The Self-Monitoring Student!

Self-Monitoring Students

            In chapters 10 and 11 by Daniels and Zemelman, I noticed that I could relate my observation visits through Central Falls High School to the readings.

            Chapter 10 was on inquiry units, and how project-based, problem-based and experiential learning can help motivate students into becoming life long learners. What I liked about this chapter is that it promoted what I like to call “investigative learning”. Chapter 10 correlates life-long learning to school experiences that help a student become an independent thinker by searching for answers for any “burning question”. During my observations, my first observation was in an ESL classroom that focused on a “theme” of what it means to be a hero. Because the students were reading a text based on heroic actions, the teacher had the students work independently on a project of their own hero. Although it wasn’t collaborative work that Chapter 10 does recommend for successful learning, the student’s were still “active researchers instead of passive listeners”, as noted in chapter 10. In each video presentation, a student would present who their hero is, and some of the student’s presentations ranged from ambassadors to other successful figures that the student’s had to do in depth research in order to explain why that chosen person was their hero.

            Inquiry units, I believe, make learning fun because a student can actually apply what their learning by getting out there and somewhat taking on the role of a detective, as opposed to sitting in a classroom while tediously listening to material they may or may not fully understand.

            It is in Chapter 11 that I built a strong connection from my reading to my observation visits. Considering my visits were in an ESL classroom, this chapter, which was titled “Help for Struggling Readers”, I could connect the material to what I have seen in period one of ESL. To start off, this chapter emphasizes how important it is to model reading processes as a teacher. In period one, the student’s were working on figurative language before reading Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. With each figurative language example, the teacher would break up each example and help the students understand what exactly the phrase would be saying. In example, in a phrase that went along the lines of “her fingers were like little magnets”, the teacher would first ask the student’s if they knew what a magnet was. After showing the class a magnet, he told a story of Mr. Magneto from X-Men, a movie most of the students were familiar with. After breaking down the figurative phrase to the students, the student’s were engaged in a class discussion on the meaning of the phrase.

            What I liked most about this chapter is how it promoted “self-monitoring”. In my observations, every single time a student was stuck at a certain question, the teacher didn’t give up on the student, instead the teacher would only give more examples, and break down the question even more till the student could finally find a way to answer what was asked. The teacher didn’t use his position to just give out information every time a student was stuck, instead he believed in the student so much as to spend a good ten minutes breaking down a single question until the student could finally find a way to understand what was being asked. The teacher I observed definitely modeled what the chapter was emphasizing in which it is crucial to believe in your students potential and create an environment filled with positivity.