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Blog Post #6

Questions! How do we question?

Why is it important to know how to ask questions in the classroom? Asking questions encourages engagement, but do all questions engage the learner? In the following blog I will explain how to question your students, why it is important to question your students, and the different types of questions that engage your learners.

As teachers we are always striving for our students to get the most out of every lesson. In order to do that we must engage every student. How do we do that you ask? Asking questions is a great way to start. Teachers use questioning to accomplish many things such as assessing student knowledge, stimulating classroom discussion, helping students clarify their ideas and thought process or leading them to consider new ideas and make use of ideas already learned. (A question to ponder: Why do teachers ask questions?)
In my personal experience not all students want to answer questions openly in class. There are many underlying issues that cause a student to be closed off. Whether it be they were not paying attention or they are just to shy to answer. How do you get all students to be active learners in the classroom. There are different styles of getting your students involved in answering questions. To keep all students involved in the lesson, I have found it effective to ask a question then randomly call a student to answer. In previous classrooms I have used popsicle sticks with student names on them. Ask a question then pull a stick at random and that student is the student that will answer the question. If the student does not fully answer the question then ask probing question to get the full answer and get the student to access knowledge they already have. If the student is still having trouble then get help from another student by pulling another stick. When the students do not know who will get to answer the question that keeps the students more involved in their learning. Take the time to praise answers and acknowledge good points in the answer.

The following list are some questioning strategies that I find useful when preparing your questions for your lessons.  Listed below is the main point of the strategies and the websites used for more in depth information.  
Questioning Styles and Strategies
Asking Questions to Improve Your Learning
Questioning Strategies to Engage all Learners

Questioning strategies

-Keep your course goals in mind
-Refrain from asking questions that discourages students from thinking on their own
-Add additional questions to "yes-or-no" questions
-During class avoid multi-layered questions, save those for exams or paper assignments
-Ask one question at a time during class discussion
-Plan time in your lessons to stop and ask questions
-Use different types of questions throughout your lessons
-Call students at random
-Require all students to correctly answer posed questions




Why  questioning is important

Now that you know how to question the students, why is it important to ask questions? Teachers ask hundreds of questions a day. Questions guide students' thinking and determine how students will process material presented to them. According to Why are questions important?, questions are the single, most influential teaching activity. The right questions capture students attention. Especially when you call on different students to answer. It redirects their attention to the question being asked. They also help students interact with the content being taught. Questions help teachers check for understanding and also helps evaluate the effectiveness of the lesson. The last point is that questioning increases the level of thinking. Questions are the best way to gain a deeper insight. Not all questions are insightful questions though. There are many different types of questions.

Different types of questions
There are many different types of questions. Questions that only require a one word answer, questions that require a paragraph of general knowledge, and questions that require students to dig deep and connect prior knowledge. The main question types are open questions and closed questions. Closed questions are questions that only require a "yes-or-no" answer or a short phrase. These questions do not engage the students and do not require them to really think. Open questions are questions that require the student to explain, define, and gather a higher order of thinking. As well as open and closed question there are more types that elicit different thought processes from the students.
There are five basic types of questions such as factual, convergent, divergent, evaluative, and combinations. Factual questions are soliciting, reasonably, and simple, straight forward answers based on obvious facts or awareness. Convergent are based on personal awareness, material read, presentations, or material already known. Answers to these types of questions are usually within a very finite range of acceptable accuracy.  Divergent questions allow the students to explore different avenues and create many different variations and alternative answers or scenarios. The correctness to these questions may be based on logical projections, may be contextual, intuition, or imagination. Divergent questions require students to analyze. synthesize, or evaluate a knowledge base and then project or predict different outcomes. Evaluative questions usually require sophisticated levels of cognitive and/or emotional judgment. When answering these types of questions students may be combining multiple logical and affective thinking process, or comparative frameworks. The answer is analyzed at multiple levels and from different perspectives before the answer arrives at newly synthesized information or conclusion. The last type is combinations. Combinations are questions that blend any of the previous types mentioned above.

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Blog Post #5

C4T

C4T

Week 1
I was assigned PEPRN for my comments 4 teachers assignment. The first blog I read was "Students' rush in where teachers fear to tread: Sport Education as student-centered approach." In this blog the author blogged about to new method to teaching sport education. He purposed a more student-centered approach. How do you do this in P.E. do you ask? well easy allow the students to be more than just the student. Allow them to be the coach, the referee, or athlete. Place the students in smaller groups, depending on the activity, and allow them to create their own game/team. Give the students the choice.

In response to reading his blog I commented to him. I have found in years of being a student of P.E. that when given a choice students cooperation levels increase. When the students have a say in their learning the learning process goes over a lot more smoothly. I am a strong believer in the methods Ash was purposing. The students are more in control of their learning and this gives them a sense of ownership in the skills they are learning.

Week 2
The second blog I was assigned was PEPRN  "What did you learn in PE today? How to stand in queue?" In this blog the author blogs about the types of experiences we present to children in our choices of activity and the pedagogical approaches that we use. The blog expresses the concerns of the methods of teaching PE these days. Do we really want to teach our students how to stand in queues? This gives the readers ideas of how to change the ways of teaching from standing in lines to giving the students life skills of lifelong participation.

In my response I made a connection to standing in queues throughout my high school physical education classes. I expressed my love for this method and concept of teaching lifelong participation skills. Along with my acceptance to the method I also expressed my concerns. Will these methods work in any environment or school system? The facilities that are given to PE teachers in our area is nothing to brag about. In my future career I would love to implement a teaching method like this.

 

Blog Post #4

     In this assignment we were assigned to research podcasts. I was given numerous sites that helped
in the discovery of what, how, when, and topics for podcasts. After watching and reading these sites about podcasting I have learned many new things.
    The first podcasting site I explored was Langwitches Blog. I have learned that podcasting takes learning to a whole new level. Podcasting made the students excited about learning. It took the lessons they were learning to a new place and allowed the students to be excited and share it with the world. On one of the sites I explored there was a podcast of students reading. You could tell that all the students involved were genuinely excited about the project at hand. I found this to be a very good method in teaching reading and fluency. The method used would have to be altered depending on teacher aides but it was a good way of utilizing the aides and teachers in this class.
     On a different site, Curriki - Podcast collection, there were many different resources to use to learn how to podcast, topics for podcasting, and podcasting lessons. I will definitely use this site in my future career to allow the students to use to learn on their own.
     The last website that I explored was Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom. On this site it gives you the benefits of podcasting. Podcasting allows students to gain a higher level of thinking because students are teaching others how to do something. It also gives teachers the chance to record their lessons and allow those students that miss class to watch the podcast they misses. It also allows parents to be involved in their childs' learning. Along with giving numerous reasons of why podcasting is great in the classroom this site gives instruction or links to other sites to learn to do your own podcast.

Why Podcast?
Podcasting brings students to a new century of learning. Today's students are technological natives. These days kids are navigating through iPhones, iPads, laptops, and iPods before they are speaking full sentences. This is what excites students. So why not teach in a method that the students enjoy and get excited about. Podcasting not only excites the student but it brings learning to a whole new level. It allows the students to gain a higher level of thinking because it allows students to teach other learners how to do something. I was once told that a student will remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear, 70% of what they say and write, and 90% of what they teach to others. With that being said podcasting will allow the students to teach concepts to others. Which in turn the students will learn more of the material being studied.

How do we podcast?
How to podcast? I asked myself that as well when I was assigned this project. I am extremely camera shy so I have never thought about making a podcast to post to the world but even though I had no clue on how to create one after all the sites I have explored in this assignment I have definitely been converted to a podcast fan. I am going to list a few sites for you to explore that will teach you how to podcast. These sites are not difficult to follow and are for beginners in the podcasting world.

How to podcast

Using Garageband

How to Podcast

Blog Post #3

PEER EDITING    
     This week we learned how to complete quality peer reviews. I watched two videos and a power point on these topics; What is Peer Editing?, Peer Editing with Perfection Tutorial, and Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes The message in the videos and power point were the same but they were presented in different ways. I found these to be helpful tips on how to approach a peer with comments, concerns, and questions about their blog posts.

     The first and only rule to peer editing is to always stay positive. Try not to be a Mean Margaret. Lead the comment/email with something they did well or that you liked. Which is the first to three steps in peer editing, compliment. Step two in peer editing is make suggestions. Make suggestions on their word choices, organization of sentences, or topic and main idea. The last step, making corrections. Check their punctuation, grammar, spelling, and sentences. When making corrections try to be as specific as possible. If you follow these simple steps in peer editing then you should be a professional in no time.

Blog Post #2

    This is a collaborative post by Krista Rodden (me), Phillip Hall, Victoria Williams, and Duane Nelson.

     In the film, Mr. Dancealot, the goals and objective do not match up with the class style. Mr. Dancealot is teaching different dances through a slide show of the different steps. Also, he is demonstrating the steps and positions while behind a huge desk and teachers’ station. None of the students can see what needs to be done or how it should be done. Then for the final Mr. Dancealot expects the students to be able to perform these dances on their own with no prior practice or hands on teaching. I believe that in a classroom the students should be the doers and the teacher walk around and adjust them to the correct method. In this process the students get a chance to try it out on their own and figure it out in their own ways.

 

Krista Rodden

   After watching The Networked Student (5:10) by Wendy Drexler, I found many connection to the current EDM 310 class. Drexler presented the material in an abstract skit manner. The skit was about a student who aided his learning while using social media and Internet sites. He had weekly classes but also had class on the computer each week. He used many different social media site to connect to other students and scholars in the field of study. The student also used sites to connect to the best known professors. Skype was used to have a professional on the subject to enter the class and speak on the topic. Drexler used this small video to introduce the viewers to all the different methods a student can gear up his own learning.

     I believe this is a fantastic way of teaching and learning. It teaches the students to become independent learners and to find the material for their selves. It also allows the students to connect with their peers to see what problems they may have encountered in the past that can possibly be avoided by talking and learning from them.  Drexler’s video is definitely the future to our learning and teaching styles.

     This video is a great learning tool for new and old teachers. This can be a building block for teachers to learn from and add to as they become independent learners in the field of teaching. It gives teachers tools they can use for their selves as well as pass down to their students. I absolutely loved this video. I will definitely be revisiting this once I begin my teaching career to share with my students and fellow teachers.

Phillip Hall   
     The video, Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts (4:49) by Vicki Davis, is about two teachers, Vicki Davis & Julie Lindsey, who incorporate innovative techniques such as wikis, blog, pod-casts, and virtual worlds to connect their students in rural Georgia to the world. Mrs. Davis starts out by saying a very catching statement, "You don't have to know everything before you can teach it." At first, I didn't quite agree with her theory; as the video played out, her statement made more sense to me. Davis and Lindsey founded the Global Collaborative Digi Teen. Digi Teen is a wiki that connects students from around the world. Students study digital citizenship by researching, writing, and posting their work through two digital portals. Digi Teen allows students to collaborate on assigned projects and figure things out on their own, with little help from their teachers. The students basically teach themselves with help from other students around the world; while the teacher is the facilitator.

     While working in the digital world, the students learn how to change avatars and terraform. It took the students three days to change avatars and terraform.  The students did this without being instructed on how to do so. Terraforming is something I've never heard of until I watched the video. The meaning of terraform is to transform a planet to resemble Earth. Without instruction from their teacher, the students taught Mrs. Davis to terraform!

    Davis and Lindsey also founded the Flat Classroom Conference. The Flat Classroom Conference encourages students to study and experience trends in information technology, by collaboratively writing reports with other students and creating videos. The video and the Edutopia website in this assignment was very insightful. It was also full of modern techniques to help students collaborate and learn without having to burp back the assigned material. This type of learning would definitely be considered meaningful learning.

 

Victoria Williams

While watching a video on YouTube called "Flipping the Classroom- 4th Grade STEM", I started to take mental notes on what a great tool this could be in my own classroom. "Flipping" the classroom is an innovative approach to classroom instructions. This program is a new tool which some schools have begun to use in mathematics. It also allows students to use technology both at school and at home. Students begin the new math lesson at home, by watching a video of the lesson and attempting a few practice problems. This method gives students the time to come up with questions and concerns regarding the lesson for the next day. This process in return, saves the teacher time and presents the students with a facilitator to help the students understand the lesson more. This is due to the fact that the teacher is now able to help the students more versus spending time in front of the classroom with instructions. This program allows students to expand their knowledge more and it creates a higher level of thinking. I believe this tool is an excellent way to give students an advantage of learning, and also help teachers to have better time management to insure each child's future in learning. I will use this tool in my own classroom. I hope to have the opportunity to engage in this program in not only mathematics but other subjects as well.

Duane Nelson

     After watching the film Teaching the 21st century by Kevin Roberts, it shows many different opportunities and possibilities of using tools of the internet for future teachers to use for a more productive and educational classroom. To teach in the 21^st century, Roberts thinks we should use more media devices such as cell phones, IPods, and laptops instead of just lecturing and taking notes. In this style of teaching, Roberts believes a student is capable of learning anything at any time or anywhere.

    I agree completely with Roberts position that he expressed in the video of using the countless tools that are available on the internet to better the education in the classroom. By incorporating Roberts’ ideas into my future classroom it would open the door for endless opportunities and for all students to have a better learning experience.  These countless tools that I could use my class would be Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, Skype, YouTube, Google, and many more. The only thing that concerns me is that a student could possibly abuse the tools in a negative behavior but the video addressed this concern by stating “Tools provide temptation but are not a source of negative behavior”. Overall I feel like this is a great idea by Roberts and should be incorporated in all future classrooms.