Neely - Wk5

http://ambitiousscienceteaching.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Primer-Supporting-Changes-in-Thinking.pdf

Learning for students occurs when materials are connected together with activities therefore making since. Any activity should be purposeful and relate work with the class it is being done with, at the same time it should provide “ideas to reason with.” Progressive modeling is the new how to make since of topics, but is often limited in the way teachers use them. Yet they can show how students change their thinking over time when revisited throughout a unit and should support class discussion. Having students explain a classmates reasoning can expand conversations when creating  class model, adding in the requirement of evidence can be key with this.  The inclusion of outside school life to the conversation is not something always practiced, but can make a difference in the connections being made.

After reading this I am thinking about reviewing for the EOC in Biology and how I might be able to review the different subjects with review models, but in their creation require students to make connections from their lives outside of school for each subject as I can.  Creating these with reasoning and having students explain each other’s reasoning with A-B table partner discussions seems like a way I could get the models to get at a deeper level and allow for students to make more personal connections with it.   

http://ambitiousscienceteaching.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Guide-Face-to-Face-Tools.pdf

Gist-

·       Small group models- created in a small group at the beginning of a concept and later modified (show the teacher their current thinking of a concept).

·       Before – during – after drawings allow students to think about a topic.

·       “draw what you would see if you had microscope eyes-” students can focus on a specific thing.

·       *Models should have context and not too genetic.

·       Model feedback can be done with sticky notes, and students can help strengthen eachother’s models – providing sentence frames can strengthen student’s feedback.

·       A checklist of requirements for a type of model can help, is best if students create it with you. 

Thinking next year for the first unit I should do a “whole class consensus model,” and then after that students should be comfortable to do one as groups (will be using the separate colors idea to confirm participation of remember) and eventually individually to show their thinking. 

I also like the idea of having students do an Activity-Patterns-Why-Clues page for each unit in their composition notebooks for the year.

Each of these readings went into the benefits of models with a bit of how to use them for teaching.  There was a good focus on connections to life and revisiting the concept throughout a lesson on a new subject. I now have fears of doing the un-recommended.  Right now I am just pondering their uses and trying to figure out appropriate application.