Gloria

Jenny

Christian

Roles

Full time M.Ed.

Part time M.Ed.

Full time teacher

Part time M.Ed.

Full time teacher

Curriculum Area

High School ESL

OAC Chemistry

Intermediate Division
(all subjects)

Starting Point

To maintain control and discipline in mixed age group ESL class

I taught labs the "cookbook" way and found that students had difficulty connecting the experiment with the relevant concepts.

To reduce the piles of student work waiting to be marked,. I realized that assignments handed back quickly might have a beneficial impact on the student’s learning.

Further Questions

How do we get the students actively engaged in their work while maintaining order in the classroom?

How can I teach my students to do chemistry experiments so that they will understand what they are doing and why they are doing it?

• What changes must I make in work habits to return assignments within 2 working days?
• Will students notice any differences?

Breakthrough

Create individualized work and projects based on their interests (research shows that work based on the students’ culture is most effective)

Designed an experiment with the students’ input Connections were made. They understood!

• Project theme came from asking my students to evaluate the subject I teach and me as teacher.
• Project became a sort of "exorcism of the piles" . Piles are far less scary if they are dealt with sooner rather than later.

New Practices

Each student working on individual project. Created rubric and outline. Grade based on individual work skills (on task, uses English for entire class, etc.)

• No more recipes to follow
• Students do the thinking/problem-solving/experimental design (with guidance)

Marking assignments is placed on top of my work priority list.

Data

Students are excited about their new projects and seem to be on task and focused.Discipline problems have been minimized.

• Questioned students as to why they think they do labs, how they learn best, how I should teach them to do labs...and finally how each lab influences understanding of the concepts
• Comments from students

Findings

New Knowledge

Order is maintained if students are motivated to do their work and are working to their capacity. Individual work keeps students on task and engaged.

When students are involved in the design process they can understand and apply the concepts involved better than if they "follow the recipe" of a "cookbook" lab.

• I get a better sense of what is understood individually and as a group while the studied theme is still fresh in our minds.
• Students value the fact that their assignments are handed back .

Validation

• Sharing with M.Ed. classmates
• OERC conference
• Improvement in my practice and the students’ learning

Next Steps

Maintain individual work for these students. Collaborative activities are useful but should be kept to a minimum for this group of students.

Apply this practice to other subject taught this year (physics)

To continue this practice and collect more data.