- Year 2023
- NSF Noyce Award # 1950129
- First Name Nathan
- Last Name Sendgikoski
- Institution University of Arizona; Rio Rico High School
- Role/Position Master Teacher Fellow
- Workshop Category Track 3: Master Teaching Fellowships
- Workshop Disciplines Audience STEM Education (general)
- Target Audience Noyce Master Teachers, Noyce Teaching Fellows, Undergraduate and/or Graduate Noyce Scholars
- Topics Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
- Session Length 75 minutes minutes
Goals
Participants will curate a toolbox of strategies to build community in the classroom and connect the larger community with the classroom, proven strategies that foster student ownership of their learning.
Evidence
The session will be based on research done on learning communities by Columbia University and research on equitable grading practices by Joe Feldman. Interviews of Master teachers were conducted. Students were polled and interviewed to determine if there was a need to adopt the practices discussed in this session, and the efficacy of those practices after they were implemented.
Proposal
Students come into many classrooms across the nation with an ever widening range of skills and knowledge. This is a challenge for even the most experienced teacher, let alone a new teacher, or a veteran teacher new to the school. Researchers, master teachers, and even students say that creating learning communities within the classroom and connecting the classroom with the community at large is key to solving this dilemma. What does current pedagogical research say about this issue? What strategies do master teachers advise? Do students find them effective? In this session, we will unpack a variety of research-based strategies that increase engagement and provide support to learners through building learning communities. We will discuss how these methods increase academic risk taking, critical thinking, and student engagement. These methods are rooted in research on building learning communities from Columbia University and equitable teaching practices from Joe Feldman. We will glimpse into the mindset of master teachers and their approach to building learning communities. We will also see the feedback taken directly from students on these strategies in order to gauge their efficacy.
