This week was without a doubt an eye opening week! My favorite part of the week was the Digital Learning Day! The highlight of Social Studies for me this week was that I have finally wrapped my mind around how I think my unit plan is going to end up looking. And, I discovered the wonderful world of google cardboard. I also have LOVED looking up research on and resources to support my PDP.
Digital Learning Day was definitely a success! (And had some delicious food too) I gained so many new resources that I have no doubt I will use in my future classroom. It was nice to just spend some time with other students and professors chatting about technology resources and also just the education process in general. We all have learned many things since being candidates in the education program and sharing these experiences is SO valuable to our learning process.
After backspacing and rewriting my guiding questions literately hundreds of times and rethinking every generalization, I think I have finally decided how each component ties into my performance task. I am excited to see it all really come together in the next few weeks. We spoke briefly about our units in class this week, but we mostly talked about the google cardboard and how to record using street view. We were like kids on Christmas morning out in the quad playing with the app. I have been playing around with it more and I can't wait to get to use it for the virtual museum project.
One part of my PDP involves ELL students and their learning process. I have been overjoyed to find that there are TONS of online resources such as interactive "worksheets," verbal response activities, literacy games, etc. I was able to share my two favorite resources at Digital Learning Day this morning! My own personal feelings towards ELL students in the classroom is that they are often times overlooked and pushed to the side to complete a different "task." I have noticed through some clicinal experience this semester that some teachers embrace the ELL students and work with them tackling literacy head on. However, many teachers seem scared to really dive into literacy with their ELL students and essentially give them something else to do in order to get them "out of the way," which is extremely disappointing and completely ineffective. I am thankful though, to see many examples of what to do and what not to do. This will have a HUGE impact on how I work with my future ELL students.
After discussing a bit about my PDP with Dr. Parker, I hope that this piece of it regarding ELL students will allow me to begin a chain reaction of teachers who actively persue literacy for ALL students in the classroom. In this way I hope to demonstrate leadership as an educator.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Friday, February 17, 2017
SSED Week Six
This week, I feel like I am beginning to understand the components of the unit and how each one of them is important to the other. Through discussion with classmates and watching videos I have also deepened my understanding of the three types of assessment we have been discussing. To further my understanding of these three types of assessment, I decided to do a little research on my own, and found an effective powerpoint presentation.
My mind is beginning to organize the assessment of learning, for learning, and as learning by how they will be used throughout my unit plan. We had breakout rooms during our Zoom meeting this week and I was placed with Kelly. It was really nice to bounce ideas back and forth and help one another understand our own personal view of the three words regarding assessment. We talked about which parts of our unit plans are for learning (the learning experiences) and which ones are of learning (performance tasks). We also came up with an interesting question. We thought that is could be possible for some of these words to overlap. When we asked Dr. Parker about this, he explained that what type of assessment it is depends solely on the way the teacher is using the information he or she is receiving from the assessment. That, alone, was enough to give me a huge "Aha!" moment in respect to this topic.
Through my own research, I found an effective powerpoint online. My favorite part about this powerpoint was that it really dug into the teachers' roles in each kind of assessment, which brought drastic clarification to several of my questions. Throughout the powerpoint there were also tidbits called "reflection" that each presented a few questions to think about as I am creating or planning assessments as, for, and of learning. In order to create an atmosphere where my students can grow and succeed, proper formative and summative assessment MUST be present. As a teacher, I will make it my goal to assess my students along every step of their journey in order to set up lessons and learning experiences that are fit for where they are along the learning process.
My favorite thing that I saw in my clinical observations this week, was what my CE did at the very end of the day. This was the first week I had been in her classroom in the afternoon rather than the morning. Before students left her classroom, she had each of them open their planners, review what they had done that day, and decide what they needed to do that night to be better tomorrow. She then (and this is my favorite part!) walked around to each student and wrote something (some much more than others) and asked for their parents to read what was written, respond if they needed to, and sign it that night. Collaboration with parents or guardians is SUCH an effective tool and SO important to the students' success. I plan to keep an open line of communication with the parents in my future classroom, because it will make all the difference to my students' success.
My mind is beginning to organize the assessment of learning, for learning, and as learning by how they will be used throughout my unit plan. We had breakout rooms during our Zoom meeting this week and I was placed with Kelly. It was really nice to bounce ideas back and forth and help one another understand our own personal view of the three words regarding assessment. We talked about which parts of our unit plans are for learning (the learning experiences) and which ones are of learning (performance tasks). We also came up with an interesting question. We thought that is could be possible for some of these words to overlap. When we asked Dr. Parker about this, he explained that what type of assessment it is depends solely on the way the teacher is using the information he or she is receiving from the assessment. That, alone, was enough to give me a huge "Aha!" moment in respect to this topic.
Through my own research, I found an effective powerpoint online. My favorite part about this powerpoint was that it really dug into the teachers' roles in each kind of assessment, which brought drastic clarification to several of my questions. Throughout the powerpoint there were also tidbits called "reflection" that each presented a few questions to think about as I am creating or planning assessments as, for, and of learning. In order to create an atmosphere where my students can grow and succeed, proper formative and summative assessment MUST be present. As a teacher, I will make it my goal to assess my students along every step of their journey in order to set up lessons and learning experiences that are fit for where they are along the learning process.
My favorite thing that I saw in my clinical observations this week, was what my CE did at the very end of the day. This was the first week I had been in her classroom in the afternoon rather than the morning. Before students left her classroom, she had each of them open their planners, review what they had done that day, and decide what they needed to do that night to be better tomorrow. She then (and this is my favorite part!) walked around to each student and wrote something (some much more than others) and asked for their parents to read what was written, respond if they needed to, and sign it that night. Collaboration with parents or guardians is SUCH an effective tool and SO important to the students' success. I plan to keep an open line of communication with the parents in my future classroom, because it will make all the difference to my students' success.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
SSED Week Five
Once again, Social Studies Methods has changed my entire GRASP(S) (pun intended) on teaching! It never fails that I am pushed to think of things in different ways and keep in mind the classroom that will one day be my responsibility. The main shift in my thought process this week was from thinking of fun and creative activities for assessment to thinking of performance tasks. I am excited to learn more about the learning experiences and how they feed off our generalizations to lead up to our performance tasks. I also can't wait to take my ideas for student activities and learn how to transform them into performance tasks.
This week, I had the opportunity to plan with my clinical educator the lessons that I will be teaching in her classroom. For my fine arts integration piece, she has recommended that I give the students the opportunity to select a creative way to display what they have learned. This was SUCH an exciting moment for me as I realized that she is pushing me to create a performance task for the students! I believe that fine arts will be a great place to start with this idea, because the standards naturally push students to be creative and expressive. Creating performance tasks in other subject areas may be a bit more challenging. However, integration of fine arts into core subjects would be the perfect way to approach creating a performance tasks for students.
One thing that was brought to my attention this week in a new form was the idea that we can give "assessments of learning," "assessments for learning," and "assessments as learning." All three of these are important, though the last form of assessing appears to be less common. I believe that one of my goals as an elementary educator will be to figure out how to assess my students as they learn. Through my clinical observations thus far, I have not seen assessment while learning performed in the classroom as often as I believe it should be. I hope that my attention to this subject prior to teaching will help me become efficient in assessing my students as they are learning.
I believe that my brain has now clearly organized the differences between an activity and a performance task. The next step for me to take regarding performance tasks is to be able to take all the many ideas I have about activities and transform them into performance tasks. I hope to be able to create options and a clear rubric for my students to select and show their learning in a creative way. I want to create an assessment environment where students are not always expected to come to one specific conclusion.
Friday, February 3, 2017
SSED Week Four
Week four of Social Studies Methods challenged me and brought much depth to my process of thinking. My whole view of how to go about setting up my unit plan was completely altered this week, and I was challenged to think "outside the box" with how I should approach information. I was also challenged through the Google Community page this week.
Thinking of what my own personal philosophy of differentiation would be really shed light on the fact that very soon, with LOTS of work and prayer, I will be the one person who is in charge of twenty or more little minds who all need something different. How am I going to satisfy each child's intellectual need? How will I be sure that each child in my classroom is challenged just enough and not falling behind? I believe that I understand the idea of differentiation. I have read articles on it. I have listened to professor after professor speak about it. They have given me ample resources and strategies. However, until this week, I had not realized that differentiation really is a task that must be personalized to, not only each individual student, but also to each teacher's philosophy of differentiation. There is not a specific formula that each teacher must follow. It is dependent on what he or she finds effective in the particular classroom at hand.
Last week, I was challenged to change my way of presenting information with the idea of generalization. I understood what it was, but I didn't completely understand how to go about presenting lessons or even just questions in this form to my students. This week, the video on guiding questions gave me my "aha" moment. Breaking the guiding questions down into three distinct levels gave my brain a way to begin organizing the questions I wish to ask my students. When I was an elementary student, I recall that most of the questions given to me were factual. However, moving students to think through conceptual and provocative questions is really what gives them the opportunity to explore the information that they have been given and see how it applies to them, as individuals. When the students reach the conceptual level of thinking, their abstract thought process leads them to a deeper understanding. When we, as teachers, throw the provocative questions out, the students then have the opportunity to make a connection with the presented information through discussion. I am, by no means, a master of generalization now, but I can see leaps of growth in my understanding since just last week.
This week, my outside "research" was a bit different than an article or tweets. I have the opportunity to babysit a kindergartener two days a week. Along with this, I am asked to pick her up from school and do homework with her. This week, she was given a "story." It was only four sentences of very simply structured sentences. The directions asked parents to "discuss this short story with your child," so I decided to try using one of each of the questions. I was able to find a question that fit into each category. This was encouraging to me, because no matter if there are only four simple sentences about Kit's mom getting mad, it is possible to challenge students' thinking with each level of guiding questions.
Through thinking about guiding questions this week, I was challenged to consider the ways I will push my students to think on a deeper level and how I will plan the best possible learning instruction for them. The new understanding of teaching that I received this week directly links with the fourth professional teaching standard, which is "teachers facilitate learning for their students." I firmly believe that this week has given me a depth of understanding regarding how I will effectively give my future students opportunities to learn and be challenged.
Thinking of what my own personal philosophy of differentiation would be really shed light on the fact that very soon, with LOTS of work and prayer, I will be the one person who is in charge of twenty or more little minds who all need something different. How am I going to satisfy each child's intellectual need? How will I be sure that each child in my classroom is challenged just enough and not falling behind? I believe that I understand the idea of differentiation. I have read articles on it. I have listened to professor after professor speak about it. They have given me ample resources and strategies. However, until this week, I had not realized that differentiation really is a task that must be personalized to, not only each individual student, but also to each teacher's philosophy of differentiation. There is not a specific formula that each teacher must follow. It is dependent on what he or she finds effective in the particular classroom at hand.
Last week, I was challenged to change my way of presenting information with the idea of generalization. I understood what it was, but I didn't completely understand how to go about presenting lessons or even just questions in this form to my students. This week, the video on guiding questions gave me my "aha" moment. Breaking the guiding questions down into three distinct levels gave my brain a way to begin organizing the questions I wish to ask my students. When I was an elementary student, I recall that most of the questions given to me were factual. However, moving students to think through conceptual and provocative questions is really what gives them the opportunity to explore the information that they have been given and see how it applies to them, as individuals. When the students reach the conceptual level of thinking, their abstract thought process leads them to a deeper understanding. When we, as teachers, throw the provocative questions out, the students then have the opportunity to make a connection with the presented information through discussion. I am, by no means, a master of generalization now, but I can see leaps of growth in my understanding since just last week.
This week, my outside "research" was a bit different than an article or tweets. I have the opportunity to babysit a kindergartener two days a week. Along with this, I am asked to pick her up from school and do homework with her. This week, she was given a "story." It was only four sentences of very simply structured sentences. The directions asked parents to "discuss this short story with your child," so I decided to try using one of each of the questions. I was able to find a question that fit into each category. This was encouraging to me, because no matter if there are only four simple sentences about Kit's mom getting mad, it is possible to challenge students' thinking with each level of guiding questions.
Through thinking about guiding questions this week, I was challenged to consider the ways I will push my students to think on a deeper level and how I will plan the best possible learning instruction for them. The new understanding of teaching that I received this week directly links with the fourth professional teaching standard, which is "teachers facilitate learning for their students." I firmly believe that this week has given me a depth of understanding regarding how I will effectively give my future students opportunities to learn and be challenged.
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