Week+4

LINDSAY Week 4 Lecture was on Lesson Planning which is quite self explanatory so i thought i would kick this weeks off with the readings especially the little video on questioning through the below link, Teacher Tools. [|Teacher tools]

I found it interesting that it covered a wide range of questioning approaches, blooms and dalton etc. It stresses to plan for questioning and ask as many open ended questions as possible. This is true but I still find it very hard to do this, open ended questions are not as easy to come up with as other questions such as empirical or conceptual. I think for myself, as a first year teacher, I am really going to have to sit down and plan what I am going ask in each lesson. Not every day, for every topic, but if there is something that I think would challenge the children then to write it down and think of some open ended questions would benefit my thinking.


 * what is the question trying to achieve?
 * what is the focus of the questions?
 * Make decisions and judgements?
 * Create something new?
 * Solve problems?

The checklist i think will be handy to help you stay on the right track also... don't you.?

I liked the quote at the end, " If teaching is the act of asking questions, its important that we think about them and plan them appropriately." Socrates.

Yes, I would agree that a checklist such as the one above will be highly beneficial for first year teachers who are just starting out.
 * Steve's response to Lindsay:**

I believe the biggest challenge however will not lie with lesson plans as such and structuring the correct questions throughout a lesson, but will stem from teaching a classroom of children who posses mixed learning abilites. Being able to keep the whole classroom on track (in terms of their development), and catering for the different capabilities will in my opinion pose the greatest challenge as first year teachers. Furthermore, dealing with certain behavioural issues in a classroom, that we'll undoubtedly encounter in our upcoming teaching rounds will also pose an interesting challenge. Viewing how experienced teachers use strategies to combat disruptive behaviour in a classroom will also be invaluable to our ongoing development as teachers.

What are your thoughts on the issue Heidi?

__ HEIDI __ This weeks lecture enforced the absolute importance of lesson planning and how lesson planning, while a graduate teacher, will help you develop, grow and be an influential educator. As previously mentioned by Lindsay, i also agree that that the questioning approaches designed by Blooms and Dalton incorporate effective questioning techniques enabling students to hone in on their higher order thinking and the development of their problem solving skills and the questions in which they ask when solvng complex prpblems. I agree with both Lindsay and Steve that for an educator, the problem is not with the development and creation of lesson plans but in fact the structuring of questions ie. open ended, emperical or conceptual; and to have developed appropriate questions for children with mixed abilities. I also feel that as a graduate teacher, catering to the profecientcies of each student in the classroom will be our biggest challenge. I agree with Lindsay that using the checklist will enable us as graduate teachers to stay on track and ensure that we are asking these questions in a clear and concise manner allowing teachers to obtain the highest level of interaction and performance from students.

In conclusion i feel that it is imperative for each and every teacher to "reflect" on most, if not all lessons. A couple of questions which i feel are particularly important include - What went well and why? AS a teacher you may choose to record your thoughts to these questions in a log book, so you can go back and create future lessons based upon what has previously worked with students - What was difficult and why? Outline and understand what areas you or the students found difficult and how you could overcome these difficulties in future classes - What you learnt? I feel that this question in the most important question for techers to ask themselves, as it allows continual personal and professioanl development, furthermore it also allows you as the teacher to reflect on areas in which you are not so strong in and work on these weaknesses, but also to reflect on your strengths.