic success (Lewis-Moreno, 2007). We also found research literature and videos that outline the strategies that teachers can use to teach ELL students so that they achieve success. For example, they could use forms of modeling, repeated reading, or fluency interventions when teaching to help ELL students (Lewis-Moreno, 2007). Another example is the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) (2009) distributed by Pearson. The video that Pearson produced, “New Instructional Model Helps English Learners Succeed” provides talks about the importance of teaching differently for the ELLs, but does not provide further details- our guess is that they would want us to purchase the program to learn the details. However, it leads us to consider the areas that we have to explore in our research, and it will be explained later in our findings.

The Experience of English Language Learners

In addition, the literature also highlights the unique experiences of ELLs that the teacher has to consider. For example, in classrooms, ELLs are being taught in Standard English meaning everyday spoken English. They are not being taught in Academic English, which is what school work and tests, are typically written in. Teachers speak in Standard English when presenting material to students in the classroom. They do not speak in academic terms because most students cannot learn material in that way because it is easier to learn through everyday language and only test in academic language (O’Neal, 2010). ELLs also experience school differently. Immigrant students, for example, go through many struggles and obstacles such as having to help their younger siblings with school work, and working at jobs to help with their families’ finances (Stratton, 2009).
Research Focus

Reading the Literature, we found that we had many questions that were not answered. When the literature talks about the classrooms that ELLs are in, they fail to provide the whole picture – for example, information about whether the teachers are trained to teach ELL students, what types of classes and if the ELLs have support. The impact of the difference in the ages between the ELLs and typical students in the classroom is not really addressed in literature. We also did not come across literature that addressed how the teachers feel about teaching ELL students, or how the regular teachers work with Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) teachers. We would like to hear the students’ perspectives as well – whether they feel that their teachers are teaching them appropriately, or if they feel there are better ways to help them learn. Getting the students perspective is important, but having the teacher getting an outsiders opinion is important as well. They should be having administrators coming to observe them, or asking colleagues what they think about their lessons and if there are ways to improve them. They do not discuss in the readings if the teachers are getting outsiders opinions on creating lessons or different techniques they could use to improve their lessons.

After looking over and discussing what we all read as a group, we decided to look into the following two areas to help us learn to be better teachers to ELLs. These include:

• Students’ perspectives on their own education
• Teachers’ use of successful strategies

It is important that we get the students thoughts on what they need and not just go on what the educators think they need.

Data Collection/Analysis

Besides reading the research literature on the topic, we are also conducted interviews. Each of us interviewed at different levels to compare findings.

There were 6 people interviewed in total.

• 3 were teachers

1. Jackie is a Middle School TESOL teacher that has been teaching for 10 years. She speaks both English and Spanish, which makes her bilingual.

2. Merry is a new TESOL teacher just started teaching five months ago in US, her nationality is Chinese which allows her to speak both Chinese and English. Before coming to the United States she had English as a second language for 10 years.

3. Min is a High school TESOL teacher in a high-needs district. She is a Korean American. English is her first language. She is only able to speak Korean, she is unable to read and write the language. This is her 3rd year as an TESOL teacher and the 6th year in the teaching field. Her reason for becoming an TESOL teacher is that she wants to help as many immigrant children as possible.

• 3 were students

1. Oscar is a 13 year old boy in the seventh grade. Recently moved to America from El Salvador, has been here less than a year. Speaks very little English, and his native language is Spanish.

2. Jerry is a 22 year old student that studies at a university. He is from China, and came to the United States in the summer of 2008. Jerry has already finished his TESOL class; he will graduate from university in the spring 2012.

3. Lydia is an eighth grader in a public school in Bayside, Queens. She was born in China, and this is her second year of being in the U.S. She is seen as a typical good Chinese student who works very hard.

Before interviewing each participant we gave them a copy of the questions. How long it took to interview each student was different for each person. We were able to sit down with each student only once and it ranged from 14-30minutes. Because we had to work around the teachers’ schedules, two of the teachers were interviewed multiple times with the time accumulating to around one hour for each teacher. The third teacher was contacted through email because a sit down face to face interview was too difficult. All face-to-face interviews were recorded and later transcribed. Some interviews included written notes with the recordings.

In order to collect the data about teachers’ successful strategies,  we did several classroom observations. Wendi observed Min’s TESOL classrooms both beginning level and intermediate level before she interviewed Min. During the observation in Min’s TESOL classroom, Wendi found that Min used a lot of teaching strategies those are very helpful for our research question. Nicole observed in Jackie’s TESOL classroom, and was able to see all the periods that she teaches. She was able to see Jackie use both Spanish and English in the classroom to teach the students curriculum. Nicole was also able to see how Jackie uses her body language and visuals to help with teaching the students. Both of the classroom observations really showed us how the successful teaching strategies worked for the ELL students.

Our Findings

As we proceeded with our research we made many new discoveries. Not only did we uncover many useful teaching practices, but some general misconceptions about Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). You will see as you read further.

TESOL Teacher

When we initially thought about a teacher of English as a Second Language we thought that the teacher must know another language in order to do this work. We found that many teachers of ELLs do happen to know another language and all the teachers that were interviewed happen to know another language, and this language may have helped them sometimes when they teach ELLs. However, knowing another language is not a requirement of TESOL teachers.

What makes a great TESOL teacher. Well a great TESOL teacher is extremely strong in English Language Arts and procedures to help ELL students in learning the language and curriculum. Also, TESOL teachers have to do a lot of researches to enrich their teaching strategies in order to teach students who come from everywhere and have cultural diversity. Some ways that these teachers help the students with learning the language is through lots of visual materials, gestures, and miming. An example of this that Nicole found is Jackie likes to use the ELMO (Electric Light Magnifying Object) to project pictures on to the whiteboard for the students so that she can refer to them while teaching a lesson. Another example of visual materials Jackie liked to use when teaching is to bring up YouTube videos for the students to watch and have a better visual of what she is talking about. Jackie also likes to use the Internet to find pictures and other visuals to use when teaching. Wendi found that Min also used a lot of pictures and gestures to help her students understand her. Min told Wendi that 90% of her students in the beginning level TESOL classes are Chinese students. Pictures that can be easily related to the prior knowledge of students are one of her main resources in her classrooms. Min also used a lot of gesture in her classrooms, she told Wendi that newcomers keep coming into the beginners’ class, and most of the newcomers’ listening and speaking proficiency is in the lower level, but they can understand her gestures. Both teachers use these methods to help the students with learning English if they do not know the students’ native language.  Knowing the students’ language makes it a little simpler because you can teach in the curriculum in their native tongue and then teach it in English. That is what many of these teachers did because they find it important for these students to be able to understand what they are learning while also learning the language. It is important for these teachers to make sure they do everything possible to keep these students interested in learning the language and learning in school.

What we have found from our observations of successful TESOL teachers is that they make their classroom environment extremely comfortable. In Min’s classroom, most of the students are very active, they volunteered to answer the questions even if there answers were not correct. The students also asked some questions about their daily life. Min told Wendi that creating a comfortable environment is very important for an TESOL class, and Jackie feels the same way. Except her way of making the environment fell comfortable is that she allows the students to come and talk to her abut anything. She allows them to come to the classroom even if she is teaching to eat their lunch there. She allows them to stop by in the morning before class to help them with any work or to just talk. She has almost an open door policy with the students in her classroom. We believe that what both of these teachers do for the students makes the classroom feel as though it is a second home. They make it so the students feel like the classroom is a second home. It is a place for the students to go if they need help with anything in school. The teachers’ attitude also has a lot to do with this as well. If the teacher has a great attitude about the student and their school work it is going to make the student feel comfortable. When Nicole was observing Jackie one day, she saw how excited and happy she got every time a student understood something. One of the students in the class was having a very difficult time with math, and the all of the sudden just got it. Jackie was so happy she was jumping around the room and just encouraged the student to keep going In this instance Jackie showed that she cared about how the student does and wants the student to well. If the teacher shows this to the student, the student will want to come up to this teacher when he/she needs to for help or something to talk about and they will feel comfortable doing so.

Collaboration Between Classroom Teachers and TESOL Teachers

Most classroom teachers are not informed about practices used to help ELL students in the classroom (Lewis-Moreno, 2007). This is why it is important for these teachers to collaborate with the TESOL teacher. After interviewing the TESOL teachers we found out that many general education teachers will either come right up to the teacher for help or they would not seek out the TESOL teachers’ help at all. In the later cases the TESOL teachers would try to contact the classroom teachers about how to help the ELL students learn the curriculum they will be teaching. The teachers we interviewed talk about how all general education teachers should be well prepared about the differentiation needed in lessons for the ELL students. Now not just being prepared for a lesson is important, but being knowledgeable about the students is important as well.

The teachers we interviewed talked about how teachers should be aware that even if a child can speak English extremely well, they might still need special differentiation of the curriculum for an ELL student. Students, including ELLs, have the ability to pick up the social language fast because it is something they do every day. According to Jackie it is extremely difficult for ELL students to learn an academic language and takes about five to seven years to fully comprehend it. It could take even longer because many ELL students do not have the background knowledge – that most American students have. What they learned in school in their home countries might be very different from that of the American school. From what Jackie said the ELL students never learned about American history in their home country, they learned about things that happened in their countries history. She told Nicole that when teaching the ELL students she has to go back and give them background knowledge, so that they can understand what is going on in their classes. Jackie said the reason she has to do this is that the ELL students do not have all the background knowledge that the American students have in the curriculum. This is because  the American students have been taught the same curriculum since elementary school. So, the students are not merely learning a new language and new school curriculum; but they are learning new ways of doing things and relating to people. In addition Jackie told us if these students do not have the skills to transfer their knowledge across different contexts, there is no way they are going to be able to learn this knowledge quickly. By this Jackie meant the ELL students need to have certain skills in their native language because if they don’t, there is no way they will have it in the new language. When Jackie was saying this she was referring to reading. If a student does not have skills that make them a successful reader in their native language, there is no way the student will be able to have this skill in the new language. The skills that students use to help them with learning and obtaining information are extremely important and if they do not have knowledge of these skills in their native language there is no way they will be able to do it in the new language.

Students’ Perspectives

According to the interviews and observations, we found that the learning environment is very important for ELL students. The students really need to feel comfortable in their learning environment to feel confident in their academic work. Students that seem more proficient or confident have more English speaking friends and are comfortable even away from the other ELL students. Jerry told Weicen that more proficient students also seem more capable of studying on their own, and the one’s less proficient are less likely to study on their own and seek some type of help. Lydia talked about how she enjoyed school and her ESL classes. Lydia told Wendi that she wanted to go to school everyday because she loves being with her foreign classmates and her ESL teachers. She has a lot of fun in school. When she was talking about her school, her teachers, and her classmates, she was so happy. During the interview with Lydia, Wendi found that Lydia mentioned her school and her ESL teacher at least five times, and she continued saying that her school was very good and how she loved her school so much. Generally, Lydia feels more comfortable being taught in the ESL classroom because she is surrounded by people learning the language and most of the time of the same ethnic group. Like Lydia, Oscar said many of same things. He talked to Nicole about how he enjoyed going to school everyday and learning the English language. He was very happy to share about how he loves all his teachers, and being in his school. Oscar also mentioned that he loves coming to the ESL class because he feels comfortable and knows that the other students in the room are learning English as well. This all goes back to how comfortable the students feel speaking English to others not in the ESL classroom.

We noticed in our research that the two students that were both in eighth grade had totally different views about learning and living in the U.S. The school where Min is teaching is a lower-socioeconomic school, there is one student in Min’s beginning level ESL class that tended to avoid communicating with other classmates who have a different cultural background than him. While Lydia who is attending a school that is considered middle-income talks about how she enjoys being with classmates who come from different cultures. These differences made us wonder if socioeconomics may play a very important role in the English Language Learning of ELLs.

However, there were some commonalities between these two students. For example, they both said that it was good for them to understand the content when their teacher put them into the group in which other group members were in the same level of English Language Proficiency.  Learning or grouping with students at the same proficiency level is very helpful for ELL students and the teacher. Lydia said that she liked being put in a group with the students at the same level as her. Her ESL teacher gives the different groups different reading materials, her ESL teacher will also go around the class group by group to read those materials aloud to help students in the different levels learn English appropriately. Lydia told Wendi that she would feel overwhelmed if someone in her group has higher English proficiency than her. Oscar had a very similar experience to Lydia. In Oscars case he was put with a group of more proficient English speaking ELL students. Being in this group was a little difficult for him at first, but it allowed him to pick up English at a much quicker rate. He does not find it so overwhelming being with ELL students that have a higher proficiency because he is surrounded at home with people that speak only English. Having this makes a huge difference and is probably a reason why he feels so comfortable being in with higher English speakers. It is a little more difficult for the teacher to have him in this group, but she manages to help him just fine. We believe the reasoning that these students are grouped by proficiency level is that it is easier for the teachers to work with students that have the same needs and to not discourage the students that are not learning the English language as quickly.

Parents

When we did interviewing with teachers, we asked about the importance of the participation of ELLs. Different teachers gave different answers. Min said that she knew little about the parents of her students. There are parent-teacher conferences in her school, but few parents come to the conferences. Some parents work long hours, and some parents are not even in the U.S. Jackie knows a little about the parents from them attending Family Literacy nights that are held at the school. So she was able to talk about the parents that attend that, but knows very little about those that do not attend. Plus we asked the students about their parents and got some insight about what the parents are like based on what the student had to say. So everything we collected on the parents was based on what both the teachers and students had to say about them.

We assume that parents play a huge role in the ELL student’s academic career as well. How much they participate and how much stress they put on the students school work will tell you how hard the student is going to work and behave in school. What it comes down to is how much do the parents value education. If they don’t value it, how can you expect the students to see any value in education and put an effort in their school work. If the parents find education important then the students will and he/she will work hard on their school work. Keeping students motivated in school is the parent’s job. The teacher is just there to keep their interest in school.

Conclusion

In order to answer our research questions, we did a lot of research about ESL teachers, English Language Learners, and the parents of English Language Learners. We were only able to interview TESOL teachers and English Language Learners, but we received information from them about the parents.

We each had our own reasons for taking part in this study. One wants to be a perspective teacher, another is a student observer in an ELL class, and the last is an ELL learner. Going into the study we had many different perspectives on the topic and coming out there are many different perspectives on what was learned.

Each of us learned many new things, not only about ELL’s, but about teaching in general. Being a successful teacher of ELL does not mean you need to know another language. However, you need to be extremely patient, which goes for any teacher. Mainly because ELL’s may not understand something taught the first, second, or third time. You may have to re-explain or teach it multiple times before understanding can occur. As a teacher you should be prepared on what to do next if student does not understand as well. Also, how it is extremely important to get to know the backgrounds of your students, and their perspective on how they learn.

With the information we have collected throughout this project all of us have grown as educators. We may have focused on the area of ELL’s, but much of the information collected is usefully for any teacher or person looking to become a teacher. Each of us has taken something useful that will help us to grow into excellent and successful teachers.
References

O’Neal, D, & Ringler, R. (2010). Broading our view of linguistic diversity. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(7), 48-52.

Lewis-Moreno, B. (2007). Shared resposibility: achieving success with english-language learners. Phi Delta Kappan, 772-775.

Stratton, T, Pang, V.O., Madueno, M, Park, C.D., Atlas, M., Page C., & Oliger J. (2009). Immigrant students and the obstacles to achievement. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(3), 44-47.

Haynes, J. (2011, January 1). Tips for teaching ells to write [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://everythingesl-everythingesl.blogspot.com/

Spillett , A, & Ochoa, M. (2009). Strategies for english language learners [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://blogs.scholastic.com/ell/

Pearson Education, (2009). New Instructional Model Helps English Learners Succeed [Web]. Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty3n07UaFUU&playnext=1&list=PL9C4D36BA37FEC122

Barbara C. Palmer, Nailing Zhang, Susan H.Taylor, &Judith T. Leclere.(2010) Multicultural Education Language Proficiency, Reading and the Chinese-Speaking English Language Learner, Winter 2010, 44-51

Annela Teemant. ESL student perspectives on university classroom testing practices. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Vol. 10, No. 3, November 2010, pp.89-105.

Elvis Wagner (Temple University, USA ). The effect of the use of video texts on ESL listening test-taker performance(2010). 27(4)493-513

Martin Chodorow, Michael Gamon and Joel Tetreault (2010). The utility of article and preposition error correction systems for English language learner: Feedback and assessment,27(3)419-439

Helen R. Adams. Resource from: http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/accessresources.cfm.

Welcoming America’s Newest Immigrants: Providing Access to Resources and Services for English Language Learners

Learning & Teaching English : How to Teach Adults English As a Second, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIPBZ04sUXQ Learning & Teaching English : How to Teach English Alphabets to Nursery Children , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BipR2dWbdKc&feature=relmfuhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BipR2dWbdKc&feature=relmfu

English Listening Lesson Library Online : Learn English Naturally http://www.elllo.org/

Audrey F. Murphy. (2009) Kappan Tracking the Progress of English Language Learners V91 N3 25-31

Aydin Yucesan Durgunoglu, Trudie Hughes (2010) International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education How Prepared are the U.S. Preservice Teachers to Teach English Language Learners? Volume 22, Number 1, 32-41

Daniel T. Willingham American Educator (Summer 2008) What Is Developmentally Appropriate Practice?  P43-P39

Aleen Barclay, Brendan Murphy, Jereny Roussel, and Julie Vagianos （Spring 2010）Strategies for teaching ESL students in your classroom      Strategies for teaching ESL students in your Classroom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ub0NJ6UClI&feature=related

Bob Herbert (Match 2011) Separate and Unequal       Speaking Real English
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/opinion/22herbert.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=separate%20%20and%20unequal&st=cse

Public school in Australia, Canada and the United States, may refer to a school funded with tax revenue and administered by a government or government agency.  Charter schools in the United States are primary or secondary schools that receive public money (and like other schools, may also receive private donations) but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school’s charter.  Charter schools are opened and attended by choice. While charter schools provide an alternative to other public schools, they are part of the public education system and are not allowed to charge tuition. Where enrollment in a charter school is oversubscribed, admission is frequently allocated by lottery-based admissions. In a 2008 survey of charter schools, 59% of the schools reported that they had a waiting list, averaging 198 students. Some charter schools provide a curriculum that specializes in a certain field — e.g., arts and mathematics.  These are the highlighted facts about public and charter schools. Given this information, where would you send your kids?

This is a difficult question for many parents today.  Recently, a documentary called “Waiting for Superman” investigated this issue.  The movie hinged on the failure of the American public school system and the competition to be chosen to go to a charter school based on lottery.  The competition is stiff.  Are charter schools better?  This is a difficult topic of discussion since the two schools work differently. Who is to say which is better? Only time and today’s economy will tell.

Our Reaction:

After discussing our own personal view on Public V.S. Charter School, we came up with

the following view points:

• We feel that both types of schools are different but yet deliver a professional standard of education.
• There’s no direct evidence that charter schools are proven to be better than public schools.
• Kids may feel intimated with the whole lottery aspect of receiving admission.
• Many public schools have difficulty funding for after school activities which may make charter school seem more superior.
• Charter schools seem to give an impression of luxury and privilege to both students and parents.
• Students may feel inferior to students that attend a charter school.
• Some parents may feel charter schools are for troubled students and by enrolling them in a charter school, there problems will be solved.
• Students don’t perform better in a charter school over a public school. Assessments, grades and projects are equally fair but may be done through different techniques.
• Parents may think by sending their child to a charter school that their child will get into one of the top universities.
• We both went to public school, and feel that we received the same education as if we attended a charter school.
• People view charter schools as more of a private institution opposed to a public one.

Reference Links:

www.waitingforsuperman.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKTfaro96dg

www.publicschoolreview.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLih24QdwH8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKwj8Ln1fss

Authors: Samantha Erck, Whitney Murer, Jacqueline Weinreb

Introduction:

We are interested in the use of technology in elementary education because as graduate education students at L.I.U. C.W. Post, technology is a big part of our everyday lives. However, rarely did we think of the use of modern media technology in classrooms because our exposure to technology in the classroom was so limited when we were the age of the students that we will eventually be teaching. Once this idea was presented to us in this class and others, to our surprise technology seems to have become a large part of the daily activity of today’s students and teachers. Elementary classrooms now have smartboards, iPads, computer games and the internet. In our own elementary school experiences the use of technology was limited to a specific allotted time and involved mostly typing related games. In our time as students, technology was not seamlessly integrated into classroom learning. 

Samantha and Jacqueline are studying art education and are interested in the use of media technology in elementary school classrooms not only because of the vast graphic arts movement, but also for the visual advantages that technology can provide to elementary art classes. The use of media technology in art classes opens doors for students to obtain reference images and further research a concept for their project. Deeper, more thorough and meaningful learning can occur because of the accessibility and availability of information and/or inspiration. Whitney is a graduate student studying childhood education in grades one through six. She became interested in the topic of technology in classrooms because during her high school years, she was fortunate enough to have been issued a laptop along with every other student in her school. She is curious to see the differences in performance with the presence of technology and how the use of this technology at the elementary level is either helpful or perhaps even hurtful for students’ learning development and ability to retain knowledge.

We feel this is a topic that is equally important to teachers, parents and students alike. Media and technology has become a major topic of focus and has certainly proven to be a great tool for learning. Elementary schools onLong Island,New Yorkwere where the research for this article took place. Children are using media technology outside of the classroom more and more each day. Most students in elementary schools were born after computers became essential tools for everyday life. As times change, we must adapt to keep up with the new generations and help properly prepare the younger members of society for a future that they too will have to adapt to and keep up with. Yet some questions arise when it comes to the amount of use and limiting their access. Our main objective in writing this article was to find out what the experiences, possibilities, limitations, expectations and considerations are in using media technology in elementary education?

What did related literature say?

Eighteen articles were compared for research on the topic of media technology in the classroom. There were many themes related to one another, but the one theme found in each article involved reasons why technology in the classroom is a positive aspect of school simply based on the fact that students’ lives are already integrated with media technology. The concept that seeing something can be more powerful or memorable than reading or hearing about something can also help schools become more organized and efficient.

Computer programs have a built-in grammar and spell checking along with easy access to a thesaurus and a dictionary. Readingteachers have found that computers do help with reading development. Students like having a choice and have become accustomed to experiences that are just a click away. Choice is also linked to motivation and achievement. Students need to understand the importance of their involvement in their own learning. In order for schools to become truly integrated with technology, student use of these devices should occur seamlessly, where it becomes second nature to both the students and teachers. Media technology instills skills in students that they need in order to function in modern society. Children have a natural attraction to digital or media technology. (Bartone 2008; March 2010; “Technology Integration”; K&M Woosley 2008).   

The use of video in the classroom allows children to be engaged and have fun while learning at the same time. It is a powerful tool that opens students’ eyes to the world outside of their own communities, as well as teaching them how to cope with their own society. Another benefit of using video in the classroom is that it enhances comprehension and retention and can be watched repeatedly. The use of film in classrooms helps students place film in historical contexts. Films can lead to conversations about real social issues as well as help students to manage and decode the visual information that they absorb daily. The internet and video games help students develop strategic thinking, multi-tasking, problem solving, and planning skills. (Isiaka 2007; “Technology for Teachers”; Standen 2006; “BBC News 2002”).

Researchers have found that typing can be more beneficial to students than handwriting for all students, including students with disabilities, because it is a productive and organizational tool. At one elementary school inNorth Carolina, kindergarteners have their own classroom websites. They have end-of-the-day summaries for parents and homework and other notifications are posted on the website for easy parental access. iPads are now being used to replace text books and are used to ‘hand in’ papers and assignments. The iPad has 5,400 educational applications and over 1,000 of them are free. (“Technology Integration”;Hu 2011).

However, even though many of these aspects have been shown to improve learning, some research has uncovered drawbacks, which sparks debate. Some drawbacks stem from the teachers use or lack there of. Some teachers don’t like using technology because they are not trained in using these devices and aren’t willing to take the extra time to learn. Many argue that a downfall of technology is the chance that it can fail and will leave students falling behind in a lesson because their machine broke. Research also found that teachers were happier to integrate new technology into their classrooms when they started using it on their own, rather than being forced to. Many adults are not fluid in media technology and need time to learn. (Bartone 2008; Stack and Kelly 2006; March 2010; K&M Woosley 2008).

Web 2.0 is a new term for the internet, now that any user can change or put information on the web. Digital media technology is overlooked because it is associated with entertainment and represents fun. Therefore, teachers must help students find credible sources. (K&M Woosley 2008; March 2010; Turkle 2011).

Educators question the use of certain media technology in school, like the iPad for example, because there is little research proving its effectiveness. It can also be said that the money spent on iPads would have been better invested on new teachers and teacher training. Media technology can also limit children socially. Many adolescents prefer texting to talking, an example of how technology has lead them to become less personal. Children can seemingly be inundated with keeping up with technology, unable to give something their full attention due to the presence of technology. (Hu 2011;Turkle 2011).

What do teachers, students, and parents think?

Four teachers, one of which is a parent of three children in elementary school, as well as three elementary school students all from Long Island, New Yorkwere interviewed about their experience with media technology in education. Jonathan is a first grade teacher in Hampton Bays on Long Islandand uses a smartboard throughout the school day. “We use it from the minute students walk in, to take attendance.” They have six computers that persistently manufacture math facts and generate word problems and pictures to make the program seem more like a game to keep students engaged. When students complete the levels they get to print out a certificate that keeps them motivated. Throughout reading instruction, students rotate on and off the computer for phonic, reading, and comprehension drills on the computer. It allows the students to get a double dose of phonic learning and helps build reading skills. They get this all through a teacher directed program as well as ones that are installed on the computer. He also likes the smartboard because it’s interactive and serves as another tool to keep students engaged because it is a lot more colorful and exciting than a traditional chalk board. He said “some kids know more about the computer than the teacher.

Gina, a second grade teacher said she only uses media technology to either introduce topics or sometimes more heavily only on specific topics. She said, “I haven’t really thought about it being this important, but it is the wave of the future. The kids are so comfortable with it now. Even kindergarteners can use key strokes and do so many things. It will be even more prevalent in the future because it is what they know, and being able to keep in touch with parents through email makes it convenient for them too, who are also emerged in media technology culture.”

Lauren is a seventh grade social studies teacher. The program she uses is similar to the smartboard and enables her to create notes for other activities and allows her to add student responses. She said that “on a daily basis it is great because you can highlight documents, visit Google earth, and switch between flip charts.”

Dorothy is the art teacher in an elementary school where she teaches grades one through six. She talks about the benefits of the internet used during a project that involved video conferencing with art museums. She said “the enjoyable part would be watching the students participate in a video conference while learning about art. The principle watched and was impressed with the students’ knowledge of art and their ability to respond to works of art.” She said “it was like going on a fieldtrip without leaving the building.” She also noticed that when video conferencing, there is more participation and involvement from the students.

Jonathan and Gina both used email and online posts to share information through facility members and even share lesson plans and information through online platforms. Jonathan said that at his school, a program must get tested by their network staff to ensure that it will work properly before it is used. He says that technology helps students with ADHD to pay closer attention. He praises technology in the classroom by describing reading a story about bears with the smartboard and how it allows him to insert bear sound effects and other unexpected things to keep the attention of the children. “Because when you start to lose kids, the noises will help engage them again. The smartboard can make anything exciting.” Gina also talks about why this technology has improved learning by adding, “It helps with learning because so many kids are visual learners and to see something in so many different ways is helpful. There are also tools that can read and write for the student,” she says “these programs are used for students who really need them.” The website that she has for her class is helpful for parents whose children may have lost a homework assignment or permission slip. They can just download it from the website. She also noticed that recording or video taping students and putting it on the website motivates students and helps them get better at public speaking and just communication in general.

The three elementary students interviewed, Jordan, Grant, and McKinley all said that the smartboard, iPads, and computer games helped them to remember, especially with practice, which they enjoy doing because these computer games made learning more fun. Grant is eight years old and in second grade, while McKinley whom is in third grade were both asked if they could remember the first time they used a computer and both of them found it difficult to answer that question. Grant said if he had to guess he’d say “maybe one year old.” Technology and the internet have been a large part of society for as long as these students have been alive. When they were asked if they would want to use more media technology in school, they actually said no because their teacher just recently taught them about earth day and they turned everything off for one hour to conserve energy and then watched a video about global warming. After seeing the video about the polar bears inAntarcticadying because the ice is melting, they said they would sacrifice using energy to save a species. This is a great example of how powerful video can be to get a message across to children.

On the other hand, the first grade teacher, Jonathan notices a downside to the media technology revolution. Sometimes the teacher’s will to properly educate themselves on the technology just isn’t there, whereas sometimes it just seems to confusing to understand how to effectively use its features. He finds it difficult to understand some of the reports given to him by one program that the students use, yet Gina is able to assess where she has to focus more attention based on the reports she receives that evaluate the student. It comes down to the training and the user ability and easy navigation that make this type of technology effective. Jeff even said, “You can’t teach an old dog, new tricks.” Some teachers are so afraid of technical difficulties that they choose to skip it all together. Gina had to ease into using the smartboard. She said she used it like a high tech chalk board at first before they gave her training. Now, despite the two helpful sessions of training for teachers that were provided in the past year, she still feels somewhat overwhelmed and also feels like it takes her more time to write lesson plans using the smartboard than it would to write a ‘regular lesson plan. Lauren, who is only twenty-six years of age has an easier time adapting to the technology, but also has her doubts.

She said, “It was quite shocking for some when we showed up for the first day of school and the overhead projectors were in the dumpster and the chalkboards were all removed. We were also directed to use the new technology for open school night which puts a lot of pressure on us and our technology support (consisting of only two people) to make sure everything is up and running properly.” All of the teachers agree that technical difficulties are much more frequent now with all the new media technology. Lauren said “the ways the boards work now means if your computer is not working, you are dead in the water. “And,” she said half-jokingly, “As I think we all know, technology never works when you really need to rely on it.” If teachers share classrooms, the computers are also shared which in some cases lead to changes in settings, which can also present an added challenge to the teacher.

The availability of technology also came up with Gina whom is also a mom to three children in elementary school, when she said that she notices that her children are more advanced than her students when it comes to technology because they have so much more of it in school than her own students have access to. She only has three computers in the classroom and she said they are “not kid friendly.”  Jonathan never has students do homework on the computer because of low-income families in the community that may not have access to a computer at home. He also noticed a drawback in that only one student can go up the smartboard at a time, unlike a chalkboard where ten students could be doing math problems all at once. Both Jonathan and Gina complained about the lack of hands-on computer time for their students at their school.

Another downfall can be the appropriateness of these media technologies. Jonathan says that laptops are not necessary in first or second grade because they still need to master handwriting. Gina also noticed a significant decrease in the quality of handwriting since technology became more prevalent in the classroom. Students also rely too heavily on spell check, as Jonathan says, “When they take standardized tests with writing sections, they aren’t going to be able to spell words correctly.” He also found that false information on the internet makes it hard on teachers because a student will often come to class thinking they’ve found the right answer and it turns out not to be factual information. LittleJordaneven thinks that looking in a dictionary is punishment because “it takes way too long.” Gina also said that she thinks that “it can have a negative effect socially. It’s great to have your own little computer, but you have to interact with people and play games, learn how to take turns and so forth. ese things are lifelong skills. I think some social skills are lost if students are always glued to a screen, with the exception of social networking.”
What have we learned in this research process?

By doing this research we have learned that technology has become an essential part of education.  A teacher might oppose technology, but must use some form of it everyday. We have learned that technology offers many possibilities with positive ramifications, yet drawbacks do exist.  In general, older teachers tend to oppose technology because they are accustomed to traditional teaching methods, such as written lesson and plans and a chalk board.  Younger teachers are more eager to utilize technology because they have been immersed in technology their entire lives.  Technology excites students on an elementary level because of the use of animations, vibrant colors and the connections to the outside world. We found that the use of computers and smartboards are a great way for teachers and students to collaborate with one another.  While teachers can also share lesson plans and ideas with each other.  Some school districts are fortunate enough to provide their students with individual laptops, which allow students to submit work electronically and limit paper waste.  Technology also acts as an enhancer to traditional lesson plans and can bring more excitement to the classroom and motivate students. The use of images and videos can be accessed within seconds of a discussion.  Furthermore, technology can be used to assist students with disabilities.  Specific to our observations, a hearing impaired student was provided with an amplifier system to enhance her education.

All programs utilized are monitored by the school district, which ensures school safety and reliability. However, the preparation for incorporating technology is sometimes time consuming and inconsistent.  If teachers become dependent on technology, it may result in little, to no leeway when an error occurs or the network is down with limited technical support.  While computers are beneficial, it is crucial that younger students, namely kindergarten through second grade students receive teacher instruction.  Hands-on instruction is important for students to develop reading, writing and motor skills. This inevitably leads to questions like, how can educators prevent network failure?  How can teachers better prepare themselves for network failure?  Can teachers overuse technology?  Do the pros outweigh the cons?  How would you incorporate technology in your classroom?

Time will tell how these questions will be answered, but we are confident that methods and practices will be developed in the event of unexpected technical error and/or any other negative repercussions that may come as a result of the integration of technology in classrooms. Just as society adapts their daily lives to the technology, so too should the teaching methods. Alternate options for lesson plans that rely on technology will be in place as a back up plan. With the universal embracing of technology in the classroom, will come systems and practices to reduce any negatives and accentuate the benefits of technology’s presence in standard education.

Works Cited

 Ashraf, Bill. (2009). Teaching the Googled-eyed YouTube generation. Education +Training, Vol. 51 No. 5/6, pp.343-352

Bartone,Wright. (2008). Literacy Instruction With Digital and Media Technologies. TheReadingTeacher,62(4),pp.292-302

BBC News | EDUCATION | Video Games ‘stimulate Learning’” BBC News – Home. 18Mar. 2002. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/1879019.stm .

Brown, John Seely. Digital Media – New Learners Of The 21st Century. PBS, 2011. PBSVideo. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. http://video.pbs.org/video/1767466213/ .

Hu, Winnie. “Math That Moves: Schools Embrace the ipAD.” The New York Times[New York] 5 Jan. 2011, late edition, east coast ed.: A. 16. The New York Times. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.

Isiaka, Babalola. (2007). Effectiveness of video as an instructional medium in teachingrural children   agricultural and environmental sciences. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT), Vol. 3, Issue 3, pp. 105-114

Jenkinson, Jodie. “Measuring the Effectiveness of Educational Technology: what are weAttempting to Measure.” Electronic Journal of e-Learning 7.3 (2009): 273-280. ERIC PlusText. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.

March, Tom (2010, June 6). Student Framework for Learning in a Digital World. Referenced from http://ozline.com/entry/strategies/ceqall/rationalem /

Rice, J. W. (2007). New Media Resistance: Barriers to Implementation of Computer Video Games in the Classroom

Spalter, Anne Morgan, and Andries Van Dam. “Digital Visual Literacy.” Theory Into Practice (2008): 93-101. ERIC PlusText. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.

Technology for Teachers www.wecollaborize.com/Classroom

Stack M. & Kelly D.M. (2006). Popular Media, Education, and Resistance

Standen, Amy. “Reading Film: The Story of Movies | Edutopia.” K-12 Education &Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies That Work | Edutopia. 19 Oct. 2006. Web. 25 Apr. 2011.<http://www.edutopia.org/reading-film-story-movies-visual-literacy-video>.

What Is Technology Integration? | Edutopia.” K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies That Work | Edutopia. 05 Nov. 2077. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. http://www.edutopia.org/teaching-module-technology-integration-what .

Turkle, Sherry. “Have We Grown Too Fond of Technology.” Interview by Ira Flatow.Talk of the Nation. NPR. 25 Feb. 2011. NPR. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <//http://www.npr.org/2011/02/25/134059283/have-we-grown-too-fond-of-technology.>

Woolsey, Kristina, and Matthew Woolsey. “Child’s Play.” Theory Into Practice(2008): 128-137. ERIC PlusText. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.

Zhao Y. & Frank K.A. (2003) Factors Affecting Technology Users in Schools: An Ecological Perspective Challenge Based Learning. Referenced from http://ali.apple.com/cbl

By: Kelly Burns and Courtney Kenney

At his grandmother’s wake, John kept to himself and did not talk to anyone. He was playing with his Matchbox cars. I don’t even think he saw me enter the room. I watched him very closely. He was playing a game with his cars where he would crash them together and proceeded to make noises associated with a car crash. He then took his car and rolled it right in the middle of a crowd of people, one of whom almost stepped on the car. John’s 16-year-old brother Charlie witnessed the accident and scolded him for disrupting the wake. Charlie took john’s cars and placed them in his pocket. John lunged at his brother crying and screaming to get his car’s back but Charlie proceeded to ignore him and told him to “Stop acting like a baby”.

John is a third grader who has been living next door from Courtney for a few years. Courtney spent the 2008-2010 school years babysitting John and his two older siblings. Recently there was a devastating tragedy in John’s family, his grandmother passed away. Discussing about this observation of John’s behavior at his grandmother’s wake, it struck us that we may have students in our future classes that will be dealing with some sort of death or tragedy and that if we do not pay attention or listen to them carefully, we would not understand the context for their behaviors.

We are two graduate students in an introduction to educational research class. When we began discussing our own experiences with children outside the classroom (for Courtney) as well as observations in k-2 classroom setting (for Kelly), we realized that what we were really interested in was to answer the question: How can we practice different ways of listening to children?

This study began to interest us when we used our own experiences. This research has opened our eyes to how important it is to listen to children differently; not simply through their words, but also through their actions, through what they say, the questions they ask and the conflicts they are in.

Through our research we discovered many popular articles, podcasts and videos discussing ways to communicate with children.  One common problem all these different texts highlight is how adults (both parents and teachers) are simply not listening to their kids.

Review of literature:

Through review of research and popular texts we found two important themes for those of us who are learning to be teachers. First that adults are not listening to children, and second, what are children actually saying when they speak and are listened to?

1. Adults are not listening to children

We looked at “Take a moment to listen”: a pamphlet by the Center for Health Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness (Chetna) that is typically distributed in any health care setting.  “Listening is a part of the Child’s Right to Participation that is one of the four groups of child rights covered by the UN-CRC1 announced in 1989,” (Chetna, Take a Moment to Listen). The pamphlet highlights the reasons adults do not listen to children. Some reasons are because listening is not a regular practice, adult listening is not very common and listening is not considered important as much as speaking skills. For example, there are awards for speaking skills but there are hardly any awards for listening skills. Listening is hard to do. It is more than hearing sounds. Listening means thinking about the things you hear and requires time and the attitude. Speaking allows us to control and direct where as listening puts us at the receiving end. Adults feel that only experience can teach and hence they have nothing to learn from children as children lack experience. These reasons seem more like excuses to us. That is why not listening to children is the problem. “Listening to children is not only important, it’s their right to be heard,” (Chetna, Take a Moment to Listen).

Heshusius (1995), discusses how when having a conversation with others we tend not to listen to who’s speaking as well as we should. Heshusius (1995) took this idea and implemented it to talking to children. He used his college students, those who were soon to be teachers, and gave them the assignment to talk to a child, about what, was up to the child. He wanted his students to truly listen to a child and hear what they have to say because in the world of education, the teachers do all the talking. The majority of people listen to others only to think of what they will say next. Do you truly listen to people when they talk or do we just sit there quietly waiting for our turn? What we are doing in the classroom as teachers is a problem. Teachers and adults assume what a child wants and needs and a child’s actual thoughts and opinions get tossed to the side. Heshusius (1995) concluded that he hopes “the students have experienced more consciously what it is like to deliberately let go of the self, thereby discovering how much they can relate as people to the youngsters they will teach. To hear youngsters we must get ourselves out of the way”.

When we are listening to children what is it that they are actually saying? Children are intelligent human beings and have the right to express themselves in school as well as in the home. Through our research we found similarities of when children actually communicate with adults they make it a point to be heard, understood and appreciated.

2. When Kids do speak what do they say?:

Alison Cook-Sather (2009) talks about the Teaching and Learning Together Project where the focus is on students teaching the teachers. It goes into a review of researchers arguments for listening to students as well as a description of the project and the teachers who were involved. “These teachers work in the public school system and emphasize how the project allows them to reassess the student own experiences in schools. They got a clear picture on what it means to really listen to their students. These teachers learned how important it is to take students points of view seriously and to recognize how much more interested and engaged in their own learning students were when teachers were actually listening and responding to them,” (Cook-Sather, Alison, Pg. 176).

These students had control over their own teaching and learning. This project was conducted in a high school setting but it can definitely work in an elementary school setting as well. Students being involved in their own curriculum planning as well as being able to peer teach is a great way to hear their voice and opinions.  If students can be this involved with their learning then they can also be involved in the way they are assessed.

In a study done by Cushman (2009) he and his high school from New York City came up with the idea, along with other teachers, to form and put together their own version of the SAT which is more relevant to the lives of urban youth. They called the test, SAT Bronx; a test made up of words and stories of the experiences given to them from actual students living as urban youth. The students decided to change the stories that were used in the test as part of the reading comprehension section to stories they would understand. The stories would relate to inner city living, and the difficulties a teen in the inner city may face.

The idea of the SAT Bronx brought greater willingness to the students to take part in such a standardized test. The urban youth in New York City know what it is like to grow up in an area like theirs, so why not give them a test they can relate to? Karima, an 11^th grader stated to Cushman that “we wanted to turn the tables around, and actually have situations and experiences on the test that dealt with us”. The students Cushman had worked with had a positive feeling about the work they were asked to do and enjoyed the idea of relating the test to their lives. Cushman (2009) got to the core idea of hearing what students need and that they want to be understood.

Wouldn’t it be nice to actually hear from children on their thoughts about adults listening skills. In this blog you will see a link to a pod cast we researched called “How to Listen to Children”. In the beginning of this pod cast we hear children talking to the broadcaster about questions they hear from adults. It’s always the same thing. You can hear the frustration in their voice. They also discuss that adults are not age appropriate and speak to them like they are “babies”. If they are asked the same thing repeatedly and spoken to in a juvenile manor, what makes us as adults think that they would even want to communicate with us?

Data Collection/ Data analysis:

We collected our data through observing kindergarten through 3rd grade classroom settings. These observations spread out between the two of us were about 20 hours. During our observations we learned a lot about listening to students through the actions they do, the things they say, the questions they ask and the conflicts they have. Courtney observed in a bilingual Kindergarten class as well as first through third grade classrooms with mostly African American and Hispanic students. The school consisted of lower income families and the surrounding suburban area was of mostly African American and Hispanic decent.

Kelly observed in a Kindergarten through third grade classroom setting on Long Island where the school was mainly children of Caucasian ethnicity but was diverse a bit. The school was a mixture of lower-middle income families.

In addition to the observations, each of us also conducted interviews. Courtney interviewed Ms. Hatcher a bilingual Kindergarten teacher. Her interview was about a half hour long and it was transcribed in a question and answer form. Kelly interviewed 13 Kindergarten through third grade students in an afterschool program she works at. Her interview consisted of sitting down and speaking to children about what they find enjoyable, about going to their class everyday and what they find difficult.

Both of us have had prior experiences inside as well as outside the classroom with observing and interacting with children between the ages of 5 and 9. We told each other our memories of these observations, which we also included as vignettes in our data.  As we read through all the data that we collected, we categorized our interpretations into five different themes, bullying, behavioral issues, new baby, moving and Death. When observing and listening to the children we tried not to interact with them and pull information out of them, we simply sat and observed them or let them come to us and talk. We tried to follow Heshusius’ (1995) methods of listening to children.

Findings:

Bullying Situations:

Through our observations in a classroom setting we both have witnessed bullying situations. Bullying is very different between genders as well as age groups. Courtney was observing in a kindergarten class and witnessed a situation between three young girls. Two of the girls were picking on the third by repeatedly pinching her and then when she pinched them back they would run and tell the teacher.  The young girl who was originally being pinched first got in trouble instead of them. This happened all the time through out Courtney’s observations. Kindergarten girls as well as boys would tease each other through physical acts such as hitting, kicking and pinching. Through other observations of the older grades the violence became worse with the boys and the girls leaned more towards verbal bullying.

Kelly saw bullying in a different way. Robert is a five-year-old boy in her afterschool program. She noticed he was becoming very sensitive to everything around him. Jokes that were once funny to him now seem hurtful. Kelly stated that she would tiptoe around him because of his heightened sensitivity. She then found out by speaking to Robert that his 9 year-old older brother has been picking on him every day at home. Roberts’s experiences in the household have carried over into school. The action his brother has taken on him has made Robert extremely paranoid and sensitive. Kelly has also witnessed multiple bullying situations in her afterschool program. She also agrees with Courtney that the girls tend to be more verbal and boys more physical.

Bullying has become a nationally known threat to children in the U.S. It is an issue that a teacher must be careful when dealing with because each child will be affected by it differently. When observing bullying it is hard as a teacher not to get involved when you observe it happening; there will be times when you choose not to get involved and let your students work it out themselves and there are times where a teacher must step in. By observing children in situations of bullying we have agreed that it is important to approach each situation differently. In cases of bullying listening to the child isn’t enough because there may be an instance where they choose not to say anything and as a teacher you have to be their voice and help them find theirs.

Understanding Behavioral “Issues” in Context:

            Through our observations we have seen an array of different behavioral issues through the K-3^rd classroom setting. Kelly has witnessed behavioral problems of Chris a 2^nd grade boy who is an only child and was raised by a single mom, who conceived Chris at a very young age. Chris is also looked over by his 20-year-old Uncle when his mother has to work. His teacher has explained to Kelly that Chris struggles with listening skills and following directions. Chris is the class clown but takes it way to far. For example he burps when the teacher is speaking, throwing objects at students and refusing to follow classroom directions. Kelly has also witnessed a few behavioral problems in her after school program. She has been having problems with gossip between a few 3rd grade girls. They are very materialistic and gossip about the latest toy their parents have purchased for them and there have been times where jealousy has been a major issue.  When we observe children in our classroom we do have to become aware of what their home life may be like and what the child is dealing with on their own time. Not every child comes from a home that is perfect.

Courtney has observed a Kindergarten boy named Jose. Jose is a bilingual student who’s English is very poor. He is one of Ms. Hatcher’s lower performing students and she has had issues all year long with Jose. He does not listen to directions, hits the other children and disrupts the class constantly. He does not want to complete any of his work he would rather play games in the corner by himself or explore on the computer. His mother even comes to school in the beginning of the day and stays with Jose until lunchtime to make sure he is not disrupting the class. After watching Jose continually disrupt the class Courtney had to ask one simple question, what is being done about this boy? Ms. Hatcher informed Courtney that Jose will be taken from the class and placed in a special education classroom setting where he can be watched more closely and begin his journey for a better education while his needs are being met. Courtney has also witnessed issues that a first year second grade teacher has been having controlling her entire class. She has poor classroom management skills and her class as a whole is having major issues following every day classroom rules and regulations.

We both are graduate students getting ready for a career in teaching. We are looking forward to a new classroom with new faces. Through our observations we now understand fully what it is going to be like managing a classroom, controlling and understanding certain confrontational situations and making sure each and every child is getting the help they need to succeed in life. It will be a challenge at first but every challenge come with reward. The reward for us will be our students trusting us enough to come to us with their problems weather it is educational or personal. We can do this by taking a second to watch, learn and listen.

New baby:

Kelly has been working with an 8-year old boy in her afterschool program named Kevin. Kevin was always a smart and enthusiastic boy. She has recently been noticing Kevin’s lack of motivation towards his schoolwork and how he is shying away from the other kids and he has become very A-social. A boy who was once very organized has seemed to stray away from anything school related. Kevin’s mother has recently had a new baby and Kevin has yet to mention the new addition to the family. Kelly knows about his new baby sister but was told by his mother that Kevin was not too happy about it.

Courtney was observing in a Kindergarten class where a students mother has just had a baby girl. Juliana is a big sister now and very excited to share it with the class. She brings in pictures and shares during class that her new sister looks just like her and cant wait until she becomes a little older so she can play games with her. Her enthusiasm about her new sister has made Juliana much more sociable in class and she is excelling in her schoolwork.

We both understand through these observations that a child’s life may go through some dramatic changes. It can either affect them in a positive or negative way. We just need to make sure that we are aware of these changes.

Moving:

            Danny is Courtney’s first cousin on her mother’s side. He is in the first grade in the Harborfields school district in Greenlawn N.Y. Recently he was just informed that he will be moving the nearby town of Centerport N.Y in just a few months. He will be entering into a new neighborhood and a new school as well. Courtney’s family had a barbeque at the Greenlawn house a few weeks ago. They were in preparation of the packing process. Danny was very devastated when his playground was knocked down to accommodate a quick and easy move for the family. He was told he would no longer need the playground because his new backyard was Centerport Harbor and he will have a big yard to play in. Danny was devastated about his playground being knocked down. Danny explained to Courtney that all he wants is his playground and he does not want to move. He wants to stay at his old house with his old friends and in his old school.

Mary is a 7-year-old girl who has just moved to Manhasset and has recently joined Kelly’s after school program. Her parents had told Kelly that since the move she has become very emotional and formed really strong attachments. Recently, it being spring break, Mary cried hysterical when leaving her elementary school teacher. Kelly tried to explain to her that spring break is only a weeklong and she will see her teacher soon but it did not help. Mary as also been getting herself very worked up every Wednesday when Kelly leaves early for class. She cried so much she works herself up into a panic even though it is a repeated situation every week.

When a child faces a huge change in their life it can be very overwhelming for them. When dealing with Mary in Kelly’s afterschool program we have come to realize that working with the child and parents together can help tremendously. Working with parents shouldn’t be avoided; working together helps the child adjust easily knowing that everyone is there for them. With Mary, Kelly has been in constant contact with her teacher and parents to make the adjustment easier for her and Kelly as well as Mary’s teacher have found ways to help her along with listening to Mary and asking her how she feels.

Death:

            We began our paper talking about Courtney’s neighbor who recently had a grandparent pass on. We have both observed two more situations regarding death and the way children handle it. Samantha is a kindergarten student. She has not been in school for several weeks. Her teacher informed Courtney that Samantha’s father has passed away of cancer. When Samantha returned to class her demeanor seemed very uncomfortable. It took her a few days to get back into her every day routine. Once she did that Samantha seemed comfortable and back to her old self in no time. She needed time to adjust from sorrow to school and being with he friends.

Kelly’s cousin Thomas is an 8-year-old boy who has recently lost his Uncle. His Uncle and his father were very close, and to Thomas it was like losing a second father. For months after his death Thomas would carry a picture of his uncle but never wanted to talk about it. For Thomas it was easier to avoid the topic then to confront it and would walk away if his name was ever brought up.

Death is a situation that many children will face at some point and every child is affected by it differently. Children have their own coping methods, by observing them you will learn what works for them and what they feel comfortable doing for the time being. A child may not want to talk during a situation such as this and observing their actions is key into helping them adjust from their terrible situation to moving on.

Through all our findings we came across many similarities in how children deal with certain situations. All of these similarities came to us through observations, personal experiences and interviews with students and teachers. We decided to put our heads together and come up with tips for teachers on how to listen to children.

Tips For Teachers:

We both have found many things through our observations and research about how to help teachers listen to children better. In the pamphlet Take a Moment to Listen (Chetna) we found the following very helpful.

“What Does Listening to a Child Involve?

• Giving your full attention
• Face him/her
• Sit with her/him and have eye contact
• Understanding your child’s tone and body language
• Allow your child to lead the way instead of giving your verdict.
• Being open to and respecting child’s views.

Why is Listening Important to Children?

• Listening to children enables them to put forward their thoughts and feelings
• Develop positive self concept
• Enhance children’s competence and self confidence
• Help children to accept other’s point of view
• Help children to develop trust in adults.
• Develop and sharpen their skills in negotiation and communication.
• Establish healthy relationship with adults and peers,” (Chetna, Take a Moment to Listen).

Through Courtney’s interview with Ms. Hatcher, a bilingual Kindergarten teacher, Courtney received some very helpful information on how Ms. Hatcher is practicing listening to her students better. She explains how she is taking the time to get to know each individual student as a whole. She takes the time everyday to speak individually with every one of her students and give them time to ask questions to her. She does not judge she just listens. She understands that they all have their own personalities with their own individual questions, whether it’s about life in general or just classroom objectives. Ms. Hatcher admits that it has been an ongoing struggle throughout the school year but she is continuing to make sure that her students understand that they all have an opinion in their education. They to can make decisions and they are being heard.

In a video entitled ‘Engaging multiple intelligences in the classroom’ a woman by the name of Pam Schiller goes on to explain the idea of Gardner’s multiple intelligences and how locating a child’s multiple intelligence is key to a successful classroom. Children are all so different and by having a classroom that can incorporate a child of every intelligence can almost ensure that every child will be reached. Schiller gives the examples that using art can be for a child who is more spatial, music for the child that is musical or intrapersonal and show and tell and reading for those students who succeed more in language. Schiller mentions that it is our job to make sure every child has the opportunity to learn through their multiple intelligence profile; which she goes on to explain that out of the eight multiple intelligences the child’s highest four are their multiple intelligence profile. Schiller explains that we need to become aware of children and learn what they need. When listening to children and asking them what they want and what they expect out of learning you will notice that not every child will respond to the question the same.

Conclusion:

To answer the question how can we practice different ways of listening to children? We have observed, interviewed and reflected on past experiences. We both agree that in the past we looked at certain situations with a slight judgment, almost interpreting our own thoughts on what children think. We took things too literally and didn’t give the child a chance to have a voice.  Through our findings we have observed children through the things they say, they questions they ask and the actions they do. We separated our findings into categories such as, moving, death, bullying, new baby and behavioral issues. These are just a few themes that we have found similarities in. We understand that there are many more situations that teachers will come across in their classrooms. Upon starting this research project the both of us have agreed that when we are in the presence of working with children we have changed the way we go about interacting with them. Instead of asking all the questions we let them ask us, we let the child choose what to talk about. Before this we have gone to many classrooms to complete our observations for our class fieldwork assignment only to watch the teacher in the classroom and how they dealt with classroom management. Now when observing various classes we began to focus more on the students and try to see what works for them and how they interact in the classroom. As teachers we all need to understand that these situations do exist and need to be acknowledged.

Through our tips for teachers we discussed that each child is an individual with different needs and opinions. By doing this research project we have learned a great deal through all our experiences and observations. We as teachers need to let our students know that they are being heard and that they too can have an opinion in their education.

Our vignettes of past experiences outside the classroom really opened our eyes to how we really were not listening to children but using our own opinions on outside behaviors and didn’t look at the deeper picture. For Courtney when she originally experienced her cousin’s situation of with moving away from home, she assumed that he was extremely depressed about the fact his playground was gone and now his old home was gone through his actions. He now has to adjust to a new school and new experiences. For Courtney’s neighbor his behavior during his grandmothers wake and his anti-social behavior screamed out as attention at first but looking back at the situation and speaking to him afterwards this was his way of dealing with the death of his grandmother and the fact that he did not want to deal with it at all but he truly does miss her very dearly.

Bibliography

1. American Life: “How to Talk to Kids  http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/341/how-to-talk-to-kids.

2. Center for Health Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness (CHETNA): Take A Moment to Listen.

3. Cook-Santher, Alison (2009). I Am Not Afraid to Listen: Prospective Teachers Learning From Students

4. Cook-Santher, Alison (2009). Listening To Students About Learning Differences.

5. Cushman, K. (2009). Sat bronx: a collaborative inquiry into the insider knowledge of urban youth. Theory Into Practice, 48(3), 184-190.

6. Heshusius, L. (1995). Listening to children: “what could we possibly have in common?” from concerns with self to participatory consciousness. Theory Into Practice, 34(2), 117-123.

7.  GryphonHouseInc. (Producer). Engaging multiple intelligences in the classroom. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv_zUe69H94

SARAH: Hey Danny my parents wont be home tonight want to come over and fool around?

DANNY: You know it, why dont you send me a picture of yourself through text message so I know what I’m getting into

We are two graduate students in a curriculum development class. Our assignment was to pick a topic dealing with education and blog about it. One topic seemed to stand out among the rest when we discussed issues we have noticed in secondary schools we have both worked in. This issue is “Sexting”. In our research we found that 2 years ago “sexting” did not exist in the English language. Sexting is the act of sharing sexual risky messages and/or naked pictures via internet or text.

In this day and age having a cell phone is the norm. It is an important tool of communication between many teenagers. We discussed the problem and the problem is that students are having these risky conversations which may or can lead to risky behaviors. Parents and teachers may or may not be aware of this at all. Our research question is what are parents and educators doing to prevent these risky behaviors from happening?

According to Lohmann, the author of the article “Sexting Teens,” statistically 1 out of 5 teens admitted to posting sexually explicit pictures on-line; 20% of all teens say they have sent or posted a sexually revealing photo or video; 39% have sent sexually suggestive messages and 71% of teen girls and 64% of teen boys have shared pictures with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Teenagers, according to Lohmann, are doing this because of peer pressure, someone asked them to do it. They also use sexting for “hooking up” via internet or cell phone. Some teens even argued that sexting is a way of being intimate without the worries of pregnancy and/or STDs. What they do not realize is that sexting is used as a shield or mask. The things they are sharing via internet or cellphone are things they wouldn’t even dream about sharing in the real world. It’s exposure, exposure to the world around them and they don’t even realize it.

Through our research we found an interesting case of exposure. Phillip Alpert, an 18 year old male, emailed nude photos of his then, 16 year old girlfriend and was charged with child pornography. Now Phillip, who is in his twenties, had to register as a sex offender. His irresponsible decision was against the law and will affect his life forever, for example applying for a job and/or college. In an article linked below in the New York Times (2009), it states that “It’s illegal under federal and state child-porn laws to create explicit images of a minor, posses them or distribute them. These laws were drafted to address adult abuse of minors, but it turns out they don’t exempt minors who create and distribute images, even if the pictures are of them (making them, presumably, the victims). In fact, police and prosecutors in several states are going after creator-victims, including in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin,” (Richmond, Riva; 2009).

Through our findings and knowing we ourselves will one day be teachers we must ask this, what are educators and parents doing about this problem? Such exposure can cause many problems in the future such as prevention of receiving college scholarships, job offers, the embarrassment of having your intimate pictures exposed for all to see. An article by Ernie Alan states that parents should monitor their teen’s phone and computer use regularly. Also set limits and rules to phone and computer use. If the parent detects explicit images of their teen on a website, contact that particular website and have those images removed immediately.

Something educators can do to help make students aware of the consequences to sexting, is first educate themselves about the latest technology and teenage “lingo.” Also incorporate presentations and workshops on sexting awareness and consequences in schools. Sexual exploitation of children is a very serious offense weather it is through text message, internet or photograph. Any of these issues can be reported to NCMEC at www.cybertipline.com.

References

 Allen, Ernie: “Sexting” A New Challenge for Educators and Families.

http://www.aasa.org/content.aspx?id=7672

Cassada Lohmann, Raychelle: “Sexting Teens” MS, LPC (2011).

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/teen-angst/201103/sexting-teens

De Hoyos, Brandon: About.com: Instant Messaging.

Richmond, Riva: “Sexting May Place Teen’s at Legal Risk” (2009)

http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/sexting-may-place-teens-at-legal-risk/