"Cues, Questions, and Advanced Organizers"
Figuring out a good way to have students retrieve previously learned material is a hard task to do sometimes. Any type of graphic organizer will help sort the information for the students and hopefully connect to another thought or memory that they have had previously OR start a solid new memory. Concept mapping would be a great tool to utilize especially if you go on a virtual field trip. This would allow them to create a map of important aspects / concepts of the field trip. You would be able to see what they thought was important and what they left out of the valuable information. It also gives you an insight to how they are thinking about a particular topic. A graphic organizer can be created simple then once more data is obtained by the student they can simply add it to the organizer to make it more in depth. Their thoughts will not go anywhere and are there to trigger their minds. This all allows them to go retrieve previously learned material from their memory and add more information to that.
“Summarizing and Note Taking”
This is a skill that is critical for all students to master before they move onto middle school and high school. There are many of my students who can not take notes and I have been practicing with them. I loved reading about the word processing application where you type a passage from the book into the student takes notes on the other side of the split screen which enables you to Track Changes. This will help you see what they think is important and the way that they conceptualize their thoughts. Plus, it will stop them from plagiarizing the materials.
Inspiration is a neat program. My district has Kidspiration and it is similar to the program described in our text book. I enjoy using this tool because it is a different version of a graphic organizer that enables the students to be creative and enjoy their learning. It gives them a different sense than just sitting down to take notes during class. It is easy for them to print of their notes and easy for them to manipulate them too.
One think that I have implemented in my classroom already is a classroom Wiki page. It is in the beginning stages of development because I created after the last Walden course I completed and my students are starting to use it a little bit at a time. I teach in an inner city school district and not many of them have access to the internet outside of school so allowing them a chance to communicate with each other outside of school online is a hard task. It is a great tool to enable students to discuss and post their thoughts about a topic. Allows them to bring in past knowledge and explain their thought process by talking to other students about a particular topic. Good summarizing tool to use if possible. Same goes for using a blog with your class.
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I agree that summarizing and notetaking are essential skills to build before middle and high school. Again, helping them see that BIG picture. Incomming information is much more likely to be retained if it can be processed in a reasonable manner.
ReplyDeleteI recently had my students to create wiki pages on a chosen wonder of the world. It really helped them put their "notes" in an orderly fasion to share with others. It was a great tool for that project.
I also agree that summarizing and good note takings are essential skills. I am totally in awe that you were able to creat a wiki page. I want to try this with my class however I need to get some of them up to date when it comes to technology because like you many of my students do not have internet access at home.
ReplyDeleteNote taking is such an effective way to decipher main idea and supporting ideas, and helps students to prioritize information. It is assumed rather than taught in many classes, including mine, in the middle school. I would like to take a workshop or seminar on how to teach note taking skills and incorporate that into my classroom.
ReplyDeleteIt took a long time to create a Wiki page and it is still in the works. It works well with discussions. I enjoy looking at the Wiki after school days because it allows for me to see what they thought about the days lessons and what they thought was important. The only thing that doesn't work out that well sometimes is the fact that not all of my students have access to the internet. That hurts.
ReplyDeleteNote taking is so hard for a lot of students to do. Practice makes perfect and the sad part about note taking is the fact that I am not the best note taker myself. Practice makes perfect!
I teach fourth grade and am trying to teach my children how to take notes as I know it is essential for middle and high school. They are struggling but I hope we will make progress by the end of the school year.
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