PIAE - III

Assessment - There comes a time when we need to measure what we have done. But measuring somethings can prove to be quite challenging - psychological constructs are perfect examples. Psychological constructs are things we know exist, but cannot prove by measuring directly. Examples are intelligence, love, happiness, etc.  Since we cannot measure them directly, we look for behaviors we think are related to the construct.  If someone is happy, we would expect to see certain indications like smiling, laughing, being carefree, etc.  Likewise, we measure intelligence by looking for "smart" behaviors.  So, when we deal with intelligence, learning, or thinking, we will never truly measure the source.  For those philosophers amongst us, Plato's Allegory of the Cave is an interesting parallel to this dilemma.

So we have this issue of not being able to measure the "academic growth" of our students.  We have other issues as well, for instance we can revisit the "transmission vs construction" debate, and that would add even more complexity here.  If we simply transmit information into their brains, we could measure it much more simply than if they indeed construct it on their own. If they do construct, it will have unique and idiosyncratic features, often due to the diversity in their schemata.  Perhaps this is why we give so many true/false, multiple choice, and yes/no questions, to force them back into the right model. You can feel this diverse knowledge construction more when you give open-ended questions like short answer and essays, as you see the places they will push the information given a chance. And if they do construct their knowledge, and we force them into very tight narrow assessment windows, what are we cutting off, what new creative information is lost to us?

Finally, one of the greatest challenges in measuring these constructs is that the students do not think and construct in a language (one we speak anyway), they use other tools, but when they have to be measured, the students must mediate these other tools into words and into confining test mechanisms. Then have them perform in a second language (or even third or fourth) and imagine how far you really are from what is in those beautiful heads.  Ever wonder why people hate tests? Why they fear them? We think it is because of the consequences of the exercise, but it might be that it is so darn unnatural.

I will have a lot to say about testing and test construction later, but I want to talk a little bit about testing now - what a test does and doesn't do, and what a student should look forward to when taking one. If you read the chapter on the Three Responsibilities of a Student, you may remember there are actually four stages initially - Comprehension, Storage, Retrieval, and Expression. I contend that tests are stupid, they really give us very little information, and they are very poor at the "whys."  You might remember this series of scenario, if so, I apologize: Thinking about the four stages, CSRE, remember a time when you had a difficult time with a subject. Did it ever happen that you didn't comprehend it all before the test? When you took the test there was no comprehension, nothing to store or to retrieve, and nothing to express - the test said you didn't know it. Maybe you comprehended it but failed to store it,there was still nothing to to retrieve or express, and according to the test you didn't know it just like the person who never understood it. If you have test anxiety, perhaps you comprehended it, stored it, but couldn't retrieve it due to your stress - nothing to express, you don't know it. Finally, think of a very difficult essay test - you comprehend the material, stored it, retrieved it, but then butchered it trying to express it. You don't know it!  You can begin to see how uninsightful tests can be and how important language is in this whole process.

A student's prime goal when coming into a test should be to get the information from her head onto the test paper. No more, no less.  We need to teach them how to do this fairly. I will talk a great deal about this in a few weeks :)  One last note on assessment: TS = OS + E where a student's True Score (actual ability on the construct) equals his Observed Score (the test grade or result) plus or minus error.  We can make mistakes and/or guess luckily on some questions.  The point is there is always some sort of error on a test. We never see the true score, let alone the original construct - now we are even further away than earlier.  Phew.

Think over these things, let me know what you think (if you think for those of you not posting :)

PIAE - II

We have talked quite a bit about philosophy (don't worry, we will speak some more in a few weeks!), and we have been talking about instruction, whether you have caught it or not. The discussions about culture and interaction are the precursors to instruction! How often to professors, curriculum specialists, consultants, etc. launch into instructional techniques without considering the "bed" they will lie in? Sometimes, these experts will also suggest that the proper instructional techniques impact interaction and culture - still backwards though, if the practitioner is seeking to make these changes without understanding the underlying dynamics in the classroom. Ever have those wonderful moments when things work so well, but then you cannot reproduce them when you want to? This is the serendipity of a segregated sequence!
Once we know what our classroom culture is, we can determine what the appropriate levels of interaction are. We can also decide where we want to take the class, moment by moment, day by day, week by week, or term by term.  That is when we can choose instructional techniques wisely with purpose and intent. Remember, wisdom is the ability to recognize the value in things :) Imagine knowing your classroom culture well, and having a good bag of tools at your fingertips knowing exactly when to employ them!  Pretty cool.
We will be talking a lot about instruction next year (get it?) too, but within a specific context. This is just a little food for thought!

*I am a consultant, so I am allowed to make the following joke - The definition of a consultant is "someone who borrows your watch, then charges 50 dinar to tell you what time it is."

"Creating a positive classroom culture"

“Education is the process by which the individual relates himself to the universe, give himself citizenship in the changing world, share’s the race’s mind and enfranchises his own soul.”~ John Finley

Establishing a positive culture in the classroom is one of the first and most important priorities of the teachers.

The teacher should observe his/her sts. at the beginning of the year & to watch their behavior towards each other. Do they respect each other? Do they communicate ,trust each other? Then a good teacher would take notes and ask him/herself: How could I improve my classroom culture? Many procedures could be followed e.g..

desks arrangement could be changed so the classroom scene would be colorful and attractive._

_various activities could be used to build connections between sts.

A good teacher would lead sts. toward establishing the classroom rules and norms. The more that sts. feel they are apart of the classroom active members of it, the more responsible they would be.

It's good idea to have sts. come up with the rules at the beginning of the years in groups. These rules could be written on a poster and sts. sign them then put on the wall visible to every one. In my school every class should write such a moral contract .sts. take part in writing it and they sign it. Then it is there on the wall all the year.

These are my own classroom moral rules:

I should respect my teachers and classmates.

I should be a polite Muslim girl.

I should be punctual.

I should wear my school uniform.

I should do my homework.

I should take care of my classroom furniture( desks, board,…etc)

It's very important also for teachers to be a model to their sts. Sts. would perform best when they see the teachers' professionalism and respect.

Acknowledgement of the positive behavior and achievements is critical.. Sts. should be praised when they succeed.

In my school there is a poster in every class called" Stars" or " The honor poster" with sts'. names and stickers will be put to the good sts. Finally, it's good idea to have sts'. Feedback. Encourage sts. to express themselves. A suggestion box could be put in the classroom and a regular check-in could be done.

The question now does learning change in such a good environment ?

Such environment will help sts. to feel more secure and welcomed and able to cooperate with others in classroom. Here it's important to talk about my favorite technique peer coaching. Sts. will be able to help each other , exchange knowledge as they respect each other.

I would like to conclude that creating a successful classroom culture enables, inspires and empowers children to appreciate each other and value learning.

Fatima Ramadan( Jerash Camp)

--

PIAE

Well, we have arrived at the crux of the matter finally, the heart of the academy!  I have been thrown into so many educational situations in my life, some of my choosing, others not, that I have worked very hard to find a common core to my teaching experience - something that I can use no matter where I am, no matter how much support or guidance I will have.  This is what I have found, this is my foundation!

First of all, I should say this model is all about congruence. We should start with a good understanding of philosophy (sound familiar?), from there move to instruction that is consistent with our philosophic beliefs, then we should use assessment tools that are consistent and sensible given the way we taught, and finally, we should evaluate the results, providing an interpretive light on the whole process. Simple, huh?

I first "felt" this dynamic when it wasn't working, long before I could articulate it however.  I am sure we all have. I remember once being encouraged to use Whole Language techniques - wonderful, authentic language tools that fit my philosophic beliefs very well. At the end of the process though, we gave standardized tests as assessments. This incongruence was terrible for me at many levels. My mind did not see the consistency, and I felt the disjuncture as they took the tests. How in the world could the evaluation be positive when the process was so flawed? How could it have worked in the first place?

There are other implications here too, consequences of having to teach in a world with a thousand different theories, techniques, systems, biases, administrators, trends, resources, tools, media, etc.  How do you know what fits? One of our main tasks has been and will be to get a good understanding of our philosophy (ontology, axiology, epistemology), then to explore congruent methods of instruction, to administer appropriate assessments when we can, and finally, to critically evaluate the whole process, maybe even our own philosophic beliefs!

When we have accomplished this, we can manage our learning environments choosing the tools and resources best for us. We can understand how to compensate for things that are out of our control too.  This will be our task in January, to get through this cycle and identify ourselves in it.  There is a lot more to come :)

Towards Creating a Classroom Culture

Everything in this life is a journey. To prepare for thisjourney you need to identify where you are, your destination, the stations ormilestones you’ll come across, the equipment and tools you’ll need and themeans of transport you’ll take. If you have a chance to select all the crew orthe passengers, that’ll be great, but you know that is farfetched. To decidethe course of the journey you may need a guide to help you along with theothers on board to draw a roadmap showing all the alternative routes to yourintended destination, or to be more exact series of destinations, because it isnever one destination; it’s rather one destination leading to another. During the journey, you are prepared for the predictable;meanwhile you have to be ready to deal with the unpredictable as well. Thisinteraction between the predictable and unpredictable, though rather hectic andtroublesome at times, is what gives the remarkable sweet taste of the journey.If the weather forecast says the weather will be fine, this does not mean excludingthe fact that the weather may turn completely different. What is a journey withoutits ups and downs? After reaching each destination or station, you need totake a little time to take a deep breath and look back to learn your lessons; tomake sure you are better equipped for the next trip. Even during the journey itself,you may take some time to turn things over. It’s an ongoing process; it neverstops. Since learning and teaching are a journey, you as ateacher need to get prepared for this journey, the means of which is bycreating a classroom culture. Creating a classroom culture requires a number ofthings. First, you as a teacher must KNOW YOURSELF: your thoughts, feelings,abilities, limitations and above all your mission as a teacher. Next, you needto KNOW YOUR STUDENTS. I don’t mean to know their names only , but to knowtheir interests, needs and ambitions as well. Knowing yourself and yourstudents can be of great value in selecting the appropriate tools andstrategies to initiate interactive classrooms where everyone is engaged andeveryone is respected for whoever they are. Just like any other culture , in a classroom culture thereshould be learners who share experiences, habits , values and goals. Increating such culture the overall goal is to help learners reach their HIGHESTpotential with the most possible means. Nevertheless, anyone’s potential is anunfathomable well that is nurtured by the springs of passion, perseverance and will,each of which knows no limits. Thus the highest potential is actually limitlessin its very essence, yet we try to help the students dig as deep as possiblewithin the constraints of time , place and available tools. In addition to the abovementioned, you as a teacher needto create a secure and safe environment for the students, who need to live in atension-free atmosphere, hence a further step towards building rapport betweenthe teacher and the students on the one hand , and between the studentsthemselves on the other. Imagine a class where the students are afraid all thetime, or where the students are foreign to one another! To build and maintainsuch rapport, the students need to know and feel that they affiliate with theother ones in the class. This can be attained when you initiate activities thatrequire students’ cooperation, given the fact that each student has a set ofprior experiences that are both common and unique at the same time. The first classroom periods are extremely crucial insetting the scene for creating a culture of successful learners. This initialstage may require reaching an agreement on a code of ethics that governs all,students and teachers alike. This code of ethics should be based on a number ofvalues that are agreed upon; such values may include respect, honesty,cleanliness and hard work. Part of such code may also contain encouragingstudents to take risks and never be afraid to make mistakes. Besides, in theculture building process, students are supposed to be familiar with thehabitual classroom practices which start with the activation stage , movingthrough the other stages of presentation , practice and production. Thesepredictable practices will necessarily comprise unpredictable ones, just tomaintain greater variety , hence higher students’ motivation and increasingopportunities to stir their creativity. The main purpose of setting a classroom culture is to helpstudents identify their expectations and accordingly the desired behaviours andattitudes inside the classroom and out. Moreover, the classroom culture is neverdevoid of the school culture, the country's culture or even the global culture.As a result, the links between these overlapping cultures should always come tothe surface to maintain the authenticity and relevance of everything thathappens. When the students with the help of the teacher agree on the groundrules, desired performances are encouraged and rewarded , while undesired onesare taken care of. The teacher should be compassionate yet firm at the sametime. To strike a balance between these two extremes is extremely crucial tomaintain a successful classroom management. For example, when homework is set ,students know in advance what the teacher will do for those who do it and thosewho don't . If one of the students does not do his/her homework for the secondor third time, then what happens? This should be declared and committed to. Creating a classroom culture necessitates effective collaborativeplanning, implementation and evaluation. This means each stage of culturebuilding should be accompanied by continuous feedback to identify the pointsof strengths and weaknesses , which ,when taken care of, will hopefully lead to more effective learning . Who said teaching is easy ? It's NOT. Well, it is ratherhectic and increasingly demanding; just like any other journey in this life.But what makes the difference is how to transform this journey into andadventure where the predictable and the unpredictable blend to createunforgettable sweet delicious moments that are engraved into one's memory;moments that transcend the turbulences of the present towards a higherincomprehensible power ………..What is this power ?!!!! When you reach there, you’ll know ! Bassam Saleh Dec 29, 2011

Peer Coaching

Einstein said, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." A coach can help you shift your thinking into that new perspective. An important professional technique that helps us to improve and gain more knowledge is applying peer coaching in our schools. English teachers in our school work as a team. We cooperate, exchange experiences, meet, share ideas and support each other to implement new strategies. We surf the net searching for new educational games. worksheets, we also open our classes for our colleagues especially the new ones because we believe that staff development will directly affect students learning. From my own experience I can say that peer coaching has many advantages such as: *improve students achievement *enhance student progress.* * stronger professional ties among colleagues. * positive school environment. I recommend applying peer coaching in our schools. Fatima Ramadan

Student Engagement

Here is a PowerPoing presentation I do on student engagement - it is not completely self expanatory, but it contains a lot of the elements I deal with when discussing the concept. We will touch on some of these issues in January, but if you have questions about specific topics or slides, just email me :) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/39151356/engagement.pptx

Aquiring Learning

Someone like to  draw,other like to sing, listen ,read,write,..... for me when I was young I prefered to listen and work alone, that made me think why some students have difficulty in acquiring  learning, so I always vary my techniques by using all the the different kinds of activies so I meet the individual differences and children interest.
to make the students transfer that for me i ask them at the end of each unit to carry out a project that is suitable to their abilities and i give them a constructive feed back for example gifts , colorful stickers, comments

Maisa abdel qader(Jerash Camp)

Elicitation

 

I would like to discuss interaction for a bit, particularly the interaction we attempt to bring forth from our students. I spent a lot of time working on this concept years ago, and I wanted to dig down and explore the theoretical aspects of teachers-student interaction. If you have been reading the other things on this blog, then it will not surprise you when I say interaction helps build classroom culture and it is schema based. It can also involve multiple modalities (learning styles, and/or senses). I want to introduce a new element in to our discussion though, that of "risk."  Risk inhibits interaction and the development of culture in the classroom, and is often very schema-based. I developed this theory watching teachers attempting to elicit responses of all types from students of all ages. This is what I have found:

Teachers often throw out questions to blank responses. There are really three different ways teachers can pose questions - they can just ask a hypothetical question like what would it feel like to be a cow?  This is postulation.  They can have the students watch a video or an event then ask the students to interpret what they saw. This is demonstration or modeling. Finally, they can ask the students to do something then ask them did or thought. This is involvement. All three include different types and levels of modalities, concrete-abstract thought, schema attachment, and risk.  Let me give you a few examples referencing the chart above.

Example 1

In a creative writing class, the teacher asks her students what it would be like if they were cows.  To answer this question designed to elicit creative thought, they would have to first contemplate the scenario postulated by the teacher.  It is a very abstract question, and it was given aurally.  To answer, they would have to speculate (who knows what it is like to be a cow anyway?) They have no schema attachment to this question (i.e., they have never been cows nor talked to one), therefore the risk involved in answering is very high, even if the teacher tries to assure them (other students can ridicule them even if the teacher is kind).

Example 2

A teacher has her students watch a video about a protest in Syria. The students watch the program carefully and see many dramatic events.  The teacher then asks them questions about what the protesters were thinking. To answer, they will process the visual and aural information which is more concrete than the first example (i.e., more real because they saw it, but these kind of images can also be false as in movies) as they observe it, then they will have to make a projection to answer the questions. They now have knowledge of the situation, and may have some similar experiences, but they are still having to project, which carries a degree of risk.

Example 3

Students have a mock election in their classroom. The teacher then asks them questions about their experience. They were involved in a very concrete experiences that touched on most modalities. They participated then could simply reflect on the experience. They have created new schema in this instance, and to answer the questions, they simply have to look back and be honest. Reflection carries very little risk if the students are allowed to answer how they felt, what they thought.

 

Hopefully, you see how these dynamics are different. When we create culture, we begin at the bottom in experiences, watching closely how we all interpret them. As we discuss the experiences, we begin to develop common understandings. We feel so much better about questions that involve direct experience with people we have learned to trust.

The most important lesson for me has been to start with as many direct experiences as possible with my students then begin to move up from there in my questioning. I learned that my students brought so little common schema to the classroom, that we must create it, and learn to interpret it together. We will discuss this type of theory more in January, and I will follow this post with another on more practical issues of interaction.

 

A Final Word on the Model

I have always used interactive, experiential lessons when I could in the classroom, but I went about it all wrong. I used to look at my curriculum and search for lessons that were easy to make into experiences, but they might not have been important, or lessons I would build from. Now I look at my curriculum, try to see it having four or five major themes, then work hard to make an experiential lesson at the beginning of each making a solid foundation to build from. From there, I could work my way up the elicitation model, asking progressively more abstract and risky questions. What do you think?

 

 

" Ethics and case study"

Do you agree with ethics we use & teach in classroom might not be the same sts. should learn for the real life?
Ethics taught in classroom are not always those sts. need in real life .I think that what most teachers do in classrooms is diving information but they miss preparing sts. to real life situations. We as teachers should prepare our sts. to deal with  difficult ethical situations they are likely to to face in their adult & professional lives .eg. if they understand the practical factors they bear on ethical decision making, they will be better able to apply their own values in real life. We can give them tools that will make it possible for them to be their own "best selves" if they choose to be. The important question I think is what is the most effective way to teach practical ethics? We can teach practical & professional ethics through case studies that present real life situations that sts. may encounter & encourages them to recognize potential moral & ethical problems & potential resolutions. They would be also better able to act consistently with their values if they have thought about ethical dilemmas & how to cope with them before they actually encounter them in
Real life.
Examples of  some case studies:
 When constructing a case study for ethic teaching we have to consider the following:
1- What is the ethical problem to be embodied in the case study?
2- What are the teaching objectives for the case study?
 An important e.g is telling stories .I think the power of case stories & narrative teaches ethics for real life situations. Another important e.g is doll's theater ( where sts. have the chance to act) & role play.
 * time management: a st. has to decide between attending an important meeting or going to a concert.
* The case of the missing case:a st. finds himself in a situation where if he does the right thing, the consequence could be losing his friends.
* school education projects: e.g- Green poster (environment)- Waste watcher( keep Jordan clean)-a debate ( hunting rare animals)-Mars exploration( risk to potential life on another planet)
Fatima Ramadan

Ontology

My answer to the first question of the first assignment

I have asked myself those questions and more in many intervals of my life, sometimes I came with mind relieving answers and many times, I just got more confused. "It shouldn’t be that hard," I often told myself. I first thought of my nature as a human when I looked in the mirror. Of course, we look at ourselves everyday in the mirror, but that one time was different for me. When I smiled, I asked myself "is this the way others perceive me". I even started to talk to see how I look; it seemed like meeting another guy for the first time. After that I started to ask myself more questions; "why are we different from each other?", "what does it mean to have a perception of reality?", even more "what's reality?" what if the bullet didn’t miss my father's head by just inches in the war of 1967?"(as he told me) would I be existed?!!"

What about the poor sheep we buy every year for scarification. "What makes me more special than it to be slaughtered!!!?" is it merely luck?" ,"why should we obey the king?" "Why didn’t I become the king myself? "Don’t get me wrong "", "Is it enough to be a son of a king to become one?" my father is an electrician and I came up to be a teacher!!!.

More than that, I often thought that we are naturally bad, coz we do sins; even worse we love to do them. Bad things are easy to do and they seem less restricting than good ones, but most important, they seem natural, for instance: we were born naked, why is nudity prohibited?

I used my logic and all my senses to answer those questions. Unfortunately, questions that are more sophisticated came to the surface, Questions like:  what is the meaning of being existed? Why did God create us? What is the nature of God? I even asked myself "not atheistically"   If God existed at all.

Addressing such questions needs lots of thinking. But lets just cut to the chase!. People have been thinking about it all the time, some said that we are good in nature coz babies are born innocent (tabula rasa theory), others examined criminals brains to provide evidence that criminals have a lower level of communication between the two hemispheres of the brain which is inferred  that some are born bad. While others claimed that the things we perceive exist others disagreed. Some are (believers) others aren't. Many people defend animals claiming that they have feelings and a certain level of thinking, those people might favor their pets over his own flesh and blood, and others torture animals just for the fun of it. 

When I think of such problematic issues, whether I like it or not, I end up where I should have started the first place " GOD". The first thought the might come to ones mind that God Existence contradicts with mere logic, since we "know" that it's a law of nature that matter is not created from nothing. But is God a matter? If not, what's the nature of God. Since my tools are my senses and logic I started to use them. So I've carried out probability calculations: what are the odds of God's existence and ours as well?

1. Big bang theory. "Where did the thing that banged came from?!!

2. Merely coincident. "No comment"

3. God has created us and his almighty is the first and the last "Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; [1] Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; [2] He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; [3] And there is none like unto Him". [4] ( 112 Monotheism surah) and he is the creator of all things and all matter, thus it would be complete unjust to subdue the creator to his creation (mind and senses, our earthy laws and someone's law of matter).

":Who created the seven heavens one above another; you see no incongruity in the creation of the Beneficent Allah; then look again, can you see any non-uniqueness?  (Qur’an 67:03)

And

 Furthermore, I believe that no matter how humans glorify the power of their brains, it still short to get the meaning of life, existence, truth of reality and the purpose of life as a whole. The first two contradict with our logic and senses since we attribute the virtue of creation to nothing or we deny attributing it to Almighty Allah. Everything in this Universe is a manifestation of God's creation; everything is unique for a purpose that only God overwhelm the ULTIMATE truth and reality about. "Did ye then think that We had created you in jest, and that ye would not be brought back to Us (for account)?"(23:115)

The Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said:

"Each one of you will find it easy to do what he was created for."

That is the context I understand my existence, everyone's existence and the universe's as well. We are here to worship God, that is to do good for others and ourselves and the universe as a whole. It is with purpose that God has created animals, stones, plants, volcanoes, seas, planets, and certainly humanity. Everything is integrated in this universe in an accurate equilibrium based on needs and the ultimate need one must seek is God's satisfaction. I certainly have an effect on my environment and vice versa. I am a part of all that I have met.  ~Alfred Lord Tennyson

Based on the above-mentioned argument, I can see clearly that the existence of my students is out of purpose and they certainly have needs. My job is to dig deep into their other needs (playing, acceptance, comfort, humor and many others) in order to enhance the need which I am mostly concerned about; which is, "their need to learn". It is my job and purpose in this context to be familiar with social, psychological, cultural background of my students. It is also my responsibility to have my eyes quite open to distinguish special needs among them and to give suitable guidance that flow smoothly with their age needs. My existence as a teacher is all about providing the appropriate learning tools for students to discover the world and choose what best suits them.

Sultan Awwad  

A Narrative Reading Strategy

With special thanks to Khadijeh (who asked the original question about narrative strategies and who also gave me the information I needed to create the flow chart above)!

 

This is a great comprehension tool that students can use when reading stories. It helps them remember characters, their characteristics, and also helps them keep track and understand character development.  Most importantly though, it helps them articulate these concepts in language!

This map if from the story "The Door", and it is a single character map for the main character, The King. A student begins the map by putting the character in the middle (this can be drawn or done by computer) of the paper. This can be started as soon as she starts to read the story and is getting information about the character. She then thinks of several adjectives that describe the character, and puts those words around the character (she may just start with one or two, but will add them as she reads). Then, for each characteristic, she must find an example or instance (or more) that demonstrates the adjective, then puts those around the adjective.  As the story develops, she may add more adjectives and evidence, and she may even reconsider some of these adjectives as the character evolves. The student can make a map for each main character or even keep them together in one larger map.

 

This is a simple map above, but it is such a powerful tool! If your student had made this map, then she could tell you about the character very efficiently:

 

"In the story, The Door, the King is a very intelligent, wise, fair and sensible, and is a very good thinker. He is intelligent because he knew to keep the door open to watch the three scientists. He is wise because he really wants his kingdom to be strong. He showed he is a good thinker by coming up with all the possible ways the scientists might figure out to open the door. Finally, he showed he was fair and sensible by choosing the best scientist without any bias."

 

As I said, this is a simple map and it could more complex.  It provides strong visual and logical organizational strategies for the student to formulate then express her thoughts. Play around with this technique, and let your students have fun with it too! Feel free to be CREATIVE too, there are many ways this could be done I suppose. It can be done on paper or on computer (in Power Point, or even Inspiration). Inspiration is a wonderful software (even has a version, Kidspiration on as well) that is designed just to do flow charts - you can use all kinds of images from the web, it imports into MS Office applications, and you may even be able to download a free 30-day version (I am not sure if this works in Jordan though). It also switches back and forth from flow chart to outline. If you want to try to download it, google Inspiration Free Trial and go from there.

 

I am anxious to see what you think of this technique, and thanks again to Khadijeh!

 

 

 

 

Fun To Learn

Through my experience in teaching first & second grades I noticed that most children
 learn through playing and applying fun games especially in very poor environments so I started to use alot of games( toys) & books which are colourful & very attractive for students in order to teach basic vocabulary included in their books.I also surf the net daily to find new educational games related to the theme of the units.e.g. colours, numbers, actions , days of the week...etc.

I would like to recommend using such games because they are effective, fun and meaningful.
Maisa' Abd elQader
 ( Jerash Camp)  

Sharing Your Work!

• I received a great suggestion from Salaam today, that you all could post some of your comments from your individual homework assignments.  I think this is fantastic - simply copy any section of your homework you would like to share and paste it in a comment. You may need to add the topic you were discussing. You have sent me so much great work, don't be selfish! As always, you can send it to me to post too.  NO CHEATING - it has to be something you turned in as homework (if you have other things to share, you can always post it independently). Keep looking back over the old posts, people are still adding comments :)  Let's see who is brave!

A post from teacher Maisa' Abdel Qader from Jersh Camp

I still remember the first day I started teaching English for children at school, I was anxious, nervous but most of thing I was relactant. I hated teaching, especially  for children and in a very different society but when I started to surf the net & to look for new resuorces  such as songs, worksheets, games and many different ideas that I can use in classroom, I became more and more capable to teach perfectly..A nother important thing happened when I started to teach the first grade a very interesting experience started. I believe that the main gift I have when the parents came and tell me that I am such a good teacher as their kids are very, very good in English. A nother important role is the supervisor's role to encourage and motivate teachers and the challenge to to be better .

TKT ( Teaching Knowledge Test)

 I had taken the TKT certificate last May from the British Council by Jill Davidson. She  trained 20 UNRWA teachers for module three with  the following  topics :
Managing the teaching and learning process which has two parts :
Part 1- Teachers' and learners' language in the classroom.
Part 2- Classroom management.

It was a great opportunity to learn and to exchange knowledge as the trainer Mrs Jill was very enthusiastic and had such an interesting style .After we passed the exam every teacher had to go back to his/her school and to train the other teachers and to transfer the experience. The training itself was very interesting and useful as other teachers also had the chance to gain knowledge.  I organised a demonstration lesson after the workshop to give teachers the chance to watch the real practice of some new games and techniques e.g. running dictaion, whispering dictation. loop dictation , hot seat and many interesting things.
A nother workshop will be held next semester. I look forward to the new experience and hope it will be a succesful one.  

Fatima Ramadan

Culture

I didn't study culture until I had made my way serendipitously though several. And after years of research and reflection, I found that I was fairly unique in that I really didn't have one. The legacy of this adventure was that I came to believe that I could then create culture, and I could do it in the classroom. Believing is 7/8th of conceiving!
As in my classes, I would like to begin by providing some operational definitions of key terms in the arena of culture (Voltaire once said "Sir, if you wish to converse with me, define your terms"). Operational definitions are simply agreements about how a term will be used in a certain context - a way to move forward through concepts with a degree of consistency.  Here are a few terms that I think are critical to this discussion"
Culture
Culture begins in a shared experience - a group of people that live together and share common experiences. This allows them to understand each other, as they observe how the experience affects them in specific and similar ways. This understanding becomes culture, which allows them not only to comprehend the world around them, but for them to predict their environment and the effects it will have on their lives. Culture then serves two primary purposes for the individual: Receptive  and Expressive. Culture is receptive in that it dictates how we perceive our environment and subsequently or reality. The contexts woven by our shared experiences become a filter and decrypter for new stimuli and experiences.  This is why two people can look at the same thing and see completely different versions. Culture is probably better know for its expressive tendencies, as it is these manifestations that dominate discussions on the topics: Culture dictates how we express our experiences and our concept of the world around us.  We do so in our music, language, dress, food, thought, and beliefs. All of these are impacted to a large degree by the shared experience. 
Heritage
Heritage is simply the specific sets of shared experiences we have inherited though our generation and those before us.
Ethnicity
More specifically then, ethnicity is that part of our heritage we choose to embrace. My cousin and I have exactly the same heritage but different ethnicities - he is German-American, I am American.
Race
Fifty years ago, before DNA insight, this term was simple - it was the biological differences between groups, and there were only three in the world: Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Negroid. Asian, White, and Black. Once we found out we shared virtually all of the same DNA this fell apart (it was also very difficult to explain why very, very dark Indians were White). If you have lived long enough, and if you have seen enough survey forms, you have seen the choices for race grow from three to more than a dozen, with the every present "other" for good measure. Yet we know race exists, because we can tell some people are Asians, some Black, some White.  Race then is real, but what is it? Perhaps, at the risk of being vague, we can think of it as being a complex combination of biology and culture.

At this point, I hope you have been reminded several times of my favorite word in education, schema. You remember, your own personal bank of knowledge and experience. And recall how we use it when we learn (accomodation and assimilation), and what happens when a teacher assumes a student has a specific schema and may not. I would guess that ethics are also very culture bound. This brings me back to the beginning of this discussion - if we cannot count on students having the same culture, we can create a common one in our classroom!

Your Homework (Homefun)
Given the discussions we have had, make an argument for creating your own culture in your classroom, explain how you would go about it, and project how learning would change as a result.  We are practicing a bit of "tolerance for ambiguity" here, another cultural trait.  Thank goodness for google and Wikipedia I suppose. You can contact me for some more help, but not until you have wrestled with this a bit, fair is fair. You have until Friday evening please.

On The Lighter Side

We have a very serious profession, but sometimes we laugh in the classroom, and sometimes our students get to laugh at us. There have been many times I have afforded my class this opportunity, usually not on purpose. Here are just a few of my faux pas throughout the years:
Style
First, I am glad to say that I have hair left to talk about!  I have worn it long, short, and medium in my career, and seldom really thought about it too much. Not spending a lot of time in front of mirrors, my haircuts were of little consequence to me. About fifteen years ago, I learned how to cut my own hair, and I suppose I saved a great deal of money. I was teaching a math class one day, when a nice young student chimed in saying, "you got a haircut Mr. Morsches?"  As was my custom in those days, I replied "yes, and I gave it to myself" feeling very proud and self-sufficient. A second later, another student added simply "it's obvious." There was a moment's pause then the whole class erupted into laughter - I gave up the self-service right then and there.
Where is My Podium?
I do a great deal of teaching and training in many places.  I don't care what the room looks like, where the training takes place, whether or not I get paid, how long it is, how much time I have to prepare, what the subject is, but I do demand one thing - that I have a podium! A few months ago, I showed up to do a session for a group in Indiana, and they proudly showed me their very expensive podium. I looked at it, smiled sadly and shook my head no.  They were kind, and wheeled the massive glass podium out of the room and brought in an old plain wooden version.  I was happy! I suppose you are wondering about the etiology of this idiosyncrasy?  Well, it has been long enough now that I can talk about it. I was doing a workshop for a group of teachers I had never worked with before in a building I had never been in either. It was a school that had been closed for years, and they were just then remodeling it floor by floor. They had finished the third floor, and there was only one very large room with very few pieces of furniture in it - there were tables and chairs, and nothing else. I was to stand at the front of the room and deliver the lecture, and forty teachers would be seated around a U shaped table set up. It was an eight hour training, and we were miles away from any other places.  Once there, we were there with no other resources.  I showed up early, and to my consternation, I noticed that all the participants were women; I prefer mixed groups. At the appointed hour, I stood up, went to the front of the room and stood behind a very small table and introduced myself.  As I moved into the material, less than two minutes after I started, only two minutes into the eight hour ordeal, the zipper on my pants busted!  It was the longest day of my life.
I Have One Now!
Has anyone asked you what your most embarrassing moment was? Do you hate these kinds of questions because you really don't have an answer, or if you do, you certainly don't want to share?  Well, I used to dislike this particular question because I had no definitive anecdote for this inquiry. Thankfully   (I guess), that all changed one day.  I now have no difficulty conjuring a response!  Ten years ago, I was asked to do a study skills workshop for a group of students at my college.  I had done this workshop a hundred times and it was very popular. That day, my boss had called me to her office and asked me to look into a problem with some employment applications. Dutifully, I dug into them and got lost in the work. After a few hours, I figured out the problem and congratulated myself on my brilliance and went back to my office. When I got there, there were several students and a colleague waiting for me. They had a funny look on their faces, and I was quite puzzled. Finally, my friend asked me where I was supposed to be right then - they were all barely containing their laughter. Horribly, I came to me that I had forgotten to go to my own workshop! A Memory Workshop!  It was more than six years before I did not hear about this incident every day.
OOPS
There is an old saying in the EFL business that if you make a mistake in language, it will be vulgar.  Many of the mistakes I have made in the classroom to my students glee have been such things, and I will not list them here! (If you want to know, ask me privately :) 
Your Turn
If you have stories you would like to share (that are PG-13) please submit them - it does our souls good to laugh at our own egos!

My Inspiration

I still remember the day I first came to Jerash Camp as a new teacher eight years ago. I didn't expect what I found as I never visited it before. As the car came nearer and nearer,I could recognize the small tin-board-covered houses, I thought that working in such a camp is ( jehad). I was very sad when I saw the poor little girls  as they didn't have their rights as children, Children in  other places live better than those in Jerash Camp. Poverty and diseases were easy things to notice. But as I taught them year after a year I can say now that inspite of all the challanges they have to face ,you can find very talented and skilfil girls who want to learn, improve gain knowledge and to shape a better future.....
These are the beautiful flowers that inspires me to go on............
Fatima

Are We Warming UP?

Are we warming up? Seriously? As a child, I saw virtue in theory more often than in reality. It was often a schizophrenic paradox. it all started in kindergarten; We were often told that lying is a sin yet the "MISS" used to horrify us with a so called " rats room" not to give her a hard time in the classroom. Since we are discussing Knowledge acquisition, I would like here refer to accommodation and assimilation theories. I found it not hard at all to accommodate "the rats room" in my list of "appropriate disciplinary system" ,assimilation was far more easier. The thing that really gave me the chills to my tiny kidneys is the incident when she came into the class with "Ahmad" who had blood covering his left ear. "Do you see?" she said it two times in a strict accent. "That's what would happen to you if you misbehave. I put him in the rats room for being naughty" she explained. My tongue got a complete twist back into my throat, our wide innocent eyes got even wider and silence prevailed. The next day Ahmad came with a bandaged ear. I asked him about the rats room! He answered that he fell while running. "What a liar" I mumbled. I never wanted to come near him in kindergarten. Days flipped but the memory of that room froze. I realized very late that the rats room is actually a room for junk furniture, which took me a couple of days to accommodate!! I then I developed sever case of Musophobia which I still suffer fromL
Luckily, in elementary school the idea of "the rats room" was all naïve. I'm not that green and I won't fall into that ever again unfortunately adults are smart after all. They made us assimilate and accommodate something real this time; something you shouldn't even doubt and wasn't as complicated as the rats room yet had a similar effect. it was merely a "stick". and the rest I would leave to your imagination or maybe to your "MEMORY".
The stick experience continued to be an effective deterrent tool, often spiced with some manipulative creative thoughts of extortion that would fit fairly well our level of thinking. Who said teacher's don't understand the needs of their students? Believe me most of them do; but the implementation of such knowledge to the ground is different.
The scary part isn't even that. It's the idea that students underwent this process of learning (like me), and who would become later "teachers", would probably lug this bad omen inheritance to their students, it's something a teacher would experience subconsciously (or consciously) in a system of education that might be infected with hypocrisy to a certain extent.
 Teachers of this age are distinguished from the teachers I knew as a student. I would even dare to say that they are even blessed! We all have access now to teaching and learning resources, which are often served at work (workshops, courses  ...etc.) and if one has the drive, there are thousands of internet pages to surf. But the wisdom I learned and that I'd love to share is " it doesn't matter how many resources you have if you don't know how to use them, they will never be enough". Guess what? Thanks to God and to this academy, I have built a ladderJ I bet you all haveJ

Sultan looking over the "wall"

We Are Just Warming Up!

Thank you all for not turning in your homework all at once! I am getting a really good idea about the way you think and approach your craft, and my respect grows. You all have such an important job, perhaps that is why I am so motivated to work with you, knowing that whatever we accomplish together will help so many children, their families, our communities and the world.  I am very proud to have a small part in that.  Having said that, I am also very, very serious about this mission, and I will be asking a lot of myself and of you. I was lucky to have a wonderful academy experience at the University of Akron, and I want yours to be even better - the job you do everyday is so much more important than anything I have done in my life. I know it is easy to get caught up in your day-to-day existence, and I know you aren't getting rich.  But what you do is noble, and that nobility has a price.
You all are my heroes and heroines, and that is not hyperbole. I worked in a refuge camp for only two years; you have dedicated a good part or all of your life even to this work.  But I want to see the evolution of a new kind of hero/heroine - one that lives and works in a heroic system! We have all worked hard, been the one advocate, fought our lonely wars, and as self-righteously satisfying as that can be at times, it is not enough to save these children.  The system itself must be heroic. It must be philosophically grounded, consistent, and finally as flexibly compassionate as it can be while still maintaining its mission.  Now imagine a group of dedicated individuals working together inside this coordinated campaign seeing their personal efforts magnified in the confluence of like-minded colleagues. A true academy in every sense of the word!
Several of you have asked some really good questions about the value of this experience, and more specifically, how it will benefit you.  I think these questions are very fair. I believe there are multiple levels of value that come with this opportunity, the first three straight from motivation theory: Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Achievement motivation. Many of you have already expressed the potential intrinsic value of the academy far better and more eloquently than I ever could. We all find those moments in the day when we feel so good about what we do, the lives we touch, the grace we feel when teaching transcends knowledge. These things are very powerful, yet often far too serendipitous and fleeting.  What if we could make these accidents and incidents less accidental and incidental.  Establishing our philosophic core, creating consistency between the four stages of pedagogy (Philosophy being the first, the other three coming shortly :) should certainly increase these internally rewarding episodes.
Extrinsically, the benefits of this academy are only limited by your imagination and your ability to conceptualize your experience and then to exploit it. I was talking to Ahmad (who loves English, and it shows) earlier tonight, and we discussed language skills. I told him I had seen many people who had learned English as a new language and had failed to make anything of the accomplishment. Others I had known had utilized the new skill to open new opportunities and to reach new frontiers. It has not been my experience that a skill, ability, certificate, or diploma marketed itself. I tell my philosophy students that wisdom is the ability to recognize the value in things - you have to see it first before you can point it out to others.  For instance: You have volunteered to join the inaugural group of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in UNRWA's history - You are all very busy yet you have willingly adopted this extra workload for the benefit of your students, schools, and profession - You will explore areas of your beliefs and philosophy that few teachers take the time to examine - You will go back to your schools and share this process, these lessons of introspection, demonstrating selfless leadership - You are sharing your thoughts, beliefs, and love for teaching with the world on a website for all to see, for all to benefit from - You will work on an idea, a lesson, a concept and take the time and care to craft it into an article to submit for publication, potentially sharing it with the world - You may choose to develop or refine your teaching portfolio, creating a concrete glimpse into your heart and soul -You will network with a college in the USA (New River Community and Technical College) that will support you and grant you a certificate acknowledging your hard work and achievement - You will have the opportunity to return next year and help lead a new cohort through the process - If you don't see something here others would find extremely valuable, maybe you aren't too wise (just kidding, kind of :)
To let you in on a little secret, God has blessed (or cursed) me with the third kind of motivation, Achievement Motivation!  It is neither wholly extrinsic nor intrinsic. If I was at work today, and my boss told me we would all be going through a training program with seven levels, I would have my plan to reach them all in record time before he even told me the subject matter. I have a drive within me, and am so blessed God has chosen the right target for this energy. This will to move forward, onward, upward had also led to the accumulation of a lot of knowledge, experiences, skills, compassion, empathy and a fair degree of wisdom as by products. Seriously speaking, how could an academy experience like this not be beneficial if you applied yourself?
In the next week, I will share more and more of the upcoming schedule and the January program - I have been collecting information from you to integrate into the plan, and I believe we are building a good foundation. 
Keep working hard, find more time, express yourself more in depth as you write and share.  GET ON THE BLOG AND SHARE COMMENTS! I promise we will find value in this journey if you find strength and perseverance right now. Live up to the status of our heroes and heroines building our own heroic system.

Teacher's Diary

Teacher’s Diary!

I never thought I would keep things in the memory of a diary, a blog or even any other place other than mind and heart but when you feel like your mind and heart are dancing and filled with joy and happiness you may feel like you want to share some (or many) with the world.
In my diary (as a student) I had some memorable teachers shining like stars who always lightened my way. Now I am a Teacher and I never thought I would be one but I really like it. Making change in the world has been always a dream, and teaching was the magical key to open this door and let the dreams come true.
I think we all pass through this experience every day. When we teach a lesson, teach a love or even a moral. We feel satisfied when students reflect us in the best way and the more challenging it is the more satisfied we are.
Today* I had one of my best days as a Teacher, I felt like I’m a student again when my headmistress told me that my educational supervisor (specialist?) will attend my class. I believed it would be a good class and it really was for me and for HER. But what really made me happy is the very nice way she expressed her comments and the very caring way she gave the instructions and advices.
What added more to this special day is the visit of my EP tutor whose smile and gentleness lightened that dimmed picture of supervision and made it alive again.
Not to forget the great atmosphere of courage and support from the management and colleagues.
It really works like a cycle, you pass this J to me and I pass it J  to them and they pass it J to the world. This is how it dances in my heat now. Let us feel happy and spread happiness so we can get it back (retrieve it) with greater amount and then store it in our minds and hearts.
Now I am wondering where to keep this ; In my diary as student or as a teacher?
Thank you Ms. Ghada and Mr. Bassam for being my teachers : )

 Alaa

* 19 DEC, 2011

The Three Responsibilities of a Student

Several years ago, I was asked a very straight-forward question: What do students need to do to be successful in school?  Seemed simple enough, proved to be quite complex!  I spent the next few years working on this, and I think I have developed a pretty solid solution after working with hundreds of teachers and thousands of students.  Once I developed my humble theory, I applied it to first and second year university students, graduate students, high school and grade school students, students in England, Tanzania, Jordan and Palestine, etc.  Before I give you the link to an explanation of this theory, I have a few things to say about what I learned on the way.
First, I found out that I regularly used the "five stupidest words in school" - Read, Listen, Write, Remember, and Study (study being by far the stupidest). One of my students gave this group of of words its nickname because "you teachers always tell us to do these things but you never tell us how!"  For example, we tell them to study, study longer, and to study harder, but we seldom break it down for them. Consequently, most students think studying is either reading the book or dutifully doing their homework. Remember the article about adolescent reading?  That author said we should be ready and willing to "teach reading" through the grades, not just tell older students to read. Likewise, we should teach them to listen, to write, to remember, and how to actually study. We will talk about these things in the next month.
I have found that there are three things every successful student must do.  If you would like to know about these three critical tasks, read this chapter I wrote for a study skills course at The University of Akron:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/39151356/CSRE2.pdf

It is a bit longer than other things we have read, and it is written for high school and college students, but it explains the "three responsibilities of a student."  As always, I will be interested in your feedback :)

A Note From Another New River Colleague!

Hello! What an exciting experience we are about to embark. When Michael asked me in a three-minute phone conversation if I wanted to go to Jordan, I immediately said sure. He said we would be going to a teaching academy; we’d be gone for 2 weeks, and work would pay for the trip. He then told me he’d call me back in an hour, and needed a definite answer.

 Seriously, could I possibly say no to this amazing experience?

I’m not sure why or how it happened exactly, but I do believe it happened to me for a very good reason. And, after reading all the posts on the website, I do believe this may be one of the best experiences in my life!

At first, because everything happened so quickly, I wasn’t really sure what was getting ready to take place in Jordan. I just knew I was going. This opportunity came to me at a busy time, and I had no idea the work it involved. So, when Michael gave me our first assignment, I totally felt overwhelmed. I became a little scared. It wasn’t the work load he gave us, but the type of work he required. I absolutely love my job, and I think I am good at it. But, until Michael asked me to be a part of this, I have never had anyone ask me to share my deepest thoughts and ideas on what I do every day. What came so naturally for me, suddenly became foreign. It had been a while since I had to express my feelings and really reflect on what I do and what I believe. This took time for me.

Thanks to Michael’s patience with me, I am now on board. You are an astounding bunch of teachers, and  I am grateful that I will be a part of this academy! I haven’t interacted with any of you, yet, but I already feel as though I know you. As I read your posts, I see we have a lot in common. I am so looking forward to sharing ideas with other enthusiastic, open-minded teachers!

I look forward to truly getting to know you guys, as I have a feeling we will, very soon.

Rachel Kelly

A Message from Shorouq

This is Shorouq Fakhouri the Deputy Chief of Education Program, UNRWA/ Jordan Field Office. I am pleased to be given the chance to say a couple of encouraging thoughts addressing UNRWA staff participating in this Academy. The idea of establishing this academy came to existence as a result of Mr. Morsches’ passion to found such a forum that links teachers of UNRWA to reflect and exchange thoughts about teaching practices combined with my belief, as an UNRWA manager, in the outstanding efforts, skills and competencies exerted and acquired by our staff in UNRWA. The foundation of this academy feeds also into UNRWA/ Education Reform that encourages continuous professional development, open distance learning, peer learning etc This academy is a promising idea and a success story that will grow, with your efforts, to help us maintain our overall aim that is quality of education provided to the less privileged refugee children living in the host countries. I congratulate UNRWA participants, teachers and education specialists, on joining this academy of teaching and learning in coordination with the New River Community and Technical College for their efforts invested into this initiative and looking forward to see the fruits of this collaboration into the ground.

*This is Michael with a small footnote to this inspiring message: None of us, not me, not you, would be in this workshop right now if it wasn't for Shorouq! I woudn't be returning to Jordan to do training at all. She has paved the way for all of this, recognizing the value of professional development and the talents of all of you. I can't tell you how much I respect her and how much I owe her! I cannot do anything about the things that break my heart in Palestine, but alhamdulilah, I can work with you wonderful people in the career that I love. We are so fortunate to be able to share our experiences, our dreams, and our passion as teachers together. We owe this to Shorouq. I have enjoyed support from all of the UNRWA administration, but she has been my champion and my hero. You are so lucky to have her.

Reading - Strategies

Thanks again to Sultan and Khadijeh for allowing us to use them for examples. I hope it was clear that even great readers do not read naturally when we leave the world of narrative for the expository. There are a lot of good strategies that we can teach our students that can help them make the transition. First though, a word about modern textbooks: Next time you open up a textbook, pay close attention to the layout of the book - they are now designed to tap into those three elements of reading; activation, anticipation, and visualization. There are pictures in the front of the chapter, usually a few questions like "have you ever...?" all intended to activate schemata and to get readers to begin to anticipate and to visualize. There are often questions at the beginning of a section and then review questions at the end of each. Of course, students long ago seemed to have learned not to read these things, look at charts or graphs, the funny-colored boxes in the margins etc.
The first reading strategy I would like to discuss is the KWL, something you maybe familiar with. If you are, then focus on the connections to our three words! This technique is useful for short readings with one general topic. You can use it for an article, a section of at text, or handouts. To start, you simply take a standard piece of paper and divide it into three equal columns. At the top of the first column you write a "K", at the top of the second column a "W",and at the top of the third an "L". The page serves as a process document, as the reader does different things as she reads. The K stands for "what I know" (or what I think I know, right or wrong), the W stands for "what I want to know" (or what I think I might learn), and the L stands for "what I learned." The reader starts by looking at the title of the reading then begins to think about what she knows about the topic or what it makes her think about. From there, she skims the rest of the reading to get more sense of what it may be about, and what it reminds her of. At that point, she jots down these ideas in the K column. It is important to encourage students to write as much as they can, even things they think or know aren't correct. This will be difficult at first, and they may not write much until they get more comfortable with the process.
Next, she writes a series of questions about what she thinks she might learn when she reads the piece fully, or what she wants to know in the W column. Finally, she reads the material, paying attention to the questions and predictions she had made. After reading, she then writes an outline of what she has learned in the L column, paying attention to the two types of discoveries: the things she thought might be covered or she wanted to know, and the things she didn't expect. The paper becomes a study sheet, and a record of the reader's thought processes - as she does more, there will be more on the paper, and she will internalize the process eventually.
The second strategy is PQ5R (SQ3R is its slimmer cousin), which is an excellent technique for more technical material. I will go through the stages, but in reality, this process becomes intuitive eventually, and strong readers don't really think about the components as being separate. P stands for preview, where the reader skims the material for a general sense of meaning. Q of course is question. The reader then Reads, Recites, Records, Reviews, then Reflects. While reading, he should recite as well. Remember what we said about that inner language (Vygotsky) we use as we learn?  When we record, we could be highlighting and/or annotating. A word about highlighting (or painting as I refer to it) - there is nothing magical about spreading yellow ink over words; the inference in doing so is that you will come back to the material. Also, it is very unwise to highlight as you read, how do you know what is important? I prefer annotating, whether it is underlining or making symbols in the margins. I even prefer to make little lists paragraph by paragraph - everything in the world is enumerated, everything is in a list (causes, examples, effects, components, etc.). For younger readers who cannot write in their textbooks, I provide them post-it notes to use in the books.
Reviewing is simply going back over the material and asking yourself what you comprehended and what you need to continue to work with. Reflecting is different, reflection dictates that you put yourself into the reading. What you think about it, what you agreed with, what you did not agree with, what was consistent with your experiences, what was not, etc. 
I know most of you are familiar with these strategies, but once again, the idea here is to think about them in the context of the theories we have discussed about reading, specifically in terms of activation, anticipation, and visualization. Also, I tend to use PQ5R a bit differently - I like to do the process in each section of a textbook, doing small circles through the text. I work hard with younger readers, talking them through this, hoping to get the language of reading into their heads.  This is the beginning of "metacognition" in my opinion, another topic we will be discussing.
I know these two strategies are a little more advanced than most of our students can cope with initially, but I think a good teacher can adapt them and start reworking the act of reading in their minds.  We will talk more about reading, and I am looking forward to your comments :)