As my girlfriend has been out of town for the whole summer and is returning this week I am getting things done in time for her to get here so Enjoy my last few posts in quick succession.
For the optimum experience, listen to this song while reading this post: Turn Turn Turn
Post 8: Chapter 7 divergent reading.
To this point, the book “Multiple Voices, Multiple Texts,” has been in a fight to convince the reader that the traditional method of teaching where the teacher asks a question and the student responds, to having the students all read the same things, do the same vocabulary by wrote memorization, are wrong. In fact the book wants students to be the center of learning; that a collaborative community of learners is not only a great way to diversify the learning experience but the best way to teach students.
It the
seventh chapter of the book the authors provide a lot of strategies to reach
this out come in the classroom. The previous chapter talked a lot about the
method in which teachers should analyze a students abilities so as to teach
them in the most effective manner. The seventh chapter gives strategies on how
to make that happen. This book was written in the late 1990’s and as such it is
a little bit behind the times. They talk about bloom’s taxonomy as if it were
on the outside of the education process whereas my undergraduate and the PD
days that I have participated in have focuses on Bloom’s Taxonomy as it were
church. The book talks about how important this taxonomy is to the students and
how it is meant to allow the students to take an active role in their learning.
The idea that a student vocabulary is important is not lost on the authors,
however, they also show that the traditional way of having students go to a
dictionary and memorize the words and their meanings is not the most effective
way to help students learn more. They suggest a few methods that will aid in
vocabulary building and retention. The thing I liked the most was to provide
new words for students to learn and then provide a framework in which those new
vocabulary words are part of. If a teacher wants students to retain the
vocabulary words for the structure of a cell, instead of giving them the words
and having them find the definitions they can create an activity where the
students have to actively seek out the words and use them in the situation that
makes most sense and as they synthesize information they will retain the
information better.
My favorite
part of the chapter was when Dornan ET AL. were talking about the three levels
of questions that will aid in students being able to reach the upper levels of
Bloom’s taxonomy, The first is the literal level, these are the first level
questions that most people see on a multiple choice test. They test how much
info the student gained about the summary of the story. The second level is the
interpretive (of comprehensive level) this is where the students try to
understand what the deeper meaning is, what the author intends to say. Question that appear like : Would the author
agree with the current situation in politics…” “What do you thin the author
would have to say about….” Do these facts imply that…” the reason for this
second level of questions is to help students to understand what is really
happening below the surface. The third and final level of question is the
applied (or evaluative) level where students take the interpretive level and
then place themselves in the situation they are able to link what they already
know to what is happening around them. It is at this level that they make a
judgment call about what is happening and whether they agree or disagree. I
think this is a great idea because when a person is able to fully understand an
argument thy are able to understand where they are in that argument and if they
agree or disagree means that they are less likely to forget the lesson.
All in all
this chapter was very nice to see how to approach this type of learning and
gives some practical methods to aid in the creation of questions and the
selection of reading material to best reach the students.
I think I am going to have to read your book ... I like the approach to engaging students by having them ask specific questions. And getting them to use words that they are not familiar with. This reminds be of Project Based Learning, where students write down things they do not know, and then investigate. From there, they use that new knowledge to solve a bigger question. Much like a mystery game I suppose.
ReplyDeleteThanks for giving me some ideas!
I agree with Gordon! This seems like a good pick on your part. It seems like they went into detail of Bloom's Taxonomy and how to use that in the classroom. They bring up an interesting point when they discuss the students agreeing or disagreeing so that they remember what they learned. That seems like an interesting approach. I will have to try that out more in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gordon! This seems like a good pick on your part. It seems like they went into detail of Bloom's Taxonomy and how to use that in the classroom. They bring up an interesting point when they discuss the students agreeing or disagreeing so that they remember what they learned. That seems like an interesting approach. I will have to try that out more in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gordon! This seems like a good pick on your part. It seems like they went into detail of Bloom's Taxonomy and how to use that in the classroom. They bring up an interesting point when they discuss the students agreeing or disagreeing so that they remember what they learned. That seems like an interesting approach. I will have to try that out more in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your idea that a person who is fully able understand an argument thay are able to understand where they are in that argument and if they agree or disagree means that they are less likely to forget the lesson. Interesting ideas great job
ReplyDelete