Transcript Promoting Literacy in the Classroom Through Writing-to-Learn Strategies End-of-Class Reflection Harry G. Lang Rachel C. Lewis National Technical Institute for the Deaf Rochester Institute of Technology.

Promoting Literacy in the
Classroom Through
Writing-to-Learn
Strategies
End-of-Class Reflection
Harry G. Lang
Rachel C. Lewis
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Rochester Institute of Technology
End-of-Class Reflection
• This is another type of “Writing-toLearn” strategy. With 5-10 minutes
left in a class session, ask students
to write down two important things
they learned OR ask two questions
about what they just learned.
End-of-Class Reflection
• There are many other variations to
the End-of-Class Reflection. One
goal is to see how well students can
prioritize what is important from a
recent lesson.
• Another goal is to see how they
have constructed knowledge from
the lesson, and whether there may
be misconceptions developing.
End-of-Class Reflection
• The End-of-Class Reflection can be
helpful in planning the next class. It
can help a teacher see individual
strengths and needs in the students
and plan accordingly.
Try It Yourself
• In your journal, please write down
two things you learned about
Writing-to-Learn strategies from the
other PowerPoint slide shows.
• If you have not seen the other
shows yet, just list two things you
know about the benefits of informal
writing as a form of communication
in the content areas.
Reflect and Share
• If you are working in a group, please
share with others what you have
written in your journal.
End-of-Class Reflection
• Film clip EOC1 shows a math
teacher giving instructions for an
“End-of-Class Reflection” after a
very busy mathematics lesson.
• Film clip EOC1
Reflection Examples
• In the following slides, we will show
you a variety of examples.
• In addition, we will summarize what
other middle school and high school
teachers thought of this approach to
embedding writing in the science
classroom.
End-of-Class Reflection
Writing to Learn Science - A
Naturalistic Study*
Samples from Classrooms
Around the Country
*Lang, H.G., & Albertini, J.A. (2001). Construction
of meaning in the authentic science writing of
deaf students. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf
Education, 6, 258-284.
End-of-Class Reflection
•
In a lesson on “Extinction of Tigers,” a
teacher established the following
objectives for her action research:
1. Assess each student’s ability to
remember points about the tiger lecture.
2. Assess each student’s ability to pick the
more important and relevant points.
3. Use student writing to structure the next
day’s discussions in small groups.
End-of-Class Reflection
• Upon completion of the lesson she
asked her deaf students to list three
things they learned about extinction
of tigers.
Teacher’s Plan
“I plan to list the points from their
index cards on the blackboard, then
prioritize the points with them. I will
discuss the criteria for prioritizing
with them. Hopefully, it will become
obvious that some of the points they
recorded were right on and others
were irrelevant.”
End-of-Class Reflection
• Some examples from her students
follow…
End-of-Class Reflection
Student 1
1. Don’t put the dirty air on the tigers
2. Feed them everyday as they are
hungry
3. Don’t kill all the tigers cuz people
want to save the tigers
End-of-Class Reflection
Student 2
1. Put endanger tiger in zoo
2. Don’t go near where tiger life. If
you do then tiger will attack you
then you will have to shot it. Then
tiger is gone. So don’t go near.
3. Stop people to poison to anmals
because tiger eat them then tiger
have poison too then it will die.
End-of-Class Reflection
Student 3
1. Girl need get boy
2. Need food
3. Save tiger in the zoo don’t hunt kill
tiger….Cannot kill it. I want stop
kill it.
End-of-Class Reflection
• Other than some spelling errors, these
students did seem to capture some
important points about helping to prevent
extinction of tigers.
• For Student 3, by “girl need get boy” was
meant that for tigers to continue, they will
need to breed. This would be a good
place for a teacher to follow up and help
the student to express this point more
clearly.
Action Research
Teacher’s reflections: If I were to do
this end-of-class reflection activity
again, I’d:
1. Have a scoring system set up for
choosing the relevant/irrelevant
points
2. Have more follow up activities
about tigers. It was too much
information in one lecture.
Additional Teacher’s Comments on
Using End-of-Class Reflection
• “Writing sentences is definitely not their
strong point. I would consider having
them sign about their tiger lesson, then
write down what they signed.”
• “I would definitely repeat the end-of-class
summary method many times during the
year. As the year goes on, I’m sure these
students would improve. They barely
understood what to do the first time.”
Another Reflection
Another teacher attempted to
use reflection before a
lesson. She asked her
students to list questions
they had about sponges.
Attempt to Generate
Questions
• Teacher Reflection: “I told them
the next day we would be learning
about the first group of
invertebrates, “sponges.” I showed
them a picture and asked them to
write three questions about what
they would like to learn about
sponges.
Attempt to Generate
Questions
Student 1
1. Why are there is sponges sea?
2. Who are sea sponges?
3. Where is sea sponges are the
creatures?
Attempt to Generate
Questions
Student 2
1. Why you have a no bone?
2. Do you have a sponge?
3. Do you have a fun with sponge?
Attempt to Generate
Questions
• This teacher was at first discouraged.
“Wow, was that hard for them. First,
they don’t know how to ask a
question…so it really showed me
how we need to incorporate this
technique much more frequently.”
Attempt to Generate
Questions
One week later, however:
Teacher Reflection: “I have been
incorporating the end of class
reflections as we study about each
different group of invertebrates. It is
like part of their workbook to fill out.
That has been real helpful. They
don’t seem to think of it as
‘writing’….”
Attempt to Generate
Questions
One week later:
“…. They are so motivated if I try to
just discuss or at the end, I have a
few who will tell me to let them write
it instead….They have definitely
improved on their comprehension
and writing about what they
understood. It definitely helps me to
see it more from their perspective to
clear up any misunderstandings
that may have occurred.”
End-of-Class Reflection
•
She provided what she considered a
very good response from a student
using the “End-of-Class Reflection”…
Student 3
1. Sponge can’t not move and sponge has
holes
2. Fish do not like to eat sponge because
they smell and taste
3. Sponge get some water and it get some
oxygen and when it eats food when get
finish with the food it get rid of food
End-of-Class Reflection
• This teacher also recommended
that other teachers “look for the
‘good’ in their students’ writing.”
• We will always be faced with
variable skill levels.
Another Teacher’s
Comment
“I would say that the end of class reflection
definitely gave me a framework to begin
with. Knowing Krissy as I do, I knew that
she had retained more details than she
wrote about, but this gave me a chance
to pull the additional information from her.
Therefore, I don’t see the response being
the end all as to whether or not she
learned the information, but rather
whether or not she can express a thought
completely. For others, it can provide the
basic starting point for reflection.”
Another Teacher’s
Comment
“The students basically had a great
reaction to my request to do this
exercise. They seem to enjoy pulling out
their science journals. They get a great
feeling of accomplishment from using it. I
also notice, they enjoy reflecting on past
projects and entries.
The one drawback is that sometimes some
of my students do not put their best work
into it. They tend to get a little sloppy.
This varies from student to student.”
End-of-Class Reflection
• A third teacher’s comment reveals the
importance of dialogue in the Social
Constructivist approach to teaching:
“... As I worked with him [in a lesson on the human
eye] I asked him to put more terms to his
descriptions. For example, ‘it has a lot of water
inside eye…’ I asked him what the water was,
then he labeled it as vitreous humor. I was
pleased with his responses, because it showed
that he had fully grasped the terms and their
placement in the eye. His descriptive terms also
showed me that he was processing the
information in a way that was fun for him,
therefore leading to continued interest.”
Mathematics Example
• Sometimes the End-of-Class
Reflection can reveal learning that
goes beyond the content objectives.
In the following example, the
teacher had the students set up a
“Math Exhibit”.
• At the end of the activity, she asked
the students to list three things they
learned.
Mathematics Example
Student 1:
1. I think that our exhibit is exciting and
more interesting
2. I like the way the games and brochures
were shown! Its’ unique.
3. I thought it take only about one hour to
decorate the display but it took us two
hours and 30 minutes to do it! It’s
challenging and lot of team work,
especially the communication! I was
amazed that how well we did cooperate
and the situation was handled like a
mature young adult!
About time!
Mathematics Example
• In this example, the first two points
are not very helpful, but the third
point shows that the student had
learned something important about
“team work.”
Biology Example:
Canning Food
Three things I learned:
1. When I go to shopping I have to look at
the jar and date.
2. When I feel like pop pop pop that was
not good. When I feel not pop pop pop
that was good (bulging jar/can)
3. When I smell the fruit or food in jar. If
that smelled good that’s fine. But if it
smells bad. I don’t taste the fruit or food.
4. If I look the bacteria I will throw away.
Biology Example:
Canning Food
• This teacher also experimented with
having students ask questions (for
the next class) after the lesson was
over.
Biology Example:
Canning Food
Three things I learned:
1. When I go to shopping I have to look at the jar
and date.
2. When I feel like pop pop pop that was not good.
When I feel not pop pop pop that was good
(bulging jar/can)
3. 3. When I smell the fruit or food in jar. If that
smelled good that’s fine. But if it smells bad. I
don’t taste the fruit or food.
4. If I look the bacteria I will throw away.
Questions
What causes the bulge?
How do bacteria get inside close can?
How people clean the metal can?
Social Studies Example:
“Social Class”
• I learned from the paper that the
lower class is aware of things, but
try to overcome things that separate
the high class and lower class.
• I learned from the group to listen to
other opinions and not to judge it.
And that your opionion is yours, but
does not neccessaryly mean it’s
correct.
Summary
What teachers learned after using the
End-of-Class Reflection
• Instructions: Be very clear with instructional
prompts, and have patience. Don’t give up if the
approach doesn’t seem to work at first.
• End of Semester: Avoid trying to use the End-ofClass Reflection for a full course. There are too
many topics.
• Follow-Up: As with other writing-to-learn
strategies, follow-up dialogue is critical to
teaching and learning.