Blog for Teachers - Gtec Kids

Open-Ended Questions

Research has shown time and time again that if we pose a close-ended question, our students will elicit a minimal amount of answers. However, we can draft the same question using the following question starters that provoke higher level thinking coupled with brainstorming.In the beginning, you will find that it is hard to draft an open-ended question. However, with time, it will become easier and easier until it becomes a habit. So, how do you break the habit? Use this simple...

Essential and Guiding Questions

Using essential and guiding questions certainly binds a unit of study together, bringing a clearer focus to the lesson. Originally introduced by Heidi Hayes Jacobs, we modified the practice and infused it into our Exploring History series back in 2000. We are finding that more and more people ask for a clear explanation of how to draft these questions for each unit of study.The Essential QuestionWhat is an essential question? Simply put, the essential question:is a definition question, serving as...

Enlivening Social Studies to Meet the Test

Andi Stix was interviewed by Donna Green from the New York Times on why Social Studies instruction needs improvement.Coming soon from the same people who brought New York students new tests in reading and math – a new test for social studies. The tests are mandated by the Board of Regents and are aimed at raising academic standards. For fifth-graders, the test is to be given this year, although there is talk of delaying it a year; for eighth-graders,...

Can Our Gifted Children Remain Gifted?

Oftentimes parents think their children are above average because they read at an early age. In many instances, parents confuse a child’s ability to remember things accurately with the notion that the youngster is above the norm. By 3rd grade, children who read at the average maturational period catch up, and the playing field becomes more level. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a large number of students who are considered gifted in 4th grade are no longer identified as...

Classroom Strategies That Motivate the Reluctant Learner

In a society where no child is left untested, it may not be surprising that many states have dropped their passing grades during the past decade (NYC Board of Education, 2007; Banchero, 2007; Kolkey, 2007). If we examine the amount of material that is covered in Social Studies, Science, and Math exams, then the drive to memorize facts would leave even the more ambitious student disinterested and disengaged. Then why should it be so surprising that the struggling reader...

Fun with Picture Grids: Teaching the Addition of Fractions

An Introduction to Picture GridsWhy is it that mathematics often conjures up images of desperate students trying to solve seemingly impossible problems? The subject of mathematics often compels otherwise well-adjusted adults to grimace with the memory of futile hours spent poring over numbers that seem at once both meaningless and threatening. Fortunately, there is an alternative. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. The impossible really is possible, and we can do more than tell our students to clap...

Pic-Jour Math: Pictorial Journal Writing in Mathematics to Understand Pi

Come every fall, teachers of mathematics are confronted with oversized classes filled with students who vary in both their learning style and their way of communicating what they have learned. Teachers are challenged to recognize and exploit those differences or risk bored or confused students who lack any true mathematical understanding and may end up manipulating numerical symbols and equations by rote.Both experience and research in the past twenty years have demonstrated the clear effectiveness of using a multimodal, interactive approach...

The Link Between Art and Mathematics

There would seem to be an implausible relationship between art and mathematics. After all, the two domains seem to depend on vastly different thinking patterns. We do not question the interrelationship between science and mathematics, and the scientific process is clearly contingent on mathematics. How then did Ferguson (1977) manage to put together a historical review linking art and technology? Ferguson’s research indicates that inventors and art are more closely affiliated than either group would have us believe.Ferguson cites many examples...

Fun with Picture Grids: Teaching Multiplication of Fractions & Decimals

Order a set at: http://www.hand2mind.com/catalog/product?deptId=&prodId=020272&q=picture+grids This is the third and fourth parts of the Fun with Picture Grids Series of Addition, Subtraction, Division, Multiplication & Decimals, and Square RootPart III: Teaching Multiplication with the Picture Grids ManipulativesA few weeks later Henry asks the class, “How do you feel about multiplication?” The students groan. Multiplication is even harder than addition and subtraction. They’re not ready to believe that these grids hold the magic that can ease the discomfort of multiplication. After all, students rarely...

Fun with Picture Grids: Teaching the Subtraction of Fractions

Order a set at: http://www.hand2mind.com/catalog/product?deptId=&prodId=020272&q=picture+grids Part II: Teaching Subtraction with the Picture Grids ManipulativesHenry continues using the Picture Grid materials to teach subtraction:1. “The grids can also be used to do subtraction,” Henry says. “Let’s take the problem of one-half minus one-fourth.” He hands out the halves grid, the fourths grid, the clear grid, and a bunch of colored pencils. He tells the students to solve the problem. One group takes the quarters grid and overlays it directly on top of...

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Open-Ended Questions

Essential and Guiding Questions

Enlivening Social Studies to Meet the Test

Can Our Gifted Children Remain Gifted?

Classroom Strategies That Motivate the Reluctant Learner

Fun with Picture Grids: Teaching the Addition of Fractions

Pic-Jour Math: Pictorial Journal Writing in Mathematics to Understand Pi

The Link Between Art and Mathematics

Fun with Picture Grids: Teaching Multiplication of Fractions & Decimals

Fun with Picture Grids: Teaching the Subtraction of Fractions

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