Assignment #2: Complete the 4 part assignment format as you read, reflect, and respond to Chapter 2 – Identifying Similarities and Differences.
Although your course packet asks you to post to blog for parts A, B, C, and D…we are asking that you only post part C and D. We’re trying to make the blog easier to read and more user- friendly. Thanks!
A. Guiding Questions for Self Assessment of Current Beliefs and Practices: This component asks you to reflect on how and why you currently use the instructional strategies of identifying similarities in your classroom. The intent of this is to activate your prior knowledge of your strategy use so that you can make comparisons as you read the chapter. Below are the questions to help you complete your self-assessment. (Complete – but do not post!)
• What is the purpose of asking students to compare?
• What kinds of activities do I use to help students compare?
• I can think of a time that I asked students to compare, and I was pleased with the results. Why did it go well?
• I can think of a time that I asked students to compare, and I was not pleased with the results. Why did it not go well?
• What questions do I have about using comparing in my classroom?
B. Read & Reflect “Research & Theory”: This portion of the assignment asks you to read chapter 2 and reflect briefly on your thinking after reading the “Research and Theory” section for identifying similarities and differences. (Complete – but do not post!)
C. Practice: Choose one of the specific “classroom practice” strategies or techniques shared in this chapter to teach to your students (If you are not currently teaching, you may share how you would use this strategy in your classroom) – please post a brief reflection of how this went to the posting labeled Week Two: Identifying Similarities and Differences. Click on the “comment” link below.
D. Final Strategy Reflection: Use the following sequence of questions/prompts to reflect on what you’ve learned about both the strategies presented in the chapter and what you’ve learned about yourself as both a teacher and a learner. Please post your brief reflection to the posting labeled Week Two: Identifying Similarities and Difference by clicking on the “comment” link below.
How has the information you read in this chapter on comparing affected your thinking about teaching and learning? What have you learned about yourself as a teacher and learner? Use the following questions to assist you in writing a brief strategy reflection:
• How has reading this information affirmed some of what you already knew about comparing?
• What is something you now understand better about comparing?
• How might you change how you use comparing in your classroom?
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2 comments:
Part C: I am currently reviewing/teaching the imperfect and preterit tenses in Spanish in my Spanish III class. This is a very tough concept for students to understand and they have a tough time figuring out when to use which one. For this particular lesson I decided to focus on the imperfect tense. I separtated my whiteboard into four categories. I wrote at the top of category A. "Characteristics". At the top of category B I wrote "non-characteristics." At the top of category C I wrote "Examples." I wrote Non-Examples at the top of category D. (all of this was written in Spanish) I also gave each student a piece of paper with exactly the same thing written on it. I separated the class into groups of four. I told them to work together and to write in Category A the characteristics that defined the imperfect tense in the past, i.e. age, weather, habitual actions. In category B, they had to write down what did NOT charecterize the imperfect tense, i.e. other tenses, but I was specifically looking for characteristics of the preterit tense, since that's what always confuses students. In category C, I wanted examples, i.e. sentences. In category D I wanted examples of what wasn't the imperfect, again sentences. The students worked away in groups for about 20 minutes. They talked together and referred to their notes go come up with their lists of characteristics and non characteristics. That was fine with me. They then created examples and non exmaples. When every group looked as though they had plenty of time, we presented our findings as a whole class with groups sharing their answers and ideas. I wrote them on the white board. I filled in the characteristics and non-characteristics that groups gave to me. When examples were provided, I asked what specific characteristic (or non-characteristic) was met, i.e., weather, description, habtitual action, etc. The entire activity took about 40 minutes.
Part D: After the activity was over I asked the class what they thought about it. Some students said that it absolutely helped to solidify their understanding of imperfect because it did such a clear job of showing the similarities and differences between the two tenses (imperfect vs. preterit). They especially liked the last part when we did the whole class activity of asking why an example was an example or not an example, clearly stating the similarity or difference. I would say it was an excellent learning tool for about 20-30% of the class, which is great! Others found it to be neutral. No one disliked it. I've learned over the years that not every activity works for all learners and to have up to 30% think that an activity is very helpful makes it, in my opinion, a good activity.
I found that the reading affirmed a lot of what I already knew about connecting new information to existing schemma. It always makes learning easier if a student can make a connection to something that they already understand. What the chapter taught me is that there are many different ways of doing this that I hadn't thought of and that is very helpful. The activity I did in class is an example of a new way of making connections that I hadn't done before. It was helpful for my students and helped me to understand a better way of teaching a difficult concept. I plant to incorporate some of the other ways of identifying similarities and differences that were presented in the chapter into my curriculum as appropriate. Robin Bailey
Hello again Robin! Unfortunately Fall seems to be a very slow semester. We had a very busy summer which allowed for everyone to befit from some great dialogs. You have chosen a perfect way to bring the strategy of Identifying Similarities and Differences into your Spanish course. Students where able to communicate their thinking and reasoning with each other (and support their thinking) before work went up on the board - and that I'm sure brought their thinking up another level. I was somewhat surprised that only 20-30% enjoyed the activity considering the amount of cooperative work that was included!? And by the way...you were right on with your thinking that learning is all about being able to connect new info to the old (already known)!!! Great Job!
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