Critical Minds Session December 5th, 2011
Critical Minds met to explore how to improve the 6th grade written performance task.
Nathan and Alex both presented and shared facilitating. The team spent 45 minutes discussing the issue and all members contributed valuable information.
Summary of Problem:
In addition to common exams, 6th grade students are giving several performance tasks throughout the academic year. One of the tasks is a written performance, which is graded based on grammar, accuracy and creativity. Before the task is given, teachers spend one lesson preparing students for the task, which either includes 1) writing a collective story on the board or 2) reviewing relevant grammar structures. After preparing for the task, the teacher selectively gives each student a unique picture - such as a playground picture - and students are given 40 minutes to write as much as they can about their picture.
Both Alex and Nathan believed this approach to be too artificial and didn't reflect the true abilities of the students. They wanted the learning community members to evaluate the task and give feedback on how to improve it. In particular, 1) how to make it more relevant to the students, 2) how to make it more fair, and 3) how to make it more enjoyable so that students would write more creatively.
Main Points of the Discussion:
* Make it more relevant: The group concluded that instead of giving pictures - which many members believed to be too crowded and intimidating to begin with - that a personal object, such as student artwork or a personal item from home, might encourage them to write more purposefully and creatively.
* Story starters: The group concluded that 40 minutes was not enough time to both think about and write a complete story. As a result, the idea of providing 'story starters' was given as a way to encourage direction so that students would spend more time writing and reviewing their work.
* Tasks instructions: The group concluded that the instructions given to students for the task is too formal and focused on grammar. Both Alex and Nathan agreed that listing grammatical structures in the instructions forced students to write unrelated and random sentences that in the end didn't form a fluent and cohesive composition. The group concluded that these should be removed.
* Practice sessions: The group concluded that enough practice time - one lesson - was not enough to throughly prepare the students for the task. In particular, the group felt that because this task happens in the beginning of the year, that most students need more time to prepare. Several ideas were given, and both Alex and Nathan agreed that the idea of including group work as part of the preparation process was valuable. In particular, over the course of several lessons, students could work together in groups to write a composition, therefore learning through peer instruction and gaining confidence in the task. Later, they could move on to more individualized instruction - which could include a homework assignment. In the end, the group concluded that structuring the preparation differently, would greatly improve the content and outcome of the performance task.
To conclude, many fantastic ideas were discussed and both Alex and Nathan felt inspired to change the task and make it more relevant and enjoyable for the students.
Conclusions:
First of all, both Alex and I would like to thank the group for their ideas. I would also like to apologize for posting so late, but we delayed our post because we actually modified our Oral Performance task with the group's ideas. In the past week, we gave our students an oral task, and instead of giving our 'traditional' picture for students to speak about, we actually encouraged students to choose meaningful items from home. We prepared questions for the students so that they couldn't just prepare a standard speech at home. On the day of the task, students brought in baby shoes, first toys, tickets, valuable coins and such other items to show and discuss for their task. We saw two valuable outcomes from this modification:
1. Students were able to excited for the task. As a result, they were more proud and confident to speak in front of the class. It also gave us a chance to get to know the students better.
2. The presentation was more natural. We don't believe this approach made the task easier, but it made it more interesting because instead of random sentences, students tried to produce a cohesive monologue, as if they were sharing their ideas to a friend.
Overall, the sixth grade team is very happy with the results, and although we can always improve the task, we believe making it personal and relevant for the students is the most important change.
Share A Book at Lunchtime Session 2
29/12/2011
We got together in the library today and Ümit Karaca from Grade 11 shared Chekhov's book of One-Act Plays with us. He told us of his early interest in the theatre. His parents took him to see plays at the Dormen Theatre and when he started to study in the Prep Class he chose to join the Turkish Drama Club. Since then he has acted in creditable school performances, is receiving training in the Istanbul Municipal Theatre and is hoping to study drama at university level.
He has been drawn to Chekhov's plays because of the down-to-earth language and realism. He says that everyone can recognise themselves in Chekhov's characters and he will be performing solo in 'Smoking is Bad For You'at school in May. There will also be 2 other plays performed and as part of a project to support LÖSEV, audience members will be asked to bring along a book to donate to the charity.
Ümit recommended going to watch "Profesyonel", a play being performed in the Istanbul State Theatre. That's if you can get tickets...it's playing to closed houses!
Ümit's developed presentation skills show the importance of drama in education. It brings with it self-confidence and it will be no surprise to see Ümit take his place in Turkish theatre in the future!
"Ortak Payda Uçuşta" Toplantı 2: Okuma Zevki Oluşturmak...
“Ortak Payda Uçuşta” grubu olarak 19.12.2011'de ikinci kez toplandık. Bu kez "Okuma zevki nasıl kazandırılır?" sorununu tartıştık. Simge dergisinin "Okumak" özel sayısından seçtiğimiz iki makaleden yola çıkarak şu sorulara yanıt aradık:
* Bizim okuma zevkimiz nasıl gelişti?
* Okuma isteği uyandıran temel nedenler nelerdir?
* Okuma alışkanlığı olmayan birini kitap okutmaya nereden başlatabiliriz?
Seçtiğimiz protokole göre, makaleleri okumak ve soruları yanıtlamak için 15 dakikalık bir zaman belirledik. Görüşlerimizi ve çözüm önerilerimizi paylaşmaya başladıkça anladık ki, kitap okumak "kitap okutmak" haline getirildiğinde tüm iyi niyetli çabalar sonuçsuz kalıyor.
Okumak üzerine sorduğumuz sorulara verilen yanıtlar da bu düşünceyi destekliyor:
" Önce bir kitapla tanış olmayı öğrendim. Kitap ile zaman geçirmeyi ve zevk almayı... Daha sonra kitaplarda nitelik, üslup arar oldum. Yazarları seçmeye başladım. En az yirmi yıllık bir yolculuk ile oluştu okuma zevkim. Bence insanda okuma isteği uyandıran temel neden, merak duygusudur. Biz öncelikle, öğrencinin merak duygusunu cezbedecek kitaplar önermekle işe başlayabiliriz."
Çiğdem KEKLİK
" Kişisel okuma zevkimin oluşumunda bana birden fazla kitap seçme hakkı verilmesi etkili olmuştur. O seçebilme güdüsü, bende rahatlık ve istek oluşturdu. Kitap okuma alışkanlığı kazandırmak için, öğrencide ödev ya da görev zihniyeti yaratmak yerine, bir amaç ya da hedef doğrultusunda istek yaratmak gerektiğini düşünüyorum. Seçim hakkı ve baskısız yönlendirme, bu sorunu çözerken anahtar sözcüklerimiz olmalı."
Esra Gülseren BALCI
" Öğrencinin kitapla ilişkisini, hikayesini bilmek (Onu kitaba ne yaklaştırıyor, kitaptan uzaklaşmasına sebep olan ne?), ilgi duyduğu alanı seçmesine izin vermek, başlangıç noktamız olmalı."
Arzu K. BODET
"Ortak Payda Uçuşta" olarak bir sonraki toplantımızda da bu konu üzerinde tartışıp deneyimlerimizi paylaşacağız. Kendi uygulamalarımızı gözden geçirip kitap okumayı bir "zevk" ve "ihtiyaç" meselesi haline getirmenin yollarını aramaya devam edeceğiz.
* Bizim okuma zevkimiz nasıl gelişti?
* Okuma isteği uyandıran temel nedenler nelerdir?
* Okuma alışkanlığı olmayan birini kitap okutmaya nereden başlatabiliriz?
Seçtiğimiz protokole göre, makaleleri okumak ve soruları yanıtlamak için 15 dakikalık bir zaman belirledik. Görüşlerimizi ve çözüm önerilerimizi paylaşmaya başladıkça anladık ki, kitap okumak "kitap okutmak" haline getirildiğinde tüm iyi niyetli çabalar sonuçsuz kalıyor.
Okumak üzerine sorduğumuz sorulara verilen yanıtlar da bu düşünceyi destekliyor:
" Önce bir kitapla tanış olmayı öğrendim. Kitap ile zaman geçirmeyi ve zevk almayı... Daha sonra kitaplarda nitelik, üslup arar oldum. Yazarları seçmeye başladım. En az yirmi yıllık bir yolculuk ile oluştu okuma zevkim. Bence insanda okuma isteği uyandıran temel neden, merak duygusudur. Biz öncelikle, öğrencinin merak duygusunu cezbedecek kitaplar önermekle işe başlayabiliriz."
Çiğdem KEKLİK
" Kişisel okuma zevkimin oluşumunda bana birden fazla kitap seçme hakkı verilmesi etkili olmuştur. O seçebilme güdüsü, bende rahatlık ve istek oluşturdu. Kitap okuma alışkanlığı kazandırmak için, öğrencide ödev ya da görev zihniyeti yaratmak yerine, bir amaç ya da hedef doğrultusunda istek yaratmak gerektiğini düşünüyorum. Seçim hakkı ve baskısız yönlendirme, bu sorunu çözerken anahtar sözcüklerimiz olmalı."
Esra Gülseren BALCI
" Öğrencinin kitapla ilişkisini, hikayesini bilmek (Onu kitaba ne yaklaştırıyor, kitaptan uzaklaşmasına sebep olan ne?), ilgi duyduğu alanı seçmesine izin vermek, başlangıç noktamız olmalı."
Arzu K. BODET
"Ortak Payda Uçuşta" olarak bir sonraki toplantımızda da bu konu üzerinde tartışıp deneyimlerimizi paylaşacağız. Kendi uygulamalarımızı gözden geçirip kitap okumayı bir "zevk" ve "ihtiyaç" meselesi haline getirmenin yollarını aramaya devam edeceğiz.
Share a Book at Lunchtime
On December 15 we had our first 'Share A Book at Lunctime' session in the High School Library.The aim of these sessions is for students to share their ideas about books they have borrowed from the school library. What started off as an English Reading project has developed into a mainly Turkish reading project but hey, who cares? We're gedtting together and discussing books!
We had 10 students at the first session and are now looking forward to Session 2 on 29 December when Ümit Karaca (Grade 11) will discuss one-act plays by Chekhov in Turkish.
If you're free between 12:30-13:00 please join us.
Busy Bees Session 2
Due to a top-heavy schedule Busy Bees are sad to announce that their 2nd session cannot take place this Thursday (22 December)! Instead we'll meet on Thursday (5 January)
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