Creating Classroom Environments to be Active and Maintain Order, Rigor,

and Effective Outcomes

SAM 136 Instructors’ SeminarProfessional and Academic Center for Excellence

Marsha J. Harman, Ph.D.

Critical Thinking Warm-Up• In your teams, read the situation on the

next slide. Create some questions to ask that can be answered with “yes” or “no.”

• As each group rotates and asks questions to narrow the correct answer to the puzzler, cross out your duplicate questions and think of more.

When Time Stands Still• As a burglar reaches for something

on the mantle, he accidentally knocks over a clock. It falls to the floor, breaks, and stops. The next morning, however, police aren’t able to determine what time the robbery took place. Why not?

SAM 136 COAT OF ARMS• Divide you coat of arms into six parts.• Using only symbols:

• What is something that makes you happy about teaching SAM 136

• Your greatest success to date in teaching SAM 136

• Your greatest failure to date in teaching SAM 136

• Something you believe in so strongly that you would never budge regarding teaching in SAM 136

• Something you want to accomplish in SAM 136 before the end of the semester

• What three words do you want your students to use in describing you in SAM 136? (you may use words on this one).

You Gain and Maintain Classroom Control Through

• your reputation for effort, flexibility, and availability;

• your reputation for firmness and fairness;• your knowledge of the content;• keeping the students focused and wanting

to learn; • responding forcefully and fairly to

challenges to your authority

Effort, Flexibility, & Availability

• Try to learn their names, and say them. • Be in the classroom 15 minutes before

class starts. • Start on time. • Encourage them, but avoid one-on-one or

small-group rehashes. These create fairness issues, the bane of higher-level education.

• If you depend on audiovisuals, part of your effort is the need for a back-up plan when they break.

• Whenever a decision must be made, during class or outside, invite the students to take part.

• You can tell how you're doing by watching the class. • Smiles and eager responses means you're

doing well. • If there's a room full of frowns, or people

looking at watches and the clock, say, "How are we doing? Too fast? Too slow? Seen this before? Got a better idea of what we could be doing?"

• Listen to what they tell you. They are usually right.

Firmness and Fairness• Explain why you've asked the class to do

various things. • If there is something about the classroom

that's unacceptable, don't tolerate it. • Keep as relaxed a classroom atmosphere as

possible.

• Fairness includes recognizing • good behavior and effort.

• Say their names. • Praise them for good behavior. • Avoid sarcasm or shouting (indicates loss of

control)

Knowledge of Content• Students will judge this (rightly) by your

ability to answer their questions.• How you handle questions• Welcome all questions as they arise. • Requests for clarification• Off-topic questions

• Start a lecture with an attention-grabber. • Finish with something about how they will

use this material in the future

Keep Students Focused on Wanting to Learn

• MUST be able to explain the content CLEARLY

• With adult learners, use why, because, and you

• Involve the class• Ask questions ranging from knowledge to

evaluation on Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom (1956): 3 Types of Learning

• Cognitive: mental skills (Knowledge)• Affective: growth in feelings or emotional

areas (Attitude)• Psychomotor: manual or physical skills

(Skills)

Levels of Student ThinkingBloom’s Taxonomy

• Evaluation• Synthesis• Analysis• Application• Comprehension• Knowledge

Knowledge Verbs• Define• Fill in the blank• Identify• Label• List• Locate• Match

• Memorize• Name• Recall• Spell• State• Tell• Underline

Knowledge Activities• Quiz Games

• Jeopardy• Wait, Wait, Don’t

Tell Me• Who Am I?• What’s Wrong with

This Picture?

Research shows that early learning centers in which infants are trained with letter and

number flashcards

• A. produce children who learn to read and write earlier than their agemates.

• B. may threaten infants’ interest in learning and produce responses much like those of stimulus-deprived infants.

• C. often produce children who are classified as gifted during the elementary school years.

Who Am I?• I was born in 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia, to

sharecropper parents. (25)

• I was educated at Spelman College and Sarah Lawrence College (20)

• At a commencement speech at Sarah Lawrence College, I spoke out against the silence of that institution’s curriculum when it came to African-American culture and history. (15)

• In 1976 I wrote a searing examination of politics and black-white relations in the novel Meridian. (10)

• My most famous work is probably The Color Purple. (5)

Who Am I?

Alice Walker

Comprehension Verbs• Convert• Describe• Explain• Interpret• Paraphrase• Put in order• Restate

• Retell in your own words• Rewrite• Summarize• Trace• Translate

Comprehension Activities

• Graphic Organizers• Put in Correct Order

Application Verbs• Apply• Compute• Conclude• Construct• Demonstrate• Determine• Draw• Find out

• Give an example• Illustrate• Make• Operate• Show solve• State a rule or

principle• Use

Application Activities

• Mind Maps• Create a

• Cheer• Acronym• Mnemonic

Mnemonic• Create a mnemonic that will help you

remember the levels of student thinking in Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Analysis Verbs• Analyze• Categorize• Classify• Compare• Contrast• Debate• Deduct• Determine the

factors

• Diagnose• Diagram• Differentiate• Dissect• Distinguish• Examine• Infer • Specify

Analysis Activities

• Debate• What’s Wrong with this Picture?• Fishbowl • Categorize Movie Characters into

Theory’s Stages

What’s wrong? Sidney is fourteen years old and very ill

with Tay-Sachs disease. His African American family has prayed consistently in church for him, but he remains very ill. However, he continues to be very active on his school’s junior varsity team. He is even the quarterback when he is able and is hailed as the winningest quarterback in the school’s history.

Fishbowl

Should Representative Barton have apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward for being required to set up a $20B escrow fund for oil spill damages?

• Rep. Joe Barton told Hayward he was "ashamed" of the pressure the White House put on BP to create the $20 billion escrow fund to cover losses to victims of the spill. "I think it's a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would call a shakedown," the Texan said. "In this case a $20 billion shakedown."

Synthesis Verbs• Change• Combine• Compose• Construct• Create• Design

• Find an unusual way• Formulate • Generate• Invent • Originate

• Design game-shows or the like to bring two or more students to the front of the room

• What governs the attention given to your lectures?• Source of exam questions (specify it)• Choice of handout style (Do exams come

from text or lectures or both?)

More Synthesis Verbs• Plan• Predict• Pretend• Produce• Rearrange• Reconstruct

• Reorganize• Revise• Suggest• Suppose• Visualize• Write

Synthesis Activities

• Design a Menu• Pretend You Are

the Committee…

Committee Work• Pretend you are advisors to President

Gaertner• Formulate a plan of action regarding how

to encourage freshmen to develop study skills.

Evaluation Verbs• Appraise• Choose • Compare • Conclude• Decide• Defend• Evaluate• Give your

opinion

• Judge• Justify• Prioritize• Rank• Rate• Select• Support• Value

Evaluation Activities

• Rank from Least to Most Important

Rank order from least important to most important.

• Knowledge• Comprehension• Application• Analysis• Synthesis• Evaluation

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Respond Forcefully and Fairly to Challenges to Your Authority

• Anticipate the question• Anticipate the complaint• Have a Plan B

Hecklers• Hecklers tend to be misinformed; portray

you as:• Radical Right crackpot• Radical Left crackpot• Close-minded dogmatist• Malicious oppressor of the human race

• Your battle with heckler is for support of the audience

Critical Thinking Break• In your teams, read the situation on the

next slide. Create some questions to ask that can be answered with “yes” or “no.”

• As each group rotates and asks questions to narrow the correct answer to the puzzler, cross out your duplicate questions and think of more.

Not So Safe• A man keeps his expensive belongings in

safes. No one has ever seen him enter a combination, and he has never written one down or told it to anyone. When he opens one of his safes, he is shocked to find everything stolen. The safe wasn’t damaged and had been locked, so how did the thief open the safe?

Brief Brainstorm• Think about someone you view as an

influence in your life.• Write three adjectives that would describe

this person.

What would your students say about you? Any chance it would be like this?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1_MydgRFZw&NR=1