Status Updates From Teaching for Learning

I'm paying extra attention to chapter 5 ('Reading Strategies'). Sadly, some of our university students are leaving college entirely because they did not realize all the reading of texts that would be involved in their learning and they have not been prepared. This saddens me greatly.

"One of the principles of a democratic society is the process of discussion. Circle of Voices is a significant tradition within Native American and Aboriginal cultures because each person's views are important and should be considered in conversations and dialogue (Brookfield & Preskill, 2005)."

I like the 'Take a guess' lecture IDEA described on page 14. Students pair up before the lecture starts and guess at three-six facts that will be covered in the upcoming lecture. If the lecturer touches on one or more of those facts, the student circles it. This activates background knowledge to promote learning.