Chapter 8 UbD and Chapters 8, 11, 12 MI

Chapter 8 of UbD discusses the upsides and downsides of the grading and reporting system used in schools today and how to use them with backwards design and differentiated instruction.  I thought it was interesting that the chapter pointed out the need to grade on content rather than the extraneous “fog” often considered in a student’s grade.  I remember many of my papers would get marked down if I forgot my name or other methods of communicating my work rather than just simply the content I covered in the assignment.  I hope in my future classroom to design assignments that encourage the successful communication (and the writing of names) of the material while only grading or evaluating the content.  The rest of the chapter seemed to focus on how evaluating students can be more effective with more assignments and less dependency on the average of scores.  The average does not provide a great means of evaluating a student.  The book suggests putting more stock in the final assignments after students have built up a mastery rather than initial assignment grades due to the student still gaining mastery.

Chapter 8 of MI discusses various methods for classroom management and how to incorporate the MI’s into management explanation.  I think the most critical part of the chapter for me was the discussion on how to match the strategy for each student.  To express and idea to a student does not necessarily need to focus on his or her strongest intelligence.  Sometimes a student will learn or understand material better if it comes from their weaker intelligence and will benefit while developing the intelligence.

Chapter 11 on MI discusses the use of MI with learning disabilities and how disabilities are viewed in the society today.  The critical point to take from this chapter is to focus on the positive strengths that those with learning disabilities have and expand from there.  Too often do we as teachers and as humans focus on the negative and try to improve it.  The MI says that a far more effective and moralizing method is to use the strengths and positives each of us possess and use them in class.  The MI method of teaching would be a huge benefit because it would cause teachers to find alternative methods of assignment and assessment to evaluate and teach those with learning disabilities.

In chapter 12 in MI, the discussion revolves around the use of MI in memory.  Teachers should teach different methods of memorization based on a student’s strength in a particular intelligence.  I think this can be critical for the early stages of learning in a classroom.  Memorizing information rapidly can be useful but it needs to be reinforced with application.  The chapter encourages this idea with the merging of MI theory with Bloom’s Taxonomy.  Memorization is only the first stage in the process (knowledge).  Later stages take the information memorized and apply them to class activities and projects.

Chapter 6 and 7 UbD, 5 and 6 MI

Chapter 6 in UbD discusses how a teacher should have reactive lesson plans. The chapter explains that secondary education teachers could expect around or over 160 different students a year (multiple classes) which means meeting the individual needs of each student would be daunting. To ease the stress that might come from facing the challenge, the chapter suggests looking for patterns in the classroom. An example could be multiple students each year who have trouble reading. Having a back-up lesson plan that helps those students could be used each year and would solve multiple student problems in one go. I like the analogy the chapter uses to discuss unintended solutions from one problem solving. The book hints that if I come up with a plan to help students who have difficulty reading, the same strategy might also help students with difficulty hearing or students whose first language is not English.
Chapter 7 in UbD discusses how to engage students in learning and lead them into class discussions or deeper thought. As a teacher I should ask questions that would point them in the direction or goal of the information I am providing them with. This can be both helpful to students who need direction or prompting to answer questions and cover material quicker in the classroom while providing in depth thought. The chapter also discusses WHERETO framework which will be helpful in future classrooms. The main principle of the WHERETO framework is to encourage teachers to think like a learner.
Chapter 5 in MI discusses once again the importance of escaping the linguistic and logical only classroom structure and branching out into the different intelligences. The chapter details a seven step process that will create lesson plans for each type of intelligence. There are no set rules to how to create an MI lesson plan other than to provide a meaningful and structured lecture or activity. Overall I felt the chapter did not differentiate much from previous chapter readings. However, it gave a huge number of activity examples or suggestions to use with each intelligence.
Chapter 6 in MI expands on the previous chapter and develops teaching strategies for each of the intelligences. Instead of using generic ideas for linguistic, the author chooses different ideas like storytelling or brainstorming that are often neglected in the classroom. I believe the author is trying to push teachers into exploring new ideas and strategies in the classroom. As a teacher we should not be bound by the wall of No Child Left Behind and focus only on standards and tests. At the same time we do not need to come up with super complex and overt strategies for the class. A classroom theater activity might be a little elaborate for daily use but picture metaphors could be a simple activity used in the class to help the spatial intelligence students out. And worst case scenario is the activity is not used again if it does not benefit the students.

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.

Chapter 4 UbD

Chapter four expanded on chapter three’s idea of flexibility in the classroom.  Most of the chapter talked about dealing with differentiated classrooms and being able to teach to each student.  One key part of the chapter I found interesting was the discussion of how every subject has a “kindergarten version” and a “Ph.D. version.”  This is an interesting perspective on teaching that would encourage adapting the classroom material to the students you have in a particular class.  The book obviously does not want to say dumb a class down or smarten it up each year, but keep the material at a challenging (but not overly so) level.  The chapter brings up the critical point of having students comfortable with each other and the teacher.  It reminds me of what my geography teacher said about the beginning of class. If you speak at least once in the classroom out loud, you will be more comfortable speaking in discussion throughout the year.  A comfortable student is more likely to share his thoughts and ideas with the class and by extension would probably improve academically and socially.  One of the discussions in the chapter talks about the futility in having every student complete the same tasks with the same materials and time constraints.  At no point in my education have I ever had a test where everyone in the class completed the text at the same time.  In addition until I started college (and even after that), many of the students would place requests about time extensions or changes to what was being tested or the way we were being tested.

Chapter 3 UbD

Chapter three in the UbD/DI focuses on backwards planning and its effectiveness in flexible teaching.  Backwards planning stresses goal centered development and allows for variances in activities or lecture depending on the students’ needs.  It sounds like the backwards planning is a more reliable plan to have when stuck on how to teach a subject or class.  The chapter also focused on how subjects in the classroom should not be too broad or narrow but connect to multiple (related) areas of focus.  This would help my choosing of topics to cover in a class (after looking at state/school requirements).  Topics like the Indus River valley might not be ideal topics due to the small amount of information and relatable details.  Instead I would look at topics like the Romans that could be linked to several other topics and provide an in-depth discussion in the class.  One part of the chapter I felt was really interesting is the second sin of planning and teaching.  Even as a student I would think it would be awesome if I could cover every topic in the textbook, but that is unrealistic to condense for one year’s worth of material.  This chapter impacted my planning by looking at the topics I have to deal with and picking the most efficient and comprehensive topics.  The backwards planning itself provides a systematic approach with flexibility for needs or unforeseen problems.  In my own opinion planning activities after evidence is effective because the evidence is not dependent on the activity.  If the activity does not work out or is not understood, you can still explain the evidence rather than scrapping the whole plan.

Chapter 2 UbD

Chapter 2’s critical point is the pattern of teaching both high and low level students in the same classroom.  The teacher should not teach to the individual but group similar student needs together and tackle them as a collective.  I think the section on teaching to the high end interesting.  I feel like that strategy is a form of trickledown economics for education.  By explaining what is expected and setting the bar high, the teacher can work with students to build themselves up to that level while challenging the high performing students.  This section also talks about encouraging optional group work in the classroom.  I agree that students given the option of working with partners or alone can incorporate some of the diversity of learning styles.  However, I am worried that students would take advantage of the system and use their partner for free answers.  One section talks about six different areas that teachers should attend to in order to foster student success.  For me personally, learning profiles and student backgrounds would be harder for me to incorporate or need the most work.  Though the responsibility for teachers to understand and look out for trouble in student’s backgrounds has been explained, it borders closely on invasion of privacy for me.