Module+8+Discussion

Module 8 Discussion
September 16, 2009

Before examining the strategies in this module, take some time to examine your current beliefs and practices by answering the following questions:
 * 1) How do your typically help students acquire and integrate new procedural knowledge? Repetition (procedural knowledge, skills). Go over, show the end project, show procedural. Repeat: show procedural, end project. List steps on the board, instructions. Thinking on their own, seeking out resources for themselves.
 * 2) How do you ensure that students develop effective models for procedural knowledge, internalizing the models' key attributes and behaviors? Effective models - have students do it. Repetitive feedback, more chances/opportunities. "Read it, write it, hear it."
 * 3) How do you use massed and distributed practice to help students shape their use and understanding of key skills, strategies, and processes? For example, to what extent do you design initial massed, structured practice sessions and gradually distribute and vary the nature of practice sessions? Varying to increase the attention level including popcorn reading/shake it up.
 * 4) How do you help students progress toward conceptual understanding and independent transfer of procedural knowledge? For example, how do you design practice sessions that enhance students' fluency --that is, their growing capacity to use procedural knowledge independently? Conceptual/Transfer - homework and projects. Transfer knowledge from one lesson/unit to the next and build on it.
 * 5) To what extent do you incoproate a variety of cooperative learning structures and tasks to reinforce students' modeling, shaping, and internalizing of procedural knowledge? Struggling with group work becoming social is a concern. How much time do you give a group to practice? Maybe a summative assessment would work for group work. Cross-curriculum group work?