Reading Review Part B
Reading Review Part B
My focus has shifted from what I was originally planning in Part A. One of the teachers at my school
skills that students need to know e.g. how to create a new slide, how to create a background, how to
change the size, colour, and type of font, etc. While these technical skills are important for them to
learn, I am also curious to experiment with the strategy of peer teaching.
I would like to teach the technical PowerPoint skills ahead of time to a small group of students who
experience marginalization in the classroom and have them then teach their peers. My interest in this
project is to:
- See whether the learning of the small group of students is reinforced by their teaching of the large
group of students
- See whether the learning of the large group of students is improved by having a small group of
student - teachers
- See whether the individuals in the small group of students experience a greater sense of esteem and
belonging within the larger group
“How to Prepare Students to Learn by Teaching”
https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-prepare-students-learn-teaching
An interesting discussion of how learning to teach a subject to others can be used for filling in
gaps in learning. In the school in which I teach, for example, there are large differences in
access to technology at home. Being able to teach skills to students with less access to
technology ahead of time may help to level the playing field.
The article also discusses how having a purpose (i.e. teaching others) can lead to a greater
sense of motivation for students in their own learning.
There is also a fascinating point about how student teachers learn to see the value in
scaffolding and breaking down concepts into steps by teaching others. These student teachers
may then begin to employ scaffolding and chunking when doing their own learning.
The article also talks about the importance of providing time for the student teachers to reflect
on what they learned by teaching. I would not have thought to do this originally but I now
definitely will.
Students Teaching Students and Student Engagement
https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/students-teaching-students-and-student-engagement
“He or she who does the work learns the most.” This quotation really resonated with me. By
teaching the concepts ahead of time to a small group of students, and then having that small
group of students teach their peers, I am providing that small group with a much more intense
and rich learning experience. Given that this small group will be composed of students who
experience marginalization in some way, this seems like an equitable manner of teaching.
“To foster intellectual development, these youth need to interact directly with their world-through
discourse and hands-on experience with their peers.” I also found this quotation to be quite
powerful. Rather than having students learn PowerPoint skills by following a series of written
down steps or watching a YouTube video, they will be learning by interacting with their peers.
Students that may not have a lot of social power in the class could viewed by their peers as
experts much sought after for their help and guidance.
The Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Reciprocal Teaching Strategies on Comprehension of
Expository Texts
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1114674.pdf
“The foundation of the approach is the assumption that knowledge and comprehension occur as a
result of creative socializing that is formed through talks and negotiations between teachers and
students or students and students”.
While this article is talking about reading comprehension, it is using the strategy of reciprocal
teaching with students taking on the roles of a teacher in small guided reading sessions. I very
much agree with the idea that learning occurs when there is active engagement in creative problem
solving. In my situation, a small group of students will have been taught PowerPoint technical skills
ahead of time, and the deeper learning will occur when they apply these to skills to particular
problems that their peers are encountering.
“This method allows students to take ownership over their reading and learning (Hashey &
Connors, 2003). By gaining control of their learning while they read, students also have the
potential to become better self-regulators of their reading”.
I am particularly interested in this concept as I will be working with students that typically do
not feel a strong sense of belonging in school or a strong self concept of themselves as
students. By providing a small group of students with ‘expertise’ in using PowerPoint, I am
potentially giving both them and their peers an opportunity to revisit their social and academic
standing in the classroom.
“Most of the students think that the strategy is most effective than comprehension activities they encountered in their past experiences (projected in the curriculum). Students think so, because they believe it is easier due to peer support, constant guidance and extra time provided for comprehension; effective because it enables better and quicker comprehension and motivates students; and fun because it allows moving around during the activities and also teacher provides positive contributions.”
I liked this notion about movement and learning. I hadn’t thought about this, but my
small group of students will be teaching their peers PowerPoint skills in a
kinesthetic way i.e. moving from one group to the next problem solving issues. This
likely will be helpful in reinforcing their learning as it pairs a thinking skill not only
with a social encounter involving speaking and listening, but also with movement.
“Indeed, research findings show that one of the important contributions of the
strategy to comprehension process is the development in remembering skills (sic)
(Kelly et al., 1994). These evaluations on the comprehension achievement provided
by the teacher explain the finding obtained with quantitative data that the strategy
has a statistically significant effect on reading comprehension.”
This is another benefit of peer teaching that I had not thought of. My small group of
students will be constantly having to remember the PowerPoint rules that they have
been taught in order to help their peers. Now that I think of it, I likely should also
have them use a highlighter to highlight key instructions that they think will be
important to them for helping others.
The Effectiveness of the Methods of Reciprocal Teaching
https://research.avondale.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1127&context=teach
1.”Thirdly, the social nature of the process makes it enjoyable and age-appropriate.”
Schools should be places where learning not only happens but also where students’ are
provided with rich opportunities for social interaction.
2. “Placing the responsibility for the employment of these two strategies upon the students
themselves increased the depth and quality of the processing of the information”. This is
another benefit to the strategy of students taking on the role of teacher. Instead of students
being passive receivers of knowledge, they are in charge of teaching the information and
responsible for helping their peers to be successful with the information. Giving students real
and meaningful responsibilities will likely make them stronger and more confident students.
Cultivating Change through Peer Teaching
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ955665.pdf
“Specifically, students that engaged in peer teaching displayed elements of meta-
cognition, self-reflection, and career formation, coupled with a classroom environment
free from the typical instructional and relational constraints associated with instructor/
learner interaction.”
This article raises another advantage of peer teaching. It will free me up to move away
from a ‘sage on the stage’ role to a ‘guide from the side’ role. As an introverted person
this plays much more to my strengths. It also means that I can focus my attention on
helping support the social interactions between students rather than on the content of
how to use PowerPoint.
“Vygotsky believed learning could occur at a greater rate when individuals were
challenged by a more knowledgeable or capable individual (Hogan & Tudge, 1999).
Most often, this more knowledgeable individual is embodied in the role of adults or
teachers; however, peers, if they hold a higher degree of subject knowledge, are able to
assume the role.”
In a way, my small group of student teachers will become a force multiplier in
the classroom. Instead of me being the only one who can nudge and
challenge students, my small group of students can now do the same.
3. “When learners engage in an activity with a person in whom they were obligated to
obey, the learner feels a sense of constraint which can alter or discourage the learning
process (Burk, 1996). On the other hand, when learners communicate with a truly equal
peer, a feeling of cooperation emerges, forming a foundation for significant, retained
learning.”
This is one of the main goals of this teaching experiment. I am hopeful that my
group of student teachers who currently feel some degree of marginalization
in the class will form stronger bonds with the students that they help teach
and vice versa.
Works Cited
Aguila, E. (2019, May 23). How to Prepare Students to Learn by Teaching. Edutopia. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-prepare-students-learn-teaching
Allison. (2017, February 28). Students-teaching-students and student engagement. Edutopia. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/students-teaching-students-and-student-engagement
Greive, C., & Cooper, T. (n.d.). The effectiveness of the methods of reciprocal teaching. www.avondale.edu.au. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://research.avondale.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1127&context=teach
Pilten, G. (2016). The evaluation of effectiveness of reciprocal teaching strategies on comprehension of expository texts. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 4(10), 232–247. https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v4i10.1791
Velez, J., Cano, J., Whittington, M. S., & Wolf, K. J. (2011, January 4). Cultivating change through Peer Teaching - ed. https://eric.ed.gov/. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ955665.pdf
You have curated a good list of resources to support your inquiry and have included thoughtful annotations. You may want to consider adding additional multimedia elements to your posts. These can complement your discussion. If these Reading Reviews will form the basis for your final vision project, what might your digital artifact look like? This could be explored in part c of the assignment.
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