Nathan Brandsma and Niall O’ Dwyer: Observer Mark Barry ‘Tuesday November 25, 2014 World History To discuss the development and impact of Istam- | wonder how much discussion actually happened? | heard some direct instruction regarding the development of Islam but am still wondering about the impact... impact on what/whom? Access and use primaiy and econdary Sources to explain questions being researched- Did anyone actually access a primary sources? Evaluate the credibility and relevance of information, ideas and arguments: What does evaluate mean? / How do students know what evaluation looks like and when they've hit this target? Relevance to what? Do students know what your expectations for credible are? 1" observable- students very respectful of the routines, announcements and pledge of allegiance. Teacher verbalizes the objectives, asks students to get out a piece of paper and has them create a KWL chart. Students do... a couple students ask clarifying questions. 1 column- what do you know about Islam, 2" column- what would you like to know Teacher circulates around the classroom managing by proximity and answers a question about the third column and what will be there. Anybody want to share what they want to know, Students volunteer info: it’s a religion, they speak a different language, Arabic, worship Mohammed, monotheistic etc... Teacher draws more from the students ie can you explain what monotheistic means Want to know... student volunteers...what their message is, where the name came from, culture, etc. Teacher calling students by their names, taking notes on the whiteboard. Teacher adds some information to the W column- Sunni and Shia, Koran, Haag, Ramidan Teacher wants to get students into groups, pauses to check the number of students in the class today and figure out the numbers of students to be in each group *arrange groups ahead of time to save time Students get into groups, the transition is fairly smooth... teacher encourages the students to get out of rows and physically create a group... students mostly comply, Handout- General questions pertaining to any topic within Islam... groups given the choice of topics Back of handout is a mind map with Islam in the middle circle.Some confusion about the order in which the groups allowed to choose their topics... some thought {going in order of group number until hands went up asking for a topic and they got it. Students commented “I thought we were going in order, what's going on?” Time wasted in the choosing process? Teacher asks if each group wants to make a powerpoint slide, yes. Teacher will create a google doc where all the slides will be placed. On the mind map, when each group presents... students will fil in the bubbles surrounding Islam and then take notes invites other group members to a google doc. Teacher comes over to clarify the process of sharing in google docs. Mr. O'dwyer sets up a google doc as students are doing their research. At this point | might suggest more intentional conferring with the groups. What is the point of your conferring when you visit the groups? Are you just there to answer questions about process or content? ‘Are you looking for clues to how the students are thinking? Do you have any interest at this point in what each group member is doing? Have you already taught the how to divide responsibilities within groups? ‘Students seem to be on task with their research, unless there are computer issues Teacher: “I’m getting the feeling that 15 minutes might be a litte bit constrained for this activity”. Maybe I'l extend it for another 5 minutes. Teacher circulates and gauges the time of the activity and ‘extends the time for research and ppt creation more. : Interesting question on the handout: What were your sources and what is their point of view (bias)? Great question, what training have you given them in the past surrounding point of view. Students having a “fun argument” stop, 'm trying to get an education here... laughing, “oh my gosh” etc... talking about breakfast. Not on task. Mr. O'Dwyer visits the group and redirects. Mr, Odwyer visits a group and finds out that they didn’t get the google doc. Invite. | wonder how you set expectations, and manage all the groups at the same time if you're the only instructor in the room? Teacher- visits a group “What sites are you using” Students “I'm using this one” its favored towards Turkey, “how did you find it” I searched. Teacher- lets spend less time beautifying the slides and more time on the content. A lot of time is being spent with the technology piece of the assignment. | wonder if that time trade off is worth it for the overall learning of the students. Could the google doc have been set up ahead of time? 10:02- Alright, we're going to go ahead and do the presentation portion... student said we aren’t ready, teacher says well... i'shappening, | wonder if a specific time was given, or a timer set visibly on the smartboard would have helped some students stay on task and stay motivated?Teacher still circulating and answering questions, because a student is very stressed about the presentation portion of the assignment. Teacher: “please flip over your question sheet to the bubble map portion”. A student says “wait, what are we doing with the bubbles"? Go ahead and fill n one of the bubbles as culture and you can take notes based on that. Culture: Student reports out about culture... teacher apologizes for the broad topics such as culture as the questions were designed for more specific topics. Student reports that Islamic culture is wide-spread. Teacher “so what does Islamic culture look like?” At this point the font on the slide is very small and difficult to see from where I am, Other students are still doing their own research. 1 wonder how you could ensure that all the class members are held accountable for the material that other groups researched? Teacher: “how about Eric” Arabic- means of communication, religious language, diffused around areas they conquered, other cultures took some of their letters etc... changed over time. Only used for ceremonies or in the mosque, Teacher corrects: but it isa language that is spoken everyday right? Student yes, but a lot of people don’t speak it if they are in a different place. Teacher... what about its relation to Islam? What does it mean that it’s a sacred language? It’s used in their mosques for their sacred important stuff. Teacher So just to interject... Arabic is the language that Mohammed received from:god. That’s what make: sacred language. | wonder how much of this content is pertinent to your lesson? What about your source? About religion.com and Wikipedia and another religion .com / something? What about the biases? Well you can’t be biased about the language really. Students laughing. Let me share my bias here, | believe that all sources are biased for example It could be that this information is important. Sunni/Shia split- one of the big differences is political... Imam, prophet mohammed should be voted on and should be capable leaders, shia believe that it just continues on through the family line like an empire. That's there biggest differenece. The Shiaa feel hostility towards the companions that the sunni voted on. The shiaa, since they don't believ in theis companions, their practices start to differ from the sunni. Teacher- some of the other texts... Deets, not super important... but the sayings create alittle bit of a difference. Any other differneces? The struggle has started a Syrian civil war. Teacher still continues today. Did you see where they sunni and shiaa tend to be? Um... maybe ... Teacher- iran is majority shiaa, and also iraq is @ majority shiaa... When Sadaam Husein was there it was a majority sunni, What about sources? About.com I didn’t see any bias said the student. ‘Mosque and Koran- Student says “I can’t see that” is this a signal to the teacher that maybe other students can’t see it especially if they don't have a laptop with them? | notice a student in the back of the row on the south side of the classroom just sitting there not writing anything down. | notice several students not taking notes on their bubble sheets. Group members seem to know different things about the content, I wonder if this is the intent of the teacher. Also, at this point I'm wondering if anyone hasaccessed any primary sources? Student- when you think of islam you think of the terrible things that happened... but the fun fact was that it’s a peaceful message. ** Teachable moment? History- student presents from the slide... If students are shooting at the learning targets... how do you know if they've hit them? What i they are off target? What if they don’t have any visible evidence of hitting the targets but you think they might, have grasped the concepts? What if someone copied everything word for word off of the slides onto their bubble maps but don't know any of the information? Next group, (Why important and their beliefs) a student has a glitch with the google doc. This groups ‘comes to the front of the room to operate the powerpoint. Student- my source was Wikipedia and it’s very accurate and not biased. Prophet muhammed... sources from PBS which was surprisingly unbiased | wonder how you can engage all class members? | wonder ifit’s even important to engage all class members? Message- followers are told to do certain things and behave a certain way etc. ‘Student next to me looking up henna on her computer. Another student scrolling through images. 5 pillars (Last group)- Student next to me making popping sounds with his mouth. Another student playing with his hoodie strings. Paying alms... Teachers asks “does everyone know what paying alms is?” Student explains. Fast for a whole month during Ramadan, The haag is ..Sites were google and Wikipedia and there was no bias. | wonder if students know what they're looking for regarding biases online or in sources in general? What about the giving of alms speaks to Istarn? are about the poor, giving back **teachable moment What about Fasting? Can pray when you break your fast etc... Anotion of gratitude, and simiar to Zacat also experiencing what it’s like to be hungry. What about the pilgrimage to Mecca? The haag? What effect might that have? Wouldn't it show your dedication to this religion? Absolutely. Teacher- the golden age... {greater discussion of the history- a very tribal region. Does anybody know what a blood fued is? When you have a clan, blood, go back and forth, hatfields and mccoys etc... ongoing battle. Does everyone know what the caba is? The big square that people are walking around . This place, some think its from a meteor, some think from god. People would engage in trade because it was peaceful. This place is a ‘center and it becomes a center for Muhammed as well. He turnsit into a center for islam. Unity, prayers, facing same place, pays alms, all have same experience. Islam is on a lunar calendar.. Teacher turns this into a direct instruction opportunity about Islam. Unity being the theme. The Sunni Shia split may be more contentious because of the notion of unity.teed abot estoiy, fpedt irae He gh a cnie Mies‘So now Im going to have you take out that sheet form the beginning- KWL Students are filling out the What I've learned column, Teacher- so what do you think... do you feel like you have a greater understanding? One kid makes what I'd consider a sarcastic remark. | appreciate that you came back to the last column to finish the KWL chart. | wonder if by doing this you can measure the accuracy of how close the students hit the targets that you set. Yl collect both of the sheets. | wonder how you will decide, based on these how you will or will not adjust your instruction or suggest and encourage your students to adjust for themselves. ‘With a few minutes left, I'll show you some video footage of the haa ‘Students standing, putting on backpacks, talking etc... management issue here.