Curriculum Instruction Assesment

UbD DI chapter 8 is about grading and reporting on student success within the curriculum. It breaks down views on grading into different principals. The students should know what standards they are working towards, there should be a valid evidence for grading, there should be set criteria, not everything should be graded, teachers should not grade with averages, and grading should be achievement focused. I think that the 6th principal is one I will focus on in my classroom. I want learning and grading to be centered around student growth. Teachers should strive to make students engaged and interested in their own learning and promote lifelong learning. Lifelong learners are people who, even once they graduate, will still seek out new information and want to grow their knowledge.       Chapter 8 in Multiple Intelligences talks about classroom management tactics. It lists off ways to get students attention. I like how there are different ways to gain attention fo...

Chapter 7 in Multiple Intelligences  talks about the environmental factors that go into learning. The chapter also give examples of guiding questions for the teacher to ask in terms of assessing how each intelligence is being met through the environment. I like how these guiding questions push a teacher to really think about how their students will learn. Looking at the intelligences I have, Musical and Logical, I think that the questions are spot on as a musically intelligent person I love to have music on when I am working. As a logically intelligent person I appreciate consistency and rhythm. I do not like unorganized teachers. Chapter 9 talks about the premise of Multiple Intelligence schools. They create a learning environment that promotes the growth of all intelligences. In schooling certain intelligences were not considered important; they were not encouraged to grow. I do not think I will work in a Multiple intelligences school but this information will be helpful to me o...

Chapters six and seven in Understanding by Design talk about student understanding. Chapter 6 talks about responsive teaching and answers questions that teachers may have about responsive teaching practices. I like how the book went into detail about different types of learners a teacher might encounter and how those learners may be problematic toward the general lesson plan. Students may be struggling with learning material at the pace he class is going or they could be going too fast for the class schedule. As teachers we should strive for student understanding and understanding where students fall in the spectrum of learning rate. By breaking down in lessons plans and in your mind it should help teachers to understand the different teaching strategies they need to use. Chapter seven is similar because it talks about how we, as educators, can help students gain deeper understanding of topics. I think that when we have these tools to help students it allows teachers to experiment with...

Chapter 6 explains the most effective ways for teachers to form questions that will show student mastery. Using several different question asking methods can assure that the subject area is really covered. Using different methods and prompts can play to all students abilities. Some students may be really good at multiple choice but horrible at short answer so this will give teachers knowledge of what the student really knows. If the student was given all short answer questions than they would not show what they actually know. I also think it is important for teachers to tell students what is expected of them when they are being assessed. In an AP class that I took we were given step by step instructions on how we should approach each type of question. This takes the stress off of how to answer the question and focuses on what students are going to put in the answer. I also think it is important to stress clear concise questions because if the student is confused about what is being ...

In chapter 5 the author describes the process and effect of tiering. Up until I read this chapter I had not heard of this idea. I now think of tiering as a sort of scaffolding. Students are given appropriate material and each class the old material is used to build upon new material. This is where pre assessments would be useful. You do not want to start a student on material that is too difficult because they will constantly be behind. You also do not want to start to easy because students will become bored with the material. I read in a different article about different ways that teachers can check in with students to make sure that they are not falling behind and one thing that I would like to implement in my classroom is colored sticky notes that students have on their desks all the time. If the student is confused they put a yellow note on top and if they are completely lost. This gives the teacher instant feedback while they are teaching as to what students are not understanding...

In chapter 4 of Fair Isn’t Always Equal talks about the creation and usage of self-assessments, rubrics, and portfolios. As a student I love rubrics. I need to be told the expectations of a project and report. I like the structure around a rubric and I find that I do better if I know exactly what expected of me. For my students I aim to be open to project ideas but giving rubrics to students may ease some anxiety students have about creating projects. I liked how the author showed examples of the different forms of rubrics that can be used. In two of my science classes teachers made students create something very similar to a portfolio. It was an interactive notebook that notes, labs, and general observations about the class. This was beneficial to the student because it would force even unorganized students to begin to be organized. It would also keep all the information needed in one easy place for students to access. The author talks about sending portfolios to parents but I do ...

Teachers have to be good at juggling, not in the typical sense, but they have to juggle all the responsibilities they have thrown at them. Teachers have to manage curriculum, student progress, planning to help students succeed, maintaining a safe learning environment, and all the while they have to stay calm and collected while trying to give every student what they need. Most of the time teachers can not manage all of that and they drop one or more responsibilities. It is not that the teacher is bad at teaching or does not want to see students succeed; they just were not given the proper tools to help them succeed. They might not be up to date on modern teaching practiced or with the MI theory. I think this chapter does well in giving brief descriptions about little things a teacher can do in order to help them balance all the responsibilities. It is important for teachers to have a plan that is open to change. The plan needs to be a balancing act between curriculum and student involv...