Cues, Questions, and Advanced Organizers

Texas A & M University – Commerce
Master’s of Education in Secondary Education – MED
MISD & A&M – Commerce Partnership Cohort 2010
SED 513 Secondary School Curriculum – 3 SH
Carlos Soliz


Cues, Questions, and Advanced Organizers


What?

The strategy that I used was Cues, Questions, and Advanced Organizers. Honestly, I used the cues and questions part and not the advanced organizers. I have never used advanced organizers so I am not comfortable using them in my class, I know I am suppose to try everything but I did not.

So What?

Offering the students cues and questions I believe is just a part of teaching, getting them to think about what they are going to learn before they learn it. The cues let the students think about what they have learned about the topic in the past and draw from that. I did an assignment on Pearl Harbor and found out that many of my students had no idea about it. I had to give clues to them about what it led to and explained both the United States’ side and Japan’s side. Explained why Japan felt threatened by the United States. The students learned a lot about this event that drew the United States into World War II, which many students did not know. The students’ papers told me that learned about Pearl Harbor and its effect on the United States, Japan, and World War II. I need to learn more about the point of view that Japan has about Pearl Harbor so I can explain that better to my students.

Now What?

Cues and Questioning will continue to be used in my classroom and I am going to get better and more comfortable with Advanced Organizers so I can have my students use them. I don’t want to limit what the students do because I am not comfortable with something. I see that Advanced Organizers can be very helpful in allowing the students to gather their thoughts and put them down on paper, brainstorm.

Generating and Testing Hypotheses

Texas A&M University – Commerce
Master’s of Education in Secondary Education – MED
MISD & A&M – Commerce Partnership Cohort 2010
SED 513 Secondary School Curriculum – 3SH


Generating and Testing Hypotheses



What?

I am guilty of not using this strategy probably as much as I should, especially in World Geography. I did use this however recently when my class was studying Africa. We looked at the Rwanda Conflict and applied this strategy to it. It worked very well.

So What?

The students had to come up with a hypothesis on the best way for the United States to have handled the Rwandan Conflict, other than doing nothing. The students had to put themselves in the role of the President of the United States and come up with a solution to peacefully ending the conflict in Rwanda. Finally, the students had to look into why the conflict originally started, why was one group trying to eliminate the other, what brought about the hatred among the two groups. Collect evidence that confirms the student’s hypothesis.
The hardest part of this assignment was trying to get the students to formulate a hypothesis that would allow them to problem solve and investigate. Many of them wanted to just send in American troops and stop the fighting, what they failed to understand was that by doing that the United States would have to commit to policing the area once the conflict was resolved. I believe those students that struggled with this did so because I do not do enough of it in my class. I need to use this strategy more and will.

Now What?

I need to incorporate this strategy more in my classroom so my students can use their higher level thinking skills. Plus it allows for my students to see what tough decisions have to be made when dealing with other countries. It lets them see the freedoms that they take for granted. I will use this strategy more in my classroom in the future. It is a lot better than worksheets and maps.

Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback

Texas A&M University – Commerce
Master’s of Education in Secondary Education – MED
MISD & A&M – Commerce Partnership Cohort 2010
SED 513 Secondary School Curriculum – 3SH


Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback


What?

The teaching strategy that I was to use was Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback. This strategy is very beneficial to everyone that uses it both in and out of the classroom. It allows an individual to really think about the goals that they want to accomplish and the steps that need to taken to reach the goal set.

So What?

I have found this strategy to be very effective in the athletic setting. I use the example of athletics because the athletes are able to sit down everyday and evaluate their performance. I have my receivers at the beginning of every year right down what their goal is for the end of the season and they then tape it to the inside of their locker. This goal is a team goal and how they want the season to turn out. This goal is seen every day every time he opens his locker to get ready for practice. I also have the receivers write down, on Monday, a weekly goal for Friday, which is game day. This goal gets posted on the outside of the locker so they can see it as soon as they get to their locker. This goal is a personal goal, could be anything from getting to play to scoring a touchdown to having over a hundred yards receiving. Whatever goal that individual receiver has. The last goal written down is a daily goal, which they write down before they go out to practice. These goals have to relate to the weekly goal, what things do they have to do everyday to be able to reach that goal on Friday. The daily goals are to be evaluated before they leave home for the day. Did the receiver meet his daily go? If the answer is no then what did he fail to do to meet that goal? Can he still reach his weekly goal by not reaching his daily goal? The daily goals are stacked on the front of the locker next to the weekly goal; so the receiver can see what he needs to work on to reach his goal. I have tried a goal notebook, spiral notebook, and index cards but have found that for the daily and weekly goals post it notes work best. I have them write their season goal on an index card and tape it to the inside of their locker where they can see it.

Now What?

I will continue to use goals because it gives a purpose for the everyday practice and gives the individual to something to strive for. The providing feedback is an everyday, every play thing that I do for each of my players. I tell them something after every play whether I am praising them for what they did right or correcting them for what they need to fix. I explain both to them and why it would or would not work. I do some goal setting in the classroom especially at the beginning of a new lesson but I need to do more. What you Think you Know, What you Know, and what you want to learn is an example of what I use in class. What makes it so easy to do in athletics is that I have fewer athletes to instruct, they want to be there, they want to learn, and they want to get better. This is not always the case in the classroom. I do try and provide lots of feedback in the classroom but then again not everyone likes to be praised in public and some hate to be corrected.

Final Reflection II

Texas A&M University – Commerce
Master’s of Education in Secondary Education – MED
MISD & A&M – Commerce Partnership Cohort 2010
SED 513 Secondary School Curriculum – 3SH


Final Reflection II


I have up to this point been very successful in reaching both my Professional and Personal goals. Personally I have been incorporating more technology into my classroom both from my students and me. The use of power point has increased and my students are becoming more creative in the use of them. Some of my students were unaware of all the material that you could put on a power point slide. Students are now adding music, which has to be approved of course, and have really opened up their creative minds. Now no it is not all of the students yet but hopefully by the end of the year it will be. This makes me want to learn more about ways of using technology to reach my students. Seeing the students grasp this gives me a new fire to learn more so I can pass it on to them. Global Earth has been an awesome tool in World Geography; the students are able to see the places we are studying. I know have some students come into class telling me of places that they looked at while they were at home. That excited me because they were doing homework without knowing it or me assigning it to them. I like when my students come to class with questions of something that they have looked up by themselves. Learning is taking place and that is good.
Professionally I am in the process of taking classes to earn my Master’s degree in Administration. I will hopefully be taking a May Mini class, Instructional Leadership Development this summer and a Law class during summer session 1. These classes will put me on track to graduate with the class on time and help me towards my Administration Degree.
The value of goal setting is priceless; it gives students something to work towards. I use goal setting all the time with my athletes. We use daily, weekly, and end of the season goals. The use of goal setting works.

Final Reflection I

Texas A&M University – Commerce
Master’s of Education in Secondary Education – MED
MISD & A&M – Commerce Partnership Cohort 2010
SED 513 Secondary School Curriculum – 3SH


Final Reflection I

One thing that I have learned this past semester is that I have been using many different teaching strategies in my classroom. I did not know the exact term of each strategy, until know, but I have used or are using several of them right now. As a teacher I think that you have to incorporate many different strategies because you have students with different learning styles. I wish I could pick one and every student would learn and benefit from the strategy I chose but that is not the case. My classroom is changing and it is because of my students. So there is one thing that needs to happen in order for them to be successful, I have to change the way I am teaching to make that success possible. This semester has opened my eyes to that. The strategy that I seem to use the most is cooperative learning. Cooperative learning allows me to get my low ability students to become more involved in my class and gets them to do their work because the rest of the group is counting on them to do their part. This strategy allows me to partner students in different ways so that they get to know each other. I like the personal interaction of my students because they already separate themselves into groups and often times alienate others. In our Classroom Instruction that Works book, David Johnson and Roger Johnson (1999) recognize five defining element of cooperative learning. These elements are Positive Interdependence, Face-to-Face Promotive Interaction, Individual and Group Accountability, Interpersonal and Small Group Skills, and Group Processing.
Marzano places Cooperative Learning in the middle of the learning strategies with a percentile gain of twenty-seven percent. What I really like about Cooperative Learning is that I am able to incorporate other strategies while I am using it. For example, I can use Identifying Similarities and Differences, which has the highest percentile (45%) within a Cooperative Learning setting. By doing this I can even further increase the possibility of learning and success in my classroom. Cooperative Learning allows for students to see other ways to find solutions, it opens students eyes to different points of views, it allows communication, builds trust, and can help in conflict resolution. I like the fact that I can group students together that have a hard time with the English language and they work together and learn. This was actually why I first started using Cooperative Learning when I first started teaching. Students that were struggling with getting their worked turned in were turning in all their assignments, students that were afraid to ask questions were now speaking and asking questions, it made a difference in those students and I took notice. That is why I continue to use this strategy in my classroom and why I will continue to use it. Now this strategy is not for everyday use and independent study is very important but it can be a great tool to help the success of your students.

Cooperative Learning

Texas A&M University – Commerce
Master’s of Education in Secondary Education – MED
MISD & A&M-Commerce Partnership Cohort 2010
SED 513 Secondary School Curriculum – 3 SH
Carlos Soliz



Cooperative Learning


What?

Cooperative Learning is a great strategy that I use a lot in my classroom. I like to use this strategy to help learners that tend to lag behind on their work, group projects, and it also helps students learn the names of their classmates.

So What?

Using Cooperative Learning lets me pair up students who sometimes don’t get their work done and turned in with those students who do very well and always get their work completed. This puts a little bit more responsibility on that student that lags behind to get his/her part done and turned in. Group projects help to split up responsibilities amongst students and designate some leadership roles also. Using a variety of methods to split students into groups helps classmates learn each others’ names and maybe learn a little bit about the personal side of him/her. I believe that the students that struggle to do work on their own feel a sense of obligation to their group and don’t want to let everyone else down.

Now What?

I will continue to use cooperative learning every year that I teach now matter what the subject. It helps students with responsibility, a sense of belonging to a group, and also helps with their grades. Reflecting on my teaching and my methods I have learned that many teachers use this learning strategy and they have had success doing so.

Nonlinguistic Representations

Texas A&M University – Commerce
Master’s of Education in Secondary Education – MED
MISD & A&M-Commerce Partnership Cohort 2010
SED 513 Secondary School Curriculum – 3 SH
Carlos Soliz

Nonlinguistic Representations


What?

Using the Nonlinguistic Representation model I chose to use the Drawing Pictures and Pictograph strategy for vocabulary and so the students can remember the countries we are studying. I chose to use this strategy because many of my students prefer to draw instead of write. This has helped those students remember things a lot better than a definition.

So What?

The strategy, Drawing Pictures and Pictograph, has been very effective to teach the curriculum. Now all the students don’t have to draw all the time. Sometimes I have the students draw or write and sometimes they draw and write vocabulary words. The feedback that I have is that vocabulary test scores of students that have struggled in the past are on the rise. These students tell me that they prefer to draw instead of write. I really like using this strategy so I would not change anything next time.

Now What?

I will continue to use this strategy because I know that students learn in different ways and a lot of students now days are visual learners. I know that I would have never used this method, mainly because I did not know about it. Learning different methods of teaching has helped me a ton, it has opened my eyes to new methods of teaching. Not only learning new strategies from other teachers but also listening to the students and the way they learn.

Teacher Personal and Professional Goals

Texas A&M University – Commerce
Master’s of Education in Secondary Education – MED
MISD & A&M – Commerce Partnership Cohort 2010
SED 513 Secondary School Curriculum – 3SH


Teacher Personal and Professional Goals


Name: ________Carlos Soliz_______

Professional Growth Goals:

o Personal – I am striving to become a technological teacher. I want to incorporate more technology into my classroom and my lessons with the use of wikis, global earth, you tube, and power point.

o Professional – I am going to get my Masters in Administration.

Professional Growth Measurable Activities:

o Personal – I am going to learn how to use more technology in my classroom. I will set up wiki pages, when the district allows the use of you tube I will use it, right now I use power points, and global earth to study World Geography.

o Professional – Take the required classes, study, do the work, learn and pass to be able to earn my Masters degree.

Professional Growth Assessment and Evaluation:

o Personal – Continue to try and keep up with the changing technology and be able to incorporate it into my classroom. I want to be able to reach my students with the technology that they are using at home everyday.

o Professional – Continue to update my skills and challenge myself to be a better teacher. Take Pay for Knowledge courses that the district offers so that I can try and stay on the top of my technological game.

Homework and Practice

Texas A&M University – Commerce
Master’s of Education in Secondary Education – MED
MISD & A&M – Commerce Partnership Cohort 2010
SED 513 Secondary School Curriculum
Carlos Soliz


Homework and Practice

What?

Homework and Practice method is a really tough strategy that I have struggled to implement at the present school that I am at. At schools that I have been in the past I did not have problems with students doing homework and getting it turned in. I gave it a try anyway.

So What?

I had to find something that would spark their interest to make them want to do work outside of the classroom. I found two ways to accomplish this 1) assign current events to the places that we are studying and 2) assign computer work for them to do using Google Earth. The first couple of times were a real struggle to get them to turn in their work but eventually it worked. I still have some students that do not bring anything to turn in; they will not even bring it in late for credit. The Google Earth has really excited some interest in my students and we use it a lot in class to study World Geography. I have them find different places on the Google Earth map and write a report on it to turn in.

Now What?

I have to make sure that any homework is relevant and to return it to them graded as soon as I can. I want them to know that it is important to do research on their own and to be able to problem solve on their own. I tell them that the education process involves them to think and be able to solve problems on their own. Using technology makes me keep up with what is out there and reaches the students at their level.

Summarizing and Note Taking

Texas A&M University – Commerce
Master’s of Education in Secondary Education – MED
MISD & A&M – Commerce Partnership Cohort 2010
SED 513 Secondary School Curriculum
Carlos Soliz

Summarizing and Note Taking

What?

I opted to use the Cornell Notes in my class because I had never used them in my classroom before. I have had my students take notes during lectures and during videos that we use in class but they have struggled through this. I wanted to use a method I had not used before and the Cornell Notes fit well.

So What?

The first thing that I did was ask the students who had used this type of note taking before, to my surprise almost half the class had already used this style. I took the time to explain how to take notes using the Cornell method to the students who were not familiar with these type of notes. The notes that I got from my students were beyond anything that I was expecting because of the work that I had seen turned in before. I really like the Cornell method and will continue to use it. I don’t think that I will do anything differently next time.

Now What?

Like I said above I continue to use the Cornell method of note taking. It makes it easier for my students to get information written down and for them to decipher the information that they need. I like it especially with the instructional videos that we use in class for them to get the information. The Cornell method has also helped me when I do lecture to make sure that I am getting the information to the students that they really need.

Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition

Texas A&M University – Commerce
Master’s of Education in Secondary Education – MED
MISD & A&M – Commerce Partnership Cohort 2010
SED 513 Secondary School Curriculum
Carlos Soliz



Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition

What?

Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition is an everyday use in my class. With the type of students that I have it is mandatory that I praise any positive actions that happen.

So What?

The most important thing about using this method is to know your students. The types of reinforcement and recognition have to be different for each student. Some students need to be recognized where everyone knows that they are receiving it, while others do not want anyone to know that they did something good. One thing that I have noticed that has the most impact on the students at my school is a phone call or email home for something positive that the student has done. This is because most phone calls home are for something that the student has done bad not good.

Now What?

I will always use this method. When I stop using it that will be the time that I will need to retire or find some other job to do. With the home life that most of my students have they need some positive reinforcement and recognition at some point during their day.

SED 513 - Similarities and Differences

Texas A & M University – Commerce
Master’s of Education in Secondary Education – MED
MISD & A&M – Commerce Partnership Cohort 2010
SED 513 Secondary School Curriculum – 3 SH
Carlos Soliz


Similarities and Differences

What?

The strategy used in my World Geography class was Similarities and Differences. I have used this strategy in my class for many years on many different subjects to help students identify how the United States and other countries of the world are alike and how they are different.

So What?

Similarities and Differences works because the students can see that the whole world has many of the same landforms, people are the same, and it helps some of them see how privileged they are to live in the United States. It is always a challenge the first time the students do it because they are not sure what they are suppose to write down. The same old question is asked “how many of each do we need to write down?” The countries we used recently were Europe and the United States. It has opened the students’ eyes, especially to our system of government, to how similar Europe and the United States really are. The students found out how Europe has impacted the United States that we have today. Food, traditions, the names of some of the eastern states, government, and our laws that we have today are some of the things the students were surprised that we received from Europe. One of the things that I will do different next time is to first have them write down what they already know, what they want to know, and what they learned.

Now What?

I really like this strategy and continue to use it, I don’t always use a Venn diagram because I don’t want it to be a routine thing that the students do. I have the student list items or draw pictures of items that are similar or different. Letting students have a choice how they represent the similarities and differences works very well. It allows for some creativity by the student.