Warm Up Activity:
It was a small class.
The count came to a grand total of 4 students and one teacher. We began
with an exercise in writing found poetry.
We watched a dramatic video about female ants hunting for prey and read
an article critiquing the video. Using
only words from the article, we split into groups and rearranged paragraphs
into stanzas in order to create poetry.
The masterpiece created by me and Lital follows:
A raiding column of female ants is on the hunt
For prey
prey
pray
.
Ants stream across the screen
Trouble is on many
many
many feet.
These are predatory ants
predatory
ants.
One
thousand termites are dead,
They
promise same day service.
This warm up activity illustrated the importance of flexibility
in literacy education. In any
classroom, it is important to remember that are multiple ways to represent and
interpret a given piece of information.
So often we assume that there are “right” and “wrong” answers, but with
this activity, we see that there can be many different “rights”. Just as the sentiment of the ants’ hunt could
be accurately portrayed through video, prose, or poetry, so learning can be
explored through multiple avenues.
Strategy 1: Breaking
up the Lecture:
We watched the following video about spacing in a science
curriculum and were given the instructions to record a question after the first
minute and a half and then another question after the second minute and a half.
While we had a lively discussion about the pros and cons of
spacing information in terms of reaching deeper levels of understanding and
making learning accessible for the greatest number of students, we could all
agree on the importance of breaking up a lecture and giving students goals or
tasks during long periods of listening.
With this activity, we were asked to record questions at various points
in order to ensure that we were paying attention and engaging with the
video. In our own classrooms, we must
have students create or respond to questions, do practice problems, engage in
discussion, or any other activity throughout the lecture to ensure that our
students are engaging in active listening strategies for maximum retention of
material.
Strategy 2: Question,
answer, relationships
For this activity, we were instructed to watch the following
video with a mind that we would be creating various levels of questions
afterwards. The questions were to follow
the format: right there, think and search, author and me, and on my own. Each level of question required an increasing
amount of thought and individual thought.
Lital’s and my questions follow:
Right there: Why is it problematic to assume that all swans
are white if you observe 100 white swans in a row?
Think and search: How does observation play into scientific
theory in various philosophies?
Author and me: From the video, what are three different ways
to handle a theory that is disproven.
Which do you think makes the most sense and why?
On my own: Do you believe in supernatural events? How might
your beliefs be challenged based on these theories seen in this video and how
would you react to these challenges?
By identifying the depth of a question, students will have
to engage in a more reflective practice of learning. Instead of simply answering questions,
students will have to think about where the source of information comes from to
answer those questions. They will have
to think about the difference between opinion and fact and discern which would
be most appropriate in a given situation.
This relates directly to the common core goal of identifying and
defending a claim; students must think about why they think the way that they
think and how they can articulate that to the world. By making students into metacognitive and
deliberate learners, we can teach them skills that will have relevance long
after they leave our classrooms.
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