Cues,+Questions,+&+Advanced+Organizers

Read and Reflect

My purpose for using cues and questions in my classroom is to help my students retrieve prior knowledge so they have the tools needed for the upcoming lesson. Math continually builds upon itself so you must possess these tools to be successful at the next level. I use these cues when beginning a new lesson, reviewing a lesson or when students have questions about the lessons. For example, when beginning a lesson on the distributive property, I may place an expression on the board and underline the numbers/variables found in the expression. I may ask the class what these underlined parts are called and I usually receive many different responses, then I will ask the question " what are the parts between the operation signs called?" Students hear the question and see the example on the board, this usually yields the correct answer from most students. Seeing it on the board and hearing the question allows them to recall previous information covered in class. Another example of using the cues/questions is to help students recall properties or rules in math. When solving expressions that require order of operations, the first question is "what are the operations?" This usually spurs them to remember PEMDAS which gives the correct order. If I ask when do you work "left to right?" this is a cue to help them remember a variation in PEMDAS.

My advanced organizers sometimes include a worksheet that reviews past material and introduces new material. This will also include new and old vocabulary and students are asked to fill in the sheet as we review it in class. I began using this format this year as a means of giving students ready made notes for those who have difficulty taking notes.



Apply and Reflect

I decided to try //glogster// not only as an advanced organizer but also as a means of presenting the key concepts of the Distributive Property. This is not new material but the students seem to be having difficulty retaining the material so it is new to many of them. So presenting the //glogster// allows me to hit the important info and can be something they can print out and refer back when they are asked to note key concepts (many have trouble verbalizing thoughts through the written word). It will also be stored in the note section of their binders for future reference.

Here is a link to my glogster

http://msgeoteacher.edu.glogster.com/distributive-property/