Daniels and Zemelman Chapters 5 and 8

Daniels and Zemelman Chapters 5 and 8

                Wow there’s a lot I want to write about here. To start, I really like how chapter 5 is LOADED with strategies. I had heard of a lot of them, but the ones I hadn’t heard of made it worth reading. Having so many strategies to choose from allows the instructor to touch on all of the multiple intelligences so students will be able to express themselves in their preferred way, and they can push themselves to improve in another. My favorite new strategy was the “Frontloading with Images” (page 100). It’s a pre-reading strategy that familiarizes the reader with content before they read it. This low stakes activity allows students to predict and give meaning to what they are about to read. In biology, there is a lot of new material that students may not have ever seen before. Therefore, giving students the time to see the material before they learn it will allow them to be less anxious when reading the upcoming passage. With terms like mitochondria, endosymbiosis, and a variety of molecular genetics topics, students will probably want to use this technique a lot.

                In chapter 8, Daniels and Zemelman comment on some websites teachers can use in Chemistry. Khan Academy is a site that friends and I used in my college chemistry classes, and I can say that they are great for just about any topic. As a teacher, I would recommend my students use this when they are having issues grasping concepts. I don’t think it fits in lecture because it’s like having somebody lecture for you. I would rather show a YouTube video that illustrates a concept because I can lecture before or after it to help fill in the gaps. I also had trouble seeing how this belonged in the “Independent Reading Workshop in Content Areas” chapter. It seemed more like ways to use technology, which is still useful but not really that great in the context of the chapter. I did like the parts about what chemists actually do and how Avogadro’s Number got its name. Again, these lessons helps students see meaning in what they are learning so they can be motivated to work hard in your class, even when it’s hard to see why we need to know chemistry/biology/physics/English/history/math/anything else.

               

Chapters 6 and 7 Daniels and Zemelman

           One of the most important aspects of teaching is to make a community in your classroom. A community helps serve all the needs of the individual and are crucial for a fully functioning learning community. At times, I get hung up over the intricacies of how to deliver a topic without focusing on all the necessary factors that need to be done beforehand, such as promoting a community. On page 203, Daniels and Zemelman share some research out of the University of Chicago that describes four academic mind sets that “relate directly to the atmosphere teachers establish in the community.” These four mind sets help simplify how to create a community of learners. I think the most difficult of these to promote is the one that says “my ability and competence grow with my effort” because students can become discouraged when the content gets tough. In math and science courses, I saw a lot of students get frustrated and not believe that their effort translated to a higher grade, which it doesn’t always do. In eighth, ninth, and tenth grade, I gave up on math several times because my effort didn’t result in a higher score and I felt helpless. In the context of this chapter, none of those classes were a community of learners.

Of the many strategies Daniels and Zemelman outline to promote a community of learners, the section on book clubs stood out to me. My first book club experience was in high school, but my first real experience with last semester in Dr. Horwitz’s MLED 330 class. Dr. Horwitz gave us a choice of several books to read and I chose to read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. My group and I divided the novel into three sections and read them by certain dates on which we would discuss what we read. Each of us would choose one role from a list to help us contribute to the group. Some of these roles were illustrator, summarizer, cool connector, and questioner. The roles helped the group work efficiently and got us thinking in detail about the book. I found this to incredibly helpful and it gave a meaning to reading. As a book club, we became a community of learners and actually did some research on Native American tribes. In science, I plan on using this technique for reading small articles from the news or excerpts from scientific papers. I think this will promote a community of learners and also help my students to think like researchers in biology.

Strong Chapter 6

This was a really interesting read for me. The beginning seemed a little farfetched until the authors starting talking about how Darth Vader assigns essays. It was very reminiscent of my time in high school. Much of the assignments were research based, and we weren’t given as much direction as we needed, which made it a lot more work than it could have been. I remember getting so frustrated trying to figure out what the assignment wanted me to do and how to do it but it never really mattered because we all got the same grade we always got.

    I know I don’t want to be the teacher whose assignments frustrate students and make them feel like they’re alone in working on the assignments. The CRAFT model for designing assignments is something that I am really excited to try. In particular, I like the role portion of the model. Students that are asked to pretend to be something else for an assignment will gain a fresh, new perspective, on a topic. This is the higher level thinking I want to see in my classroom. I want to hear kids wondering what it’s like for an animal or bacteria to be alive. “What kind of things do they need to do every day?”  When I was a little kid, I remember asking my grandpa where the birds go when it rains. I believe this sort of thinking leads to new questions and helps build a new thought or belief about a topic.  It’s a skill I want my students to have because of its transfer capabilities.