Erin Kilroy
1. Sunday, May 6 2007,
07:25 AM
John,
You wrote, ""The
teacher takes an empathic, nonjudgmental position and simply mirrors the
student's statements, behavior and feelings, attempts to encourage the child to
"talk out" his or her concerns, and in doing so, offers to share his
or her power with the student." When did teachers get a certification in
counseling? Where does the time come from in the classroom? As teacher roles
get overintensified (see Michael Apple's "Teachers and Texts") where
does this new demand on the teacher's time get placed. What will be taken out
of the teachers work day to make time for these counseling sessions to take place?
I'm not disagreeing on the success of doing this Rogerian approach, it's just a
question of the logistics."
I wanted to try this more
and work out more of the problems my students have with others, but over the
past few weeks since I began this, I have found it almost impossible to do
because I cannot leave the rest of my students for 10 minutes at a time to try
and resolve these problems. I have tried to do this in the classroom, but the
students don't like talking about the situation with the other students around.
Nice wonderments!
Erin
2. Sunday, May 6 2007,
07:18 AM
Erin,
You wrote, " In the
description of MaslowÕs life, he accomplished a great deal but it indicates he
had a lonely childhood and worked hard to Òsatisfy his parents.Ó I wonder was
Maslow happy and did he go so far in his work for personal fulfillment or did
he do it more for the praise of his parents."
I was wondering this same
thing! I thought it was very interesting that this was mentioned about him. I
would think that this probably had quite an impact on his views and goals. Good
wonderments!
Erin
3. Tuesday, May 1 2007, 08:15 PM
Melinda,
I think it is a great idea
to set out expectations with your class, and to also discuss expectations with
other teachers so that no matter where to students go, they know the same
things is expected of them. This sounds like a good discipline plan using
moderation Nice job!
Erin
4. Tuesday, May 1 2007,
07:38 PM
Amy,
I like your outline for
the science class you teach. I like what you said about grading only the
assignments that students choose to complete at the beginning of the semester.
Do you currently do this? I wonder how this would work and how the
administration feels about it. Let me know if you implement this and how it
works for you because I would like to try that idea out.
Nice job!
Erin
5. Tuesday, May 1 2007,
07:14 PM
Rita,
I enjoyed reading your
essay. I like what you wrote about student achievement and grading. I think
that if a student does not get the work right, then they don't know it and need
more practice, they don't just need a C. I think this is what my school is
trying to go to with standards based report cards. The students are given a
number score based on their mastery of a certain standard, and that can change
throughout the year.
Nice job on your essay!
Erin
6. Tuesday, May 1 2007,
06:59 PM
Jessica,
I really enjoyed your
essay. You did a nice job of pointing out how certain points in assertive
discipline that can work well in adult groups. I also think that the model you
describe could be a great use of assertive discipline in the classroom. We can
teach students to follow rules be redirecting them in positive ways that make
them feel more included in the group. Nice job!
Erin
7. Tuesday, May 1 2007, 06:17
PM
Ann,
I agree that different
forms of discipline are useful at different times. I also thought what you
wrote about family expectations was very interesting. My parents also expected
much from me and I lived in a small town, so if I messed up most people would
know about it. I think it is so important for parents to let their children
know that they expect a lot from them. Nice job on your essay!
Erin
8. Tuesday, May 1 2007,
06:01 PM
Renee,
I agree that without
having one leader, assertive discipline is not a good approach. i know a
teacher in my school who is taking a class with some of the other teachers and
she is struggling to work with them because they seem to be frequently off
topic and not contributing to the group. She can not use assertive discipline
because she is not the leader, but a peer. I wonder if laying out norms like
you PLC did would be an effective solution. Nice job!
Erin
9. Tuesday, May 1 2007,
05:48 PM
Jessica,
You said, "ÒStudent
intents and needs are basically Ògood" and productive, and if fostered to
fruition will promote learning and self-actualization.Ó
I wonder if you can
influence what kids want to learn though?"
This is a good thought. I
think that students may not always know what they want to learn unless they are
presented with information about the topic first. I also think that the way
different things are presented can make students more interested in a topic. If
we allow students to alwasy choose what they want, I wonder if they would miss
out on something that would really interest them if given the chance to explore
it?
Nice job!
Erin
10. Tuesday, May 1 2007,
05:43 PM
Michael,
You wrote, "I wonder
why teaching Òseems to be moving in the direction of learning facts over all
other forms of learning and knowledge.Ó And why Ò[t]he humanistic approach to
education [which] encourages personal growth over the learning of mere facts
and empowers studentsÓ Ò[h]as not taken root in more school systems.Ó
I also wonder about this.
I think it is important for students to experience personal growth in their
learning, and I think most agree that when a student connects with learning,
the learning is more authentic. I think the biggest problem this model presents
is not being able to measure learning (standardized tests). I'm sure there is a
way to make this work, but it would be a big challenge!
Nice job,
Erin
11. Monday, April 30 2007,
07:38 PM
Katie,
I enjoyed your
wonderments. You said, "Carl Rogers said, Òit is the teacher's job to free
and aid the interests and enthusiasms of students.Ó I wonder where is he now!
We could use this type of thinking in the days of No Child Left Behind and
AYP." I was wondering this same thing. I think to create this type of
situtation would be difficult for one teacher to do, I think it would work
better if teachers worked together to try and creat a curriculum around student
desire and need, but that still met the standards. I believe it can be done,
but it would be a challenge!
Nice job!
Erin
12. Monday, April 30 2007,
07:30 PM
Melinda,
You wrote,"I would
love to observe in a Montessori school. I had never heard of them until college
and would love to see how things are run. We had a seventh grade student that
moved from a Montessori school to start seventh grade and she took all eighth
grade classes. Academically, she is leaps and bounds ahead of her peers."
I would also love to visit
a school like this. I have read about a lot of them, but it still seems
difficult how that would actually play out in the classroom.
Nice wonderments.
Erin
13. Monday, April 30 2007,
07:06 PM
Leigh,
I enjoyed you wonderments.
I connected with this one, "One problem with the active listening approach
is that "not all instructors hold Person-Centered attitudes, and would
need opportunities to mature and grow into their roles as facilitators."
New Media-based instruction was offered as one solution to this concern. (SKEP)
While Internet activities
could facilitate a more interest-based curriculum, I don't see how it can
supplement the relationship-listening part of this approach. How could schools
adopt a Rogerian philosophy across the board when some teachers would be
incapable of (or uncomfortable with) relating to students in that way?"
I think this theory is
idealistic. It would be great if we all had the same personality qualities. I
think that some of this can be learned, but seems to work better as a personal
or school philosophy rather than a schoolwide adoption. Thanks for sharing you
thoughts!
Erin
14. Monday, April 30 2007,
06:57 PM
Jeff,
You wrote, "Open
classrooms: if they truly are better for the students with a student-centered
humanist approach, why did they decline in popularity?" I wonder if it was
too difficult to gauge progress, and we know how much the government likes to
know about progress. Maybe the theory is still a good one, but doesn't match up
with todays high stakes testing.
Good thought!
Erin
15. Monday, April 30 2007,
06:13 PM
Rita,
I enjoyed your
wonderments. This one stood out, "Alfie Kohn, expresses opinions about how
competition is bad in every aspect. I can see where competition may be
detrimental to some studentÕs self esteem, but at the same time, isnÕt it also
motivating to many students?" I have been having problems with this
recently. My students love to play kickball at recess, but they have been
getting into more arguements about the game. I think that competition can be ok
for students, but I think next year I will try to do a better job of teaching
how to cooperate with others during a competitive situation. This can be really
difficult for some students to understand.
Nice job!
Erin
16. Monday, April 30 2007,
06:05 PM
Renee,
I also wondered a lot
about the Summerhill school. If the students start at they typical kindergarden
age, I wonder how they are taught to read. I think that some students would
learn without any direct instruction and just by being exposed to text, but
what about those students that really struggle? I wonder what type of
interventions this type of school would have? Thanks for sharing your thoughts
on this!
Erin
17. Monday, April 30 2007,
05:59 PM
I enjoyed your
wonderments. This one caught my eye, "IÕm just trying to contemplate what
my life as a teacher would be like in a Summerhill School. In a sense, IÕm just
there to babysit. Yes, I will do some lessons . . . but with the heavy focus on
independent activity it will be limited. I wonder how satisfied or rewarding
being a teacher in Summerhill School would be. " I was also wondering
about what the role of a teacher would be at a school like this. I was reading
about Sudberry Valley School in Massachusetts and they said that there were no
"teachers" just adults there to assit where the students needed them.
If they wanted to learn the drums they would go to the musician and ask for
help. I think schools could be interesting if we had acutal authors there to
teach about writing and reading. I wonder if "teachers" as we think
of them would be necessary?
Erin
18. Monday, April 30 2007,
05:53 PM
Jodi,
I agreed with many of your
wonderments. This one stood out, "I wonder why we donÕt teach more ÒI
messagesÓ in the younger grades. My parents always taught me to say things like
ÒI should have asked for help reaching the jar, instead of doing it myself.Ó
They were not psychologists, but they taught me to never blame my problems on
anyone or anything else."
As a 4th grade teacher I
try to model I-messages as much as possible because I believe students need to
take responsibility for their own actions. But even at this age many students
have already been taught that it is never their fault. I think it is important
to try to help students use I-messages, but I also wonder how much of this
comes from parenting. You were taught this from you parents probably before you
even entered school. I find many students not taking responsibility for their
actions and maybe using and teaching I-messages is one way to try and change
this. Thanks for sharing this thought!
Erin
19. Monday, April 30 2007,
05:48 PM
Cynthia,
I enjoyed your wonderments.
I liked this one, "I wonder if schools such as Summerhill can cater to the
special education student? Perhaps many students that would be labeled in the
orthodox schools would flourish in this environment. (or perish??)"
I also wonder if these
students were able to explore what they wanted and not just the regular
"school" subjects, if they would actually find something they enjoyed
and feel motivated and intellignet through that. I think this could pose a
problem if the students lacked motivation, but other than that I think this
could be a great way to allow all students to flourish without labels.
Nice job!
Erin
20. Monday, April 30 2007,
05:42 PM
Amy,
You wondered, "After
reading the I-message link from SKEP, I realize I use those all the time.
Although, I wonder why they only work for that day as opposed to setting the
tone and lasting for a longer period of time."
This is an interesting
thought. I wonder if the I-statements are meant to be more redirective and less
of a structured behavior management plan.
Erin
21. Sunday, April 29 2007,
04:28 PM
Jessica,
I think you did a great
job at finding a logical solution to a problem you often encounter. I teach 4th
grade and I find it very difficult to get students to connect fractions with
the ruler. I think this would be a great way for them to connect those two
concepts. I also like the levels used. In 4th grade I wouldn't expect the
students to make it through all of the levels and some would probably stay in
the lower levels and just practice their fractions, but for the more advanced
students, they could get more practice using what they know about fractions.
I think your students
could really benefit from this type of refresher with fractions and rulers.
Nice job!
Erin
22. Monday, April 23 2007,
08:29 PM
Melinda,
Thank you for sharing
about these tangram sights. I teach elementary students and they need spacial
math that they can manipulate and visualize. Tangrams are a great way to beging
getting students in the geometry mind set. I am putting this on my list of
things to try out for next school year!
Erin
23. Sunday, April 22 2007,
06:28 PM
Katie,
I really enjoyed this
website. I just finished teaching fractions to my 4th grade class and I wish I
would have used this. I think it would be useful because there are simple
concepts that struggling students can use, as well as more difficult tasks to
challenge students that are ready for more difficult fractions. I agree about
the instructions being placed after the question, but other than that, it is a
pretty good sight! Thanks for sharing. I will definitely be using this sight.
Erin
24. Sunday, April 22 2007,
04:58 PM
Robb-
You wrote, " 'Science
instruction needs to make use of techniques that will help students to discard
misconceptions and replace them with correct conceptions of science.' I wonder
how to overcome the misinformation about science that comes from elementary
teachers who do not have the background, and religious leaders who put science
down."
I think it is important
for elementary teachers to have more training in common misconceptions as well
as how to incorporate the scientific method. Maybe this should be a stronger
requirement in teacher training programs. Although in Illinois, the Science
Standardized test does not count toward AYP, so it is not emphasized as much as
the other subject areas. Therefore, the district classes offered in the
teaching of science are very minimal compared to math and reading.
Erin
25. Sunday, April 22 2007,
04:49 PM
Sarah-
You wrote "10. On
page 201, Mayer states that as children Òpresumably learn more school
science—some of their misconceptions actually increase before ultimately
improving.Ó I wonder if this is because science in elementary school is often
wrote memorization and hands-on labs are rare? Therefore there have been no
specific experiences to challenge the misconceptions?"
I was also wondering about
this. I teach elementary school and try to include as much hands on experiences
as possible, but I wonder at this stage in development, if students' minds are
ready to uncover all of their misconceptions. I am not sure their brains would
be able to understand many of the physics concepts that we often hold as
misconceptions. i think elementary teachers should introduce these ideas, but I
think students will also have some misconceptions that won't be corrected unitl
later in life, because they just can't process it until then.
Erin
26. Thursday, March 15
2007, 07:50 PM
You wrote: "In the
debate between phonics instruction and whole word instruction (Mayer 46), I
wonder if success with using either type of instruction is more dependent on
the studentÕs specific learning style and less on which is really cognitively
effective?"
I agree with this
wonderment. I think that students need to be exposed to both types of
instruction, but then focus on the one that works for their learning style. I
am glad you made this point.
Erin
27. Thursday, March 15
2007, 07:45 PM
Figure 6-6 on 197 shows
the experiment with dropping a ball while the man moves forward. The author
states "elementary school children were far more likely to give incorrect
answers than adults." Everyone has misconceptions, but I wonder why the
adults got this correct; is it maturity level, better analyzation skills, or is
it from experience? Is this something that has to be learned in school, or
simply experienced before becoming this 'common knowledge?'
I have never taken a
physics class and I found some of these problems to be quite difficult. There
were some that I could figure out though. I think some concepts need to be
taught, where others we can pick up through experience. I also wondered if
people have most of their misconceptions in physics as opposed to other types
of sciences.
Erin
28. Thursday, March 15
2007, 07:33 PM
Chris,
You wrote: " The
discussion of cooperative learning emphasizes the humiliation that occurs when
teachers jump from student to student, individually (444). But if a group is
working together for common grade and the total of the scores is added
together, wonÕt the student with the lowest score that Òbrings down the groupÓ
feel even more humiliation because his/her errors are costing other students
points? I wonder if cooperative learning really reduces the humiliation factor,
or if it simply moves it from the class level to the group level."
I also thought about this
causing problems for students. I think in this situation it would be really
important for the teacher to put the groups together to try and ensure that the
lower achieving students are grouped with students that are good at assisting
others. Thanks for making me think about this more!
Erin
29. Thursday, March 15
2007, 06:15 PM
Renee,
I agree that this was
difficult chapter to read. I never took physics either.
You wrote, "12-13.
pg. 229 – Novices v. Experts in Factual Knowledge: I wonder if our
thought process is always like this. When we are novices on a topic, we donÕt
know how to organize the information, but when we become an expert on something
the facts are better organized and flow together. I wonder at what age students
should become experts at something. I do not expect my students to become
experts on anything they are taught in science."
Maybe the
"expert" stage for younger students could simply be mastery of a
standard. They may not be an expert on the topic as a whole, but they have a
grasp of the standard that they are supposed know.
Erin
30. Wednesday, March 14
2007, 05:05 PM
Erin,
You wrote, "I believe
that I have been a successful and driven student because my mom always had high
achievement expectations for me. I wonder how strongly do people or family
influence studentsÕ development of intrinsic motivation?"
I agree with this thought.
I wrote a story when I was in second grade about being college. I knew from a
young age that I would go to college, there was no other option really. I think
intrinsic motivation is so much more difficult for students that don't have
people in their lives that view education as essential. School is just a necessary
evil until they can get a job, or do any number of other things.
You had some great
wonderments!
Erin
31. Wednesday, March 14
2007, 05:00 PM
Jeff,
You wrote,
"Internalization and learning from expert guidance, such as working with
more skilled readers in the classroom is interesting to me. I wonder, is this
why full-inclusion is now being used more often in classrooms? I also wonder,
how do we make this work better? The 'honors' students are tracked out of
regular reading, so are they getting smarter at the expense of the 'regular'
students that could be learning from them? Would the 'honors' students be able
to achieve more or less in the regular classroom?"
I teach in Champaign as
well, but I used to teach in Indiana. The big difference I see is that the
"gifted" children are pulled into their own program here and the
students in my class don't have that example of those students and can't learn
from them. I think the "gifted" children should be challenged, but I
also think the other students miss out from not being around these students.
Thanks for sharing!
Erin
32. Wednesday, March 14
2007, 04:55 PM
Katie,
You wrote, ÒIn short,
children who are capable of solving a computational problem in the natural
situation often fail to solve the same problem when it is taken out of
context.Ó I wonder what age are these ÒchildrenÓ?...Why canÕt they solve the
same problem in different contexts? (Mayer 436)"
I wondered about this as
well. I think if the "children" are bright enough to figure these
problems out on their own in real life, it would not be too difficult to figure
them out in a different context. They may need some training on how these
problems are structured, but I think if they had that mathematical knowledge,
it would transfer.
Nice job,
Erin
33. Wednesday, March 14
2007, 04:49 PM
Amy,
You wrote, "I wonder
why our students today are so unmotivated? (Mayer p. 460) Can this be most
greatly attributed to family, cultural, or socioeconomic beliefs and
situations?"
I think the could have a
great deal to do with student motivation. If they come from families that don't
value education, they are much less likely to value it and be motivated to do
well. Schools need to take on more respbonsibilities with students like these
to make sure they stay motivated.
Erin
34. Tuesday, March 13
2007, 05:04 PM
Cynthia,
You wrote,"I wonder
if a student can like a class in a subject where he does not normally do well
because he likes the teacher and the other students in that class (the
chemistry of it) and consequently participates and does well?"
I think this can be a
great motivator. I was never excited about math or science until I had
Pre-calculus and a science class in college. Not only was I with my friends,
but I felt as though the teacher thought I could achieve and made the material
accessible. This is something that should definitely be looked into when
considering student motivation.
I enjoyed your
wonderments!
Erin
35. Tuesday, March 13
2007, 04:52 PM
Mark,
You wrote, "I wonder
if in a multicultural context an attempt at teaching within a social context is
counter productive. If teaching, according to Mayer (434), is to emphasize a
social context—if that world view is not shared, are we creating
islands?"
I thought this was an
interesting take. Where I teach we have students from a LARGE range of
backgrounds. Some come from very well off families that are very involved in
their education, to others that live in bad areas and deal with siblings being
arrested and many other issues. Some social contexts they can all understand,
so I try to use the social contexts of school, since that is something they all
can relate to so not to isolate any students.
Nice job,
Erin
36. Tuesday, March 13
2007, 04:37 PM
Jodi,
I thought the same thing
about the cottage cheese problem. Seems like a funny way to do it In you wonderment #12, you wrote about
after school tutoring. I think it is important for students to use what they
know and then hopefully realize what they don't know and ask for help.
Erin
37. Tuesday, March 13
2007, 04:30 PM
Jodi,
This sounds like a very
useful site. I think it is a good idea to have to different ways to access a
lesson, through the teacher version and the illustrated version. This could be
a great place for me to send some of my more advanced fourth grade math
students to get them thinking about higher level math concepts.
Thanks for sharing it!
Erin
38. Tuesday, March 13
2007, 04:13 PM
Mark,
I like the way you set up
your essay. It gave me a very clear view of what math.com had to offer and what
it was lacking. I think some of the problems that you presented with this
website are problems that many free websites have. These sites give some
practice and review, but offer no constructive feedback and do not keep track
of student work.
Nice job,
Erin
39. Tuesday, March 13
2007, 03:40 PM
Michael,
I enjoyed reading you
essay. I really liked the thoughts you added about mistakes people make when
creating websites. I also thought the links under the heading were
advertisements, and I did not look at them. I have found that with many free
math websites, they are used best for reinforcing skills and not teaching. Nice
assessment!
Erin
40. Monday, March 12 2007,
07:30 PM
John,
I really enjoyed reading
your essay. You did a nice job of evaluating each part of the Curious George
Counting Game. Where I teach, the special education teachers have iMacs that
have touch screens over them, but the games that can be played are limited to
the software the school could afford. These are also the oldest computers in
the school, which you mentioned how lower grades often get the older machines.
Nice job.
Erin
41. Monday, March 12 2007,
07:15 PM
Jessica,
You wrote, "When
McCloskey tested the Ball problem with the physics trained group and the
non-physics trained, most of the untrained missed the question (including me).
I never took a physics class, I wonder if I have a lot of misconceptions about
motion? After reading through some of these studies, I realize I do."
I also have never taken a
physics clas and was surprised at how many of the text questions I missed. I
think it is really interesting that our minds tend to think the opposite of
what will really happen even though we have probably observed these motions
before, we just haven't through about them.
Erin
42. Monday, March 12 2007,
07:10 PM
Jodi,
You wrote, " I wonder
if todayÕs generation of students are so afraid of failure that they no longer
try to think. They expect us teachers to do all of their thinking for them.
Many of my students are afraid of being wrong, so they donÕt try, or they need
my constant reassurance. They have taken on an attitude of if you donÕt try,
you canÕt fail."
I agree with this. I am
constantly telling my students to trust themselves. I feel like they so often
want me to hold their hand and walk them through the problems rather than using
critical thinking skills. I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this way!
Nice job,
Erin
43. Sunday, March 11 2007,
04:54 PM
Mark,
You wrote:
"The overriding
question I have regarding all of the implications for teaching presented is the
additional effort, time or restructuring required to fulfill the promise. To
turn it around, if we adequately turn our students into trained problem
solvers; how much time do we save?"
I thought this was an
interesting way to look at restructuring. After reading this chapter I have
been thinking a lot about the way I teach science and there are many things I
want to change. I know it will take a lot of work, but hopefully in the end,
more time will be saved because the students will be able to work through the
process more efficiently. Thanks for getting me thinking more about this!
44. Sunday, March 11 2007,
04:43 PM
Katie,
I agree that pretests may
be a great way to inform teachers of the misconceptions students enter the
classroom with. I also think that misconceptions will arise while completing a
science experiment or lab. The students may know how to correctly answer a
question on paper, but not be able to carry it out in a real life, hands on
situation.
45. Sunday, March 11 2007,
04:36 PM
You wrote:
"I am surprised that
the Mr. Tall versus Mr. Short problem (Mayer p. 214) gave students so much
trouble, especially the age group (13-15 year olds) that it was presented to.
My fourth grade daughter has been bringing home similar problems in preparation
for the math ISAT tests. I know that she would not solve it using ratios but I
am sure that she could use another method and still get the correct answer. Any
thoughts?"
This also surprised me. I
wonder if the students used in this study had been taught using more skill and
drill math and not problem solving. I think math curriculums (or at least some)
have gotten better at teaching problem solving strategies.
46. Sunday, March 11 2007,
04:29 PM
Michael,
It is interesting that
this is the basic writing plan that is followed in the writing of wiki topics
even if it was the intention. This proves that the writing process is something
that most of us have a grasp of and know that all these steps need to be taken.
It was interesting to hear about what you do! Thanks for sharing!
Erin
47. Sunday, March 11 2007,
04:19 PM
Leigh,
I think it is a great idea
for you to go through the writing process with the students as well as the
language arts teachers. I think students struggles with writing because
teachers do not consistently go through the process with them. The more
teachers in all subject areas use this model, the better writers students will
become.
Nice job.
Erin
48. Sunday, March 11 2007,
04:04 PM
Robb,
You mentioned that
students almost never review their work, and if they do, they do it too
quickly. I agree with this. My students just finished the state testing and we
have been working on reviewing our answers, rereading what we wrote, and making
corrections. Yet throughout the test many students did not review what their
answers. It shows me that I need to be more direct in teaching this, but I can
also understand their burnout and desire to just be finished with the test.
Thanks for getting me
thinking more about this!
Erin
49. Sunday, March 11 2007,
03:57 PM
Jeff,
Do you plan these writing
topics or are the connected with what language arts is teaching at that time?
That kind of collaboration would be great! Students seem to connect so much
more with the material when there is flow between the subjects. Nice job!
Erin
50. Monday, March 5 2007,
05:32 PM
Michael,
You wrote, "I wonder
if MayerÕs four types of knowledge , ÒFactual knowledge, Semantic knowledge, Schematic
knowledge, and Strategic knowledgeÓ could be applied to other fields of
expertise. Mayer 228."
I think curriculum
integration is one of the best ways to get students to not only connect with
the subject matter, but use the skills more effectively. I think using the
types of knowledge Mayer wrote about could definitely be used in other subject
areas, and should be to promote higher order thinking.
Erin
51. Monday, March 5 2007,
05:24 PM
You said, "On pages
206 & 207, I wonder are analogies only useful and effective if the student
has correct understanding of at least one side of them?"
I think this a critical
part to using analogies. If the students do not fully understand one side of an
analogy, I would think the students would develop more misconceptions about the
topic.
52. Wednesday, February 14
2007, 09:24 AM
Melanie,
I remember being taught a
few mnemonic devices as a student and I have now passed them on to my students.
HOMES is a good one for the Great Lakes and we also learned the states that
touch the Mississippi River on the west by noticing that it kind of looks like
a person with a hat on and his name is MIMAL. I love using mnemonic devices
with teaching! We have talked a little about order of operations and I think I
will use PEMDAS next time! Thanks for sharing!
Erin Kilroy
53. Wednesday, February 14
2007, 09:19 AM
Katie-
I was interested in what
you said about word superiority affect. I think as adults and as proficient
readers, we are able to read that jumbled passage because we know more about
word structure. I do think that for younger readers it is important for them to
notice the chunks in the words and have way decode words they do not know. If
we simply put words together with the correct letter in the front and the correct
letter in the middle, students would have to strategies to decode words they
don't know. Thanks for sharing that study.
Erin Kilroy
54. Wednesday, February 14
2007, 09:12 AM
Melinda,
I did find myself reading
differently during the section on eye movement. I was trying not to fixate on
words too long...pretty funny. Also in your wonderment about children beginning
their learning at a younger age, I thought about a conversation I had with
another teacher about how well students who entered Kindergarten as a reader
did on the writing part of their state test. From what we noticed, it seemed
that most of them did better, but not all of them. So I wonder if a study has
been conducted to see if reading at a younger age is a definite advantage for
later in life?
Erin Kilroy
55. Tuesday, February 13
2007, 11:59 AM
Chris,
I think your perspective
on other languages is interesting to consider. I had not thought about how
other languages, such as Chinese, are taught. From what I have seen at the
elementary level, many students coming into US schools who have a firm grasp of
reading in their native language seem to eventually excel at reading English as
well. I wonder if that has to do more with the way their brains process
language and less to do with the method of being taught that language. It would
be interesting to see a study of ESL students that are good readers in their
native language and ESL students that are poor readers and how this affects
their ability to learn English.
Thanks for sharing you
insights!
Erin Kilroy
56. Tuesday, February 13
2007, 11:47 AM
Cynthia,
You
wrote,
"There is no study mentioned in Mayer where age groups read
expository prose that is truly interesting to them. Does this affect their
decoding? Their comprehension strategies?Ó This has been a huge discussion
recently where I work. A lot of the teachers think that we should be having
students reading interesting books about social studies and science rather than
just the text books because there would be a higher interest and students would
be able to read at their level, but also if they have background knowledge of
the topic, they will be able to read more difficult texts.
I would be
interested in a study about this.
Erin Kilroy
57. Monday, February 12
2007, 01:59 PM
Sarah,
I enjoyed reading your
metaphor. I think your made a great connection to the work you are actually
doing right now. Do you think your students are going through the different
stages of metacomprehension compared to comprehension? I think that would be
interesting to watch as they continue learning how to put the subjects and
verbs together. Nice job with you essay and application of metacomprehension.
Erin Kilroy
58. Leigh,
I thought your
comment about readings coming after lectures. There was one class I took in
college where the professor would come in to class and introduce the topic to
us by showing diagrams or having the actual materails there and discuss them
first. Then we were assigned reading on these topics and then we had a lab to
apply our knowledge. I really enjoyed this class because the reading wasn't
something that was foreign to me, but something I already know a little about
and was interested in from what the professor had presented. I think this is
something more teachers should use in teaching. Thanks for sharing your
thought!
Erin Kilroy
59. Monday, February 12
2007, 01:44 PM
Jodi,
I was really
interested in what you had to say about the Writing to Read program. Does the
elementary school still use that program? I think it is important for students
to have phonemeic awareness, but they also have to know the conventions of our
language. I student taught in a second and third grade where the students were
allowed to spell however they wanted. In my class now I have given each student
a notebook with the pages cut to resemble a dictionary and when they do not
know how to spell a word, the try it and then ask me and we can have a great
discussion about words. I think most students know when they don't know how to
spell a word, so that is our job as teachers to discuss with them how the words
work. I don't know much about the Writing to Read program and there may be some
benefits to the program, but I think allowing them to spell however they want
can be a great disservice to students!
Erin Kilroy
60. Monday, February 12
2007, 01:43 PM
Mark,
I enjoyed reading you
wonderments. I agree with you about being able to read faster if you have the
base knowledge to work with. I think students also read faster if they are
reading books that are at their reading level. I think that being able to read
quickly is an important skill, but I have also found (at least at the
elementary level) that there is a lot of pressure on being able to read
quickly, when what's most important is that they are actually reading and
understanding the material.
I also wanted to comment
on phonics and whole language. I have seen the benefits and downfalls of both.
I currently have one student who has previosly been home schooled and his mom
taught him using strictly whole language and his writing is the most difficult
to read in my whole class. He is a bright student, but I can read the really
low student's writing much better than his. I can at least phonetically figure
out the low student's writing, but the letter combinations he puts together
make no sense at all and do not sound anything like a real word. I think it is
important to let students explore with words, but I also think that if teachers
use phonics as a means of helping students decode and also spell, that students
benefit greatly from this.
Erin Kilroy