HYIS Review of 07-08 Strategies

Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback

Summarizing and Note Taking

Why do we set objectives?

“Students can hit any target that holds still for them.”

Things to think about Create objectives that aren’t too

specific Personalizing objectives Communicating objectives

Creating Objectives That Are Not TOO Specific

Research suggests that learning goals that are TOO specific might actually constrain students’ learning. When students engage in a rich learning experience, a clear, concise learning objective can help them focus on what to learn from the experience. Avoid being TOO narrow though, or students might not attend to all of the learning that could result.

Personalizing Objectives

Objectives become powerful learning tools when they give direction to students but allow them some flexibility to further define their own interests within a topic.

Communicating Objectives

Communicating objectives effectively is probably just as important as designing them. Both short-term and long-term goals need to be clearly visible to students and in language that they can understand.

Providing Feedback

Providing feedback to students on how well they are doing powerfully enhances student achievement

3 guidelines for providing feedback:1. Feedback should be “corrective” in

nature. (Tell them what they are doing correctly or incorrectly.)

2. Feedback should be timely.3. Feedback should be specific to a criterion.

Classroom Practice in Providing Feedback

Criterion-referenced feedback – providing students with feedback in terms of specific levels of knowledge and skill.

Rubrics work well for this. Engage students in the process of

deciding what feedback should be given.

Research Generalizations on Summarizing

Effective summarizing requires that students:

Delete, substitute &keep information Analyze information at a deeper level Know the explicit structure of

information (Knowing the type of information helps the student with summarizing. For example, a short story would contain a beginning, middle and ending.)

Rule Based Strategy

1. Delete trivial material that is unnecessary to understanding

2. Delete redundant material

3. Substitute superordinate terms for more specific terms (e.g. Use fish for rainbow trout, salmon, and halibut.)

4. Select a topic sentence, or invent one if it is missing

For Younger Students1. Take out material that is

not important for your understanding

2. Delete words that repeat information.

3. Replace a list of things with a word that describes the things in the list (eg, use trees for elm, oak, and maple.

4. Find a topic sentence. If you cannot find a topic sentence, make one up.

Practice the Rule-Based Strategy The word photography comes from the Greek

word meaning “drawing with light”….Light is the most essential ingredient in photography. Nearly all forms of photography are based on the fact that certain chemicals are photosensitive- that is, they change in some way when exposed to light. Photosensitive materials abound in nature; plants that close their blooms at night are one example. The films used in photography depend on a limited number of chemical compounds that darken when exposed to light. The compounds most widely used today are called halogens (usually bromine, chlorine, or iodine.

Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia

The word photography comes from the Greek word meaning “drawing with light”….Light is the most essential ingredient in photography. Nearly all forms of photography are based on the fact that certain chemicals are photosensitive- that is, they change in some way when exposed to light. Photosensitive materials abound in nature; plants that close their blooms at night are one example. The films used in photography depend on a limited number of chemical compounds that darken when exposed to light. The compounds most widely used today are called halogens (usually bromine, chlorine, or iodine.

Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia

Reciprocal Teaching

Summarizing Questioning Clarifying Predicting

Chunking

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Note Taking

Both summarizing and note taking require students to distill information into a concise, synthesized form.

Effective learners are able to sift through a great deal of information, identify what is important and then synthesize and restate the information.

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Research and Theory on Note Taking

Note taking is closely related to summarizing. To take effective notes, a student must make a determination as to what is most important, and then state that information in a parsimonious form.

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Verbatim Note taking is, perhaps, the least effective way to take notes

When students are trying to record everything they hear or read, they are not engaged in the act of synthesizing information.

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Notes should be considered a work in progress

Once students initially take notes, teachers should encourage them to continually add to the notes and revise them as their understanding of content deepens and sharpens. This implies that teachers should systematically provide time for students to go back over their notes—reviewing and revising them.

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Notes should be used as a study guide for tests

If notes have been well designed and students have systematically elaborated on them, they can provide a powerful form of review for students.

Interestingly, fewer students than might be expected take advantage of notes to this end.

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The more notes that are taken, the better

“Less is not more” A strong relationship exists

between the amount of information taken in notes and students’ achievement on examinations.

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Classroom Practice in Note Taking

Teacher-prepared notes:One of the most straightforward uses of notes. These notes provide students with a clear picture of what the teacher considers important. Also, they provide students with a model of how notes might be taken.

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Format for Notes (no one correct way to take notes)

Informal Outline: Uses indentation to indicate major ideas and their related details.

Webbing: Uses the relative size of circles to indicate the importance of ideas and lines to indicate relationships.

Combination Notes: Each page of notes is divided into 3 parts by a line running down the middle of the page and a horizontal line near the bottom of the page. The left side is reserved for notes. The right side using webbing or some sort of visual representation of the information. Finally, the strip across the bottom is reserved for summary statements.

Classroom Instruction That Works p. 84-90

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Additional Note Taking Resources cornell_note_taking.doc note-taking_download.pdf How to Create the Cornell Notes

Template.doc prereadingnotes.pdf vocabsquares.pdf cornellintro.pdf www.englishcompanion.com LNHS Note Taking Strategies

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