What I Learned in TLPL 101

As a Secondary Education major, I took my first TLPL (Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership) course this past fall semester. In this TLPL 101 course, I learned teaching and lesson planning methods through lectures, classroom discussions, and observations. I was able to apply my knowledge through a virtual teaching and a live teach in a 5th grade classroom.

These are the key ideas I took from this course:

Important Notes to Remember

• Acknowledge each student’s contributions and refer to students by their names
• Reinforce the objective (the big picture) by repeating it in the beginning, middle, and end of the lesson. Also, consider defining key words in the objective.
• Include pauses in large group discussions to allow students to think
• Consider using silent methods to get the class’s attention (raise my hand) instead of clapping or yelling

Discussion Methods

• Silent Discussion: Have large post it pads around the classroom with different questions. Then have students silently answer the questions, post their own questions, and respond to other students’ responses using small post it notes. This is a good method to allow all students to share and respond to others without having to speak in front of the whole class.
• Socratic Seminar/Fishbowl: inner circle discusses and raises questions while the outer circle observes and takes notes.

Talk Moves

• “Can you say more about that?”
• “Who can repeat…?”
• “Did someone think of the problem in a different way?”
•  “What made you think…?”
• “Explain how your answer is the same or different than ___?”
• “Let’s give everyone time to work this out before sharing.”

(Talk Moves from: http://teach.conceptuamath.com/talk-moves)

Creativity in Teacher Preparation

This semester, I am taking my first teacher education course called TLPL101. In this course, I was able to teach a virtual classroom of five avatar students. These avatar students had different personalities and learning capabilities just like real students, so this virtual classroom experience helped me greatly to prepare to teach Ms. Arnold’s 5th grade class at Berwyn Heights Elementary School.

Thanks to someone’s creativity in the field of teacher preparation, student teachers are now able to teach a virtual classroom and have virtual parent-teacher conferences without any risks.

Benefits of teaching a virtual classroom of avatars:

• gain exposure to student reactions and behavior
• assess the effectiveness of various classroom management methods
• practice engaging with parents
• confront bias in student teachers if they say or do something that may offend a student or parent

Someone had to consider the challenge of offering experience to student teachers in ways that are low stakes and more logistically tenable than coordinating with real classrooms.

Anita Sanyal, Terrapin Teachers professor at UMD

Interdisciplinary Teaching

Over the course of my TLPL courses, I have really come to understand how diverse students are, not only in demographics but also in the way they think and reason. It is common that one task may allow for the discussion of multiple different units, so we must acknowledge the various concepts and methods presented in the task.

Sam Silver, junior at UMD studying Secondary Education and Math

What is interdisciplinary education? 

Interdisciplinary education involves integrating methods from various academic fields to examine a topic or issue

Why teach with an interdisciplinary approach?

• helps students rethink their preconceived notions
• advances critical thinking and cognitive development
• allows students to appreciate the multifaceted dimensions of every problem
• brings in different learning styles, interests, and topics to relate to all students

How do we exercise interdisciplinary education?

• explain and model interdisciplinary thinking 
• establish a collaborative environment among peers

Creativity in Math

When you think of “creativity,” math is probably one of the last things you think of. At least it was for me.

In the typical math classroom today, students are taught one correct answer and one (or two) correct methods to get to that answer. There doesn’t seem to be much room for creativity or exploration.

How can we refocus our math classrooms to emphasize creativity in the problem solving process?

• accept and encourage mistakes and failures
• focus on the problem solving process, not on the solution
• encourage questions and exploration
• collaboration with peers
• apply concepts to the real world

When students are given creative freedom over a problem and are able to productively struggle through their reasoning, they are likely to learn and retain the core mathematical ideas. 

Sam Silver, junior at UMD studying Secondary Education and Math

Questions to Ask to Students:

1. How can you relate ___ with ___?
2. What is an alternative method you can use to solve the problem?
3. How can we apply this concept to ___?

Teaching Diverse Learners

Who is a diverse learner?

A diverse learner is a student who may be at a disadvantage learning in the classroom due to socioeconomic status, linguistic barriers, a disability, or family background.

Examples of diverse learners include:

• English Language Learner
• Student with a cognitive disability
• Immigrant student
• Homeless student
• Native American student
• Delinquent student

Conforming to one method of teaching will not reach all students. It is important to be creative in your lessons to reach students of all learning styles.

Sarah Choi, junior at UMD studying Secondary Education and English

How do I teach diverse learners?

First, seek to know and understand the student. It is important that the student feels safe in the classroom and understood by you as their teacher. You may want to get to know their home culture or background by talking to their parent/guardians more.

Second, maintain a high expectation for diverse learners. Try not to apply any stereotypes on students, but rather understand each student’s individual strengths and needs.

Thirdly, actively seek to incorporate relevant material in your lessons which relate to the student’s background, language, and/or culture.