Teachers at my school have been strongly encouraged to create unit curriculum maps. As I worked through each subject, I thought they were a good beginning to a step-by-step performace design of what I expected students to learn and perform. However, after reading about Conducting A Goal Analysis I realize my lesson plans associated with the maps are written for teaching goals instead of learner goals. I am quilty of being a SME and stressing knowing instead of an instructional designer who stresses doing.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Understanding By Design
After reading the Understanding by Design article these are some things I thought about:
Are students really learning if they cannot apply the knowledge outside of the classroom. Example: I know that students in English learn capitization, punctuation, spelling and sentence structure; why can they not apply this knowledge to a simple letter writing activity in Computer Technology class.
We have been in a teaching frame of mind to cover subjects a mile wide, inch deep. We need to incorporate more critical thinking skills in the curriculum and move to focusing on the "Big Idea" or inch wide, mile deep instruction. Unfortunately some state standards, objectives and competency tests force us to cover so much in so little time, we must gloss over the information as fast as possible to get it all in before time runs out.
When investigating Understanding by Design further, I found a presentation about UbD and the addition of technology in the classroom. It states that UbD + Technology = Goal of Education. Learners need many types of learning strategies and should be using technologies that they are familiar with such as: digital presentations, podcasts and electronic portfolios. Students should be involved in their own learning by learning to frame and ask meaningful questions about the subject and about their understanding of the subject.
Are students really learning if they cannot apply the knowledge outside of the classroom. Example: I know that students in English learn capitization, punctuation, spelling and sentence structure; why can they not apply this knowledge to a simple letter writing activity in Computer Technology class.
We have been in a teaching frame of mind to cover subjects a mile wide, inch deep. We need to incorporate more critical thinking skills in the curriculum and move to focusing on the "Big Idea" or inch wide, mile deep instruction. Unfortunately some state standards, objectives and competency tests force us to cover so much in so little time, we must gloss over the information as fast as possible to get it all in before time runs out.
When investigating Understanding by Design further, I found a presentation about UbD and the addition of technology in the classroom. It states that UbD + Technology = Goal of Education. Learners need many types of learning strategies and should be using technologies that they are familiar with such as: digital presentations, podcasts and electronic portfolios. Students should be involved in their own learning by learning to frame and ask meaningful questions about the subject and about their understanding of the subject.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Into the Writing Foray..
I have never been, what I consider, a good writer. Writing assignments make me sweat. I have two close friends that are English majors and I have been jealous of their ability to eaily crank out documents they need. Maybe blogging will be my instrument to learn how to move what's in my mind to paper(less) in an intelligent manner.
At this point I guess it doesn't really matter, because this is just my ramblings in which I will try and make sense of what I am learning and maybe a reader or two will take a minute to agree or disagree, but will ultimately join me on this journey in learning, or is it education, maybe training, blast you Driscoll, now I'm all confused.
At this point I guess it doesn't really matter, because this is just my ramblings in which I will try and make sense of what I am learning and maybe a reader or two will take a minute to agree or disagree, but will ultimately join me on this journey in learning, or is it education, maybe training, blast you Driscoll, now I'm all confused.
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