11. Teaching Specific Types of Knowledge
Identify a process that students are expected to learn and use across a number of grade levels (use your specific content area if you are the most at ease!). Design a plan teachers could use to make sure students have the opportunity for focused practice of all of the important components of the process. In addition, suggest ways of keeping track of students’ performance across the grade levels.
October 3rd, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Graphs. Sound easy, right? WRONG! They not only have to read a graph, they need to be able to draw graphs, interpret what those bars and lines and dots mean. After we have drawn endless bar graphs, line plots, pictographs, and stem and leaf plots….TA DAA!….they get to do it all on a graphing calculator which means they have to know what to program in to the calculator.
Across the grade levels, we need to build on previous learning. Find out what they did in the previous grade and what they need to know to be successful in the next grade.
Each class, not just math, can have students draw graphs of their averages each week, their test scores, compare their test average to the other class’s average on a certain test or assignment. Use bars, lines, different colors, etc. See me for graph paper and markers.
P.S. I figured out how to spell check this!
October 8th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
My 1st thought is test-taking skills. These skills can be taught as early as 2nd or 3rd grade. We think students should know how to take a test, but they really don’t. A high percentage of doing well on a test, especially TAKS, is to learn the various test-taking strategies that will help you to become successful. If we had standard skills we taught at the beginning in 3rd grade, when they take their 1st glorious TAKS test, and carried them through to high school, the skills would become 2nd nature, hopefully. We can check these skills by observing whether or not they are using them on regular tests in the classroom. I find that by mid-year students really start using my test-taking strategies on any test I give them. Also, I observe these skills on TEKS checks and the students who follow the strategies do better 9 times out of 10.
October 10th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Well, I’m going to have to go with essay writing as a process that students are expected to learn and use across a number of grade levels. I liked the fact that the book even used this as an example, so I’ll give Marzano, Pickering and Pollock a “way to go” for that.
Wow…a plan for ALL teachers to correctly focus on ALL components of the essay writing process…..This is a sticky question. Writing has many theories and not all teachers agree on what the major components are, but I can answer this based on the theory I prescribe to as a writing teacher.
Major areas of focus for an essay (in my book) include:
1. Appearance
2. Length according to purpose
3. Logic/ flow of the essay
4. Grammatical elements
5. Voice of the writer/ passionate writing
6. Development of the essay/ details in writing
*These are NOT in order of importance. It’s a package deal.
I think all teachers can assess these six things with some kind of rubric across the curriculum. The tricky thing is getting everyone on the same page, so we all use the same vocabulary, look for the same strengths & weaknesses and evaluate with a general sameness. Pass along folders with bi-annual, at minimum, products would be great in a dream world. Then you could see the 12 year progression of “a writer.” You could also identify potential plateaus in writing. It’s great to think about in a dream world.
October 13th, 2008 at 9:30 am
The first thing that came to my mind is being able to interpret images, including political cartoons. Students are familiar with regular cartoons, but often struggle with the more difficult political cartoons. There are many components to understand. The title (or caption), exaggerated features, picture meanings, symbols etc.
At lower grades if students could start with easy cartoons and work on aspects such as what the images represent, we could work up each year to more complicated cartoons that require historical knowledge. An easy way to start this process would be with the election. Every day there is some sort of cartoon poking fun of the candidates. It would be easy to do a warm up of cartoons such as this at any grade level. There are also lots of website that contain various cartoons from past editions of newspapers in the US and around the world.
October 14th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I know we have already discussed this but I think an important tool to learn, and one that can used all throughout a students education, is note taking. It is vital that a student learns how to summarize and take their OWN notes when a teacher is giving a lecture. Learning how to pick important information from a statement is something they will need to do for the first quarter of their life. . Some major areas of focus for note taking (and I’m not talking about copying words off a transparency) would be thought process, summarizing and active listening. I know this is not something you can do all the time, but I think it should definitely being implemented more in the middle school level. Ways of keeping track of this type of process is by practice and observation. When you decide to implement this more into a classroom routine, for example a test review; make sure that they are hitting the key points.
October 14th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I have to agree with Gina (Yea ELA) and go with writing. I know most of you will groan when you read this, but I miss the “pass along folders.” Yes, I actually read the writings in them and found them to be very helpful. As we all know, writing is a skill used in every subject. I like to refer to it as communication, since that is what we are trying to do. I think a folder with writing from all curriculums would be helpful to any teacher. No only does it show the skills and levels that a student is at, it gives each teacher an insight to the student’s thought processes as well.
I tell my students that their elem. teachers taught them the process of writing, and from now on they are honing that to become better communicators. My “job” is to get them to now use what they have learned to make their writing their own. To become independent and creative rather than follow the patterns and sound like everyone else.
So. . . I’m all for the “pass along folders” not just as a writing tool, but as a way to see the progress in each student’s thinking skills as well.
October 25th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Angel, I’m glad you were the one to post before me because I give you the credit for bringing THE PLANNER to WMS some 13 years or so ago. Thank you for that, since the effective use of the planner is a process students ARE expected to learn and use all through school. I know so many students think it is some horrible torture tool we dreamed up to make them miserable.
I’m glad we are a campus where students have the opportunity, in most classes, to fill out and use their planner to their advantage, and are encouraged to do so. One year, in an Adaptive Social Skills class I helped facilitate (We had “Activity Period” on Fridays) I called each parent of the students I was working with and requested a page out of their planner/calendar/log to share with the group. Each parent sent their particular way of keeping up with appointments, birthdays, business activities, etc. Students could see that successful adults use some sort of planner to keep them organized and that it is a very useful tool.
Taking up the planners at the end of the 6th grade and 7th grade and passing them back during the last part of the 8th grade year might be an interesting lesson in planner use vs. passing grades and see if there was a correlation.
This chapter made it clear how effective dramatization is. Now…how to carry out a dramatic enactment of a well filled out planner…I’m picturing a plain apron with 5 squares filled in…I’ll let you know how that works out. Think I’ll try it with my mentee. (Another thank you to Angel, for encouraging us to adopt a mentee.)
October 28th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I agree with Amy that Note Taking is an important skill to learn and we always assume that kids know how to do this, but they don’t have a clue. If I learned nothing else at the TALA workshop, I really liked the note taking strategy they taught us and the form they gave us. I revamped it for my own classroom purposes, but I have been teaching my Reading students how to take notes. We started in Social Studies, next we will take on a different subject so they can see how you can take notes on any subject.
October 30th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Identify a process that students are expected to learn and use across a number of grade levels (use your specific content area if you are the most at ease!). Design a plan teachers could use to make sure students have the opportunity for focused practice of all of the important components of the process. In addition, suggest ways of keeping track of students’ performance across the grade levels.
I too,think that note taking is a much needed skill. Not the kind where the teacher puts everything out for you, but the kind where you have to take notes straight from the teachers lecture. I think the students should have to start learning it to prepare them for the way so many college professors lecture. Now, I know not all of our kids are going to go to college, so it might be a skill for the pre ap classes.
Vanessa did something that I thought was really cool. She gave a speech to her class on fashion (I am pretty sure she did fashion because she knew it would keep their attention) They had to outline her speech. I thought that was pretty creative, I am betting that the kids found it interesting. I would have. This was a way for them to practice notetaking or outlining. This could be done all the way through high school.
November 5th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
As long as I can remember, Map Skills were an important tool we needed as students in social studies and world geography.
Students learn longitude, latitude, the Equator, and Prime Meridian in early years, but they never stop using them. It’s important they understand where certain places are when they hear them on the news, and realize just how BIG the world really is around them.
Using those four (4) major items, we can add climate and other factors that all stem from physical locations on the maps student study.
A plan that teachers could use??? Well, having a map in the classroom (somewhere) and having students identify locations of news stories, wars, or other events in thier classes will enforce these skills. Maybe?
November 12th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
1. I agree with Bregman and will have to go with essay writing as a process that students are expected to learn and use across a number of grade levels. I also liked the fact that the book even used this as an example.
Major areas of focus for an essay in my opinion include:
1. Appearance – I prefer typed writing to handwritten
2. purpose and using appropriate length to “get the job done”
3. transitions and logic
4. Grammatical elements (including capitalization/punctuation)
5. Voice / tone
6. Development of the essay/ details in writing
I agree with Bergman here to in thinking that all teachers can assess these six things with some kind of rubric across the curriculum. The tricky thing is getting everyone on the same page, so we all use the same vocabulary, look for the same strengths & weaknesses and evaluate with a general sameness.
November 12th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
If you can find the error in my response…you get a prize!!! First to send me an email…wins!!!
November 12th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Angel…so you’re the one!! JK.
Well, there are lots of different paths to follow here. In my Spanish classes, I always like to start out by showing kids that MEXICO AND SPAIN ARE NOT THE SAME PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spanish is spoken in Mexico, Spain is not Mexico. And by the way, Mexican is not a language, it’s a person who was born in Mexico. Oh, and while we’re on the subject, New Mexico, it’s part of the United States, it’s NOT a part of Mexico. Let’s talk about time. OMG. Kids can’t tell time on an analog clock. Unreal!!! They can set the most complicated watch to beep, take pictures, connect to the net, etc…but they can’t tell time. Next topic…nouns…verbs. Need I go on?
I just try to make things connect for them. How many of you have been to Mexico? Do you have family there?
What time is lunch? Now they all know that one!!
November 13th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I use the group process with my assigned students who are emotionally disturbed, behaviorally disordered and/or learning disabled. My students have group with me during sixth period. We talk about problems both happening at school and home. We talk about strategies they can use to be more socially acceptable. I use their planner that must be signed each period by their mainstream teachers. Each period signed by their teacher earns 10,000 points. My students used their points to buy drinks, cookies, ice cream, special time on the computer and game time.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:27 am
While I agree with those teachers that said note taking is an important skill that students are expected to learn and use across all grade levels, I feel that many students are seriously lacking in their ability to study for tests. I know in my P. E. classes, I give students some time in class to study for a test they will have the next day. I am amazed at how many will stare back at me when I say get with a partner and study for the test for at least ten minutes. Some have no clue what to study (even though they have a review sheet in their hand)or how to study effectively. If all teachers could take some time in all grades (especially elementary teachers) to explain, demonstrate, and model good test taking strategies/exercises the students would hopefully do much better on tests and hopefully their learning and grades would be much improved.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
I think it needs to be something connected to vocabulary though I can’t argue with notetaking, the well-written essay and studying for tests either. (And Donna, you misspelled Bergman’s name. Don’t know if anyone ever emailed you.)
Even my GT students have abysmally low vocabulary! I don’t dumb down my own vocabulary for them and they think I am trying to insult them by using “all them big words.” I suppose we need to teach word roots, prefixes and suffines in earlier grades so they can use context clues to decipher what words mean. We also would benefit from agreeing on one way of dissecting the word with a picture to help the kids remember it, synonym, sentence, etc.
Vocabulary is going to get them on the TAKS and the SAT. And it just makes them a more rounded and educated individual.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I think of word attack skills. Most of my students do not have the foundation of basic phonics. I just received a new student who has poor reading skills. I have been working with him one on one and after school. I am using Saxon Phonics intervention for middle school students. The student is so pleased and proud with himself that he is acquiring a strategy that will help him pronounce the words. Even as educated adults we need word attack skills.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
I’m with Lynn on the graphing. The problem we often encounter, however, is that graphing is taught later in the year in math and we are expected to teach it the first six weeks as a basic science process skill.
Planners…oh, I love you Angel, but I HATE planners. I see no need in them whatsoever. My homework is generally spur of the moment; classwork that hasn’t been completed so needs to be completed at home. Kids rarely take the time to go BACK to the planner and write that in. I write the word “test” on the overhead for several days before I give a test. They, in turn, write it down daily. Day of test: WE ARE HAVING A TEST? Uhhh…what did you write down in your planner for the last 5 days????? I personally do not use a calendar or planner. I forget to either write it down or to read what I wrote. Guess that’s where my aversion to planner stems from.
November 24th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
I’ll go with the ELA teachers and writing, except I’ll make it about short answer writing, also known as the essay question. The more upper level classes get, especially in high school and then college, essay questions are in every unit in every subject.
Here are the processes I would emphasize when requiring students to write essay questions (well-developed, supported paragraph):
1) Include a topic sentence that states what they will be writing about.
2) Include many examples and details that fully answer the question (no less than 3 ex.)
3) Find textual evidence as support (in the form of a quote or a specific section in the text).
4) Correctly insert the textual evidence using correct format.
5) Have logic and flow
6) Use correct grammar mechanics
All teachers of all subject areas can use essay questions to assess knowledge (if they can write accurately about it, they know it) and even to assess if they understand something they read. We can keep track of this across the school through a common rubric and utilizing the ELA teachers the beginning of the year for guidance.
November 24th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I am with Heather about vocabulary. In the advanced classroom, there seems to be a gap created by the ability to do work, and the ability to understand the context some work, literature for example, is presented in. We want to be able to challenge them with rich literature, or real life science experiences, but the lack of vocabulary skills turns the objective lesson into a struggle that misses the mark.
I have also noticed all the different ways there are for presenting and teaching vocabulary. I am wondering if because the students are exposed to vocabulary in different ways, if they don’t make the connection. A cross curricular approach to this may be more helpful. The students will see vocabulary taught the same way, in all classes, year after year. If it becomes routine and a daily part of their educational lives then they are more likely to remember it.
November 25th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
As a History teach I have to agree with some of the others that maps, charts, graphs and pictures are areas that we need to work on starting in the lower grade levels. It is always amazing when we look at charts and graphs in history and the students cannot use the knowledge that they learn in math and apply it to history graphs. I am always telling them that it is the same just a different subject. The basic concepts of title, unit of measures, key or legend and how to determine how to understand a map, chart or graph must be emphasized and taught over and over again through the lower grade levels. I also think using cross curriculum strategies could be useful in helping students understand that charts and graphs are not just for math instruction. I also agree with Elizabeth that analyzing pictures and cartoons is very difficult for students to understand. I think teaching strategies on understanding symbols and looking for details would be very helpful in the lower grade levels. The understanding of bias and propaganda in pictures and cartoons is also very difficult for the students to understand by the time I teach them in 8th grade. Understanding the motives behind pictures and cartoons is something that needs to be explored more in the lower grade levels.
November 29th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
http://www.utterli.com/suziqb77
This is a long one.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I teach my students to write the process they plan to use when solving problems before using technology to help them with computation. I call it pencil/paper. Now, IF I could get them to practice this strategy, accuracy would improve. They are reminded often that using cues, or pencil/paper, as a strategy is effective in other subjects as well. Utilizing cues across curriculum areas enables them to have a visual of how they plan to solve a problem, find the main idea, or read for context cues, etc. In math, if their answer is illogical referring to their notes or cues permits them to easily make an assessment of what they did incorrectly and plan accordingly. In other subject areas, by using pencil/paper when trying to answer problems and/or make a plan of action, it allows students to multi sensory make connections.
December 9th, 2008 at 10:09 am
I think one of the easiest, and more valuable, strategy/skills that students can learn is identifying the pretest, that is so much a part of our curriculum, as a tool to be aware of what they need to learn from a unit.
Also, textbooks and presentations are now so well written that keywords are made to stand out for emphasis so that a student hardly has to read the text to glean the important information.
These two things are very valuable no matter what level they are on.
December 9th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
I’m jumping on the Graphing Bandwagon! And lump in with that, reading and interpreting data tables and charts. My students are so likely to panic if they see a graph of an unfamiliar thing – I just have to stress over and over that no matter what is ON the graph, you read it the same way. I could m ake a graph of Hinky do’s Vs. Gobbeldy Gooks and they could answer questions about it. It doesn’t matter if the chemicals being graphed are totally complicated and we’ve never talked about them. It’s not about the content, it’s about intepreting the information. They need to understand as well that it’s a skill they will use in just about every class – Math, Science, and I think there are even graphs and charts on the Social Studies TAKS aren’t there?
December 9th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Organization – I believe in it. (Can you believe it?!) I just feel if I can teach my children to be organized in the way they set up their papers, prepare their papers, and record in their planners, they will have more of an opportunity to be focused on the task at hand and not be distracted by all the “mess” around them. Sometimes I feel like I am fighting a losing battle, but planners are required in my classroom everyday. If you don’t have it, that’s a 10 minute d-hall. I’m trying to teach them to use that tool to help them study and be better prepared in class. They don’t have to rely on their memories of what needs to be done at home with so many other distractions around them. It’s right there in their planners. If I can instill that habit and the one to be proud of your work by doing it neatly and presented in an easily readable fashion, then they can focus more time and brain cells on specific subject matter. We say here at WMS that planners are required, but they really aren’t. I would like to see each of us be a little more consistent about the planners and see where that takes us. I think it’s a first step.
December 12th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Basic math skills are so important for every day activities that we do. In cooking and sewing math is used. Students don’t like it when they have a math related activity to do. The tell me they have already been in math. The students still have problems working with fractions and reading rulers. I must give the math department credit, more students are coming in with these skills than I have seen in the past.
December 14th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
In choir, students are expected to learn to read music. Learning to perform the correct rhythms and sing and hand sign the correct pitches and solfege syllables are important components of the process. Students have focused practice on a daily basis. They first learn to master these skills (rhythm & pitches) separately. As they progress they begin to perform these tasks at the same time. Each year the music gets harder and they must have better musical skills to read the harder music.
I keep track of students’ performances across a number of grade levels based on the level and complexity of the music students are expected to sight read and perform.
December 14th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I would say vocabulary skills are not only needed at each grade level, but in every content area.
I think that a systmatic approach to teaching vocabulary across grade levels could and would improve not only the students reading and writing skills, but their analyzing and test taking abilitites and well.
We could use a system such as the TALA model to teach content specific vocabulary for each grade level as well as general vocabulary in the ELA classes. A regular cycle of vocabulary testing, or writing assignments requiring the use of learned vocabulary, could be used to measure each student’s level of success in building and using a broader vocabulary base each year.
December 15th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I have expected my students to check their grades on Skyward every day. I feel they must learn to stay on top of their assignments, their progress, and to set goals with comments to improve their weakest areas in all classes. Also, I have them check the Star program I use in class whereby they submit their work to me and I return it with a grade and comment. They are required to double-check that I actually put the grade from Star into Skyward. What do I want them to learn? I would like for them to take school seriously and to be responsible for their actions or lack of activity in the learning process. Their codes for Skyward will be the same throughout their years in BISD and when other teachers take them to the computer learning labs, maybe they will encourage the students to check Skyward in the first few moments of class. Hopefully this process of checking their status in school will spill over into their adult lives and they will strive to be responsible citizens and workers.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Hummmmm… let me see… a skill that students need across grade levels. Let me take as stab at this as say MULTIPLYING!!!! I can’t tell you a percentage of my students who struggle and ultimately fail the TAKS because they can’t multiple. (Just like the wait time on questioning, I don’t have the time to teach a 14 year old how to memorize multiplication facts). That is something they are going to have to do at home or during tutorials- but it is a catch 22. If they haven’t done it by now they aren’t going to take the time to do it. I see students adding up 8, 9’s to find out what 8 X 9 is. We do a timed 12 X 12 times table each 6 weeks and write their time on the top documenting their progress.
Math is part conceptual and part repetition. Repetition will suffice for memorizing the multiplication table. It’s going to take a commitment on the student’s part to practice, practice, practice. They can memorize things. Ask them what gun – ammo needed for any level on their favorite video game. They can tell you what is behind EVERY door just as if they practiced they could tell me what is behind 8 X 7.
Then the next problem arises, “Coach Kidd, I don’t know how to divide.” Well bless their heart, it’s not wonder when they can’t multiple. You can see where this is going. Math is a complete different animal from other subjects and in addition is constantly building on what was previously learned.
We have started personalized data folders for students in the math department as a means to keep track of student’s performance across grade levels and INOVA is another option.
December 16th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Using proportions is the process that really is the heart and soul of middle school math. It’s the foundation for huge parts of high school math as well. I join Gina in longing for the dream world in which our students have pass along folders. I think looking at their previous work would help “activate prior learning” as Marzano mentioned in an earlier chapter. There certainly wouldn’t be any hiding behind the old excuse, “We never did that.” I would love to see a gradual progression away from hands-on and visual models of situations to minds-on and symbolic representation.
December 17th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Graphic organizers, story maps and foldables can be effectively used to target specific reading skills. The enthusiasm of the teacher can be a great tool to encourage these activities. Individual or group activities for these activities are great. Group activities could be cooperative learning in which each individual had a specific job in the group. These jobs are to be determined by the group itself.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I like to start off saying that it seems as though today I’m always looking for a more enjoyable life of balance. When I get right down to it what I really need to put balance into my life is more time. Unfortunately I can’t control how many hours are in a day. And so I must try to control, instead, how I spend the hours I have. Effective organizational skills are just one tool that has helped me. You wouldn’t even believe if I told you so, that I stressed the importance of organizational skills to my students on a daily basis.
You might be wondering what organizational skills have to do with putting more balance into my life. Doesn’t becoming better organized just mean “having a place for everything and everything in its place”? Big deal. What if you did have everything in its place? What difference could that possibly make?
It makes all the difference in the world!
If we teach organizational skills at all levels and across all curriculum, we can help students to better cope with the world around them. These skills will provide structure and create a semblance of order and will reduce daily stress levels that our students are facing everyday. God knows, what our kids goes through everyday.
Finally, yes, organizational skills are about having “a place for everything and everything is in its place”. When this has been mastered the students don’t waste countless hours trying to find their last night homework. They know exactly where they are because they are in their proper place.
December 18th, 2008 at 10:11 am
This is something very minor, but I skill that I feel is being neglected. We all know that the kids’ spelling is horrific. I am not a fan of spelling tests (probably because I was such a horrible speller and know the pains of having to study for them), but I require that my students spell words correctly that are in front of them, such as coping notes or rewriting sentences. I assess this at the beginning of the year with one test where they must copy an entire paragraph correctly. This lets them know I am serious. Then if they copy words in front of them correctly on their work, it is wrong. This could then be continued across curriculums and grade levels to help. I think this also helps teach them to use what is there to help them. So many of our students seem to lack that skill.
December 18th, 2008 at 10:25 am
In history over the last few years, we have made an effort to focus on map skills. We have looked at combining the content of some of the 8th grade TEKS with some skills and learning levels of the 6th and 7th grade TEKS in an effort to help our 8th grade TAKS scores since we are not TAKS tested in 6th and 7th grade social studies. As Cantrell mentioned earlier, the kids will use map skills all through school so it is important that we hit the area hard. Approximately 67% of the 8th grade TAKS test will have a map, graph or a chart that they will have to interpret.
As far as keeping track of the data across grade levels, it is difficult in social studies because the TAKS test is only given in the 8th grade. I think the district is about to roll out a tetra-data program that will be unbelievable in helping pinpoint kids, or groups of kids to target for improvement in the future.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
During my art class I also place emphasis on observation and listening skills. Our students so often look but do not see; they listen but do not hear…
December 18th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I have to agree with some of the others that maps, charts, graphs and pictures are areas that we need to work on across grade levels. It is always amazing to me at the beginning of the school year when we do geography and map skills review how little 8th graders retain of map skills. The basic parts of a map that many of them do not remember-title, scale, key or legend, compass rose must be emphasized and taught over and over again through the lower grade levels. I agree using cross curriculum strategies could be useful in helping students understand that charts and graphs are not just for math instruction.
It might work if we came up with some type of folder the student would compile as they learned new skills, it would go with them when the progressed to the next grade to add to and use as a reference when they had similar assignments. Something tangible they could look and say, “Oh yes,I have learned this!”
December 18th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
The process of sight reading is a skill all musicians develop at different rates. In the sixth grade I present this skill with very defined step by step directions and then as Travis said, practice, practice, practice. In the seventh and eighth grades we do several method books that review the process and then increase the difficulty appropriate for the students level.
Not related to band, but to keep track of students’ progress we could take pass along folders into the technology age. Scanners could be used and work save on the teach pathway…maybe some privacy rules?
December 19th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
There are so many good skills that have been mentioned (spelling, writing, organization (my downfall), but I wanted to speak to one that hasn’t come up yet:
Reading out loud. I think this is such a crucial skill in every aspect of your life, and it isn’t taught as much as it is simply an expectation. What I mean by that is that we don’t take the time to teach how to read out loud effectively, how to use your voice, how to read with emotion and clarity, how to find the proper tone of the passage, etc…
I use this skill every night when I put my boys to bed, and I’m sometimes shocked by my high-school babysitters’ inability to read a children’s book well. They ought to be able to do it. But they can’t.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Vocabulary.
I remember my English teacher in high school making us use the book WORD POWER MADE EASY. It taught me a lot about word derivations and exposed me to those “big thinkin’ smart words”. I don’t know what or how to organize it other than perhaps………
the grade levels come up with 5 words each six weeks to use with their kids — descriptive, adverbial, dunno. Find ways to use these words in your lessons, make them come out of your mouth, give prizes to kids who discover you using them in your lesson, make kids write them in their answers on quizzes, use them in the context of a sentence, whatever.
Everytime they use the word, give them a “front of the line” pass or sit where ever you want “pass”, or 5 points extra on a daily grade, etc.
If the kids heard these in their classes, each day, all six weeks. We could influence their vocabulary a great deal. 30 words a year may not seem like much, but it may take the fear away from students not using descriptive and a more sophisticated language.
We could post the best context sentences or word usages in the halls or say them over the announcements with the kids’ names attached.
I don’t know how to monitor the teacher’s effort on this other than require proof in their lesson plans on how they would use the vocabulary in their lessons.
Where to find the words? Look to the spelling bee words I guess.
January 19th, 2009 at 10:42 am
In choir, students learn to read music. (This is often a shock to parents and students. They often come into our program thinking we just sing songs. Um, no.) Lucky for us, UIL clearly states what the music reading goals are for each grade level, and we practice them daily. We also individually assess the students every semester to make sure they are reading on their own and not just following the herd. These students are tracked (if they remain in choir) quite consciously as they move through the grades. For example, as I pass the 6th grade boys to Teresa next year, she will be highly aware of their music reading skill level. As we pass the 8th graders to the 9th grade, it is evident through an audition process what we have taught in their time in the WMS Choir room.