Chapter 7b

Assessment has many different purposes. One purpose is to assist in student learning. I would identify this as the most important purpose because student learning is the ultimate goal. Assessment also identifies each student’s strengths and weaknesses. It shows what the students have a complete understanding on as well as what they struggle with. In the Novice class that I am currently placed in my cooperating teacher does many different types of assessment. By doing this she gains so many understandings of how much the students know as well as what they still need to learn. Not only do assessments just assess the students but they also assess the teacher. If many of the students struggle on the assessment this cue’s the teacher that they may need to change the way they taught a certain topic or reteach the topic. When using assessment in your classroom it is important to use a variety of assessments. By doing this you are exposing the students to different types of thinking as well as addressing the students’ strengths and weaknesses. For example, a student may be very good at taking multiple-choice tests but may have a difficult time taking an essay test because they have difficulty putting their thoughts into words.

Chapter 6c &7a

Chapter 6c

Chapter 6 focused on building a successful lesson plan. Lesson planning is a critical part of teaching and often separates the good teachers from the bad. Many of us have written several lesson plans and often feel that it is a pain to write out all of the standards, objectives, rationale, materials, time limits, procedures, assessment, adaptations, conclusion and so on. What’s the point of writing out an entire lesson plan when you can just keep it in your head right? As a first year teacher, writing your lesson plan down and printing it out will help your teaching go more smoothly. Throughout the day there are so many different things happening that it is important to have your lesson plan printed out that way it can be used as a reference. It is very difficult for a teacher to remember the entire lesson plan along with the materials needed, the type of assessment that will be used, any guiding questions that will be asked and a conclusion activity. Having this lesson plan handy will allow you to quickly look back at it if needed that way students can get the most out of the learning activity. Also, taking time to remember what you should be teaching allows time for the students to create disruptions which will take even more learning time away. When I have my own classroom I plan on writing up each lesson plan and printing it out. Some lesson plans may just include the materials, procedures, assessment and conclusion activity (after all, the conclusion activity is very important because it allows the students to reflect on what they have learned and why they have learned it.) but I feel that I should print this out so there are not any gaps in my teaching. One thing that I also found interesting while reading was the point about the “anticipate noise level.” I never really thought ahead about a lesson to determine how much noise I should allow during the activity. This is a great point to think about because it will allow the teacher to monitor and correct the noise level before it gets out of hand.

Chapter 7a

Chapter 7 dealt with assessing students and states that there are three general avenues that should be used for assessing student learning. These three are (1) assess what the students says-for example, the quantity and quality of a student’s contributions to class discussions; (2) assess what the student does-for example, a student’s performance (the amount and quality of a student’s participation in the learning activities); (3) assess what the student writes-for example, items in the student’s portfolio (homework assignments, checklists, project work, and written tests) (Kellough). These three components will be very important when the time comes where I will need to assess my students. Assessment is not just something a teacher does at the end of a lesson yet something they do consistently prior, throughout and after the lesson. It is important to assess students to see which students are growing, which students are struggling and which students may need to be challenged. When assessing what a student says you can keep a teacher’s log, list desirable behaviors for activities and record observations. Tools such as audio and video can also be used. When assessing what a student does you can listen to what the student says such as their questions, responses and interactions with others. You should also keep an eye on nonverbal cues. When assessing what a student writes a teacher can use written worksheets, papers journals, etc. I plan to be organized and keep running records and observations of all of my students that way I can benefit each student, as they need.

Chapter 6a & 6b

Chapter 6a

I found that this chapter was particularly helpful because it dealt with instruction planning, something that nearly every first year teacher worries about and often struggles with. The chapter specifically covered instructional units which according to the book is “ a major subdivision of a course and is comprised of learning activities that are planned around a central theme, topic, issue, or problem, organizing the content of the semester or year into units makes the teaching process more manageable than when the teacher has no plan or makes only random choices.” I chose to use the direct quote from the book because it shows the importance of planning as well as how planning makes ones teaching more cohesive. The most common type of instructional unit is a standard unit, also known as a traditional unit, which consists of a series of lessons that are planned around a topic, theme, concept, etc. These can be known as thematic units, which many of us have already planned while getting our education degree. I feel that when I become a teacher I will plan many thematic units for my students. I will do this for several different reasons, not only are thematic units fun and exciting, they help show students how their learning is relevant to their lives which further motivate and excite students about learning. If students cannot see why they are learning something, they will not stay engaged. Planning thematic units also help the lessons stay cohesive. It prevents the teacher from selecting random material and pushes them to stay theme oriented and plan ahead for their lessons in order for the learning to fit the theme. This planning ahead often seems like it may take more time and energy at first but once lessons are planned they can be used again in the future. Planning ahead allows the teacher to ensure they are selecting useful activities that will benefit the students.

The chapter also discussed directness. Once you have your theme chosen it is now up to you to decide what types of strategies you want to use to teach your students. I think that many different strategies should be used to help mold different skills of the students. For instance, students need to be able to learn how to learn in a teacher-focused environment where they listen to a mine-lecture or demonstration and can still receive and understand information. Students also need to be able to investigate on their own and in groups to discover information. I think both levels of instruction are important as long as the teacher-centered instruction is not overused. I also think it is very important for a teacher to keep the lectures no longer than ten minutes (ten minutes may even be too long).

Chapter 6b

When planning an integrative thematic unit, Kellough emphasized that teachers want to make sure to follow certain guidelines. These guidelines are written below.

• ·      Agree on the nature or source of the unit
• ·      Discuss subject-specific standards, goals and objectives, curriculum guidelines, textbooks and supplemental materials and units already in place for the school year.
• ·      Choose a theme topic and develop a time line
• ·      Establish two time lines
• ·      Develop the scope and sequence for content and instruction
• ·      Share goals and objectives
• ·      Give the unit a name
• ·      Share subject-specific units, lesson plan a printed and non-printed materials
• ·      Field-test the unit
• ·      Reflect, assess and perhaps adjust and revise the unit

When developing the learning activities there are three parts that create the make up of the thematic units. These are initiating activities, ongoing developmental activities and there are culminating activities. These all play a huge part when it comes planning and conducting a successful thematic integrative unit. Initiating activities are ones that introduce the thematic unit. Ongoing activities are what make up the majority of the unit. These are activities that will take the longest time but have the deepest learning levels. Lastly there is culminating activities. These are the activities that will help close the unit. This may be the students’ reflections on what they learned, questions they still have, etc.

When I have my future classroom I will ensure to use these guidelines to help create a successful thematic unit. I think reflecting on ones thematic unit right after it is completed is a great way educators can grow and adjust their thematic unit. It would be smart for teachers to write down notes about what they did and didn’t like about the unit and place those notes along with the materials they use for the thematic unit that way if they use it next year they do not forget what they wanted to change.