Chapter 5- Why Ask? Questioning Strategies in the Classroom

I never really understood higher level thinking questions until college. I honestly spent most of my life missing the big picture. I went to school because I had to. I turned in the work because it was due that day. It was not until college that I actually cared to learn anything from school. This is when I began to ask myself the types of questions that help me apply the content to my life. I really like the ReQuest technique because it can be used in a variety of situations. I also liked it because its not labeling students to make them feel like they are in the “smart group” or “slow group.” The lower level students have the opportunity to be taught by their classmates. I personally seem to learn better when a classmates teaches me than I do by following the teacher.

A quote that I liked from the book was on page 81 and it said, “Unfortunately many students have little practice in answering implicit questions and may be ill-equipped to formulate and respond to questions requiring critical thinking.” This hit home with me because it is so true. It sadens me that so many teachers teach to a test. I want my students to learn more than reading and writing in my classroom. I want them to think outside of the box unafraid of getting the answer wrong. I want them to learn about real life situations and how they might approach them.

One day after class I was talking to my college algebra teacher. He asked me, “why do you think so many students are afraid of math?” After thinking for a minute I could not think of a logical answer. He then said, “because so many of their teachers presented math to them in a negative way. Even if you hate math, never let your students know that because they will in turn feel like it is okay for them to hate the subject as well.” Though I find it easy to come up with higher level questions in science and language arts, I find it hard to come up them in math. How can I come up with questions that challenge my students when honestly I find it hard to answer them myself? Also, what are things that I could do that might possibly help change my outlook on the subject?

Chapter 7: Note taking or note making?

I have a tendency to be obsessive compulsive when it comes to note taking. But I wasn't always this way. I remember the specific day that I realized the power of properly taking notes. I was in Mrs. Davis' eighth grade science class at Alexander Junior High school. Up until that point I had never thought of categorizing what the teacher was saying by grouping them together by main topics. Due to my lack of note taking knowledge, I never did very well on tests. I had honestly never even realized that there were sub-categories to the main topic. All of the information was just sort of jumbled in my head with no order to it at all. The two days prior to my note taking revolution I was out sick. I asked one of my friends if I could borrow their notes. She could have majored in note taking! Everything was so orderly and clear to read. I was in shock that the information could be so easy to learn when the proper techniques were implemented to categorize the information. From that day forward I made it my business to take clear notes in all of my classes.

I really liked reading about the different strategies because one of my favorite things to do is organize things. This showed me that there are several ways to make notes your own. I especially liked the part about the importance of these skills for ELL students. I think that so many students are set up for failure because teachers never actually teach them how to take notes!! They are forced to jump straight into figuring it out on their own. For some students, notes are a great way of chunking information so they are not overwhelmed by the big picture when studying for a test. Without a strong foundation, how are students supposed to digest large amounts of information? Was I the only one who was never taught by a teacher how to properly take notes? ...because I feel that it should be one of the focal points of teaching. Most children are not born knowing how to seperate the information given to them into categories.

Chapter 6

I am personally a huge advocate of graphic organizers. I have always had a problem grasping the “big picture” of things. I personally would like to create a graphic organizer for the parents of my students as an overview of the content that will be covered in my classroom. Graphic organizers make it much easier for studying, especially for students with ADHD. Having it chunked allows them to focus on one topic at a time without being boggled with so much information at once. I purchased a book about graphic organizers and which ones to use in each subject and I have found it to be very beneficial to me!

"Graphic organizers are one way for teachers to ensure that students can show their abilities." This quote screams of the truth to me. If the teacher is organized ahead of time, it makes it much harder for a student to say, “I didn’t know…”

Can there be too many graphic organizers used in a classroom? Do some students find them more difficult to follow than others? I ask this because I always loved them, but I don’t know if I am alone on that?

Text to Talk

I have always thought of pictures as a positive reinforcement. I guess the visual learner in me is very aggravated by reading this. Without pictures, I would be lost. I need a visual image to go by when I am reading, especially when it is informational text. I never remember the tiny details unless I study what I have read… so maybe this is my problem? I just do not see pictures as being something that takes away from a reading experience. I do however see how background knowledge could get in the way of student comprehension. For example, while reading about boxer dogs my friend informed me that she was attacked by one when she was younger. However, I sleep with two of them curled up cozily snuggled as close as they can get to me every night. When reading about this breed of dog it is obvious that there are going to be two very different opinions on the subject!
Is it possible that this theory is wrong? The only reason I see this being a problem is if someone is simply too lazy to read the text because they think they have enough prior knowledge on the image to continue reading.
Could having a negative experience with something completely change the meaning of text to a person?

My Reaction to Effective Content Area Literacy Instruction in the Elementary Grades

I found this article to be very helpful. I think presenting informative text at an early age to students is a great idea. Personally I never comprehended informative text when it was presented to me. I can remember feeling as if it did not make any sense. The vocabulary was over my head. This made it hard to follow along in class due to my lack of comprehesion of informational text. Many students do not like science due to previous experiences with their text books or lack there of in previous grades. Finding a subtle way to introduce these books at an early age would allow students to get a head start on comprehending the information presented to them. I would like to know how much additional instruction time would be needed to implement the use of expository texts? How would I present text like this to younger students without overwhelming them(at their grade level)?