chapter 5

Now, that I'm a future teacher, it's funny to see how my views have changed. Now, I am all for higher order thinking questions; however, when I was in high school, those were the kinds of questions I loathed. I did not want to hear a question where I had to put two and two together in order to get the answer. I wanted it cut and dry. I remember in high school, I had a Biology II teacher that would ask several higher order thinking questions to help us learn the material. In fact, if he asked a question, he would not go on until it was answered; he refused to give us the answer. As much as I hated it then, I see now how much that helped me learn. Because I wasn't just given an answer or asked a question that required a simple answer, I retained more of the material. Not only was he helping me learn Biology II, he was giving me strategies that I could use in other classes in order to better myself as a student, although I did not realize that at the time. Now, that I am going to be a teacher, I see the importance of having students think for themselves. One of the reason school was so boring was we were mostly just handed answers. We did not have to work for much. After reading chapter 5, I have learned some new strategies to help my students become genuine thinkers. I find that the SQ3R strategy can be useful when reading to learn. I feel like if I would have used this strategy before now, I would have done a lot better on some of the quizzes I have taken throughout my student career. Also, I love all of the mathematical strategies because I personally am a math person and plan to teach math. I personally like the reciprocal teaching method This allows students to learn from other students. It also make students feel important becuase they discovered how to do something on their own. Also, I am a firm believer in you learn 100% what you teach. Also, I think that it makes you feel better when you learn something on your own. Contrary to what I said before about how I like questions to be cut and dry, when it comes to something I am intersted in, I like to figure it out on my own. It makes me feel like I have accomplished something, and I feel good about myself. Why not give our students this opportunity?