Chapter 5

What I can remember about my teacher asking questions in elementary school is that I did not want her to pick me to answer it. I don’t think any of my teachers ever asked questions that made us really think and dig deeper for answers. The questions that were most asked were for the right answer and if you got it wrong, it was embarrassing. Higher order questions were not what I remember being asked in school. Reading about structured questions were interesting to me, because some of the strategies I have never thought of before.
I found the information on questions based on rhetorical styles very interesting. I like each of the categories talking about questions about logic, the writer, and about emotions. By asking students questions related to these rhetorical styles it will help develop the student’s thought processes and understanding. I think using Bloom’s taxonomy will really help teachers decide what questions are on an appropriate level. These organizations of questions are really good to use in a classroom to challenge
I really like the Quilt framework because it helps the teacher consider what might happen before and after the question is asked. I think it is useful to prepare the question first, and then end the process with reflecting on questioning practice. The language we use in the classroom can affect the students’ responses and the way students think. There are five things to include in our questions that would benefit the students best. These may include noticing and naming, identity, agency, flexibility and transfer, and knowing. This chapter has really made me realize that questions are very important and need to be addressed in particular manners to best benefit the student.
“The language we use in the classroom “constitutive…it actually creates realities and invites identities.””
How do you incorporate all of these great techniques without over questioning students on one thing?

Chapter 7 Note taking

I want to start out by saying that I was never taught how to take proper notes. To be completely honest it was not until this school year that I learned about the different ways to take notes. I know for a fact my grades in college would have been a lot better if I would have been taught these ways sooner. I have never been a fan of note taking because I could never keep up with the teacher talking and would most likely never look at my notes again to study because they were a catastrophe.
While reading chapter seven I learned so many new things about note taking. They also explain how note taking and note making is different. With note taking you are writing from a lecture given and you can not go back for more information. With note making you are taking notes from a book or text and can later go back for more information by reading it again. This goes to show how important note taking is, you must get the right information and enough of it the first time, because most of the time you can not go back and get it again.
When I become a teacher I will organize my lectures in ways to make it possible to take notes. It is very important for teachers to understand how to present the material if they expect students to take notes. I feel that if they organize their material correctly and present at a reasonable pace, then every students could practice their great note taking skills. This chapter gives really great examples and suggestions for note taking in all of the major subject areas. I wish I had this chapter way back in High school!