UbDDI+B1+Chapter+6

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Mike
The author really stressed in this chapter how important it is to know all the different forms of assessment when teaching in the classroom. As teachers, when we are assessing our students the main idea is to make sure that the students we are responsible for are learning the material we are presenting to them and remember what we have taught them in the future. You also need to teach students to get out of the habit of just memorize something only to get an A in the short term, but instead you need to teach students the important of carrying on what you just learned towards future material you will be teaching. If students are able to retain the information throughout a unit then they will realize how everything they have been taught is connected. The author also talked about three categories of assessment which are diagnostic, formative, and summative.As I have grown older, I realize now how important it is to remember what you have been taught throughout the whole unit because you may never know when you might use the skills you have learned in school in your everyday life. As a future teacher, I plan on using my communication with students towards giving them meaningful feedback in order for the student to be successful throughout the unit instead of just living in the moment.

Seth
The section of this chapter on using classroom elements flexibly as a tool for effective instruction really brought me back to my field experience at Mount Blue. The book states “Classrooms contain a number of elements that can be used at the discretion of the teacher in different manners for different purposes” (90) and my mentor teacher(s) made great use of everything in their room. The map of the United States that was painted on the far wall was used as a learning tool, graphic organizers were hung on the walls to remind students what they had covered, the overhead projector which hooked into the teacher’s laptop was nearly always in use and of course, The Goblet of Justice was often brought into play. Dan and Sam often broke the class into groups (those who read stayed upstairs, those who didn’t went downstairs to the open room) and by doing so were able to focus more on individual students now that the class was broken in two. This allowed more time for those who read and did the homework to move ahead with the lesson rather than be slowed down by those who hadn’t done their work.

Brody
With multiple classes in a day with twenty some odd students in each, differentiated instruction can seem like a daunting task to undertake. A teacher might commonly ask: How do I make students have resources available for their varying readiness levels, interests, and multiple intelligences? How can I manage a group of students that are performing different tasks at the same time? I admit that these questions have raced through my head. I understand multiple intelligences but now I need sound techniques in applying differentiated instruction in a classroom setting. Thankfully, Tomlinson and McTighe insist that differentiated instruction can be made easier by using classroom elements flexibly. Elements such as time, space, resources, student groupings, and teaching strategies can all be used to address varying student needs. For example, if a class is broken into interest groups, student interest will be attended to as will readiness levels as a group of students will all be familiar with that interest. Another suggestion is to cluster key patterns in student learning. A teacher can ask themselves: What problems may students face and what “springboards” may they face? In this way, teachers aren’t developing completely individualized lesson plans for every student. In short, curriculum and differentiated instruction are connected as we must carry out curriculum in a way to reach all types of students.

Max
In chapter six, they talk about teaching for long term learning. As a teacher, you are not allowed to just present material. You have to teach it. Giving examples of real life scenarios are a great way of retaining information. Like in our class, we are relating big projects to real world situations so the students can see how, in my case math, can relate to the real world. When they are always dealing with just numbers, all the formulas and different equations can get mixed up. But, if they have a real life situation they can relate to, then they may learn the information and understand it and not just memorize. In math it is hard to catch who understands the information and who is just nodding their head.

Jen
This chapter really had some important facts in it that while I was reading I had to make a significant note to go back to them. First off in this chapter I believe that the author's have the right idea, explaining the goals of the unit to students prior to starting it so they are aware of what to expect. The first thing I thought of when I read this part was our first activity that we did and how I am a clipboard and how this is a crucial component for clipboards. It was a perfect way to help those "clipboards" in the classroom feel more connected and feel as if there is a "safe" classroom environment because there is structure. This could also help those puppies who really feel it's important to have a safe environment. Also showing how the unit will end and how each assessment will connect to part of the unit was also another major component. It seemed as if these idea's that were presented very quickly jumped out at me because they fit the differentiation of students. The chapter also discusses how it's our "goal to provide students with essential questions and knowledge" and I think that is really important. Yes, I do believe teachers need to be the one's to steer the students in a direction to help further their learning but I also thought this was interesting because students are also becoming responsible for their own education as well. It also discusses being an "efficient" and "effective" teacher, and this is really essential because that is exactly true. Teacher's jobs are nothing but being being an effective teacher because without that students won't grow and learn the skills that is essential for success and for their educational growth. Being an efficient teacher is important, not because it means that you are the "best" teacher but because you are using your knowledge of your students to get your students to learn the content of the unit that will best fit their learning style needs.

Lily
How can we design our curriculum to both benefit and work for our students? This chapter shows differentiated instruction and how to use it in the classroom. We must give our students chances to learn all the ins and outs of the curriculum and have a constant balance between students’ work and teacher guidance, we can not go over board and do the work for them. Like we talked about before giving the goals of the lesson at the beginning helps the students know what they are working towards and this is a great thing. We are motivating and making sure that the students start and end on the right track.

Brittany
Sometimes I get the feeling that a teacher has to have the flexibility of Mr. Fantastic, the speed of the flash, and some tricks from the Matrix just to survive in a classroom. Of course all of this has to exist inside of a teacher’s head to allow them to make the mental adjustments that they will need every day. Now think that all of that is needed in just one class of students who are basically at the same learning level, how much more is needed when you add all the different levels in the multiple classes that a teacher has throughout the day. It kind of makes your head hurt. Learning about different learning types and abilities and motivation almost makes me feel like all the planning in the world is never going to be enough when it comes to teaching a class of real live students. But still, the point is that we try and when we fail we pick ourselves up and try again.

Kim
This chapter focused on being a responsive teacher and responding to the various elements of the classroom that affect learning and how that is considered part of differentiated instruction. Responding to students in ways other than just answering questions can lead to lesson plans changing on the spot or in the future or it can result in clarifying something for a confused student. It could also mean changing the lesson from class to class depending on the situation and the students in each group. I liked the analogy between the classroom teacher and the jazz musician because both incorporate practiced/ rehearsed material into their “performance,” while large pieces of it are left for improvisation, depending on the situation. I think this will mostly help me to begin thinking about various ways to respond to students.

Casey
In chapter 6 I read about the three key roles that teachers must incorporate in the classroom. According to Mortimer Adler, in his book //The Paideia Proposal,// teachers sometimes act as didactic actors or direct instructors; at other times they must function more like a facilitator, and yet other times teachers are more akin to coaches. Different students require different teaching strategies, and different strategies often require teachers to take on different roles. The coach encourages students to extend their own potential into reality. The facilitator guides and plants seeds in the minds of students, those seeds will then take hold and flourish into extended comprehension. The instructor is the more a traditional teacher role, although demonstration, lecturing and interrogation are necessary tools in a teacher’s arsenal.

Jasmyn
Chapter 6 is about responsive teaching in a differentiated classroom. This chapter explains the ideas of being flexible with curriculum and to find individuals with the same at the same developmental level. If you can cluster students with the similar learning styles who are at the same level of understanding then you do not have to have many lesson plans for the same unit, however, you do have to be flexible in technologies and still able to recognize the different levels of needs. “Differentiation does not ask teachers to be specialists in a dozen areas (p.95)”. Differentiation requires teachers to revise plans continually make it “effective” and “efficient”. During my field experience I noticed that my mentor teacher had to revise her plans for her classes, while one group was able to take notes, the other group had to fill out a study guide that showed them exactly what to write. = =

Leighlan
The key to teaching effectively in a differentiated classroom is responding to the individual learners in the classroom. This may seem like a lot with 20 different kids, but the learners need time away from the teacher to learn and think just as much as they need support from the teacher. They also need to make each assignment their own, that requires flexible but specific assignments. In order to have a say in how they learn and show they are learning students need to know exactly what they need to learn and how to show they learned it. A student can ask for help from teachers after class, making them more aware of them as an individual. They can also ask the teacher for space if they need it. Students can ask to tweak assignments that aren’t working for them, and ask what the teacher is going to cover.

Kaitlyn Bartlett
In chapter 6 of Understanding by Design, there was a part that talked about how students should know what their essential questions are before starting a unit. In high school, I don’t recall ever even hearing that there were essential questions. I always just did the work like the teacher asked because I wasn’t going to be one of those “pain in the butt” students that asked, “why are we learning this?” I feel like I could use this in my class to show student that there are certain Maine Learning Results that teachers need to accomplish. I feel that this will also help students to realize that I am making the things they need to learn fun, interesting, and relevant to the real world. Thinking back to being a student in high school, I feel like I would have had more respect for teacher’s assignments that I didn’t want to do even if I knew this.