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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:
In my high school, I have the reputation of being a teacher who passes out a lot of handouts. For a while I was really self-conscious about this! However, after reviewing my handouts and their purpose, I really think that they are designed to help students find patterns and organize ideas. Many students think that good writers can just sit down and plop some words on paper. This is not true! There are so many patterns in literature; to be a good reader of literature or a good writer, you need to be able to recognize and use these patterns as well. Graphic organizers and nonlinguistic representations are a fantastic way to get students to recognize this pattern.
Also, I like to give students assignments that ask them to make me an illustration of a scene that stood out vividly in their mind while we were reading. This task requires students to go back to the text to double check the details. They also have to fill in the blanks that the author didn’t describe. I’ve often found that creating an illustration demonstrates a high level of understanding of the piece. To deepen the assignment, I’ve also asked students to be sure the illustration demonstrates knowledge of the theme of the piece, not just the plot. I’ve gotten some truly fantastic representations of literature. It’s true! Art inspires art!
On another note, I’ve also been fascinated by my five year olds recent illustrations. We’ve been reading him the How to Train Your Dragon series before he goes to bed. He loves it! And the next day I’ll find him in the office making illustrations of the chapter we read the night before. The details in his illustrations make me know that he’s listening to every single word!
While I know that I need to do more with the kinesthetic activities, I have one fond memory of this from my second grade classroom. My teacher took us out to the playground to review prepositions. We went “down the slide,” “over the balance beam,” and “under the swings.” It was a fantastic exercise that stuck in my brain forever.
In first grade we do a lot of nonlinguistic representations. Students love to draw and it can be a great way for them to tell a story. For most of our writing assignments I have students draw a picture based on what they would like to tell. Whether they are drawing a scene from a story we have read or they are describing their weekend. I have students color the picture first so their brains are “turned on” and then after a given amount of time, they put their crayons/markers away and we work on writing our sentences. It has really helped my first graders tell their story. They know what they want to write about and have a clear understanding of where they are going.
With my reading class, I assign different graphic organizers for them to complete as they read a text. These range from graphing the plot (beginning, middle, end) to character web charts. I have seen students’ comprehension of a story really deepen after they use a graphic organizer to display what they have learned in a story- much more than just asking them a few questions. Graphic organizers really help students grasp what they have read.
I would like to get better at using kinesthetic activities in my classroom. Although we move a lot and do a lot of hands-on creating, I would like to develop more specific movements for my lessons. I know how critical movement is for students and would like to incorporate it more into our daily routines.
Hi Sarah!
I think the key point in your post about the handouts is that you reflected on the purpose of the handouts. I see nothing wrong with handouts, or some worksheets, in fact, if the teacher can say what the purpose of the activity is and what the intended outcome is that they are looking for. When used as time fillers, packets and worksheets are detrimental. But when specifically used for a purpose they can be very helpful.
I had a similar memory from kindergarten or first grade. Our teacher took us outside under some trees by big rocks and read to us. That's it, but it has stayed with me for well over three decades. I guess the impression that learning and reading can happen anywhere even outside was monumental for me as I can vividly recall where we sat and what the building and grounds looked like. Memory is an incredible thing. And it just goes to show that we never know what we do as teachers may resonate with students for all their lives; the good and the not so good.
Hello Amy!
Yes, drawing and talking about their ideas helps students so much with their writing. In fact, I wish that more teachers would allow all students the time to discuss and process their ideas out loud prior to writing.
As you both span the grades from primary to high school, it’s easy to see how nonlinguistic representations benefit all students.
You both mentioned incorporating more kinesthetic activities into your instruction. I would suggest that you consider planning them and writing them into your lesson book. It may not work for you every day but maybe a goal of once a week would be a good way to start. I know when I plan all parts of my lesson everything goes much more smoothly and I’m less likely to forget things.
Assignment #6
I will definitely use more of the kinesthetic activities in my classroom next year. I have incorporated these activities before but not enough. I really enjoyed the example mentioned about body math. I could see how you could use this type of representation in a lot of different subject matters.
I realize the importance of nonlinguistic representations in helping students comprehend information and retain that information as well. It allows the teacher the ability to help students recall information, build on that information, and assess student’s knowledge as well.
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