Thank you to everyone who replied to your classmates' blogs. We have enjoyed reading your thoughts and insights.
For those of you who have not replied, please do so ASAP. If we do not see them for Ch. 1 & 2 as well as for Ch. 3 this will affect your grade. The learning logs & responses are worth 30% of your average.
Click on COMMENTS below this post and please add your reflection to at least 2 of your classmates' Chapter 3 blogs.
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This is for Chap 1&2...I responded to Chap 3 in the previous post.
ReplyDeleteIn response to M.Truesdell post:
I'm sorry to hear about your brother's situation. It's unbelievable to me that a teacher would ever ask him why he continues to come to class! I feel that as a teacher, it is up to us to give that strong support to the students and believe in their success no matter how long it takes. I've seen teachers treat their students that way and during my student teaching, I took it upon myself to give as much support as I could to those students. Teachers would say "That will be a drop out student" and treat them that way.
It's like we read in the text, the students will do what we expect them to do. If we think they're going to fail, chances are that student will. However, it we work towards success, we'll have many positive results.
In response to M. Carter:
I think you have some great ideas! I especially like your idea of writing questions in the margins for the students to think about while reading. I think this will be less intrusive for students while they're reading, rather than have the teacher stop and ask orally which may distract the student and take them away from their train of thought.
I also like your idea of collegial circles. I wish that when I was in high school that my teacher would have conducted lessons that way rather than lecture and ask us black and white questions. I think I personally would have gained more from that class.
CCroft said:
ReplyDeleteReflection #5: Increasing wait time is something that a lot of teachers need to work on. Many teachers, including myself, ask a question and provide little or no time to think before they expect a response. Students, however, need time to think, organize their ideas, and come up with a response. During this thought process, students are often silent; and I think that silence creates an uncomfortable feeling for the teacher. The teacher then prompts students for an immediate response or gives the students the answer. If teachers just waited an additional minute or two before asking for a response, students would have more time to think through their answers and come up with more well-thought-out responses.
Dealing effectively with inappropriate responses is also a challenging tasks for many teachers. I think many teachers just shrug off or disregard inappropriate responses rather than taking something from them. I believe that inappropriate responses have something important to offer. Often times, students can be guided to a more appropriate response through effective questioning techniques. This is a much more effective way of dealing with an inappropriate response.
I agree with her, we do need to make sure we give them enough wait time. I don't sit there quiet while I am waiting though. I call them out on it. I will say things like "what only 2 of you know this"
or "Hmmm, one, two, three, four hands up?!? thats it??" or "If this is all I am getting from all of you then we are going to have to do this (insert what we are working on) a lot more, obviously not many of you understand it" Well, you get the picture, when I start saying these things, they will "wake up" and I will get a lot more hands up. Sometimes all of them. It really works great, it makes me give them more wait time, and it makes them participate more.
In response to bmatiash comment about the diagnostic teacher having students read the entire story and passages and then relate them to personal and cultural experiences is a great idea. I was and am still like that. I learn when I can relate it to something personal or something that interests me. I have a hard time reading and taking in what I read if it is not interesting. I think it is more difficult to learn if they are not interested in the reading. They are more likely to get meaning out of the reading if they are interested in what they are reading. If they are not interested they are just reading for words and not reading for meaning.
ReplyDeleteChapter 3 Responses
ReplyDeleteMy first response is to Kayleigh Scannell’s blog on wait time. This is something I am still having trouble with. I like your strategy of having them write down their answers on a sheet of paper before they answer verbally. This would definitely help them organize their thoughts and be prepared to speak. It also gets everyone to try to answer the question.
My second response is to Devlin’s post on having her students describe how they arrived at an answer in math. I do not remember having to do this at all in math class in high school, and I hope more are doing this! Some math teachers and I (a writing teacher) have discussed putting together a technique to help students on the 7th grade state exam for when they have to do their writing portion. While ELA teachers are always asking for textual evidence, I am happy to see that math teachers are doing a similar thing!
Mike Carter
This is in response to casiecroff key idea #5- I have read this in the book and on many blogs. It has made me think how I need to work on this myself. The more I think about it I ask the question and usually call on someone that raises their hand right away, I really do not give any wait time for the students to think and organize their ideas. This is really bad!! The first person to respond does not always have the best answer. Others might have something to share but it takes them more time to organize their thoughts and to build up their courage.
ReplyDeleteI like the way C. Monteleone posted about special education and her questioning about the IEP helps me to be reassured in our educational system. If we all just went with the status quo all the time and never questioned things, we would never end up with better ways of teaching as well as meeting the needs of our special needs children.
ReplyDeleteI agree with K. Scannell about wait time. I actually tell the students that I am going to give them a minute or two to think about their answers. I try to do this with every question I ask. Sometimes I have to admit that I get just as excited as the students do and I call on the first one with their hand up!
I agree with B Matiash about encouraging students' strategies, but also showing them that they do not work for every subject. In reading you cannot be impulsive and make quick decisions. The same is very true for math, students need to read the question understand it and formulate a plan. This cannot be done impulsively, even though having quick reflexes can also be great in math for facts (multiplication, addition, etc.). So we need to support students in what they can do and develop what they struggle with.
ReplyDeleteI like what Cassie Croff said about humor. I agree it is better to make light of your mistakes and learn from them, then to get down about it. Often when I make a mistake I point out to the students what a goof I made, and make something silly out of it. Like if I get a wrong answer I might say that would be one big pencil (if the decimal was in the wrong place).
I am responding to Chapters 1 & 2 because I did chapter 3 last week by accident.
ReplyDeleteI agree with C.Devlin that many students are in a rush to finish their work and do not check over their answers. Especially on assessments, I think that students are just in a rush to finish. This past week our students had several midterm assessments and not one student looked over their answers at the end, even after I reminded them to check over their work! I think that students are more concerned with finishing the assingnment than the quality of the work they completed.
I also agree with M.truesdell that as teachers we are always adapting and revising lessons to meet the needs of our students. Teaching in the middle school, we have five different chances at the same lesson, which can be a good thing. After each period I assess or reflect on how the lesson went and what little changes I can make to improve it for the next group of students.
In response to Chapter 3, KObrien wrote:
ReplyDeleteI think this perception that error free reading implies proficient reading is reinforced in many classrooms. I find that often times the proficient readers are the ones reading aloud for the class; making few or no mistakes while doing so. It's not very often that the struggling readers are chosen or asked to read aloud for the class. Then, when they do read aloud, they are stopped and corrected for each and every mistake they make. So, to the struggling reader it appears that proficient reading must be error free. After all, those are the students that are always chosen or asked to read for everyone else.
Teachers can make or break a student's confidence level and sense of self. I think teachers need to find positive ways to help struggling readers use and improve their reading skills. One way would be that which Kscannell discussed in her learning log.
Kscannell responded to a similar issue as follows:
“Using the unique strengths of the individual learners in her classroom, she reduces stress for each learner”
Some students are extremely sensitive with their reading levels especially when we do read-aloud. In fact, some students love it because they can show of how well they read while other dread being called on. When I call on a student I usually give the smaller or easier paragraph to the weaker students, this helps them gain some confidence and feel comfortable reading out loud. By having good teacher-student relationships I am sensitive to the individual’s differences.
I think this technique works well for all students. I also feel it is a nice alternative to the proficient readers always reading. It helps the struggling readers practice their reading skills successfully in front of their peers. The reading passages selected for the struggling readers are appropriate for their skill level and students are exposed to the different ways people read. Not every reader will be error free, but that does not necessarily indicate lack of proficiency. We discussed in class how important it is for students to see and achieve success when reading. KScannell offers students a great way to do so in her technique.