Journal--Week 10

Journal #45
March 6, 2012

“The goal is to elicit good reasoning, not to channel thinking in a ‘right’ direction.”
How you ask questions is very important in establishing a basis for effective communication. Effective questions open the door to knowledge and understanding. It is important to use questions to allow students to think outside of the box—allow them to use other methods of information and reasoning rather than just what is in front of them in the text. When we teach we want to use the questions to guide students to use multiple problem solutions rather than what we feel is right.

Journal #46
March 7, 2012
We took a test today in Dr. Crawford’s class. The test was not exactly what I was expecting it to look like. He gave us information to study which was applicable to the test, but formatting of the test was not what I perceived in my mind. During our review day, he stated we would have 5-6 essay questions, some true or false, some multiple choice, and finally some terminology matching.
There are several reasons I know why I didn’t do well on this test, but I also feel that this test was opposite from what we have been taught to use. The test was “a regurgitate the information that we have learned” type test. What I have learned thus far in the education program is that I want to teach for my students to know, not teach to test and drop the information. Unfortunately, I feel that is what this test was geared towards—test and drop information. It was another reminder that I need to make sure I have my lessons applicable to student usage.

Journal #47
March 8, 2012
I have been learning a lot about reading and listening strategies in this class. I am excited to actually start seeing ones that can be used within my content areas. The one that stood out to me the most this week was the Guided Lecture Procedure. In this students listen with intent of retaining all information, then teacher writes three-four main objectives, teacher lectures for one-half hour, students are asked to recall information quickly, finally students discuss in small groups what they learned and have a chance to write notes.
I like this strategy, because it is necessary sometimes to just have students listen to what is being said. All too often students race to write notes, but miss important facts. This allows them to hear what needs to be said, look on board for key facts, and discuss with classmates to learn more.

Journal #48
March 9, 2012
Today, I went to the Learning Disability Association Conference. I was actually surprised when I go there that it was the LDA, I must have missed that part in class about what type of conference it was. I was under the assumption that it was for educators. Anyways, I learned a lot from the first class I attended. It discussed behavior issues that often arise with LD students and how to handle them. The biggest thing I learned was students are taught how to react to things by the way we react to them. If they want attention and I respond to the m hitting their head on the desk, then they will hit their head on the desk every time to get the attention. It is important to ignore negative behavior and praise positive behavior.