Who+Are+You+Students?

__WEEK 7 - WHO ARE YOUR STUDENTS?__

For this week’s lecture, Professor Tanya Fitzgerald opened the lecture by highlighting the importance of not making assumptions about students. I think this is something that many of us may consciously or subconsciously do but it is important to try not to make assumptions about our students as these assumptions can often be wrong and the decisions we make based on these assumptions can have a negative effect on a child’s learning.

Professor Fitzgerald continued by talking about the importance of knowing important information about students. Knowing information about each individual student allows us to help that student build upon his or her goals, interests and strength.

The next point which was discussed was the topic of children with disrupted schooling. This can happen for many reasons – chronic illness, refugee backgrounds, children who move around families etc. These are issues which we as teachers will face, and it is important to have strategies for dealing with these issues set in place. Regarding diversity and complexity in the classroom, Professor Fitzgerald suggested celebrating different backgrounds, discussing difference and uniqueness, encouraging openness about background beliefs and family and getting children to know and celebrate themselves.

The lecture was concluded with the following points:  · Celebrate individuals · Cultivate inclusiveness · Plan for learning needs · Create boundaries · Don’t make assumptions!

 One of the readings we were given this week, titled “Why Assess?” stated that assessment gives you an opportunity to identify student misunderstandings – this can be used for future planning. Through assessment you can evaluate the learning progress of students and indicate the progress the student is making. The article categorised assessment methods into summative assessment, diagnostic assessment and formative assessment.

__Summative assessment __ This sums up the accomplishment that has been achieved by the student but does not modify student learning. The aim is to provide an indication of a student’s level of achievement at the end of a learning period.

__Diagnostic assessment __ This encourages students to identify their own understandings, e.g. self assessment.

__Formative assessment __ The aim of formative assessment is to guide planning a student’s next learning experience.

The article highlighted that students should be assessed over time and in different contexts, and that some activities should be open ended to allow students to demonstrate a range of levels of achievement.

Examples of types of assessment: Observations, written tests, questioning, research projects, presentations, practical investigations, fieldwork, portfolios, quizzes, crosswords etc.


 * Orla Mackintosh, 11/06/09**

__ Response: Penelope Harris __

How easy it for people to generalise about a person based on their appearance. If someone has dirty and torn clothes on we assume they are poor or underpriveleged. If a child is always late for school we assume it is the parents fault. Knowing all the facts and assuming we know all the facts is a very dangerous game to play.

When teaching we can never make assumptions about a student, we must get to know them. Take time to ask questions of our students, at the very least read their student profile before you teach them for the first time. Knowing what subjects they are good or weak at is not knowing your students. Knowing what sport they play, how many siblings they have, what their favourity activity is, is knowing your students. Knowing your students on such a personal level is this blurring the line of professionalism are you crossing over to becoming a friend? No. Teachers can always maintain a professional approach and still know their students.

By knowing your students you will be able to connect with them and with their families to foster their education. Not all students will learn in the same manner. Knowing your students may give you an insight into how to teach to their diversities.

The article noted by Orla, "Why Assess?" highlights the need to know your students. Having differing assessment strategies ensures students are taught and assessed as their individuals that they are. Not all collectively placed into one pool and taught and assessed the same.

When my son did the NAPLAN assessment in Grade 3 the school sent home a letter advising parents how to interpret their childs results. They emphasised that the result on the test may not be a true indication of your child's abilities. They noted a range of reason why your child may not have performed at their best, sickness, tiredness or the inability to handle the pressure of a test environment. Parents and teachers need to be aware or each childs weeknesses when looking at assessment results.

I believe it wont be hard to know your students. It is not difficult to talk to them and learn important factors about them. Just asking how their football game when on the weekend will do wonders in a child's confidence and it will give them a sense of importance and belonging within the classroom. Penelope Harris

__Response: Genevieve Hoban__

This week the lecture surrounded the quesion, Who are your students and how well do you know them? We discussed that perhaps the first and most important step in getting to know students is to suspend any expectations that you may have about the student, wipe the slate clean and learn for yourself. I liked the example of a teacher who thought the list of numbers she was given correlated with students IQ when in actual fact they were locker numbers! I think this example highlights how easy it is to just believe what you want to without having ot make your own assumptions and decisions about where a student is at.

It is so important to get to know your students. As penelope suggested at the bare minimum read their profiles, but there is so much more you can do to get to know your students. I think that by knowing your students and fostering a learning relationship there will be a greater level of mutual respect for the teacher and student. I think it is important that as teachers we pick up on cues about our students in order to better understand their learning preferences. By understanding our students we will be able to tailor learning activities that really interest and engage the children in our classes.

I thought the idea of spinning a classroom web would be a fantastic way to help students make connections with each other and at the same time assist a teacher in getting to know her students. Simple activities could be developed to help the teacher understand the child better, for excample a teacher may be able to better comprehend the difficulties a child is facing at home, or understand what is making a child anxious.

Getting rid of a "one size fits all" approach I think will do wonders in the classroom. If the teacher is able to display that he or she has an interest and an understanding of individuals in the classrooom then as a whole group every individual should feel valued. When getting to know students it is also important to remember to tolerate ambiguity and respect childrens' privacy, respect that some children might not want to share details about their home life. //genevieve hoban// __Response: Kellie Fenton__ This week’s topic is something I am particularly passionate about and this mostly stems from my work as an integration aide over the last 2 years. At first I was definitely one of those people that would categorize some of the students I had as ‘just disruptive, bullies, low academically, social out casts etc’. This was all simply based on the horrendous behaviour they exhibited! I quickly learn that, if I was going to think that way then I was going to get nowhere in a hurry with these kids. Only when I took the time to get to know these students did I start to understand that this behaviour wasn’t a part of them but rather a reaction to a set of life experiences that they were living. They couldn’t simply be grouped with a bunch of kids their age and be expected to integrate ‘normally’ and as I also noted not many of these ‘normal’ kids were working at their maximum by being grouped either… We don't expect just becuase Emu 's are birds that they are going to be able to fly (yes, bad analogy i know), so how can we expect all kids to be able to do the same things. The most effective tools I gathered was my ability to get to know these kids, learn about their strengths and interests, understand the way their home life worked and NEVER to make assumptions about students! Students need to know that their individual achievements are recognized and celebrated by their teachers. That we as their teachers know that they, learn in a different way and may take longer with some things and excel in others. Taking an interest in our students is such a VITAL part of being a great teacher and it is something I am absolutely going to strive to do. We all know that everyone is different but rather than let this being a problem, let’s celebrate it as best as we can. I also found working with these kids, that creating clear boundaries for your students is extremely important. The students need to know what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour and hence the consequences that are in place if they choose not to follow they rules. Mostly I believe it is about being consistent. For many of our more difficult students consistency and reliability is something they are not used to in their home life and they will fight against this in the classroom as well. But in my experience they will eventually get used to it and will appreciate the reliability and predictability of the rules if you can stick to them! Ok so after I had my little rant about my thoughts on knowing your students… I will just quickly touch on the other topic which was the article “why assess?” I think the points already raised are good ones and I agree with them all. Assessment usually falls into that “on size fits all” (Gen) model and yet it’s something that basically contradicts our thoughts on catering for different abilities and learning styles. Assessment, like the learning process needs to reflect our knowledge of our students and their backgrounds, strengths and styles. Getting to know our students should be something that gets as much attention as checking their reading levels or maths standards. It is so important in teaching and could be the little thing that makes a difference in the learning experience for your students. Kellie Fenton