My Teaching Experience from Student to Professional with Lesson Plans

I have an interview at a prestigious public high school, and I am so glad I got an interview there. I am really excited about this prospect. So I’ve been reading up online about questions they might ask educators, and I’ve been looking through all my handouts and papers about these interview things. Also, I’ve been reviewing my portfolio.

Truly, I should have been doing all this for the past two weeks, but at least I do feel like I’m getting well-prepared for the interview. I’ll be sure to share how it goes.

I really wanted to get more of the student work printed up, or put online, but hey, it’s still May, and I don’t have alllll the time in the world.

Did I already say wish me luck?!!?

These are some notes I found about cooperative learning techniques- what is involved, questioning levels, methods, activities, etc…

-a powerful method of learning
-divergence in questioning prompts a variety of responses (open-ended)
-convergence in questioning prompts a more specific response (close-ended)
-keep in mind student backgrounds and strengths and weaknesses in deciding what types of grouping to do
-bridge a cooperative learning technique, starting with developmentally appropriate instruction, and then slow it down to work with information they already know
-involve graphic and advanced organizers
-ask “juicy” and “skinny” questions and vary the levels
-questions should be both in lower and higher level of Bloom’s taxonomy
-vary convergent and divergent questions, use prompts and probes, and wait-time
-planning effective questioning is an important part of guiding the process
-timing of activities is usually about 30-45 minutes: most of it is very interactive, with higher-level thinking
-CL activities do not involve a lot of new content, rather, they are a way to help students understand material already covered
-they can consist of a few activities in a larger framework, and may involve a set induction
-must be put together well: concrete, orderly, with a logical progression between levels of questioning
-base the cooperative learning technique and activities on one or two solid objectives (include standards)
-plan both formative and summative assessments