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Artifact 10:  Play, Passion, and Purpose 

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Artifact 10:  Play, Passion, and Purpose 

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1.  This video is taken from Unit 5 Lesson 4.  It is a speech given by Tony Wagner on the importance of play, passion, and purpose in the classroom.
2.  I found this video to be impactful, because it struck a chord with me on the importance of being purposeful with your teaching as well as how important it is to create an environment where students feel they can make a mistake and learn from it.
3. This resource will impact my classroom, because I plan to use the strategies discussed here in order to create a classroom environment where students feel they have a purpose. I also liked the things he said about what types of teachers students found to be the most impactful, and want to do my best to emanate that in my classroom in the future.

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Play, passion, purpose: Tony Wagner at TEDxNYED

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Artifact 9: Culturally Responsive Teaching

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Artifact 9: Culturally Responsive Teaching

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1.  This is a resource from Unit 3 Lesson 3 that explains culturally responsive teaching, why it is important, how it can be used in the classroom, and how it can work together with SEL.
2.  I found this resource to be impactful, because it is a singular resource that kind of goes over all of the basics of culturally responsive teaching.  I thought this was really helpful, especially because culturally responsive teaching is something I plan to use in my classroom.
3. This resource will impact my classroom, because it will serve as an aid for me using CRT in my class. I think this is a really important thing to make sure to be aware of, and implement in your classroom, so I found this resource to be especially helpful.

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Culturally responsive teaching helps create learning environments that validate and reflect the diversity, identities, and experiences of all students. Learn more.

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Artifact 8: How Relationships and Context Shape Learning and Development 

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Artifact 8: How Relationships and Context Shape Learning and Development 

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1.  This is an optional article from Unit 3 Lesson 2, that describes how different contexts effect students' learning and development.
2.  I found this article impactful, because it gave me some insight as to just how much children's contexts can have an effect on their education/ability to succeed in school.
3. This article served as a reminder to me that as teachers we need to extend empathy to our students, and not just assume they are "lazy" and "unmotivated". I hope to keep in mind in my classroom that students are going through things, and have contexts, that I know nothing about. This will impact my classroom, by helping me to gain the information necessary to remain understanding and understand what students are going through.

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Drivers of human development: How relationships and context shape learning and development1

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This article synthesizes knowledge on the role of relationships and key macroand micro-contexts - poverty, racism, families, communities, schools, and peers - in supporting and/or undermining the h...

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1.  This resource is from Unit 2 Lesson 3, and is a list of some things we can do to apply scaffolding in our classrooms.
2.  I found this to be impactful, because it provides some neat strategies that will be useful to me in my instruction.
3. I'm sure that at some point as a teacher, I will look back on this resource for some ideas on how to engage students in scaffolding in my classroom. Because of this, and how I intend to make scaffolding a priority, I believe this resource will be impactful in my classroom.

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6 Scaffolding Strategies to Use With Your Students

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Support every student by breaking learning up into chunks and providing a concrete structure for each.

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Artifact 6: Spotting the signs.  How to support students struggling with mental health.

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Artifact 6: Spotting the signs.  How to support students struggling with mental health.

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1.  This is an article taken from Unit 3 Lesson 5, that goes into some specifics on how you can tell if a student is struggling with mental health.  It also goes into detail on how you as a teacher can support your students who are struggling with mental health issues.
2.  This specific resource was impactful to me for multiple reasons.  Firstly, it helped me to be able to recognize some signs that a student is struggling.  As a teacher, I want to be able to do everything I can to help my students.  Which will be insanely difficult if I don't even know they're struggling.  Secondly, I found this to be impactful because I personally have struggled with mental health issues for a very long time.  It makes all the difference when someone cares enough to realize that you are struggling, and do all that they can to help.  To have some instruction on how to recognize that a student is struggling, and how you might be able to help, means the world to me.
3. This resource will impact my classroom, because I will use it to help me recognize if a student is struggling. I will also use it to take steps to help them. This will assist me in creating a good environment for my students, and aid me in giving them as much help as I can.

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As teachers, you have a unique relationship with young people and as such are often privy to, or made aware, when young people are going through a tough time emotionally. Knowing how to support your own mental health and wellbeing, and that of your students', is vital when it comes to providing a supportive learning environment. It is essential for your own wellbeing, and the wellbeing of students in your care, that you are able to deal with these situations appropriately.

When a student turns to you for help, it's because they trust and respect you. Sometimes, being the person that someone turns to can become a burden. When students confide in you, naturally you want to do all you can to help them. But it can be hard to know what to say, how to help, or who to turn to for advice. So here are some key messages to remember in order to look after the student, but also look after yourself.

* Show you care and give them time and attention. Often students don't need anything more than someone who is willing to just be there for them. Having a trusted adult that they can talk to is an important protective factor.
* Be yourself and be prepared to listen and understand what is happening to the student.
* Be non-judgmental, patient, calm, and accepting. The student may be reluctant to talk about their problem because they don't want to upset anyone, but they need to know they're doing the right thing by talking to someone.
* Know how and when to go to others for help. Encourage the student to seek help themselves. They may feel supported if you offer to go with them.
* If you feel out of your depth, don't try dealing with the situation alone. If you feel like the problem is serious or you have concerns for the student's welfare you must report this to your head teacher or Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO).

Sometimes a student doesn't come to you for help, but they may be behaving in ways that make you worried about them. There are some warning signs that you can look out for, but it is important to remember that any one of these alone (lasting only a short time) is normal. If you know a student with some of these signs lasting more than a couple of weeks, they may need some outside help.

Signs to look out for include:
* constantly thinking or talking about their problem/s
* acting and being very out of character (for example, a quiet person becoming loud and wild or an outgoing person becoming really quiet)
* unexpected outbursts of emotion
* having problems with sleep - sleeping too much or not enough
* changes to eating habits - not eating at all, or eating and then throwing up
* using drugs or alcohol
* taking part in risk-taking behaviours
* avoiding friends and social events that they would normally be part of
* threats or talk of killing themselves
* acting or talking like no one cares about them, nobody would notice if they went away, or the world would be a better place without them.

Next steps

If you have concerns for the welfare of a pupil or pupils you know, then don't be afraid to raise your concerns with them. They will often feel a sense of relief that someone has noticed and cares enough to ask how they are going. If your concerns are confirmed, then it is important to inform the appropriate staff within the school to ensure that the pupil receives the help and support they need to stay safe. Each school will have safeguarding policies that identify the processes for notifying a concern about risk of harm to a student.

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Spotting the signs: How to support students struggling with mental health

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As teachers, you have a unique relationship with young people and as such are often privy to, or made aware, when young people are going through a tough time emotionally. Knowing how to support your own mental health and wellbeing, and that of your students', is vital when it comes to providing a supportive learning environment.

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1.  This is a resource from Unit 3 Lesson 4, that goes into some different ways we can make sure to implement Social Emotional Learning in our school/classrooms.
2.  This is another resource that I found to be impactful, because it gave me direct ways that I can help my students and create a better learning environment for them.
3. This will impact my classroom, by giving me tools I can use as guidance to make Social Emotional Learning a priority. I'd also like to use these activities to help make a change in my school, and give as many students as possible the opportunity to take part in a learning environment that most benefits them.

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How to Implement Social and Emotional Learning at Your School

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To implement SEL at your school, use these seven activities to help students build self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.

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1.  This article is from Unit 3 Lesson 3, and lists a good amount of strategies for building rapport in the classroom.
2.  I thought this article was impactful, because I think building a good relationship with my students is one of the most important things I can do as a teacher. This article was able to give some really useful suggestions for how to do that.
3. I will use some of the strategies detailed in this article in my classroom in order to build better relationships with my students, which will make it extremely impactful in my classroom.

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For teachers, building rapport with students is a component that takes teaching to the next level. Teachers understand that this takes time. Building rapport is a process. It often takes weeks and even months to establish a healthy student-teacher relationship. Teachers will tell you that once you have earned the trust and respect of your students, everything else becomes much easier. When students look forward to coming to your class, you look forward to coming to work each day.

Strategies to Build Rapport With Students

There are many different strategies through which rapport can be built and maintained. The best teachers are adept at incorporating strategies throughout the year so that a healthy relationship is established, then maintained with each student that they teach.

1. Send students a postcard before school begins letting them know how much you are looking forward to having them in class.

2. Incorporate personal stories and experiences within your lessons. It humanizes you as a teacher and makes your lessons more interesting.

3. When a student is sick or misses school, personally call or text the student or their parents to check on them.

4. Utilize humor in your classroom. Do not be afraid to laugh at yourself or the mistakes that you make.

5. Depending on the age and sex of the student, dismiss students with a hug, handshake, or fist bump every day.

6. Be enthusiastic about your job and the curriculum you teach. Enthusiasm breeds enthusiasm. Students will not buy in if a teacher is not enthusiastic.

7. Support your students in their extra-curricular endeavors. Attend athletic events, debate meets, band competitions, plays, etc.

8. Go the extra mile for those students who need help. Volunteer your time to tutor them or hook them up with someone who can give them the extra assistance they need.

9. Conduct a student interest survey and then find ways to incorporate their interests into your lessons throughout the year.

10. Provide your students with a structured learning environment. Establish procedures and expectations on day one and enforce them consistently throughout the year.

11. Talk to your students about their individual strengths and weaknesses. Teach them to set goals. Provide them with the strategies and tools necessary to reach those goals and improve on their weaknesses.

12. Ensure that each student believes that they are important to you and that they matter to you.

13. From time to time, write students a personal note encouraging them to work hard and embrace their strengths.

14. Have high expectations for all of your students and teach them to have higher expectations for themselves.

15. Be fair and consistent when it comes to student discipline. Students will remember how you handled previous situations.

16. Eat breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria surrounded by your students. Some of the greatest opportunities for building rapport present themselves outside the classroom.

17. Celebrate student successes and let them know you care when they falter or are facing difficult personal situations.

18. Create engaging, fast-paced lessons that grab every student's attention and keep them coming back for more.

19. Smile. Smile often. Laugh. Laugh often.

20. Do not dismiss a student or their suggestions or ideas for any reason. Hear them out. Listen to them intently. There may be some validity to what they have to say.

21. Talk to your students regularly about the progress they are making in class. Let them know where they stand academically and provide them with a path for improvement if needed.

22. Admit and own up to your mistakes. You will make mistakes and students will be looking to see how you handle things when you do.

23. Take advantage of teachable moments even when on occasion this ventures far away from the actual topic of the day. The opportunities will often have more of an impact on your students than the lesson.

24. Never demean or berate a student in front of their peers. Address them individually in the hall or immediately after class.

25. Engage in casual conversation with students in between classes, before school, after school, etc. Simply ask them how things are going or inquire about certain hobbies, interests, or events.

26. Give your students a voice in your class. Allow them to make decisions on expectations, procedures, classroom activities, and assignments when it is appropriate.

27. Build relationships with the parents of your students. When you have a good rapport with the parents, you typically have a good rapport with their children.

28. Make home visits from time to time. It will provide you with a unique snapshot into their lives, possibly giving you a different perspective, and it will help them see that you are willing to go the extra mile.

29. Make every day unpredictable and exciting. Creating this type of environment will keep students wanting to come to class. Having a room full of students who want to be there is half the battle.

30. When you see students in public, be personable with them. Ask them how they are doing and engage in casual conversation.

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30 Strategies for Building Better Rapport With Students

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For teachers, building rapport with students is a component that takes teaching to the next level. Teachers understand that this takes time. Building rapport is a process. It often takes weeks and even months to establish a healthy student-teacher relationship.

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Artifact 3: Development of the Teen Brain 

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Artifact 3: Development of the Teen Brain 

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1.  This is an article taken from Unit 2, during our lesson on Brain Development.  It details some important things about the teen brain.
2.  I found this impactful, because it gave some really good insight into teen brain development, which is so important to consider when teaching High School. I think it will be really useful to have a resource to look back on that explains some things going on in the teen brain.
3. I think this will impact my classroom, because it allowed me to see just where my students brains will be at. Knowing where my students are at developmentally, and what's going on in their brains, is something I think is very important to teaching them. Because of this, this resource will definitely impact my instruction.

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National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

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Learn about how the teen brain grows, matures, and adapts to the world.

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1.  This is an article from our unit on metacognition.  The article explains the importance of it in the classroom, as well as how you can teach it in your classroom.
2.  I found this to be impactful, because it does a great job of explaining metacognition and why it is so important.  This really stuck with me, and inspired me to want to teach metacognition in my classroom.
3. I tend to really like articles that don't just explain the why, but also the how.  As a new teacher with little experience, understanding HOW to teach something to my students is very important. This article explains this, as well as the why, and for that reason I think it will be very useful as I become a teacher.

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Students who succeed academically often rely on being able to think effectively and independently in order to take charge of their learning. These students have mastered fundamental but crucial skills such as keeping their workspace organized, completing tasks on schedule, making a plan for learning, monitoring their learning path, and recognizing when it might be useful to change course. They do not need to rely on their teacher as much as others who depend on more guidance to initiate learning tasks and monitor their progress. Students who do not learn how to "manage" themselves well as they proceed through school experience more setbacks, become discouraged and disengaged from learning, and tend to have lower academic performance. They may also be responsible for more classroom management issues.

Many teachers we know enjoy teaching students how to wield one of the most powerful thinking tools: metacognition, or the ability to think about your thoughts with the aim of improving learning. A metaphor that resonates with many students is that learning cognitive and metacognitive strategies offers them tools to "drive their brains." The good news for teachers and their students is that metacognition can be learned when it is explicitly taught and practiced across content and social contexts.

A student who is excited about being in the driver's seat and steering toward learning success may well be destined to become an independent thinker on the way to charting a responsible course for school, career, and life. Being metacognitive can be likened to being more conscious, reflective, and aware of one's progress along the learning path. Teachers have told us how they feel an extraordinary sense of pleasure teaching their students useful strategies that can be applied to all aspects of their lives in and outside of school.

Metacognition in the Brain

Although educational research on the power of metacognition for increasing student learning and achievement has been amassing for several decades, scientists have only recently begun to pinpoint the physical center of metacognition in the brain. Researchers at the University College London have discovered that subjects with better metacognition had more gray matter in the anterior (front) prefrontal cortex. Studies are ongoing to determine just how this brain area contributes to the critically important skill of metacognition.

Teachers who want to introduce metacognition in their classrooms might begin by reading our post Engaging Brains: How to Enhance Learning by Teaching Kids About Neuroplasticity, and also teach students about the anterior prefrontal cortex, the brain area that researchers have begun to link with metacognition.

How to Teach Students to Be More Metacognitive

1. Explicitly teach students about this essential learning skill by defining the term metacognition. Especially with younger students, we recommend a metaphor -- such as driving their brains -- as a concrete way to guide them toward thinking about how they can best learn. This metaphor taps into students' desires to master important skills for driving their destiny.

2. Ask students to describe the benefits and supply examples of driving their brains well. For example, sometimes we might need to put on the brakes (e.g., by reviewing a reading passage to make sure that we understand it) or step on the gas (e.g., by jotting down and organizing notes for an essay instead of getting stuck on how to start it). We need to keep our brains moving in the correct lane and along best route toward achieving our goals.

3. Whenever possible, let students choose what they want to read and topics they want to learn more about. When they are genuinely interested and motivated to learn about a topic of study, students are apt to sustain interest in thinking about a project over the long haul.

4. Look for opportunities to discuss and apply metacognition across core subjects and in a variety of lessons so that students can transfer it for the most benefit. When Donna has taught this topic, she's often asked students to give examples across academics, in interactions with friends and family, and (for older students) on the job. If she's with young children, she asks them how their parents might use this strategy in their work.

5. Model metacognition by talking through problems. We've found that students learn a lot from listening as their teachers use higher-order thinking strategies aloud. They often laugh when their teachers make "mistakes," and they learn when their teachers stop, recognize the miscue, and step through the process of correcting. This "teachable moment" underscores that everyone makes mistakes, and that mistakes are best seen as opportunities to learn and improve.

How do you ensure that students can choose topics of study that interest them? And what are some of your favorite ways to help students become independent learners? Please tell us about them in the comments section below.

Reference

Stephen M. Fleming. "The Power of Reflection: Insight into Our Own Thoughts, or Metacognition, Is Key to Higher Achievement in All Domains." Scientific American, September/October 2014, pp. 31-37.

For Further Reading

For more information on teaching metacognition, check out our article, " The Boss of My Brain: Explicit Instruction in Metacognition Puts Students in Charge of Their Learning" in ASCD's October issue of Educational Leadership. Find another free resource on this topic at For the Love of Teaching. Here, one of our brain-based teaching graduates, classroom teacher Diane Dahl, blogs about how she introduces metacognition to her second graders.

See also Chapter 6 of Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice. For a discussion on cultivating self-regulation in young children, check out Flourishing in the First Five Years: Connecting Implications from Mind, Brain, and Education Research to the Development of Young Children.

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Metacognition: The Gift That Keeps Giving

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Students who succeed academically often rely on being able to think effectively and independently in order to take charge of their learning. These students have mastered fundamental but crucial skills such as keeping their workspace organized, completing tasks on schedule, making a plan for learning, monitoring their learning path, and recognizing when it might be useful to change course.

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1.  This is an article from Unit 1 Lesson 2 on different ways to promote a growth mindset in your classroom
2.  I put this in my portfolio, because I think it will be extremely important to promote a growth mindset in my classroom.  In an art, it's easy for students to tend to think they're either born good at it or born without the capability to be an artist.  I don't want any of my students to give up before they even get the chance to grow as an artist, because they've been told it's just not something they have a knack for.
3. I liked that this article had specific ideas for how to promote a growth mindset in a real classroom, and I definitely intend to implement some of these in my classroom.

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Weekly Tip: Promoting Growth Mindset

Carol Dweck, a cognitive psychologist at Stanford, and leading expert on mindset research, defines fixed and growth mindset in the following way:

In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They also believe that talent alone creates success-without effort. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work-brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.

-Dweck, 2015

In the classroom, the way that we interact with students can influence their beliefs about intelligence and learning and can affect their ability to persist through academic difficulties. Struggle and setbacks do not indicate limited potential; rather, they provide opportunities to reflect and attempt new strategies. In short, to learn. Implementing growth mindset in the classroom also requires a willingness to question and challenge your own fixed mindset practices related to beliefs about your students as well as your own learning and intelligence.

Focus on progress not perfection

Present learning as a process of developing skills through repeated practice.
Communicate to students that intelligence and talent are not fixed for life. They are malleable and, with effort, can be strengthened-like a muscle! Let students know that they have ownership and control of this process.

Prompt students to reflect on work and study strategies in ways that will lead to revision and improvement.

Exam Autopsy (pdf)

Focus on the process of learning and preparation

Reflect on Study strategies leading to revised strategies

Reflect on during exam behavior

Two Stage Exams (pdf)
In a two-stage exam, students take an exam individually and then work in small groups to answer the exam questions collaboratively.

Classroom assessments techniques
Encourage students to understand that teaching and learning are on-going processes that require full participation.

Use portfolios and Folio thinking as assessment tools

Use rubrics as a tool to help students reflect on and improve their skills, not just for giving grades.

Early in the semester I take time to show students work I did when I was an undergrad. During this time, I make a point of explaining that I started where they are currently at. Through conversation and comparison, students can see that I made the same moves they are making currently, and that where they are at is okay. The goal is growth and improvement.

-Aminah Barnes Cannon

Use encouraging language to communicate high expectations.

When giving feedback on an assignment or test: "Many of you ran into trouble at this point. This is very normal. Let's go over it together so you can see how to recognize and work through this kind of problem."

Consider discussing activities and reflecting on results with students by saying something like, "Don't worry if you do not get it right on the first attempt. It simply means that you are in the process of learning. We have all been there."

Think about the language and modeling that you use with students and how it is interpreted.

Send emails to those who have improved to recognize those who may not always be recognized.

Encourage students by discussing how you were once like them and struggled but had to overcome you struggles to find eventual success.

Model the learning process in real time-work through problems with them and show them where you commonly make errors/how you correct those errors.

Resources and further reading

This series of videos and teaching tips is presented by Academic Outreach and Innovation (AOI). We invite you to join the conversation. Share your tips and ask questions through this blog. If you would like these posts to be sent directly to your email each week, subscribe to the listserv by emailing aoi.li@wsu.edu.

For more information or to schedule time with an instructional designer or emerging technologist, contact aoi.li@wsu.edu or request training on demand. You can also visit the Spark Faculty Innovation Studio in room 102 any time from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Thursday, during the academic year.

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Carol Dweck, a cognitive psychologist at Stanford, and leading expert on mindset research, defines fixed and growth mindset in the following way: In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They also believe that talent alone creates success-without effort.