Chapter 11

Conley states in the very first line of this chapter, "Writing is one of the most important ways to learn and demonstrate learning in content areas. I agree with him 100%. It is sometimes so much easier for me to express what I know in writing than to try and guess upon the correct answer to feel in the blank or mark in the multiple choice section. By writing, I am able to communicate everything I know about a subject in a clear and concise manner. I can easily convey my understanding of a topic so that my instructor will know if I "get it" or need more practice.

Conley lists many strategies for teaching students how to plan their writing. I personally favor Brainstorming and Goal Setting. From my experience with this technique, I was able to get my supporting ideas and paragraphs for my main topic without any hassle, which it turn, made it less demanding to complete my assignment. I have also had experience with Quick-Writes. I think they are okay, but they can have ideas scattered all over the place. I did not have much experience with Stop & List or The Guided Writing Procedure. I am sure they provide helpful assistance as well.

Teachers need to teach students how to use the writing strategies correctly before expecting students to apply them in their writing. If they are not used correctly, they will not be very effective. When teaching students, teachers cannot just tell them how to use the strategies. They should also model them. Students need to have a mental picture of how they work and look. Teachers should also check for student understanding by allowing them to demonstrate that they know how to apply the strategies. It is through gaining an understanding and using the strategies correctly that student writing will begin to improve.

Smart/Promethean Boards

I have not had much experience with either of the two boards. I went through an online training for the Promethean board, but I still do not fully understand how it works. I need to experience some hands-on training to know how to use this technology in my classroom. I really look forward to learning how to use both of the boards because they can be very valuable to student learning.

Chapter 7

Activating prior knowledge allows students to think about or recall what they already know. An excellent strategy strategy that the book suggests for doing this is the K-W-L. With this strategy, students tell what they know about a topic, what they want to know about it, and after discussing it, what they have learned about it. Teachers have to explain to students how it works in order to activate prior knowledge. I think prior knowledge should be activated because students build on what they already know. They have to have something to relate new information to in order to retain it.

I also like the priciple Present Content in Interesting Ways as a means of increasing motivation. The author states that, "Content is interesting when it is accompanied by engaging activities." That is so true. I can remember back when I was in elementary school when we had to read all of those stories from our reading textbook. The teacher did nothing to make it engaging. I only got excited about reading the plays. She assigned roles to my classmates and me, and it seemed like everyone was eager to read. It was only when I was interacting with the text that I enjoyed reading it. The content was presented in an engaging way to me, and I appreciated reading the stories in which roles were assigned so much more than the others.