Cues,+Questions,+&+Advance+Organizers

//**Cues, Questions, Advance Organizers**//
 * Read and Reflect:**

I found this section on cues and questions informative and helpful. I plan to use the lessons guidelines on page 276 to help guide my lessons to cue and question my students as I teach my lessons. My goal is to help them remember these as signposts as they progress through the material so that they remember it more easily and make connections to other material we have learned. I think this is an important teaching tool that all teachers should do while delivering the material they want students to learn. It helps me by communicating my goals and expectations for them as they learn the material, and it helps them integrate what they already know into the new material so that it makes “sense” to them instead of remaining a pile of uninteresting data. Questions page 268 of the // Handbook. //


 * __1. What is the purpose of using cues and questions in the classroom?__**

Cues and questions can help spark students’ interest and helps teachers find out what their students already know about the topic or subject being taught. It’s a way to guide teachers’ directions in learning and what needs to be taught. Questioning students encourages them to interact and connect with the learning environment. Interaction helps keep students attentive to the topic at hand.


 * __2. When do I use cues with my students?__**

I use cues when we read from the textbook to guide them to important information while they read. I often begin the lesson with learning goals and objectives of the chapter and lessons. This stimulates them to think about the topics we are going to learn about. I restate important information and ask questions to help keep them interested and the lesson interactive. Cues help them learn the most important things in the lessons. I may write on the board to point out things to look for as we do the lesson.


 * __3. What kinds of questions do I use with my students?__**

I often use open-ended questions and fill-in-the blank questions. I ask them to express what they know about the topic. What would you do in this situation? What do you think about the importance of …..? I like to use Post-It notes for students to write their answers and post them on board. I read them and only they know which one is their answer. We discuss answers and decide as a group what we think are the correct or best answers. I also will open a lesson with a sticker vote. I post a question that has a yes/no or true/false answer. I post the question on the wall and give them a sticker as they enter the classroom and have them post a sticker in the box that they think is correct. Then we look at answers and discuss them as a class.


 * __4. What questions do I have about using cues and questions in the classroom?__**

I would like to use more cues and questions in the classroom than I do now. I look forward to learning more ways to do this effectively. I teach special education and most of my students don’t like to write or have difficulty in writing. What are ways to help them complete graphic organizers or KWL charts?

Questions page 280 of the // Handbook. //


 * __1. What kinds of advance organizers do I use with my students?__**

I often use open-ended questions and fill-in-the blank questions. I ask them to express what they know about the topic. What would you do in this situation? What do you think about the importance of …..? I like to use Post-It notes for students to write their answers and post them on board. I read them and only they know which one is their answer. We discuss answers and decide as a group what we think are the correct or best answers. I also will open a lesson with a sticker vote. I post a question that has a yes/no or true/false answer. I post the question on the wall and give them a sticker as they enter the classroom and have them post a sticker in the box that they think is correct. I ask them to read the question an put the sticker on their answer. We discuss the answers they picked and why. This helps me assess what they know or don’t know about the topic we are going to learn about.


 * __2. What kinds of information do I include in advance organizers? Why do I include this information?__**

I use guided questions to initiate the students’ thinking about what they know and fill out the organizers so that they use their own knowledge to answer the questions. My goal is to help each student make a connection between their life experiences and the subject material so that they remain engaged in the lesson. I try to include salient information and facts they need to learn. I do this to reinforce the important information and give them the experience of making connections in thinking so that become life-long learners. I use guided notes and fill-in the blanks to help them take notes on what is important.


 * __3. What questions do I have about using advance organizers?__**

How do I make the organizers beneficial for students by making them student-generated rather than teacher-generated so that students will take responsibility for their own learning? What questions are relative and important to ask? How do I incorporate them into my teaching?


 * Apply and Reflect:**

I used glogster to help students find information they needed to complete an assignment. I wanted to include using wikis, blogs and other web 2.0 tools. This was my first attempt in a core area. It is much easier to do this when teaching an introduction to technology or computer class. Setting up accounts and getting students logged into edu.glogster account is a little rough the first time, especially with a large class. I did this with my computer kids last year and it took a lot of class time. I like the potential of web tools because they open up the educational process but the initial set-up is time consuming. Just like traditional lessons, not all students enjoyed this assignment. I taught Introduction to Technology for two semesters with general education students and I was very surprised that many of my students did not enjoy learning how to use web 2.0 tools. There were some students who knew more than me but those who did not enjoy the lessons were students who use computers primarily for games and social networking. Our district has purchased software called Timeliner and I also used that with my tech class. I created a assignment blog and had them complete several tasks, and we created a class wiki as well. I recently subscribed to Teachnology to as a resource for on how to use graphic organizers and technology lessons. The most frustrating thing for me is that I don’t teach the same courses or subject matter every year. It takes a lot of time to create these lessons every year. After evaluating the lesson I repeat the same lesson because I don’t teach it again. I have learned to transfer the ideas into other curricula but it is just not the same. Plus I struggle with being disheartened by investing all this effort into lessons I may never teach again. There is not enough time to continually re-create lessons. I am usually not informed by administration about what I will be teaching until the first week of school. I have learned to keep a positive attitude by reminding myself that even if I teach a class or a lesson only once and it works that is an accomplishment. Lack of time is always an issue. I recently found a site called edu.memiary.com and have set up student accounts but have not been able to try it yet. Students can record up to five things they have learned each day. If you have Internet access this can be used in the classroom or assigned for homework. It takes time to do because of logging in and out on computers.

media type="custom" key="11985931"

media type="custom" key="11985933"

I have listed some links of resources that you might find helpful.

Cyber Smart Toolbar: [] Ideas to Inspire: [] memiary: [] Teachnology : [] Free Timeliner: http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/timelines/ Flipsnack @http://www.flipsnack.com/ Graphic Organizers PowerPoints @http://themes.pppst.com/graphic-organizers.html

I found this widget I did not create it but it has really cool sites. media type="custom" key="11985977" Blooms Digital Taxonomy /Gardner’s Learning Styles: []