Questions?? Chapter 5

I think chapter five was extremely relatable.  I can relate to sitting in the classroom and wondering if the teacher would call on me to answer a question.  Other times, I remember keeping my hand raised for a while hoping the teacher would call on me to clarify a question I needed answering.  Then there are always the questions that you do not even bother answering because you know someone else will before you anyways.  Overall, questioning can be helpful and sometimes intimidating. 

            In this chapter, it focuses on the benefits of using questioning strategies in the classroom to help make students become independent learners.  Higher order thinking questions are essential to creating independent learners.  It is necessary that teachers are prepared to ask these types of questions to engage students in HOT and prepare them for the real world.  It is important to teach students how to think outside the box.  Using strategies like SQ3R, questioning the author, and ReQuest are great ways to do so in the elementary classroom.  I definitely plan to incorporate HOT questions and strategies in my future classroom to benefit my students. 

What are the best ways to promote HOT in a middle/high school classroom?

How would a teacher assess HOT questions accurately?

Note Taking vs. Note Making

                As a student, I am very organized and structured when it comes to class work and studying.  Taking notes is the key to succeeding and I have always believed this to be true.  Yet, I have never thought of note taking as a skill that can be taught.  According to chapter 7, teaching students why their notes can be useful to them later on is important so that they will not see it as a waste of time.  I guess this was just interesting to me because I have always seen “taking notes” as important and useful but it is idea to remember that not all students think the same way.  As a teacher, I can do my part in assisting the students in taking and using good notes effectively.  Teachers should set their lessons up in an organized way that allows students to create notes. 

            In all my years of taking notes in class, I never knew there was a difference in note taking and note making.  Note taking refers to students’ written notes from a lecture or class discussion and note making refers to recording notes from printed materials.  While both improve comprehension and retention of material, they have their differences.  Note taking can be effective in all subjects across the curriculum.  It is important to teach students how to set up their notes in an organized way that will be easy to refer back to.  It is the responsibility of the teacher to demonstrate the most effective way to take notes in each subject area and remind them to do so each time.

            Looking back on my days in high school, I can remember my teachers using a lot of blank graphic organizers for us to take notes on during lectures or videos.  I am pleased to say that I was always an effective note taker and I still depend on taking notes to succeed in class.  I plan to teach this same strategy to my students one day in hopes that they will find it as beneficial as I have. 

 

What is the best age to begin teaching students how to take notes?

Why hasn’t note taking and making been taught more frequently in the public school system if it is so beneficial?

Effects of Teacher's Real Aloud Styles

                Reading aloud can be enjoyable for any age group.  Everyone likes to be read to at some point in their lives.  Especially in elementary school, listening to stories helps children learn about relationships between words and speech.  Children’s vocabulary can be greatly improved by reading aloud.  As teachers use the read aloud strategy in their classroom to build understanding and comprehension, they pause along the way to ask questions and get their students input.  On the contrary, some children say they do not like this style of reading and would simply prefer to be read a story uninterrupted.  This is why there are different read aloud techniques.

Just reading, performance-style, and interactional approaches to a read-aloud are the different ways that teachers can read to their students.  Each situation varies and some teachers prefer to do so different ways.  It may depend on the purpose for reading.  If a story has a heavy plot line that needs to be followed, then just reading is the style to go with so that the students are not constantly stopped and lose sight of what is going on in the story. 

In the end, interactional and performance style read aloud approaches were found to be more effective when it comes to vocabulary acquisition.  This is evident because there is much more interaction with the teacher and students, questioning, and explaining.

Do these styles vary in high school as well or just elementary?

Why do some teacher prefer just reading over interactional and how do they choose which to use?

Read Alouds: Elementary/Middle/High School

There are many different opinions on read alouds and their focus.  A read aloud is a text or passage selected by the teacher to read publicly to a large or small group of students.  When I hear this definition I immediately think about “carpet time” in a kindergarten classroom.  This is the problem.  Narrow minded point of views about read alouds can sometimes give it a bad name when used in the middle schools or secondary content area classrooms.  Although read alouds have been shown to be effective for young children’s literacy development, they can also be used to motivate older, reluctant readers.

            The reason teacher’s ask students to read is so that they will develop a deeper understanding of a topic.  This does not always work for all students.  Some students won’t read the assigned material at all.  Reading aloud is a way to ensure that all students are exposed to the text the teacher wants them to hear/read.  It increases students’ understanding of the content and their engagement as well as the chances the student will be able to make meaningful connections between learning and their own lives.  During a study of 1,700 sixth graders, read alouds were named as one of the two most preferred reading activities in school.  Using read alouds in the middles school and secondary classrooms have positive outcomes for both motivation and learning.

            By using read alouds in the primary grades, students are exposed to many different levels of text.  Since the children are strictly listening and not following along, the complexity of the material can be raised.  This gives students an opportunity to be introduced to important texts that some students might not otherwise be able to read and comprehend independently.

            A successful read aloud takes some planning.  Previewing and practicing the text always ensures for a smoother read aloud.  Engage students by pausing to ask questions occasionally.  Encourage students to share any ideas, thoughts, or confusions they have regarding the text.  By reading aloud, students will become fully engaged in the text and will understand the content.  Read alouds are appropriate for any grade and can be used to better a student’s education in any content area.

Questions?

Are read alouds as effective in high school science/social studies classes as they are in elementary?

What is the most appropriate way to conduct a read aloud to high school students? (I would assume a picture walk and all is not necessary)

Writing to Learn vs. Learning to Write

From the perspective of a future English teacher, the difference in writing to learn and learning to write never actually occurred to me. Although there is a significant difference, it is not up to only the English teachers to implement this in their classroom. Of course learning to write is done in the English class because it is a process of steps to get to one final draft. On the other hand, writing to learn is the opportunity for students to gain a deeper understanding and allows them to reflect on their own knowledge. It creates meaning and establishes good comprehension. Writing to learn also includes three kinds of knowledge: declarative, procedural, and conditional.

I never realized how many different styles of writing to learn could be incorporated in the everyday classroom and in all content areas. Some styles that stood out to me the most were; quick writes, micro themes, famed paragraphs, admit/exit slips, and RAFT. These writing to learn styles are styles that I would include in my future classroom.

A personal connection I made with this week's reading was about using rubrics and checklists. Realistically, teachers do not have time to sit around and grade essay after essay. Grading stacks of papers does not sound very appealing. This thought can discourage a teacher from even assigning large writing projects. But thanks to rubrics and checklists, grading is much simpler and is an excellent way to address whether or not a student wrote a good paper. I plan to teach English one day so I hope to utilize using rubrics and checklists in my classroom.

 

Questions:

1. Which techniques or "Writing to Learn" styles work best with certain grade levels?

2. Does this primarily benefit the Upper Elementary grades?