Week 3 Comments

Let me tell you a little about my job. I live 90 miles from home for my job, I stay in the town where I work during the week and go "home" on weekends. So I wrote my comments on my school computer thinking I would post them later, then I came home. Need less to stay I can not access my comments at this time. I will post them in about eight days, as I go on vacation on Sat-Fri.
But I will make a few comments:
Cues, questions, and advance organizers:  Short videos are an excellent way to introduce information. Gone is the day that teachers play an hour long movie in class.  Cues, stories, art, all stimulate prior knowledge and set a tone for the lesson. I do not see many teachers using rubrics, which I think is a shame. Rubrics put each student on a level playing field, no favorism, clear expectations. And the comments about the questions teachers ask is interesting. We should not ask to regurgitate information, but to foster thinking.


Non linguistic representation:  I REALLY like organizing information in little boxes. Most of the word documents I make have some sort of graph or chart in them so why not design organizers for the students to use, also?  I still remember, some 50 years ago (yes I am very old), when we made the baking soda and flour model of the United States. I don't remember if my Rocky Mountains were taller than my Appalachian Mountains, but I sure know were they are located. I taught HS CD on an emergency license for one year.When we did vocabulary I had the students draw a picture to represent the word, they were very creative, and hopefully it helped them remember the words. I think pictures could be used for  vocab in any class. The fifth grade teachers in my district to a biome project every year. Each group of 5 has a biome that they physically build in the hallway. What learning! And I bet the kids never forget what planets, animals, and birds live in their biome.
Summarizing and note taking: This is where web tools shine, there are a multitude of applications that students can use to summarize information. Animoto, voice thread, glogster, and on and on. Also I think we should teach in all classes how to take notes. I probably learned how to abbev. words because I can't spell, but most students need to learn how to take notes. Both summarizing and note taking could be done with graphic organizers. I remember when my son was in 5th grade, about13 years ago, he had to copy word for word, information on each state, and was graded on how well he copied it. (No wonder he hates to write) Would it not been much more useful to use a organizer to collect the information?
Next week at class I will join you from North Carolina.