Study Questions for "The Art and Science of Teaching"
For those of you who missed a session of our conversations about this book and still want to earn the 6 CEU's that we can offer for this book club, please respond to the study questions for the session you missed. Post your responses in this document. They can be read by all the participants in the Book Club group, who can also respond to what you have written. It will be fun to keep our discussion alive through this media. Please post your original comments no later than Nov. 15.
If there is interest, I can post study questions for the part of the book we have not discussed and we can "finish" our discussion. Please let me know if you would like me to post the questions.
Week 1 questions:
Introduction
1. Thinking of your own teaching practices and those of your peers, what habits would you consider characteristic of the "art" of teaching?
2. Give that there is a significant difference between the achievement of students taught by effective teachers and those taught by less effective teachers, what changes in policy would you recommend?
Chapter 1
1. How is feedback related to effective goal setting?
2. How can formative assessments help reinforce student effort?
3. Explain the difference between learning goals and learning activities.
4. What are some of the benefits of having students chart their own knowledge gain or progress toward a learning goal?
Chapter 2
1. Marzano discusses six major actions for creating effective critical-input experiences. Which, if any, of these actions is most significant in how you design learning experiences?
2. Critical-input experiences designed to convey procedural knowledge involve breaking down the procedure into chunks, and giving students the opportunity to try out each part of a procedure. Think of a simple procedure. How would you break it into chunks? How might students interact with every chunk of the procedure?
Chapter 3
1. Give an example of a learning activity designed to help students practice and deepen their understanding of new content.
2. What conditions might make practice ineffective? Why does Marzano argue in favor of guided practice?
3. Why does Marzano make the distinction between practicing procedural knowledge and reviewing and revising declarative knowledge?
4. How and why is homework assigned in your classroom or school? How does this relate to Marzano's recommendations on homework policies and practices?
Chapter 4
1. Give an example of a learning activity designed to help students generate and test hypotheses about content. Now consider how this activity would support a learning goal of what students will know and be able to do.
Answer (Brandon Pitzer): I teach adaptive US History. I would have my students hypothesize on the JFK Assassination and who was involved and how it happened. It will give the students the background knowledge of the assassination, but will also make them explore other possibilites and to question history and history books.
2. This chapter covered the four types of hypothesis generation and testing tasks: experimental inquiry, problem solving, decision making, and investigation. Can you think of a time when you used one of these processes to develop your understanding of concept or phenomenon? How can you decide which of these tasks is best suited to a learning goal?
Answer (Brandon Pitzer): Again with the JFK assassination, the students investigate what happened in Texas and the events leading up to the assassination. It just depends on how the students will develop their hypothesis and it depends on the subject/concept of the class.
3. How can graphic organizers help students as they generate and test hypotheses?
Answer (Brandon Pitzer): I think it gives a clear picture on what knowledge they have and where they want to go with their hypothesis.
For those who were unable to attend each session for the Idiot's Guide to Native American History and still want the 6 CEU's, please share your thoughts on how you will/are implementing the essential understandings of the Indian Ed for All act, and what we need to be doing to fully implement the spirit of the act in the Belgrade schools.
Answer (Brandon Pitzer): Well, in history and government class I have just brought up more things dealing with Native Americans and other minorities. I just explained how perspectives maybe different in interpreting history and laws. I think that we just need to be consistent in our classes to explain different perspectives and how people might view things differently.
8 comments:
Currently in my US. History classes we are fighting the Indian Wars. I focus strongly on this is a "Clash of Cultures" not just arguements over land. Most students do not realize just how different the cultures were and can see both sides of this issue instead of the tone being ...the whites were mean or the Indians were mean. In AP History...these students study the impacts of what was happening to the tribal nations in almost every chapter. The most shocking thing for these students was learning that many times "slaves" lived better than the tribes. I really emphasize both parties responsiblities in what transpired between these two groups as neither party put much effort into understanding the others culture. In both regular and AP the students are beginning to see there is accountablity on both sides and today we need to overcome our differences by taking time NOW to understand one another.
Chapter 3
1. Give an example of a learning activity designed to help students practice and deepen their understanding of new content.
In history, we discuss content, students take notes, and students answer comprehension questions. Mr. Pitzer's history class and my history class played a History Jeopardy game. Of course, my class won. The loser's had to serve the winner's pumpkin pie. We have a rematch coming up in December. I was surprised at how much the students knew.
2. What conditions might make practice ineffective? Why does Marzano argue in favor of guided practice?
3. Why does Marzano make the distinction between practicing procedural knowledge and reviewing and revising declarative knowledge?
4. How and why is homework assigned in your classroom or school? How does this relate to Marzano's recommendations on homework policies and practices?
Chapter 3
1. Give an example of a learning activity designed to help students practice and deepen their understanding of new content.
2. What conditions might make practice ineffective? Why does Marzano argue in favor of guided practice?
You can't give new content for homework but I am amazed at finding some teachers do. My children occasionally would bring homework home that they had no idea how to do. This practice would not work.
3. Why does Marzano make the distinction between practicing procedural knowledge and reviewing and revising declarative knowledge?
4. How and why is homework assigned in your classroom or school? How does this relate to Marzano's recommendations on homework policies and practices?
. Why does Marzano make the distinction between practicing procedural knowledge and reviewing and revising declarative knowledge?
You need 3 - 4 exposures to commit it to memory. I don't think I do this enough so I need to work on this.
4. How and why is homework assigned in your classroom or school? How does this relate to Marzano's recommendations on homework policies and practices?
I don't think we have guidelines for parents here at the high school. Each teacher does have a syllabus which explains requirements for class. Homework should be an extension of schoolwork.
Just another note on the tribal nations. In AP History the students just found out that during the Civil War the tribal nations fought on both sides. Some were quite sympathetic with the South as they were very angry with the government of the North for never following through. They did not recognize that the men of the South had been sitting in DC.
As the Media Specialist for the Intermediate School, I feel that my role can take many directions. First of all, it is my responsibility to make sure that the books and media dealing with Native Americans is current and appropriate. The state has a large listing of books and videos that have been approved by Native Americans as being an appropriate portrayal of Native Americans and their life style. I need to provide texts for students as fiction sources and as non fiction sources that fall under the appropriate category. There are many excellent books out there. I also feel that it is important to provide resources for teachers as well. The most important step in providing sources is to advertise. Making students aware of the book selections and displaying them for their review is vital. I also believe that this step is important for teachers too. Teachers are so busy and have so many demands on their time that I try to contact them by email or to mention things at faculty meetings to inform them of resources that are available in the library as many do not have the time to seek these sources out. If someone requests some information, I will usually suggest many more selections that meet their curriculum needs. Most are unaware of the vast curriculum enhancements that are available in the library. I also think that it is important to discuss Native American topics at all times and not just at certain times of the year or during certain studies. Library lessons involve a great deal of computer links in that for each source mentioned or used in the library there is an online source as well. I have been milling over the idea of using Native American topics when we demonstrate the use of these various reference books.
First of all, I would like to say that I agree with Gail completely. As media specialists, we have a major role to play as far as making sure materials for Indian Education for All are available in our libraries for students and teachers alike. It is important for our collections to include a variety of fiction, nonfiction, historical and contemporary works that represent individual tribes as well as the more general Native American works. Diversity of tribes is a key part of the Essential Understandings so it is important to acknowledge that diversity in our collections. It is also important for media specialists, classroom teachers and students to be aware that some materials may present biased views of Native Americans, particularly older publications. Inappropriate materials may not necessarily have to be weeded; they could be used as valuable tools as a means to identify, illustrate or discuss bias, perspective, etc. with students in our classrooms.
There are many ways that we can implement the Indian Ed for All Act. We can teach the Essential Understandings directly as specific content, we can utilize Native American pedagogy in our lessons, or we can regularly look at things from different points of view, including the Native American viewpoint. Utilizing point of view may seem easier in a history class, but with thought and planning it can certainly work with other classes as well. In addition, it may be possible to integrate the Essential Understandings into language, math and science classes by using Native American information in sentences for language activities, math word problems, or discussions on the use of plants and animals in a biology lesson. A Blackfeet teacher I worked with had an amazing number of suggestions for things that could be taught just focusing on buffalo, for example. While we may not have the luxury of focusing on one theme like that for long, I think it is important that we consciously make the effort to add information on a regular basis, even if it is only a passing reference or fact naturally included in our daily lessons. This is, I believe, more what the Native Americans themselves have in mind based on those I’ve visited with, rather than setting aside one day or week for Native American studies. I think Gail’s idea of using Native American topics for our library lessons is a great example of how we can incorporate Native American topics into our regular library curriculum.
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