Assignment #6: Complete the 4 part assignment format as you read, reflect, and respond to Chapter 6 – Nonliguistic Representations.
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 strategies of Nonlinguistic Representations 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. After completing your self assessment please post a thought or two as a comment (click on comment link below) to this posting labeled Week Six: Nonlinguistic Respresentions.
• Nonlinguistic representations help us to recall and use information every day. Think of a topic that you understand very well and notice how many images related to this topic you can generate in your head. Now identify a topic with which you are familiar but that you do not understand well. Try to generate images and notice how difficult it is.
• What would be the purpose of representing knowledge in different forms everyday in our classrooms across curriculum areas?
B. Read & Reflect “Research & Theory”: This portion of the assignment asks you to read chapter 6 and reflect briefly on your thinking after reading the “Research and Theory” section for both Nonlinguistic Representations. After completing your chapter reflection, please post it as a comment (click on comment link below) in the posting labeled Week Six: Nonlinguistic Representations.
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). You may want to consider the bullets below.
• This chapter explains that nonlinguistic representations are powerful ways to learn and recall information but that many classrooms are very linguistically oriented. Think of classroom experiences that are often effective but that are inherently linguistic (e.g., reading the textbook, engaging in a discussion, listening to an explanation). Suggest several specific ways that these linguistic experiences could be even more effective by guiding students to generate and use nonlinguistic representations, such as graphic organizers, multimedia, and role-plays.
• When do you ask students to represent knowledge using forms other than words?
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.
How has the information you read in this chapter on Nonlinguistic Representations 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:
• How might I change how use nonlinguistic representation in my classroom?
• What is something you now understand better about nonlinguistic representations?
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2 comments:
Week 6: Nonlinguistic Representations
By Ryan King
C. In math, students are often asked to take written instructions and apply them to a process. For example, when learning to solve equations, the students will read through examples in the textbook and try to apply those examples to the different variations that they see. We do have ways for students to remember concepts (PEMDAS for remembering order of operations is an example), but often students are going to be asked to memorize rules for applying the process that they have just learned. As we were going through the most recent unit in my Algebra 1 class, I noticed that many students were failing to notice the connection between topics. When we began our review of the unit I had students do an umbrella generalization with Proportions as the top and each of our topics listed underneath. I had the students provide an example of each type of problem they might see for a topic, and provide the proper means for solving the problem. As they worked through it, students began to see that all of the topics we had worked on in this unit could be solved by creating a proportion. They were able to relate each of the individual concepts back to the larger idea of proportions, and were thus able to develop a plan for attacking each question that was put in front of them.
D. Students will not always see the connection between subjects that I, as a teacher, am trying to create. I need to recognize that my knowledge of the subject allows me to draw connections that students can not always see. By using generalizations, Venn diagrams, flow charts, and other representations I can create visual cues to help them understand the connections. Math is based on building upon prior knowledge. It starts with arithmetic, moves to algebra, and eventually gets to calculus. Each topic is important and unique, but they are all related to each other. It is important that students can see those connections, and often simply telling them about the relationship is not going to be sufficient. There must be other methods that can be used to help students understand the importance of a topic, and how it will relate to the mathematical big picture.
Again Ryan, thanks for sharing your thinking. You are so right…..teaching is all about helping students make those connections. It sure sounds as though I could have used a math teacher like you !!!
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