Cause and Effect and Cooperative Learning-Jigsaw 9/18

Professor Ruggles showed us some slides of her dog at the beach and then having the cone of shame around his head.  The dog was running through the water and on the beach and the effect of that was that he got dry cracked paws.  We talked about the Cause and Effect model of teaching and what that looks like. I think that this model of teaching is one that I will need to practice because I am not sure how to implement it.  I understand the concept but not sure how I can put it into a lesson.
We also talked about the Jigsaw method

Socratic Seminar

We learned about the Socratic Seminar and using it to teach in the classroom.  In this method, teachers involve the students by asking questions that require detailed answers. In an ideal situation, the answers to questions will generate a response from the other students and will create further analysis and research. The goal of the Socratic Method is to help student’s process information and develop a deeper understanding of the topic. Socratic teaching engages students in dialogue and discussion that is open-minded.
In the Socratic Seminar, teachers create open-ended questions about the subject and encourage students to use evidence to support their opinions. The teacher uses questions to guide discussion. It is acknowledging the idea that all new understanding is linked to prior knowledge.

I thought this was a very engaging way to teach and required all of the students to be involved.  I think that this method would be more successful in older grades, where they understand the importance of giving their attention and respect to those that are speaking.  I also think that older kids will benefit a little more because it requires deeper thinking and analyzing of the topics being discussed.

Suchman's Method and 5 E's Method

      In class on September 11 we talked about Iquiry lessons.  We talked about Suchman's method and the 5 E's methods.  Suchman's method is when you have students work on a problem without telling them how they are supposed accomplish it.  They can ask you yes and no questions about what they are suppose to do.  After the students have worked on their problem in groups (or seperately) for a while,you can explain to them what they are suppose to do to achieve the goal.  We were given a  person made from paper and a paper clip and told that we had to drop the person and get her to drop in a controlled manner.  After sking different questions we found out we could manipulate the person in any way and that we HAD to use the paper clip.  We folded our girls arms in opposite ways and stuck the paperclip on the bottom of her feet.  When we dropped her she fell in a nice controlled, spinning motion to the ground.  We then talked about how seeds fall from trees and the force of air.


    We also talked about the 5 E's of Inquiry, Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend/Elaborate and Evaluate.  We made a popplet to discuss what we learned on the 5 E's:


http://popplet.com/app/#/4258067

Concept Attainment and Concept Development

We started off class with a Cause and Effect lesson by some of our classmates, on Weather.  We were able to go outside and observe what was happening with the over cast weather.  Professor Ruggles modeled the Concept Attainment and Concept Development Instructional Models.  Concept Attainment is when you have 2 (or more) ideas that you present, that are not the same thing (ex:odds vs. evens, living vs. non living things, Behaviorists vs. Constructivist)  she showed us several slides to demonstrate the idea.  The first slide had names of different theorists, the next slide showed different theories.  We were suppose to figure out what concept we were going to be learning about (Behaviorists/Constructivists)




We also had a presentation by our classmates on the Cause and Effect Model of teaching.  They talked about the weather and which parts of weather have what effects. They had worksheets that we matched cause and effects of the weather and we went outside to observe the weather.

 

Webquest

We had an online lesson today and learned about using WebQuest to teach our lessons.  I had been introduced to this method of teaching in a previous class so I was excited to learn more about it.  WebQuest makes full use of the internet, while engaging students in the way of thinking that this day and age requires.  Teachers can us WebQuest to teach the full lesson where students can watch videos, review tools complet tasks online and interact with other students and teachers.  I explored the WebQuest site and found a lot of resources that would be valuable for any grade level.  I am going to do a lot more exploring on the site to find more resources.

Multiple Intelligences

Multiple Intelligences

In the past, when I have studied about the theory of being a visual or auditory learning, I have felt like I was both, given the situation.  After reading this article I felt more strongly that I could learn either way.

I like the idea in this article that says as teachers and educators, we should look for similarities in how children learn, instead of focusing on the differences.  This makes sense to me, especially looking at it in a teacher's perspective, who might feel overwhelmed with trying to teach in a lot of different styles.  If a teacher mixes things up in the classroom, it is scientifically proven to boost attention. When students pay closer attention, they learn better.  It is probably more beneficial to change up the way a teacher teaches rather than focusing on the way students learn.





This is my new blog for my adventures in the Elementary Education program at UVU. Here goes...