Lauren Hughes

SPEAKER REFLECTIONS
Junior Education Block Spring 2016
Speaker Reflection Data
An overarching theme that I often communicate to individuals about
OBB School of Education is experience. As future teachers, we are immersed
in a depth of opportunities that far expands sitting in a classroom daily. This
theme was validated at Trace Crossings last week when various people
talked to us about data. Teachers receive data from a lot of different
sources. Some sources provide aggregated data, or whole class information
on a particular assessment in one lump and other sources display
disaggregated data, or broken down information compiled into categories.
Upon hearing this, I started to think about what would happen if a teacher
just focused on data from one source. If this occurred, the data collected
would not indicate enough information about the whole student and their
performance.
Some of the sources that provide data for teachers include Primary
Number and Operation Assessment (PNOA), Number Steps Guided Reading,
Running Records, Istation, Performance Level Benchmarks, and Achievement
Benchmarks. Each of these sources functions differently in their
implementation, but they share a similarity: they are not valuable unless the
teacher pulls the data, discusses it with the student, and uses it to guide
instruction. Hearing about all the various sources reminded me of
elementary school. When we would take the SAT tests or have to complete

Dibels assessments, I had the worst attitude. I never understood why we

had to complete these. Now that I am on a teacher side of data, I see the
value in these assessments. The important thing to remember is that there
has to be a reason for everything that we do as teachers and this applies to
data as well. Data must be used to drive instruction or it is invaluable.

Speaker Reflection - AMSTI

As Patricia Neal stated, A master can tell you what he expects of you.
A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations. This quote concluded
the AMSTI training on February 18 and it has resided in my thoughts ever
sense. AMSTI (Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative) is the
initiative in the state to improve math and science teaching. The
professional development day that we participated in on this initiative was all
about student-centered teaching which is exactly what I thought about when
I heard the quote above. Thinking back to my elementary experiences,
science and math were very much text book driven. We did some group
work and various labs here and there, but there were not many instances
that challenged us to think deeper until I participated in enrichment. That is
exactly why AMSTI has made a breakthrough in schools today. Their
curriculum is not about the material, but rather the student. Students are
encouraged to not only use text books, but also reflect on their own
understanding and the ideas of others.

As far as math, AMSTI promotes solving math problems in different

ways. Students are pushed to use multiple strategies and cooperation and
teachers should provide a comfortable classroom community and inquirybased instruction where students own their learning always. As the speaker
was explaining the math side, I started to wonder what would happen if
every math classroom functioned this way. I think there would be more
frequent number talks, an increase in classroom discourse, and a new
passion for math among students. For science, the process is still student
centered. It focuses more on the engineering design process where student
ask, imagine, plan, create, and improve. During the training, each PLC had
to build a display case for an eagle only using a certain number of index
cards and a certain amount of tape. The display had to be a certain height
and the stuffed animal eagle had to sit on top of it for 5 seconds at the end.
The speakers intention with this activity was to allow us to experience what
our students should be experiencing in our classrooms one day. We had to
solve the problem that arose with specific criteria as well as constraints. As
we were building this display, my thoughts wondered to my first grade class
at Trace. They construct things with various items consistently in science
and the teacher is always allowing them to solve the problem instead of
telling them each step during the process. I have seen more connections
occur between them and the learning within this year than I remember ever
seeing as a student. Overall, I must remember that questions are more
important than answers. It should never be my classroom, but instead either

our classroom of my students classroom. AMSTI promotes that student

centered learning environment and I believe it is a valuable atmosphere that
I should foster in the future.

Speaker Reflection Inquiry

According to Dr. Wall, experience in science is really important. Often,
teachers squeeze a science lesson into the last five minutes of the day or
skip it all together for weeks at a time. How would you feel if science was
the subject that you were most interested in and the teacher did not teach
it? Following the practice outlined above diminishes inquiry in the
elementary science atmosphere and inquiry is exactly what we, as teachers,
should be promoting.
To assist us in better understanding this concept, Dr. Wall provided a
Scientific Argumentation Template for Labs. This template is an efficient tool
to promote scientific thinkers year round. It included the research question,
claim, evidence, and justification. When using this for K5-2nd grade classes,
the teacher would give the students the research question and the claim.
They would make some observations, jot down their evidence, and write
their justification. For grades 3-6, the teacher would give them the question
and then allow them to formulate the claim before completing the template.
As Dr. Wall was walking us through this process, I started to wonder
what would have happened in science if my teachers had used this template
to promote inquiry. There would have been more hands-on activities, higher

level thinking, and engagement. Copying vocabulary words and answering

questions out of the science textbook got monotonous after a couple of
weeks. Science in the inquiry fashion would have been more enjoyable. I
despised science class as a child and I do not want my future students to feel
the same way. Having this template and understanding that the experience
promotes inquiry will prompt me to make science a fun, learning time for
students every day.

Speaker Reflection - Instructional Strategies Reflection

Throughout this teacher education block at Samford, it has been
emphasized that strategies are a key component in lessons. As teachers, we
cannot just teach at the students nonstop and expect them to learn. The
lessons have to be engaging, involving, entertaining, and interesting. That is
where instructional strategies come into the picture. I often ask myself how
schools would be different if every teacher made it a priority to implement
these strategies into their teaching. After watching the two videos, it is clear
that more developed and engaging teaching would occur in the classroom
and the students would actually take pride in becoming learners.
Ms. Larsens archeology lesson and Tyler DeWitts science talk were
similar in the overall concept that they were trying to convey but there were
some differences. They were similar in the fact that both were urging
teachers to make learning enjoyable and fun for the students. Another
common factor was the modeling aspect that they used. Ms. Larsen brought

in actual artifacts for the students to see and touch and Tyler used the
stuffed bacteria and virus as a model. The differences lied in the actual
content. Tylers talk was geared toward science while Ms. Larsens focused
on history. I was surprised when I watched both of the videos because I
always held the view that these two subjects were difficult to make
enjoyable, but these two individuals allowed me to remember that the level
of fun lies within the teacher and planning. I think that this viewpoint derives
from my personal experience in school where science and social studies were
mainly taught through bookwork if we even got around to those subjects at
all.
Looking at my lesson plans, I now visually understand that questioning,
vocabulary boards, digging layers, and personal family artifacts can be
implemented into any history lesson. Of course the strategies would be
changed to align with the content, but these types of strategies can change
the entire lesson. I also grasped the idea of storytelling as was mentioned in
one of our classes this semester. As Tyler stated, Good storytelling is all
about emotional connection. We have to convince our audience that what
were talking about matters. But just as important is for us to know which
details we should leave out so that the main point still comes across. As a
future teacher, I will make it a priority to incorporate instructional strategies
in my classroom and convey information to my students in ways they can
connect to such as storytelling.