Questions?? Chapter 5

I think chapter five was extremely relatable.  I can relate to sitting in the classroom and wondering if the teacher would call on me to answer a question.  Other times, I remember keeping my hand raised for a while hoping the teacher would call on me to clarify a question I needed answering.  Then there are always the questions that you do not even bother answering because you know someone else will before you anyways.  Overall, questioning can be helpful and sometimes intimidating. 

            In this chapter, it focuses on the benefits of using questioning strategies in the classroom to help make students become independent learners.  Higher order thinking questions are essential to creating independent learners.  It is necessary that teachers are prepared to ask these types of questions to engage students in HOT and prepare them for the real world.  It is important to teach students how to think outside the box.  Using strategies like SQ3R, questioning the author, and ReQuest are great ways to do so in the elementary classroom.  I definitely plan to incorporate HOT questions and strategies in my future classroom to benefit my students. 

What are the best ways to promote HOT in a middle/high school classroom?

How would a teacher assess HOT questions accurately?

Note Taking vs. Note Making

                As a student, I am very organized and structured when it comes to class work and studying.  Taking notes is the key to succeeding and I have always believed this to be true.  Yet, I have never thought of note taking as a skill that can be taught.  According to chapter 7, teaching students why their notes can be useful to them later on is important so that they will not see it as a waste of time.  I guess this was just interesting to me because I have always seen “taking notes” as important and useful but it is idea to remember that not all students think the same way.  As a teacher, I can do my part in assisting the students in taking and using good notes effectively.  Teachers should set their lessons up in an organized way that allows students to create notes. 

            In all my years of taking notes in class, I never knew there was a difference in note taking and note making.  Note taking refers to students’ written notes from a lecture or class discussion and note making refers to recording notes from printed materials.  While both improve comprehension and retention of material, they have their differences.  Note taking can be effective in all subjects across the curriculum.  It is important to teach students how to set up their notes in an organized way that will be easy to refer back to.  It is the responsibility of the teacher to demonstrate the most effective way to take notes in each subject area and remind them to do so each time.

            Looking back on my days in high school, I can remember my teachers using a lot of blank graphic organizers for us to take notes on during lectures or videos.  I am pleased to say that I was always an effective note taker and I still depend on taking notes to succeed in class.  I plan to teach this same strategy to my students one day in hopes that they will find it as beneficial as I have. 

 

What is the best age to begin teaching students how to take notes?

Why hasn’t note taking and making been taught more frequently in the public school system if it is so beneficial?

Effects of Teacher's Real Aloud Styles

                Reading aloud can be enjoyable for any age group.  Everyone likes to be read to at some point in their lives.  Especially in elementary school, listening to stories helps children learn about relationships between words and speech.  Children’s vocabulary can be greatly improved by reading aloud.  As teachers use the read aloud strategy in their classroom to build understanding and comprehension, they pause along the way to ask questions and get their students input.  On the contrary, some children say they do not like this style of reading and would simply prefer to be read a story uninterrupted.  This is why there are different read aloud techniques.

Just reading, performance-style, and interactional approaches to a read-aloud are the different ways that teachers can read to their students.  Each situation varies and some teachers prefer to do so different ways.  It may depend on the purpose for reading.  If a story has a heavy plot line that needs to be followed, then just reading is the style to go with so that the students are not constantly stopped and lose sight of what is going on in the story. 

In the end, interactional and performance style read aloud approaches were found to be more effective when it comes to vocabulary acquisition.  This is evident because there is much more interaction with the teacher and students, questioning, and explaining.

Do these styles vary in high school as well or just elementary?

Why do some teacher prefer just reading over interactional and how do they choose which to use?