Current Event Interview

We recently interviewed Ms. A about an article.  The article was about Colorado schools.  Some of them are choosing to become smaller, and the article discussed pros/cons to tinier schools.  Here is the link to the article.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16545520

Ms. A talked about the schools in her district that are smaller schools.  They are funded by Bill Gates, which is one of the pieces the article talked about.  Ms. A was one of the people who worked hard on a grant to get these schools.  Ms. A said that Gates’ heart is in the right place, but it’s about what is it that leads to success. 

The article points out certain small schools that did not improve test scores.  Ms. A thinks this is due to the fact that they didn’t plan well and they didn’t change the teaching style.  She explained how she had an opportunity to teach in a smaller school, but she opted out.

“I believe in certain teaching strategies but I wasn’t able to contribute that much time,” Ms. A said.

She described the school she works in as small.  There are only a handful of teachers in each grade.  She went to a large school and loved it and excelled there.  She said she got to choose different electives which she might not have been able to do in a small school. 

“I don’t know that a small school would have been my choice.  But small schools do work for some people,” Ms. A said.  “Time might change all of this.  People might need closer relations.  Some kids need it, but not all.”

Ms. A also talked about how it is about how much effort a teacher makes.  The school can be big or small, but without good teachers, students won’t learn and gain an education.  I agree with this theory.  A charter school in my district at home is smaller.  The kids there had just as good of an education as I did in the larger school.  That is because the district took the time to hire quality teachers.  I wonder if there is a way to tell which system works better for certain students.  Maybe a test could be created to help place students in the right environment for them.

Higher Order Questions

This week our classroom was participating in state testing for part of the class period so there wasn’t as much interaction as normal.  But there will still several questions asked that I can talk about.  I also thought back to past weeks in the classroom.

One question that Ms. A repeatedly asks the class is, “What did I just say?  Repeat it, class.”  I think this is a comprehension level question.  The students have to restate and discuss what the teacher was saying.  This is a good question to check in with the kids to make sure they were paying attention and actively listening.  It isn’t a higher level thinking question, though.

Ms. A also asks the kids to restate the definition of certain words in “kid words.”  This is also a comprehension level question.  She wants to know that the students can rephrase something academic and apply it to their own learning and life.

Several weeks ago when the students were reading a piece from their textbook, Ms. A asked them what the theme of the story was.  I thought this could be an application type of question because the teacher was asking them to apply their further knowledge of what a theme is, and then they applied this information to the story they were reading. 

The students do not ask very many higher order questions in class.  A common question for them is, “What do we do when we’re done?”  One example of a basic question they asked several weeks ago was, “Where do the dashes go in a hyphenated modifier?”  This is a basic knowledge question about the definition of something.  A higher level question from one of the kids was, “Would ___ be an example of ___?”  I think this is a synthesis question because they are applying prior knowledge to produce something new. 

After observing, I noticed that certain kids ask the same questions over and over again.  This happened throughout my schooling, as well.  I remember I would get embarrassed when the teacher would say, “That question has already been asked.  Were you paying attention?”  I also noticed that it is harder to ask higher level questions to an unwilling classroom.  However difficult, I think teachers should try to challenge students and make them think by asking evaluation and synthesis level questions.