Week_04_Community-Centered

=Readings and Facilitators:=

=Chapter 13: Pulling Threads (Jackson/Graves)=

What does a community-centered classroom look like? (Jackson)
A community –centered classroom is one in which norms have been established that promote the value of learning. In community-centered classrooms students feel comfortable engaging in discussions about the topic and are not fearful of making mistakes because these mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities. These classroom discussions allow teachers to see what their students are thinking, as well as requires students to explain that thinking to others. Discussions also give students the opportunity to purposefully critique what others present, allowing them to build critical thinking skills. Teachers in a community-centered classroom search for ways to connect the classroom to the broader community through the use of community service projects, encouraging parental involvement, partnerships with local organizations, and bringing guest speakers into the classroom.

Eames and Stewart (2008) determined that even in higher education students need to have a sense of community within their learning environments. Participants in their study determined that it was of utmost importance that students develop meaningful relationships with each other in order to support and encourage each other. Students at the university also felt it was important to develop relationships with their peers. However, they found relationships with their teachers of utmost importance too. They felt valued and were more likely to work harder in a class that they felt a personal connection to the teacher. This goes to prove that community building is important at all levels of education.

From the readings Barton (1998) believed that the traditional curriculum used by schools neglects some populations of students who do not fall within a specific population. The author suggest that in order to have more inclusive classroom, thereby being more community-centered, the teacher must value varying ways of thinking held by their students. The teacher must be aware that there may be competing views that stem from the different life experiences of their students and must allow them a place within the classroom.

I found this video on community-centered learning. It gives a good outline of the topic; however, it is somewhat bland. media type="youtube" key="ZQs1U1Oe7Eo" height="315" width="420"

===Donovan and Bransford (2005) summarize their thoughts on knowledge, assessment, learner, and community-centered classrooms in this chapter. Give an example of a specific instructional strategy or philosophy that was modeled or presented during this class. Describe how you plan to implement it in your classroom. (Jackson)===

Supporting student metacognition is both a topic being pushed by our district and in this class. Donovan and Bransford (2000) defines metacognition as the process of evaluating and monitoring ones own thinking. In a classroom that is focused on deeply understanding material, it is important for students to monitor and evaluate their own understanding as they are working through new content. If this occurs, students will be able to practice self-questioning. Questioning becomse key to the classroom processes of discussion. Effectively modeling questioning and discussion practices provides students with an initial structure. This coming year I plan on incorporating more classroom discussion that allows students to engage with each other. Students need to have the opportunity to share and collaborate during the process of knowledge construction (this also supports community-based instruction). As we work as a class to develop effective metacognitive skills, we will adapt the process to be practice both individually and as a whole class. This can be done several ways. The way that I am thinking about including it in my instruction is through reading. I currently work with students who are behind in reading. Incorporating this into my classroom will support the school goal of increasing reading ability as well as my students scientific understanding.

How do you build community in the classroom so each student is able to participate in discussions and other classroom activities? (Jackson)
I believe it is almost impossible to have whole classroom discussions where every student is involved every time. I mitigate this problem, by having group discussions in my classroom more often that classroom discussions. I make myself an active participant and member of each group by walking around constantly. However, I am not as interested in my students interactions with me, I am more interested in their interactions with each other. I want to hear how they explain things to each other, how they respond to opposing views. I want to see them working through things.

I completely agree. Sometimes I tell my students that I am simply a "fly on the wall" and to pretend I am not there. I, too, am more interested in what they say to each other and how they try to defend their own reasoning. I also feel like the sense of community has to be built from day one. One silly, but effective, strategy I have used is to set up what I call a "mole" in the class. I talk to one or two students privately before class and ask them to purposefully write a wrong answer or verbally say an incorrect answer. This usually leads to a great conversation and the rest of the class doesn't know who the "mole" is. My students have told me that this makes them more comfortable to ask a question or say an answer, even if it is wrong, because if they are wrong, others will just think they were the "mole" and not make fun of them.

An article by Margolin and Regev (2011) addresses this issue as well. The author’s state: “In a whole class discussion only few pupils have the opportunity to articulate their thoughts or to expose their misconceptions publicly and the teacher can’t really know about the others’ understanding or relate to their difficulties” (p.11). However, they suggest that small group arrangements can aid in more meaningful mathematical discourse, for the teacher “can observe each pupil’s engagement in the task, identify the zone of proximal development as well as misconceptions and relate to them in order to afford construction of concepts and ideas” (p.11). Instead of the traditional “ping-ponging” between teacher and 1 student, as is typical in whole-class discussions, the teachers created a small group environment, with (1) socio-mathematical norms set, (2) open-ended/inquiry-based/ZPD tasks that allowed for multiple ways of thinking, solving and representing, and (3) proper mathematic language and terminology were expected. All of these, so students could collaborate and communicate openly and fearlessly, their mathematical thoughts and ideas, whether they were correct or erroneous. The teacher should know the common misconceptions, and should therefore have facilitating questions and visual mediators near at hand, for when these arise. The goal, according to the authors is to create environments where students can learn through mathematical discourse.

When considering whole group discussion, it is important that the teacher understand the cultural codes of their students (Smardon, 2004). Whole group discussion can be difficult, but if effectively preformed students have the ability to interact beyond their normal comfort zones. Within my classroom, I do require my students to participate in whole group discussion. We build up to the actual process of discussion by modeling discussion techniques with familiar material. Students then are able to interact independently with new material and practice metacognition. We then brake up into randomly assigned groups and share out our understanding and thoughts. I then ask for groups to share out their responses. Once this occurs, they go back into their groups and discuss how all the different groups understandings relate. After this process is complete, we discuss as an entire group how each ideas (right or wrong) fits into the context of the new content. As we do this, we come to a group decision. Smardon (2004) asserts that to effectively allow students to interact in the classroom, teachers must understand the cultural code of their students. This requires an understanding of the home life, communication style, and the mode in which they identify themselves within the classroom culture. Student’s should have the opportunity to interact in small and large groups so that long-term effective communication can occur. If students are denied that opportunity, long-term success will not be achieved. Through he process of discourse and group interaction, students are blending their cultural identities in order to establish an effective indentify that allows participation both outside and inside the classroom (Smardon,2004).

===**Donovan and Bransford (2005) recommended the use of narrative accounts to assist students understand science and mathematics as human endeavors (p. 573). How can narrative accounts be used effectively in community-centered learning environments? What student outcomes can result from the use of narrative accounts? (Graves) **===


 * Narrative accounts are unique in that they allow students a unique insight into the lives of the people who developed theories. It allows students chance to see the context in which a theory would develop. Narratives can demonstrate the struggles, surrounding controversy, and competing views. For instance if students are allowed to read a narrative about Darwin and his theory the students may notices that there were multiple competing worldviews on the origin of life, and that even Darwin was unsure due to the criticism he faced by the scientific community. Narratives also have the potential for students to get a glimpse of a domains culture that** Brown, Collins, and Duquid (1989) talked about.

===**Donovan and Bransford (2005) recommended that teachers should be skilled in "the art of questioning" (p. 579). How is questioning an art? What student outcomes can result from skillful use of questioning during classroom discourse? (Graves) **===

The art of questioning is something that needs to be observered and practiced every day. Some days I do quite well in redirecting my students and their thoughts towards what I want them to discover, and other days I am beating my head against a wall and just tell them what is important. When my questioning is successful, the students take ownership of the knowledge they have discovered. It is now theirs and they will remember it and use it.

A question that is skillfully and thoughtfully worded can unveil information and misconceptions. Crowe and Stanford (2010) argue that there are many uses for questioning in the classroom. Teachers tend to think of questioning only in reference to assessments, however there are many other uses for the use of questioning during classroom discourse. For example, knowledge questions can help to fucus students on identification and recall, but these questions usually do not require much effort on the part of the students. By using higher order questioning techniques, like comprehension, application, synthesis, and evaluation questions, teachers are abile to facilitate the process of analysis in their classroom, allowing for increased understanding of concepts. Although questioning is not always an easy skill to attain, teachers who practice questioning daily and implement questioning strategies in class can greatly improve the quality of science instruction in their classrooms.

Frykholm's (1998) article discussed the importance of discourse among teachers to help teachers become better facilitators of a community-centered learning environment. His study found that the teachers who participated in the group discussions about their curriculum felt better prepared to help their students learn and were less anxious (as preservice teachers) than they would have been without a collaborative effort. Additionally, the article showed that when research and theory come together to support methods we can help to create better teachers, then they can go forth and create better students.

===**Donovan and Bransford (2005) stated "there is no single best approach to instruction" and elaborated by adding "inquiry-based instruction may fall short of its target if the full burden ****of instruction is place on it" (p. 587). How and when is lecture appropriate during instruction? What other teaching strategies may be used to support inquiry-based instruction to ensure learning goals are met? (Graves) **===

Sometimes it is not necessary to have students try to reinvent the wheel just for the purpose of rediscovering it. Often, when I have to revisit a topic or discuss knowledge that should have been previously acquired it is most efficient to simply do a lecture. Also, when topics are so complex that an inquiry-based approach would be overwhelming to the students, I give a lecture over the lesson and then support the lesson with a guided inquiry project. this allows the students to see what is going to happen, and then explore why. When my students complete inquiry-based activities each group has to give a presentation over what they learned, what each group members strengths were in their contributions, and they turn in a written report of the findings to me. Reports have to be typed, generally need spreadsheet type data, and a graph, picture, or diagram to show a visual representation of their findings. This allows me to assess group participation, understanding, conceptualization, and organization of their thoughts. I create a rubric for each project to score the students as a group and individually in addition to peer assessments that accompany ALL group work in my class.

=Studying Students Studying Calculus (Fry/Thompson)=

Do you see a descrepancy in test scores, motivation, and/or parental involvement between the various races in your classroom? If so, how do you address these differences?(Fry)
Race is tough issue, but not nearly as tough as the gang affiliations issues I face. I have found that my student's do not care so much about the color of your skin or your background but more of what color your clothes are that you wear outside of the class. I have no parental involvement in my student body so I cannot tell you that it changes the test scores. The biggest score changer is the kid itself, if he has been to the bottom of his life and wants to grow out of it they work their tail off, but if they are not there yet then the scores are terrible.

===Treisman (1992) noted that the Chinese students worked together and helped each other regularly with homework while the Black students did not. How do you encourage community and or cooperative learning in your classroom? (Fry)===

To get students to collaborate in my classroom I do several different things. Students are required to join a study group and can receive extra credit before or after school for coming in to study with their study group. On occasion during class I have students use a collaboration rubric to give each other feedback on their contribution to the group. I also have students use paper coins during discussion to tally how many times they contribute to the group. At the beginning of the school year I do a lot of team building or ice breaker games to get my students comfortable in front of each other. This tends to help later on when students have to express their feelings, opinions, or accept another student's argument.

I also actually participated in the workshops for calculus created by the University of Texas in Austin and found them to be quite helpful in mastering calculus topics. I only had the workshop for my first calculus course and not the second. Although I don't feel that I have a better understanding of the nature of mathematics, from that workshop I met other students that I formed a study group with these students for my calculus class. The workshops were extra helpful because I was a freshman in college and hadn't really made friends yet, so I wouldn't of had anyone to study with otherwise. Previous to this experience I didn't study with others and worked individually. In my high school collaborative work wasn't encouraged.

One way to encourage community and cooperative learning is to assign different students with different roles during experiments and investigations, such as recorder, material gatherer, spokesperson and so on. This gives each student a responsibility within the investigation. Another method that can be used is called the jigsaw method. In this practice students become experts on a topic and then form groups with one expert from each area. One example of how I (thanks to Dr. Ivey) have used this is in the study of plate tectonics. Students become experts in one of four areas: volcanic activity, earthquake activity, seafloor depth, and seafloor age. Then groups are formed with one student from each area and they work to tie all of the pieces together to explain plate tectonics.

What could you do to encourage community and or cooperative learning OUTSIDE your classroom?(Thompson)
During my undergrad studies at TU I had a statistics professor that insisted the very first day of class that we exchange contact information with at least two other class members. this not only hinted to us that he //expected// us to work together, but also encouraged us to do so if it was not something we would normally do. He also assigned us group work that had to completed outside of class. I try to encourage groups to work together outside of class in my own classes, but I am often met with the "I don't have a way of getting to their house," or "I don't have a ___ (phone, computer, skype account, etc.)" rebuttal. I think it is generally harder in a public school system to mandate group work outside of the classroom since parents could potentially state that their child did not have the means necessary to participate.

Our NASA INSPIRE project created an online community of high schools students that work collaboratively and virtually on science, technology and engineering. The community provides a support network for high achieving students interested in pursuing STEM fields to interact directly with NASA STEM professionals who provide support for their career interests. The community also provides an environment for students to chat with their peers who have similar interest.

Does your school have a study hall class? If so, are students allowed to work together? What could you do as a teacher to help implement an environment that encourages community-learning?(Thompson)
My students stay with me all day long, and work on virtual education so they do not get a lot of "study hall" time. The way that I created a bit of community-learning in my classroom is levels. Once I student has completed so many courses or has been in my room long enough, they become a class "helper/tutor". It is nothing hard or difficult but gives them the ability to teach other students or help with work. Since I have students coming and leaving my class every month, I always have new leaders and new recruits. So they are working to integrate each other into our classroom, and I stress the fact to them that it is our classroom. It creates a very strong community within the walls of the vitual academy and the kids help each other out a tremendous amount.

NSU is trying to improve remedial education. The Remedial Committee is trying to figure ways to improve pass rates and retention rates, since failing a remedial class is often the blame students use to explain why they are leaving our university. One of the ideas we are acting on, is creating a study hall-like environment in the NSU Library in the evenings on the 2nd floor. Tables will be set up, and students will/can work together on their assignments. One tutor, for now, will circle the tables helping the individuals. We hope our students will develop the positive community study skills the Chinese students portrayed in this study (working together, bouncing ideas off each other, teaching each other, sharing ideas). For now, this will be a voluntary service. Another initiative we have is to create a 4-hour remedial class for students who have failed or withdrawn from a remedial class. One of the hours will be this MANDATORY study hall session. We are thinking this extra hour will encourage students to collaborate and share their ideas and understanding. Here’s hoping!!

__Teaching Science with Homeless Children: Pedagogy, Representation, and Identify__ - Weinbrecht

 * Baton (1998) states the following, “teachers play a critical role in how pedagogical issues of representation and identity emerge in science class because of the role they play in helping children develop a reflexive relationship between science and school and the rest of their lives.” (p. 391). Using evidence from this week’s readings, how does Baton’s (1998) understanding of science learning, student lives, and community relate? (Weinbrecht)**

Squire, MaKinster, Barnett, Luehmann, and Barab (2003) study how pre-designed science curriculum is implemented in different classroom communities and cultures. Their study shows that the community is never compromised for the curriculum. However, the curriculum is constantly molded to fit the culture. Squire et al. (2003) finds that classroom communities that are the most collaborative and inquiry based tend to have an easier time implementing pre-designed curriculum, although students may not be able to relate to the topic, in this case ozone proliferation. This has many implications for academic intervention programs that are prescribed for particular school settings and their success.

This article ties into what Barton (1998) has found. The teacher in this case helped to students to find personal connections and ways to identify with the pre-designed curriculum. In all four cases that were analyzed the teacher never compromised the student's identity to make the curriculum fit. The teachers always adapted the curriculum to the student, acknowledging the culture that existed in the classroom and tapping into the knowledge, assessment, and learner-centered recommendations given by Donovan and Bransfield (2005).

Ma & McIntyre (2005) conducted a study that looked at the success of students who took pure mathematics courses as opposed to applied mathematics courses as opposed to low-level mathematics courses. Besides the obvious result being that those who took pure mathematics courses were more successful that the students who took the other altenatives, the mathematical success of the students also depended on the type of school and how committed the teacher is to teaching mathematics. Smaller schools and the more highly committed the mathematics teacher is to the subject aided to the success of the math students. The article would have been more conducive to a community-centered environment if it had went into more detail concerning the successful schools and teachers.


 * “If all students are to participate in science in genuine ways, then teachers need to find ways to value the diverse ways of knowing brought to class by the students” (Baton, 1998 p. 391). How does this statement related to community-centered classrooms discussed during this course. To learner-, knowledge-, or assessment-centered? (Weinbrecht)**

Barton (1998) heavily supports the learner and knowledge-centered areas of building classroom culture. She addresses the importance of taking students preconceptions, prior experiences, and identity into consideration when designing science curriculum. Students used these prior experiences to research, analyze data, and draw conclusions about pollution in their community. The example Barton (1998) gives, shows that science and other subjects can be interesting and useful to any student. The curriculum just has to be molded to fit the interest of the learner.

In a similar study, Fusco (2001) followed a group of teens who participated in n afterschool program at the low-income housing development where they lived. The teacher on the program left the development of the project completely up to the students, who chose to convert a vacant lot near the housing facility into a community garden. The project was very successful with one student describing the science he learned as "something to be proud of, to be remembered by, and to help beautify the community," (Fusco, 2001, p. 874). The students in the program refered to school projects as being fake because they had not impact on real people. To the students in this study, it was important that school work mean something and be beneficial to society.

As far as I know, I have never taught a child who was homeless, but I have taught many with a variety of issues at home. For some kids, the classroom is their safe place, so that feeling of community is crucial. It is important that teachers work with counselors and adminsitrators in order to find strategies in which to help children who might be struggling at home.
 * Considering the article, how do we as educators address students who are “homeless” in our classroom? How does community-centered instruction relate to “homeless” students?(Weinbrecht)**


 * Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning**
 * The authors of Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning encourage the use of cognitive apprenticeship model in learning. Does this agree with the other literature we have read in this class?(Platt)**

Here are two ways cognitive apprenticeship and community-centered teaching can be thought of synonymously:

(1) In How People Learn, Bransford et al. (2000) declare that in community-centered learning environments, “schools need to develop ways to link classroom learning to other aspects of student lives” (p. 26). Similarly, Brown et al. (1989) offer in, Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning, that “to learn to use tools as practitioners use them, a student, like an apprentice, must enter that community and its culture ” (p. 33). And in How Students Learn, Donovan & Bransford (2005) state that in community-centered approach requires the development of “connections to the outside world” (p. 17).

(2) Donovan & Bransford (2005) also surmise that there should be a focus on productive and civil communication between students, and between teacher and students, where students can openly reveal ideas whether erroneous or not, for the betterment of the entire learning community. In accordance with this, Brown et al. (1989) opine that during cognitive apprenticeship, “learning, both outside and inside school, advance through collaborative social interaction and the social construction of knowledge” (p. 40).


 * Brown, Collins, and Duquid say “..students may come to rely, in important but little noticed ways, on features of the classroom context, in which the task is now embedded, that are wholly absent from and alien to authentic activity”. Do you agree with this? Can you think of ways in which this has happened to you or your students?(Platt)**

I absolutely agree, the nuances of a classroom are picked up rapidly by the students even when the teacher is oblivious to them. I do not think this is just with the content or program you are teaching either, I think this has to do with the entire environment that the classroom is functioning in. Just as an example of the classroom environment impact, in my own life of being a student. I had a math teacher in high school, I was not particularly gifted in my studies at this time, mostly because I was lazy and didn't care, but every time I would ask a question she would motion for me to put my hand down and would wait until she taught her more gifted students before answering my question. It only took a couple times of this happening before I started to see the pattern and completely checked out of her classroom. This thing, she probably had no idea was going on was happening throughout the class, most of her students picked up on the unstated rules and behaved accordingly.

In my own classroom, I tried to initiate a step process of the students attempting it on their own before asking me. I thought it was going really well, until I realized the students had taken this process a step further and had given up asking me all together and the new students coming in had realized this without the background knowledge. So had these students who would never ask me questions, and could not figure out why. I had to change the way I taught the class process, so that I retaught them every time I had a new student come in to overcome this classroom expectation.

=References=

Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., & Cocking, R.R. (2000) //How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school//. Washington D.C.: The National Academies Press.

Brown, J., & And, O. (1989). Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning. //Educational Researcher//, //18//(1), 32-42.

Calabrese Barton, A. (1998). Teaching science with homeless children: Pedagogy, representation and identity. //Journal of Research in Science Teaching//, 35 (4), 379-394.

Crowe, M, & Stanford, P. (2010). Questioning for Quality. //Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin,// 76(4), 36-44.

Donovan, M. S., and Bradford, J. D. (2000). Pulling treads. J.D.Bransford, A.L. Brown, R.R Cocking, M. S. Donovan, and J.W. Pellegrino (Eds.). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School - Expanded Edition. Washington D.C.: The National Academies Press. Retrieved May 30, 2012, from []

Donovan, M. S., and Bradford, J. D. (2005). //How students learn: History, mathematics, and science in the classroom//. Washington D.C.: The National Academies Press.

Eames, C., and Stewart, K. (2008). Personal and relationship dimensions of higher education science and engineering learning communities. //Research in Science and Technology Education,// 26(3), 311-321.

Frykholm, J. A. (1998). Beyond supervision: Learning to teach mathematics in community. //Teaching and Teacher Education, 14//(3), 305-322. doi: 10.1016/s0742-051x(97)00043-7

Fusco, D. (2001). creating relevant science through urban planning and gardening. //Journal of Research in Science and Teacing, 38//(8), 860-877.

Ma, X. and McIntyre, L. (2005). Exploring differential effects of mathematics courses on mathematics achievement. Canadian journal of education, 28(4), 827-852. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Margolin, I. & Regev, H. (2011). From whole class to small groups instruction: learners developing mathematical concepts. Issues in the Undergraduate Mathematics Preparation of School Teachers: The Journal, 2, 1-13. Retrieved from h[|ttp://www.k-12prep.math.ttu.edu]

Smardon, R. (2004). Streetwise science: Toward a theory of the code of the classroom. //Mind, Culture, And Activity, 11(3)//, 201-223.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Squire, K.D., MaKinster, J.G., Barnett, M., Luehmann, A. L., and Barab, S. (2003). Designed curriculum and local culture: Acknowledging the primacy of classroom culture. Science Education, 87(4), 468-489.