Session 4
Class activity: �La Volpaia� story � as a pre �reading exercise
We used Think Aloud process and Believing and Doubting strategy as well as Informal Writing (Jacobs)
The Think-Aloud Process has the following stages: Picturing, Making connections, Identifying a problem, using fix-ups , which we used along-with Scaffolding Practice procedure:-
� Paired
� Thinking silently
� Ongoing assessment � share their self assessments
� Schoenbach,Greenleaf, Cziko, Hurwitz (1999) From
Activity
First �asked us to read the first paragraph and make predictions about what was the story about- then compare with neighbor and discuss openly in class
Second � read the first page � again repeat process
Third, skim through in 3 minutes (3 page story) and again repeat the process
Fourth � conjecture about the meaning of the Title of the story
Fifth�suggesting some issue involved in the story, and related questions (who was right etc) � repeat the above process
Lastly- she told us the meaning of the title of the story �which connected us to theme of the story.
The idea was that even though we have not formally started reading of the story � we have already gone over the matter at least 5 or 6 times and got a good grasp of what it might contain � which we take up in guided reading. We were writing alongside with each step in the following manner.
I learnt about Informal writing and used its various strategies alongside the above steps:
� Free Writing � to ground out the static we bring to class� � write whatever we feel on the topic
� Focused Free Writing � �free written yet focused, that explores a term, problem, issue, question open endedly.�
� Attitudinal Writing � focused free writing expressing the attitudes that influence aptitudes for learning. How do you feel about --- ? What is most difficult for you at this point? Etc.
� Meta Cognitive Process Writing � Examining how and why you acted (or will act) in a situation � done after (or before) reading an assignment, taking an exam, working on a problem, writing a paper, thinking about an issue. Anticipating and observing one�s own learning behaviors, in order to become more autonomous, less passively reliant on the information and authority of teachers and texts.
From (
Writing to learn in a content area classroom: Andrews (1997)
� Learning logs allowed students to become engaged in writing, facilitating their involvement with course content,� (Andrew, 1997) � maintaining journals.
Looping
� Use looping �. When beginning to explore a new concept or topic area. For a set period of time, usually from 3 to 5 minutes .. I ask them to keep writing the entire time even if they can jot down words or phrases, as long as it is related to their understanding of the topic.� (Andrew, 1997)
At the end.. read .. summarize in a single sentence. Pass around to the neighbors to read the sentence and continue writing on the topic - using their classmate�s sentence as a beginning point. (Andrew, 1997).
�Students write for a set period and repeat the process of free writing , rereading and writing one sentence. This process is repeated as many times as needed.
Through the process of free writing and summarizing, students are exploring , in writing, their understanding of the topic area and responding to their classmates perspectives.
�when we first begin discussing the area of meta cognition, it has worked well to bring out students� thoughts and ideas. Andrews (1997)
K-W-L (What I know, What I want to know & What I learned)
�use this strategy early in my course as a way to get students thinking about major topics we will study throughout semester .
Students circulate around the room, writing what they know and what they want to know on poster boards/sheets devoted to different topic areas. As students red one anothers�
Contributions, it activates their own schema about topic areas and they are able to add to the K-W-L posters.
As the students complete the K-W-L sheets/posters, the activity provides me with direction in planning future class meetings. I �. Often read some aloud as a way to activate students� thinking about a new topic area before they attempt an assigned reading. At the last class meeting, I bring out the original K-W-L posters or sheets for students to complete the What I Learned portion� Andrews (1997).
Session 5
Guided and post reading activity
We performed an activity �Spider problem� � math exercise (AMP,
Where we were asked to solve as math problem, in which a spider has to take the shortest route to go from the bottom of one corner of a normal cuboidal room to the uppermost part of the corner � diagonally opposite.�of course the spider cannot fly there directly.
We used the following techniques:
� Individual problem solving � Dialectic notebook and process writing
� Group problem solving: Collaborative Learning (which I discuss below) and consensus
� Metacognitive �process� writing � Learning about what we have learned about writing .
(The
I found this important: �Metacognitive reading awareness inventory � to pique students� awareness� (Miholic, Journal of Reading, 1994).
Metacognitive Process writing �
�� emotional, perceptual and cultural blocks occur while writing about their own composing process�. When writers allow themselves to free write; when they explore ideas tentatively in probative language�when they look for meaning and order to emerge from composing process; when they trust that the very act of writing will help them to think, they compose more easily, creatively�and critically,� Bard College Center.
Collaborative Learning � Bruffee (1992)
�Diagnosis, the art of medical judgment and the key element in successful medical practice, is better learned in small groups of students arriving at diagnosis collaboratively than it is learned by students working individually.
One type�peer criticism (also called peer evaluation), students learn to describe the organizational structure of a peer�s paper, paraphrase it and comment both on what seems well done and what the author might do to improve the work. The teacher then evaluates both the essay and the critical response. In another type of collaborative learning, classroom group work, students in small groups work toward a census in response to a task set by the teacher. ���it changed the social context in which they learned it.
Collaborative learning, it seemed, harnessed the powerful, educative force of peer influence that has been ---and largely still is �.ignored and hence wasted by traditional forms of education,� Bruffee (1992).
�two layers of problem solving �applying a strategy to the problem at hand, and selecting and monitoring it�..the term metacognition (literally �thinking about thinking�) is commonly used to refer to the selection and monitoring process�.Experts have strong metacognition skills. They monitor their problem solving question limitations in their knowledge; and avoid overly simplistic interpretations of a problem�.Capacity for self-regulation and self-instruction�
Meta-cognition depends on two things: knowing one�s mental capabilities and being able to step back from problem-solving activities to evaluate one�s progress�
Experts in a subject domain have extensive factual and procedural knowledge; and they typically organize that knowledge into schemas that support pattern recognition and the rapid retrieval and application of knowledge,� (NRC Report, 2002).
Meta-cognition � and Math and Science
�Research demonstrates that students with a better developed metacognitive strategies will abandon an unproductive problem-solving strategy very quickly and substitute a more productive one, whereas students with less effective metacognitve skills will continue to use the same strategy long after it has failed to produce results (Gobert & Clement, 1999)
�Research indicates�.students� metacognitive abilities can be developed through explicit instruction and through opportunities to observe teachers and other content experts as they solve problems and consider ideas while making their thinking visible to those observing. Having students construct concept maps or a topic can also provide powerful metacognitive insights, especially when students work in terms of three or more�teaching of metacognitive skills is often best accomplished in specific content areas.�(NRC Report: Improving Advanced Study of Mathematics and Science in US High Schools, 2002)
Reading and Writing in Secondary Schools and Beyond at www.gse.harvard.edu
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