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.
