Module 2 Reflection

This module has helped me think about using standard, curriculum framing questions, and formative assessment in the following ways –

First, after reading this module I begin to question some of the things that I have been doing in my classroom.  Our current reading program is set up in six units. Each unit contains six weeks of instruction.  In my class I have been teaching the standards for the week and then testing my students on them at the end of the week.  I see how my students do on the test and move on to the next week and set of standards.  I also try to include some type of technology in my lesson so that the students are “engaged,” but are they really?!?!  Have I really been using technology effectively?  Looking back and reflecting on what I have done, I would say no!  When I just use the iPads to check off that I used technology that is not effective.  After reading module 1, 2, and learning a little more about project based learning I have researched and tried to find more efficient ways to use technology, 21^st century skills, and teach the standards.  An example, the students are going to use a storyboard app to show me that they understand the different themes of “Maniac Magee.”  I wish that I would have taken this class earlier because it has made me evaluate myself and I feel like I have not been an effective teacher!!

 As far as curriculum framing questions go, I had no clue what they were or what “CFQ’s” meant.  Each week I use the standards to formulate the objectives for the week.  There is an essential question that is given each week and the unit has a “big idea.”   We discuss the essential question and move on to the standards.  Now I realize that I should have an essential question that is very broad and sparks the students interest.  Our essential questions provided by the book seem irrelevant each week.  Our unit questions should be open-ended so that the students can formulate, come up with their own answers, and own what they are learning.  The content questions need to be straightforward and fact based.  I believe I use more content questions than unit questions, and this is not promoting higher-order thinking skills.  I am going to work on using curriculum framing questions in my lesson next week in my classroom.

Formative assessment is done weekly with tests from our reading program.  I have also taught a skill, put it in a center, the students self-check and the students are responsible for coming to me with their questions.  Next week, I am trying a new way to assess my students.  They will create a storyboard, and I will monitor their progress.  They will have a checklist that they have to turn in every other day.  For the final assessment, the students will present their storyboard to the class that their group created.  I feel like this class is helping me grow as a teacher each week. 

Module 1 Reflection

This module has made me think about my role as an instructional designer in the following ways:

 Before reading module 1, I thought I was doing an okay job with student-centered activities.  It seems that I am just scratching the surface.  My activities may seem student-centered, but they do not allow the students to have a choice in their assessment options.  I need to research options for different types of assessments so that my students have a choice.  Also, my activities do not always require higher-level thinking.  Instead of me asking and making the questions maybe, I should get the students to make up their own questions.

As a sixth grade Reading and Language Arts teacher in an elementary school setting, I find it difficult to use technology effectively in my classroom.  I feel like Mrs. Richardson in room 72 before her classroom became a 1:1 classroom.  We have iPads at our school, but you must check them out,  and they are not always available (we have sixty iPads and twenty-one teachers).  I tried using WebQuest in my classroom one week, and the students enjoyed it but did not finish.  It was a week later before we were able to continue and the students could not remember where they were or what they were doing.  This is an example of me trying to use technology to engage the students and feeling it was not effective.  So, this makes me ask myself, “Are the students really engaged and learning when we use technology, and it is not a complete lesson?”    As I reflect back on my lesson, I would say no.  I know there are ways that I can incorporate and use technology effectively in my classroom, I just have to research and modify lessons to make them work in my classroom.

I do not feel like my students are taking ownership of their work because they cannot relate the lesson and activities to the real world.  I need to come up with activities that relate and are relevant to a sixth grader’s life.  I also need to provide my students with more opportunities to self-reflect, self-assess, and to be able to choose or make decisions about their learning.