In chapter 9 I specifically enjoyed reading about the Learning Strategies (page 321). Reading this section really opened my eyes to how important it is to teach our students how to learn. For an education class that I was previously in I read Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire by Rafe Esquif and in that book it talked about how he teaches his students in his classroom. He specifically talked about how to teach them to study and do homework. He teaches them that they need to learn how to study effectively. He wants his students to know that it will not matter how long they spent studying or reading a chapter, but how they strategized and practiced problems. In this chapter it talks about similar concepts. The chapter talks about how we need to distinguish the important information from less important information. This skill can be used for note taking as well as underlining and highlighting when reading. There have been many times where I have spent most of my time taking notes in a class and I try and write every word that my professor is saying rather than write down key ideas that are mainly important.
I also enjoyed reading about how teachers can promote creativity in the classroom. Promoting creativity is very important to help students self esteem inside and outside of the classroom. One of the tactics that the book talked about was brainstorming (page342). Brainstorming can be a good way to have students give some ideas as well as be able to collaborate with other students and come up with new ones. This made me think of being in middle school and coming up with classroom rules. At the beginning of the year the teacher would ask us to as a class come up with a set of rules that we would hold ourselves accountable for. It was good way for us to shout out our ideas or talk to other students and encourage each others ideas.
In chapter 10 I also really enjoyed the section about collaboration and cooperation (page372). Collaboration with your peers in the classroom are one of the most effective strategies that a teacher can use in the classroom. It allows people in a group to be able to share different ideas that they might have. It was eye opening to read that group work and collaboration are usually categorized as the same thing but are not. Just because you put students in a group together does not necessarily mean that they are going to collaborate. I remember being put into groups and have certain students that were not actively collaborating in the group which is frustrating. If we put students into groups to collaborate we need to make sure that we are asking the correct things from the students.
Brainstorming can be great, like you did about rules, if it is done the right way. One problem that I have often seen is that an idea may be shot down right away. The key to effective brainstorming is to allow every idea to come forward initially, and then discuss the pros and cons of each idea, letting students sort of week them out.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about group work not being the same as true collaboration. It's important that each student in a group have a vital role to play, and the success of the group should depend on each student doing his or her job.
Brainstorming can be great, like you did about rules, if it is done the right way. One problem that I have often seen is that an idea may be shot down right away. The key to effective brainstorming is to allow every idea to come forward initially, and then discuss the pros and cons of each idea, letting students sort of week them out.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about group work not being the same as true collaboration. It's important that each student in a group have a vital role to play, and the success of the group should depend on each student doing his or her job.
I always hated group work as a student, because I felt like I was always a part of groups that there was at least one or two people who did not want to do the work. Even in college this was the case. I remember when I took Children's Literature at Moraine Valley last year and had to do a group project. It was an online class, so all communication was done through the Discussion Board. We each had to complete book reviews on three children's books that were the same story, but from different countries, and put our work together into a Power Point presentation. There were four of us in the group, and one person was not participating at all. It was coming close to the due date, so I ended up completing a second set of books, because I did not want my grade to suffer for having an incomplete Power Point. I had already emailed the teacher asking what I should do, and she said that if I didn't mind doing the other three then she would appreciate it, since we were using these presentations the next week as a discussion among the other students. I think it is very important to monitor collaboration with the students so that this does not happen. I think it is important for students to collaborate and work together, because they will need to do this their whole lives, even when they are not in school. However, it is very stressful when other students are doing more work, because someone is slacking. Collaboration is great, but it needs to be done the right way and students should be responsible for their own work, rather than worry about a lower grade because someone else chooses not to do their work.
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