The guiding principles behind the CMP INstructional model are designed to help students generate meaning and relevancy for what they are learning, in their own terms, by working through problems that have been devised to incorporate common skills as the student explores problem solving methodology. Thus the intent of CMP is to help students create a deeper understanding of a subject or key idea through the direct and open investigation of a well crafted problem situation.
The CMP model of instruction does appear to be inquiry based, in that it relies on open ended inquiry and investigation. Where the student's interest in a subject or idea may be piqued by the Teacher, but ultimately the Teacher is relying on the process of the activity to impart knowledge and to further a Student's understanding of that subject or Idea.
True inquiry based models of teaching require that the Teacher is ultimately encouraging the Student to think for themselves, by not looking for constant validation. The Teacher is reinforcing the Students behavior, to continue to be curious and to continue to work on a project despite hardship, and without giving the information directly to the Student, if it can be helped. CMP seems to follow some of these basic tenants as well.
October 23, 2011
October 16, 2011
Anticipatory Set and Closure
The Anticipatory Set (AS) is used by the Teacher at the outset of leading the class through new material. I looked at a couple of definitions, one from the Oklahoma Baptist University and another from About.com. These two definitions agree that the AS should whet the students' appetite for the new material, be used to assess what level of understanding about the subject the student's may already possess and give the students a clear indication of what the lesson will cover and what is expected.
Some of the methods that can be utilized during the AS are direct questioning, role playing or skits, quiz, modeling and even stories or anecdotes. If at all possible I really like role playing with math, because if you can get the body involved in the math principle then it really has a chance to stick. With measurement you could have the students role play the transition from 1 gallon, played by one student, to 4 quarts played by 4 other students and so on. This method also taps into the visual learner as well because now the concept has lept to life and is more visually tangible.
The Closure Set (CS) is more than just a summary (Oklahoma Baptist University). I like OKBU definition because it puts the responsibility for carrying on the information in the hands of the students. Through the closure the students are empowered to reflect on what they've learned as the Teacher puts the new information in a larger context or even better, leads the Students into forming their own context or framework with the new information attached in order to increase retention and to facilitate transfer. The closure is also an opportunity for the Teacher to assess whether the students really got the subject matter.
Some of the methods that can be utilized during the CS it that the Teacher could lead a class discussion, have the students make short presentations, do project in class, or require writing in the students' reflection journal.
Some of the methods that can be utilized during the AS are direct questioning, role playing or skits, quiz, modeling and even stories or anecdotes. If at all possible I really like role playing with math, because if you can get the body involved in the math principle then it really has a chance to stick. With measurement you could have the students role play the transition from 1 gallon, played by one student, to 4 quarts played by 4 other students and so on. This method also taps into the visual learner as well because now the concept has lept to life and is more visually tangible.
The Closure Set (CS) is more than just a summary (Oklahoma Baptist University). I like OKBU definition because it puts the responsibility for carrying on the information in the hands of the students. Through the closure the students are empowered to reflect on what they've learned as the Teacher puts the new information in a larger context or even better, leads the Students into forming their own context or framework with the new information attached in order to increase retention and to facilitate transfer. The closure is also an opportunity for the Teacher to assess whether the students really got the subject matter.
Some of the methods that can be utilized during the CS it that the Teacher could lead a class discussion, have the students make short presentations, do project in class, or require writing in the students' reflection journal.
October 9, 2011
Practicum - Sharing a Lesson
Recently at my practicum site I had the opportunity to work with the flute section on a J.P. Sousa March that features a very well known melody (well known maybe 20 years ago) but none of these students had ever heard the march let alone this solo flute part featured in it. My task was to introduce it to them and begin working with them on it. I had about 15 minutes and we were relegated to a room where there was standing room only, and where I could not move around easily, also with the lay out of the room (a storage locker really) I could not easily get the attention of all the students because some students had to stand behind other students to make room for all of us. My strategy was to briefly play it for them at a very slow tempo and then have them all play together as many times as I could in 15 minutes, while selecting various students from time to time to play a certain section by themselves.
From the moment we entered the room I was sidetracked by comments ranging from, "I don't like this, why do we have to play it?" to "flutes aren't supposed to play that high, why are we playing what should really be a piccolo part?" Out of the ten students, 4 of them made comments along these lines. There are no quick satisfying answers to these questions, and so I could only push forward and at least get them focused on trying to play the piece at the moment.
What worked for me was to have a student that I knew could play it, do so. That got everyone's attention, and even the students that were resistant at first gave it a greater effort. We played through it twice without any comments from me. Afterward, I noticed that there were 3 students of the 10 that clearly did not have the fingerings under their control and would not have been able to play it at that moment at any speed, so I enlisted the help of my 'complainers' to take the next 5 minutes to work with those students to write in fingerings so they would have the correct material to practice at home.
At this point we are about 10 minutes into the short session.
After this I had the group play together again. Then I asked someone I hadn't engaged yet to play a particular 4 measure section. This served as one of my checks on learning because then I asked the two students next to him to play together.
So 15 minutes is not a lot of time to work with 10 flute players who are learning a short solo section they've never really seen before, but as the minutes wore on I was able to assess the ability and motivation level of the individuals within the group. Collecting bits of data in this way helped me focus on the strengths of the students by asking them to be examples for the group, and to deflect/diffuse the poor attitude of a number of the other students by asking them to coach/mentor the few students that were struggling with simple things like the fingerings for common notes.
Had I not been paying attention, or had I let the initial comments from some dissatisfied students corrupt my intentions for the instructional period then I might've spent the entire time lecturing about why the piece was important to learn instead of letting the music speak for itself.
Were I to relive this session, I would have identified some key notes that have multiple fingering possibilities to avoid confusion right off the bat for my inexperienced players. I would have brought in my Ipad with a really awesome rendition of the piece cued up to the flute part so the students could have the full experience of what they are working towards, and I would not have had the full group playing all at once. I would have had students play in pairs, and would have kept things moving more quickly. Pacing is very important and I would like to get better at keeping the momentum.
My site supervisor asked how the session went afterwards, and just as I was about to tell him that I really didn't think we accomplished that much, one of the students that had said she didn't like the piece because it reminder her too much of circus music, came around the corner and said that the session was really helpful and that she felt like she got a lot out of it. Kinda made my day!
From the moment we entered the room I was sidetracked by comments ranging from, "I don't like this, why do we have to play it?" to "flutes aren't supposed to play that high, why are we playing what should really be a piccolo part?" Out of the ten students, 4 of them made comments along these lines. There are no quick satisfying answers to these questions, and so I could only push forward and at least get them focused on trying to play the piece at the moment.
What worked for me was to have a student that I knew could play it, do so. That got everyone's attention, and even the students that were resistant at first gave it a greater effort. We played through it twice without any comments from me. Afterward, I noticed that there were 3 students of the 10 that clearly did not have the fingerings under their control and would not have been able to play it at that moment at any speed, so I enlisted the help of my 'complainers' to take the next 5 minutes to work with those students to write in fingerings so they would have the correct material to practice at home.
At this point we are about 10 minutes into the short session.
After this I had the group play together again. Then I asked someone I hadn't engaged yet to play a particular 4 measure section. This served as one of my checks on learning because then I asked the two students next to him to play together.
So 15 minutes is not a lot of time to work with 10 flute players who are learning a short solo section they've never really seen before, but as the minutes wore on I was able to assess the ability and motivation level of the individuals within the group. Collecting bits of data in this way helped me focus on the strengths of the students by asking them to be examples for the group, and to deflect/diffuse the poor attitude of a number of the other students by asking them to coach/mentor the few students that were struggling with simple things like the fingerings for common notes.
Had I not been paying attention, or had I let the initial comments from some dissatisfied students corrupt my intentions for the instructional period then I might've spent the entire time lecturing about why the piece was important to learn instead of letting the music speak for itself.
Were I to relive this session, I would have identified some key notes that have multiple fingering possibilities to avoid confusion right off the bat for my inexperienced players. I would have brought in my Ipad with a really awesome rendition of the piece cued up to the flute part so the students could have the full experience of what they are working towards, and I would not have had the full group playing all at once. I would have had students play in pairs, and would have kept things moving more quickly. Pacing is very important and I would like to get better at keeping the momentum.
My site supervisor asked how the session went afterwards, and just as I was about to tell him that I really didn't think we accomplished that much, one of the students that had said she didn't like the piece because it reminder her too much of circus music, came around the corner and said that the session was really helpful and that she felt like she got a lot out of it. Kinda made my day!
October 1, 2011
Warm-ups in Math Education
Warm-ups serve to set the atmosphere for doing math and should help students begin to shed the mindset of the previous period and begin shape their minds for the lessons they are about to embark on. And, this may be a radical thought, but in math class, or any class for that matter, warm-ups don’t necessarily have to be related to the subject. The class could be led through a follow the leader clapping exercise, or any activity that could get the students attitudes and minds ready to be engaged in the class. When using math problems as a warm up exercise the teacher’s role is to quickly evaluate the quality of the answers produced and decide if more problems of that type are need for certain students. Also warm-ups can be a great way to help give the teacher an idea of where their class is with the fundamentals.
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