Week 9 Reflection blog #etlead

Week 9  Reflection:

1. What new resources, curated resources, or ideas did you share this week?
This week I shared the following websites.

            http://www.huntingenglish.com/2013/06/25/question-time-and-asking-why/

In my research I found this useful article that gives suggested question starters that encourages a deeper level of thinking.  These sentence starters include:

What is a new example of…?
How would you use…to…?
What would happen if…?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of…? How does…tie in with what we learned before?
Explain why… Explain how…
How does… What is the… Why is… How are…different?
Compare…and…with regard to…
What do you think causes…?
What conclusions can you draw about…?
Do you agree or disagree with this statement:…? Support your answer.
How are…and…similar?
How are… and…best…and why?

http://www.lifeway.com/Article/sunday-school-ten-tips-for-asking-questions-in-teaching-experiences.

This article gives you tips on what types of questions should be asked in the classroom, including:

§  Ask open-ended questions – Learn to ask questions that require more than a memorized response. Questions that require some personal reflection or drawing a conclusion challenge learners to think and make decisions.

§  Ask one question at a time – Avoid confusing learners by asking several questions without allowing time to answer them.

§  Address everyone with your question – Questions should be open for anyone to answer.

§  Provide feedback to responses – Acknowledge answers in some way that lets learners know you have heard and accept their answers.

§  Follow some questions with questions – Ask questions that help learners clarify the initial question or help them think more clearly about their answers.

§  Wait for answers – Failing to wait often sends a message that you don’t really want learners to answer. Learners often need a few moments to formulate thoughts or ideas before answering. Allow time for learners to think and respond.

§  Challenge learners to answer their own questions – If learners ask probing questions or questions that suggest they are thinking about something, turn the question back to them with comments such as, “What do you think” or “Why do you think this would be the case?”

§  Affirm all people – Affirm each person for questions asked or answered.

§  Accept all answers – Although some answers may be incorrect, no answer is unimportant. If someone gives an incorrect answer, accept and affirm the comment and continue asking for other answers.

§  Admit it when you don’t have the answer – One of the most important statements a teacher can make is, “I don’t really know the answer to that question, but I’ll call you this week with the answer.”

2. What did you intend these new resources to do in terms of impacting others’ learning?
My hope was that the person can use these resources as a means of creating and using meaningful question asking within their classrooms.

3. What was the actual impact?
Since I am posting this late, I do not actually know the actual impact.  I would assume, that if someone else were to provide this resource, I would try to keep note of it.  Everyone can get better at asking questions within their classroom; therefore I believe these resources can be useful for everyone. 

4. What would you do differently next week?
Well, since I am posting this late, there is actually no more blog posts.  So, for my intentions for next semester I hope to get all my blog posts in on time, and I really intent to attempt to embrace Twitter chats more and perhaps do some research in how to better handle this program.

Week 9 Blog Post #ETLEAD

#ETLEAD

 

Essential Question: What are the challenges in shifting content from “what” to “where” and “how”?

            With each new school year, the pressure of student achievement on high stakes testing increases.  Students and teachers are constantly reminded of how important it is to perform well on tests, and that students are expected demonstrate their understanding and knowledge by circling the correct bubble on a multiple choice questions test.  These pressures cause teachers to meet the demands of teaching students what they will see and encounter on tests, and also how they will encounter it.  Teachers are expected to teach students certain skills by the spring when testing time comes around, but students not only need to know content skills, but they are expected to know how to take the tests.  Since the tests and testing formats are not something students encounter in everyday life, testing skills must also be taught and practiced.  And efficient way to do this is to use this method to test students throughout the year to assess their knowledge.  While this method of practice is practical, it is not most beneficial to students.  Students are much better at demonstrating their understanding in way that are practical and relevant to their every day lives.

            The story in Chapter 8 was a perfect demonstrating of contextualizing assessment to meet student familiarity.  When asked to point on a map, few students were able to identify Iraq, but when given a computer, almost all students were able to find and identify Iraq on a map.  This example demonstrates how certain situations, and how questions are asked and assessed can greatly vary student achievement and success.

            In my third grade classroom, making learning contextual can be even more difficult than usual.  Teaching in a rural village offers challenges than a teacher from other places might encounter.  The texts and books we read in class often do not relate to the students at all.  The stories and example offered in the math text book to help explain concepts to the students are often more confusing and unfamiliar than the math concepts themselves.  To make learning and knowledge more relevant for the students I have begun to try to create my own way to teach them math concepts, using items or situations that are familiar to the students.  I also assess the students, in addition to a traditional paper/pencil test by using project-based learning.  In the projects, the students work in small groups to create situational examples that are relevant to their lives.  They are given the opportunity to apply math concepts using content that is relevant and familiar to their lives.

 

 

Final Blog Reflection #ETLEAD

Amber Hanson

#ETLEAD

Final Reflection

Overall I really enjoyed this class.  Of course there were definitely hiccups along the way.  I especially enjoyed the first book we read: Teach Like a Pirate.  This is probably one of the best-required readings I’ve ever had to read in any of my educational classes.  I enjoyed it as it helped remind me about how important it is to engage students in learning.  It also gave soooooo many great ideas that I can use within my own classroom to hook my students and to really make my lessons meaningful.  Although I’m too busy right now, I really want to make a poster or two of some of the useful things in that book. 

            In addition to this text, I will say that I liked blogging as well.  While I missed a few, and wasn’t always on time.  I still enjoyed it nonetheless.  The biggest thing that got me on blogging was the due dates.  I found it extremely difficult to get blogs in by Friday night, as during the week I am generally too busy with meetings, sports, and tutoring to be working on homework.  I think it would have been better if the original post was due by Saturday night, and the reflection post due by Monday night.  This would give people such as myself time to research and create a quality blog posting and actually have it turned in on time.

            One aspect of this class in which I would like to address is the use of Twitter.  While I know some people absolutely LOVE it, I’ve always found it so difficult.  Anytime I attempted to partake in the Twitter sessions I felt lost in the conversations. And once I was in one, I had a hard time following it.  I really really really think Twitter is a poor program to use for class discussions.  But that is just my opinion. 

            Aside form the required blogs and readings I wanted to quickly mention my mentoring project.  I really enjoyed mentoring my coworker on using the interactive whiteboard in her classroom.  My mentee is now using the board daily and I feel that if I hadn’t been asked to mentor someone in technology, She may have never known how awesome it is to use the whiteboards. 

            Overall this class has been a positive experience for me.  I enjoyed reading about everyone else’s mentor projects, and got a lot of useful information out of them.  For instance, in Tracie’s project she shared a few ipad apps that were of use within her mentee’s classroom, including italk and a few others.  Although I only have 1 iPad within my classroom, I feel that as a result of her project, as well as Andrea’s (who also did a project using an iPad) I have a general idea on how I can implement the use of mine within my classroom. 

            Thank you everyone for the great semester, thank you Lee for all your support and help as well.  You all have been wonderful and I wish you luck as you progress through next semester in your coursework, as well as in your classroom!

Mentor Project Presentation #Etlead

Hey everyone!

Please check out my Mentor Project Presentation and leave feedback if you don't mind.  I will make sure to check out yours in return!

I've also included my Mentor Project Paper for you to take a peek at when you have a chance as well!
My Mentor Project

Thank you,

Amber