"The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection." -Thomas Paine

This weeks blog post is about my experience with Over The Shoulder Miscue Analysis (OTSMA). In more simple terms this is basically a way to assess a students reading abilities fairly quickly. You can do this with OTSMA by looking for their miscues (mistakes) and figuring out quick mini lessons to help this student build new reading strategies. 

While learning about this process in class I was quickly overwhelmed. The process itself did not seem too stressful but the idea of thinking about performing something such as an OTSMA on a real student with no practice seemed a little terrifying. But alas, this is the teacher education program. I am not expected to have these practices down perfectly. This is a time for me to learn and grow as a future educator and there is truly no better way to learn or grow than to just do it. So I decided to put on my brave face, smile, and just go for it. In the words of Thomas Paine, "The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection." Sometimes it won't be easy (actually often times it won't be easy) but you still need to push through and learn from it. My first year of teaching certainly won't come close to perfect but I can certainly learn from it and better myself for the coming years. In regards to the OTSMA... it won't be perfect but the student will still learn SOMETHING and I will learn SOMETHING as well. That's the best we can both do. 

The student I was doing the OTSMA with was one of my practicum students. This student is fives years old and in kindergarten. Her teacher sent me with six books for her to choose from. These books are apart of a reading program the teachers are mandated to use. The teacher had told me three of the books were in her reading level and the other three were slightly above her reading level. For the comfort level of my student I chose to let her choose which book appealed most to her. She chose Where Is My Cat? by Ann Starman. She explained to me that she chose this book because she liked cats, fair enough! I was happy to see she was reading the cover and examining the title and pictures. 

I know I should have chosen a book to read with the student but because this student is in kindergarten I didn't feel prepared to be doing that. Until this OTSMA I had not watched a student read, I had only been reading to them. Because this year may be their first experience with reading, I had no idea where to start in choosing a book. 

Overall, the assessment went well! My reader read the book with few miscues and seemed to even enjoy herself while reading. I was able to have conversations with her about the miscues and we even had a great conversation about how helpful it can be to look at the pictures in the book when we get stuck on a word we do not know. I also noticed how great my reader was with attempting the sound out words and blend syllables on her own. She often times looked up at me when she got stuck on a word and I simply said, "lets start with the beginning of the word" she immediately went right back into the book and began to sound out the letters until she formed a word. This showed me that she did have her own reading strategies built up, she had proven to be comfortable with sounding out words and using letter sounds. Yes, she wasn't exactly comfortable jumping right into unknown words but she still gave a fantastic effort at reading them once prompted with the go-ahead to sound out the words. I was very impressed and pleased with our OTSMA session. 

Because she had demonstrated a solid concept of sounding out letters to form words, I knew I shouldn't waste her time with going over phonics strategies. Instead I went over how to relate text to pictures in a book. I noticed that many of her miscues looked very similar to the words that were written in the book. Many of these words often directly related to the pictures in the book. We talked about how the pictures were so similar to the text. In one instance she read the word 'bag' for 'basket'. After we re-examined the sentence and the picture she was able to fill in the 'bag' for 'basket' because of the picture in the book helping her. 

The assessment fell short for me in terms of book selection. I was not able to really pick out my own book for the student to use therefore I hardly had any prep time with the book I was about to teach a lesson with therefore a lot of my thinking and teaching was done in the moment. I guess that kind of is the beauty of OTSMA, it is meant to be done in the moment based on how the reader read the text. This relates back to the art of teaching. You just kind of need to be thinking in the moment and doing what works best for your class and running with it. You of course should plan what you are teaching that day and how you will teach it. Soon enough the unpredictability of the classroom will kick in and you will be adjusting. 

I felt lucky enough to have had my student miscue enough to be able to teach her something but not so much that it hindered her understanding of the story. I kept thinking about what if I had a student who miscued so often that they just wanted to quit with the text. Should we stop? Should this be a teachable moment in pushing through difficult material? Should I assist in the reading? Do we even try to finish the text? Do I continue with the OTSMA? I am still not exactly sure how I would handle this. I guess for now I would think I would want to help the student because I would still want them to finish the story even if that meant me reading the rest of it but praising them for their efforts in starting the story. I think I would still ask them questions while reading that I knew they could answer to boost their confidence. We would probably need to do the OTSMA another time. 

This is an assessment I would love to do with a student in my classroom. I like how personal of a process it is for that student. The lessons are about their miscues in the book they are reading. This is not a whole class lesson, it is just for them. In regards to that, once you do this with a whole class you could find themes that many students in your class should be working on. I also like that this is a time to get to know students who may not participate as much while discussing literature. The re-telling aspect of the OTSMA is very powerful to understanding if the student is miscuing but still comprehending or not miscuing but not making meaning either. This process seems to be a good, quick way to help students work on their own reading strategies while building the bridge and strengthening the bond between reading the text and making meaning of the text. Both of these aspects of reading are so important for having a complete understanding. 

Besides what I mentioned in my paragraph above, the most valuable thing I learned from this experience is that teaching is about the experience not the end product. So what if this assessment didn't go as well as it could have! Maybe I could have asked better questions, maybe I shouldn't have let my student thumb through the book while re-telling, maybe I should have read the book before my student read it. These are mistakes that didn't harm my student, she still learned something new and I learned something new about OTSMA. The process of teaching should be a mutual experience between the student learning and the teacher learning. If it was a one-sided process it would be boring and then we wouldn't be having experiences. 

As in the words of Thomas Paine, I think in terms of my teaching I will grow brave by the reflections I am making about my teaching, myself, my classroom, and my students. 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do." -Mark Twain

My teaching beliefs listed in my pervious blog were...

1. A teacher should do their best to incorporate their students interests into curriculum. 

2. All students CAN learn, teaching is about finding what works for each of your students.

3. Exploration is so important to the learning process.

4. Teachers should help students find a passion for learning. 

5. Students are individuals and should be treated as such. 

I think what I am getting at here is that learning is exploring. I find it hard to believe that anyone can learn just by solely sitting and absorbing information. In order to learn, you need to do. Do something... ANYTHING! Move, touch, share, question, think, interpret, experiment. I believe it is not about what you are learning, it is more about how you are learning. Experiences make learning meaningful. In ten years you will remember the process of learning what you learned more than the date you memorized for your history test. I could lecture you about the wonderful composed Ludwig van Beethoven but how about instead of putting up meaningless pictures of a man and playing snip-its of his music we create our own music based on the themes we are hearing in his?! That's the classroom I want to be in. One that lets me explore. That's the teacher I want to be. One that can provide moments for my students to create their own learning, make their own meaning, ask their own questions. 

So why shouldn't the physical classroom have this same feel? Shouldn't a classroom also reflect the beliefs of a teacher? If I want my students to explore and create their own learning experiences, it only makes sense that my physical classroom reflects that. 

Hmmm... my dream classroom. I cannot even begin to explain how many times my mind has wandered off to this perfect classroom filled with all the books of every genre, comfy couches and chairs for reading, technology from iPads to SMART boards to laptops, desks arranged in unique formations, kidney tables, and crayons and markers of every color! And the room... it will be colorful! But not overwhelming. Seasonal or thematic presentations created by myself and the work of my students will cover the walls. Along with my trusty anchor charts and other helpful posters we create. Yes, I have briefly considered my future classroom. ;) I can guarantee my other fellow future teachers have done the same. (Pinterest!) 

What I have begun to realize is that the classroom is not only a reflection of the teacher, it is also a reflection the teachers personal philosophies of teaching. With that in mind, I need to stop focusing on which color scheme I will use for the spring months of school and focus on what tools and resources I will have around the classroom that encourage exploration. I want my students to be able to ask questions and look around and find something to help them find their answer or further explore. I do not want my classroom to limit the learning my students are choosing to do. Yes, I do want my classroom to be attractive to an extent. But what I want more than that is for my classroom to be the personal lab for my students and myself. In this lab we will find answers, ask questions, create things and do so much more. This room should exciting! It should be empowering for the learner! 

As Mark Twain stated, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do." I cannot let me students get away from my classroom with feeling like they had questions unanswered and thoughts not expressed. While they are young it is so important they can explore and find their passions. 

So here are my final thoughts on my physical classroom design. No, I do not know what it will actually look like. Realistically that will come down to budget, supplies, and school rules. But the design is all external, the items that fill the classroom are what will make this 'exploration classroom' come to life. I think what I want to do is study my students, the curriculum, and their interests and figure out what they will need to feel as if they are in control of their learning and ready to explore. I will not limit their minds to what I wrote in my curriculum. I will try my best and give them the physical tools and mental tools to explore. I can only hope THIS dream classroom will one day be a reality. 

"Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one." -Eleanor Roosevelt

One of the most difficult things to do is to act on your beliefs. It is so much easier to verbally state something you believe, but to truly act on it is what makes having beliefs worth it. In the world of teaching I personally believe that acting on your beliefs can be extra difficult because of all the rules that surround education. In order to get by as a teacher you are expected to uphold certain standards such as high achieving test scores, mandatory curriculum, specific teaching tools to use... the list continues! I find it a little upsetting that we trust these men and women to be in the classroom and educate the future of our country, yet often times they get such little say in the way something will be taught or what will be taught. This harsh reality is exactly why I believe future teachers should live up to the words of Eleanor Roosevelt and truly be an individual! As the teacher, you hopefully are always putting your students first, don't be afraid to constantly act on that no matter what scolding you might receive. After all, who else will know your students better than yourself? Surely not those textbook companies that tell you how to teach a specific unit.

Now, I would like to share a few of my own personal teaching beliefs I have as of today. As a future teacher, I believe...

1. A teacher should do their best to incorporate their students interests into curriculum. When students are learning about something that matters to them, they will be more likely to want to learn. This can be as simple as including football in your math problems because you know Johnny would rather count footballs than numbers. You could also do a science unit about birds and other flying species because your class seems to all be hooked onto this game 'Flappy Bird'.
2. All students CAN learn, teaching is about finding what works for each of your students. Teaching is not a 'one size fits all' kind of gig. Not every form of assessment, activity, or subject will be perfect for all of your students. Each student will have many moments where they are proving to be successful in that unit or lesson. As a teacher it will be important to find those moments, highlight them, and see what you can do to make that happen again.
3. Exploration is so important to the learning process. Here we have a prime example from the one and only 'Bloom's Taxonomy'. Benjamin Bloom created learning objectives, these objectives are three domains that promote higher learning. It is an expectation that teachers use all of these domains. The domains are cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. It seems much more simple to use the cognitive and affective domains because those come decently naturally in school (you need to think and you are probably feeling something about what you are thinking about). Psychomotor can not be left out! Let students explore, use their hands, do things! Learning should be hands on! Experiences we physically have are much more memorable then the lecture we listened to. Not only does this make learning exciting but it promotes students to have experiences and ask more questions and find more answers.
4. Teachers should help students find a passion for learning. Not every students will love being in school but the least a teacher can do for their students is to help them find something they truly do love. The world is full of endless amounts of teaching opportunities. How about we help students find something they can't get enough of? How exciting would that classroom be? It would be great to watch a student find a passion for science because of a unit you did about the life cycle of a flower. Or to have a student realize history is beyond the textbook, people can still go outside and find artifacts and fossils... let them go find those fossils! Let them explore what makes them happy, excited, and motivated to continue to learn within that subject. Give students a reason to want to come to school to learn.
5. Students are individuals and should be treated as such. Again, this is similar to belief number two. It is so important to realize you have a classroom of students not just a classroom. Each student deserves time to feel important and wanted in their classroom. I believe the classroom experience can be that much more meaningful if a teacher takes the time to get to know their students outside of what they do during the school day. What do they like to do while they are not in your classroom? This is who they really are, take the time to figure that out.

I'll admit after I wrote this list, I read through it a few times. "Wow!" I thought to myself. "Now I'm feeling really empowered to teach and give my future students the absolute best, which is what they deserve." After letting my excitement sink in I changed my thoughts to ideas such as, "Can I really do this?" "Will my district be okay with my quest to have my classroom be based around my students and not the curriculum that needs to be taught?" My list of beliefs is nothing too radical. In fact, I'd like to think that most teachers have similar beliefs to mine. But if that was the case then I ask, "Why do we have teachers who seem to have overstayed their welcome in the teaching profession? Why do teachers sit back and let the districts run them down? Why don't all teachers stand up for themselves? Why do teachers give up on their students? Why do some teachers just stop caring?"

The answer is right in front of me. It will always be in front of me. Like any profession, there are rules to abide by and those rules can run us down and lead to a quick burnout. Our students need to be taught certain content and need to achieve specific levels of understanding by standards decided by higher powers.  It's funny how the people working directly with the students (the teachers) do not really get to be the ultimate decision maker of if their students have really achieved learning. Today, we let the test scores speak for the teachers and the students. Not the experiences being had in the classroom, the progress a student is making, the relationship the teacher has formed with the student... the test scores speak for everything.

Now, I am not saying teachers are 100% run down by the rest of the world. Teachers do get to create the classroom environment, teach lessons they want to teach for the sake of their students, and create exciting learning experiences for the students but in reality all of that fun is backed with the question of, "Will the ultimate judge of my students prove them and myself to be viewed as successful?"

So there we have it, acting on my beliefs will most likely be much more difficult than I expected. And you know what... I'm not afraid of that. Teaching is not supposed to be easy, life really is not supposed to be easy. For now, I have decided that all I can do is my best and support my students in any way that I can. I will stick to my beliefs and act on them as best as I can. I will be an individual because I can be; no one will be able to take away from me.

"Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!" -Dr. Seuss

I am pretty sure this Dr. Seuss quote explains exactly what I am going to try and do on this blog. I'm simply going to try and think. I want this blog to be a space where I can express myself in my own words about what I've been thinking. After three semesters in the college of education, I sure have done A LOT of thinking. 

I think about standardized tests and how much I don't like them. I think about the best children's literature books I have discovered in the Iowa City Public Library. I think about all the fun little decorations I want to have in my future classroom to make it an exciting place for learning. I think about the teacher I want to become and the experiences I want my students to have in my classroom. Every single day my mind seems to wander off to thinking about education in some way. I know this blog will be the perfect place for me to finally get my ideas out of my head. 

I am very excited about the experience I am about to have with the world of blogging!