Questions for Reflection

Question 1: Everyone in my school is talking about "brain-based" education. Where is that explored in this course?

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Question 2: With so many different theories to consider, how do I choose which one I should try to implement in my lesson plans?

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Question 3: Dr. Darling-Hammond noted Fe MacLean's ability to use students' prior-knowledge of sledding to gain their interest and build a conceptual framework for the ramp activity? What if students do not seem to have any prior knowledge regarding a planned activity?

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Question 4. Fe mentioned that she tries to visualize herself as a kid and consider their developmental level when planning learning activities. How does a teacher know where to place children on a developmental continuum, especially when they are all so different?

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Question 5: Dr. Darling-Hammond mentioned that after the ramp, ball, and can experiment in Fe's class that the students then did writing, drawing, and oral presentations based on their multiple intelligences? What exactly are multiple intelligences and how does a teacher incorporate them into instruction?

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Question 6:. While eliciting the students' prior-knowledge about ramps and speeds of decline, Fe MacLean's students came up with a variety of hypotheses and she did not correct those that seemed wrong. Why not?

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Question 7: Kathleen strived to use parents as models of literacy, but it was evident in her culturally diverse classroom that many of the parents have different literacy backgrounds, accomplishments, and possibly expectations. How can parental or cultural literacy be used as an example for students when it does not seem to be perfectly aligned with the school's definition of literacy?

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Question 8: How are parents and guests included seamlessly in the classroom, as it appears they are in Kathleen's?

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Question 9: Mind mapping is mentioned as a strategy in Kendra's classroom example. What is it, exactly?

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Question 10: Kendra mentioned it's crucial to her that her students make conscious choices in the strategies that they employ? How does a teacher facilitate and monitor these choices?

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Question 11: The toothpick bridge lesson showed students actively engaged in creating, but how is Donald certain that each of them learned the intended concepts, especially if they are working in groups?

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Question 12: Why did Donald add the problematic situations of war and inflation to the toothpick bridge activity – an engineering and science lesson?

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Return to the Support Materials for Session 1.