A Framework for Understanding Poverty (15 page)

AUDITORY

If the person is right-handed, the 3 o'clock position indicates auditory remembered and 9 o'clock position indicates auditory constructed. If the individual is left-handed, then 3 o'clock is auditory constructed and 9 o'clock is auditory remembered.

FEELING/KINESTHETIC

If the individual is right-handed, the 5 o'clock position is auditory internal dialogue, and the 7 o'clock position is feelings. If the individual is left-handed, then 5 o'clock is feelings, while 7 o'clock is auditory internal dialogue.

VISUAL CONSTRUCT

If eyes are staring straight ahead and defocused, the individual is in a visualconstruct position.

How does knowing eye movement help a teacher? If a student has moved his/her eyes to a visual position, then the teacher knows that the student is trying to find the information visually. The teacher can enhance the process by asking the student, "What do you see?" If the student is processing from an auditory position, the teacher can ask, "What do you remember hearing?" And so on for the other positions. Eye movements can help the teacher identify how a student tends to store and retrieve information.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL INTERVENTIONS THAT BUILD CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS AND COGNITIVE STRATEGIES

1. Using graphic organizers (Idol and Jones, i99i, Chapter 3). Graphic organizers give students the ability to identify main concepts, assign specific labels to concepts, and sort relevant and non-relevant cues (see example below).

Example:

Example:

(For a comprehensive, research-based overview, see Idol and Jones, 1991.)

2. Identifying methods of having a systematic approach to the data/text. One way to do this is to provide students a systematic method to go through the text. Some teachers have students highlight information. Here is one example:

SELF-QUESTIONING STRATEGIES

Place the following symbols in the text where you find the answers:

Three little pigs went out into the world. The first little pig met a man carrying straw.

The little pig asked, "May I have some straw so I can build a house?"

"Yes," said the man. "You may have some straw."

The first little pig took the straw. He built a straw house. A wolf came along and knocked on the door. "Little pig, little pig, let me come in."

"Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!" said the little pig.

"Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in," said the wolf. And he huffed. And he puffed. And he blew the house in. And he ate him up.

The second little pig met a man carrying sticks. The litt le pig asked, "May I have some sticks so I can build a house?"

"Yes," said the man. "You may have some sticks."

The second little pig took the sticks. He built a stick house. A wolf came along and knocked on the door. "Little pig, little pig, let me come in."

"Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!" said the little pig.

"Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in," said the wolf. And he huffed. And he puffed. And he blew the house in. And he ate him up.

The third little pig met a man carrying bricks. The little pig asked, "May I have some bricks so I can build a house?"

"Yes," said the man. "You may have some bricks."

The third little pig took the bricks. He built a brick house. A wolf came along and knocked on the door. "Little pig, little pig, let me come in."

"Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!" said the little pig.

"Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in," said the wolf.

And he huffed. And he puffed. And he huffed. And he puffed. He could not blow the brick house in. The wolf was angry. He jumped on the roof. He yelled, "little pig, I'm coming down the chimney. I'm going to eat you up!"

But the little pig was smart. He was smarter than the wolf. He had a big pot of hot water in the fireplace. The little pig lifted the cover. The wolf fell into the pot. The little pig lived happily ever after in his little brick house.

3. Establishing goal-setting and procedural self-talk (Marzano and Arredondo, 1986). These two activities should be part of daily instruction. The procedural self-talk can be written down and eventually will become part of the internal self-talk. Goal-setting addresses several cognitive issues.

4. Teaching conceptual frameworks as part of the content (Marzano and Arredondo, 1986). There are many ways to do this. One is by using graphic organizers. Another is to teach content in an associative way (i.e., teaching it in relationship to what students personally have experienced, rather than in a linear or hierarchical way). Another way to build conceptual frameworks is to take what they know and translate it into the new form. For example, have them write in casual register and then translate into formal register. Or, have them rewrite the story in a poverty structure. In other words, it is an opportunity for students to see the same information in more than one structure. In math, students would both draw the problem and do the problem in an equation.

5. Using a kinesthetic approach as part of the classroom environment is another intervention. For example, rather than teaching algebra strictly from equations on paper and pencil, the shop teacher and the algebra teacher would design a project that would require students to use algebra to design and complete a metalworking project. The Tech Prep program uses this approach.

6. Using rubrics that show the levels of performance so that students can begin to critique their expertise. What a well-written rubric can do for students is to allow them to evaluate their performance and learn how to improve on that performance. It allows students to begin to address the cognitive problem of not being able to plan or schedule. It allows for the cognitive strategy of future representation to be developed, because students can see ahead of time the consequences of their choices.

7. Teaching the structure of language. Project Read is one such intervention and is a multi-sensory approach to teaching reading and writing. The focus is on teaching structure and patterns so that the student can understand the use of language in formal registers. The campuses in Goose Creek Independent School District in Texas that have implemented this program have significantly higher state test scores than those campuses that have not. For more information about Project Read, please call (800) 450-0343.

8. Teaching students to make questions (Palincsar and Brown, 1984). There is a significant relationship between the ability to ask a question syntactically and comprehension of the text. To teach students question-making, simply give them the list of question stems on page 105, and then have them use the text to come up with their own questions. Require them to prepare four answer choices as well. Also, one can use the reciprocal teaching methods designed by Palincsar and Brown.

9. Sorting relevant from irrelevant cues. Cartooning is a wonderful way to do this. Have students draw, in six frames, the main points of the text or story. See template on page 1o6.

1o. Teaching mental models. To store abstract information in the mind, mental models are used. A mental model can be a twodimensional drawing, a story, a metaphor, or an analogy.

QUESTION-MAKING STEMS