Monday, February 6, 2012
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Responses to Merrill
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Responses to Merrill
Wordle Response to Classroom Managment 3
When I was in high school, my biology teacher wouldn't just answer a question we had asked with an answer. He would ask us a question off of what we asked to make us think. He would do this until we thought through the answer and figured it out on our own. I really didn't like this at the time, but looking back it was very effective for our learning because we had to think for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very effective strategy. I agree that this is better for our learning by making us think for ourselves. As teachers, we don't want to just give children the answers. We want to have them think for themselves and have a sense of accomplishment when that light bulb moment happens. It will just click and in the end I feel they will benefit so much more from this strategy.
DeleteI also had teachers like this in high school. I absolutely hated it as well because I just wanted the answer. Looking back at it now, I do agree it's a great strategy. It can really spark a great discussion. By a teacher answering a question with a question, it can spark a great debate in the classroom and really enhance learning.
DeleteI also had teachers like this, especially in high school. I was not a fan of it at the time because I just wanted to know the answer and if I was right or wrong. Now that I am in college, I really appreciate the teachers that asked us questions until we got the answer. When someone is constantly questioning you it really helps you think about what it being asked. I think this strategy is very beneficial to students, especially to older students.
DeleteIn high school I had a few courses that were indirect instruction. They were very student centered. In one class, we would be given packets to complete by investigating, observing, and collecting data on our own. These would then be graded by the teacher with no feedback. If we had questions we didn't ask the teacher, we would ask our fellow classmates and work together to finish our packets. This could be an effective strategy but for my learning it didn't help. I needed more from my teacher than, "Here's a packet, finish it by next Monday." I will probably use a few packets but will give instructions and assistance when needed. I won't just give the kids answers, I will give them resources and helpful advice if they need it!
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DeleteBalance is key. She she should have done both a packet and some sort of other learning activity. It seems like this class would be boring, just because all that was done was packets.
DeleteIn my high school psychology class, throughout the year we had debates over certain subjects. I didn't really enjoy the debates that much because I didn't participate a lot in class and it was required. One thing that I think he did well was that it wasn't a one-on-one debate in front of the whole class. He would present the topics and then the class would pick sides and it would be a class debate. I think this was an effective strategy because we really got to see two sides of a subject with many different viewpoints and information, instead of just sitting copying down a powerpoint.
ReplyDeleteI had a class like this in high school too and at first I thought the same thing you did. Once we did a few I started to feel more comfortable and actually ended up liking the set up and it really helped me to see a different side of things and to learn to broaden my thoughts and opinions about things.
DeleteI really like this strategy because it allows the more reserved students to let their opinion be heard without having to get out of their comfort zone too much. This is also effective to open up student's opinions without telling them what exactly is wrong and what exactly is right. They're still able to have their opinion without being told it is wrong or right; for most students, that is really important.
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ReplyDeleteI think one of the most memorable strategies for me was in middle school during my English class. We were learning about commas, periods, punctuation and other grammar rules and instead of just learning them in class we made our own books about each rule. We were able to pick our own theme and use pictures to go along with the sentences we used to show the rules. I love putting stuff together like this and having it be hands on along with the in class instruction really helped me to remember the different rules. I still have my book and love to look at it. I think this was good because it helps the students remember with a visual aspect as well as the instruction in class. I would love to do things like this in my class to help the students
ReplyDeleteMy English teacher used a strategy kinda like this but we made poster boards instead. It was a really fun and engaging way to have students think and learn about grammar rules.
DeleteThis sounds like it was a very effective method of instruction while making the rules of grammar fun and easy to remember. I think it was great that your teacher gave you the chance to make your own books for the rules because then and your classmates could have a personal connection with your homework.
DeleteThe most memorable experience I had as a learner would have to be from my middle school and high school science classes. We were always doing hands on activities and experiments which really helped me connect to what we were learning about. I am a very hands-on learner so being able to do experiments and look at things under the microscope really touched based with me and allowed me to understand what we were learning about and put a visual in my head for when we were tested or asked about that specific content.
ReplyDeleteFor my Physiology and Anatomy class, we made a replica of a human skeleton to help us learn all the bones of the body. We had to trace the bones, fold them into place, and then pin them where they needed to go. This made learning the bones fun and helped me prepare for the test because I was able to visualize what the bone looked like and where it was located on the body. Any instructional strategy that incorporated hands on, repetition, and/or making little sayings really helped me learn and grasp the concept being taught.
I agree, seeing something physically really makes you learn the information better and understand the concepts or ideas. I am a hands on learner myself!
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DeleteOne of the most memorable experiences that I remember from my school career would be in in 4th grade social studies. We were learning about national monuments. Our assignment was to choose a monument and create a sculpture of it. With the sculpture we had to provide written facts about the monument. After they were due, we got to walk around the room and look at everybody else's and learn about the various monuments. Then each person got to explain their monument to the class. Being a very visual learner, this type of learning really benefited me. I was able to really visualize the monument instead of just reading about it. These sculptures took a lot of time, but in the end it was worth it. It made the information really stick with me because of how much time I spent on it. Being able to visually see what we were learning really benefited my learning.
ReplyDeleteI think this was a very good way to help the students learn about the national monuments. I believe this would not only benefit the student making the sculpture, but also the whole class because they get to see a physical representation of each monument and hear facts about the monument. I feel students would be very interested in how the other students created their national monument and really be receptive to what each student had to say about their monument. I feel I would personally benefit from this project because I am also a visual learner and learn much better by doing “hands-on” things.
DeleteOne memorable experience that I remember from elementary school was learning about the states. I remember learning the song "Fifty Nifty United States" and to this day I remember that song and all the states that make up the U.S. This really helped in my future learning because I knew the states and where they were located just because of that song. (Plus it's a really fun fact to have about yourself: knowing the United States in alphabetic order!) Having something to connect the states to in a fun way made it more interesting to learn them. I have always loved connecting information to something in a different or interesting way.
ReplyDeleteMy most memorable moment as a High school student was in my English class. Instead of just giving us a book to read and then a paper, our teacher gave us a choice of books. Each student could pick there own book to read. Choices let each student take ownership and want to read the book. another thing she did was after all reading the same book, was let us pick a project from a list she gave us. Again the choices let us take ownership and want to do it. We had better projects and a better learning experience then if she had just told us what to do.
ReplyDeleteMy most memorable moment was in my high school Ecology class. Every day for class we would take field trips to different places around town or in the country. We would learn about the environment hands on. It was a fun and productive way to teach the whole class and got everyone involved. It also was great exercise every day, because we were getting outside and walking sometimes pretty far.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in middle school, my teacher wanted us to understand the concepts of gravity and inertia, and she encouraged us to conduct our own experiments. I thought that this was a very effective way to engage students in learning. Since we felt that the teacher trusted us enough to give us the freedom to try out our own ideas, we took the responsibility seriously and enthusiastically. It was also highly effective because we enjoyed what we were learning and retained the information much better.
ReplyDeleteThe most memorable moment I had in school, was in 5th grade when the teachers assigned us as a purple town, etc. Each town was ranked in class. The purple town was the highest. The purple town's citizens never went to jail. This hands-on learning strategy helped me with perspectives. I realized that it was not fair what was happening. This instructional strategy helped a lot with perspectives of socioeconomic classes and history. Without doing this activity I am sure that I would not have learned as much about the issue.
ReplyDelete