What strategies might Mr. Van Holten use to keep students on-task ...

[CBme]

What strategies might Mr. Van Holten use to keep students on-task during the second semester?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

What strengths do you see in Ms. Marotta's lesson?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[kaylee05]

Answer to Question 1

Possible strategies include the following:
 Cue off-task students about what they should be doing.
 Separate students who are socializing rather than working on the assignment.
 Teach self-regulation strategies.
 Describe concrete expectations regarding what should be accomplished during each class period.
 Reinforce students for on-task behavior, perhaps by giving them free time if they are consistently on task during the class sessions that have been set aside for working on the research papers.

Answer to Question 2

Strengths include the following:
 She activates prior knowledge (e.g., about air conditioning and about Friday's lesson).
 She provides a retrieval cue (What's the difference between where we are and Long's Peak?) when students have trouble retrieving the concept of elevation.
 On at least two occasions, she asks the students to relate the material to their own lives (How many of you have air conditioning?, How do you think you might feel living in Alaska?).
 She asks Jackson to write important elements of the discussion on the chalkboard, thereby presumably scaffolding students' note taking.
 At one point, she asks students to elaborate on a response