"Note Taking and Note Making....Study.Learn.Understand.Remember." Chapter 7

I really enjoyed this chapter on Note Taking and Note Making because I can relate to it very well. Note taking is described as writing notes that are from a lecture or class discussion. Note making is described as writing notes from information found in printed materials.  The book states that if students use these methods and then review the notes they gain a greater understanding of the material.  Also, their memorization of the material is increased greatly. 

Note taking and note making are two methods I use all the time, during class and in everyday life.  I find that it does help me remember the important information, and also gives me a reference point to refer back to if needed. For years I have used my notes from class, both types, to study for my tests.  I do not know what I would do to prepare if I did not take very accurate and precise notes.  My method is very simple.  I simply rewrite the notes from class, over and over again.  While doing this, I reflect on the information and question myself in order to gain a greater understanding.  My method works extremely well for me. 

The Cornell Method is very organized and useful, however, it is not a note taking/making preference of mine.  I learned this strategy while in a study skills class many, many, years ago.  I think it is actually too organized and orderly for me.  I write EVERYWHERE on my page using pictures, symbols, bolding, underlining, and color.  By using the Cornell method, I am too limited to what I can do on my paper.  The confined spacing on the paper probably has a lot to do with it.  I do not have enough room to scribble and jot ideas and/facts.  I do see how it can be very useful to students though.  And if I would have been taught this method at an early age, then I think it could possibly fit my style better.  This is why I think students need to be taught these skills early on and as they get older they can tailor it to fit their personality and learning style.


Does using different colors when note taking/making different information help with memorization of the material?

What is the best method for students with disabilities to take and make notes?

 Have there been studies conducted which compare writing notes vs. using concept maps, graphic organizers, etc…?

VS. 

Chapter 3 ~ Vocabulary

Vocabulary is such an essential part of everyone's life.  I enjoyed reading this chapter because I feel vocabulary is overlooked and under-taught.  I understand it is difficult for a child and may at times seem like an "overload" of information when trying to learn content and vocabulary; however, if a teacher is knowledgeable in various methods of instructions and strategies, I think she can make learning new words fun and meaningful.  Also, if done right and the teacher puts forth a lot of time and effort she can interwine vocabulary and content.  By doing this, the students will gain a deeper understanding of the actual content beginning taught because they have a deeper understanding of the words that go along with the concepts.  Science terms, math terms, history terms, and many more can all be confusing.  If a child misses the boat on just one or two words they may end up falling behind in their understanding of the content being studied.  A strategy that works great when teaching content and vocabulary is labeling.  This allows the child to see a visual and make a connection with a familiar idea, word, or concept.  By doing this the teacher is promoting conceptuall understanding, which is proven to be the type of knowledge that stays with the child.  This is the knowledge that other ideas are build upon.  Without a conceptual understanding of terms and concepts, students will only house individual ideas in their minds that have little to no connection together. 

Vocabulary is taught with the intent of the child knowing and using it for a lifetime.  However, if a true understanding is not made then will they really remember the meaning a year from then or even a week from then?  The answer is a big fat NO.  We as teachers cannot effectively educate our students if we do not focus vocabulary, but it effects everything intellectually with the child.  A student cannot truly be literate without a wide-range of vocabulary knowledge to pull from when trying to express themselves or take in new information.

When discussing vocabulary, a personal incidence comes to my mind.  When I was taking Political Science at USM years ago.  This was an entry level course, but the teacher seemed to always choose articles that were far from "entry level" for us to review.  There was one article that I remember particilarly well.  I sat down to read it one night and could not even understand the FIRST sentence.  I continued to read thinking it would get better and it never did.  I did not understand one single thing that was written in this article.  I felt like a complete idiot.  I gave the article to a friend that was a political science guru and walaaa, it was easy as pie for him.  I actually think he thought it was a little simplicitic.  It was then when the I began to think for the first time how important vocabulary was in comprehending information.  I do not think I had ever gone too far over my head in reading; therefore, I had never been faced with this before.  I began to understand that there is vocabulary and there is content vocabulary, which one needs to taught and aware of before being given a book and expected to understand.  I will always remember this and take it with me as I begin teaching.  I truly believe that a student must first understannd the words and the context in which they are being used before any learning can bein to take place.  Our world and langauge is made up of words, without the knowledge of these words no one can truly learn.

QUESTIONS:

• What led to the change in methods of teaching?  Teachers use to focus more on procedural methods of learning, which we know does not work.  Was is research, or what, that led to this GREAT concept of Conceptual Learning?
• Is telling a child to go look up a definition good or bad.  I have heard both, but personally do not find it effective unless the student is able to make a connection with the word and what they already know.
• If older teachers do not conduct their own research for ideas, how do they actually learn the new methods and strategies of teaching that have only recently come out?
• Do the principals at schools monitor teachers, and ensure they are following research-based methods of teaching and presenting vocabulary words in a way that promote student understanding?  Honestly, I still see sooooo much of the basic....Here's your weekly words....study them...test on Friday....be ready....

Reflection on Chapter Reading and the Student Think Center

I thoroughly enjoyed reading chapters 1 and 8 in our class textbook.  All I could think about is why didn't my teachers use these strategies when I was in school?  Oh, how much more engaging and fun would school have been for me.  The ideas that continued to pop into my head while reading chapter 1 was memories of last semester.  My Intermediate Block experience was one of excitement, new ideas, group collaboration, fun & helpful strategies and techniques, and fun learning.  It was an extremely busy semester, but made so enjoyable because we were learning and using the different strategies mentioned in this chapter.  I felt like I had a role in each and every class because my teachers set out to make this the objective.  Using reciprocal teaching, JigSaw, think-pair shares, and many more were all strategies that made my learning rich.  Why do teachers think that fun exercises, group work, and strategies are only for children?  I think this should be a method of teaching that is required by all teachers, at all grade levels.   I do not think anyone is ever too old to have fun with learning and incorporating fun group work like this is just the right way to motivate and engage students!

Chapter 8 reminded me of another college class I took years ago, Creative Writing.  The main goal of this class was to make learning fun.  So many times children, and adults are afraid to write because they think it will not be good or right.  Making writing a natural part of life and school, without all the expectations of perfection all the time can be very beneficial to students.  Doing this has the power of creating a WRITER with NO LIMITS.  There must be a starting point and this is a perfect place to start.  Writing for fun should always be encouraged.  It gives freedom to the individual, and opens paths that, even to them, are unknown. I loved the creative writing class and have to say; I have thought about taking it again just for fun.  My teacher would give us promts, like discussed in the chapter, and have us do quick writes.  At first this was hard because I wanted it to be perfect so I struggled to just write to write.  However, after a little time and coaching from my teacher, I learned to be creative and have fun with words.  She would even do this with speaking.  When I started her class, I had a fear of speaking in public, hard to believe I know :-) but after a few times of being given a topic and directed to speak...I quickly overcame this and actually began to love it!  I learn so much about myself during that time, and it was all through the power of writing. 

Before ending this Blog, I would like to share a few of my thoughts about the Student Think Center.  I had never even heard of the place before Dr. Bishop mentioned it and really did not know what to expect.  When I walked into the center I was WOWED.  The openness, the bright colors (and this includes the BRIGHT WHITE), the sunlight, the big windows, the cool chairs and couches, and the awesome ladies all expressed me immensely!  The center was warm and inviting, but not warm as in a coffee shop where the lights are dim and colors are dark and bright.  This was warm welcoming and friendly atmosphere that felt clean and neat.  I enjoyed the presentation and speaker/audience interaction.  Also, I thought it was really cool the way they focused on so much detail in the design of the room in order to enhance thinking and learning.  I personally have to have things a certain way if I plan on being productive with my work and getting anything done.  I cannot have clutter because then my mind feels cluttered.  I also need lots and lots of bright light, preferably natural sunlight, to make me feel alive, vibrant, and motivated.  This center oozed all of the above and much more.  The two ladies in the Student Think Center were very sweet, positive, and easy to get along with.  They did not judge, look down on anyone, or act as though anyone was a burden, which are all attitudes one can find when walking into a place like this.  My experience was excellent and I can not wait to go back to pick their brains on "thinking and learning," not to mention just to enjoy the awesome environment up there :-) 

Content Literacy in the Elementary Grades and Design Thinking

The article Making a Case and a Place for Effective Content Area Literacy Instruction in the Elementary Grades, by Barbara Moss was a fantastic research article about incorporating informational text into the early elementary classroom to promote “reading to learn.”  I am of firm belief that schools do not think of student education in a whole sense.  Learning should be like building blocks.  Once in school, the building process needs to begin.  So many schools, past and present, do not begin focusing on the important skills of literacy until children become older and get into the higher grades.  This leaves our children unprepared for what is to come and without the necessary skills and tools to critically read and analyze information.  This article is designed to show the importance of teaching students to “read to learn” at the earliest age/grade possible.  How are we to expect our students to understand, comprehend, synthesize, and analyze information when they get to the higher grades if they are not teaching and learning process has not begun at an earlier grade?  This is impossible unless the student is extremely gifted and has taught their self, which is more unlikely than likely.  As educators, our main objective should be to prepare our students for higher levels of education and life.  This preparation needs to begin at the earliest age possible to improve the students’ success rate.

Kindergarten is where this should begin, as stated in the article.  There needs to be a shift from narrative text to informational text.  It is the teacher’s duty to teach the students how to not only read the text, but pull information from and learn from it as well.  This can be done using many strategies such as, modeling and think-alouds.  Research shows that children, especially boys, prefer reading informational text over narrative text.  Children want to learn, and what better way to feed this curiosity and need for new knowledge than with expository text. 

There needs to be a shift in thinking by our educators.  One than goes from looking at kindergarteners and lower elementary students as babies that are incapable of reading, working, and understanding complex problems and texts, to one where they strive to teach and guide these children to be able to read, work, and understand complex ideas.  Education does not start in upper elementary or middle school.  It goes from kindergarten to twelfth grade.  By shifting the focus to education for ALL ages, our students will have a much higher chance of graduating and leaving our school systems as successful critical thinkers. 

Literacy is not only reading and writing.  There are many components to literacy, and I feel that these were left out of this article, but should be held in just as high of a regard, especially speaking.  It is not until the end of the article when Inquiry Based Learning is mentioned and speaking (and other literacy components) is even mentioned.  I think this is as important as reading to learn because what the end goal should be for teachers is to create a student that is well-rounded in all areas of literacy.  Is speaking not as important as reading to learn?  Some may say it is not; however, I think is as important for our students to be effective communicators, debaters, speakers, etc…as it is to read to learn. 

How do we create a learning environment that is literacy rich in all areas?  We do this by designing our lessons to incorporate ALL aspects of literacy.  By starting in the kindergarten classroom and moving up each grade, our students will never feel an enormous sense of frustration because content literacy is familiar to them.  The information will become progressively harder, but they will have the knowledge and tools to understand, comprehend, and solve any new problem with the guidance of their teacher.  If this shift was made, I think our “fourth-grade drop” would soon be erased because students will not be thrown into a grade, which to them is like the first day of their school career.

This research needs to be known and followed by educators nationwide, but how do we make such a drastic change in the schools?  The truth is this matter is not drastic, but to many it will be viewed as so because many people fear change.  Teachers get used to doing the same thing year after year and become closed-minded in their beliefs and practices.  What needs to be looked at is the big picture of learning and how this process works.  This transformation of schools will happen, but will take the motivation, passion, and drive of progressive teachers taking a stand and fighting for change and then making the results known to all.  

I have noticed, during my practicum, many teachers introducing informational texts at a very early grade level.  I wonder if this is because of the shift from the MS Frameworks to the Common Core Standards?  When teachers follow common core, they are supposed to introduce narrative texts and informational texts at a 50/50 ratio.  I am so glad this is becoming a major issue and is actually going to soon be required by all.  This will help turn our education system around in a very positive way, and aid in preparing students for all grades and life!

On a final note, when reading about the learning logs I realized they are like our blogs.  Having students reflect on what they have learned is a great tool for facilitating metacognition in students.  There is something about reflecting and writing through a blog that makes the experience much more exciting, fun, and less tedious.  Way to go, Dr. Bishop….you’re making learning fun!  :-)

In Betty Ray’s blog on Design Thinking, she lays out the process for collaboration, brainstorming in order solve problems.  When using design thinking, small groups of people get together to work through the steps.  In these meetings there are rules to follow.  One of these rules being to say “yes, and” instead of “yes, but” when disagreeing with someone in the group.  This keeps the communication positive and opens the minds of others more.  I love this idea and am going to try to use it in my everyday life.  I am very opinionated and do not have any problems speaking what is on my mind, especially if I feel it is for the betterment of someone; however, this can be seen as overbearing and negative.  Always opening a disagreeing statement without the negative I can see as being very beneficial.  Often if someone perceives the words are going to be negative or/and if the words are in disagreement with a previous statement, then others are more likely to close off and not listen to what is being said.  When I am selling something I never use negative statements, even if what I am saying truly is in fact negative.  I do not let the other person know this, and am able to mask it by tailoring my words to sound positive.  I do not do this in everyday communication or when collaborating with peers.  Working to state things in a positive manner will be a goal of mine after reading this blog.  I wonder how this would look in the classroom when teaching students.  I think this would create a positive learning environment, but how does a teacher do this with students?

Design thinking is a great process that involves many different people from the school, the community, parents, and students.  This process can be used for anything when trying to solve a problem.  I think this builds a sense of community with the students and families and is a great tool that should be used to solve problems as a whole, while also teaching the students lessons.  How time consuming is this process though?  I do not think it matters how time consuming this process is when it is a classroom project; however, when it is one where multiple people are involved then it seems as though there might be issues with time.  To me it seems as though it might be extremely difficult to get all the people needed together at one time for collaboration.     

Knipper and Duggan Article

Knipper and Duggan wrote an exceptional article, Writing to Learn Across the Curriculum: Tools for Comprehension Content Area Classes. The main focus was on incorporating writing into the classroom. I truly believe that wonderfully insightful ideas arise through writing, which can take many various forms, informal, formal, creative, reflective,etc. There is so much freedom in writing, which can be extremely beneficial for students.

As mentioned in the article it is very important to give checklists and rubrics for students to follow when writing. This gives them guidelines to follow, but also the freedom to be creative when reaching the goal. Unless the assignment is one that is complete free-writing then a student needs to have structure when given a writing assignment.  This helps to guide the student's writing, which is one of that the purposes for these grading systems.

Reflection on lessons and one's self can be best done through writing. This is where the "listen & write" strategy is extremely beneficial.  I would use this with my students throughout a lesson to open the floor for discussion.  I believe it is through discussion that students really learn material and learn.  They are able to hear other's views, which in turn opens their minds to other possibilities and thoughts on a subject.  Exploring ideas beyond the text and the lecture is where students become truly knowledgeable, and I will work to promote this style of learning in my classroom.  Ending lessons using this technique is a great method to use with the "listen & write."  I would use this in order to facilitate my students' metacognition. 

The multiple strategies mentioned in the article seem to all be great tools for any teacher to incorporate in the classroom.  The goal is to have students know how they learn and one of the best ways for this to happen, as stated in the article, is through writing and speaking.  Literacy is an important function of education that needs to be promoted in all areas, not just the language arts.

Reflections on Classmates Introductions

I began reading Donya's post because of my knowledge of her son's disabilities. An interest to know more about his struggles in school led me to read her post. Donya's personal experiences drive her in her educational goals. People need to have a passion for their career choice and having personal experiences as a driving force can fuel that passion. So many children are over looked, considered nuisances, and thrown to the side because they are different. I feel the same way about so many children in our schools.  There is such a large number of students that have no one to speak for them, and they are not able to be advocates for themselves; therefore, there is a need for individuals to step up and take on this role. This is one aspect of teaching that excites me and drives my passion and motivation as well.  I want to not only guide students to success in school and education, but to be a voice for those who need a little extra.  I plan on this being a goal of mine throughout my career. 

Amanda's post struck an emotion in side me too. She stated that she is nervous about teaching certain content because she feels inadequate in that particular subject area. Well, I have experienced these exact same feelings. It is a scary feeling knowing that I will be teaching someone when I do not feel 100% confident. This is why I will be spending a lot of extra time studying high school subject area content. I want to be the best I can be, and my overall goal is to be an effective teacher. I cannot reach this goal if I am not fully prepared and knowledgeable in every area that I am teaching. It will be a challenge that I am looking forward to and definitely always up for! 

I read on a few posts the mention of Shannon Haley-Mize possibly being the instructor of the class in Pennsylvania.  If this is true then I am even more excited than before. When I was in school previously, I had her as an instructor and LOVED her!  Her style of teaching was great, as well as her humor and kindness.  Having the chance to work with her again would be a wonderful experience that I look forward too.

My Thoughts on the Syllabus and the Class

This course seems to be very hands-on and discussion based, which I think will be a wonderful experience, by which I will learned greatly.  After reading the syllabus, I am so very excited about all we will be doing throughout the semester.  However, even after thoroughly reading the syllabus, I cannot say exactly what this course will be about because it seems to encompass so many different aspects of teaching.  Just going from what I read, I will have to say the course is going to deeply investigate and teach multiple learning strategies and methods of teaching.  I believe the reason the class is so discussion based is because literacy is a main focus of the course; therefore, teaching it using a high volume of all six components of literacy is needed in order for us to not only gain the book knowledge of literacy, but to have the experience in using all components as well.


While reading the syllabus, I noticed there will be a great deal of technology incorporated into this class.  I am thrilled, as well as a little nervous, about the high level of technology.  During my IT class, I used a some of the software listed, but has been years removed so there is a small amount of worry about remembering how and/or learning new programs in order to display my ideas and assignments.  However, with any fear comes excitement, and I cannot wait to jump in head first!  I am looking forward to learning all the old and new ways to use technology in order to enhance my teaching.  We live in a technology based world, and I know that to gain my students attention there will have to be some sort of fun, colorful, talking, etc… form of technology incorporated often times. 


After reading the syllabus, I am very intrigued by the idea of working with students from the North.  Being able to gain feedback from students that are from an entirely different part of the country will be very educational, and give me the chance to see things and hear stories that are possibly different from the traditional “southern” thoughts and ideas.  Also, collaborating with the other USM block will be exciting because it opens the door for more thought provoking feedback.  I do not believe people grow personally or educationally (actually growth in all areas of life) without critical feedback and personal reflection so our class being driven by this excites me!

The fact that this course will be focusing on the adolescent student interests me greatly.  As I stated in my “get to know me" post, I plan to spend a lot of time this semester reflecting and evaluating my experiences with various grades so that I may decide which is best for my future teaching career.  I have had very little experience working one-on-one with adolescents in an educational setting.  I look forward to learning different strategies that will help me as the teacher be able to more effectively teach subject area material to my students.  This is an aspect of teaching that has not been focused on up to this point in my student career.  I find this to be essential information for a teacher to know in order to know how to best guide the students’ thinking in the multiple subject areas.

According to the syllabus, there will be a lot of assignments to complete throughout the semester, but I can already tell this will be one of my favorite classes.  I think my level of learning during this class is going to be very high and that thrills me.  I cannot wait to get started and let the blossoming of new ideas begin!