Rationale: To motivate students in my freshmen government class, instead of just learning about how bills are passed through Congress, our students write their own bills and simulate Congress. They join committees based on their interests and in conjunction with their peers they create bills to debate in sessions of Congress. The students use a wiki to communicate ideas on bills, peer edit resolutions, and check out what has been created by other committees as can be seen on the Congress Wikiwe created.
The students interact socially in a positive environment on the wiki, giving feedback, suggestions for approval, and supportive compliments to each other as comments on the pages. Clearly they are actively engaged in learning and the increased motivation for our sessions of Congress is demonstrated by the participation level of the students. As a professional educator I have been energized by the results I’ve seen from the students in our simulations. When I check the wiki and see students checking it at 8am on a Saturday morning it makes me proud to be a teacher, engaging and motivating students in their learning. I find this method way more effective than lectures, note-taking, and reading from a textbook.
KSD 5.K.4 The teacher understands the principles of effective classroom management and can use a range of strategies to promote routines and positive relationships, cooperation, and purposeful learning in the classroom. Even high school students thrive on routine so during the government weeks we have a set routine with our students. Monday and Friday the students are split into two groups to work on the novel they are reading or have computer lab time to write speeches and bills, updating the wiki. Tuesday and Thursday are Congress days where the students either meet in joint sessions or as the House of Representative and Senate. Wednesday is a flex day, either spent working in the labs or the classroom or with having a speaker come into the classroom. With this schedule the students know exactly what to expect each day and it allows for easy cooperation and purposeful learning to take place.
5.S.2 The teacher engages students in individual and cooperative learning activities to develop motivation to achieve, by (for example) relating lessons to students’ personal interests, allowing students to have choices in their learning, and leading students to ask questions and pursue problems that are meaningful to them. Allowing the students to choose their committees for Congress brings together students with common interests. They become more passionate about their bills when they care about the topics they are discussing. This makes the learning process so much more meaningful and engaging, increasing the likelihood that what is learned in the class will become long-term knowledge.
5.D.2 The teacher understands how participation supports commitment, and is committed to the expression and use of democratic values in the classroom. Using the wiki has greatly increased the participation of even the more reserved students. They now have an equal voice within their committees, not simply blending into the background while a loud leader emerges and dominates the group, but getting their fair share of input and contributions to the creation of the bills. And during the class simulations we follow the rules of precedence in our classroom so the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore are trained on how to recognize students with precedence first, meaning the students with the least amount of participation get the chance to speak in Congress first. Democratic ideals of fairness, justice, and self-determinism are ever present in our classroom!
Standard 5: Teachers know how to manage a classroom.
The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
Evidence: PBWorks Congress Wiki
Rationale: To motivate students in my freshmen government class, instead of just learning about how bills are passed through Congress, our students write their own bills and simulate Congress. They join committees based on their interests and in conjunction with their peers they create bills to debate in sessions of Congress. The students use a wiki to communicate ideas on bills, peer edit resolutions, and check out what has been created by other committees as can be seen on the Congress Wikiwe created.
The students interact socially in a positive environment on the wiki, giving feedback, suggestions for approval, and supportive compliments to each other as comments on the pages. Clearly they are actively engaged in learning and the increased motivation for our sessions of Congress is demonstrated by the participation level of the students. As a professional educator I have been energized by the results I’ve seen from the students in our simulations. When I check the wiki and see students checking it at 8am on a Saturday morning it makes me proud to be a teacher, engaging and motivating students in their learning. I find this method way more effective than lectures, note-taking, and reading from a textbook.
KSD
5.K.4 The teacher understands the principles of effective classroom management and can use a range of strategies to promote routines and positive relationships, cooperation, and purposeful learning in the classroom.
Even high school students thrive on routine so during the government weeks we have a set routine with our students. Monday and Friday the students are split into two groups to work on the novel they are reading or have computer lab time to write speeches and bills, updating the wiki. Tuesday and Thursday are Congress days where the students either meet in joint sessions or as the House of Representative and Senate. Wednesday is a flex day, either spent working in the labs or the classroom or with having a speaker come into the classroom. With this schedule the students know exactly what to expect each day and it allows for easy cooperation and purposeful learning to take place.
5.S.2 The teacher engages students in individual and cooperative learning activities to develop motivation to achieve, by (for example) relating lessons to students’ personal interests, allowing students to have choices in their learning, and leading students to ask questions and pursue problems that are meaningful to them.
Allowing the students to choose their committees for Congress brings together students with common interests. They become more passionate about their bills when they care about the topics they are discussing. This makes the learning process so much more meaningful and engaging, increasing the likelihood that what is learned in the class will become long-term knowledge.
5.D.2 The teacher understands how participation supports commitment, and is committed to the expression and use of democratic values in the classroom.
Using the wiki has greatly increased the participation of even the more reserved students. They now have an equal voice within their committees, not simply blending into the background while a loud leader emerges and dominates the group, but getting their fair share of input and contributions to the creation of the bills. And during the class simulations we follow the rules of precedence in our classroom so the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore are trained on how to recognize students with precedence first, meaning the students with the least amount of participation get the chance to speak in Congress first. Democratic ideals of fairness, justice, and self-determinism are ever present in our classroom!