Wow. There are more names for questioning than I could ever had imagined. I wonder if detectives need to know the names of all these techniques when they go through interrogation training?
I think this list is not practical as memorized information, but will serve as a good resource to browse through on occasion; just as a reminder on how to shake things up a bit, or how to get a response out of a student who doesn't seem to be responding to my current approach.
It seems as though the general idea is to change the direction of questioning to either elicit more detail, or to broaden the perspective of the respondent. I couldn't help but chuckle however when I contemplated using the 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' technique of interrogation...hmmm, maybe team teaching could take on a whole new direction... ;) (just kidding) Seriously, though, reading through the general content of 'Changing Minds' really brought to light how powerful questioning, body language, confindence, and humor can be when persuading another's mind. Though I don't believe my job is to persuade anyone of anything, I will not deny that a significant portion of my job influences other; the persuation is a side effect, if anything.
This topic reminds me of Socratic Seminars. I really liked using Socratic Seminars with my ecology students when discussing controverial topics such as hunting and conservation, in addition to sharing reflective thoughts and understanding on writing by Rachel Carson and Aldo Leopold. The structure of a Socratic Seminar seemed to take away the threatening element of sharing one's opinion in a high school group, and allowed more students to share than otherwise would. Socratic Questioning, in general, is quite useful in leading students from previous knowledge to new concepts in both high school and middle school math.
Response to Advance Organizer article
I read the article, "Graphic Organizers Applied to Higher-Level Secondary Mathematics", by Bob Ives and Cheri Hoy, at the University of Georgia, 2003.
When I chose this article, I was looking for some confirmation on using visual organizers with upper-level math students. In the past, this has been perceived as 'busy work' and 'unecessary use of time' by some of my colleagues, administrators, and parents. This may have been true for some students who are book-learners, but it certainly is not true for all those kids trying to learn upper-level math.
Besides getting confirmation on the above perception, (evidence for using advance organizers to promote learning in secondary math is weak for strong math students), using them for learning disable students is effective. The key to using advance organizers, however, is to use them to promote relationships between ideas, not to use them to promote memorization. The question is, then, as a teacher of the general population, one that includes both learning disabled students and strong students sitting side by side, how do I balance the use of these organizers? It's unfortunate that there is a vocal minority out there they perceives the use of graphic organizers as 'dumbing down' the concept, rather than an opportunity to put into place relationships that are currently understood in order to extend or apply the ideas while keeping track of the primary relationships. There aren't too many 14-18 year olds out there that don't need some sort of structure to organize themselves, whether they create the structure or a structure is given to them.
Response to Maps Alive! Podcast: Write From The Beginning
A flow map is not hard to use in math classes. I will be using a flowmap to replace the list form that my students currently use to share their algorithms for integer subtraction, addition, multiplication, and division. I know this is going to work great. It was a hard assignment for my 7th graders (especially the addition and subtraction). I think I will try Inspiration for it this year, and see what the time consumption of the task is. I may just have to use a geometric template in the future if it is too time consuming.
I never heard of Flee Maps before, but I've seen plenty of them in our 4th and 5th grade hallways. I just always thought they were a Frameworks and Foundations technique. Huh.
Mapping Tools
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I got a lot out of your post Danelle. Having been out of the classroom for some time, I wasn't familiar with Socratic Questioning. I'll be researching this technique on-line.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the opinion of some that the use of graphic organizers is a waste of time, how do you respond to these concerns? Do the students of the parents making these comments make use of them? Do you think you'll change your use of advance organizers as the result of reading the article?
I haven't has a successful response yet. I've tried the 'new research shows', 'the special ed teachers say', and sharing the anecdotes I've seen in the classroom. I think part of the problem is, at the high school, we just didn't have enough time to participate in professional dialogue. When we did get the chance, most people were more interested in what was going to happen when we've done our time. I did have some good conversations with a couple of collegues over the years that had a common planning time. I learned the most about teaching during these times. Though, I did have one collegue tell me, God bless her for being honest, that she thought using graphic organizers (and reflective journals) were a great idea, and she could see how it would work for some specific students, but she was too lazy to do all that. Once again, God bless her for her honesty...
ReplyDeleteI've had mixed responses from parents. Some say their child had never been so successful and some say they would rather not have their child in my class because I didn't match her child's learning style, and some have said it's just busy work and her child didn't need it (her child was scoring Bs and Cs tests, not using the learning opportunities given to him, and Mom thought he should be getting As...she was right about that last part.
I actually have pulled back on the use of advanced organizers because of the controversy they caused, this particular couple of years, at the high school, but I will begin using them more regularly again after reading this article. I will be more explicit in writing, however, in the purpose of their use.