Participants:

To Drive Discussion: Apply one or two of the models from this section to your course.

Session 1 (10/18/16)

Participants: Susan Farrell, Anna Geller, Janine Graziano (Facilitator), Amy Haas, Mary Osisami, Elaine Wong

Questions for Discussion

As we begin, please note that Lang suggests using the book differently depending on when you’re reading it—pre-semester or within-semester (p. 11). Since we are reading within-semester, but are also discussing it, perhaps we can incorporate the two ways of reading. So as you read, please 1) keep your eye open for the big picture, i.e. comprehensive strategies evident in each section of the book; 2) try out some strategy and be consistent in implementing it; and 3) think about ways to evaluate the effects of these strategies.

Introduction

Lang states that activities “which may first find their way into your classroom as a means of filling an empty 10 minutes at the end of class or an unplanned course session, have the power to produce as much or more learning than your anxiously overprepared lecture” (p. 8). Is Lang suggesting that less is really more? What do you think and how do you feel about “doing less?” What are your thoughts regarding the interplay between the two approaches?

Knowledge

1. What are you thoughts regarding Lang’s emphasis in this section on the bottom of Bloom’s pyramid (p. 15)?
2. Lang considers three activities to help students build a solid base of knowledge: Retrieving, predicting, and interleaving.
3. Which type of activity have you used most frequently in your teaching?
4. Which type of activity have you used least frequently, or not at all, in your teaching?
5. For any activity you have tried, in the past or as a result of reading this text, what successes or challenges did you encounter, and how might you assess its impact?
6. On p. 47, Lang points out that many of the interventions in the book “especially help new learners.”
   1. Why do you think that is the case?
   2. How does this speak to our work with community college students?
7. Trying new teaching approaches, as we know, is sometimes met with resistance from students; Lang notes that this might be particularly true in the case of interleaving, and suggests we make our approaches transparent to students. Is this something you have tried and if so, what has been your experience?
8. In short…..What are your main takeaways (i.e., the “big picture”) from this section?