Week 4 Reflection

Week 4 Reflection

1. CONTENT

   • Discourse Primer
     • Talking is the primary mode of sense-making in humans.
     • When teachers hear students talk, they can access student thinking and adapt instruction to current level of student understanding.
     • Areas for improvement in my classroom
       • Ask higher cognitive-demand questions that focus on sense-making and are authentic.
       • Use meta-cognitive questions to help make students more independent.
       • Scaffold academic language
       • End of year goal: Students should be asking the questions that I was asking at the beginning of the year.
     • Continue doing these things
       • Avoid IRE patterns of talk!
       • "Pre-think" the end goal of each discussion!
       • Using re-voicing techniques (amplifying, connecting student language with academic language)
       • "What is your evidence?"
   • Constructivism
     • Students must construct their own meanings of what they see.
     • Paramount in designing curriculum: Student interests, previous experiences & knowledge
     • Small group work stimulates higher levels of cognitive activity!
     • We know something only when we can explain it.
     • Misconceptions can be stubborn and need hands-on and mind-on strategies to disprove them!
   • Inquiry-Based Teaching
     • Instructional pie
       • Increase: Inquiry and Demonstrations
       • Decrease: Student Activities and Discussion

2. S&E PRACTICES

   • Asking Questions & Defining Problems: When students have an opportunity to ask their own questions, we can assess their current understanding and misconceptions.
   • Engaging in Argument from Evidence: Students need to practice metacognition through collaboration and discussion with their peers.

3. DISCUSSION

   • Rating: 5
   • Interesting/ Useful Conversations
     • Contributed: Research template to help students avoid plagerism
     • Take-away: Using primary sources to access prior knowledge
     • Take-away: Computer-based concept mapping- GoConqr
     • Contributed: QFT technique
     • Contributed: Padlet

4. INQUIRY INVESTIGATION

   • Tested possible materials for insulating the beaker in my box.
     • Cork: Loss of 9.1 degrees Celsius
     • Cotton balls: Loss of 13.4 degrees Celsius
     • Rice: Loss of 9.8 degrees Celsius