Discussion Questions

1. Why do you think lecture is so heavily used in classrooms?

2. Will online classes decrease the use of lecture or possibly make it take a different form?

3. What is meant by, “lectures provide the most efficient use of time when trying to deliver a large amount of information?”

4. What are the benefits and challenges of a student-centered instructional strategy approach?

5. Do you feel any one of the five elements of an effective lecture is any more or any less important? If so, which one and why?

6. Why is questioning seen as an “art?”

7. Is any one content area better suited to the constructivist approach?  If so, why?

8. What content area do you see as best being taught in a cooperative learning format?  Why?

9. In education today, do teachers need to have more instructional strategies to pull from or be highly proficient in the ones they use the most?

10. What is meant by “all instruction is built on a foundation of planning?”

11. How would you use norm-referenced tests differently than criterion-referenced tests in your assessment practices?

12. Describe the main differences between formative and summative assessments and why you would want to use both in your classroom.

13. How do teachers use data from formative instruction to adjust their instruction?

14. What is the main purpose of response to intervention (RTI) and how do the three tiers insure that every student is involved in progress monitoring? 

15. Why do you think school districts are getting so much pressure from parents to “opt-out” of high-stakes testing? How has this issue become one that has riled the whole community?

16. What has been your state’s experience with online student testing? What happens when scoring is flawed and data is described by the testing provide as “invalid?” What does that mean for teachers and students who prepared for the assessments?

17. What is the benefit of using authentic assessment, in regards to collections of student work in portfolios, performances, demonstrations, etc? How does this help students make connections to their learning?

18. How has the use of rubrics removed teacher-bias from grading practices?

19. How does the inclusion of both types of questions (closed and open-ended) make a test richer and a more-meaningful measurement for a classroom teacher?