Thursday, October 23, 2008

Chapter 3 Parallel Experiences: Tapping the Mother Lode

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5 comments:

  1. lastNovember 5, 2008 at 8:22 AM

    Throughout reading chapter 3. I was reminded that I need to slow down for the reading of an investigation and problems. It is easy for me to understand because I teach each lesson 3 times a day and really know the material, but the students do not. I need to model my thinking out loud so they can see how I go about reading and understanding a problem. I know that in the future I need to question them more to make sure they understand. If they don't understand they need to know what they could do so they will understand the material.

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  2. PBJNovember 7, 2008 at 12:43 PM

    Like Michelle says.....she was reminded of the need to slow down! That is exactly what Jim Donohue says on page 26 about reading math textbooks! Speed kills. We are all experts of our content, but the students are not. I just put together a lesson for 8th grade social studies....nothing too fancy. Deb wanted students to read from the Colonial Williamsburg magazine. We are now pulling content from that magazine, a book and a website covering a similar topic. A table is used to "hold" their ideas. Hopefully this model will help them to organize ideas and make some challenging readig a little less of a struggle. Not everyone finds this interesting and that is also part of the struggle.
    I also enjoyed the "hostile" industrial tech teacher. :) I can see some of the same comments coming from my favorite ind tech teacher....sorry, that is not Mr. Reimer:)))

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  3. CottrellNovember 14, 2008 at 11:21 AM

    It sounds like Beth and Deb are working on a social studies assignment that pulls together different sources of reading. Sounds like a great idea to help students write and organize their thinking. I think recording the information they read and thoughts about the reading is an important skill for students of all levels to learn. It makes me think of the notebook used by Gary Nunnely at our inservice on Monday. I would be interested in looking at any notebooks in content that are used for this purpose.

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  4. Miss SommersNovember 16, 2008 at 6:35 PM

    I can kind of relate to the tech teacher since we in music don't really read in the typical sense. I thought about it and we do read, however. We read music notation. There are the notes, the symbols, and words telling us how to play a certain peice (usually in a foreign language). I take time when the students are learning in 6th grade but as soon as they go into the advanced orchestra- all extra help stops. The music is harder and there is more of it. So I think I might need to supply some of my 7th graders with some helpful note reading techniques. I can give them the notes on a separate sheet of paper that list all the notes and usual fingerings. I also try to remind them to practice small sections at a time but if they don't know or remember the notes that doesn't help. Another technique for music is playing it over and over to "train" your fingers and brain. I also let them hear a "professional orchestra" playing the piece so when they play they can compare and see if they are playing/reading the right notes.

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  5. pfaffNovember 17, 2008 at 5:14 AM

    Nan, the notebooks we are using in science have been a good change in my teaching this year. So far, what I have them write is very prescriptive, but it will become less so as the year unwinds.
    Teaching students to slow down when they read, and to reread is very unnatural for my sixth graders. They are still under the assumption that the student that reads the fastest is the best reader. We have taken quite a bit of time this year to look at the set-up of each lesson in our science book, identifying the headings. The time committment is beginning to pay off, because just last week I heard one of my struggling leaders look at the heading "Making Sense of Our Ideas" and she turned to her partner and said, "Wait until the class discussion of this part, and then I think you'll really understand this density thing."

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