11,12,13,14 FIAE

Chapters 11, 12, 13, and 14 in Fair Isn’t Always Equal discuss the subject of grades.  Chapter 11 discussed whether it was better to give a student a 60 or a zero when the student did not hand something in. I personally believe in a grading system that expects that every student complete every assignment I give him or her. This is a point system, so if a student did not complete the work or fails to hand in the assignment, they wouldn’t necessarily get a zero, they would simply not receive points for that assignment. Therefore, if the end of the quarter rolls around and they have completed everything and gotten all points for all the other assignments, but did not turn in a 40 point assignment but it is a 450 point unit, they would receive a 410/450, which equals out to be a 91.1 average. This way, the student is penalized for the late assignment, but their grade is not as severely devastated, as it would be with a zero for an outlier to the average.  Chapter 12 discussed scales that are used for grading. I really appreciated the part in the chapter where it showed us how to covert a 4.0 scale to a 100 point scale.  This is useful to me because I find the 4.0 scales to be confusing and inaccurate, especially when using rubrics. On rubrics, a “4” is considered exceeds expectations, but there is still a lot of range in the 4 category itself, why should it be up to the teacher’s discretion whatever number in that category they feel like giving? I feel like all the possible points should be present and accounted for.  Chapter 13 delved into possible formats for grade books that would be fair in making sure that all assignments were accounted for and graded. I personally took a liking to listing the assignments by order or date because it shows chronologically the assignments and the grade they received for them. It is also easy to see what grades they got for what and on which assignments they never completed. If a row of grades for a student is completed in the beginning and the middle of the term, but many assignments are blank at the end, you probably would be able to tell that something is going on with that student, and that you would have to have a conversation with that student to see why they are not turning things in all of a sudden. I have also seen this strategy work because I have seen several of my teachers who have been known to be very organized use this method and they have never lost any grades or made any students do an assignment over. In chapter 14, the topic of discussion was report cards. I have no problem having one single report card for the entire quarter or term because I can easily communicate with students and their parents during parent teacher conferences, and during that time I would discuss areas the student is excelling in and areas of concern in need for improvement.

FINAL REFLECTION COMIC!

In chapter 8 of Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design, it talked about grades. I am glad that there was a chapter about this because this is honestly something I was worried about for my future classroom. This is because often when I go on social networking sites I see many comments on how much students hate school and how they don’t want to go, and how they don’t want to do their homework and how they don’t want to study because it feels like they aren’t learning anything they are just learning how to say the right answers. This upsets me because I see this so often that it starts to worry a future teacher like me about will my students like my class and like what they are learning? I have heard from those same social networking sites that it’s not that they don’t like learning, it’s that they don’t like being graded on their learning; they just want to have the freedom to explore the things they are interested in. This is why I feel that grades should not be such a daunting, looming presence that is casting a blanket of dread over their learning.

Many students have a lot of anxiety over their final grades, so that is why I agree with the multiple strategies in this chapter to make the grades more comprehensive and freeing so they can focus on their learning instead of feeling so restrictive and final. Some of these multiple strategies include: project based learning, making assessments worth more at the end of the unit than at the beginning of the unit, not having points dedicated to inauthentic things, like making points based on having their name at the top or if their penmanship is neat. Other strategies include not making student achievement relative to others, not giving out a limited number of each letter grade, avoiding grades based on the mean, be hesitant on assigning zeros, and determining the grades instead of calculating them.

The other chapters in the set were from Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom. Chapter 8 of Multiple Intelligences is about using multiple intelligences when engaging in classroom management.  It was nice to see how my teaching strategies for dealing with students who are rowdy by engaging them with their specific multiple intelligence style. They are more likely to pay attention and get engaged if the way it is presented is interesting and useful to them Chapter 11 of Multiple Intelligences is about using multiple intelligences to help students with disabilities. They did this by focusing on the students’ areas of strength in the eight multiple intelligences, instead of focusing on what they are used to (which was their disability), the teachers used multiple intelligences to teach them or help them with the areas of intelligence that they have a disability in or they are struggling in. Lastly, chapter 12 of Multiple Intelligences was about cognitive theory relating to Multiple Intelligences. It was about how it was important to practice problem solving as well as use technology specific to their multiple intelligences to create products and show their comprehension. It is it important to remember these when I am brainstorming for my next unit.

Chapter 5 UbD Abstract and Synthesis

In chapter five of Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design, we learn about the different types of effective assessment, how assessments are collective ( like photo albums), instead of individual exams ( which are snapshots). It should be noted that standardized tests are not "one-size-fits-all," are are not necessarily accurate for all types of students, so they should not be used to make high stakes decisions about that student or that classroom. Therefore, in order to assess understanding in a cumulative way, there must be multiple sources of evidence, with goals dictating the nature of these assessments. Additionally, in order to assess how much our students understand, we need to look at our six facets of understanding. When we truly understand, we can: explain, interpret, apply, have perspective, show empathy, and have self-knowledge on the subject. This evidence should also be authentic work (such as a scientific investigation), rather than inauthentic work (such as answering recall questions at the end of a chapter). A concrete way of making sure authentic work is done instead of inauthentic work is by using the GRASPS method. This stands for having a real-worldgoal, a meaningful role for the student, and authentic audience for the student to present to, a situation that requires real world application, a cumulative product that is student generated and the consensus-driven standards for the product for judging success. Lastly, the chapter looked into the different types of assessment. This includes preassessment, peer assessment, self assessment, and assessment by the teacher. It is extremely important for the student's success that the assessment by specific and timely by the teacher.

Synthesis

Many people responding to this chapter made a lot of common remarks. The first thing that most of our class agreed with was that assessments should be a photo album compilation instead of just a single snapshot of student understanding. A student needs to be given multiple chances to prove that they understand the material, and not have everything riding on one single test or quiz. We also need to explain what we are assessing and why we are assessing it. We all praised using different kinds of assessments including peer assessment, self assessment, and creative assessment by us educators. A lot of us seemed to be supportive of the tic tac toe assessment, using project based assessments, and using entrance and exit ticket assessments. We felt like creative assessments worked best for students and would work well with a class that had diverse learning styles. We also felt that matching the type of assessment we gave to the the goals that we think students should know was the most effective approach, as well as incorporating the GRASPS performance assessment model to help formulate assessments. Having assessments like this are easier on the students, because a lot of students have anxiety over formal and standardized tests, which don't always cover the content that needs to be covered. Lastly the class agreed that the feedback on the assessments must be timely, specific, understandable to the student, and must allow room for improvement.

Chapters 7,9,13,14 MI

Three of the four chapters in this sequence (excluding chapter 14), of Multiples Intelligences in the Classroom, covered a similar theme of the classroom and school environment and how it supports multiple intelligences.  Chapter 7 is about how to arrange, organize, and decorate the classroom to benefit multiple types of intelligences.  Linguistic learners learn best in classrooms that have vocabulary that match their level and that have verbal words represented on the walls in the form of quotations and posters with lots of words on them. Logical and Mathematical learners learn best in classrooms that have a typical routine or order of events/activities, under conditions that match their attention spans, and with time in the classroom being highly structured.  Spatial and Visual learners learn best in classrooms that attractive to the eye, with colors that awaken and engage them, with the tables arranged in a way that make sense for the activity, and with the opportunity for them to be exposed to a variety of visual experiences.

Continuing, Bodily-Kinesthetic learners learn best in a classroom environment that lets them get out of their chairs and move around the room, with hands on activities and materials. Musical learners learn best in classrooms that have auditory environments that are appropriate for the learning they are attempting, and with a teacher who varies their voice to keep students awake and engaged. Interpersonal learners learn best in classrooms where there is a positive and comfortable environment where there is an air of trust and belonging for every student, where conflict is mediated consistently, and where students have many opportunities to interact with their instructor and their peers. Intrapersonal learners learn best in a classroom where they have opportunities to work on their own, reflect internally, and where they are exposed to experiences that rise up their self-esteem.  Finally, Naturalist learners learn best in classrooms that have large windows, a class pet, opportunities to have class outside, and in classes that have field trips.

Activities centers are important and effective to structure different activities to cater to all the different intelligences. Permanent ones, like ready corners, and temporary ones, like stations, are both useful to help a diverse classroom with much intelligence. As they discussed in chapter 9, many school districts feel that verbal, mathematical, and spatial learners are legitimate, and are allotted funds, while most of the music, art, and physical education programs funding have been cut across the country much more often.  To supplement this, supplementary programs and extracurricular activities are valuable to help students get the support that they need for their learning styles and interests, even if their programs were cut. In chapter 13, it talked about technology, including software and websites which would engage each type of multiple intelligences.  Some examples for this would be: Wikipedia for verbal, where in the World is Carmen Santiago? for logical, Google Earth for spatial, Flight Simulators for kinesthetic, Garageband for musical, Forums for interpersonal, Oregon Trail for intrapersonal, and National Geographic for naturalist learners.  Creating this kind of environment for your students will allow their multiple intelligences to shine, and will help them learn the content you want them to learn in a way that will work for them.  

Chapters 6,7 UbD and 5,6 MI

In these chapters, we discussed how to create strong curriculums by addressing different types of learners, backwards design, and differentiated instruction. The format of using the WHERETO format to construct a unit helps to ensure that backwards design is incorporated into the format.

WHERETO:

W: “How will I help learners know what they will be learning? Why is this worth learning? What evidence will show their learning? How will their performance be evaluated?” To me, this means making sure the students know what is required, stating the understanding, why they are learning it, and how it connects to real life.

H: “How will hook and engage the learners? In what ways will I help them connect desired learning to their experiences and interests?” In my own words, this means making them wonder from the beginning what is happening, getting them curious to learn further, and engaged to ask further questions to improve their understanding.

E: “How will I equip students to master identified standards and succeed with the targeted performances? What learning experiences will help develop and deepen understanding of important ideas? When I think about this, it means to me that we are equipping the students with the vocabulary and vernacular they need to become experts on what they are learning, as well as letting the students explore the big ideas in the content with their peers. They also share common experiences by creating a product as a group.

R: “How will I encourage the learners to rethink previous learning? How will I encourage ongoing revision and refinement?” In my own words, this is basically having the students take the specific and timely feedback and encouraging them to complete revisions and to rethink their previous understanding.

E: “How will I promote students’ self-evaluation and reflection?” For this I believe that it is best to evaluate the students using formative assessments, like self-assessments, peer assessment s and assessments by the teacher. Using two out of the three instead of just one type increases the effectiveness of the assessment.

T: “How will I tailor the learning activities and my teaching to address the different readiness levels, learning profiles, and interests of my students?”  For me, this is being adaptable to the needs of our students, their level of preparedness, the interests of the students, and the multiple intelligences that they possess.  The chapters of Multiple Intelligences that we read talked about how to address different intelligences and strategies of how to adopt our lessons to engage and include every type of learner. The Multiple Intelligences book offers examples of different kinds of activities according to content and type of intelligences, which is helpful if the teacher is having trouble brainstorming.

O: “How will the learning experiences be organized to maximize engaging and effective learning? What sequence will work best for my students and this content?” This means that we are organizing the learning around the six facets of understanding: explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge.

Teaching for understanding is difficult, but by having a unit that is well constructed using these methods will have an easier time attempting to do this. However, ultimately, the best way to get the students to understand is to get to know them and to work to understand how they learn. 

MI - Chapter 10

In this chapter they talked about multiple ways to access student learning. One of the ones they talked about was a sociogram. A sociogram is basically a chart of all of the desks, and you draw certain symbols on the map to represent different things. As a community Assistant in Stone Hall, we have to do a socialgram for the residents on our floor. We put a symbol next to someone who is homesick, a different symbol next to those who are struggling academically, a place with a symbol and this means they are in a relationship. A different symbol means that the residents have emotional troubles, so we know if they need support or assistance and to look out for that in the future! We al also required to write their interests in their rooms, to prove that we tried to get to know them. This is important because it is important to know your students and what they enjoy so that you can try to teach to their interests and attempt to engage your students. I believe using a sociogram would be a great way to monitor the students’ progress. For example, put a star next to those students who are struggling, a check next to those who are ahead, and draw lines between the friend groups in your classroom. You can put a heart if they show lot so interest in their subject, and put an “X” next to those students who can be disruptive. You can refer to this sociogram as you make up and use it to form groups of students for group projects and to make a seating chart that best fits your students, if you decide to use one.

FIAE Chapter 6

Something this chapter talked about which I would like to bring up is length of tests and how they spread out the hard questions through the test. During my sophomore year here at the UMF, I took the classes Cell Biology and Genetics. Both of these classes were taught by the same teacher, and her exams were infamous. Every question was hard, so it was not like we could ease into the test. There were five pages in the exam, but each page had 3-4 essay questions per page. She wanted a lot of content and detail, so each question took a lot of time to complete. The average time this test took to complete was five hours, and this wasn't just the person taking their time, we all took it for that long. I didn't appreciate this kind of test because it wasn't a test of content and comprehension, it was a test of endurance. The teacher did give two “hints” to use on any question you wanted, but it really wasn't used to ask legitimate questions, it was used as a last ditch effort to get points when your brain was too fried to even come up with any sort of an answer. The test was so long that our brains were getting oversaturated trying to find the right information for the question. This is why my tests are going to be efficient and short, with questions that increase in difficulty, so the students can power through more easily.

FIAE Chapter 5

I did not agree with the concept of giving some students easier work and some students’ harder work depending on where on the totem pole the student’s ability lies. I believe that every student should be expected to complete the same level of difficulty that is appropriate for their grade and previous knowledge. If the students finish this task early and without much difficulty, they should be given further enrichment activities to work toward mastery of the subject, or they should be recruited by the teacher to aid other students that need further help. If students are struggling, they should not be given easier work, they should be given more support to do the work that is normally required. If there is a legitimate reason, there can be given extra time or an extension as necessary. I don’t think that extra time for an assignment should be the first support system that is turned to, because it is not fair to give all the students but one student only one week to complete and assignment when that one student always gets two weeks (unless they are on an IEP). I don’t believe we should make 3 different versions of each of the assignments, one for the students who are at a below average level, one for those at a regular level, and a version for those students who are at an advanced level. All students should be expected to complete the regular level, and we can adjust what we do to help students get up to where they need to be, and if they are already there, push them further.

FIAE Chapter 4

Chapter 4 was all about creating an effective rubric to assess student work. Rubrics can be used to grade portfolios, presentations, products, and written work. In my experience, rubrics have had a 4 tiered system in which they scored the level of completion. The levels I am used to in my education are: does not meet expectations, partially meets expectations, meets expectations, and exceeds expectations.  I liked this system because it was not a 5 tiered system, and it did not directly translate to A, B, C, D, and F like it said in the chapter. I also did not start to get anxious if I happened to get a “meets expectations” in one of my projects, because that meant I did everything right. It took some of the pressure off. I want to use this rubric format in my classroom.

                Over the summer, when I was a teaching assistant for the Center for Talented Youth for Johns Hopkins University, we had the students self-assess their learning progress. We did this by having them write reflections at the end of every class day, describing the things they learned, things that challenged them, any questions they would like to have answered for the next class that they did not get a chance to ask, and any reflections on the day they have had. My favorite reflection was from a student who talked about what it was like to be academically challenged, and pushed past the quality and content that would have normally gotten him a satisfactory grade. It was so rewarding to read about how he is no longer happy with just doing what he has to to get a “good grade,” and how he really wants to be pushed to achieve mastery.

FIAE Chapter 3

The beginning of this chapter where they talked about biases was very important and meaningful to me. In high school, before a debate, one of my American studies teachers held up a black book above his head. He then asked the class sitting in front of him what color the book was. Everyone in the class said black, and my teacher shook his head. He asked them again what color it was, and everyone said a little louder, Black!! He then said to the class that the book was not black it was actually red. Thinking he was crazy, we all told him again that no, the book was BLACK. After a few minutes of being told he was wrong because of his opinion of the red book, he turned the book to show us the back cover that had been facing our teacher, and it was indeed red. He told us not to be so quick to discount other people’s opinions before we get a look of what their perspective might be.

That has always stayed in my memory and has been an important story to me because some of my classmates were yelling, actually yelling at him telling him he was wrong. It wasn’t right of them to force the opinion of black onto my teacher, because for my teacher it really did look like the book was red and not black. I believe that this is important to remember in the classroom because everyone may have differing opinions, and may have different background information, and different angles on the situation. It is important to consider everyone, and have differentiated opinions being heard in the classroom, not just differentiated lessons.

FIAE Chapter 2

In class, we talked about how many of us have simply memorized the information the day before the exam, take the exam, and then forget it immediately after. I have done this so many times. If you asked me to recall the information from memory a week after a test, I probably could only tell you about half of it. If you had me take the test again without looking at the information and cramming beforehand, I would probably fail it. Students like me do not understand the knowledge on a deeper level, and only know it for the test, but would not be able to explain it on a deeper level. We are not masters of this knowledge. Do not own this knowledge, we rent it for the time we need it and then move it out of our minds.  To fix this, we need to interact with the knowledge more, pick it apart, use it in different ways, and apply it to our lives. This working definition of mastery from the chapter presents this well: “Students have mastered content when they demonstrate a thorough understanding as evidenced by doing something substantive with the content beyond merely echoing it. Anyone can repeat information; it’s the masterful student that can break content into its component pieces, explain it and alternative perspectives regarding it cogently to others, and use it purposefully in new situations.” This is why alternating teaching styles is so important. Only when students interact with the information do they really start to know it and understand it for the long term, not just know it for the test on Friday.

Fair Isn't Always Equal Chapter 1

I learned a lot from this chapter. I liked how it gave examples of how differentiation is used in real world examples, and how mechanics, recruits in the military, and surgeons all use it to help them in their day-to-day work. It made me feel like if I show my students how useful differentiation is in their learning, they might be able to carry it out and apply to their lives when they need it after graduation. To use differentiation is to be flexible to whatever challenges come your way, and solving the problem, maybe in a different way than another person.

                I have had SO MANY teachers who do not take personal responsibility for the successes of their students. They don’t reflect on their teaching styles and lessons, and they should, because often they just do their lessons and expect the students to know it, without any regard with will help the student learn best.  I really appreciated the comment the teacher Ellen Berg made: “I am the teacher, and so it is up to me to teach the kids I have, be they unprepared, irresponsible, etc…. I’m not saying that’s easy, but id what we’re doing isn’t getting us the desired results, doing the same thing  over and over and expecting something different is not only  nonproductive, it creates stress  and unhappiness in our lives.”

                Teachers should at least take partial responsibility for student learning. Some students can’t be bothered to actually participate, and you can’t take that personally. However, if a student tries very hard and puts in a lot of effort but does not do well, then the teacher is then responsible for not offering that student support. I will remember that so I can help my students in the future.

UbD Chapter 5

This chapter had a lot of important points in it. I really appreciated the part about the timely feedback on assignments. One of the best teachers I have ever had was so organized that she had our tests graded and back to us by the end of the class period in which we took it. She was incredible with feedback. I know that it is not always practical or reasonable to get them back so quick, but I really admired her for that.

In the chapter I also liked that it explained the difference between knowledge and understanding. I believe the explanation that knowledge is binary and that understanding is a greyscale is very valid. I believe that the challenge for the instructor is to traverse from the no knowledge on the subject and go from non-understanding to sort of understanding to much understanding to lots of knowledge and confidence on the subject. I personally also believe that students should be assessed on that greyscale, about how much they understand, and not if the know it or not.

Figure 5.3 was very useful to me to look at the difference between inauthentic work and authentic work. It feel it is about taking learning to the next level, from dull, lifeless, and not engaging to work that fosters creativity, relates to the real world, and discussion with peers. I liked the example of instead of answering recall questions from the end of a textbook chapter, choosing to instead conduct a scientific investigation on the subject. I think that is a great idea for me to add into my curriculum.

UbD Chapter 4

I really identified with the beginning of this chapter. I felt that the descriptions on how to be effective teachers were spot on for me personally. My favorite quote about effective teachers was this: “If we see ourselves predominantly as teachers of curriculum... we have forgotten half of our professional role. We are teachers of human beings, the essence of our job is making sure that the curriculum serves as a catalyst for powerful learning for students who, with our guidance and support, become skilled in and committed to the process of learning.” This is worded so well and I agree with this concept wholeheartedly.  I also think it’s very important to note that the balance of curriculum and instruction is extremely important. An effective teacher cannot have one without the other.

Also in this chapter we learned about the nine attitudes and skills that typify teachers who help all learners. There are two attitudes and skills so far that I am worried about personally, and I know that it will impact my classroom if I do not become comfortable with them. These two are accepting responsibility for learner success and expanding a repertoire of instructional strategies. I understand how to and why it’s necessary to help students grow if they are ahead and catch up if they fall behind, but I am worried because I take things very personally already, that what if there is a student who refuses to do anything or even to try, did I fail him, or did he fail himself? For the expanding in instructional strategies, I feel like I read about many in the chapter but I am confused and scared that when the time comes, the strategies won’t be in my available instructional repertoire. I can probably fix that with more experience.

UbD 3

I am glad this chapter included the concern that some teachers only teach out of the textbook and they use the textbook as the curriculum instead of a resource.  Sticking to the standards and teaching the content will not be accomplished is a teacher sticks to the book. The boy may cover less or extra material than you need to cover. Instead, it is important to have a textbook to look up information and for a resource, and use the rest of class teaching in other ways. This made me realize why my high school Honors Biology teacher was so dull and boring and lifeless, even his voice was monotone. His lessons were from the textbook, his vocab tests were from the textbook, his labs were from the textbook, and his homework was from the textbook. If you lost your textbook, you might as well drop the class because you needed it for every minute of every class. I think that it is important not to do this, and to not just teach from the book because the content is all laid out for you on every page. This is why a teacher needs to be confident in their content area. If they are not confident about the content they are teaching, they won’t have the foundation in their mind in order to get creative with the lessons and activities they create and the way the approach and present the content. By reflecting on this, I understand why textbooks are there, but I learned that the textbook should not be the lesson plan.

MI Chapter 4

If I did decide to explain the concept of multiple intelligences to my students, I would want to provide examples to aid their comprehension.  In this chapter I found multiple ways that you could present the information for the students to research.  I liked the strategy of having the students do a project to research the biographies of famous people in their intelligences and how they used their intelligences to change the world and make a difference. One of my intelligences is naturalist, and I would LOVE to do a project on Jane Goodall and learn about how she used her intelligences to study the social and family behaviors in chimpanzees. I think it would also be very interesting to find out how Martin Luther King Jr. used his interpersonal skills to spark the civil rights movement. I would also like to decorate my classroom for the unit with posters of the 8 intelligences, as suggested to be paired with the biographies.

                I believe that all 8 intelligences could be used in my content area. I would like to challenge my students to figure out how each of the intelligences would be an important skill for a scientist to have, and maybe have them work in partners to come up an answer to that question.  Some of the harder ones to relate to science would probably be verbal, musical, and intrapersonal. Some examples for these are that verbal is important because of science articles and readings, musical would be songs about science like in Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Intrapersonal  is important so they reflect on their scientific process and understanding.

Multiple Intelligences Chapter 3

In this chapter I started to question how I would use my knowledge of multiple intelligences in the classroom. I believe that the multiple intelligences are extremely valuable to know about, but I am not sure I would be able to find a place for it to naturally fit into my curriculum. I don’t believe I would hand out a checklist to my students; I would just try to get to know them in general.  I think I would use my knowledge of multiple intelligences mostly to address students who are having behavior issues and are often getting distracted in class. After I made these observations, then I would be more likely to try to get to know the student and find out if the way they learn doesn't match up with the way I am teaching the content. At that point I may ask the student, parents, or other teachers to inquire about any observations on intelligences in which the student excels in.

Additionally, when I was reading a chapter, I learned about the concept of “the six-hour retarded child” (which should not be named that, in my opinion). I never really realized that there are students who excel outside school, but are completely and totally unproductive within the walls of the classroom.  Integrating activities and skills they use regularly outside of school may make it easier for students like these to relate what they are doing in school to “the real world.” This concept is something I would like to learn about.

UbD Chapter 2

This chapter was extremely interesting to me. It discussed what really matters (the students), personal barriers to learning, and responsive teaching. I found myself agreeing with almost all of the points that this chapter brought forth. It is essential that teachers take notice of students who are struggling and that need extra support and guidance to get passed the thing that is preventing their learning. Last semester I went through a personal barrier to my learning. I fell into a depression around the middle of the semester which was very different than my normal pattern of behavior. If my instructors had taken notice and asked me to meet with them after my first few absences and accommodated me and given me resources to get back on my feet, I don’t think my GPA would have been as affected as it was. This is why it is crucial to get to know your students and their normal patterns of behavior, so you can tell when something is off and help them through it before it gets worse. I also agree that teacher-student relationships contribute to student motivation to learn. If a student believes that the teacher values their effort and input in the classroom, they are more motivated to learn in that environment. It is also important to try to incorporate the interests of the students into the curriculum so they can relate to the lesson they are being presented. I know to keep this in the forefront of mind so I will remember this when I have my own classroom. I am also relieved to realize that individualization would be impossible, and that patterns of instruction would be more manageable, because I was starting to feel overwhelmed. I am glad that the patterns of instruction were presented in this chapter.

UbD Chapter 1

In this chapter I learned several things that I did not know or had previously misinterpreted.  One of the most important things I learned is that in the Corollaries to Axiom 5 section, that “it is not the case that struggling learners must master the basics before they can engage in thinking. Rather, evidence clearly suggests that for most students, mastery and understanding come through, not after, meaningful interaction with ideas (Tomlinson 2006).” This complete revolutionized the way I thought about teaching. I thought that you learned the basics of the content, then added details and abstract ideas that were more advanced as time went on. I was unaware that the basics do not have to be mastered before a complex interaction of ideas can develop. 

This chapter also made me consider the needs of those students who are at an advanced level of work and understanding. This summer, while working with gifted and talented kids, I learned about a concept called Optimal Match. This method of differentiated learning creates enhanced classroom assignments and activities to challenge those who are mastering the material with ease. I believe that this additional opportunity of enrichment is extremely valuable and I have seen in be successful with this type of learner. I hope to employ both of these in my classroom, the interaction of complex ideas to gain basic skills as well as optimal match.

One thing that the example teacher kept doing was constantly reassess the level of comprehension. I believe this is valuable because students can quickly move from one level of understanding to the next. I appreciated how important it is to be flexible in your curriculum to account for those who may require adjustments or additional assistance.

Source:

Tomlinson, Carol A., and Jay McTighe. "UbD and DI: An Essential Partnership."Integrating            Differentiated Instruction & Understanding by Design: Connecting Content and Kids.              Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2006. 8. Print.

Multiple Intelligences Chapter 2

When we did the activity in class, my lowest level of intelligence was Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence. However, when I went through the checklist of examples, I identified with more of them then I expected to. I am hoping to improve and develop my Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence more, and I learned some great ways to do that through this chapter. I realize that I will need that intelligence to teach my content area, especially doing labs with my hands. Some examples of labs where I would need this intelligence would be any labs creating or mixing substances, working with microscopes and specimens, and dissections. I really liked the part of the chapter about asking students to help out in areas of intelligences that you may not be proficient in yet. Mathematical equations in my content area are something I am concerned that I will struggle with because I do not feel especially confident in that intelligence area. I am glad that I can have a student with that intelligence to help me double check my work.  I can also use technology like calculators and mathematics programs like Wolfram Alpha to assist me as well.  I believe that if I do not develop my own intelligences to become a well-rounded individual, my students and classroom environment will suffer.

I believe that a few of my natural intelligences have been developed and nurtured through my personal life history. For example, I believe that my naturalistic intelligence spawned through my love of animals and my family tending a garden for as long as I can remember. I believe that my very strong Interpersonal Intelligence came from biological endowment, because I have always been a very social extrovert. 

Multiple Intelligences Chapter 1

In this chapter I learned more about my multiple intelligences. My main intelligence category is Interpersonal and my secondary intelligence category is Naturalistic. I learned from the chapter that people with strong interpersonal intelligence have the ability to perceive and make distinctions between there moods by evaluating their facial expressions and body language. I believe that this describes me very well because I have always been very receptive to the emotions of people around me. I also learned a lot about my secondary intelligence, naturalist. Naturalists can classify plants and animals and distinguish species from one another easily. Naturalists are also sensitive to weather patterns as well. I am not sure that I can predict the weather, but I always try to be prepared for whatever weather I will encounter that day. I love bird watching, gardening, and finding and identifying different species of animals and plants. When I initially found out about the naturalistic intelligence, I was extremely surprise to find that it was included on the list. I think I will be able to utilize both my intelligences by using my interpersonal empathic skill to identify students who are struggling, both with the material and in their personal life. I can also use my naturalistic intelligence to incorporate lessons in my content area, like trips to the field to do species identifications, lessons about ecology, and having class outside.  It was nice to learn more about all the other areas of intelligence from the chapter. I feel like I have more intelligence in some of the other categories than I previously thought.