Probing Questions

Teacher: Catherine Howland

Interview

Overview

Principles of Learning

Information Processing

Content Standards

Tenets of Democracy

Questions

Interview: Previewing Questions

1.      What are some ways that teachers would have to adapt a lesson when working with English as a Second Language students?  Explain adaptations for a whole class of ESL students, and for a regular education class with one or a few ESL student(s).

2.      How do you feel about including students whose primary language is something other than English into regular education classes?  Do you think it is a good idea?  Why or why not? What are some challenges the teacher would face in this kind of situation?

3.      What are some consequences of student self-assessment?  What are some ways that students can carry out self-assessment?  Do you think this activity improves student learning? Explain.

Interview: Post-viewing Questions

1.      If you were teaching this lesson, what would you take out, add, or change?  Give specific examples, and explain the purpose for each change.

2.      What are some advantages and disadvantages of Howland’s assessment strategy for this lesson?  What are some other ways she could have assessed her students?

3.      What are Howland’s objectives for the lesson?  Do you really think that what they gain from this lesson will help them with other classes?  Why or why not?

Overview: Previewing Questions

1.      Do you think brainstorming improves student learning? Why or why not?

2.      Describe some ways that you as a teacher could help students to learn what a new word means as they encounter it in their reading or daily lives.

3.      What are the general characteristics of cooperative learning?  What are some situations in which you would use cooperative learning in your classroom?

Overview: Post-viewing Questions

1.      At the end of the video, the students journal about what they learned. How might this improve student learning?

2.      Each student looks for information about certain aspects of kites.  What are the advantages and disadvantages of having each student look for some information, and then compiling it together at the end in order to get the whole picture?

3.      Why do you think Howland had the students use a graphic organizer to list what they knew about kites and what they wanted to learn about kites? Do graphic organizers help all students to organize their thoughts?

4.      Describe two situations during which Howland prompts individual students to complete their work. What else could she have done to help the students?

Principles of  Learning: Previewing Questions

1.      Based on what you already know, do you think that Frequent Feedback is important for student learning?  Explain. What are some methods teachers could use to give frequent feedback to their students?

2.      Think of a time during your education that a lesson allowed you to make patterns and connections.  Did it help you to learn the information more effectively?  Explain.

3.      What are some methods that teachers can use to encourage students to reflect on their experiences?  Refer to the Reflection section of Information Processing in the model.

Principles of  Learning: Post-viewing Questions

1.      The video highlights Howland’s use of frequent feedback with her students.  Look at the checklist of observable behaviors for Frequent Feedback.  Which of these behaviors does Howland display? Give examples of how she does this.

2.      How does the lesson help the students gain Patterns and Connections?  How might this improve student learning?

3.      Refer to Howland’s lesson plan.  Give some examples of how Direct Experience is included.  How does this improve student learning?

Information Processing: Previewing Questions

1.      Read through the descriptions of each of the 6 stages of Information Processing.  What are your reactions? Do you feel that each stage is necessary for improved student learning?  Explain.

2.      In the model, the definition of the Interpretation stage of Information Processing states that Interpretation is “very important and often neglected.”  Do you think this is true?  How might interpretation be neglected by teachers?  What are some methods you can think of to make sure interpretation is not neglected?

3.      Imagine you are teaching an upper elementary classroom, and your class is doing a research project on the Civil War.  Give some specific examples of different ways that your lesson could include the Communication stage of Information Processing.

Information Processing: Post-viewing Questions

1.      What method does Howland use to emphasize the Appreciation stage of Information Processing with her students?  What are some other methods she could have used?

2.      Look at the checklist of observable behaviors for the Presearch stage of Information Processing.  Which of these does Howland employ in her lesson?  What are some other behaviors in this list that she could have used?  Give specific examples.

3.      In this lesson, how does Interpretation improve student learning?  How does Howland guide her student through the interpretation stage?

4.      How is technology used in the lesson to facilitate the Communication stage of Information Processing?

Content  Standards: Previewing Questions

1.      How do the ESL Standards relate to Information Processing in the classroom?

2.      Do you feel it is necessary and/or beneficial to have special standards for ESL students? Why or why not?

Content  Standards: Post-viewing Questions

1.      How does Howland’s lesson integrate ESL Standard 2.1?  What else could she have done to integrate this standard?

2.      Along with ESL standards, does the lesson integrate any standards for the English Language Arts?  Read the descriptions of the 12 Standards for the English Language Arts and give examples of how these are addressed in the lesson.

3.      The video does not mention the integration of ESL Standards 1.1 or 1.2.  A description of these is available on-line.  Do you think that these standards are addressed by the lesson?  Explain.  If not, how could the standards have been integrated?

Tenets of Democracy: Previewing Questions

1.      What types of situations might come into play when doing a group project with ESL students in a classroom where many cultures are represented?  Give specific examples.

2.      What types of behaviors must teachers display in order to emphasize critical thinking in the classroom?  For reference, look at the section of the model describing Critical Thinking and Decision Making.

3.      In your own words, what is democracy?  How would you as a teacher implement lessons of democracy into the classroom?  Give specific examples.

Tenets of Democracy: Post-viewing Questions

1.      How do the students take ownership of the activity?  Do you think this is necessary for improved student learning? Why or why not?

2.      How do the students display critical thinking and decision making?  How could these thoughts be relayed in the stages of Information Processing?  Would the integration of these two concepts improve student learning? Explain.

3.      What are the benefits of promoting Power Sharing and Empowerment in a class with students from various cultural backgrounds?  Name academic, social, cognitive, and emotional benefits.

Technology: Previewing Questions

1.      What technologies do you think an elementary teacher should be familiar with? For each, explain why.  Now look at the 20 UNI Preservice Teacher Technology Competencies described in the model.  Were your ideas similar to these? Explain.

2.      Find at least five Web sites that you could make accessible to an upper elementary class if you were doing a project on Origami.  Explain why each would be a good resource.

3.      What would a teacher need to be aware of when doing an Internet search with young students? Explain.

Technology: Post-viewing Questions

1.      Which Preservice Teacher Technology Competencies does Howland demonstrate in the video?  How does she demonstrate each?  Give specific examples.

2.      List three Technology Competencies that were not shown in the video that Howland could have demonstrated.  Describe how she could have incorporated each into her classroom.

3.      Howland helps her students use a graphic organizer so that they can more easily visualize the information they have gathered about kites.  What other types of technology could be used to facilitate learning, and how?

Teacher Knowledge : Previewing Questions

1.      It is important to have knowledge of student characteristics in an English as a Second Language classroom.  What specific characteristics should teachers know about?  Why is each important?

2.      Review the 8 intelligences described in Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences.  Do you think it is important for teachers to address each type of intelligence in every lesson? Why or why not?  Is it feasible for a teacher to do this?

3.       Design a lesson that would address student visual/spatial intelligence and bodily/kinesthetic intelligence.  Refer to a description of Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences in the model.

Teacher Knowledge : Post-viewing Questions

1.      How does Howland demonstrate In-Depth Content Knowledge in her classroom?  How might this improve student learning?

2.      How does Howland’s method of instruction display Teacher’s In-Depth Content Knowledge?  Give specific examples.  What else could she have done to display in-depth content knowledge?

3.      How many intelligences as described in Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences does Howland address?  Which ones? How does she do this?

Teacher Behavior: Previewing Questions

1.      Do you feel it is important to emphasize multiple paths to knowledge in the classroom?  Why or why not?  Give specific examples as to how a teacher could go about doing this.

2.      How would a general education teacher have to adapt their Pedagogy when working with a class of ESL students?

3.      One approach to classroom management is to give the students some control over and responsibility for their own learning.  What are your opinions about this?  How might this approach increase student motivation?

Teacher Behavior: Post-viewing Questions

1.      How does Howland demonstrate Content Management?  How might this enhance student learning?

2.      What does Howland do in the classroom to integrate multiple paths to knowledge?  Read the Pedagogy summary in the model.  How does pedagogy relate to multiple paths to knowledge?

3.      How does Howland make language comprehensible to her ESL students? What other methods could she have used?