What Participants Are Saying
What District Administrators Are Saying About CE Credits Online
Sandra L. Tune, Ed.S.
District Resource Teacher
Reading Endorsement
Test Prep for Teacher Certification
Hillsborough County Public Schools, Staff Development
Tampa, Florida
Coaching to Improve Reading and
Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom
"Thank you very much for all of your support. I have heard only kudos for CE Credits Online from the district’s participants as to the content of the CE Credits Online Competency 4/5 (Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom) and Competency 6 (Coaching to Improve Reading) courses. Teachers have been sharing their positive reflections with other teachers who are ’lining-up’ for additional opportunities to take these online courses. I believe that CE Credits Online courses are one of the best investments my district has made."
Kathryn Kelton
Senior Coordinator, Reading First
Polk County Public Schools, FL
Coaching to Improve Reading
"Who would have thought an online class could have such an impact on those who have taken it?! Our teachers and reading coaches have come away having collaborative conversations where terms like “peer relationships, reflective questioning, and enduring knowledge” are at the forefront. Most importantly, they feel like they not only have the tools to be successful coaches or coaches—but they have the confidence to engage in the self-reflection necessary to refine their craft. Thank you for developing Coaching to Improve Reading!"
Dawn C. Newell
Secondary Reading/Language Arts Curriculum Specialist
Alachua County Public Schools
Gainesville, Florida
"I wanted to let you know how pleased Alachua County is with the service you have provided in regard to reading endorsement courses (Coaching to Improve Reading and Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom). The teachers are pleased with the content of the courses as well as the ease of use and accessibility of your staff when they need help or have questions.
I am pleased with the ease of registration and the speed with which we receive course log on information. I can easily meet the reading endorsement needs of the teachers. Thank you for your wonderful service."
Kathy Giroux
Senior Coordinator
Instructional Professional Development
Polk County School District
Bartow, Florida
Coaching to Improve Teaching and Learning
"Our school district has used CE Credits Online for our district Coaching course for two years. We’ve utilized it based on continued positive feedback from participants. At the end of each course, we hold a feedback and review session with participants. A few of the comments we repeatedly hear are:
‘The format of the course is so easy to follow.’
‘I learned so much about coaching and the verbal skills I need to use.’
‘It was easy to navigate through all the lessons.’
‘My forums were answered in a timely manner.’
Other comments center around the course being easily accessible, self paced and flowing nicely from one lesson to another.
Our district has looked at other online coaching courses in the past. We value quality courses with hands on learning that require implementation of activities. Coaching to Improve Teaching and Learning is a quality course that requires active participation and follow-through of activities. Because of this, participants learn the necessary skills. Therefore, our district continues to use the course.
We highly recommend it to other districts looking for an online coaching course option.”
Jennifer Smith, Past Staff Development Director
District School Board of Pasco County
Current Director of Curriculum and Instruction
Sarasota County Schools
Sarasota, FL
Coaching to Improve Teaching and Learning
"When we had a large number of K-12 teachers who needed training to provide peer coaching, Coaching to Improve Teaching and Learning from CE Credits Online was a viable and successful answer. Teachers responded very positively to the format and content, and their online discussions were invaluable for developing an online professional learning community among the coaches.”
Dr. Beverly Addison
Supervisor
Online Professional Development Programs
Cobb County School District
Marietta, Georgia
The Constructive Discipline Series
"We started offering the three-part Constructive Discipline Series when principals and teachers asked us to find an online course to help new teachers create orderly classrooms during their first year of teaching. Now we have veteran teachers also requesting the course because of the impact the strategies have had in their colleagues’ classrooms.
The courses are well designed, include a variety of learning activities, are easy to navigate, and the facilitators and support staff are responsive. Our teachers and paraprofessionals have nothing but praise for the courses and the technical support staff. CE Credits Online has set the benchmark in quality for my school district in working with online course vendors.”
Denise Busby
Specialist, Secondary Program
Los Angeles Unified School District
Alternative Certification and
Teacher Support
District Intern Program
"The Los Angeles Unified School District District Intern Program and Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) Induction Program partnered with CE Credits Online in 2001 to create the online course, "Today’s Classroom: Foundation of and Current Trends in Education.” This structured online course provides accountable and consistent professional development activities that enable teachers, especially beginning teachers, to develop as professional educators. Over 1,000 District Interns and BTSA participating teachers have enrolled and successfully completed this provocative and stimulating course. The content is relevant and presents strategies that can be immediately implemented within the classroom. The videos demonstrate concrete models that employ strategies, lessons and many resources that become elements that teachers place in their permanent professional repertoire. The evaluations and reflective thoughts of the interns and participating teachers give the highest ratings possible to the format of the online course. The course facilitators and support staff at CE Credits Online provide individual attention and effectual responses that far exceeds traditional expectations.
I highly recommend CE Credits Online to any district considering the use of this online service as part of their professional development.”
Denise S. Roberts
Director of Professional Development
School District of Indian River County
Vero Beach, FL
Again . . . Indian River has been extremely pleased with Competency 4/5 (Coaching to Improve Reading) as well as the service we have received from you!
Thanks again! Denise
Dave Belinsky
Education Specialist Advisor
Los Angeles Unified School District
Today’s Classroom: Foundations of and Current Trends in Education
"I write you today out of gratitude for years of professional online curriculum design and instruction. Although the Los Angeles Unified School District has availed itself of a multitude of courses offered by your program, I would like to focus on my two years of experience primarily dealing with the Today’s Classroom: Foundations of and Current Trends in Education online course.
As a both a secondary education advisor and now a special education advisor, I have had the chance to see the utility of this particular course for a variety of new teacher candidates. While both groups enjoy the classroom management components (Lesson 7), the special education teacher interns especially enjoy the ample time devoted to addressing the various ability levels within a given classroom. All interns seem to relish any discussion of how to enhance their assessments to provide a more comprehensive picture of student performance, an issue deftly elucidated near the culmination of this particular course.
Perhaps the most enjoyable part of working with CE Credits Online, however, is the customer support. Your Vice President has been steadfast in her resolve to see that our teacher candidates have the best experience possible. This is evidenced in everything from her personable phone calls to her networking savvy in troubleshooting our online concerns and/or problems.
It is my hope that our intern program continues to expand its relationship with CE Credits Online.”
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Giving Directives That Students Will Follow (1st in series)
"The Safety, Order and Rights value set is the most valuable (to me) and will be most helpful in my classroom. There is consistency in this set of verbal commands with no backing down.”
Submitted By: DJ, Charlotte, FL
"The idea I found most valuable is the four-step verbal skill. Previously, I was one of those who tended to get dragged into an argument with students. No more! I’ll state the four steps using exact words and the student will receive the consequence if he or she doesn’t comply. I believe that the Safety, Order and Rights value set will help students better understand why we have rules and help the learning process in the classroom because students are then following those rules. If all teachers learned about the value set, they would accept it. This would be an excellent in-service idea”
Submitted By: LS, Charlotte, FL
"I think the most valuable concept in the course is the four-step directive for helping students make better choices. When a student is being disruptive and defiant, this approach allows the student to make a positive choice without feeling powerless. I think it would be great if it were to be implemented school-wide.”
Submitted By: LS, Cobb County, GA
"This was a practical, useful course. The four-step verbal approach is clear and effective. I had to rethink some of my approaches as I worked through this course. It reaffirmed for me that consequences and rules must work together. Any approach that stops the arguing that students enjoy is an approach I need and want. Thanks for all the idea and techniques. Yes the Safety, Order and Rights Value set is very important in my classroom. Students want to feel that the teacher will require safety, order and respect of their rights in the classroom. I want that also. My school definitely will support this plan. My co-workers are anxious to try this approach with their groups.”
Submitted By: JJ, DeKalb, GA
"I am thrilled to have taken from this course the four directives you have given us for behavior management. We have found that it works (even with kindergarteners!) and are excited to have this very useful tool upon which to draw...and we do, every day!! We watch our wording very carefully and have been able to hold the children accountable for their actions and the consequences that may ensue for undesirable behavior. It really makes them stop and think! This entire class has really made clear that we all need and should be held accountable for our actions inside as well as outside of the classroom.”
Submitted By: CC, Cobb, GA
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Stopping Disruptive Behavior (2nd in series)
"It is great to have a set thing to say when encountering disruptive students and especially a technique that works. It lets the students know their expectations and make an adult decision as to how they should behave. ”
Submitted By: MM, DeKalb, GA
"This course has truly enlightened me. I have fought so many battles with students, not knowing that I had the wrong technique. I just focused on getting the student to tell the truth, or to just admit that they were wrong, or even to apologize for their wrong doing. Also, my delivery has not always been calm. The five statement technique will definitely be used from now on. Now, I know that if the child just internally admits or thinks about their behavior it is enough to stop the behavior. The students that I have had the dialog with have not repeated their behavior (at least not with me). It is really hard for me to put my appreciation of this course down in writing, but I would encourage my co-workers to at least try the technique once. I also thought that the "Safety, Order, and Rights" value set should also be encouraged in my school; classroom. This method should somehow be a part of the school wide plan.”
Submitted By: CH, Fulton, GA
"The verbal technique is the most important thing I learned from this course. It will be invaluable to me. I’ve already experienced its use in my class room. I am amazed at how it works outside the class room. I used it with my six year old grandson and it worked. I told a friend of mine about the course and the verbal technique. She was very interested and tried it at work on a colleague who is always trying to pass off his work onto others. She said it was incredible how it stopped him from doing it. I do believe in the Safety, Order and Rights value set. Our school operates along these lines now.”
Submitted By: EL, Fulton, GA
"I found the 5-part skill in stopping disruptive behavior the most valuable. I was one of those yelling teachers before I began these last two on-line courses. I now state the steps in order and expect results. If I don’t get them, the student gets the stated consequence. The Safety, Order and Rights value set simply helps our classroom rules make sense. Students need to understand why the rules are there and how they are for their benefit in order to better follow them. ”
Submitted By: LS, Charlotte, FL
"This course helped me see that when confronting a student about a misbehavior, the student response is not as important as me getting the student to see his own behavior and to internally evaluate the choices he is making. This helps to eliminate the power struggle, yet sets the standard and consequences for the student. I love the Safety, Order, and Rights value set because it helps me distinguish between annoying behavior and destructive behavior. Some of the things I would previously be annoyed by I could let go... ”
Submitted By: RF, Cobb, GA
"I think the Safety, Order and Rights act is very valuable. I have used it on the children in our class, as well as my own children and it really works! They become aware that they need to make the decision and I don’t have to blow my top off! I also like the technique or steps for stopping disruptive behavior. It is amazing how well it works. The student makes the choice of the desired behavior; you don’t have to get angry, or upset. I wasn’t really sure if it would work, but amazingly it really does. Getting the verbiage exact takes practice and I do use a "cheat sheet" still but practice makes perfect. We have started using the Safety, Order and Rights value set in our class room. We talked with our administration and they are willing to do this as well. … This was an informative class, something I can use forever.”
Submitted By: RW, Cobb, GA
"Without a doubt, the verbal technique for stopping disruptive behavior is the most valuable element of this course, in my opinion. I have used the technique manytimes now. It is amazing how well it works and how well the children respond to the calm, calculated questions as they are presented. I have received no hostility in response to my questions. The students really appear to think through what is being said and I actually had a little boy stop me to tell me his "plan” for improving his constant talking in his 2nd grade class. I am raving about this technique to my fellow teachers. I am not in a normal classroom setting, but I get a huge opportunity to deal with many students in our school because of my position. I will continue to use the verbal techniques and require the students to be more responsible for the decisions they make about the actions they do. I have enjoyed this class and plan to talk about it at a new teacher group meeting that we are having next week! I hope that my colleagues will accept the value set because it works.”
Submitted By: SD, Savannah-Chatham, GA
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Conducting the Parent Conference (3rd in series)
"This was a great course. I learned so much. I am certainly implementing the 7-step interview especially the goal step. I will also use the 7 steps of communicating. I wish that I had known the resistance techniques this past year. They were clear and concise. I also found the appropriate ways to end a conference helpful. I plan to use the copies of the graphic organizers next year. Thanks!”
Submitted By: LE, Rock Island Regional Office of Education, IL
"I believe this was a very informational course. Often times, I find myself getting into long drawn out conversations with parents. This course gave steps to follow to make sure that the conference stays on-task and on-topic. I also found the part on handling difficult parents helpful. It gave clear steps on how to respond to them. In terms of the Safety Orders Right Value set, I think that using it in a conference is helpful in that it allows the parents to see the expectations and how their child is violating the rights of others and themselves. I think it would definitely be something that others would like to use at my school.”
Submitted By: VB, Cobb, GA
"The idea presented in the course that I found most valuable was using the Safety, Order, and Rights value set to gain parent’s support in implementing consequences or action plans. It is so valuable because it is very hard to believe any parent would not want these fundamental rights for their child. Once you gain their agreement to this, your job in involving them in a subsequent plan to address the problem is much easier. It also eliminates subjective opinions and hearsay. I believe this will be very helpful in my classroom next year.”
Submitted By: PN, Cobb, GA
"Prior to this course, I viewed documentation as a means of providing
how right I was, now I see that documentation is one of the most
effective means that I will ever have as a teacher that will help
indicate that my student needs help. The ideas that I found to be most valuable in the course are those that encourage the use of documentation with my students. Also, I appreciated the many forms that were available for download. I plan on implementing them with my upper grade students. Finally, I appreciated the opportunity to post my thoughts and opinions and to realize that I was not being judged on what I thought, but rather was being encouraged to think about how to conduct my classroom in a manner which would offer all students a positive environment in which to learn.”
Submitted By: MC, Chicago Public Schools, IL
"The ideas I feel will be most valuable to me are the techniques for overcoming resistance when meeting with parents. It is so important for parents and educators to work together as a team. These techniques will help get us on the same team. The Safety, Order, and Rights value set presents a common sense approach that few parents can dispute and will prove to be quite valuable. I think my school would accept this value set particularly if it were presented by the administration to promote unity throughout the school.”
Submitted By: CS, ROE Whiteside #55, IL
"This course gave some excellent ideas for having parent conferences when dealing with disruptive students. In the past, there have been times where I met with a parent and I had no plan. I just discussed the problem and I was hoping that the parent would somehow fix the problem for me. These situations were not usually very successful. In the future I will have a plan in mind when meeting with a parent. I also liked going over the safety, rights, and order values at the beginning of the conference, then later explaining which of those values the behavior violates. I think parents will be more willing to listen and support you when they see your commitment to their child’s well-being and education. I also found the techniques for dealing with difficult or unsupportive parents to be very helpful. I definitely agree with the safety, order, and rights values. I think they are essential to a well run classroom and school. I think my colleagues would be very accepting of these values and they would be a great benefit to our school.”
Submitted By: LS, Cobb, GA
"I believe that the Safety, Order, and Rights value set will be extremely beneficial in my classroom. I’ve already started using it, and it’s been very helpful this far. I believe my entire school could benefit from the Safety, Order and Rights value set. This is a great system for all teachers, but especially new teachers.”
Submitted By: TR, Fulton, GA
"This is a very helpful and necessary course. The most valuable ideas are "Plan How To Say It", including the seven C’s of effective communication and The Safety, Order and Rights value set. By using these ideas, you are almost certain to have a successful conference and if a problem occurs, you know exactly what to say to handle it. I think my school and fellow teachers will accept the value set because it will be very effective in communicating with parents.”
Submitted By: JG, Cobb, GA
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Rights & Responsibilities in the Disciplinary Process (4th in series)
“1. The videos were great! They were all informative and to the point. I liked the legal excepts from laws around the country, it was helpful to see how this issue is articulated in different places. 2. I found all the information presented valuable, particularly the fact that the person who force is used on is the one to determine it’s levels. That’s powerful. The presenter was right, we don’t always know our levels of force. I also enjoyed the web based searches conducted for this course. I found good information about what was and wasn’t present in my state’s laws. 3. This will impact my ability to maintain S.O.R. because I will attempt in the future to pay attention to my own stress response, be certain to attempt nonphysical means to change behavior, and document any usage of force necessary.”
Submitted By: YM, OH
“The information that I found most interesting in this course is the fact that we as teachers can use force when it is necessary and reasonable. I also found interesting the difficulty I had in finding my own states and schools policy on this issue. I thought that this would be so important and so it would be easy to find but it wasn’t. What was valuable to me was now knowing what necessary and reasonable is. I think it is valuable to think about what you would do in a situation and whether is was the best decision. I can really see how proper documentation is so vital in protecting your job. This information will impact my ability to maintain the Safety, Order and Rights value set in my school by keeping me aware of what I should and shouldn’t do in a given situation. I think that knowing what my rights and responsibilities are as an educator in this day and age is crucial to maintain every part of the value set. You can not have only Safety, or only Order, it is all of them that are needed to maintain the optimal environment for learning. It is so important to be prepared and knowledgable about your rights and responsiblities as an educator. It is unfortunate that our teacher preparation programs don’t do enough to train teachers in this area. A course like this should be a requirement.”
Submitted By: AH, Chicago Public Schools, IL
“The information I felt was most interesting in this course was the video clips where the man gave examples and demonstrated discipline situations. I am a visual learning and the videos served my learning style very well. He is a great presenter!! 2. The entire course was valuable! I learned several things and actually had not even considered many of the situations/examples that the were brought up in this course. I am going to give the superintendent the "incident report form" and suggest it be used in our district. 3. The information in this course will greatly impact my ability to maintain Safety, Order and Rights in my school because I am now informed of my legal rights as an educator when/if I am in a situation needing to use force when disciplining a student. I feel the course gave me information that will maintain my safety as well as the safety of others. In addition, I now know my "legal rights" with regard to "use of force" and I now know where to find school, district and state policies and legal definitions if needed.”
Submitted By: LS, WA
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Today’s Classroom: Foundations of and Current Trends in Education
"The thing I found very useful about this course was the opportunity to visit many classrooms. I loved the fact that I can observe other teachers do their lessons. I did get many new ideas on approaching my lessons and deliveries of lessons. We almost never get the opportunity to be out of the classroom and observe our co-workers. This opened a window to many teaching styles. I loved the lessons on classroom management and shaping the students to the behaviors expected during the day (routines).”
Submitted By: ME, Los Angeles Unified School District, CA
"What I found to be the most beneficial and useful were the videos showing two teachers and the different ways they teach. You often don’t realize that the way you are teaching or the way you test may not be the best way. Being able to see these different approaches has made me evaluate my teaching style and how I can improve it.”
Submitted By: LP, Gloucester County Schools, VA
"The information on multiple intelligences and learning styles was the most beneficial for me. It has me thinking about how I can present information in a variety of ways. It is important to me that I honor the differences among my students. I recognize in myself a tendency to teach in the way that I best learn. A broadened outlook, I’m sure, will not only benefit my students, but will increase my own enthusiasm toward teaching.”
Submitted By: SS, Los Angeles Unified School District, CA
"I learned a lot from the lessons on classroom organization and management. I am a new teacher, so I am looking for tips on organizing the classroom, bulletin boards, educational centers, etc. I also found the alternative assessment lesson helpful. Teaching math, I am used to the quizzes and tests. However, I am looking for other ways that my students can apply their math skills and I can use as an assessment tool.”
Submitted By: GQ, Los Angeles Unified School District, CA
"What I found to be the most beneficial and useful aspects of this course were the different examples of instruction shown in the classroom demonstrating the different concepts. As a visual learner, it provided me with an example of what is good practice (for me) to model. Also, there were always two videos to look at. One that demonstrated it the way a typical teacher would (do it). And one that demonstrated it where an outstanding teacher would engage all of the students and use different resources to pull them in. As a first year teacher, that gave me examples and techniques that I could use to be a more effective teacher in using alternative assessments and motivating my students as I try to meet their differentiated needs.”
Submitted BY: RL, Los Angeles Unified School District, CA
"The most beneficial and useful aspects of this course are the videos, the website readings and the referral to further information on the internet. The videos were helpful because they offer examples or models of actual teaching. They were helpful because they showed concrete examples and offered comparisons of actual teaching methods. The website readings were very stimulating and I wanted to learn more about the psychological impact of learning. The website referrals are helpful because I now will have further information about teaching that I would never have had before on specific topics. I do not need to do hours of research to find important information about teaching. These are all topics and issues I can implement in my classroom right now.”
Submitted By: LM, Los Angeles Unified School District, CA
"It had been 15 to 20 years since I have had a foundations of education course so this was a major refresher for me. I had forgotten about all the founding fathers or researchers of education and their contributions. I liked the reminder. The most beneficial aspect of the course for me has to be the fact that it has refreshed my memory about using some of the various types of instruction. I tend to do more direct instruction which can be very cut and dried as well as boring. I don’t accommodate all the various types of learners either this way. I have also thought more about Blooms taxonomy and working more on my questioning with discussions in the classroom with students. Another aspect of this course that has helped me is some of the ideas for classroom management. I do not tend to be as organized as most teachers and I realize that organization is very essential, so therefore it is something I plan to work on more in the future. Finally, I have realized that I am going to try to use more motivational strategies in the classroom to drive instruction. Thanks for the course”
Submitted By: DL, Cobb County, GA
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Coaching to Improve Teaching and Learning
"I have learned so much from this course! I feel that this training has made me a better mentor this year, as I have tried out the coaching practices and have seen great success! I have gained much insight on my own teaching practices as well. I am more focused on best practice, enduring knowledge, and overall student learning. I will definitely continue with the coaching process to improve myself and to help others.”
Submitted By: KS, Pasco County, Florida
"I have not only become a better coach, but a better teacher since taking this course. I focus more on intentional best practices since I am sometimes modeling lessons for other teachers. During conferences I remember the tips of using reflective questioning to help keep the meeting on track. I have also worked on building a trusting relationship with my peers so they feel comfortable approaching me for assistance. I really love the questions, "What are you teaching and why? and What do you want your students to know, understand and be able to do as a result of this lesson?" This course was comfortable because I could fit it into my schedule.”
Submitted By: CK, Pasco, FL
"I have taken this course at the same time as several of my colleagues, and we have all expressed our surprise that it has been tremendously helpful in a fundamental way. The ideas and processes you’ve presented aren’t new or earth-shaking, but the underlying philosophy really is. I am inspired and excited about choosing and working with a coaching partner next year. I look forward to in-depth and honest analysis of my own teaching practice, although I already plan and assess in more effective ways. I would like to have continued access to the course next year, so that I could review specific parts as needed. I am an old dog, but I am learning new tricks.”
Submitted By: BB, Pasco, FL
"I have taken other classes before that concentrated on coaching others. However, none of them have focused on coaching partners that work with each other and help establish intentional best practices for both individuals involved in the process. I am pleased that I am refreshed with the focus on student knowledge. It was phrased a different way this time: What do you want all students to know, understand, and be able to do after you have taught the lesson? I find myself constantly asking myself that question. I also catch myself asking my partner this question on a regular basis. I did not realize how important it was to establish a trusting relationship with your colleague before this process started. It all makes perfect sense to me now that I have worked with this method of coaching. I do not feel intimidated when I work with my partner. I know that she will guide me to my best teaching ability and my focus on student learning. She will also provide me with questions that will enable me to self evaluate and reach my own conclusions about my teaching approach, as I will her. This is a great coaching method that I plan to use regularly. I did not realize how important it is to work closely with others, not just developing themes, but having trusting eyes to help collect data and discover your great teaching abilities.”
Submitted By: TG, Pasco, FL
"This course has really helped me in my job as a mentor teacher. I have become less evaluative of other teachers’ styles and more helpful in helping them gain knowledge about best practices by using the reflective questions. I have used them so much, that they have become an essential part of MY learning to reflect on the lessons I am teaching. I know that good planning for teaching and conferencing facilitates the process. Determining what is a real learning activity and simply a good experience has helped me use my time more wisely in the classroom and help others determine what they want to use their time on in their classrooms. Instead of just having a feeling about student achievement, I use data to determine changes I need to make. The language skills I learned not only helped me with coaching teachers, but it has also helped me with students and parents. I will continue to use and share the knowledge I have gained from this course.”
Submitted By: SF, Pasco, FL
"I have learned many new strategies in this online class that will help me to improve my own teaching, working with coachees and new teachers and will also help me to better communicate with my colleagues. I have learned that: 1. When establishing a coaching relationship it is vital to lay-out expectations and guidelines. This can help to ensure that both the coach and coachee are prepared and can promote open honest communication. It will also make sure that everyone stays on task, even though many times, a discussion will lead to new topics, by establishing guidelines, I can prioritize what to discuss and then ’talk’ after what we needed to cover was accomplished. 2. Before teaching my lessons I now identify what I want the students to know, understand, and be able to do. I also have used this when team planning--for example, our Spanish Immersion planned activities for Cinco de Mayo..and out of my mouth....I said, " What is it that we want the students to know, and understand about this holiday?"...I giggled to myself, but it was amazing how just that question guided our planning!!! I also look at my activities to see if they are enduring knowledge, a learning experience or just an activity. I also relay this information in my coaching conferences. 3. I can use different types of guided questions to help my coaching partner to self reflect and discover strengths and weaknesses. I can also use them for my teaching as well. 4. I can use data collection to help teachers reflect. It is non-judgmental and objective. Sometimes, I may just have to ask if that is what she wants--for me to collect data so we can target in to needed areas. Many teachers would rather die than to have someone in their class collecting data...but if it is said in the early part of the coaching relationship, it will be expected and also appreciated as it will lead to analysis of the lessons. This course opened my eyes to appropriate tactics for coaching....as we are always soooooo busy, this was a great refresher for me and it got me excited to revamp my coaching strategies and begin the next school year with new innovative ideas for a successful coaching relationship. Thank you.”
Submitted By: LY, Pasco, FL
"My key learning revolves around the concept of enduring knowledge vs fun activities. In all my experience prior to this course, I was never able to get at the most important issue of teaching. That is "what are you teaching and why". I was great about looking for behavior management, and good questioning strategies. I can plot a teacher’s movement around the class and whether or not she engages all student in the activity. Until this course I never had the words to ask the most important questions. "What do you want the students to know, understand, and be able to do as a result of this lesson. Why is it important? What did you do to help?" I think these questions may make a teacher uncomfortable at first. They have not been expected to think about these questions in their planning. The standards are available and teachers do think about the standards in the large sense. I don’t know how good they are about thinking about the questions for each lesson, every day. Four of us at school are taking this course. As we get comfortable about conferencing with teachers in a cooperative way and ask each other to think about the reflective questions, I believe the teachers will gain more confidence in answering these questions and planning their lessons with the questions in mind. I have already shared these questions with the teachers at my school in a conversation about our school’s continuous improvement plan. We are asking the questions to each other in relation to what we want our students to know when they leave us. I don’t believe it will be a major shift to ask them to examine their own plans with the questions in mind. As one of the instructional leaders at my school it will be my job to make sure that we are using our time wisely and with good purpose.”
Submitted By: MB, Pasco, FL
"I really enjoyed this online course. I believe it helped refresh my skills as well as help me give proper direction to new teachers. I believe both the coach and coachee can grow professionally throughout this process/relationship. Enduring knowledge, data collection, reflection conferences can help udate teaching techniques. The standard question of what we are teaching and why is important. All of this plus the State Standards and Educator Accomplished Practices, competencies must be met to help success in the classroom. I would HIGHLY recommend this online course and I look forward to using what I learned!”
Submitted By: TL, Polk, FL
"This was an extremely valuable and beneficial course to me. It supported many of the ideas I already had on dealing with peers, but it also gave me new insights on things I hadn’t really thought much about. It supported my feelings about positive relationships and comments with peers. I was educated on which questions to ask when helping my colleague with their lesson plans and assessments. The information I gained in learning to coach has helped me to become more aware of my own lesson plans. I know look more closely for the enduring knowledge and ask myself exactly what I want the students to learn from each lesson. I’ve even thrown out some of my former test questions because I now realize that they weren’t written in such a way as to assess the content I was teaching. I will also encourage colleagues to reflect daily on the lessons they have taught and make changes where necessary. I will continue to use/apply the skills and techniques demonstrated in this course. I foresee many positive colleague relationships in the years ahead and I am looking forward to being a successful coach.”
Submitted By: TW, Polk, FL
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Coaching to Improve Reading
"This was another excellent class, and I learned so many valuable strategies for teaching reading and also for coaching in reading and all other classes. I have taken some other classes online, and these by far, are the most user friendly and highest quality of content I have encountered. You really give teachers specific tools and strategies to take back to their classrooms and their coaching conferences. I especially like the video segments, as it really brings the content to life. Thank you so much for allowing me to participate in this new course. I give it a huge thumbs up!”
Submitted By: KS, ID
"One of the key learnings for me was basically a review and discussion of the seven essential components of reading. Of course, we all know the basic of teaching reading, but it is really helpful to have a review of the essentials and also to review some strategies for teaching each component. One of the quick strategies I really liked from one of the video clips was how the teacher introduced syllables and ‘stretching and clapping’ the words. This is definitely something I will use in my classroom this year. Other strategies I will implement into my classroom from this course are the Cloze procedure for assessing the reading level of various stories and texts, the graphic organizer for the extended response, and I also really liked the chart for "Share Your Thinking”. I plan to make a poster to hand by my literature circle table to help prompt some discussion and journal writing in response to our reading. The Big Four and the Before, During and After strategies were also key learnings for me. I plan to implement them both in my science and social studies content area lessons. I especially liked the Before, During and After road map to help me guide students through our exceptionally difficult science text book. I will especially focus on the ‘So What’ part of the strategy to help make our learning more meaningful to students. Last, but certainly not least, if the list of effective use of language in coaching and the essential questions to guide our coaching meetings. I am so exciting to start meeting with my mentee this year, because now I really feel that I have the tools and knowledge to be an effective mentor. The essential questions have really empowered me!”
Submitted By: KS, ID
"Although I have taken the course on Coaching to Improve Learning, I found the first few lessons about establishing a coaching relationship very helpful as a review. As I start out our new school year, this review will prove to be very helpful, especially when I’m short for time. § The lessons on planning, design and use of effective questions in a coaching episode are also very helpful. Since my job is to observe and conference with the teachers for the sole purpose of improving reading instruction, these things will greatly improve my coaching. § Another the key learning that I found very enlightening was the seven essential components in reading. Being a Reading First school we have always focused on the first five components. This course has made me aware of how important the Writing about the Reading and Reading in Content Area Skills components are. This is an excellent next step for our school. I’ve gone over the first five so many times that presenting the two new ones will be like a breath of fresh air. § Another helpful key learning was the four critical elements for effective teaching and learning in every class that are necessary for increasing student achievement in any area, including reading. The four elements are concise and easy to incorporate into our lesson plans as a checklist. As a reading facilitator I intend to share the 4 elements with my teachers during our component meetings. § Another key learning that I have obtained from this course is the use of data to drive the coaching conference. By using a checklist of sorts for my reading observations, I’ve always focused on the components and the materials and not on any type of data. I now understand the importance of data collection as its use as a guide for the conference. I also did not focus on what students were reading and if the text used was based upon enduring understandings. This course has given me a whole different perspective on my coaching process. The effective planning questions presented in this course will help me to change my focus.”
Submitted By: AH, Chicago Public Schools, IL
"There are many different things that I will take with me as a result of taking this course. As I review all of the different things that I have learned there are two distinct things that I will take with me and apply in my teaching. The first deals with the coaching techniques. I have 5 instructional assistants that I have the pleasure of working with. I believe our relationship and trust level are in place to bring some to the coaching techniques into our department. I have not been comfortable discussing their delivery models to them. I have always felt the principal should do this. However, I have been spinning my wheels with this approach. I believe using the guiding questions that I have learned I will be able to comfortably and effectively deal with these conversations. I believe using the guiding questions will help me lead the discussions in a very non threatening way. Second, I will use the concept of enduring learning and the 40:40:40 rule. This is a quick way to look at your lessons and decide what is really important for the students to learn. Will they need this information and be able to transfer it to different situations or is it just something that I teach because it is in the book? I really think this will make my curriculum choices very easy. It is nice when you take a class and know that as a result you will make better choices in your teaching plans and the students will benefit. This was a course that will ensure enduring understandings!!”
Submitted By: BP, WA
"This course has provided me with several key learnings. As teachers we often struggle silently behind our classroom door. I have come to learn how working collaboratively with a partner can help both my partner and myself to improve our own teaching and as a result improve student learning. I have come to understand the seven components of effective reading instruction and how the four specific components are necessary to increasing student achievement in all content areas as well as reading. Another key learning is a commitment to the coaching process. By sharing a commitment to work with a coaching partner we are working towards a common goal. I will be able to apply the coaching skills I have learned to my continued work with my partner and to my own teaching. An additional key learning is remembering that not all students come with equal abilities, therefore it is important to be able to differentiate the instruction in order to meet the needs of all students. It is also important to choose the correct form of data collection in order to best analyze student learning. It is through this data that student learning can be evaluated and further teacher instruction can be determined. Additionally, I have come to realize how important self-reflection of my own teaching can be. With the help of my partner I was able to identify my own strengths and use them in achieving successful student learning. Although a school-wide coaching and collaboration process is not in effect in my building, I look forward to the continued success this coaching experience has provided for my partner and myself.”
Submitted By: VT, IL
"What was extremely important for me was the primary preparation. I have worked in a middle school since I started with CPS. Therefore, all information regarding phonemic awareness, phonemes, and phonics served as very valuable information. I am now lead literacy person at my school, and my first presentation will be on our second day back to school. I will be using the knowledge that I have gained from my two coaching courses as well as the book Understanding By Design. These courses have given me the application necessary to give a great presentation to the faculty. I was also able to design a hands on type lesson which will be great! Thank you very much.”
Submitted By: RH, Chicago Public Schools, IL
I learned a lot from this course and I believe I will use a lot of it in the future. First, my coaching partner and I are going to continue our coaching relationship. It has made both of us better, more deliberate teachers. We have a set time to meet each week and we have set expectations for our coaching sessions. Second, I believe that I reflect more about my teaching. I take time to clarify the enduring understanding I want to be teaching and what data I need to collect. I’ve been writing this down in my plan book to make myself more accountable for it. Third, I think my teaching of the different reading components is much stronger. I continually go back to the enduring understandings and make sure each of my lesssons teaches one of those. Overall, I’m very pleased with the growth in my teaching that I have seen in the past two months and I am looking forward to continuing to apply what I learned in the future.”
Submitted By: EB, CO
“I now fully understand that the purpose of this on-line course is to grow collaboration between partners who work together to improve student reading skills through improving their teaching and assessment practices. This on-line course also provided me with a better understanding of the coaching concept. The purpose of "coaching" is to draw upon an individual’s talents, skills, and abilities to move them to intentional best practice. I understand now that there are four specific components to increasing student achievement in any content area, including reading. These "Big Four" are; enduring understanding, student outcomes, student engagement, and teacher behaviors that contribute to student learning. After the experience of this on-line course I, personally, have been impacted by "enduring learning". I also have developed relationships with my colleagues that have had a tremendous impact on a challenging student population. Prior to starting every lesson planning session, my coaching partner and I ask the questions what do we want each student to know, understand, and be able to do? We have also been advocates at our school spreading these strategies among our departments and, eventually, school-wide. Since today starts the 4th quarter of the school year my coaching partner and I have determined that our strategy will be "story mapping" along with "graphic organizers". The print friendly versions are already to be implemented with our text for the last quarter of the school year. They will be used across the curriculum as an "interdisciplinary units" for reading, science, social studies, language arts, and math (for word problems). We plan to not only assess the students, but, will do "self-assessments" as part of our on-going professional development. Our goal is to move our colleagues school-wide toward the community learning concept. Our emphasis is not just words but actual engaging and meaningful collegiality that impacts all learners! Once again, allow me to thank you for all of your support, comments, and words of encouragement. I do appreciate it very much!”
Submitted By: SC, Palmetto, FL
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Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom
“I want to recommend this course to all my co-workers. I have been a high school special education teacher for thirty years and have dealt with the issues of fairness, individualization, accommodations, modifications, adaptations for IEP students for years. This class finally helped to see how to look at my students as part of a classroom of students that could all benefit from diffentiating instruction. It is a way of reaching all learners! I will use the idea of looking at each lesson in terms of content, process and product and differentiating instruction accordingly. I will also use the information to talk with my teachers not in terms of special ed. labels for students but in terms of the type of learner they appear to be. Hopefully this will carry over for some of the students who are not identified as special ed. too. Most important to me was the phrase "Respectful Tasks for All". I will take this with me in all my conversations with regular ed. teachers. All too often I watch students going through the motions just to turn something in to get some credit. We need to make all learning meaningful!”
Submitted By: LE, Rock Island Regional Offices of Education, IL
“I really learned a lot from this course. I think I learned a lot about myself as a teacher and what kind of teacher and learner I am. There are a lot of ideas that I am so excited about doing in the fall when we go back to school. I am going to do a lot more with flexible grouping. I have a wide variety of learning levels with special education but I think this will work well in my class. I got so many great ideas for eliciting student participation. I know my kids are going to love all the ideas. I really have enjoyed all the online classes that I have taken. I really believe they have helped make me a better teacher. I hope you offer new courses in the fall or coming soon. I have already taken all the classes that are currently offered.”
Submitted By: TR, Lee/Ogle Regional Office of Education #47, IL
“It has been my experience that while teaching in a private, Christian school with only 16-18 students in my class, it is more structured in teaching all the class at one time going for that "middle core group" as it stated at the beginning of this course. Having only taught in this school this last year, I realized that I needed to do more for those students who excelled greatly and completed work quickly. I also needed to do something about the students that got behind and were not up to grade level. This course has been outstanding! It has given me just what I need to keep my students interested and participating without getting bored or frustrated. After starting this course, I made centers in my room using mostly folders for anchor activities for students to go to when they have completed their assignments early. I got some great ideas to help me increase my student’s participation. I am going to try new strategies for delivering my content. I will practice giving my students more choices on how they process information and how they deliver the product. I took advantage of the online sites throughout this course that let me print out graphic organizers, rubrics, etc. That is a big help! I learned how to use literary circles in a much better way. Since I use a lot of whole class instruction, I will greatly benefit from the lesson on "Differentiating with Your Whole Class". However, I look forward to incorporating what I learned about tiered instruction, Bloom’s posing questions, creating performance assessments, scaffolding, and simply acknowledging how the brain works and why students "do what they do" and "think how they think". What I have learned in this course will help me to be a better teacher and be able to help meet my students’ needs in a better, more practical way. I look forward to incorporating these ideas this fall. I really enjoyed this course. Thank you!”
Submitted By: DN, GA
"I have really enjoyed taking this course. In the past I have found that it is very hard to teach different levels of learners, but after taking this course, I have found that I just need to be a little more organized. I found that there are so many ways to teach differentiated instruction. There were so many websites that I was able to bookmark on my computer to refer to while teaching and coming up with lesson plans. We are in the middle of doing GPS training in our school. It is hard to understand in a large setting, but while taking this class, I get it now. I understand that you have to "Begin with the end in mind", when you are planning a task. I learned that there are many ways to deliver content and have the students process the content. The product was another thing that I found to give interesting ideas. I am used to giving the multiple choice tests or matching or basic assessments. There are so many more ways to assess that I have never thought about. These different ways will help the students with different learning styles. I will definitely refer back to these sites that I have made a point to bookmark. I have a notebook of notes that I took from this course and I will definitely refer back to this especially with the new school year starting up. I will be teaching a new grade level, so this will be very helpful with lining up lessons for my new standards.”
Submitted By: SH, Fulton County, GA
“As a result of this course, I will take the time from the beginning of the lesson and try to incorporate new ways of doing the same thing. I will use different strategies and try to have a less teacher driven classroom. By giving choices to the students, I give them ownership and with that comes pride in learning. I will also think of my lesson as a content, process, and product instead of feed the information and have the students spit back and move on to the next unit. Through doing this, I hope to effectively teach to all the different learning styles children have. I will give more attention to the response time I have for answering questions and not rush through the information and leave some students behind. I love the idea of flexible grouping as I already group to some extent, doing more flexible grouping will provide more diverse learning in my classroom. I also look forward to working on my ways of assessing the students. This is an area that I feel I am weak at. Through this class, I will provide assessments at different points in a unit, not just the end. I also found the memory lane information very interesting and useful. I will try to use different teaching styles to help students obtain information in way that will stay with them. I have saved all of the forums that I have submitted to better help me apply this class to my classroom at a later time. This was a class that helped refresh some ideas that I haven’t thought about in a long time as well as incorporate new ideas in a way that doesn’t create too much work on my part, yet provides great results for all learners.”
Submitted By: JD, Lee/Ogle Regional Office of Education #47, IL
"Differentiated Instruction can be a little overwhelming if you are not aware of what the big picture involves. I initially was a little nervous going into the course, thinking "Oh no I am getting ready to discover everything I am doing wrong! But once I got moving through the course I discovered that I was doing more differentiated instruction than I thought: scaffolding, anchoring, meeting the needs of my visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile learners, tiered instruction, and providing the essential question. I also connected with being aware of students learning, readiness and interests areas. Is this a great revelation among teachers to recognize that they actually have been using some differentiated instructional practices? Probably not, but is there room for improvement? Definitely!! And that is what I am taking from this course, that I can improve upon these skills, refine what I am doing in the classroom and make learning experiences for my students more interesting, more relevant more differentiated!!”
Submitted By: DR, Columbus Public Schools, OH
“I have known, as all teachers do, that no two children are alike, ever. No matter how textbook companies would like them to be, they just aren’t. I have put off taking a course in differentiated instruction because I was hoping it would go away! Like many others out there, I thought it was something incredibly time consuming, many different lessons for one concept. Now I know that is not true. DI focuses on student differences as strengths. It is acknowledging differences in readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles, and using them to help the entire class learn and retain useful, lifelong information. Tiers scared me terribly, and now I see they are just modifications of each other. They are just a little boost for those who need it. Differentiating products makes so much sense to me. It all seems so easy to me now. I have been focusing for many years on the road, not the destination, some kids may take the highway, others the back roads, some may walk, and some may fly, but we will all arrive in the same place together. I have already spoken to my administrator about trying many of these ideas in my classroom this year, and she is 100% behind me. I think I will see wonderful results, active learning, and happy students. Thank You!”
Submitted By: KC, Lee/Ogle Regional Office of Education #47, IL
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How to “Read & Write” in Math: Improving Problem Solving and Communication in Mathematics
“This course has been very informative and helpful in a practical way. Problems solving is such a hard concept for students to grasp and this really gave me some great ideas on how to teach them better I have already seen success with the few items that I have done already with my classes. The forum posts and exercises kept me on task and guided me on how to implement these ideas into the classroom. I think that the essential questions has been answered throughout all the sessions and have covered all areas from dealing with the emotional problems students have to the step by step process of how to teach students to “see” the process clearly. Throughout this course I have seen ideas that I already have been using and ideas that I would like to implement more in the classroom at a later time. I already use Polya’s problem solving step-by-step approach and I also on a small scale use rubrics and small journal responses. Marilyn Burns: 10 Big Math Ideas are ideas that are practical and I was happy so see that I use most of them already. In the future I plan on teaching problem solving better by asking students to look for deeper structures in the problems, explain their reasoning behind solving a problem, writing better and more guided journals and lastly assessing themselves by using rubrics, which was already very interesting and productive. This course is one of the best practical approaches towards making students more successful at solving math word problems. I thoroughly enjoyed all the readings and will be references back to the key learning’s to help my students. I now have some new and great strategies to help me teach my students better and more efficiently which as a teacher is so great to be able to do after a class or workshop.”
Submitted By: leahb, State of Georgia, Canada
“How to ‘Read and Write’ in Math: Improving Problem Solving and Communication in Mathematics” online class has been key in motivating me to be excited about the love of math and the desire to instill this passion into the lives of my students. Articles and information shared in this course helped reinforce things I already believed, and strengthened some of my math techniques and teaching skills. For instance, how important modeling is for my students. That it is necessary for me to share my thinking, strategies, working out problems in front of the class, and having class discussions about the various ways to solve problems. Then modeling how easy it is to put my thoughts on paper! I learned that being an effective math teacher ask good questions. So I often ask, “What do we do when we don’t know what to do?” This creates the students to share things they know already, strategies that we have used before, and other helpful ideas to keep the student wanting to persevere and not give up. Also, the coaching question and probing questions have been very helpful. I now have them posted in my room to ask during problem solving times. Another reinforcement that was emphasized for me was the importance of creating an environment where it is okay to make mistakes. That we can learn from our mistakes, it grows us! Also, to encourage the students to get comfortable with uncertainty; we talk honesty about out struggles and uncertainties, even when we aren’t sure if we have the right answer!
These new ideas have helped me become a more effective math teacher at the elementary level; therefore I have observed my students becoming more confident math problem solvers, seeing them take risks by sharing more of their thinking and ideas. They are sharing how they understand what the problem is asking. They can analyze the problem and recognize its structure, then choose a solution and carry it out. I am most proud of students for their ability to explain their thinking with words and pictures. (About 95%) The six skills taught in this course: read, comprehend, think, strategies, compute and write, were broken down for me to better understand how to assistant my struggling math students. In conclusion, this course helped me to become a more confident, enthusiastic math teacher, and to pass the math passion along to my students!”
Submitted By: KG, WA
“I have really enjoyed working through this course. The practical ideas that I have already begun implementing in my classroom have been wonderful. The key piece to problem solving that I was missing taught in this course was having my students read the problem for understanding. My students have begun to pay more attention to the problem itself and its vocabulary. Now when a student calls me over saying, "How do you do this?" I ask them to summarize the problem for me. Most of the time I find they are unable to do this. So I have them re-read the problem. By the time we are done reading for understanding and summarizing, most students have an idea of a strategy to use! If not the coaching and intermediate questioning techniques are very useful. Also, my classroom has become more animated; we have step up activities for partner problem solving. Students are talking through the process more and this is helping them improve their writing, too. Finally, I have begun journaling with my students once a week and they are working on becoming better at self-assessment. Thank you for your great ideas!”
Submitted By: 1234a, Chicago Public Schools, IL
“I have learned a lot about teaching my students about problem solving in this course. Some of the key concepts I learned are that students need tools to solve problems successfully, modeling is an important step in teaching kids to be good problem solvers, questioning students enhances their understanding, and having students write and talk math is essential in every math class. The first step in students becoming confident problems solvers is to give them the tools they need to be successful. Showing them the steps in problem solving (Polya) and giving them a menu of strategies is essential. Secondly, I was refreshed in the importance of modeling how to use the tools they have been given. Students need to be shown how to "think" about problems and the best way to do this is by the teacher "thinking out loud" about their thinking. As stated in this course, "If you can think it, you can write it." Also in this course I was reminded of the importance of questioning in problem solving. Questioning is very important because it helps students get started in their solution process, move them along in their process (What do you need to do next? or What do you know now?), helps them to discover their own mistakes, is a great assessment tool (you can find out a lot about what a student knows by asking the right questions), and most importantly it helps them "see" the structure of the problem and practice verbalizing their understanding. The last key point in this course for me was making the time to talk and write math. Students should have opportunities to work cooperatively with their peers in solving problems so that they can hear others’ strategies and thought processes. Sharing different strategies with the whole class is also very beneficial because it allows students to practice expressing ideas clearly and clarifying when asked questions. The lesson should not end with a student simply giving the correct answer, the teachers should always ask, "How did you reach your answer?" for both right and wrong answers. The more practice students have talking about math the easier it will be for them to write about it in a clear and meaningful way. Many of the key points in this class I had learned before and currently use in my classroom, though some not as often as others. This course reinforced for me the importance of these ideas in teaching problem solving. I will continue to use these practices and use them more frequently to help my students become more confident problem solvers”
Submitted By: MG, WA
“This course has given me tools to help me teach how to solve math problems more effectively. The first key element of this course is to teach students it’s ok not to know the answer right away. Second, to teach your students to understand word problems ask them to notice how the deep structures guide them toward solving the problem. The deep structures for addition are gaining acquiring and combining. The deep structures for subtraction are losing reducing and taking away, and comparing. The deep structure for multiplication and division grouping are grouping and bunching Understanding the deep structures of a math word problem will help my students activate their knowledge to begin solving the problem. Third the 4 Steps of Problem Solving asks students to formulate their thinking into four steps: Defining, Devising a Plan, Carry Out the plan and looking back. These steps helped me teach three lessons to third graders to understand perimeter. Another key element of this class is communication. Teaching for the 21st Century requires students to communicate their thinking effectively. This can be accomplished by teaching students to talk and write about how they solve math problems and coaching them to prompt them toward a successful strategy finally using a rubric to guide students will help them acquire proficiency. They will learn how to evaluate themselves. All of these tools will be helpful to teach how to solve word problems effectively.”
Submitted By: Gwenann, Educational Service District 114, WA
“One of the most important key learning ideas I received from this course was regarding my approach to teaching problem solving. I realized that to benefit from solving word problems, it requires more thought than just identifying “key phases” or “clue words” to help students devise a strategy. Rather than the first step of just breaking the problem down and solving pieces, I needed to read the problem thoroughly multiple times to fully comprehend the meaning of the problem. I also really took to heart Marylyn Burns’ 10 Big Math Ideas. Those ideas encourage me to be more patience, have the students talked more to find the solutions themselves and provide for more group activities. The most profound learning that I think gets lost in higher level math courses is the need to communicate and write using math knowledge and skills. I think regular math journaling is a must in my future teaching experiences. I also like placing the onus of learning and assessing math abilities onto the students themselves through guided self-assessments. In this way, the students will become self-sufficient learners and we can truly provide them the tools they need for the next steps in their lives, which is higher learning and the work force.”
Submitted By: Jmbelding, Pioneer RESA, GA
"I found many of the ideas of this course to be valuable assets to employ in my classroom. I also plan on making sure to show the students many different ways to approach problems like charts, using manipulatives, working backwards, using drawings and other approaches. I also strongly agree with the 10 Big Ideas and have been using math is a time to talk quite a bit lately in my class. I plan on continuing to employ this again next year because I have seen how much it benefits the students. I have really enjoyed all of the information presented in this course and hope to continue to find ways to employ as many of these ideas as possible in my upcoming classes.”
Submitted By: Aochkie, Rock Island ROE, IL
“I learned the important of writing in math instruction. Writing about a skill or concept helps students in terms of developing higher level thinking skills. Writing helps students analyze and solve problems they encounter in math and daily living. Writing helps to reinforce skills taught in class and helps students to apply skills to new situations. The different types of activities suggested in the class were very helpful. The discussion on the different strategies was also helpful. I also appreciated the various resources listed with each lesson. These will help me further my use of writing in the classroom. The use of a rubric for self assessment is something that I have not done in the past. I am ready to try using this approach. Another important concept for me has been talking math. As a teacher it is a temptation to want to do all the talking. I understand now how important it is for students to talk together about math problems, and how this engages all the students. Teachers shy away from this because they are afraid of losing control of the class. The modeling of this through the video segments has encouraged me to include more of this activity in my daily lesson plans.”
Submitted By: Gbrose, Ohio
“The two things that I picked up in the course that I think had a "wow" effect in my classroom were the journals and rubrics. Initially my students' writing was weak and at first I was able to only discover how much misunderstanding was occurring. As I started using journal templates with my students, they started writing better. I think that eventually they will not need the templates. I have used rubric for my own assessments for a few years. I hadn’t given them to the students before. One of the major obstacles for students in problem solving is confusion in deciding how to begin. Both the journal templates and the rubric lifted the confusion. I do not want them to become too dependent upon them but for students struggling these were tremendous scaffolding tools. I will definitely use both of these in my classroom as well as continue to investigate modeling techniques that will help my students.”
Submitted By: Debrazwald, Pioneer RESA, GA
“I can honestly say that in all my years of education, math has not been a favorite subject, either to learn or to teach. I can say, however, that I do definitely have a new, much more positive attitude and approach to math, especially problem-solving. Instead of dreading it, I can now say that I view problem-solving as a pleasant challenge. Obvious to me now, after careful soul-searching, my attitude over the years has been due to past experience with teachers. I am now able to assure my students that it is OK to be fearful and anxious but if they utilize small groups and pairing while following small steps and answering questions that they can be successful solving problems. It is the teacher’s job to realize different learning styles, increase motivation and self-confidence by maintaining a comfortable learning atmosphere. Being aware of learning styles and personality idiosyncrasies are both important when teaching students with special needs. Modeling problem-solving has been especially effective for me. Asking good coaching, intermediate and probing questions while “looking back” to similar problems solved before has definitely helped students feel comfortable without creating additional anxiety. It helps students to realize that they must take “small” steps.” George Poly’s 4 steps to problem solving have been a tremendous help to students. I have them simply written and posted for all to see and follow. The students are guided by them. Thinking of a picture or diagram for understanding as well as manipulation of objects are strategies often considered and used by students as well as “looking back.” Having students working together with “Math Out Loud” works especially well in my class. Journaling, which I love, is only working well with a few students because they tend to write as little as possible. With practice, practice, practice they will work toward satisfactory progress – They work with their journals 3 times per week. Self assessment has begun and is very interesting!! My students are a “work in progress” and I am content that they are actively trying to do their best to read and write math. Thank you for all the help you have given.”
Submitted By: Tully, Savannah Chatham, GA
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