Who Owns the Learning?
I currently teach grades 9 – 12 Mandarin and IB Mandarin B Standard Level at Saigon South International School. My final COETAIL project is Using Personal Goals to Improve Motivation.
In addition to various learning styles and personal interests, most of my classes are also mixed with different proficiency levels. So, the two questions I constantly ask myself are:
1. What strategies should I use to sustain and increase motivation, even when there are frequent mistakes and increasing challenge?
2. What can I do so their learning are relevant and meaningful to them?
With these two questions in mind, my journey to search for the answers began while I started teaching in SSIS in August 2012. In February 2013, one of our COETAIL course one assignments was to watch the videos Myths and Opportunities: Technology in the Classroom and Leaving a Legacy by Alan November. In the videos November suggests we shift the control of curriculum design from teachers to students and to involve them to identify their purposes of learning. I was truly inspired by his vision in education and how we engage the learners. Since then, I could not stop to wonder how will this work in my mixed level classes and how can I use this approach to improve their motivation and learning outcomes. I knew some changes need to be made in my classes as well as the way I teach, and I wanted to give it a try.
Where to start?
To start, in March 2013 I took a small step in a unit by giving students choices to either learn a song from SingChineseSong.com or 2-3 episodes from Growing Up with Chinese that they picked. They also had the choices of either learning it on their own or in group. By the end of the unit, each student learned 20-30 new words and 3-5 grammar points and they used those to apply in their real life situation. See more information about this unit in my COETAIL Course One Final Project. The feedback from students was very positive and encouraging and they also gave me very insightful recommendations for improvement.
What comes next? Thinking Image?
I was encouraged by the positive and encouraging feedback from the unit of Free Choices and I wanted to take it to the next level. I want to give them time throughout the school year to work on topics or areas of their interests as their personal goals. I was hoping this initiative would help to improve their motivation.
What is needed to make it work?
- resource gathering: To prepare for this initiative, the first step I took was to gather resources to meet their various learning needs and interests. I spent approximately two weeks during my summer vacation to gather online materials, to go over all the resources at school, and to purchase books (story books for all levels, graphic novels, comic books, self-taught books) to set up the “Chinese Library” in my classroom.
- student buy-in: In order to gain students’ support, at the beginning of this school year I told them about this new initiative in which they will be able to choose what they would like to learn with my support and feedback and how they will be held responsible for their own learning. I then let them decide if they are willing to try it for a semester. They liked it and they wanted to try this new way of learning. I also told them this is my first time implementing this initiative so I will need their feedback for continuous improvement. They liked it, and the journey began!
Step-by-Step implementation
To start this new initiative, we spent a good amount of time at the beginning of the school year for them
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to think about what areas they would like to improve or learn
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to explore online resources and books
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to set specific and measurable individual long term and short term goals for this year knowing they will have 30 minutes in most classes throughout the school year. See Mandarin 3 planner, sample#1, sample #2, sample #3. By August 25, their goals were identified as follows: Mandarin 3B, Mandarin 3C, Mandarin 4E, Mandarin 4G
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to individually meet with me making sure they are being challenged and their goals are attainable and measurable. More importantly, to make sure they have the skills and strategy to work on the goals on their own and to pick the most effective resources.
How do I provide feedback?
Timely and constructive feedback is an integral part of learning. This is especially true when my students are working on their goals individually or in a pair. In addition to the face-to-face feedback during the 30 minutes in the class, I use the comments and hyperlink function in Google Docs to give them feedback, see a sample here. Most of the areas they need help with are sentence structure and grammar. In the sample you can see I use hyperlinks to direct them to the information they need to correct the errors on their own.
What is the assessment?
How are the learners be held responsible for their learning? The students are assessed by Understanding of Learning, Documentation of Learning, Progress of Learning throughout the year. However during the first goal meeting, one additional criteria is to make sure their goals are specific and measurable. As for the final assessment, which is also a showcase in which they will present what have they been working to the entire class and also to receive peer feedback. I believe, and hope, this will give them a sense of achievement and recognition from their peers.
What is the role of technology? Did this implementation meet the definition of Redefinition
Would this initiative work without computer technology? Not only all of their personal goals and learning evidence are stored in their Google Docs, I can also easily track their progress and to provide feedback at home and to check their understanding in the class. Furthermore, without these online resources the students will not be able to work individually in a very effective and engaging manner.
Is it a REDEFINITION in the SAMR Model? I believe it is. This self-taught and student-centered initiative would not have been possible without technology integration. Regardless of their different goals, all students use the following common tools:
- Google Docs to organize and document their learning evidence, and for me to give them feedback and comments with hyperlink to grammar points or follow up readings from other online resources that they can work on their own.
- Free and reliable Online Dictionary such as Google Chrome online Chinese-English popup Dictionary that provides them with immediate answer by moving the cursor to the words that they don’t understand. More, the free online dictionaries and translation devices such as Nciku, MDBG, ArchChinese, Iciba are very effective and powerful tools.
- Lastly, this project would not have been possible without all these online engaging and fun resources. I believe it is a Redefinition of learning in the SAMR Model because of the technology, my classroom is no longer the only place for learning and teaching to take place.
What would I do differently next time?
The three immediate areas I would like to improve upon are:
committed to the“30 minutes in each class” personal goal time: In the feedback in December, 2013 they suggested more time be given for this initiative. The reason they asked for more time was because sometimes we used up the entire class time thus the “30-minute” personal goal time was not consistently put into place throughout the semester. I need to do a better job in “honoring” the personal goal time when I plan my lessons and units.
more time for SHOWCASE: I am extremely proud of the variety and the degree of challenges my students have taken on and of the progresses they have made. Although an end-of-year “SHOWCASE” has been planned for them to present their works to their peers, I would like to extend the “SHOWCASE” to twice or three times a year for them to demonstrate their learning outcome.
self-monitoring and self-assessment: So far, I am the only source to access their progress and understanding. This practice needs to change. I will hold them responsible for their learning by using self-monitoring and self- assessment
How do you plan to share this with your colleagues?
In addition to sharing this initiative with my World Languages colleagues at SSIS, my immediate plan is to share part of this initiative with Mandarin teachers from other international schools who will be attending the 13th Annual Mandarin Teachers Articulation Conference at Taipei American School on April 25-26. Since my presentation is only an hour so I will only focus on using Google Doc and Google Form for writing, for teaching grammar, and for assessment.
What was my greatest learning in this course?
I would highly recommend the Coetail course to any educator who is seeking ways to improve how we teach. It has been a transformative learning journey for me. Although the core of this program is about how we integrate technology to engage the learners, my greatest learning in this course is being inspired by Alan November’s vision by giving our students the ownership for their learning. This inspiration has become the foundation of my final project.
Did I meet my goal? Does this implementation improve their motivation?
I believe I have met my goal to improve their motivation. The positive feedback in December, 2013 and feedback in April, 2014 confirm this initiative has improved their motivation and show how they enjoy being independent learners. I would like to end this post by sharing some remarks made by Giulia Soh who is one of my Mandarin 4G students.
“ I think having time to work on our personal goal makes me feel independent and respected in terms of my learning. Because I do not have to learn what I don’t want to learn or what I don’t think is useful, I get to chose and so I feel like my learning is dependent on what I do. I also feel respected because I get to choose what to learn and how to learn it. I get to do it my own way and the way that works for me and so I think having a personal goal helps me a lot. “
