Chapter 3 FIAE

Chapter 3 begins by making the point that students come into the classroom biased as to how they learn and perceive information.  The author makes the point that splitting students into groups is critical beyond interrupting the mundane classroom routine.  This impacts me because I should be aware how students work together and how they can benefit from different groupings.  Incorporating EEK and KUD into my classroom will be important because it follows the idea of the last few chapters.  Students should know the subject, understand the subject and be able to practically use the information they have learned.  Pre-assessment is important for finding the goals that I would need to teach in the classroom.  The book describes a summative assessment which reflects all that we deem important to know for the class and are given at the end of the lesson.  This assessment is used for the teacher to check for understanding but also for the student to put into perspective the material they have learned and connect it to issues and problems.  The formative assessment is used to check the status of a student’s learning throughout the semester and to make sure they are hitting important checkpoints.  One comment in the reading is that the students should not have adult level proficiency with the material in the class.  I feel this impacts me because while I would expect the best out of my students, I should not expect all of them to master the course material completely by the end of the semester.

Chapter 2 FIAE

Chapter 2 discusses the primary difference between mastery and understanding.  According to the book, a student can have understanding of the content but have difficulty putting it into practice because they have not mastered the practical application.  FIAE explains that a student might be able to recite multiples of nine up to twelve but be unable to solve a complex math problem that has multiple levels of addition, subtraction and multiplication.  This discussion of mastery ties in with having multiple assessments.  Just because I can answer a multiple choice question does not accurately test my mastery of the history of the US.  This chapter brings into perspective making sure my students will be able to use the knowledge that I teach them effectively in the real world.  The chapter also talks about expanding the knowledge and understanding that comes from a goal.  As a teacher I should be able to expand on the benchmarks or standards that are provided for my subject.  The book provides the examples of recognizing context clues, identifying author’s purpose, and using background information to make sense of new material.  Though these are only useful for some topics, the concept will be critical to use in all of the benchmarks and standards that I will need the students to master. The closing of the chapter focuses on teachers keeping their minds open to new ways of teaching or perspectives over the material being worked on.  A teacher should never limit his lectures or projects to his own knowledge and should be open to the different ways a student learns the material or has learned the material.

Chapter 1 FIAE

The major premise of the book seems to focus on being fair but not equal.  If we taught every student equally some would do better and some worse and some average just because of their different learning styles and needs.  The teacher is expected to provide each student with a fair chance of completing the required work even if it differs from student to student.  I thought it was interesting that the book talked about how many of the sentences that we start with today (concerning scientific knowledge or understanding) is what is currently known now.  This book leaves the possibility open that changes will occur in our understanding of how the brain works and that teachers should adapt accordingly.  This impacts me because in addition to understanding how the brain learns, I need to know how to effectively use my resources to help each student learn what they need to complete the class goals.  The comment that the book makes about differentiated teaching helps the student understand how they learn.  This could be an important area to explore in the classroom is getting the students involved and asking how they think they would learn best.  The result would be open communication between student and teacher and provide more effective ways of learning and teaching.  The discussion of how the real world is as differentiated as the classroom should be is fascinating.  I hope to integrate that into the classroom by pointing it out to students.  This way they can see the different strategies and supports that are put in place to better help their learning.

Chapter 5 UbD

Chapter five discussed the different ways to properly assess both the students’ and the teacher’s learning and understanding.  The key component the chapter was trying to bring across is that multiple sources of information are required to assess a students learning.  A written test is only one possible source and provides a “snap shot” of the student’s understanding.  The book wants assessment that uses multiple sources like demonstrations, projects, portfolios and observation to provide a “photo album.”  This photo album would provide a more accurate understanding of a student’s ability and skill.  The book differentiates drills and authentic work.  Drills help reinforce basic skills into the students.  Authentic work allows for students to put their skills to the test on real world issues.  Both are necessary to help students meet the goals stated in the class.  When tailoring assessment it is critical that the work is not overly complex.  UbD/DI explains that asking students to do a PowerPoint is ineffective if a multiple choice exam would provide the same information.

Because this chapter puts emphasis on choosing a broad range of assessment, I am trying to think of different ways of getting my portfolio.  I know that when I was growing up, many of the stories I heard about college involved one big test and that is the only grade I will get (and a few classes now that is true).  However, for the most part my classes have included presentations or other alternative assignments.  For my future classroom I intend to use the definition the book has for drills and authentic work and build a class assignment around the framework.