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This week in our CEP 812, we were given the challenge of reading and analyzing the first two chapters of A More Beautiful by Warren Berger. Wow! Who would have thought that many different businesses were formed because someone asked a question? Asking questions is important and as a Social Studies teacher I strive to have my students never stop asking “why?”. However, having taught grades 5-9, I have slowly begun to realize that the questioning has begun to decrease and trying to figure out why? In the book, Berger states that the beginning stages are all about development, “A child asks about 40,000 questions between the ages of two and five.” (Pg.15) They are asking so many questions because they are developing ideas and organizing information into different categories to use for future reference. As I read deeper into Berger’s book, he explained that a person's teaching style is the reasoning behind student questioning. I would never think that my teaching style would be impacting student questioning. Berger states that in the early stages of education students tend to ask more questions, because the teaching style in those stages allows for students to explore, engage and develop questions on their own. I was skeptical about this statement because at the beginning of each unit in Social Studies, we are giving a central historical idea/question that reflects the whole unit. I then have students branch off and ask questions based on the historical idea. After each topic that we cover, we go back to the historical idea and have a class discussion that connects the topic to the historical question. During this time, is when student questioning is an important concept to any lesson. Of course with everything in education, it’s not all going to be successful and we will have what many call failures (I like to call them learning experiences). I like when Berger makes the statement, “There are often times of failure, however, each time you fall, you land further ahead” (p. 27). It’s not the student failing, it's the student learning and questioning the process even more. So when Berger makes the statement about why we stop questioning as we get older and says, “When we start teaching too much, too soon… we’re inadvertently cutting off paths of inquiry and exploration that kids might otherwise pursue on their own” (p.43), I have to question some of Berger’s thoughts. I think it comes back to the teaching style and the way information is being presented. If students have the time and are able to ask questions then the learning becomes more student-centered; however, many teachers today are more teacher-focused and feel the pressure to get through the content. As an 8th grade teacher in Social Studies, I had many skepticisms with Berger’s research, however I think many teachers are in a boat where questioning does not come into play. I do agree that questioning is an important part of the learning process, so like Berger, I began questioning what I felt were important parts of teaching. I sat down and conducted a 5 minute quick fire activity. For this activity I used Google Jamboard, and set a timer for 5 minutes. I had to write down any question that came to mind regarding my practice. Right off the bat, I was moving along very quickly popping out questions left and right. At first my questions were general about hybrid learning and what is the point of grading, but these quickly turned into questions about expectations for students which then led to deeper questioning into my future in education. After 5 minutes, I looked over what I had written and had some time to think and reflect. I came to the conclusion that questioning in life is a great thing and we are all at different levels of it. Through quick fire questioning, I was able to build on topics that I felt were important to teaching and found myself becoming more insightful as my questions became more specific and built off of one another. The quick fire drill really helped me to get my thoughts out and helped me to begin to see some of the connections between my thoughts and ideas. This reinforced the idea that questioning is important to growth and learning; therefore, in my classroom, I will continue to focus on the importance of the Next Question, Next Question, Next Question! References:
Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. Berger, W. (2013, November 7). What kills questioning? [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dey1Rm5gUxw&feature=emb_logo Working Memory Disorder continues to become an increasing problem in the world of education. As a teacher and observer, I have found that working memory deficits impact people in and out of the classroom. As many as 10 percent of school age children may suffer from poor working memory, British researchers said in a report last week, yet the problem remains rarely identified (NBC News, 2008). Students who suffer from poor working memory, start their educational journey at a disadvantage. According to my county’s ISIR page (Interactive Specialized Instruction Resource) students with poor working memory have difficulty with simple tasks we take for granted, such as remembering multi-step directions, paraphrasing information, following auditory directions and orally retelling details and paraphrasing what was read. There are many strategies that can be used by teachers to help students with poor working memory to be more successful academically. One resource that I have found to be extremely beneficial is Google Drawings. Google Drawings is a resource that allows students to easily organize information and create visuals. Teachers, or students, can create graphic organizers for students to use to organize information from a reading. There is the ability to use different colors, highlight and add images which can help students to further organize and create visuals to help them organize and remember the important information from a reading or lesson. Additionally, checklists can be added so students have a step-by-step written/visual reminder of what needs to be included in the assignment. Google Drawings also allows the teacher to edit the document to provide real-time feedback to the students, which is an easy way to make sure they are on the right track. If you want more details of how Google Drawings can benefit students with poor working memory, check out my Screencast! References:
Faulty memory may explain kids' bad grades. (2008, March 02). Retrieved March 16, 2021, from https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23435941 Anne Arundel County Public School Special Education. (2020, January 1). Anne Arundel County Public Schools ISIR Page. https://intranet.aacps.org/Dept/specialed/SI/Pages/Default.aspx This is my 7th year teaching for Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland; however, this is the first year that I have over 40 students in each of my classes. What is the cutoff for having too many students in a classroom? I’m one of three 8th grade Social Studies teachers and we each have 40 students or more; however, the 6th grade, which also has three teams, only averages about 17 students per class. Why can’t you have one team of teachers split teams between 6th and 8th grade to take down our numbers? Based on an article by Bethel University Online, some of the benefits of smaller class sizes include better student/teacher relationships, more customized instruction and more collaboration. I have witnessed difficulties with each of these with larger class sizes. While I was lucky to be able to travel from 7th grade to 8th grade with my students, my colleagues were not so lucky. They are finding it difficult to build relationships with 40 students in a classroom when time has become limited and the county focus is more on the content rather than the student. Additionally, larger numbers of students make it more challenging for us, as teachers, to provide consistent, frequent feedback to individual students and provide enrichment or reteaching opportunities. My county is beginning to see an increase in the number of students in elementary schools, but they don’t want to build new schools to support the numbers or hire more teachers. So my question is, at what point does enough become enough? Do we simply have to stay beyond capacity? When do we do something about large class sizes impacting our students learning? References: About The Author Bethel University Online. (2020, October 10). Class size matters: Understanding the link between class size and student achievement |. Retrieved March 24, 2021, from https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/class-size-matters-understanding-the-link-between-class-size-and-student-achievement/ Photo Credit: https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1000089/chinas-most-understaffed-school-has-113-children-class
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AuthorI'm currently in my 2nd Semester at Michigan State University. Please feel free to comment and leave feedback! Archives |