1. Think back to your many experiences with well-designed learning, both in and out of school. What was the most well-designed learning experience you have ever encountered as a learner? What features of the design- not the teacher's style or your interests-made the learning so engaging and effective? (Design elements include challenges posed, sequence of activities, resources provided, assignments, assessments, groupings, site, and teacher's role.) Briefly describe the sign.
As a learner, no matter the task, I learn best with Direct Instruction incorporated somewhere in the lesson. I think with all of this focus on technology and group work can seem to stray away from the importance of creating a good narrative for a student to refer back to. Especially with the standardized tests, if students simply work with other students, this allows the the students to get comfortable relying on others to complete tasks. The best methods I've seen involve a variety of instruction techniques. When time allows, its perfect to allow the students to work together to come to some sort of hypothesis of what an answer may be. Then group discussion lead by the teacher followed by some direct instruction and "recipe" that applies to all similar situations followed by independent practices I find is the most effective way to learn.
2. In sharing your recollections and analyses with your peers, build a list of generalizations that follow from the accounts. What do well-designed learning experiences have in common? In other words, what must be built in by design for any learning experience to be maximally effective and engaging for students.
In the course of the semester, I've learned a great deal while using backward design and in all of my assignments and my classmates' I think you can see that focus present. It was an enlightening moment for me, to learn this process when developing lessons. In the early stages of creating lessons, we really need to focus on what is the actual outcomes we want our students to achieve at the end of the lesson. Not only in short term, but long term as well. Focusing on the skills, not simply being able to answer a certain question but rather apply learned SKILLS to future situations in the class and beyond is what our focus should be with each lesson. Also, of course, incorporating different methods throughout the lesson to get this knowledge to our students must also be present.
3. Where in your school or the school that you are observing are the characteristics of best design most likely to be seen in action? In what programs and subject areas would we most expect to see these characteristics, compared with other programs or subjects? Are there any patterns, If so, why?
I observed math classrooms, and I must say I did observe some best practices but not all. The use of technology for example really did not extend beyond the use of a smart board and projector. One teacher of an AP Statistics class did however, use applications online such as rolling a die, to better reach her students. But for the most part, the teachers used the smart board as a display tool and nothing more. They were also very focused on the upcoming standardized tests and a main focus was on the types of questions presented in class and their importance or appearance on the tests coming up. One teacher did actually reflect on why concepts are true in a certain math problem, which did make the students more appreciative of what they learned and why it is the way it is.
4. After a study of sample units, and one of your own designs, edit or amend your list of characteristics of the best designs, as appropriate.
I really need to focus on the technology aspect of best design. I think because we are all aware of the focus of schools and education being on standardized test results, its discouraging to try and work in technology or experimentation into lesson planning. However, this generation of students have been brought up on technology, and a lot of them know more about computers and programs than myself. By allowing them to use technology as a medium, it may better instill knowledge for the long term than simply pen on paper in a traditional class setting.
I agree with what you said about some students relying too much on others during group work. Although group work is very important for students to share their ideas and learn from each other, direct instruction shouldn't be left out lessons. Students also need that in order to understand a topic and its purpose. Group work falls under differentiated instruction and shouldn't be the only way to teach a lesson. There should be a variety of instructional strategies used.
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