Місяць: Квітень 2015

The Socratic Method

Primary goals of the method

  • The question “Why?”
  • Critical Thinking

Steps of the Socratic method:

  • Create open ended question
  • Begin the discussion
  • Focus conversation on topic
  • Allow the equal time from all members
  • Students need to elaborate and clarify

Leader’s responsibility is :

  • To clarify
  • Synthesize
  • Restate opinions

Participants must think and speak persuasively with support

Instructional Scaffolding

Scaffolding is an often-used construct to describe the ongoing support provided to a learner by an expert.

Instructional scaffolding is a learning process designed to promote a deeper level of learning. Scaffolding is the support given during the learning process which is tailored to the needs of the student with the intention of helping the student achieve his/her learning goals (Sawyer, 2006).

Instructional scaffolding is the provision of sufficient support to promote learning when concepts and skills are being first introduced to students. These supports may include the following:

  • resources
  • a compelling task
  • templates and guides
  • guidance on the development of cognitive and social skills

Use of instructional scaffolding in various contexts:

  • modeling a task
  • giving advice
  • providing coaching

These supports are gradually removed as students develop autonomous learning strategies, thus promoting their own cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning skills and knowledge. Teachers help the students master a task or a concept by providing support. The support can take many forms such as outlines, recommended documents, storyboards, or key questions.

EXTREME EMPLOYEES

I. RANK IT!
Which is most important in your life? Rank the items in order.

1. Family
2. Work/ Career
3. Friends/ Colleagues
4. Leisure time
5. Personal growth and development

II. READING

     Although some countries like France and Australia have begun to experiment with additional vacation time to balance work and personal happiness, the worldwide trend has progressed in the opposite direction. For example, Japan has long been known for its excruciating workweeks. Employees in other countries are falling victim to longer and longer hours at the office in recent years, too. The result is a new type of employee, called the “extreme employee.”

From a pool of more than two million surveys of high-salaried employees in the US, it’s clear that you need to work more if you want to advance up the corporate ladder. The extreme employee demonstrates more than simple dedication to the company, though. He believes in the proposition that there’s always more he could–and should!–do. If you count the time it takes to commute to the office, then 70-hour workweeks are common. He makes himself available to clients and office emergencies 24/7 as well. He also takes far fewer vacation days than he’s allotted, roughly ten days or less per year.

Worse, however, and perhaps more exasperating, is the fact that most extreme employees admit dissatisfaction. More than half believe they would be physically healthier with less work. A lack of free time also harms the relationship with their children. Slightly less than half complained that the long hours had a detrimental effect on spousal relations.

Experts advocate discovering ways to get the seventy-hour workweek down to a more modest forty-five hours. Although corporations haven’t yet accomplished this feat for high-impact jobs, some major corporations are trying. American Express, Johnson & Johnson, and more than thirty others are working towards ways to reduce the pressure on managers to perform and produce.

III. GUIDE QUESTIONS

1. What do you think about extreme employees?
2. How does your job affect your relationship with the people around you? Please explain
3. If parents work more and more, how will this affect future generations of children?

Adapted from http://www.headsupenglish.com/