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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 Dto the blog. 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.
• 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.
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 reflect on 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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4 comments:
Chapter 6 Nonlinguistic Representations
I have always been very proud of the school district I work for. They have been very supportive of bilingual education and native literacy but over all they strive to keep the staff updated in all the current methods and techniques that will help our ELL students achieve their educational goals.
One of the main focuses is for our students to develop their thinking and learning by using diverse graphics and visual representations that will help them organize their thoughts and concepts. One of the methodologies that use pictorial graphic organizers and graphs as a tool for learning is GLAD. In GLAD the teacher uses nonlinguistic representation to scaffold and present new concepts/vocabulary to ELL and main stream students in their lessons. Our school district has been a real advocate of bilingual programs district wide and they have provided us with the tools and the training that we have needed in order to be successful. All staff has been trained in GLAD and the district offers refreshments courses to review and reinforce the main aspects of this method. GLAD is used everyday in class.
In the last years, the district contracted the services of Bonnie Singer and her innovative brain frames. These diverse frames help our students organize their ideas and thoughts about new themes or concepts presented. We have received extensive training as well as collaborative sessions in which we observe Bonnie or our colleagues use brain frames in class. The usage of brain frames is not only limited to literacy activities, it has also been applied in math, science or any other area of teaching. Our students are very capable of using frames according to the task they are working on and they can select and explain the frame they would use in a particular activity. Brain frames have been a tremendous tool in our district and we have seen positive results in our kids. Brain frames represent a bridge for most of our students to initiate writing and/or comprehend what they have read in class.
Yesterday in class, my students and I read a passage about a girl who visits the zoo to see a rain forest exhibition. After reading the story we used a frame or graph to outline the main idea and the details in the story. I wrote the main idea in the center of the paper in a rectangle and I drew arrows coming from each corner of the rectangle that were used to write the details in each of the four paragraphs of the passage. After that, the kids created their own frame about a story of their own where they wrote the main idea of their story as well as three details. It has been very challenging for the students to formulate complete sentences, but we have been working hard on it. The students used their frames to share their story to their peers.
It has been very rewarding to know that graphic organizers and nonlinguistic representations have been a key part in our daily teaching experience!
Many teachers share their use and success with GLAD. As you stated, it doesn't just benefit ELL students, but all students in the classroom.
I haven't heard about Bonnie Singer, but plan to check her out. Brain research is so interesting and many different instructional strategies and methods often develop from the research.
It is great to hear about districts that continue to support their teachers with worthwhile and up to date professional development!
The ability to use nonlinguistic representations allows students to reflect on learning in various ways. I have loved being able to use different types of these in various subjects. In my classroom we have been studying a unit on plants. By using the descriptive pattern organizer students were able to show how much they have learned so far in the chapter. This will also be a great organizer to help them study at home. In the coming weeks we will be talking about sentences and the pieces that you need to have a complete sentence. I believe that using the concept pattern organizer this will be very beneficial to be able to assess student’s knowledge, especially when they have to create their own examples. There have been many instances in my classroom that we use drawing pictures to reinforce learning. Students were able to better understand the concept of photosynthesis when they drew a picture of how it worked. I wrote the various parts that they needed and then they were asked to create the picture. It was interesting the various examples that were drawn but it is known that the concepts are understood.
I believe that I will start to introduce some of the other types of organizers shown in this chapter to help students organize information but various ways to not lose their interest. Using the episode pattern organizer I believe that students will be able to organize to make a story. Later in the school year students create their own stories and using this student can write down all their thoughts to then later put them into an organizer.
Something that I would like to start to use more often is kinesthetic activity during learning. I loved the example about using your body to demonstrate mathematical concepts. I have many boys in my classroom that like to be up and moving while learning. If I was to implement something like this I believe we would be a lot happier class. I think we could also introduce a kinesthetic activity to demonstrate punctuation.
I have always used nonlinguistic representation in my classroom. However, I loved being able to see new ideas throughout that chapter. I tend to use the same ones over and over so it will be nice to have some new ideas to teach my students.
Karissa,
Glad you were able to find some new ideas to try in your classroom. Incorporating more movement into you day will definitely make a happier class. Some teachers at my last school used Brain Gym with their kids. I don't know much about it, but several teachers found it a helpful way to incorporate some movement into the day and increase students' concentration. You might want to check it out or see if your library has a copy of a Brain Gym book.
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