George teaches the "Story Board" lesson



Using my lesson on Story Boards as his model, George taught this same lesson to another group of students.





After having given the students the instructions for the Story Board, George passed out shetts of paper on which the students could develop their story.



Folding the paper to make the eight part Story Board.






The Story Board instructional strategy is a fun way for students to brainstorm a story, learn sequencing, and all the while using all three learning style modalities. 



George had students "share out" their Story Boards with each other, so in the process, each student told their story at least twice and listened to two other stories too.



 

Lesson completed..... time to talk about what happened through some reflective questions.




 

Rabin takes over next class after my model lesson

These special 10th grade English classes provided an excellent opportunity for the expat Indian teachers to put into practives the instructional and classroom management techniques I'd taught and modeled.

Short, direction instruction, followed by an activity which provided students with an opportunity to process the information taught.

Checking for understanding...





Continually moving throughout the classroom to monitor and assist the students.



The first thing I do in these reflective conversations, is to ask the teacher to tell me, step-by-step, each of the activities of the lesson. 

Then I ask they when they, as the teacher felt frustrated, unsure, or anxious?  When were the students the most engaged?  Finally what would they do differently?

These after the lesson reflective chats have helped the teachers not only process what they did, their feelings about it, but more importantly to learn from the experience.



A couple weeks of demonstration or model lessons by Mr. T



Following the two weeks of professional development workshops I provided the teachers at Meynaa School, the administration asked if I would conduct some model classes.  The idea being for me demonstrate, in a classroom environment, the instructional strategies I'd taught and for the teachers to observe me teaching.



After providing new information through direct instruction, students, in pairs, participate in the "Think-Pair-Share" activity where they reteach each other the lesson I just taught. 

While students are busy teaching each other, I can move around the classroom and check for understanding to see if they got what I taught.



Sometimes, a little proximity by the teacher helps keeps students focused and on task.




As I taught the model lesson, the English teachers (back far left) observed my teaching.  Then after each model lesson, we'd meet and reflect on the lesson.



Let's tell a story..... using Story Cubes!

Here's a fun educational game I brought with me from California.  Story Cubes!  Inside are 12 cubes with figures on each side.

It's one of the educational tools which is kinesthetic, visual and auditory.  Great for kids of any age.

First a student in the group, rolls the cubes.  Here's where the story begins...... with "Once upon a time ......" and the student uses one of the cubes. 

"Once upon a time there was a big tree."  The next student then adds to the story by using a different cube.  Each subsequent student continues the story, using a different cube until all the cubes have been used.  The students might roll the cubes again and start a new story, or continue the one they are on.

In small groups during the primary school workshops, I had the teachers practice telling stories using the cubes.

A fun, creative exercise, with some challenging elements when you are the student who must continue the story using the last..... perhaps difficult cube picture!

Differentiation - What's it all about? How do I do it in my classroom?

At one time, a teacher could teach a subject to a whole class.  Now, rather than teaching a subject to a whole class,  teachers teach individual students. 

 Differentiation is about how a teacher modifies their lesson plans, so as to regularly and continually meet the individual learning needs of each and every student in their classroom. 



The learning objective for the secondary teachers was to understand and practice how to differentiate by lesson objective.  In other words to write different lesson objectives, to meet the different needs of different students -  lesson objectives written by:

Thinking skill - the verb used in the objective
Content - what the students will learn
Resource - where the students will get the information
Product - what the students will create



The workshop objective for the primary school teachers was to learn how to differentiate instruction by:

readiness
interest
learning style



First the teachers wrote their own definition for differentiation and shared this with their table group.  Mr. T then facilitated a whole class discussion on the term.

The primary school teachers were given grade level lesson plans to review, using a handout Mr. T had created.  At each grade level, the lesson plan was differentiated by readiness, interest, and learning style.

When the teachers completed the handout, they discussed which form of differentiation might work best in their classrooms.

Mr. T modeled for the secondary teachers, a way of writing their lesson objectives by changing the verb.  In this example, the Unit Mr. T was teaching was "early humans."  The topic within this Unit Mr. T decided to teach was "tools used to survive." Mr. T showed three objectives, based on ability levels:

Students will be able to list three tools early humans used to survive.

Students will be able to compare and contrast the three tools early humans used to survive.

Students will be able to create a new tool early humans could have used to help them survive.

By changing the verb, the objective becomes more and more complex, therein differentiating based on ability grouping.



The basis for Mr. T's lesson was Blooms Taxonomy which he shared with the teachers.  At each level, the verbs change, so the objective becomes more complex, requiring higher order of reasoning.  For example, verbs that could be used in a lesson objective at each of Blooms' six levels could include:

Remembering:  list, define, recall
Understanding: classify, describe, paraphrase
Applying:  choose, illustrate, solve
Analyzing: contrast, examine, distinguish
Evaluating: appraise, judge, value
Creating: assemble, design, formulate



Following his having modeled how to differentiate by objective, Mr. T randomly gave teachers (small groups of two to three) a Unit word written on a piece of paper.  Unit words included, for example, Global Warming, Maldives, Economics, etc.

Teachers were then asked to select a topic within that Unit, and write a lesson plan objective for each of the six levels within Blooms Taxonomy.

At the end of the mini demo lesson, Mr. T used the "thumbs up and thumbs down" with the class to check for understanding - to make sure the directions were clear to everyone.



Teachers were given a specific amount of time to develop their six lesson plan objectives, using the Blooms verbs.

With the local Maldivian secondary teachers (a class of 14 teachers so only 5 groups), Mr. T had each group present to all the teachers, their lesson plan.... talking about each of the six objectives and explaining how at each subsequent level, the objective becaming more complex.

Here Mr. Hamad, the Deputy Principal at the school, explains his group's unit topic of democracy.



Teachers were divided into groups to work together on the assignment of designing lesson objectives, using the six levels of Blooms Taxonomy.



The secondary expatriot teacher workshop group was large, with 23 participating.  Rather than having each group share to the whole class, Mr. T had the small groups present to each other.  Each group was given a specific amount of time, using a timer, to present.  Then, when the buzzer went off, Mr. T asked the small groups to go in search of a different group to make their presentation to.

This procedure allowed the small groups to present their six part lesson objectives three times, and for them to hear the six part lesson plans of three other groups.

An added bonus..... teachers had been sitting at their tables a long time working on a difficult topic.... differentiation.... so this sharing out by small groups, got them standing up and moving about!



A brief reflection on the session, brought this part of the workshop to a productive end.



Elementary School Teacher planning workshop at Meynaa School



The first session Mr. T had with the Meynaa Primary School teachers was a planning workshop to determine the specific professional development needs of these teachers.

The following foccus question was written on the board:

"What are your training needs that would help you develop as a professional teacher?"

Mr. T explained to the teachers that they were to take a few minutes and reflect on all they do in their classrooms each and every day.  Then, they should think about those areas where they could use some training and write these ideas down on a piece of paper.



Based on the focus question of the planning workshop, the elementary school teachers did their own individual brainstorming of the types of professional development training they would like to receive.  After the individual brainstorming, the teachers worked in pairs to share their ideas and to then write their ideas on half sheets of paper.



Teachers were to write 1) one idea per half sheet, 2) write in BIG letters, 3) using only two to three words.

Mr. T called on the teachers to give him their top three cards for professional development.  These cards he placed randomly on the board.  Once a number of cards were on the board, Mr. T asked the teacher to see if any cards were similar.  Those cards that were addressing similar training needs were placed together in pairs.

As the participating elementary school teachers gave Mr. T more and more of their training needs cards, the pairs soon become groups of three to five cards.  These groups of cards were then placed in rows.



Mr. T reads through each row of ideas for professional development training.  Across the top, a symbol has been placed, to faciliate the adding of more training needs cards from the elementary school teachers.



The final step, before the reflective conversation on this planning workshop, was for Mr. T to read each of the cards in each row.  He asked the teachers to identify the key words that indicated the direction of that row.  Then using those key words, each row could be given a title, as reflected by the top row titles with boxes around them.





English teachers - "The training is over..... already?"



The last day of the Meynaa School English teachers' professional development workshops, I asked the teachers to reflect back on all the various strategies I'd taught them.




First I had the teachers brainstorm their own individual list of all the different instructional and classroom management strategies I'd taught during the training.

Next I had the students pair up and share with each other their list



Following the pair-share activity, where teachers looked over each other's list of strategies, we developed a collective list on the white board. 

I asked them to star the 3 they could do tomorrow, the two the could do next month and the one they'd do next year.

I asked them to commit to which one instructional strategy they would implement immediately when classes resumed following the end of the term exams, and which instructional strategy they  would implement within the next month.

 

Taking the process one more step, now that teachers had committed to implementing one new instructional strategy, I asked them to develop a mini lesson plan, using that strategy, and presenting it to the group.



Anil decided he wanted to introduce the reading comprehension strategy where students number the paragraphs, double box the title, then they identify the subject of the sentence "who"  with a box, the "what" is underlined, the "when" with (...), etc.



George wanted to begin with giving his students "Explicite Instructions."  In other words, being very clear and specific.



Chinchu would like to begin using the praise with specifics strategy.  This is where the teacher praises a student, and tells them specifically why they are being praised.  i.e.  "I'm very happy with the way your raised your hand today and asked permission to sharpen your pencil.  Good job!"



Aravindan explained how he would incorporate a bell work or start of class activity.





The lead teacher, Ahamed, presented how he'd use graphic organizers.



"If the last five days of these professional development workshops was an animal, what animal would it be and why?"

This was my final reflective question to the English teachers.  As soon as I asked the question, the ear-to-ear smiles were immediate!





"A dolphine because it is so intelligent."
"A baby elephant because it can grow big."
"A rabbit because it hops around."
"A cat because it is so sneaky!"
"A horse because of the beautiful view when riding it."



What I observed in the classrooms

My first week at Meynaa School, I observed many classrooms.  That week was a period of review, since the term final exams were scheduled for the following week.  As such, teachers noted to me that no new teaching was taking place .... just review.  I could understand this.

What I observed during those review periods, was that teachers would hand out a text for students to read and on the reverse side were a series of comprehension questions.

I noticed that before reading the text, the students immediately went to the questions.  Good test taking strategy if students are using this as the framework from which to read the text.

However..... students would read the question, then search for key words in the text that might give them a clue as to the answer.  They'd then write what they thought the answer to be in the space provided.

Had the students read and comprehended the text?  Not really ..... hence the reason why the English teachers in unison requested help from me with reading comprehension teaching strategies.

On stage for English teacher workshop

Today I conducted my first workshop for English teachers at Meynaa School on instructional strategies related to teaching reading comprehension.  The workshop addressed the needs of those students who need extra help with English. 

The instructional strategy I introduced was one where the teacher guides the students through the written text using the three main modalities of visual, auditory and kinesthetic.  So, for example, the teacher firsts has the students number each paragraph in the text.  Next students draw a double box around the title of the text.  The teacher asks questions about the title, to link the text to students' background knowledge.



Now the students are ready to begin reading the text.  Students are asked to underline the "who" or subject of the text; next draw a box around the "what" in the text.  Cirle the word that tells them "where."  A star next to the word that indicates "when."

Once students have identified these words, the teacher can then guide them on how to put the words together to form a summary of the text.



I also introduced "Graphic Organizers" to the English teachers, again explaining that these forms provide a structure for students to organize information.

The workshop went by so quickly..... I forgot to take any pictures!