90 Matching Annotations
  1. Jul 2018
    1. After a pair-share experience, ask students to find a new partner and debrief the wisdom of the old partnership to this new partner

      Not only are the students getting the opportunity to discuss with a peer what they just learned, but they then get to turn around and teach it to someone else. This method will lead to maximum retention and maximum understanding of a concept!

    2. whoever has it must answer your next question

      The idea seems fun and engaging however I don't like the wording here, MUST. For some students this may be very uncomfortable to them if they don't enjoy speaking up in class. Yes it encourages that behavior, however it could also put a damper on a students learning due to them being anxious/ feeling pressured to answer and answer correctly in front of their peers.

    3. Drawing for Understanding Students illustrate an abstract concept or idea. Comparing drawings around the room can clear up misconceptions.

      This seems like a really good way to use each student's strengths and understandings to the entire class's benefit

    4. Pass the Chalk

      Be careful not to cross those boundaries of "picking" a student. Knowing your students and how they interact is imperative. The student could be apprehensive about speaking or being actively involved.

    5. use small erasable marker boards for each student to display an answer.

      I love this option. If students have an opportunity to be able to answer a question without having to raise their hand and wait to be called on, they'll be more likely to participate and less likely to be stamped out by louder or more confident voices.

    6. partially completed outline of today’s lecture

      This was always my favorite, but I sometimes felt like it consumed my attention instead of actually learning the material. I was so focused on filling in the next blank or missing one, I wasn't actually applying the information presented to me.

    7. Understanding by Design (Backward Design)

      This model is most interesting to me because it requires more thinking and problem solving since you have your results in mind and are trying to design the process to get those results.

      It reminds me of an exercise I would often use with my pupils to help them develop critical thinking skills: solving a maze, but if it is too difficult (e.g. a circular maze), they should start at the END and work their way backwards to the beginning.

    8. Due to the vast amount of resources available on the Internet, it is critical to develop skills in locating, evaluating, using, and sharing information effectively.

      Make sure it is meaningful and accurate. There are so many websites full of junk.

    9. Pass the Chalk

      I love this idea but I kind of disagree. It is sort of like bribing the kids to participate by giving them an object to be curious about and want to get in their hands. Yes they are participating but, for some kids, only because there's something to get out of it.

    10. Like the Minute Paper, but asks for the “most confusing” point instead. Best used at the end of the class session.

      I really like this, it gives students the opportunity to ask questions and get answers on something they're confused about. You're also inviting the students who may not be comfortable with asking a lot of questions.

    11. it begins with the end in mind and then plans how to get there.

      I think it can be really effective to work knowing what you want the result to be--that will be really helpful in the classroom instead of starting at the "beginning" of a lesson...I think it has the possibility of making it feel more do-able.

    12. not our favorite way to learn, we tend to fall back on it while we’re teaching

      Really important to remember when we are creating lessons for our future classrooms. Although lecturing is an easy way to present material with less planning time, it is not an extremely effective way to present material.

    13. who the learners are, what is to be learned,how the learning will be assessed, and which strategies and resources will be used to make sure students learn.

      This is ideal when creating a lesson plan. I think that you still have to be flexible and know things might need to change.

    14. One difference you may have noticed between the three is that Understanding by Design is backwards — it begins with the end in mind and then plans how to get there.

      I think this is very interesting because it focuses on the outcome first and going backwards versus trying to figure out what to do to get to the desired outcome.

    1. Building community

      I think this is really important. In our last class we talked a lot about how when we were in school the teacher would make us go around the room taking turns to read the textbook out loud. We all hated it and felt uncomfortable and self conscious about our reading skills. When we do activities that every one knows how to do confidentiality, they are able to really learn and engage.

    2. Differentiated instruction is recognizing and being responsive to different learning needs of individuals and small groups of students.

      Knowing that not all students learn the same way and not all are on the same level.

    3. Differentiated instruction is recognizing and being responsive to different learning needs of individuals and small groups of students

      If we don't look at what individual students need, many will miss out on the lessons. It is important to meet students where they are and be in tune with how they are responding to instruction.

    4. they may be able to demonstrate that mastery in a very different way than their classmates

      Give different options to assess students. Some will respond better to projects, others to discussions, others to tests, etc. Just because a student doesn't do well on a specific assessment doesn't mean they haven't mastered the content. This is another example of needing to meet students on their level and be in tune to their unique ways of thinking.

    5. you can provide them different paths to gaining that knowledge

      This is so important to note! I think it is easy to get caught up in the standards and use them as a checklist for exactly what needs to be taught. We need to create quality lessons that address these standards rather than using drills, worksheets, and assessments.

    6. lighting

      I experienced this in a special education class I observed in briefly and loved how the teacher had different light sources for different classes depending on how the students were affected. She used the overhead lights for some classes, string lights only for some, and lamps for others.

    7. 4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

      I agree. Promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibly is something we don't think about but is very important. I don't remember experiencing this through my schooling experience and I think it would have been very helpful.

    8. A pre-assessment is critical to determine what current knowledge and skill have already been mastered by individuals so the teacher can then determine which paths need to be made available.

      It's so important to truly know your students so you can determine what they already know. By doing this you are able to see what they need to progress.

    9. Challenging Advanced Learners

      I find this topic interesting because we don't tend to learn about advanced learners as much as we do struggling learners. I found this chart very interesting as well as informative on ways that we can challenge the advanced learners in our classes.

    10. Buddy-up an English language learner (ELL) with another student.

      I really like this idea because not only does it help the ELL student with learning some English, but it exposes the other student to people with different languages than them and helps them to develop empathy for people like that throughout daily life.

    11. High-quality curriculum – identifying exactly what you want the students to know, understand, and be able to do at a rigorous and challenging level

      So many teachers don't do this! When you don't know what to expect, you don't know what to do.

    12. noise

      For some reason, this specific learning environment adjustment really speaks to me at this moment in time.

      In all seriousness, I find that I study best with music playing and blocking out background noise, so I am sure that many others prefer complete silence or other forms of noise. The physical aspects of the learning environment can definitely be important for students.

    13. Building community – The differentiated learning community must be a safe, accepting, risk-free environment where failure and learning from it is celebrated. Therefore, it is necessary for the teacher to insure that all learners understand and respect the process of differentiating instruction.

      I find this very important and is an area that we sometimes may forget about as teachers. Making sure/enforcing that our students know they are safe and that all of their ideas are important encourages the deepest learning and allows each child to give their input, knowing they aren't being judged but celebrated for bringing a new idea to the table.

    14. Judith Dodge

      This starts with a few pages explaining formative assessment. Page 11 lists 25 ideas, and page 12-21 detail six of them. It's worth scanning, especially 12-21. Will give you ideas for formative assessment in your own classroom.

    1. It turns out, the evolution wasn't really about the computers. Moving from "computer as furniture" to "computer as practice station" to "computer as occasional lesson decoration" to "computer as an extension of and enhancement to teacher and student thought" required a serious transformation of how teachers thought about teaching and learning.

      This is very hard. We did not have the technology in our classrooms as students so it is difficult to see them in classrooms today. You feel like by offering all this technology in a classroom you are taking away real instructional time.

    2. Teachers began to see students as more competent and trustworthy than before. This opened the way to teachers designing a kind of instruction that required students to move around, communicate, collaborate, and have a voice in the expression of their learning

      Bingo. Wouldn't this be a great way to teach?