I fimly agree with Conley's idea that students who fail repeatedly just give up and stop trying. As a teacher I see the importance in motivating and encouraging our students to perform well. Many students find it hard to get motivated because they are not encouraged. Conley believes that teachers can help this by being caring and passionate. The better a teacher knows a student and his or her history the more likely the teacher can motivate and activate the students prior knowledge. I think that these students are often times the ones that fall through the cracks.
As we all already know activating prior knowledge is a key component in student learning. We use strategies such as anticipation guides and K-W-L charts. One new strategy I learned was PreP which stands for Pre Reading Plan. This strategy includes brainstorming, associating, and elaborating. Not only do students have to think about what they know they have to apply it and elaborate. This is also a great assessment of what students know quantitatively and qualitatively. However, some students may just write something irrelevant or not respond the way the teacher wants them too. Conley made a good point when he said that teachers cannot assume that students know how to use any of the these strategies. I completely agree with him. I watch several students struggle today to complete a concept web and they were not getting the big idea of a concept web. They were trying to write sentences in a little bubble instead of key events. Maybe the teacher did not model effectively.
Motivating students seems essential to me. We motivate students by using affective hooks to make the content more interesting and appealing to the students. We also emphasize predictions by using DRTA stategies and games to help engage the students and activate prior knowledge. By activating the students prior knowledge and motivating the student opens to students' minds to learning. We have to connect what they know to form larger webs of information. (Much like relative understandings and conceptual knowledge from math).
Once the foundation is laid then the knowledge and understandings can be built. The height of the building depends on the depth of the understandings.
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Katie.... I totally agree with you. Many times we negelect those students who are not achieving. I agree when you said," The better a teacher knows a student and his or her history the more likely the teacher can motivate and activate the students prior knowledge. I think that these students are often times the ones that fall through the cracks." In my home town, I have seen this happen time and time again.. Thanks for bring this back to my attention. I will definitely make sure this will not happen in my class.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you! Many times, students are over looked and neglected when problems are obvious. Some teachers just don't want the extra work or the hassle that's required from their end of the totem pole. From the beginning of the school year, teachers should get to know their students and find out their interests and hobbies. Find out how much prior knowledge is tucked away in their mental file folders!
ReplyDeleteI agree that low-achieving students are often neglected, but that is true for high-achieving students as well. Teachers automatically assume that they get it and fail to give them the attention and time they deserve. Teachers need to focus more on differentiation in lessons in order to include and motivate all students when teaching a lesson. They should get to know all students in order to help them all perform successfully.
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