Assignment #10: Complete the 4 part assignment format as you read, reflect, and respond to Chapter 10: Cues, Questions and Advance Organizers.
Remember: 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. Self Assessment of Current Beliefs and Practices: This component asks you to reflect on how and why you currently use the instructional strategy of Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers 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.
• What is your purpose of using cues and questions in your classroom?
• Study the research results in Figure 10.1 for "Cues and Questions." In your experience, what makes some experiences with cues and questions better than others?
B. Read & Reflect “Research & Theory”: This portion of the assignment asks you to read chapter 10 and reflect briefly on your thinking after reading the “Research and Theory” section for Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers. You may want to consider the point below in your reflection.
• Many teachers who are aware of the research on the use of "wait time" will confess that they do not use it often enough. What do you think are some of the reasons that might explain why teachers do not use this strategy systematically and effectively?
C. Practice: Choose one of the specific “classroom practice” strategies or techniques shared in this chapter to try out with 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 Ten: Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers. 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 Ten: Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers by clicking on the “comment” link below.
How has the information you read in this chapter on Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers effected 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:
• Research confirms that advance organizers are powerful when they help students focus on what is important, not on what might be unusual. All the different types of advance organizers described in this chapter, however, require up-front planning on the part of the teacher. How would you respond to a teacher who complains that there just isn't time to prepare the organizers?
• What will you do to improve the effect of using cues, questions, and advance organizers in your classroom? – Will you make changes?
• How might you monitor the effects of cues, questions, and advance organizers on student learning?
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8 comments:
C. Practice:
Again, there were several strategies that I will take from this chapter to use in my classroom next year. Probably the most applicable for my classes are the ‘questions that elicit inferences’ on page 115 and the ‘analytic questions’ on page 115. Both of these fit well with the topics we cover in Social Studies and the skills we focus on (critique, investigation, inference, etc).
D. Final strategy reflection:
It was not a surprise that Marzano describes cues, questions, and advance organizers as strategies that activate prior knowledge (page 112) I was interested in the research that demonstrated the value of focusing on what is most important instead of what is most unique or interesting about the topic (page 113). I can think of times when I have used an obscure fact to try and hook students, but on reflection I can see how that would detract from the depth of knowledge of the topic. It makes sense that by giving information that is only peripherally related I could actually be distracting students from the main point.
The information about how higher level questioning results in deeper learning was impactful for me. I have a copy of Bloom’s taxonomy that I keep by my desk as a reference to use when creating assignments. Using higher level questioning to activate prior knowledge is something that I had not really considered, but will be able to incorporate into instruction. I know that in my teaching I need to improve my questioning strategies & have even had colleagues observe in my classroom to make suggestions for me.
Finally, I was interested to see that Marzano presented examples of advance organizers that were verbal in nature – not written/graphic. It is good to know that when advance information is presented it is okay to do so in a narrative form (page 119).
C. An idea I got from this chapter would be the skimming advanced organizer. Skimming is a hard task for third graders, since they are still learning to be readers. But the idea of skimming a map, or skimming a graphic to teach that skill really caught my attention.
I also really like the list of questions on page 115. I'll be making a copy of that page on bright paper and keeping it somewhere handy!
I could see using a graphic organizer during the first week of school to show the kids the things we'll be studying/learning this year. Each bubble could be a subject and below the subject could be the units. They would be so surprised to see all they learned. Then we could go back to it at the end of the year and show them all we did (and probably add to it!)
D. I can definitely see how cues, questions and advance organizers are powerful! Again, these are things I feel I do well, so it's nice to have the
"proof" that what I am doing actually works! I would say I used Narrative Advance Organizers a lot. Especially for elementary students, if you can read a book about a topic, they learn so much and their interest is high! I start off most of my units with a picture book. We also have a subscription to "brainpop" - if you're not familiar - go to brainpop.com. They are short, animated clips on virtually any topic. The kids LOVE watching brainpops. You can choose to take a quiz at the end, which they BEG to do as well. For example, we were studying the human body. Each time I introduced a new system, we watched a quick brainpop first - it set the stage and gave them some information (and they didn't realize they were learning so much!)
How would I respond to a teacher who complains about the planning of advanced organizers? I don't feel it really does take that much planning - if you know your unit or lesson, then this just compliments it. I think they would help a teacher plan a unit as well. It's worth the time it takes! I think it's critical for the students to have some sort of background knowledge on what they are going to be learning - that helps with the excitement, interest and keeps them from feeling like they are going to be lost. I know I appreciate having guides or information about a class before I take it! In the end, there are simple ways to create advance organizers, such as reading a book or watching a brainpop - not that you would do those every time, but if a teacher was complaining, you could guide them in that directions.
As I said, I think I do a pretty good job in this area, but maybe being more conscious of it would help me do more. I do more cues and questioning than I do advance organizers. That goes back to the section on goal setting - I like to do those types of activities, but don't do them for every unit (and I should). There are so many different ways to get the students thinking about their learning, we just need to remember to do them, and not get tied down to how we've "always done it." I'm thankful this year I'm at a new school, with a new math curriculum and new science standards, where there's not going to be a lot of "how I've always done it" and I will take the things I learned in this book to start off on the right foot - for the kids.
I was surprised to read that the "unusual or interesting" fact may not be what we should focus on when trying to cue or question our students. They love those facts, but this information has helped me realize that questioning with deeper understanding will actually increase their interest. I do know it's true - the more they know about something, they more they want to know!
One way I might monitor the effects of these strategies on learning would be a student survey or general discussion. I could also see asking a co-worker or administrator to count how many times I asked questions or cued the students in one time period. I believe what it said on page 113 that we ask more questions than we think we do!
Kelly,
I have a copy of Bloom's Taxonomy on my desk too - but too often forget to refer to it! I hope we both remember next year! :)
C: Just like Lindsay and Kelly, I love the questions on page 115! I plan to use the questions on States (of Being) when discussing behavior in my class and then making use of our observation windows to watch and identify specific behaviors and how the teachers work with the kids.I also appreciated the information about how to ask questions and give cues. In particular the simple phrase of waiting after asking a question! I think I am so concerned that students are staying engaged that I often don’t allow much “waiting” time, so I will work on that. Also focusing on relevant information and not the interesting facts (but not important) was an eye opener.
D: I know it takes time to prepare organizers and as a new teacher the thought can be pretty overwhelming! But I do know I feel more focused and stronger as a teacher when I put the time in. Plus I constantly remind myself that I do not have to do ALL of it in one sitting. I also hope that as I create my materials I will be able to use some of the materials for other lessons with just slight modifications.
I absolutely will make changes and work more on giving advanced organizers with my students! I like to know what to expect and get excited when I can draw some parallels between new information and past experiences, so why wouldn’t my students? I think it will also give more opportunity for students to feel empowered when they can anticipate what is coming. Using questions and cues seems a logical step to take with a lot of my curriculum.
I think using a graphic organizer with only some of the information filled in would be a great way to monitor students learning. Allowing them to work in pairs and encouraging them to use cues and questions to help each other fill in the missing information would teach them new skill that they can apply to other classroom studies.
I had read through everyone else's comments before I read that chapter and understand what everyone meant about the questions on page 115. I try to ask the correct questions before we start a lesson, but having this list will help me make sure I am using questions that are actually going to help them learn the most information.
C. I also want to use more ques in my classroom. I tend tell the students what we are going to learn rather than activating their prior knowledge first. I didn't realize that had such a huge impact on the amount of information they will learn. I also want to use narrative advanced organizers more in my classroom. I think my first graders will really enjoy my stories and that will also get them interested in the lesson ahead.
D. I think that using narrative advanced organizers wouldn't really require that much preparation. You can always talk about a personal experience related to the topic you are teaching. Also having students just look throught the chapter (skim) or in my case with 1st graders have them look at the pictures. These don't take a lot of preparation on the teacher's part.
I think just changing my mindset and keeping in mind that the ques I give and the questions I ask prior to a lesson can be just as important as the lesson itself. If I keep that in mind I think that ques and questions will be more effective in my classroom.
I think you could monitor the use of ques and questions by assessing the information students are learning. If they are not learning the information try introducing it again using different ques or asking different questions. Maybe they just don't have the prior knowledge and that you would need to use and advanced organizer to provide them with some prior knowledge before the lesson begins.
Cues, Questions and Advance Organizers
Practice: Something that I plan to use in my classroom this year is the idea of questioning before we go into the lesson. I really like the idea of providing students with questions to ponder throughout the lesson, as well as make them use a higher level of thinking. Marzano put it well stating on page 120, "Helping students thing about new knowledge before experiencing it can go a long way toward enhancing student achievement."
I also really liked the questions that elicited inferences on page 115. It helps a lot to have so many examples and ideas so that I can see them in the flesh and work with them.
The other idea that I will try to encorporate into my classroom this year is that of expository and narrative advance organizers. I think that without realizing it, I already do a lot of narrative advance organizers in my class. I love telling personal stories that have to do with what we are learning.
Reflection: It's interesting to look back and realize that you are doing a lot of these things in your classroom without even realizing it. I think that it would be useful if I would actually plan out some of these things from day to day, that way I can focus on how it is helping my students.
I also really think that using Bloom's Taxonomy and the higher level of thinking process and questioning would really be helpful to all students. It creates a better understanding of the information, as well as a more in depth study of the knowledge that you are learning. I'm really happy that this whole chapter gave a lot of thought to the higher level thinking and how you can make more of an impact through that.
Kim - I do the same thing! I always tell my students what we are going to be learning rather than activating prior knowledge which is so important! I really plan on focusing more on that this year. Maybe that will help get their attention too??? :)
It's been a pleasure to have you all in class this summer. Your posts have been thoughtful and on target. Everyone who has posted here has earned an A for the course. Have a great school year!
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