Why Ask? Questioning Strategies in the Classroom

Through my experiences at Southern Miss, I have learned the value of asking meaningful questions.  I do not think I was ever taught as a young student to create questions that helped me comprehend the material.  Most questions I was asked were straight forward memorization questions.  I have learned a lot about the different questioning strategies that were mentioned in the text.  We learned about almost everyone of these last semester.  The two I was unfamiliar with are SQ4R and SQRQCQ.  I will definitely use these strategies in my classsroom.  I think the Re-quest, QtA, and SQ3R can all be very beneficial.  Teachers can make these strategies fun and interesting enough to grab the students' attention, and in the end teach them how to create good comprehension questions.  I like these strategies because they do teach students how to think and become independent learners.  I think these strategies will be playing a bigger role with students creating more higher-order questions with the implemation of the Common Core Standards. 

Note Taking

This was a very interesting chapter on note taking and note making skills. I have never been taught how to take notes. I have just come up with my own system. I can see where it would be beneficial to teach your students the different types of note taking strategies. The difference between note taking and note making is that note taking involves students writing notes from lectures or class discussion, and note making involves students making notes from written material such as text book. This chapter had some really interesting ways of taking notes. I have never heard of dictoglos. I am not really into this strategy because to me it seems kind of pointless. However, I did like the outline framework for mathematics, the DNA and computer-assisted outline, and the Cornell method. I really like the idea of the split-page format of the Cornell method.  I think it really gives the students a good outline, but allows them to be creative at the same time.  My question is, notes are for the benefit of the student, how can we really put a grade on that?

Effects of Teachers's Reading-Aloud Styles on Vocabulary Acquisition and Comprehension of Students in the Early Elementary Grades

Reading-aloud is a great way to get children some experience with text, even before they have any reading abilities.  I agree that read-alouds can used for entertainment, but they can also be used for instructional practices.  I do understand the article when it states that it is taking away from instructional time when read-alouds are not used to build the knowledge of the students.   I think that the study was good in that it held the children accountable when they were listening to the read-alouds.  It made them pay attention and comprehend the text.  I think that I would defintiely use read-alouds to boost the vocabulary of my future students.  I will interact with my students though during the read-aloud to ensure they are comprehending the material.  I have seen this real- life situation in my 4th grade class at OGUE.  The teacher reads the story to the class on Tuesday, they discuss it, and then she asks them questions pertaining to the vocabulary words and comprehension.  The students love doing this, and it seems to help the information click with them. 

Potential of Teacher Read-Alouds

The article Tapping the potential of teacher read-alouds in middle schools, it discusses a survey that was put on by two professors in Texas.  The survey was performed on middle school teachers in one school district to see if they incorporated read-alouds in their classroom.  They were also asked to state "why" or "why not?"  I believe that read- alouds can be very effective in the classroom.  The article states that read- alouds do not only improve understanding of the text, but can improve the engagement between the students and the text.  Read- alouds are also helpful in making connections between the students and their learning.  I think this is very important.  Students need to make those connections with anything they are learning for engagement and understanding purposes.  Two downfalls I noticed about read- alouds in the article is that they are not performed much past the elementary grades, and teachers feel that the class time is to short to use other materials besides textbooks for read- alouds.  Read- alouds work great for the elementary grades, but they can be just affective in the upper grades.  They can bring change, engagement, and comprehension to older students as well.  One of the most important issues the article brings up about read- alouds in my opinion is that talking about text during the read- aloud can enrich the meaning of what is being read for the students.  The teacher must show the students how she is reading, what kind of questions she is asking, and his/her way of thinking while reading.  Two questions that I have for the article are: 1. In response to the teachers not having enough classtime to use other materials besides textbooks, what do you do?  2.  Can read-alouds be an effective way to increase students' background knowledge?