EDU 6136 Content Methods was an invaluable course. It was a course that not only provided a lot of information on many areas of teaching, such as, differentiation, questioning, and prior knowledge to name a few, but also required self-reflection in these areas. What do I know about my students? What do they know academically and personally? What activities and questions can I provide that will best engage them? What feedback can I then provide that guides them toward the learning target?
While all the topics were of value, there were two that really resonated with me. The first being Module 2, with the guiding question: “How is the teaching you purpose informed by your knowledge of students?” I had thought that I had done a fairy good job in getting to know my students. I knew which ones played soccer, and had even attended some games. I knew which ones were new this year and tried to seat or partner them with a more outgoing peer. And I knew a lot of the parents or older siblings and could therefore converse with them about their home life to some extent. After reading Funds of Knowledge for Teaching: Using a Quantitative Approach to Connect Homes and Classroom, I realized there is so much more to be done. Yes, I had a good start but to really discover my students “funds of knowledge” I needed to do more. I needed to create some ways to bring in their outside worlds. For example, I have a student who is fluent at Sign Language because her father is deaf. How could I bring this into a class learning experience? I have a student whose family runs a large farm, how could I incorporate this? My only ELL student’s family runs our local Mexican restaurant, how can I use this? So, I can see I have more work and considerations to explore in teaching/incorporating my student’s funds of knowledge.
The other topic that I found interesting was Module 6 on deepening student learning. The overarching question was “How will you thoughtfully elicit and build on student responses in ways to develop and deepen content understanding? This unit was good for me because it brought in some overlap from other sources. One being my current technology course EDTC 6431 and the subject of creating engaging experiences for students. The article by Caram and Davis stated that, “Youth of today expect, actually demand, experiences that are action-packed, flashy, entertaining, and propel them into sensory overload. How can teachers capture students’ attention when they must compete with the drama of real life…?” (2005). In EDTC 6431, I am working to explore and create lessons that are technologically based to not only engage students but to further their learning using 21st century skills. This same Caram and Davis article introduced “What Successful Teachers Do” and that is to engage students intrinsically using purposeful questioning. “Effective use of questioning arouses curiosity, stimulates interest, and motivates students to seek new information.” (2005). The level of questioning I am engaging my students in was an area I was able to learn about earlier in the year. A follow colleague, who is working on her administrative certification, sat in on a few of my classes with the exact purpose of recording and analyzing the level of questioning taking place. I was then fortunate enough to be given this feedback and have a discussion with her. I learned that while I did have pre-planned questions and I did allow students to build on each other’s thinking, I still was not reaching the higher levels of questioning that being analyzing and synthesizing. The value of deepening student learning through questioning was an area I discussed in Module 6 discussion post stating, “In the secondary ELA classroom, discussions are a large part of learning. Discussions help relate the real world and today’s society to a “boring” classic novel. Well-crafted questions can help students see a possible parallel between themselves and a character or situation in a novel.” Overall, deepening student learning calls on the teacher to engage the student whether it be through technology, questioning, or something else. The result has to be that the student is motivated to learn.
So, in sum this course has really provided me with a wealth of usable knowledge, and perhaps more importantly caused me to think deeply about my own funds of knowledge.
References
Caram, C. A., & Davis, P. B. (2005). Inviting Student Engagement with Questioning. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 42(1), 19-23. doi:10.1080/00228958.2005.10532080
Moll, L. C.,Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (Spring 1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132-141.
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