Blog 6

Chapter 7:

I absolutely believe that note-taking and note-making are imperative skills to have.  However, I do not believe that this skills develop automatically.  Rather, teachers need to practice with their students repetitively and with different formats.  Throughout high school, many of my teachers actually collected our notes.  For example, my history teacher assigned cornell notes for textbook readings.  At the time, taking the notes seemed boring and redundant.  Looking back, I can say without hesitation, the notes prepared me for all of my college courses.  I am able to listen selectively and pick apart lectures and textbooks for the most valuable and important information.  I really liked the general notetaking procedures that the chapter suggested.  While looking over them, I had multiple “A-ha!” moments as I was able to recognize that I use many of the suggestions.  To name a few, I use indentations, abbreviations and skip lines to indicate a change in ideas.  It might be beneficial to have these suggestions posted in my future classroom.  

The chapter seemed to emphasize reflection.  Not only is it important to take notes, but it is key to review your notes multiple times to retain the information.  The teacher can facilitate this by starting discussions based on previous notes as exemplified in Ms. Tsai’s Social Studies class.  

One thing that I had never thought about before prior to reading the chapter is the fact that note taking provides an opportunity to, “react to controversial material privately”.   I thought that was very profound and again, this goes along with the statement that students need to reflect on their notes.  A reflection period with controversial material gives a student time to formulate appropriate questions and truly think about the content in a serious manner.  

Questions: 

1.   Does each content area have an optimum format for notes or does research suggest it’s based on a student’s preference? 

2.  It seems as though teachers can only help students with notetaking and notemaking skills through practice, self-assessment and feedback.  How often should teachers provide their students with feedback for notes? 

Blog 5

Chapter 3: 

Chapter three proposed many ways to enrich vocabulary for different content areas.  It also included multiple profound statements regarding vocabulary.  First, it stated that vocabulary heavily influences reading comprehension.  In addition, the author claimed, “teaching words in isolation exclusively” is an ineffective way to teach vocabulary.  Furthermore, as the chapter argues knowing the definition of a word is not enough.  Rather, knowing a word is understanding it’s word schema. I could not agree more with these ideas.  Dr. Hanna always talks about the diversity we will face in our future classrooms and that is pertinent to know our students.  For instance, one read-aloud lesson may include a book about the beach.  While we would assume that everyone knows beach vocabulary, some students may not have any connections, thus hindering comprehension.  For example, they may not understand what the words “tide” and “dune” mean.  It is the teacher’s responsibility to create prior knowledge for her students if it is absent.  This could include a video, a field trip or even bring in sand for the students to feel.  

The strategies suggested seem to be very useful.  I particularly liked the “shades of meaning” strategy.  I found it to be extremely creative.  Personally, while I write papers, I try to replace “normal” words for those of higher quality.  Many times, I use a thesaurus.  At times, I have trouble picking a word with the correct meaning that I am looking for because I was never taught “shades of meaning”.  

Questions: 

There are different strategies discussed within each content area.  Are the strategies more beneficial when used for the particular content areas? 

I find the semantic feature analysis to be confusing.  All of the plusses and minuses are overwhelming for me. Is there a way to make it more beneficial? 

Blog 4

Chapter 1: 

Chapter one reiterates what we have been discussing in class; learning should not be based solely on lecture. Students must be involved in the processes of reading, writing speaking, listening and viewing each day.  The chapter also emphasized the point that most students do not understand how to read informational texts when they get to higher levels as they have not been exposed to them throughout their early education.  However, the chapter proposed a new idea to consider.  Yes, while many students at higher grade levels struggle with informational texts, we cannot just shift our focus to only informational texts. It is important to keep this in mind especially with the new common core standards because at the high school level, students are still expected to read complex narratives such as plays, novels, and poetry.  

I also liked how topics we have discussed in courses last semester remain pertinent throughout this chapter.  For instance, the chapter stressed the importance of prior knowledge and metacognitive awareness.  There were two key things that I will remember for my classroom regarding these two topics.  First, it is important to remember that prior knowledge can make or break a student’s comprehension in particular subject areas.  I remember being so confused during history classes in high school when teachers introduced topics that built upon topics that we already should have learned.  Instead of reviewing, we were automatically expected to recall information on our own to place it with the new information being taught.  Had we reviewed as a class and drawn on prior knowledge, much confusion would have been quickly cleared up.  The second thing I will remember is the metacognitive before, during and after model.  The questions that is poses are important and will improve compression by allowing the learner to truly think about what strategies serve them best.  

Chapter one also had a piece about collaboration.  It was stated that learning occurs with collaboration.  Many times, teachers depend on silent work in their classroom.  They believe when it is quiet, learning is taking place.  However, I personally know that sometimes when I am in complete silence, I am unable to focus as my mind is wandering, thinking many different unrelated things.  Although, it may appear that I am on task.  When a teacher allows for collaboration through small groups and pair-sharing,  more ideas are considered and old thoughts are refined.  After this, when it comes time to share whole group, more hands are raised because students are more confident after having time to consider their ideas.  This seems to be a more engaging setting compared to a silent classroom.

Another collaborative idea that the chapter discussed was jigsaw.  It was described differently compared to how we did for an assignment in Dr. Hanna’s class.  I like this format better as it gives the students the opportunity to talk about their particularly section with others who read the same section.  They may pick up on things they hadn’t thought of before prior to sharing their section with the rest of their ‘home’ group. After the discussion they might alter which ideas they believed to be most important.

Question #1: Reciprocal teaching: Is it really always best to begin by assigning one roll to each student?  (Ex. There is one questioner who chooses the question to write down after a small discussion and one predictor who chooses to write one prediction down after a discussion.)  When there are many questions posed during the discussion, and different predictions, wouldn’t it be best to have everyone take on each roll (as a predictor, questioner, clarifier and summarizer)? Is it good to restrict their thoughts when first introducing the strategy? 

Chapter 8: 

This chapter focused on another topic we have been discussing in class; writing to learn.  Writing to learn does not follow a procedure or require proofreading and editing.  I never thought of it seeming “low-stakes” for the students, thus motivating them by eliminating any pressure.  I also learned that there terms to describe different ways of applying knowledge.  For example, procedural knowledge is knowing how to apply knowledge and conditional knowledge is knowing when or why to apply knowledge.  These seem just as important if not more so, as declarative knowledge.  

The rest of the chapter was dedicated to different ways students can write to learn for different subject areas.  I absolutely love the idea of the “I Am” poems! I will definitely use these in my classrooms, regardless of the grade levels.  They will help foster the sense of community that I want to create.  As the students write their poems and share them, we will recognize that every person is unique but we come together as a class. 

Question #2: 

Is writing to learn not included in classrooms because teachers do not have time to do it? For example, I have seen schools where the teachers receive plans for the week from the principal and are expected to follow them.  For instance, The principal will write a plan for all of the third grade teachers so that they are all doing the same thing.  Usually, the plans are designed to prepare the students for testing.  

Think Center Experience

I absolutely loved this experience.  I thought it was different and fun as well as informative.  I did not know that if you taught students about neuroscience, the learning process improves because they understand what is physically happening in their brain.  I found that to be very interesting.  I also found it compelling that by the 7th grade, students have established a fixed or growth mindset.  This would make it difficult for the high school teachers as some of their students have already developed the fixed mindset of “I’ve got what I’ve got.”  If I teach at the high school level, I need to find a way to break this mindset.  

Blog 3

Response to the two pieces: 

There are multiple ideas within the two pieces that I found to be important.  In the Design-Thinking piece, I liked how the author proposed that teachers should be regarded as facilitators.  I also agree with this statement.  Teachers should guide the students rather than lecture as if on a stage.  Facilitating gives the students freedom to explore and use their creativity.  It engages the students as they are not merely listening all day.  I also liked the fact that collaboration during the design-thinking process should always be kept positive, even if there are disagreements.  While the teacher is facilitating group discussions, they can be sure that conversation is positive by modeling what to say when a student disagrees with another.  This fosters a comfortable community environment where students are not hesitant on sharing their ideas.  The piece emphasized that “no idea is too stupid.”  This reminded of the first day of class when we practiced the “Designing” stage by thinking of ways of how we could use the chalkboard with obstacles in the way.  Dr. Bishop stressed to be creative as possible.  

The second piece written by Barbara Moss reminded me of many things we had learned from Kim Walker’s clinical instruction last semester.  I was assigned to a second grade classroom  and quickly realized how interested there were in informational books.  Clearly, the informational books were a motivational tool as I was able to draw from their interests.  Mrs. Walker stressed that we cannot assume students will know how to read informational books, specifically textbooks.  It is important to find grade level appropriate information books in order for students to become familiar with table of contents, indexes, bold words, titles, subtitles, captions etc., through modeling, guiding and practice.   

Questions:

1. After reading the Design-Thinking piece,  I am a little confused about the “Prototype” step. Does this step entail that one should solve only one part of a problem at a time, or should you always pick a problem that only has one part to it? 
2. How much should we incorporate digital technology with instruction (especially in the K-2 grades)? 

My Biopoem: 

Elizabeth

Determined, strong-spirited, rule breaking

Daughter of Judge Cady 

Strong believer in equal rights and freedom of choice

Horrified by unfairness, anger towards the law, inspired by Henry Stanton’s talks of the abolishment of slavery

Who feared giving up her last name for marriage and turning into a boring house-wife

Who changed America by challenging the idea, “All men are created equal”

Wanted to see women vote and have equal rights 

Residence of Seneca Falls

Cady-Stanton 

Blog 2

I can relate to the feelings Allison Coon had after reading the syllabus.  I also thought that the Elizabethtown Pennsylvania Project seems very interesting as I have never had the opportunity to learn in such a way.  To be honest, when I was little I never had a “pen-pal” and always wanted one! It will be interesting to here opinions and ideas from others in a different part of the country.  Also like Allison, I am a little concerned about the blogging process.  Although I don’t find it to be too time consuming, I must be mindful to stay on top of the due dates.  In addition, I agree with Alyssa Williams statement that everything in this class will be beneficial and engaging.  So far, I have enjoyed class as it has not simply been lecture. I appreciate that the assignments are not typical because they seem new and exciting.  

I believe the article disclosed a lot of important information regarding how to write to learn.  The information provided was different than what we are used to reading and learning about because it did not deal with the action of writing.  Rather, it dealt with writing as a deeper thinking process. It explained that the process of writing is important as it engages students, extends thinking and deepens understanding. In particularly, the pre-reading, note taking and summarizing strategies seem to be very useful.  I will keep this article and refer to the different strategies as they appear useful in my future classroom.  Different strategies will be useful for different situations.  For example, if a student feels overwhelmed by writing a summary, a useful tool is a “Framed Paragraph”.  This strategy reminded me of one we had learned in our 407 known as a “Story Frame”.   Both of the strategies prompt the students by providing them with the beginning of a sentence to finish using their own thoughts. 

In addition to the strategies, the article emphasized that modeling and feedback are essential for the students to learn through writing.  I also believe those two processes are key to the whole writing process. How can a student be expected to produce a quality piece of writing without being exposed to the process through guided instruction and modeling? Without modeling, they would not know what quality writing looks like or what the process entails. Feedback is equally important, including the use of rubrics.  Rubrics create a common set of criteria for a teacher to look for in the students’ writing so that there is no bias regarding grading. Rubrics are also great tools for self assessment.  Furthermore, modeling and feedback will most definitely be present in my classroom. 

After class, I chose to continue my attempt at improving my listening according to the five suggestions.  The suggestion I chose to focus on was “savoring”.  I was reading a book in my bed and had the air conditioning on.  I stopped and “savored” the noise coming from the vent. It’s low monotone buzz was constant and actually made me feel peaceful.  I would have never taken time to notice that prior to watching the TED video. 

First Post

Hello all,

My name is Anne Russell and I am a junior at The University of Southern Mississippi studying elementary and special education.   Oddly enough, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher since I was a little girl.  “School” was my favorite activity to play with my friends.  I was never caught playing the role of a student; I was always the teacher.  On my free time at home, I would organize activities and pretend to grade papers for the next meeting with my friends.  The thought of special education came to mind after volunteering for the Special Olympics- an experience that I absolutely loved.  I don’t exactly have one ideal grade level as I love working with children ranging from 1^st to 3^rdgrade.  The content area I am most nervous to teach is science as I have never taken an enjoyable science class.  It is a subject that I am not particularly interested in and therefore I will have to be sure to not pass on this disinterest to my students.               

 I am from Maryland and have two brothers.  I am extremely close with both of them so being so far away has been tough.  However, I also love the south and the friends that I have made here.  After graduating, choosing my location will be a very hard decision.    I love watching football and I am a huge Ravens fan!  In high school I played basketball, soccer and field hockey.  Now, I keep up with my athletic activity through intramurals and occasionally going to the gym.  I also enjoy going to the beach and skiing. 

After reading the syllabus, the fact that the class is geared towards adolescence really stood out to me.  I have not had a class thus far that focussed on that.  Also, I found it interesting that the class deals with social and personal development, not just writing.  

I believe the course is about learning strategies and techniques based on the six language arts components that make instruction more valuable.  Knowing that a classroom is diverse, multiple instructional strategies are necessary as students learn best in different ways.  Since this class focusses on adolescence, I believe we will specifically learn how to move students towards the direction of deeper and independent thinking while incorporating personal and social development.  

After reading the syllabus, I don’t think anything about the course looks particularly daunting.  I will have to manage my time wisely and stay on track with all of the postings etc. I hope to learn ways to improve instruction and have the opportunity to use them during the volunteer hours at Hawkins as I plan on attending the 3-5 PM time slot with the hope of helping students with their academic work.  I am also interested in experiencing the “pen-pal” project as it will be fascinating to hear thoughts from other students.  

I have come up with two questions after reading the syllabus: 1. Do blog postings have to be a certain length?  2. What exactly is the design-thinking approach?