Just as you learn through blogging, so do I. I have falsely believed if I didn't "direct" this blog w/a question, then there would be no depth of learning. Or perhaps I blogged to you in question format b/c this is the way I had always seen modeled? Anyway, the depth of the learning in the blogs for chapters 2 & 3 were really deep and exactly what I had been trying to do when I simply said blog about what you learned. You impressed me and inspired me.
Chapter 4 discusses supporting and promoting student thinking; Chapter 5 is about teaching for understanding and engagement. What do you want to blog about from the chapters?
In chapter 4, it stated when a child is having a hard time putting his thinking on display we might say something like: Is there anyone who can help John Doe? Ten hands go up in the classroom. I didn’t really think about how it was giving John Doe a chance to escape from a response. I am guilty of doing this because I thought the students may have lost their thoughts or they were shy. After reading chapter 4, I understand that I shouldn’t let John Doe off the hook. I need to stick with him by nodding and smiling and saying keep going you are doing great. So far, in kindergarten, I have not had this problem (lol). I never thought about it like what Debbie Miller wrote. I have a better understanding now.
ReplyDeleteI agree Donna, too many times I am guilty of moving on to someone else that knows the answer instead of focusing on the one that is struggling with it. I need to find a better way to guide understanding and learning when students struggle. Each child should still be held accountable in their own way for the information.
ReplyDeleteCreating a classroom that helps students to think and understand is what I want! I like what the author said about putting thinking on display. This is a way to show students what thinking looks like. We as teachers should make our thinking visible to the students. This shows them how to be curious and how to think about things. I am guilty of "managing the classroom" and keeping them busy moving through activities and not taking the time to really sit down and talk with them. I think talking individually with students lets them know that they are important and that what they say matters.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of keeping a notebook with me and recording what the students say. Then, use it to create a chart for everyone to see. I believe this would be a great way to let the student know that what he has to say is important.
I also liked reading about "The Thinking Behind The Teaching". I loved the fact that the class was doing a nonfiction study in reading and writing. I want to do this with my class. Creating a file folder is just another way to organize information and allows the student to see his responses as well as others on this file.
ReplyDeleteI liked how a file was used to describe schema. That analogy was a great way to explain background knowledge and how it is stored as well as how it changes and grows. I have used the word schema with my students and recently one student mentioned asking her older sister if she knew what that word meant and the sibling didn't. My student was very proud of herself for knowing something her older and admired sister did not. She gained much needed self confidence with that one word. That makes me think of how everything we do matters. I noticed in the color insert an anchor chart containing the word schema. As I was looking at that I was thinking how I have used the word in my teaching and need to display it. That takes me to thinking about how children are often "sponges" for new, big, and unusual words. I am now thinking ............vocabulary building! How is that for putting my thinking on display?
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 4, I liked when the teacher had the students leave their book open to a page and record a question they believe to be important and the teacher writes back to the student. I also enjoyed reading about the significance of putting our thinking on display for our students. In Chapter 5, I liked the discussion of mental files where we store all the things we believe to be true and always adding new info to our files because there is so much to learn. I enjoyed the photos of the actual file folders they created with schema, new learning, and misconceptions. There were lots of great ideas in these two chapters!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Donna and Jeanine. I personally have called on a student and when they couldn't respond, I found another student who could "help" them in order to take them out of the spotlight. I, too, need to find better ways to help those students so that they can be successful as well because taking that opportunity away from them is not actually helping them at all.
ReplyDeleteI have read Chapter 4 as well as the thoughts of my fellow teachers. True I would like a classroom that inspired thoughts from children, but more than that I would like to be the kind of teacher that inspired my students to think outside of the box, to not be afraid of trying new things or ideas, to not be afraid of failing but to know that there is no such thing as failure, you learn something each time you are wrong. Maybe it might just be what not to do the next time. I try to encourage my students into believing that they are capable of anything if they just try, but I fear I fall short lots of time. In Chapter 5 I compare the files to a K-W-L chart that we use in our classroom when we read new text. I do like the idea of the files and moving new info to learned info as they read and research. This is something I might like to try later on this year.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading these two chapters but sometimes they made me say "Ouch!" Like several of you, I have often stolen thinking time from my students - thinking that I was being a good teacher doing it by moving the lesson along - but now I know differently. I will make it a point to give children TIME TO THINK AND EXPRESS THEMSELVES, or at least I will try harder to do that. Sometimes it is hard to do! I believe that Miller has it so right...we need to create cultures that support and promote student thinking by putting our own thinking on display, being intentional with our use of language (Kippie referenced this), and by making thinking visible, public, and permanent. We've been told by ARI how important modeling is for explicit instruction. The same goes for comprehension instruction. We've got to show children what good thinking sounds like, why it's important, and where it can lead us. I'm going to copy the Teacher Talk portion of chapter 4 so that refer to it and incorporate this into my practice. I also found David Perkins' analogy (p 60)of learning to dance if the dancers were invisible and the way that relates to "thinking" very interesting. Wow, I'd never thought of it that way before but it makes so much sense. I thought the whole premise of the file folder was a great way to make thinking and learning visible for students. The way they made connections between their new learning and what they already knew to help them remember and understand was SUPER! The whole file folder lesson made the comprehension process visible for the students. I know this would add time to reading lessons BUT what the students would gain in comprehension would be so worth it. Wouldn't this work great as well in science and social studies? I can see students gaining so much from this.
ReplyDeleteJolene, we are on the same page...I love the notebook idea. I can see how keeping notes in a notebook would help me sooooooo much. I can also see how beneficial a notebook would be as the year progresses. You would actually have daily documentation of areas of struggle and success with each student! (Even parents might like to see some of the entries during a conference.) I am getting a notebook-end of discussion!!
ReplyDeleteI am glad Sabra reminded me about the dancer analogy. I read that one and went right past it without really thinking about it enough. Yeah, we do have to model and demonstrate thinking and comprehension.
The last "biggie" I got was the use of the folder as a KWL activity. I've done KWL many times before, but not to this extent. I always list a few ideas the kids give me and then we move on. At the end of the unit, we look back at our chart and read the information, but that is about the extent of the learning. I LOVED the way they connected the ideas as they learned and how they thought of their brains as computers. I have really got to plan my next big unit and provide even more books in order to carry out this type of teaching and learning. I am also bringing in tons of sticky notes for my next unit, and I am not doing all the writing on the chart!
Robbie, go girl! I also loved the notebook and the file folder anchor chart idea. What a great way to help students see their knowledge of a subject, connect their new learning to what they already know, and show that it is a continuing cycle. I also liked the Misconception area. We've got to show students that it's ok to put something out there and not always be correct. I think I might even be the one to put a misconception up there just as a model of that.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Jolene, I am always trying to manage my class and I too need to take time and listen to my students more. This is an area I think we all need to work on due to the fact that we are so busy and trying to get everything in, it is sometimes hard to stop and take the time and listen to our students more individually. I loved the idea of putting their thinking on display. I can see that this would really help a few in my class. I can also see this leading to building vocabulary like Kippie mentioned. Great ideas!
ReplyDeleteWell, Sabra and Robbie...you know I love the dancer analogy also! We've spent so much time talking about 'explicit' instruction - why wouldn't this apply to teaching thinking processes as well?
ReplyDeleteI also have to join in saying I've often been guilty of letting children off the hook too easily when they don't know an answer right away. I can hear myself saying, "Who can help Billie Bob with that?" I need to work on this and focus on ways to help direct the students thinking rather than let their peers answer for them.