Corin Justa
EDT 3470
February 8, 2013
Chapter Three Reflection:
The
topic of chapter three involved discussing the many ways of planning to help
develop the most successful and engaging lesson plans. The “Big Idea” for a
project is looking over the curriculum standards and using those and your colleagues
as teaching guides. When creating a lesson plan, looking at the main focus is
most important. Students can become responsible for finding ways that the
subjects they are learning about are incorporated into actual jobs and day to
day life. Illustrating these important parts to your students and giving them
the opportunity to connect it to the world around them is a very beneficial,
fun and engaging way to get the curriculum across and keep the students
focused.
The
twenty-first century skills include knowledge, comprehension, and synthesis.
These skills cause the students to really think and understand what they are
learning through analyzing, evaluating, creating. The twenty-first century
literacies involve the skills but more importantly focuses on the student’s
ability to be independent, aware and productive in their learning. These qualities
are crucial to have in order for students to be taught new information, be able
to grasp the concepts and put it all to good use in the future.
There
are several essential learning functions. Some of the important parts include
learning inside and outside the classroom, all the time, as well as deep
learning, collaborating, researching, reflecting and iteration. It is important
to allow the students to express themselves, share ideas and build communities.
Making things visible and discussable helps with project management when planning
and organizing what the students are learning. When all of these functions are used
together, it helps provide students the ability to work collectively to
discover new things as they learn, and provides the teacher with the ability to
assess how the students are do and how successfully they are comprehending the
material they are learning.
The
concepts discussed in this chapter relate to our project by illustrating how
research, planning and organization are all key components to successful hands
on learning experience. Being able to have students, as well as teachers work
together to analyze, evaluate, and create new ideas and ways of thinking while using
collaboration, visuals, discussion and planning and organizing is one of the best ways to stay engaged when learning
new material. Using these ideas of skills, literacies and functions while
creating our project will help us to construct strong engaging lesson plans on
the topics we are covering.
I like how you talk about students being able to find ways to incorporate what they learn in school to real life and actual jobs. I don't think it’s only the students’ responsibility to tie everything together but also the teachers’ job too. Telling the students the value of each project is key to keeping students interested in learning and succeed as learners. I also like how you discuss the importance of the skills, analyzing, evaluation, and creating. All three are important components when it comes to students learning and teachers should create projects that incorporate the three.
ReplyDeleteI defiantly agree that learning should be engaging for the reason that it is applicable to life in the present and the future. I think that it is about time that public education is now focusing on "the Big Idea" of actually preparing the future work force with the tools and skills they need to be valid contributors. You also talked about looking at students interests and playing off of that to create what they should learn. This I think creates an atmosphere of learning that looks desirable and pleasantly challenging. I think kids have grown up to hate school so it is hard for them to transition to loving their future occupation.
ReplyDeleteI like that you said you can use your colleagues as teaching guides, it is important to remember that they are in the same situation as you and being able to work together will benefit everyone. Keeping the students engaged in what they are learning so it is good for them to know you are doing it with them.
ReplyDeleteI must agree with you when you say that focusing on the main point of the lesson plan is whats most important. I do believe that its not only the students responsibility to incorporate things they learn into day to day life situations but also the teachers responsibility to help drive and in-steal in the children the importance of connecting these things with day to day activities thought out life.
ReplyDelete