Chapter 3
This chapter is all about how we can help students recall teaching. The authors make the point that is is no wonder our students struggle to remember everything that we teach them, with the amount of information that they are exposed to and need to process. One of my favorite quotes included in this chapter is by Albert Einstein, "Never memorize something that you can look up in a book." (p. 40) Rather than expecting for our students to remember everything that we could possibly teach them, we can utilize tools to support them. The tool that is most highlighted in this chapter is the chart, which "help students remember what they have been taught" (p. 39) You can see this tool being utilized below:
Other tools that were mentioned:
Bookmarks - "personalized lists of things that will help them to remember past teaching." (p. 45)
Micro-Progressions- "[decide] which reading or writing skills in each unit are the most important for students to learn." (p. 46)
Demonstration Notebook- "can support students who need an additional round of seeing how a leson or strategy works before it becomes their own, before it becomes internalized." (p. 47)
With my "How can I apply this to my library?" glasses, I was able to identify a couple of ideas of possible topics that can help my students remember the learning. I can utilize any of the above mentioned tools to target these ideas.
- Choosing a "Just Right" book
- What is a Call Number
- Parts of a Book
Chapter 4
On this chapter we find some strategies on how to motivate students to work hard. The authors, mention recent works on the topic of rigor, which "first focuses on how difficult the task is" and then "as a description of a behavior rather than a description of a task" (p. 54). One of the problems found is that many times, educators believe that instilling rigor is "simply raising the level of complexity of [a] task" (p. 55). Ultimately, in order for students to be able to work at a higher level of rigor, they must be guided to do so.
On this chapter we find some strategies on how to motivate students to work hard. The authors, mention recent works on the topic of rigor, which "first focuses on how difficult the task is" and then "as a description of a behavior rather than a description of a task" (p. 54). One of the problems found is that many times, educators believe that instilling rigor is "simply raising the level of complexity of [a] task" (p. 55). Ultimately, in order for students to be able to work at a higher level of rigor, they must be guided to do so.
This brings focus to one of the most effective tools that can be utilized "to give a vision of what that hard work looks like" (p. 56). As you can see this tool explained in the video below, "[m]icro-progressions clearly map out the path for students to perform more rigorous work" (p. 62).
The chapter finishes by highlighting how the other three tools can also be utilized for this purpose:
- Charts - "once students have an awareness of rigorous work, charts are powerful reminders" (p. 65).
- Bookmarks - "there are times we need to empower students with their own individual plan for how to work rigorously and at what pace" (p. 66).
My students tend to have difficulty with conducting research. I teach them the Super 3 method so that they can have a process to follow. However, they have a difficult time summarizing/paraphrasing the information that they find. I want to be able to develop a micro-progression with this goal in mind. This would probably require a full lesson on its own, but once it is explicitly explained to them, I can create a chart for them to be reminded of the process. They can then utilize that tool as they continue to work on different research projects throughout the school year.
