Well, I think we can safely say that this video is nothing new if you read Beers. When teaching, make connections by building on what students already know or have experience with is what I took away from this. Relate the students to the material you are teaching. They mentioned Gardner and teaching to all different types of learning, which the first grade teacher demonstrated thoroughly by having students write, draw, and present. So, if anything, I think when you are working backward on unit plans, another question to include is "How am I going to relate this to students? What do they already know?" And constantly asking questions that don't call for one word answers is key to getting kids to explain their reasoning behind why they did something a certain way.
Cindy Gilliam, the math teacher, caught my attention by pulling what the students already know out of them. I see her as a firm believer in “no opt out” and "stretch it" because the students know that the questions that she asks them will not go away,she will not give them the answer and she keeps drawing from their intial answer to have the students answer more completely.This keeps the cognitive process of learning functioning at high levels because the students know the questions have to be answered in a complete manner, so they are constantly thinking and reasoning about their answers. I like how she has the students go to the board to answer questions and provide reasoning for the answer. If the student couldn’t answer the question, the student in the class could help answer the question. The other students had to think along with the student at the board because they wanted to be able to help their classmate out if he or she needed it. Gilliam’s style of teaching really had the cognitive aspects of learning, processing at a rapid speed and she was building classroom community. Gilliam used the students’ prior knowledge as a starting point in her teaching. Gilliam takes real life situations and puts the scenarios in to math problems and has the students thinking in real life terms, while they are learning the math concepts of graphing. The brain is processing the information quicker because the students are able relate to the material.
I was surprised and delighted with Sandra’s teaching methods for math. By relating equations and graphing to practical and historical problems (hooked with a story about the Oregon Trail) made the learning accessible and relevant to the student’s lives. I noticed she read aloud first like Wilhelm and explained everything as she went along like Beers and Atwell. She also upped the ratio by requiring students to present and explain problems to the class with think-aloud and no-opt-out. I was jealous—we never learned math like this in my schools, if we had I might have understood and liked it more. I lost track of how many skills she was integrating: Writing, critical thinking, brainstorming, metacognition via think-alouds, public speaking, justifying conclusions, self-esteem building, math, graphing, literacy, attention, interpretation of visual representations of math (ie. how to read a graph and decide if the information is manipulated or not), and practical trip-planning for their own lives. I’m sure there were more. I wish I had her math class as a kid. What was your favorite activity from Sandra’s class first as a student and then as a teacher. Why?
This video reinstated many things we have read and talked about in class. What I pulled away from the video was how important it is to teach to different types of learners and multiple intelligences. I appreciated the how many classroom examples that helped me visualize how teachers teach to various types of students.
I personally loved the first teacher, Faye McClaine's (hope I spelled that right), teaching strategies because she utilized all three different learning types, the visual, auditory, and hands-on. Not that all of the other teachers didn't do that, but her activity caught my eye the most. I really liked how she not only gave the students secondary knowledge through the pictures (which I had never thought of pictures as secondary knowledge, so that was certainly eye-opening), but she had these students make assumptions gathered on what they knew already based on the pictures. I also thought her picture book idea was a great performance task and great way to assess students, and how if a student didn't feel comfortable drawing they could write about their findings instead. It was very versatile.
I agree with Brittany though, this video pretty much talks about everything that Beers talks about. Engaging kids, hooking them into the project, and having them build upon what they already know and be able to relate everything they learn to their own lives.
So how would you help students relate to their knowledge? Would you take the approach that Sandra took or Faye?
This was all familiar from all of the different texts we have already read, from discussing multiple intelligences to the importance of frontloading connections and mining for prior knowledge. I thought the point of scanning students not only for what they know, but for what they know wrong, is a point well taken, given our knowledge of how difficult it is to unlearn something once you learn it the wrong way. The need to write down/display as well as speak aloud for the different types of learners at this point seems obvious given our exposure to the concept.
Note: Props to the kids in the Dead Kennedys shirt. Yayuh!
I agree that so much of what we have learned in the past few months has been demonstrated on this video.
I was struck by the idea that both Sandie and Fe liked to discuss things as a large group and then have things become more individualized. Sandie's words that she wanted her students to be able to translate what they were doing in her class to other classes were ver inspiring.
As an English teacher can you think of a project like Sandie's Oregon trail that would connect students to multiple subjects?
Multiple intelligences definitely came into play in both Fe MacLean's and Sandie Gilliam's classrooms. They catered their lessons to a broad array of learning styles. One of the activities that I especially liked was Fe's pop-up books. While I realize that the pop-up books would be more of a younger ages project, I would like to think that something similar could be used for older ages that could help them to retain what they have learned. Any ideas?
Katie mentioned that both Fe and Sandie like to discuss a topic first as a class and then focus on it individually. In both of these instances they create opportunities for visual learning. Fe uses a clipboard to brainstorm with the class. This gives the class a visual conception of their notes that can be saved on the wall for reference later. I would even go as far as saying it is more effective than writing on the white board because it models good note taking. Whereas, if the notes were written on the white board it would have felt like it was indicative of instruction.
What are some other ways to help visual learners during class discussion?
This video cemented many of the ideas that we have discussed previously. Each student's cognitive processing is different. Therefore as teachers we must identify and cater to the multiple intelligences that exist in our classroom. Although the video was largely review, it reminded me of one of the many reasons that I chose to teach English. The fact of varying cognitive processes is challenging in a classroom environment. However, it is this presence that allows for creativity. As teachers we create creative approaches to effectively reach each of our students. As students it means diversity in the classroom. Varying cognitive processes and multiple intelligences mean there is no such thing as a boring day at school.
the math teacher did a fantastic job at making the math class mean something relevant in the student's lives. I love love love the math problems about the westward movement of settlers. My question is, wouldn't having to keep all of these different facts, and stories straight all the time distract from the math? I had a hard enough time just getting through math class. If I'd had to do half of the in depth thinking that these kids had to, I would have never made it!! Do you guys think that the ways that the teacher tries to incorporate historical facts and stories into math would distract the students?
Nick is right! It has to be one of the most important jobs we have is to deal with common misconceptions about literature, life, math, science, what have you. I wonder how many misconceptions I ended up with because teacher didn't seem to pay much attention to that. Having said that my teachers are responsible for getting me here. For that, I'm eternally grateful! I wonder how many of them were reinforcing misconceptions? Maybe they own misconceptions were being reinforced by their teachers.
I agree with others that a lot of the information on this video relates to learning styles and why it is important to incorporate different type of information to accommodate different learning styles. I found the math teacher’s approach to algebraic variables and graphing particularly interesting. I thought it was very creative to use a “prior knowledge” approach by including information from another subject. In math, we usually only think about knowledge that we gained in previous math classes, but this technique is great way to help students use math for everyday problems, and relate it to other subjects.
I am curious to see if these techniques will be useful in the classrooms we are about to go in. I really liked the way they went in depth of explaining all the different ways students grasp and process what they hear during class. It was a little like when we drew while we were note taking whenever they talked about the museum trip and still writing and talking about it. I agree that reinforcement is so important and we shouldn't just give them the information and expect they will all comprehend it by seeing it on the board or taking notes.
Amber I agree, it is hard to remember first learning the basics of math that we used to build on throughout every other class. But, I can understand that they would be more likely to understand something new if they were able to compare or relate it to their past skills they have mastered.
In response to Wes: I don't know how helpful the idea of note taking through pictures would be for the younger kids, but I enjoyed it when we did it in class and I remember more about that lesson now than I remember of any of the other lessons. I also think guided imagery power points are helpful. Even just a few slides for each lesson could be beneficial for visual learners. After completing a daily lesson, it could be helpful to give students the opportunity to draw some pictures or teach someone about what they learned so that they are reinforcing what they learned in a way that is comfortable to them.
In response to Danielle: I think the inclusion of important facts from other disciplines would probably help rather than hinder, although I suppose it depends on the age of students. I think it would probably be beneficial to instill the necessity of making connections among classes as early as humanly possible. I think you can gauge whether or not they are getting the material, but if they can draw the connections, more power to them. I am coming from a high school perspectives and can't really speak on younger kids, but I know that, for instance, history and English courses aid one another (American Lit was definitely made better with the knowledge of my AP US History course, for example).
I think writing childrens' books would be a great way to get struggling writers to write. They could then turn those into pop-up books for a niece or nephew, etc. They could use cut outs from magazines if they didn't feel they were good enough artists. I looked up making pop-up books on-line and saw there were lots of good videos on youtube. I think a trick would be getting them to do the writing in class and the art at home.
I completely agree about using children's books as a way to help struggling writers. There was an English class in my high school where the students had to write their own mythology children's book and it opened up a whole new idea of writing for a lot of them. I liked the pop-up idea for those who didn't or couldn't illustrate their own book, but I think that when writing, sometimes the best writers have to start back at the basics. I actually hope to have a lesson plan one day where the performance task is to write a children's book about what our unit focused on.
To Nick. I also think the idea of correcting "prior conceptions" is extremely important. Each of the teachers said something to the effect of "I want to hear how they process." In this context the teachers are searching for prior conceptions regarding processing, not just prior conceptions about individual facts. I think that this is a phenomenal development and I wish more of my teachers had taken it into consideration during my K-12 experience. Imagine how valuable it is to discover and correct a student's flawed processing concept.
Fe Maclean has been really impressive in the two videos we've watched so far. She says that she starts every topic with a question and establishes that as a habit for her students. She says she wants them to not think of them as "problems," rather as questions to be answered. I think that is very important because I feel like a lot of students consider school as a place where they solve problems and that's really not the case. Maclean reinforces the idea of constructing knowledge by pushing students to find answers. I also liked the fact that she has her students write or draw about what they've learned. Then, they have to explain it. It is a great way to get students to visualize and articulate their knowledge. I forget who said this, but there's a quote that goes "If you can't explain it simply, then you don't understand it fully." Maybe Einstein? Kid Cudi? But I think all of these teachers do a great job of having their students explain their process of learning by explaining how they did things. I think that is really one of the key components to comprehension.
We've read in other reading that making connections is important, and I still agree and think that it is really important. It helps when the students can connect what they're learning to prior knowledge or see how it applies to their life. The 9th and 10th grade teacher did a really great job of this -- using historical contexts and incorporating them into her lesson: talking about the Oregon trail then using that piece of history to teach variables in a math class. The diagrams she asked students to do on the board seemed very helpful as she asked them questions that got them to reflect deeply on what they were doing -- she didn't ask questions that required a one-word answer but instead questions that required they essentially think out loud so that the teacher then knows how they are processing information.
I agree with what Erin said about the creativity that can be incorporated in the classroom being one of the many reasons that she chose to teach English. I agree with her in that it is one of the reasons I chose it as well. Although, as she said, varying cognitive processes can be challenging at times, it is what allows room for creativity.
Danielle, in response to your question of whether or not the non-math part of the math class would be distracting from the actual math part, I would have to answer as a non-math person: of course it would (for me), but a distraction from math is/was always welcomed by me! (hehe)
I agree with Allison and Erin that creativity is something that is very important when teaching and trying to keep students engaged. Maybe I’m bias, but I think English is a subject that allows us to be more flexible and creative in the classroom because unlike an algebra problem, there are usually many different correct answers to the questions asked in English and Literature. When we ask student’s to use their prior knowledge and offer them visual aids, not only will we be able to help students better understand something like vocabulary, but we can help them relate the new material they’ve learned to their everyday life.
I really like the idea of the pop-up book.Different students can use different things to make illustrations for their own work. An idea that came to me was using photographs. Also at this point most high school students are great at editing and changing pictures through software on their computers. Even if they are not pop up books having students illustrate their work would be awesome. In asking them to create a visual they will have to check and see that they put in enough of a description of a character in their work to form an illustration.
Let me respond to my own post first, I see that I gave the math lady a new name. Her name should be Sandie not Cindie. In response to Lorien, I am also jealous of the way that Gilliam teaches or taught her math classes. It would have made Math so much interesting for me if I had been taught like this. I was always descent in Math but it was so boring, except when we did word problems because it put numbers into something that the average student could relate to. Gilliam does an excellent job to take numbers on a page and relate them to her students. I think my favorite activity was when the students would go to the board and answer a question and had to answer the question or could have the class help them, so “no opt out” was one of my favorite. I like this as a student, but more as teacher because I like to see the students reasoning behind answering questions. The info is in the brain of lots of students, someone just has to keep pulling it out until the answer is complete. The practical trip planning was great also.
I loved when Kris spoke about students translating what they learn in one class into other classes. I remember in high school that while we learned about the Civil War in History class, we were also reading literature from that time period in English class at the same time. As students, we individualize each class and limit our understandings to that one subject because we would become overwhelmed otherwise. The way Dr. Alby teaches our separate classes as essentially one class helps us translate our understandings and combine them because we essentially are not knowledgable of the separation.
Danielle, I love the idea of incorporating other disciplines into math class. I vaguely remember being able to relate to other classes because I was introduced (briefly) to the material in a word problem or something of the like. I believe it is a great way to keep kids in the know and to introduce them to something that could possibly be complicated when they learn it in the future.
Marina, in response to your last post. I also enjoy classes that link content areas and lessons. I feel this cements the information in the students' minds and reinforces their understandings because they have to apply what they learn to each class. Perhaps if more classes scaffolded similar content/ concepts students would learn more and remember longer. I know when my college history courses were similar to my English lit classes or even similar between themselves I learned more, made stronger connections between concepts and remembered longer than I would have had the content been completely unrelated.
Well, I think we can safely say that this video is nothing new if you read Beers. When teaching, make connections by building on what students already know or have experience with is what I took away from this. Relate the students to the material you are teaching. They mentioned Gardner and teaching to all different types of learning, which the first grade teacher demonstrated thoroughly by having students write, draw, and present. So, if anything, I think when you are working backward on unit plans, another question to include is "How am I going to relate this to students? What do they already know?" And constantly asking questions that don't call for one word answers is key to getting kids to explain their reasoning behind why they did something a certain way.
ReplyDeleteCindy Gilliam, the math teacher, caught my attention by pulling what the students already know out of them. I see her as a firm believer in “no opt out” and "stretch it" because the students know that the questions that she asks them will not go away,she will not give them the answer and she keeps drawing from their intial answer to have the students answer more completely.This keeps the cognitive process of learning functioning at high levels because the students know the questions have to be answered in a complete manner, so they are constantly thinking and reasoning about their answers. I like how she has the students go to the board to answer questions and provide reasoning for the answer. If the student couldn’t answer the question, the student in the class could help answer the question. The other students had to think along with the student at the board because they wanted to be able to help their classmate out if he or she needed it. Gilliam’s style of teaching really had the cognitive aspects of learning, processing at a rapid speed and she was building classroom community. Gilliam used the students’ prior knowledge as a starting point in her teaching. Gilliam takes real life situations and puts the scenarios in to math problems and has the students thinking in real life terms, while they are learning the math concepts of graphing. The brain is processing the information quicker because the students are able relate to the material.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised and delighted with Sandra’s teaching methods for math. By relating equations and graphing to practical and historical problems (hooked with a story about the Oregon Trail) made the learning accessible and relevant to the student’s lives. I noticed she read aloud first like Wilhelm and explained everything as she went along like Beers and Atwell. She also upped the ratio by requiring students to present and explain problems to the class with think-aloud and no-opt-out. I was jealous—we never learned math like this in my schools, if we had I might have understood and liked it more.
ReplyDeleteI lost track of how many skills she was integrating:
Writing, critical thinking, brainstorming, metacognition via think-alouds, public speaking, justifying conclusions, self-esteem building, math, graphing, literacy, attention, interpretation of visual representations of math (ie. how to read a graph and decide if the information is manipulated or not), and practical trip-planning for their own lives. I’m sure there were more. I wish I had her math class as a kid.
What was your favorite activity from Sandra’s class first as a student and then as a teacher. Why?
This video reinstated many things we have read and talked about in class. What I pulled away from the video was how important it is to teach to different types of learners and multiple intelligences. I appreciated the how many classroom examples that helped me visualize how teachers teach to various types of students.
ReplyDeleteI personally loved the first teacher, Faye McClaine's (hope I spelled that right), teaching strategies because she utilized all three different learning types, the visual, auditory, and hands-on. Not that all of the other teachers didn't do that, but her activity caught my eye the most. I really liked how she not only gave the students secondary knowledge through the pictures (which I had never thought of pictures as secondary knowledge, so that was certainly eye-opening), but she had these students make assumptions gathered on what they knew already based on the pictures. I also thought her picture book idea was a great performance task and great way to assess students, and how if a student didn't feel comfortable drawing they could write about their findings instead. It was very versatile.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brittany though, this video pretty much talks about everything that Beers talks about. Engaging kids, hooking them into the project, and having them build upon what they already know and be able to relate everything they learn to their own lives.
So how would you help students relate to their knowledge? Would you take the approach that Sandra took or Faye?
This was all familiar from all of the different texts we have already read, from discussing multiple intelligences to the importance of frontloading connections and mining for prior knowledge. I thought the point of scanning students not only for what they know, but for what they know wrong, is a point well taken, given our knowledge of how difficult it is to unlearn something once you learn it the wrong way. The need to write down/display as well as speak aloud for the different types of learners at this point seems obvious given our exposure to the concept.
ReplyDeleteNote: Props to the kids in the Dead Kennedys shirt. Yayuh!
I agree that so much of what we have learned in the past few months has been demonstrated on this video.
ReplyDeleteI was struck by the idea that both Sandie and Fe liked to discuss things as a large group and then have things become more individualized. Sandie's words that she wanted her students to be able to translate what they were doing in her class to other classes were ver inspiring.
As an English teacher can you think of a project like Sandie's Oregon trail that would connect students to multiple subjects?
Multiple intelligences definitely came into play in both Fe MacLean's and Sandie Gilliam's classrooms. They catered their lessons to a broad array of learning styles. One of the activities that I especially liked was Fe's pop-up books. While I realize that the pop-up books would be more of a younger ages project, I would like to think that something similar could be used for older ages that could help them to retain what they have learned. Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteKatie mentioned that both Fe and Sandie like to discuss a topic first as a class and then focus on it individually. In both of these instances they create opportunities for visual learning. Fe uses a clipboard to brainstorm with the class. This gives the class a visual conception of their notes that can be saved on the wall for reference later. I would even go as far as saying it is more effective than writing on the white board because it models good note taking. Whereas, if the notes were written on the white board it would have felt like it was indicative of instruction.
ReplyDeleteWhat are some other ways to help visual learners during class discussion?
Andrew, I think a pop-up book is cool enough for any age. In fact, I'm going to make one today just for fun.
ReplyDeleteThis video cemented many of the ideas that we have discussed previously. Each student's cognitive processing is different. Therefore as teachers we must identify and cater to the multiple intelligences that exist in our classroom. Although the video was largely review, it reminded me of one of the many reasons that I chose to teach English. The fact of varying cognitive processes is challenging in a classroom environment. However, it is this presence that allows for creativity. As teachers we create creative approaches to effectively reach each of our students. As students it means diversity in the classroom. Varying cognitive processes and multiple intelligences mean there is no such thing as a boring day at school.
ReplyDeletethe math teacher did a fantastic job at making the math class mean something relevant in the student's lives. I love love love the math problems about the westward movement of settlers. My question is, wouldn't having to keep all of these different facts, and stories straight all the time distract from the math? I had a hard enough time just getting through math class. If I'd had to do half of the in depth thinking that these kids had to, I would have never made it!! Do you guys think that the ways that the teacher tries to incorporate historical facts and stories into math would distract the students?
ReplyDeleteNick is right! It has to be one of the most important jobs we have is to deal with common misconceptions about literature, life, math, science, what have you. I wonder how many misconceptions I ended up with because teacher didn't seem to pay much attention to that. Having said that my teachers are responsible for getting me here. For that, I'm eternally grateful! I wonder how many of them were reinforcing misconceptions? Maybe they own misconceptions were being reinforced by their teachers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with others that a lot of the information on this video relates to learning styles and why it is important to incorporate different type of information to accommodate different learning styles. I found the math teacher’s approach to algebraic variables and graphing particularly interesting. I thought it was very creative to use a “prior knowledge” approach by including information from another subject. In math, we usually only think about knowledge that we gained in previous math classes, but this technique is great way to help students use math for everyday problems, and relate it to other subjects.
ReplyDeleteI am curious to see if these techniques will be useful in the classrooms we are about to go in. I really liked the way they went in depth of explaining all the different ways students grasp and process what they hear during class. It was a little like when we drew while we were note taking whenever they talked about the museum trip and still writing and talking about it. I agree that reinforcement is so important and we shouldn't just give them the information and expect they will all comprehend it by seeing it on the board or taking notes.
ReplyDeleteAmber I agree, it is hard to remember first learning the basics of math that we used to build on throughout every other class. But, I can understand that they would be more likely to understand something new if they were able to compare or relate it to their past skills they have mastered.
In response to Wes: I don't know how helpful the idea of note taking through pictures would be for the younger kids, but I enjoyed it when we did it in class and I remember more about that lesson now than I remember of any of the other lessons. I also think guided imagery power points are helpful. Even just a few slides for each lesson could be beneficial for visual learners. After completing a daily lesson, it could be helpful to give students the opportunity to draw some pictures or teach someone about what they learned so that they are reinforcing what they learned in a way that is comfortable to them.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Danielle: I think the inclusion of important facts from other disciplines would probably help rather than hinder, although I suppose it depends on the age of students. I think it would probably be beneficial to instill the necessity of making connections among classes as early as humanly possible. I think you can gauge whether or not they are getting the material, but if they can draw the connections, more power to them. I am coming from a high school perspectives and can't really speak on younger kids, but I know that, for instance, history and English courses aid one another (American Lit was definitely made better with the knowledge of my AP US History course, for example).
ReplyDeleteI think writing childrens' books would be a great way to get struggling writers to write. They could then turn those into pop-up books for a niece or nephew, etc. They could use cut outs from magazines if they didn't feel they were good enough artists. I looked up making pop-up books on-line and saw there were lots of good videos on youtube. I think a trick would be getting them to do the writing in class and the art at home.
ReplyDeleteCynthia,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree about using children's books as a way to help struggling writers. There was an English class in my high school where the students had to write their own mythology children's book and it opened up a whole new idea of writing for a lot of them. I liked the pop-up idea for those who didn't or couldn't illustrate their own book, but I think that when writing, sometimes the best writers have to start back at the basics. I actually hope to have a lesson plan one day where the performance task is to write a children's book about what our unit focused on.
To Nick. I also think the idea of correcting "prior conceptions" is extremely important. Each of the teachers said something to the effect of "I want to hear how they process." In this context the teachers are searching for prior conceptions regarding processing, not just prior conceptions about individual facts. I think that this is a phenomenal development and I wish more of my teachers had taken it into consideration during my K-12 experience. Imagine how valuable it is to discover and correct a student's flawed processing concept.
ReplyDeleteFe Maclean has been really impressive in the two videos we've watched so far. She says that she starts every topic with a question and establishes that as a habit for her students. She says she wants them to not think of them as "problems," rather as questions to be answered. I think that is very important because I feel like a lot of students consider school as a place where they solve problems and that's really not the case. Maclean reinforces the idea of constructing knowledge by pushing students to find answers. I also liked the fact that she has her students write or draw about what they've learned. Then, they have to explain it. It is a great way to get students to visualize and articulate their knowledge. I forget who said this, but there's a quote that goes "If you can't explain it simply, then you don't understand it fully." Maybe Einstein? Kid Cudi? But I think all of these teachers do a great job of having their students explain their process of learning by explaining how they did things. I think that is really one of the key components to comprehension.
ReplyDeleteWe've read in other reading that making connections is important, and I still agree and think that it is really important. It helps when the students can connect what they're learning to prior knowledge or see how it applies to their life. The 9th and 10th grade teacher did a really great job of this -- using historical contexts and incorporating them into her lesson: talking about the Oregon trail then using that piece of history to teach variables in a math class. The diagrams she asked students to do on the board seemed very helpful as she asked them questions that got them to reflect deeply on what they were doing -- she didn't ask questions that required a one-word answer but instead questions that required they essentially think out loud so that the teacher then knows how they are processing information.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Erin said about the creativity that can be incorporated in the classroom being one of the many reasons that she chose to teach English. I agree with her in that it is one of the reasons I chose it as well. Although, as she said, varying cognitive processes can be challenging at times, it is what allows room for creativity.
ReplyDeleteDanielle, in response to your question of whether or not the non-math part of the math class would be distracting from the actual math part, I would have to answer as a non-math person: of course it would (for me), but a distraction from math is/was always welcomed by me! (hehe)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Allison and Erin that creativity is something that is very important when teaching and trying to keep students engaged. Maybe I’m bias, but I think English is a subject that allows us to be more flexible and creative in the classroom because unlike an algebra problem, there are usually many different correct answers to the questions asked in English and Literature. When we ask student’s to use their prior knowledge and offer them visual aids, not only will we be able to help students better understand something like vocabulary, but we can help them relate the new material they’ve learned to their everyday life.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Andrew and Wes and Cynthia
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of the pop-up book.Different students can use different things to make illustrations for their own work. An idea that came to me was using photographs. Also at this point most high school students are great at editing and changing pictures through software on their computers. Even if they are not pop up books having students illustrate their work would be awesome. In asking them to create a visual they will have to check and see that they put in enough of a description of a character in their work to form an illustration.
Let me respond to my own post first, I see that I gave the math lady a new name. Her name should be Sandie not Cindie. In response to Lorien, I am also jealous of the way that Gilliam teaches or taught her math classes. It would have made Math so much interesting for me if I had been taught like this. I was always descent in Math but it was so boring, except when we did word problems because it put numbers into something that the average student could relate to. Gilliam does an excellent job to take numbers on a page and relate them to her students. I think my favorite activity was when the students would go to the board and answer a question and had to answer the question or could have the class help them, so “no opt out” was one of my favorite. I like this as a student, but more as teacher because I like to see the students reasoning behind answering questions. The info is in the brain of lots of students, someone just has to keep pulling it out until the answer is complete. The practical trip planning was great also.
ReplyDeleteI loved when Kris spoke about students translating what they learn in one class into other classes. I remember in high school that while we learned about the Civil War in History class, we were also reading literature from that time period in English class at the same time. As students, we individualize each class and limit our understandings to that one subject because we would become overwhelmed otherwise. The way Dr. Alby teaches our separate classes as essentially one class helps us translate our understandings and combine them because we essentially are not knowledgable of the separation.
ReplyDeleteDanielle, I love the idea of incorporating other disciplines into math class. I vaguely remember being able to relate to other classes because I was introduced (briefly) to the material in a word problem or something of the like. I believe it is a great way to keep kids in the know and to introduce them to something that could possibly be complicated when they learn it in the future.
ReplyDeleteMarina, in response to your last post. I also enjoy classes that link content areas and lessons. I feel this cements the information in the students' minds and reinforces their understandings because they have to apply what they learn to each class. Perhaps if more classes scaffolded similar content/ concepts students would learn more and remember longer. I know when my college history courses were similar to my English lit classes or even similar between themselves I learned more, made stronger connections between concepts and remembered longer than I would have had the content been completely unrelated.
ReplyDelete