Probing Questions

Teacher: Kimberly Bradshaw

Interview

Overview

Principles of Learning

Information Processing

Content Standards

Tenets of Democracy

Questions

Interview: Previewing Questions

1. What methods of assessment (if any) did your teachers use in kindergarten?

2. How can we sparkle children’s interest in visiting other places?

3. In the lesson plan the teacher expresses her belief that “they [the students] are building strong background knowledge about communities, and that they will be able to expand this knowledge as they grow academically.” Do you agree with her? Give reasons for your opinion.

Interview: Post-viewing Questions

1. Why does the teacher take pictures of the children in different circumstances?  How else could she record the visits they make in the community? What are the advantages and the disadvantages of displaying information about the students’ activities on a web site?

2. In the interview, the teacher mentions the follow-up activities the students perform after they have been on field trips. Identify the follow-up activities present in this video. Give your own examples of follow-up activities that would be appropriate to this setting? 

3. What do you think about the teacher’s decision to have a lesson on ladybugs as a follow-up to the field trip to the Memorial Park? What justifies her decision? 

Overview: Previewing Questions

1. Did you go on field trips when you were in kindergarten? Did you find them enjoyable? Why? Why not?

2. What is a Venn Diagram? What purpose does it serve? For more information you can check this link: http://www.venndiagram.com/.

3. When you were in kindergarten, did your class have a mascot (a toy adopted by a group as a symbolic figure)? 

Overview: Post-viewing Questions

1. Why does the teacher use written words to organize information in a Venn diagram? Does the presence of written words instead of images influence students’ learning? 

2. What is the role of questioning in the first part of the activity? How do these children respond to the process of questioning? 

3. Do you think it is important to make field trips to local sites? Why? What is the role of the community in this case?

4. How does the presence of a mascot influence learning?

Principles of  Learning: Previewing Questions

1. How do Patterns and Connections help students organize information? 

2. How do students gain Direct Experience? Name some activities that the teacher could develop in order to expose students to Direct Experience?

3. When and how does Informal Learning occur? Name instances from your own learning experience. What role did the community play in your Informal Learning?

Principles of  Learning: Post-viewing Questions

1. In this video, how does the teacher help students identify Patterns and Connections?

2. What students’ behaviors denote Active Involvement? List specific behaviors that you noticed in this activity.

3. Why does the teacher ask the students to compare the two libraries (their school’s and the town library)? What kind of skill does this activity promote?

Information Processing: Previewing Questions

1. Describe Information Processing in your own words. What is the relationship between Information Processing and learning?

2. What are the behaviors characteristic of the Appreciation stage of Information Processing? 

3. Describe the Presearch stage of the information processing. What are the activities related to this stage?

Information Processing: Post-viewing Questions

1. Who is involved in the Search phase? Where does this phase take place? What are human resources?

2. The students in this video go to various locations on their field trips. Think of your community. If you were to take kindergarten kids out on a field trip in your area, where would you take them? Why kind of experts would you have them interact with?

3. What is the pedagogical value of the information students are likely to find doing the field trips?

Content  Standards: Previewing Questions

1. Have you ever experienced difficulties with integrating a content standard 
   while planning a lesson? How did you overcome the difficulties? Which content areas presented the most problems?

2. What factors does a teacher have to consider before integrating a specific standard into a lesson plan? 

3. Give examples of activities fro kindergarten students that could integrate National Geography Standard Number 4.

Content  Standards: Post-viewing Questions

1. How does the teacher integrate topics 2 and 3 for History K-4 into her activity? 

2. How can we assess if students meet a specific standard?

3. In this lesson, the teacher integrates standards from different curriculum areas: History, Social Studies, Geography, English Language, and Arts, although this is a lesson intended for Language Arts and Social Studies. Why did the teacher integrate standards from different curricular areas? 

Tenets of Democracy: Previewing Questions

1. What is your definition of Democracy? How do you envision a democratic classroom? Have you been part of non-democratic classrooms? Explain their characteristics.

2. Very often in a classroom setting the loudest voice gets heard. How can a teacher make sure that all the voices in a classroom are heard?

3. Why is it important to promote Civil Involvement? What is its impact on the classroom impact?

Tenets of Democracy: Post-viewing Questions

1. How does the teacher create a democratic classroom setting?

2. How does the teacher empower students in this video?

3. The teacher encourages individual responsibility by assigning one student to take care of the class puppet on the field trips. There is a different student for each trip. Think of other ways of encouraging individual responsibility for this age group.

Technology: Previewing Questions

1. Look at the website the teacher has developed for her classroom. What are its strengths and weaknesses of this website? What would you do different?

2. Do you think it is essential for teacher to have technology competencies? How can teachers acquire technology competencies?

3. What types of technology could we use in a kindergarten setting?

Technology: Post-viewing Questions

1. How useful is the website for the kindergarten students? Why? 

2. What kind of interest do students show in technology?

3. How can we build confidence in students while working with technology?

Teacher Knowledge : Previewing Questions

1. How do you define Immediate Environment, section 9)? What changes can the teacher implement regarding the classroom setting?

2. What are the Sociological Factors that affect learning?

3. Give your own definition of Teacher Knowledge. For more details check our website at: http://www.intime.uni.edu/
   model/teacher/teac1summary.html.

Teacher Knowledge : Post-viewing Questions

1. How does the teacher address the students’ Visual/Spatial Intelligence? Think of 
   other activities that could address this type of intelligence.

2. How does the teacher address the Verbal/Linguistic of her students?

3. How does the teacher capture the students’ interest in the new activities? What method(s) of instruction does she use?

Teacher Behavior: Previewing Questions

1. Did your kindergarten teachers have routines established for your class? What were these routines? What purpose did they serve? What are the advantages of establishing routines?

2. How can teachers monitor student learning? Do the methods differ according to the students’ grade level? Give arguments for your opinion.

3. “Teachers are committed to students and their learning. “ This is the first proposition of accomplished teaching. How do teachers show commitment to their students’ learning? Draw a list of specific examples.

Teacher Behavior: Post-viewing Questions

1. What is group focus? What methods does the teacher use to establish group focus? Can you think of other methods?

2. How does the teacher make use of the class website? How does this illustrate the teacher’s pedagogical knowledge? 

3. How does the teacher demonstrate Content Management?