Blog Post 3

Blog Post 3 –

How can the creation of a student sample help me clarify my unit expectations and improve my instructional design?

How can I ensure students will achieve the learning objectives when creating their projects?

The creation of a student sample can help me clarify my unit expectations by making sure that I understand the information that I provide to my students.  If I put myself in the place of one of my students I can ensure that I have all of the instructions (detailed), materials that they will need, and that I have planned accordingly.  There have been times in my classroom when I have given students an assignment and I thought that I had it ALL PLANNED OUT, but boy was I wrong!  Sometimes a project or task may seem “perfect” to the teacher, but I already have what I want to be produced in my head so,  I  may leave out a few little instructions.  I know I have thought at times, that the little detail(s) that I left out should not matter that much, but I have to remember I am teaching children and they cannot read my mind!  When I put myself in the place of one of my students it also helps me improve my instructional design because again, I have to make sure I have provided every little detail for an assignment.  I may think something is not important, but to my students it could make all the difference to them. 

I can ensure my students will achieve the learning objectives when creating their projects by giving them a rubric or some other method of assessment that shows exactly what I am looking for.  Again, putting myself in the shoes of my students will help ensure that they will achieve the learning objectives.    If I give them instructions to simply just answer the question that I have asked instead of giving specific instructions to use text evidence to back up their answer it can make all the difference.  I may know in my head that I want them to use text evidence, but that is a perfect example clarifying expectations and communicating what I want the students to do.