While I was reading this book, I found myself in this book quite often. There is no doubt about it, I am definitely a millennial. I can relate to my students and understand a lot of their neediness and longing for approval. I too am very similar. This book justified a lot of traits that I see in the classroom. Getting upset when not understanding after first try, getting emotional if not receiving an A, lack of face to face social skills, not wanting to work through problems on own, asking questions for confirmation. All these traits that we witness in the classroom are problem of the 21st century learner that we as educators are trying to turn around through the integration of technology and apps.
However, we millennials are not all bad! Our 21st century learners have awesome qualities if I must say so myself. This generation offers many possibilities that sometime get overlooked. This generation does a great job of accepting others flaws and taking them in. In the technology world there are many supportive apps and communities that find common ground and interest that sparks communication ad even friendships over. Leading to my next positive to the app generation is they come with a wide network of connections and social ties. When ever in a group somebody knows somebody how knows somebody, similar to the facebook common friends function.
The app generation is a tough code to crack. Through collaboration and the demonstration from teachers, are duty as educators is to teach our students to still be creative even when using apps. Depending on apps to do all the work is not the best strategy and essentially allows the app to do all the thinking for them. No problem solving or creating is being done. Teaching our students to be app enablers allows them the power to use the tool and be the designer and not us to be consumed by all the apps. Another responsibility that I will integrate more in my classroom is encouraging my students to take more risk outside their comfort zone with out the fear of "getting it wrong." Just by taking that chance is a start to empowering my learners and this generation. This is just the start, we all know it is going to take many years and repetitions of modeling and coaching our learners to be app enablers and not app dependent.
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Sunday, November 12, 2017
Net Smart
Net Smart was an interesting read for me. I did a lot of stopping and starting throughout the book. As mentioned in the book, I often find myself taking mental breaks or setting little goals to get through some assignments. I know I work best with incorporated breaks. That actually was the chapter that I was assigned to do the pros and cons with in class. Some of the pros, was working in small increments, taking mental breaks and being able to regroup between working sessions. Some pros to that is not wanting to start back up, taking extended breaks, falling asleep, lack of momentum. All are downsides as well. Another part of the book that I heavily related to was the social media section. I always am finding myself reading blogs and watching webinars on various topics in education. Both to obtain more information and to see different perspectives on the issues at hand. All great ways to stay connected to the educational community and not just see my perspective.
I think using the pro's and con's assignment could be useful when teaching math strategies. We briefly discussed this during a shared reading time. We explored all the different math strategies we know how to do and see what would be the best strategy to use when taking the SOL. Not only did students have to apply them but also reason on which strategy would be the best use of time.
In my class we do brain breaks when the students need to refocus. A quick go noodle video to get the wiggles out, play 5 mins of Gestures, or my favorite and the kids favorite is to do a 30 second nap. The kids absolutely love 30 second nap. Little do they know I do this when I need to count to 10 because no one is paying attention I need a moment to get my life together. Another way to incorporate this book would be to do a student blog. Having the kids respond to blog questions similar to how we do blogs and reflect on others responses. A more authentic way would be for the student to create a famous American twitter. Students would have to take significant events in the Americans life and create tweets that correlate with the time and event.
I think using the pro's and con's assignment could be useful when teaching math strategies. We briefly discussed this during a shared reading time. We explored all the different math strategies we know how to do and see what would be the best strategy to use when taking the SOL. Not only did students have to apply them but also reason on which strategy would be the best use of time.
In my class we do brain breaks when the students need to refocus. A quick go noodle video to get the wiggles out, play 5 mins of Gestures, or my favorite and the kids favorite is to do a 30 second nap. The kids absolutely love 30 second nap. Little do they know I do this when I need to count to 10 because no one is paying attention I need a moment to get my life together. Another way to incorporate this book would be to do a student blog. Having the kids respond to blog questions similar to how we do blogs and reflect on others responses. A more authentic way would be for the student to create a famous American twitter. Students would have to take significant events in the Americans life and create tweets that correlate with the time and event.
Saturday, November 4, 2017
copyright clairity
Copyright Clairity was an interesting read this week. I was always taught in school that you can be taken to jail for copyright and plagiarism. In relaity the rules are not as strict as teachers have made them out to be. As gullible as I am, I believed them. I mean who would dare challenge their teacher. Teachers know everything and are never wrong! That's what I always thought at least. But since I have became a teacher, I have overlooked a lot of copyright laws that I was taught. I mean as a teacher, we are all about sharing, borrowing, collaborating and adapting materials and tools to meet our needs in the classroom. I mean name me a teacher who hasn't borrowed a worksheet from a fellow colleague or saw a great activity to do in your class off Pintrest.
I feel the big question I have again comes back to TPT. If I purchase something off TPT and the teacher next door wants to use it, I would feel weird saying no sorry you will need to purchase your own instead oft taking two seconds to make a copy of mine. From the teachers perspective, it seems silly. But to the owner who took the amount of time to make the material, then I understand. But as a teacher who is given no curriculum and materials to teach, I spend countless time and dollars on materials then I feel as though we can share among each other. As long as someone bought it.
Now i know that is considered "wrong" but I now understand as long as I transform what I borrow, I am not breaking any copyright laws. I do not even have to explain me reasoning. As long as I am using the item in a different way than it was originally intended. Seems simple enough. It is almost funny that my perception of copyright has been wrong for so long. When all I had to do was look up the actual law. This happens a lot in education as well. The meaning of something or explanation is easily butched or misinterpreted when it is passed from one mouth to the next. When all we have to do is go to the original source and look it up. Then we would easily find what is valid and what has been added on from word to mouth. I will definitely make a more conscious effort on looking up and verify information for myself and disregarding any misconceptions.
I feel the big question I have again comes back to TPT. If I purchase something off TPT and the teacher next door wants to use it, I would feel weird saying no sorry you will need to purchase your own instead oft taking two seconds to make a copy of mine. From the teachers perspective, it seems silly. But to the owner who took the amount of time to make the material, then I understand. But as a teacher who is given no curriculum and materials to teach, I spend countless time and dollars on materials then I feel as though we can share among each other. As long as someone bought it.
Now i know that is considered "wrong" but I now understand as long as I transform what I borrow, I am not breaking any copyright laws. I do not even have to explain me reasoning. As long as I am using the item in a different way than it was originally intended. Seems simple enough. It is almost funny that my perception of copyright has been wrong for so long. When all I had to do was look up the actual law. This happens a lot in education as well. The meaning of something or explanation is easily butched or misinterpreted when it is passed from one mouth to the next. When all we have to do is go to the original source and look it up. Then we would easily find what is valid and what has been added on from word to mouth. I will definitely make a more conscious effort on looking up and verify information for myself and disregarding any misconceptions.
Sunday, October 22, 2017
The I in PICKLE
The "I" in PICKLE, also the information using was such an eye-opener. This reading made me reflect on how we get our information. There is information everywhere and so easy to access from anywhere in the world. Information that pertains to you and information that pertains to someone across the world. No matter where you live you have access to it in form of newspaper, magazines, journals, encyclopedias, news show, telecast, radio discussions; it's all around us. Little did I know that I was self filtering not only the amount of information I read or listen to but also the type of information I wanted that interested me. I never thought of myself as a filter but when I scroll past headlines that may interest someone else, I am acting as a filter.
Similar to how we get information on the world, I find myself doing the same thing when getting information about effective teaching strategies, latest curriculum, project based learning, and even student seating. No matter how you look at it, it is all information that is mostly opinion based. Now I'm sure the research done behind each topic is legit, but again it is filter in a way that backs up their selling point. I find my self being consumed hours and hours at a time by a good article, then linked to similar articles. As discussed in class, our devices then learns what we like and only shows information that would interest me. When in fact I need to look at the pros and cons to each subject or topic being researched. I alwys look up the benefits to new ideas, very rarely do I look at the negative side to it. I don't want to see the ways it can go wrong!
We need to teach our students how to avoid spending to much time consuming. With everything in life we need balance, we need to teach our students a balance when consuming information. It is a school requirement to teach common sense media lessons. These lesson teach students how to use the computer responsibly and appropriately. We can also use this opportunity to teach them how to be healthy consumers of information. Teaching them that not everything you read is "healthy" on the internet. I too can do a similar activity in the classroom, 12 rules with a tangible, to help students remember their jobs as 21st century learners and the importance of a healthy and balanced information diet. And not only with technology but this can be used for a lot of concepts. We are currently doing famous Americans, this idea can be modified so I can have the class come up with 5-10 words that describe a Famous American and come up with a tangible that represents each one. So many ways to spin this! I am excited for class 2!
Similar to how we get information on the world, I find myself doing the same thing when getting information about effective teaching strategies, latest curriculum, project based learning, and even student seating. No matter how you look at it, it is all information that is mostly opinion based. Now I'm sure the research done behind each topic is legit, but again it is filter in a way that backs up their selling point. I find my self being consumed hours and hours at a time by a good article, then linked to similar articles. As discussed in class, our devices then learns what we like and only shows information that would interest me. When in fact I need to look at the pros and cons to each subject or topic being researched. I alwys look up the benefits to new ideas, very rarely do I look at the negative side to it. I don't want to see the ways it can go wrong!
We need to teach our students how to avoid spending to much time consuming. With everything in life we need balance, we need to teach our students a balance when consuming information. It is a school requirement to teach common sense media lessons. These lesson teach students how to use the computer responsibly and appropriately. We can also use this opportunity to teach them how to be healthy consumers of information. Teaching them that not everything you read is "healthy" on the internet. I too can do a similar activity in the classroom, 12 rules with a tangible, to help students remember their jobs as 21st century learners and the importance of a healthy and balanced information diet. And not only with technology but this can be used for a lot of concepts. We are currently doing famous Americans, this idea can be modified so I can have the class come up with 5-10 words that describe a Famous American and come up with a tangible that represents each one. So many ways to spin this! I am excited for class 2!
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
affordance analysis and the fifth design principle
I really enjoyed putting together the design document. I was excited to create and design something that was outside of our traditional box, and integrating our 21st century skills. But then again it was all exciting and made sense in my head. It was much harder to organize and put all the elements under the right categories when putting it on paper. So I was excited to be able to revise it and come back to share all our wonderful ideas. Hopefully I am a little more on track.
The osmos and bots were a fun brain break we could use to explore with. But sometimes as teachers we over look the new era of using technology in class and sometimes forget to step back and see is this actually useful or is this just a brain break (pacifier some call it). My first grade team last year decided to use our PTA funds to buy one osmo per class and some were brave enough to spend $100 of their own money to have several. When we watched the tutorial online about it, it seemed super cool and the decision was made in 2 minutes. When trying to get 7 ladies to agree on the best option, you kind of pick your battles. Instead of just going with the flow and keeping my thoughts to myself, I ask myself when will I use this in the classroom. Mine is still in the packaging and collecting dust. Most teachers wouldn't even put out the "cool gadget" because they didn't trust their kids to use it properly........WELL WHY BUY THEM?! Anywhooooo.....back to my original point.
I have been contemplating back and fourth with myself about buying iPads for the class. After class I need to step back and really assess the affordances and constraints it contributes for what I intend to use the ipads in my classroom. When deciding new technology, as teachers, we need to ask ourselves does this enhance and provide useful value to instruction or does this replace something I can already do or have with a cooler version? (I do that a lot when looking for cute resources on TPT) I wish my team was with me in class to see how silly it was to buy those things. But I definitely will apply this to my planning and learning to be flexible and think outside the box with resources.
The osmos and bots were a fun brain break we could use to explore with. But sometimes as teachers we over look the new era of using technology in class and sometimes forget to step back and see is this actually useful or is this just a brain break (pacifier some call it). My first grade team last year decided to use our PTA funds to buy one osmo per class and some were brave enough to spend $100 of their own money to have several. When we watched the tutorial online about it, it seemed super cool and the decision was made in 2 minutes. When trying to get 7 ladies to agree on the best option, you kind of pick your battles. Instead of just going with the flow and keeping my thoughts to myself, I ask myself when will I use this in the classroom. Mine is still in the packaging and collecting dust. Most teachers wouldn't even put out the "cool gadget" because they didn't trust their kids to use it properly........WELL WHY BUY THEM?! Anywhooooo.....back to my original point.
I have been contemplating back and fourth with myself about buying iPads for the class. After class I need to step back and really assess the affordances and constraints it contributes for what I intend to use the ipads in my classroom. When deciding new technology, as teachers, we need to ask ourselves does this enhance and provide useful value to instruction or does this replace something I can already do or have with a cooler version? (I do that a lot when looking for cute resources on TPT) I wish my team was with me in class to see how silly it was to buy those things. But I definitely will apply this to my planning and learning to be flexible and think outside the box with resources.
Monday, October 2, 2017
The Victorian Internet
So when I first started reading this book, I was complaining to almost anyone that would listen about how I was reading a book about the history of the telegraph and how silly it was. At first I did not understand why this related to education let alone my personal experience. Later after reading the assignment, it made sense haha. I learned not only will people be people by taking advantage, being greedy, and looking for the next best thing. I also learned that people will be people by trying to abuse, misuse and find loop holes whenever possible.
While I agree that technology plays a huge role in our lives, I learned from the in class pickto chart activity that technology comes with a huge pool of problems of its own. Technology is a great tool when used in partnership with PICKLE. Evening discussing troubleshoots and things that may go wrong while using the technology provides as extra step that will save you your sanity when the same pop up window to download flash player comes up! There is only one teacher (two if your lucky) and teaching the class to PICKLE through troubleshoots is an option I did not think about until after this activity. I usually just run over and click a few buttons and send them on their way.
The Victorian Internet is similar to education in many ways. The educational system has many founders and builders along the way. Many people who have left their mark on education, some that still have effect on our current practice. Others, that are simply a joke or have faded away. Education is constantly changing and looking to adapt to the culture or the 21st century. Similar to the reading, people are always looking to improve and come out with the next best things, that may be more efficient, personalized and adaptive to everyday lives. On the other hand, people are always finding the silver linings or "crime" to the education system. One size fits all lesson plans, print and go, no prep, all the work is done for you just buy and go- just a few of the taunting time saving slogans. All though it may seem to benefit the teacher, it does more crime to the student when they grow up and go into the work with out PICKLE skills to back up their education. I am very excited to get into the technology aspect and discover more gadgets to use in the class!
While I agree that technology plays a huge role in our lives, I learned from the in class pickto chart activity that technology comes with a huge pool of problems of its own. Technology is a great tool when used in partnership with PICKLE. Evening discussing troubleshoots and things that may go wrong while using the technology provides as extra step that will save you your sanity when the same pop up window to download flash player comes up! There is only one teacher (two if your lucky) and teaching the class to PICKLE through troubleshoots is an option I did not think about until after this activity. I usually just run over and click a few buttons and send them on their way.
The Victorian Internet is similar to education in many ways. The educational system has many founders and builders along the way. Many people who have left their mark on education, some that still have effect on our current practice. Others, that are simply a joke or have faded away. Education is constantly changing and looking to adapt to the culture or the 21st century. Similar to the reading, people are always looking to improve and come out with the next best things, that may be more efficient, personalized and adaptive to everyday lives. On the other hand, people are always finding the silver linings or "crime" to the education system. One size fits all lesson plans, print and go, no prep, all the work is done for you just buy and go- just a few of the taunting time saving slogans. All though it may seem to benefit the teacher, it does more crime to the student when they grow up and go into the work with out PICKLE skills to back up their education. I am very excited to get into the technology aspect and discover more gadgets to use in the class!
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
The Learning Principle
Man was Vygostky a tough read. But it had a lot of good points and helpful insight that applies to our teaching. The main thing I took away was the importance of children learning through play. I am completely for acting it out and discovering new concepts and the application of concepts through peer interaction. It is a great time for students to make the rules and be the boss of their learning. The students is able to test the limits and adjust the rules along the way through trial and error essentially. Which is why it is so hard for me to "follow the rules" when it comes to recess rules at my school. Recess has now been cut down to a slither of 15 mins, and in reality only 10 mins to actually play by the time we get out to the blacktop and then take time to line up to go in. (Last year we had 30 min....just saying.) But back to the point, recess so much more than a break for the kids. This unstructured, social and exploratory time provides cognitive, social and emotional benefits.Children having the opportunity to apply what they learned in their own cultural context serves a chance for them to experiment with the concepts/tools we teach them with no limitations other than the ones they create.
Simialr to when Kori mentioned the UNO game a few weeks ago as being a good design product. If one person in the group did not know how to play UNO, they would not result to the game manual and try to remember all the rules and jargon of the game right before playing. They would simply be exposed to the game and intrigued form watching, and want to learn how to use this new tool. By just hoping in a playing, they new player will learn the rules as they go and try to find loop holes to the information they have learned. Then a new rule will be explained saying "no you are not allowed to do that" with an explanation of the accompanying rule.
I plan to implement this more into my class. I have designed a lesson where the class are all scientist trying to stop a "mad scientist" as we continue to learn about the scientific method and introduce matter. In efforts to expose them to the learning and getting them ready as they reach the ZPD. I will give the class different scenarios with a different child as the mad scientist, the other professors will then have to think of ways using science to problem solve together. I plan to use the new lesson plan of structure, process, and discourse to iron out the details of the unit instead of the typical 9-point lesson plan template. Away with traditional!.....Well...slowly getting away from it lol baby steps!
Simialr to when Kori mentioned the UNO game a few weeks ago as being a good design product. If one person in the group did not know how to play UNO, they would not result to the game manual and try to remember all the rules and jargon of the game right before playing. They would simply be exposed to the game and intrigued form watching, and want to learn how to use this new tool. By just hoping in a playing, they new player will learn the rules as they go and try to find loop holes to the information they have learned. Then a new rule will be explained saying "no you are not allowed to do that" with an explanation of the accompanying rule.
I plan to implement this more into my class. I have designed a lesson where the class are all scientist trying to stop a "mad scientist" as we continue to learn about the scientific method and introduce matter. In efforts to expose them to the learning and getting them ready as they reach the ZPD. I will give the class different scenarios with a different child as the mad scientist, the other professors will then have to think of ways using science to problem solve together. I plan to use the new lesson plan of structure, process, and discourse to iron out the details of the unit instead of the typical 9-point lesson plan template. Away with traditional!.....Well...slowly getting away from it lol baby steps!
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
The knowledge principle
After reading Situated Cognition and the ABC's/AeCTS, the part that stuck with me the most was, taking concepts as the tools. It is so important that students are learning the "concepts" as tools. As learned in the article, students have to know how to apply or use the tool in order to fully understand the tool. So often I worry about teaching them and preparing them for how to use the "tool" and practice and practice how to hold the tool, when you use the tool but not often enough do I step back and say OK now go use the tool in a real life situation. For example, in math teaching third graders money, an how to count money, when you use money, how to make change, those show knowledge of the tool, but not application of the tool. I personally am not a fan of history so I am guilty of sticking to the curriculum, making sure they know the standards, and moving on. I realize I need to step back and see how I can make it more authentic, because most of the standards with the exception of ancient civilizations apply to the 21st century culture that I can connect to.
I thought the doctor diagnosis activity we did together was so cool. After my "Ahh Ha moment," that we are doing what we learned about in the articles and class discussions, I immediately started brainstorming ideas on how to incorporate and simulate something similar in my third grade classroom. Let me know if you guys come up with any cool ideas you would like to share as well.
I have learned that I need more application in examples that a 21st student will see that involves PICKLE in order to ensure full understanding through authentic activities. I feel like it is similar to hand holding your child, it is hard to let go and trust that what you have taught them will shine through and be applied and recalled when doing an authentic activity. I always tell my mom you raised me well, trust that I am going to make the right decision and use what you have taught me......I guess I should take my own advice........ I know personally coming from first grade last year, I have to realize my class is capable and it is ok for them to struggle at first to help them learn if they are not grasping right away. That also builds the communication with the class to help solve collectively. As we learned through the name game the first class, we don't all need to remember each piece of information, but collectively we know a lot more than one person can.
I thought the doctor diagnosis activity we did together was so cool. After my "Ahh Ha moment," that we are doing what we learned about in the articles and class discussions, I immediately started brainstorming ideas on how to incorporate and simulate something similar in my third grade classroom. Let me know if you guys come up with any cool ideas you would like to share as well.
I have learned that I need more application in examples that a 21st student will see that involves PICKLE in order to ensure full understanding through authentic activities. I feel like it is similar to hand holding your child, it is hard to let go and trust that what you have taught them will shine through and be applied and recalled when doing an authentic activity. I always tell my mom you raised me well, trust that I am going to make the right decision and use what you have taught me......I guess I should take my own advice........ I know personally coming from first grade last year, I have to realize my class is capable and it is ok for them to struggle at first to help them learn if they are not grasping right away. That also builds the communication with the class to help solve collectively. As we learned through the name game the first class, we don't all need to remember each piece of information, but collectively we know a lot more than one person can.
Saturday, September 9, 2017
PICKLE: the end principle
I have now learned, I am not a terrible teacher after all! Instead, I am learning how to broaden my teaching toolbox in order to best teach our 21st century learners. The community is changing, we now have new challenges and factors to take into consideration while teaching. Which then means, our teaching also needs changing. First step being including more design into planning units to teach the standards. Second tool is PICKLE. In class, Dr. Norton made reference that it is not important for students to know the standards in order to move to the next grade. When she said this, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself and say "tell that to my principle." i agree that the standards are not always the goal in every lesson. But if that was the case for the year, my grade book would not necessarily be able to back up the report card that parents are glued to. When designing, yes we always have the end goal in mind, the process to go about teaching it however is PICKLE. By linking all three elements, standards, design and PICKLE, that is the idea teaching that adheres to our 21st century learners.
While planing and designing, I will now strive to make sure that the design of my unit will have opportunities for students to practice the PICKLE process. I now have a new teaching goal to incorporate PICKLE as much as I can to ensure my students are well rounded individuals rather than good test takers. When students leave my class I want to make sure they are problem solving, information using, community participants that are knowledgeable and have the literacy competency to make ethical decisions. I will now revise my thinking of what we call "Planning or teaching to the standards" and now evolve to designing real and engaging learning experiences that incorporate the knowledge the students need that can be measured in various ways besides a test.
While planing and designing, I will now strive to make sure that the design of my unit will have opportunities for students to practice the PICKLE process. I now have a new teaching goal to incorporate PICKLE as much as I can to ensure my students are well rounded individuals rather than good test takers. When students leave my class I want to make sure they are problem solving, information using, community participants that are knowledgeable and have the literacy competency to make ethical decisions. I will now revise my thinking of what we call "Planning or teaching to the standards" and now evolve to designing real and engaging learning experiences that incorporate the knowledge the students need that can be measured in various ways besides a test.
Sunday, September 3, 2017
First design principle: teachers are designers
It wasn't until after reading the two teacher scenarios, given in class on planning vs. designing, did I realize I am a teacher that is doing it all wrong. Well, doing it the way I was taught. I now realize that I need to rethink and reflect on my delivery approach and possible adding more tools to my teaching toolbox. I chose to read the third grade class scenario first in hopes to relate and actually incorporate some of her ideas into my own teaching. The first thing I thought while reading was, "Wow must be nice to have 1:1 technology in class." As I continued reading about the third grade class, I became intrigued how the teacher has built trust with her class on using the ipads on task. I thought Mrs. Mercaldi did a great job integrating different medias and resources with the research project they were doing. The students conducted research online and in books and organized on their ipads. Once again I thought genius! I continued reading and chuckled when one student's ipad was experiencing problems. I'm sure every teacher can relate. None the less I applauded her on integrating technology throughout the day. It wasn't until reading the second scenario on the 10th grade class did I realize this student led learning is the way we all strive to do in the classroom. I learned THIS is designing in the classroom. For example, there are things that kids don't know that they need. If left to self guide, they may not cover all required lessons or just do what they like.
All this time, I felt as though the countless hours I was putting in "designing" 9 point less plans would provide me the structure I strive to deliver each day. When in the end, that structure I felt like I needed is not the best way to teach. Designing is starting with the end goal, and having the students figure out a way to get to the end goal. The students are in charge of the delivery, rather than the teacher. Similar to project based learning that the county is pushing right now. I love the idea of it but I get anxiety of not being in control or the fear not following pacing guides. To me I feel there is no security that the students will discover all the standards that need to be taught/assessed when teaching this way. When I plan, I make sure all standards are addressed thoroughly and with practice. With design I don't see how that is achievable.
I do believe that design is the best way to teach, because students are in charge of their personalized learning. It is designed to provide differentiation on its own because it is on the level of the child. However I also feel a mixture of planning is needed because of the curriculum standards the county expects each child to know before going to the next grade. I also feel design lesson take more time to structure and deliver in comparison to a lesson taught by the teacher. In order to be an effective teacher, I believe it takes both , planning and designing. I am excited to learn more about designing in my teaching in order to further my students and their learning through this course.
All this time, I felt as though the countless hours I was putting in "designing" 9 point less plans would provide me the structure I strive to deliver each day. When in the end, that structure I felt like I needed is not the best way to teach. Designing is starting with the end goal, and having the students figure out a way to get to the end goal. The students are in charge of the delivery, rather than the teacher. Similar to project based learning that the county is pushing right now. I love the idea of it but I get anxiety of not being in control or the fear not following pacing guides. To me I feel there is no security that the students will discover all the standards that need to be taught/assessed when teaching this way. When I plan, I make sure all standards are addressed thoroughly and with practice. With design I don't see how that is achievable.
I do believe that design is the best way to teach, because students are in charge of their personalized learning. It is designed to provide differentiation on its own because it is on the level of the child. However I also feel a mixture of planning is needed because of the curriculum standards the county expects each child to know before going to the next grade. I also feel design lesson take more time to structure and deliver in comparison to a lesson taught by the teacher. In order to be an effective teacher, I believe it takes both , planning and designing. I am excited to learn more about designing in my teaching in order to further my students and their learning through this course.
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