You, There—What Do You Think?

Annotation by Kathleen Blough

Bleedorn, Berenice. (2003). You, There—What Do You Think?. In An Education Track for Creativity and Other Quality Thinking Processes. (p. 86-93). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Education.

Summary/Analysis:

This summary/analysis pertains to a chapter entitled, “You, There---What Do You Think?” by Berenice Bleedorn in the book, An Education Track for Creativity and Other Quality Thinking Processes. According to Berenice Bleedorn, she believes:

All humans have an inherit urge to learn and to grow, to enhance themselves, and to be recognized as significant in some way. The process of delivering learning is complicated by the fact that humans differ in their basic learning and thinking styles. Assessing achievement only on the basis of standardized tests is a serious limitation to the evaluation of student learning. Unless creativity, empathy, flexibility, vision, global awareness, tolerance for ambiguity, and ethical standards are taught and modeled by teachers, standardized test scores may be high but application of skills and knowledge may fail application for positive human future development, both individually and collectively. (p. xi)

In this book, Ms. Bleedorn, simply draws upon the works of Dr. E. Paul Torrance, J.P. Guilford, Harland Cleveland, Piet Muller, Frank Maraviglia, Josef Mestenhauser, Patience Dirkx, Gary Jedynak, Efiong Etuk, Lynne Krause, Earl Belide, Garnet Millar, Marie Manthey, and many others. She has written essays for each chapter in this book, which reflect her personal journey and her belief system regarding teaching creativity.

The chapter, “You There—What Do You Think?” focuses on giving children the opportunity to think and be heard without fear. I believe in the same thought and idea about teaching—with our world changing so rapidly especially in the field of technology, it is important to note that “education’s responsibility is to prepare the student mind/brain not only for learning, remembering, and arriving at an answer, but also for thinking at complex levels where the answer is not predetermined (p. 86). The emphasis is on developing citizens that practice habits of thought for themselves and the world.

I found interesting and wanted to note that all humans share a common basic value system. People crave “affection, respect, skill, understanding, power and influence, goods and services, well-being and responsibility” (p. 87). If this is the case, then when a student is in school what happens in school can have a positive or negative effect on this value system. The teacher and peers in school can affect children’s evaluation of themselves. I see this in many classrooms with resource students. The teacher comes into the classroom, and the child is singled out, pulled out of the classroom for their services, and the student is left to feel stupid or different because they are singled out. This action leaves the child to think they are stupid, and the teacher in this case, needs to be sure to recognize the child’s individual talents that make him or her special or figure out a way to release a child to special education services in a more humane way.

The rest of the chapter gives hints, advice, and exercises on how to be aware of every student’s personal significance as an independent thinker. The subheadings are: “What Teaching Taught Me about Teaching” and “What Do You Think.”

Notable Quotes:

“It is important to design learning activities that represent a great variety of thinking skills and interests”(p. 89).

“Remembering a student’s name is less important than recognizing something special about every one. Students are neither a name nor a category nor a number nor a research statistic. At any age, they are highly complicated social, physical, intellectual interactive systems, and being so recognized is vital to their thinking, self-concept, and motivation”(p. 89).

Notable Ideas:

“Make use of playful, brainstorming “warm-up” thinking tasks before beginning a serious class. Warm-ups can be designed to relate to the level of experience of students. (Examples: Why would anyone want to live on a farm? Make a list. Why would anyone not want to live on a farm? Make a list.)"(p. 92).

"How is an owl like a scientist? Think of twenty different ways” (p. 92).

“List plus and minus features of riding a bus”(p. 92).

Reflection:

This book written by Berenice Bleedorn gives the reader insights that are relevant to teachers as well as the global work force. It helps make practitioners think about their craft and how to improve student engagement and learning. It made me think about how everyone needs to understand that the human brain has all the capabilities for success, and as educators, we need to provide opportunities for students to grow and expand their individual attitudes and their personal significance. Educators must allow for many opportunities for students to be heard. This seems to be key to a student’s level of intellect. Allowing for quality thinking exercises to occur in the classroom on a daily basis may be a very effective way to get clear and open-ended solutions to problems and issues. Educators are setting the foundation for individuals to THINK. In this book, I’m also taking away to ponder and think about how the learning environment affects a student’s attitude toward learning. The learning environment includes the teacher and student interaction, the classroom structure, the models of instruction, and students as active participants in their learning. I want to focus on the affective factors contributing to the production of creative ideas. It is really important for teachers to pay attention to how they interact with their students. I believe knowing this about quality thinking processes will help me become a better teacher. I will ponder many ideas about my students: Do the students in the classroom feel empowered with the ability to think? Are the activities that are provided go beyond the right answer? Or do educators provide time for students to stretch their minds? Do educators allow time for student’s to think freely and to contribute personally? Do lessons allow for creative expression? Does the teacher really KNOW the student or just their name? These are all wonderful jumping off points and points to ponder when it comes to the idea of embedding creative thinking into the classroom lesson planning.

Crossing the Stage: Redesigning the Senior Year

Sizer, Nancy F. (2002). Crossing the Stage: Redesigning Senior Year (pp.xvii-xxviii) Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Summary:

In the introduction to this book, Nancy Faust Sizer illuminates the “emotional chaos” (p. xvii) that marks the senior year. She discusses how the “senioritis” that runs rampant when the spring semester arrives (and sometimes months before) is due to their coexistence in three time zones: the past, present, and future.  Students are splaying their past onto college applications and are asked to measure its worth. Meanwhile, they are preparing for the “big breakup” (p. xviii) with their childhood, their friends, and all that is familiar to them. They want to embrace the present, but are watching it slip away as they wonder what they will have the opportunity to face in the future. This transition, Sizer contends, is often more difficult than we remember.

She highlights the cultural imperatives that have seeped into our collective mindset. Seniors grow up with a certain mythological understanding of 12^th grade because the “magic” of senior year is often conveyed through the selective memories adults share of their own experience.  She shares that the archetypal senior hero of these stories faces challenges, but “somehow” emerges with a magical maturity. “The emphasis here is on ‘somehow,’” Sizer continues. “In our memories, the transformation was magical… Hence the assumptions that surround the experience of the senior year” (p. xx). Seniors grow up with the idea that there are things they should be feeling or doing simply because they have inherited the title of “senior.” They have inherited the crown – now when does the magical transformation take place?

Sizer argues that this is a paradigm that must be considered. When the seniors feel that “almost desperate darkness” (p. xxiii) when the magic doesn’t just happen, they start to question the system that led them here. They wonder what they have really learned all these years in school… Is it enough for the next step? This is where we non-seniors must step in. High schools, colleges, and the workplace need to help students recognize “…how much that know and are able to do in order to perform well, in whatever arena, after high school” (p. xxiv). While they can identify how many courses they have passed, they carry a lot of “subliminal nervousness” about whether or not they are truly ready for the world post-breakup. Fearing the truth, they recline into the safety of proclaiming their status. We are the (magic) seniors… Just watch! Something is supposed to happen! Instead of maintaining the myth, we need to help them take pride in their work and recognize them as they are. We need to help them value learning for its sake, rather than the points. Ideally, this should begin much earlier than the 12^th grade in order to empower students to own their learning and not simply to “limp” away from high school wondering whether or not they did anything worthwhile.

Response:

Sizer’s words were strong and clear – they hit me hard. My seniors are working on their college applications right now, and I can see the anxiety bubbling up under the surface. While I consider our school progressive and not deeply-routed in tradition, it can be difficult to balance true, authentic learning for its sake while students are filling out their school stats on an application that shouts, “Pick me!”  It is crushing to watch a young student tear up because she just feeling like she understands this whole “college thing” or to read a student’s remarks on the week’s class:


"We've been working on our resumes in English class and writing up applications for college. The app I got was pretty confusing and I realized that I barely know any of the stuff included in it. Which makes me wonder, am I truly ready to graduate high school?"

We pledge to a college-going culture, but we also promise to engage in real-world learning. Clearly, these two need to be better integrated. I plan to pursue Sizer’s contention that the high school, college, and workplace need to be in better communication. I think we discuss college in the same mythological, intangible, unclear manner that Sizer contends we do the senior year. This is a problem. We know how to organize internships in order to immerse them in the work world. Some students do take a college course at USD. But, never do all three meet. How can the relationship be improved so that students don’t feel the pain of their breakup from high school as profusely? How can the experience be altered so that students don’t feel cheated and shell-shocked at graduation, but ready to take their place at the next piece of the triad? I have ordered Sizer’s book and am looking forward to reading more of her ideas!

Quotes:

“The institutions that ought to support the seniors – high schools, colleges, the workplace – seem isolated from one another. High schools charge ahead with the same old schedule and the same old program, seemingly uninterested in the number of new challenges that have been added to the seniors’ lives, only marginally willing to help them cope” (p.xvii).

“Being a senior year is a pervasive American cultural experience, ranking up there with being married, having children, holding a job, attending church, and going to baseball games. Between 80 and 90 percent of our teenagers finish high school [as of 2001]. They build up expectations for their senior year, live through it self-consciously, and remember it clearly for years. These are – or are meant to be – their  “glory days.”  More young women may wear a prom dress than a wedding dress” (p.xvii).

“The spotlight shown on seniors captures the imagination of far more people than just the seniors and their parents and teachers. The experience is full of fascination and mythology for us all” (p.xvii)

“Seniors expect to be honored as leaders” (p.xxi).

“Seniors live in three time dimensions at once… Living in the present while planning for the future can test the mettle of even the oldest and wisest of us” (p. xxii).

“Without knowing what they need to learn, they carry around a lot of subliminal nervousness, but they are not sufficiently alert to the dangers of a year of ‘coasting.’” (p. xxiv)

“With the seniors’ help, we need to examine the  senior year for what should stay the same and what can be altered in small and even big ways. Perhaps we teachers should recognize that the academic growth that has been our worthy stock in trade for many years must be not abandoned, not cheapened, but altered to suit the seniors’ changed circumstances” (p. xxvii)

“Most of all, we need to bring about a more graceful transition between high school and what follows it. Our goal is to leave all the participants feeling that the senior year was a glory time but also one of permanent usefulness, one to feel proud of after all” (p.xxviii)

My Use of Images in Teaching About Literacy

My Use of Images in Teaching About Literacy
Annotation provided by Kali Frederick

Lalik, Rosary. (2003.) My Use of Images in Teaching About Literacy. In L. Sanders-Bustle (ed.) Image, Inquiry, and Transformative Practice: Engaging Learners in Creative and Critical Inquiry Through Visual Representation (pgs. 87 - 108). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Summary
Through a descriptive narrative, Rosary Lalik explores the world of teaching and teaching literacy to teachers. This chapter is a brutally honest depiction of the fear and uncertainty that teachers sometimes feel when facing a classroom of students. Her prose reads like a journal and her research is intertwined subtly to support her ideas. Lalik loves photographs and believes that literacy can be defined in many different ways. She uses photographs and other images to intrigue her students and evoke conversations. Their passionate discourse leads them to experiential research and library sources. While uncovering the truth behind the photographs they learn something more about literacy. This article is a must read for anyone pursuing methods that can be used to motivate students to read, research, engage in discussions, or reflect on personal reactions.

Quotes, Connections, and Reflection
This entire chapter was engaging. But what struck me the most was Lalik’s complete honesty about her work and feelings towards teaching. She states early on that her professional focus on literacy is to help teachers understand the multitude of avenues a teacher can use to inspire literacy exploration. Literacy, “involves the use of multiple forms and representation for construing and transforming the world,” (p. 89). Making the world accessible and understandable is a goal for most teachers. By opening up the definitions of literacy, we seek to include all children in the quest to understand the world.

Lalik provides a detailed description of her class and the project that is designed to explore the world of literacy. The project involves looking at difficult images of homelessness, which inspires the students to learn more about the issue. The students design a project around the topic and use many different avenues to better understand the issue. Some use experiential learning, others libraries, others personal interviews, etc. But all come together to gain a better understanding of the issue and provide some solutions. Lilak observes of her stubborn students, “how odd the critical and imaginative in teaching and learning can feel, especially to those of us long stifled in technocratic corners,” (p. 100). As a teacher that works at a progressive charter school, I thought that families who attended our school were enthusiastic about the different atmosphere. But instead, I was faced with a group of people who want desperately for their child’s education to be different, but they are uncomfortable with anything too different. Lilak experiences something similar after her class finishes. The students (who are all teachers) empasize how powerful the class was, but reflect that, as Lalik explains, “the kind of literacy they learned with me is hard to fit into the spaces of the standards lists, although they tell me they prefer it,” (p.101). As parents, educators and community members, we know something is not right with our educational system. Our students are not leaving school ready, willing, and able to take on an ever changing economy and society. And yet we propose and support more testing, as though repeated testing will yield different results. As Joe and I delve more deeply into our classroom practices, we find ample evidence (in the student work and demeanor) that supports the metohds we use in the classroom, but few articles address an integrated, cross-curricular high school classroom to the level that we take it. If we want innovative problem solvers, multiple choice exams will not accurately test for that quality. If we desire collaborative leaders who recognize and utilize other’s strengths accordingly, multiple choice tests and prompted writing, will not highlight those who possess these qualities. We need to embrace imagniation and innovation in the classroom and as assessments. And these practices should make us a bit uncomfortable.

Another aspect of Lalik’s chapter that I appreciated and could relate to is a bit outside of the literacy realm. She is explaining how difficult writing is for her and she says, “I write. I said I like to write. I try to write, but I am mute and grossly inarticulate [...] I vow to learn to speak through courses that I teach,” (p. 94). There are many times that I feel this way. I know what I want to say and do, but it is so very challenging. I can only hope that through our projects and work, I will help our students gain their voice for what they want, hope and dream, and in turn, they can help me find mine in education.

References
Freire, P. (1985). The politics of education. South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey.

Giroux, H. (1988). Teachers as Transformative Intellectuals: Toward a Critical Pedagogy of Learning. New York: Bergin & Garvey.

hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge.

Thinking Connections: Learning to Think and Thinking to Learn

Perkins, D.N., Goodrich, H., Tishman, S., & Mirman Owen, J. (1994). Thinking Connections: Learning to Think and Thinking to Learn. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Group.

An Annotation by Jaimee Rojas

Summary/Analysis: Developed in conjunction with the Project Zero Cognitive Skills Group of Harvard University and the Northeastern Regional Educational Laboratory, this program proposes thinking strategies that can be used by educators within the context of their regular curriculum. These critical and creative thinking strategies are interchangeable throughout disciplines and are meant to help our students create and hone long-lasting thinking skills. Using specific skills and strategies, students will learn to practice meta-cognitive thinking and will develop ways to access deeper learning through deeper thinking. Thinking Connections, the name of the program developed by these researchers from Harvard's Project Zero and Northeastern's EdLab, offers educators 3 thinking modules to cultivate a culture of thinking in the classroom. These 3 modules must be introduced and practiced so the authors propose a 12-week timeline, so that each module takes 4 weeks. The three modules: The Mental Management Strategy, The Decision-Making Strategy and Understanding through Design are taught in three steps, a pre-task step, a post-task step, and a second post-task step, with the task being the teacher's task. The Mental Management strategy, for instance, asks students to focus on their thoughts, remember the last time they did a task like the one they are about to do, and form visual images of the task or topic they will be addressing. This allows students to get into a focused state of mind prior to beginning the task. Then, the students complete the task, whether it is taking a quiz, reading a passage, critiquing a peer's work, etc. This strategy seems to work best for skill-based tasks. After they complete the task, the teacher leads the students through the post-task steps: making connections, where students make connections between other areas of study and their own personal lives. Then the second post-task step: thinking about thinking: where students give feedback on the task by identifying what went well and what was hard about the task. This task is meant to empower students: to show them how to be aware of their thought processes and that they have the power to improve upon them. The Decision-Making Strategy (Module 2) uses three powerful questions: What are the options, What are the Reasons? and What is the best choice? and Module Three: Understanding by Design provides a systematic approach to deeper learning and three thought-provoking questions: What are the purposes (of this design)? What are the Features and Reasons? And how well does it work?

These three modules provide an accessible infusion structure for thinking. As an instructor, I can implement this line of questioning in my daily lessons in a project-based environment. Once I teach my students how to use these skills, the art of practicing them will lend itself to deeper learning. I am close to being sold on the program, but the research on whether this program works is thin. There is one brief paragraph on the results of testing this program, which shows it has been formally tested in grades three through six. The results, which I might add are written in the book by the authors, purports the following: that Thinking Connections is very teachable, that students in grades 3-6 respond well, that student scores on thinking skills tests have improved after the full 12 weeks of the program and reinforcement thereafter, and that teachers improve their thinking skills and their teaching.

One useful part of the text is a dialogue between teacher and student an an FAQ for the teacher. I really gained a lot of knowledge from this formula and can see it being useful in my own research as far as how to give the audience useful tips and strategies. The book posts popular questions that have run through my head often, "What do I do when my students have no ideas?" "Sometimes my students' suggestions form improvements in a design are outlandish. how realistic should their ideas for improvements be?" In addition to these questions and scripts, the book offers worksheets and lessons for each of the 12 weeks. The Thinking Connections really is a pre-packaged thinking strategies curriculum that seems easy to implement, but it does make me wonder why didn't these thinking routines become more popular in the education world?


Critical Text/Quotes:
"Teachers have mentioned that they become increasingly aware of their own thinking processes as they work through this programs with their students. Once teachers internalize the steps in the strategies, they know that they, as well as their students, have the power to apply the strategies across the curriculum and in their daily lives. (p. v1)"

"Teaching thinking is an excellent way to integrate different subject matter. Since thinking should be a part of every subject, the teaching of thinking strategies provides an excellent way to connect subject matter to one another. (p. vi)"

"All students can learn to be better thinkers and learners and that they can develop positive attitudes toward thinking and learning. (p. v.)"

"Research shows that students notice differences in praise. if they see big differences, tehy often start focusing on the game of getting praise instead of on the task. Other students may quietly drop out. Fuller and more honest participation results when strong praise is avoided in favor of midly positive acceptance of everyone's efforts. Therefore, a simple 'okay,' or 'good' or 'yes, that's interesting,' is preferred."


Other Sources: (no other sources were given, but the following programs have done extensive research into these thinking routines)
Harvard Project Zero
Northeastern Regional Education Lab

Mindscaping: A Learning and Thinking Skill for All Students

Annotation by Cori Brooks

Margulies, N. (2001). Mindscaping: A Learning and Thinking Skill for All Students. Unpublished manuscript, School of Education, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland. Retrieved from http://education.jhu.edu/newhorizons/strategies/topics/Graphic Tools for Learning/margulies.htm



"Creating images can become a powerful tool for recording ideas and making meaning of what they hear in class".

Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Annotation by Cori Brooks

Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

The theory of multiple intelligences was developed by Gardner in 1983.  This book highlights all aspects of this theory.

Diversity, Learning Style and Culture

Annotation by Cori Brooks

Burke Guild, P. (2001). Diversity, Learning Style and Culture. Informally published manuscript, New Horizons for Learning, Johns Hopkins University School of Education, Retrieved from http://education.jhu.edu/newhorizons/strategies/topics/Learning Styles/diversity.html

This article tackles the imbalance between “uniformity and diversity”.  In other words, what should be the same in schools and what should be differentiated for learners.  It also discusses how family dynamics and culture play a part in need for differentiation.   Learning styles and learning differences don’t fit a “single mold” when it comes to strategies for learning.

Burke Guild also highlights the negative effects of uniformity in regards to teachers.  She writes that, in a culture of uniformity, competition instead of collaboration is created.  This is especially true when teachers are being assessed in the same ways yet teach in different ways.  She says that, for students as well as teachers, the best of many approaches benefits the most amount of learners.

She talks about four basic styles in which people interact/react differently to the world around us:  Cognitive, conceptual, affect, and behavior.  In short, “people differ in the ways they perceive, think, feel, and behave.” The article explains these differing learning styles in depth.

Burke Guild goes more in depth on culture and diversity for learners, as well.  She says that we need to know how to question culture and its effects on the individual learner without “stereotyping “ or making “naïve inferences” about individuals or small groups within a specific culture.

“A deep understanding of both culture and learning style differences is important for all educators, though the subject must be addressed carefully”

She discusses the Nature vs. Nurture theory and says that teachers must know the learners they are working with.   They must know the cultures of their students and understand their learning differences.  She highlights that students are both products of “innate predispositions” and of outside/external influences.

She also discusses teachers who bring their own background and culture to the classroom.  She writes that one should be aware of a teacher’s culture and students culture.  Teachers should not put too much emphasis on their own background but it shouldn’t be ignored either.

“Teachers of all cultural backgrounds and style will have to work conscientiously to provide equity for students as classrooms increasingly reflect the diversity of our society”.

The last topic Burke Guild discusses is how to apply knowledge of differences in style and culture in the classroom.  She states that awareness is the first application.  She writes that one must accept that people are different and learn in different ways.  To truly accommodate the differences in the classroom takes “a commitment to the belief that all students can be successful learners.

She concludes with the thought that educators need to work together to create and implement curricula for all learning styles and that us as educators need to keep in mind that techniques applied in class may not work for all students learning needs. 

Multiplying Intelligence in the Classroom

Annotation by Cori Brooks

Campbell, B. (1989, Winter). Multiplying intelligence in the classroom. On The Beam, IX(2), 7. Retrieved from http://education.jhu.edu/newhorizons/strategies/topics/mi/campbell3.htm

“The plan to engage the various intelligences involves the use of learning centers and a thematic, interdisciplinary approach” (Campbell, 1989).

Managing the Active, Differentiated Learning Classroom.

Annotation by Cori Brooks

Kennedy, M. (2001, September). Managing the active, differentiated learning classroom. Retrieved from http://education.jhu.edu/newhorizons/strategies/topics/the-democratic-classroom/managingtheactivedifferentiatedlearningc/

This online article highlights an approach to in-class management through a strategy called Micro Self-Government or “Micro” for short.  The author explains how it "allows kids to learn social and democratic principles" as well as allows students to give input and be heard in the classroom (Kennedy, 2001).

Weaving Science Inquiry and Continuous Assessment

Carlson, M. O., Humphrey, G. E., & Reinhardt, K. (2003). Weaving science inquiry and continuous assessment: using formative assessment to improve learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. 

A very short 'vignette' in the first chapter (page 12 to be precise), The Essence of Continuous Assessment, just resulted in one of those Earth tilting  paradigm shifts for me so I'd like to try to recap it here.

I am struggling to pursue science inquiry in my classroom and feel like I'm failing miserably. Sometimes I over structure events, but this time I feel like a lack of structure has students stymied and I need to figure out a way to bridge the two. This first vignette written by a 5th & 6th grade science teacher elegantly showed in a page and a half how my approaches (both too structured and not structured enough) are getting in my own way. 

In the vignette, the science teacher's first attempts to introduce students to the concept of motion used stations with cards that set up activities for students to 'discover' certain phenomena. The students diligently followed instructions and gave rote descriptions of what was going on. This process was not very satisfactory for either the students or the teacher. 

In his second go at introducing a topic he removed the instructions and merely set up stations with the different materials (springs & strings for introducing waves). Then he spent the class really listening to student questions. Then at the end they generated a class list of questions that looked something like this:

• What is really moving in a wave?
• How do waves begin?
• What are different kinds of waves?
• What are some differences and similarities of waves in various media?
• Just what are waves and how do they move?

As a chemistry teacher of 10th graders - every single one of these questions applies on deep levels to electrons or light, and every single one was student generated. 

Since this was immediately useful as a slight shift in my approach that could have all the difference I decided to post it now. As I finish reading the rest of this book I will flesh out the summary and make it more useful to those searching for specific inquiry related topics.

Summary of first three chapters:

Chapter one:
Describes continuous assessment as a teaching and learning strategy  as well as a strategy integral to your own professional development. Closes with vignette posted above.

Chapter two:
Anchors the reader in the belief that trust in students and respect for their ideas forms the underpinnings of inquiry learning. The vignette at the end of the chapter shows how continuous assessment and inquiry based learning are intrinsically entwined. This chapter also reviews the cyclical nature of inquiry based activities.

Chapter three:
Provides details about specific strategies to utilize continuous assessment such as-

• Sitting and listening closely 
• Asking questions - great ones are
• What have you tried so far?
• What do you think will happen if..?
• Can you find a way to...?
• What are you thinking about?
• I'm wondering what you meant when you said...?
• Can you tell me why you decided to ...?
• Can you tell me more about...?
• Why do you think it happened that way...?
• How would you explain...?
• What questions do you have now...?
• Sharing a new material or piece of information
• Sparking science conversations
• Student self assessment

And also tools for continuous assessment such as:

• Teacher's observation notes
• Videotape
• Audiotape
• Photographs
• Student science writing
• Products of student science work

This chapter also shared examples of note taking formats for observing student inquiry within the classroom.