In Chapter 7, Conley mentions the phrase, that “when teachers fail to acknowledge what students know, they risk alienating them by ignoring a big part of their personal identity.” I am big fan of including a student’s prior knowledge in the classroom whenever possible. Students are more likely to take part in the learning and conversation going on in the classroom if a topic they know is being covered. Teachers that act like their students have nothing to offer definitely alienate their students in my opinion. This alienation makes students feel as if they are on a lower level that others in the classroom who might know more about the subject. Therefore, when the student actually knows about the topic, they are not going to participate because the teacher has totally made them uncomfortable about themselves and their knowledge.
The chapter also mentions anticipation guides. I personally am not a fan of these guides. I had a teacher that used them for every single chapter and the guides only made me feel like I was stupid because I did not know some of the questions. I know that Conley says that they provide some type of background knowledge for the students when they are used. However, if the student does not get any of the questions right, then is there schema not wrong because they answered wrong on the guide. I guess in my case, I could have just gotten burnt out on them, but I am not fond of them at all.
Conley discusses KWL charts in Chapter 7. I absolutely love KWL charts, even though some of my previous teachers made us feel like they were only to be used for earlier grades. I definitely disagree with that statement because sometimes teachers need to revert back to simple strategies to help students understand. The KWL is a perfect example of this type of strategy. KWL can be used with more complex topics that some students are not familiar with. Also, they can be used to enlighten students about a topic that they thought they knew a lot about, when, after reading about it, they learn they did not know as much as they thought. The KWL is a wonderful strategy to help guide students in the knowledge that is correct and well informed.
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super post, Brooke. I like that you bring in a direct quote from Conley. I find myself quoting others all the time. You also raise a really intriguing point about "anticipation guides." How might you take these, tweak them, and use them in a way that doesn't risk student self-esteem?
ReplyDeleteI like Anticipation Guides, but of course I have not had the bad experience that you seemed to have had. Is there a way that you could use Anticipation Guides in your future classroom that would keep the students interested and ready to learn about what you are going to be teaching?
ReplyDeleteI like what you mentioned about student's prior knowledge. It can be used in a way that would make students feel unmotivated and wish to not take part in discussions in the class.
If I was the teacher, I would call upon students who seemed anxious to talk about the particular subject. I would not call upon students who seemed unaware of the subject. The students may learn from their classmates as they talk about the subject.