Ch. 3: Curriculum and Assessment to Improve Teaching and Learning

Through this chapter Jackson and Davis look at the lesson plans and curriculum with the end in mind. This process is called the backwards design. Through my experience in practicum, the backwards design worked to see the whole picture, the assessments, the objectives and the lessons. With the backwards design, we must base the objectives on the standards, what are students need to know at the end of the lesson. I feel that through this design the students are more apt to learn more because of the freedoms through the design. As long as formative and summative assessment takes place during the lesson we can see progress in the students’ growth. Therefore, none of the students have to do the same task for a lesson to be learned and growth to subside. The backwards design is an excellent way to set up a classroom curriculum because ALL students can meet or exceed high standards. We need not to “dumb” down the curriculum and its lessons, but, reveal connections, reality and interests for all. Through the backwards design, we must follow the standards that the NEGP sets forth for us to reach every individual student and bring out the best in each and every one of them. The standards are (1) concerned with the essential ideas (having understandings and questions you want your students to know by the end of the lesson), (2) useful and clear, (3) rigorous, accurate and sound, (4) brief, (5) feasible and taken together, (6) assessable, (7) developmental, (8) selected and modified or supplemented by consensus, and (9) adaptable and flexible. With these standards and the end in mind anything is possible. Therefore, I believe the backwards design is the best way to set up any lesson with any content.

TWB final blog

Synthesis
Overall, this section of This We Believe dealt with the adjustments every teacher needs to make for successful learning towards all. We need to keep in mind the 16 characteristics needed for a interactive school atmosphere, goals the students should be able to reach in their adolescent years, as well as the different forms of development. Having a safe, protect climate set up is just as important as the content you teach. Interacting with colleagues, parents, students, etc. all use different voice and it is important to understand how, when and why interactions must take place. The NMSA set up this book as a mass load of knowledge in which we can either remember or discard, we do not have to take everything they say as the truth, but can run with most of the information to form an excellent curriculum for all. Knowing our students and being role models for them is one of the most important aspects to me because I was the shy student that only spoke up when teachers made an effort to know my name, ask me how my day was or just smile. Students need to know that we are there for them. Through these two links how to be a role model and becoming a better role model help teachers learn the do’s and don’ts of being a teacher. How do I show that I am approachable? Another aspect comes through the interactions of other faculty and through organizing fun activities throughout the school year as well as knowing your students as a whole. In this link about student interaction , we learn why students do what they do and how we can help them. They all have different MO’s and need a push and some guidance to bring out the best in them. This push for the best comes through the different forms of development and the teacher’s ability to engage. This link on developmental milesones, helps us understand the growing and changing adolescent. Why do they do what they do? What is important for us to teach? Why teach? This also plays into the MI’s we learned about in practicum (MI overview) in how and when we should interact, and engage our students. There is also the leadership and organization role, we as teachers, must take on

pages 42-63

In these pages the NMSA helps establish what an advocate is supposed to do as well as having backup research for all the characteristics of a “successful” school and characteristics of young and developing adolescents. We, as teachers, must take in to consideration all aspects of the blooming child whether it is physical, emotional, psychological or intellectual. Every child is different and grows or blossoms as it may be into the adult they are meant to be. This may take several years or only months for the young adolescent to find who they really are. As teachers, we are guides and advocates to bring out the best in our students. According to the NMSA, the “notable characteristics of young adolescents are in the physical, cognitive, moral, psychological and social-emotional dimensions of development,” (page 53), all of which are important and all of which should be the focus in the classroom. Through these last pages, I figured that the NMSA urges us to be good role models, excellent observers and consciences of the world around us. We must not only focus on the students but the community and the parents as well because they are in fact all influences on the students. They help the students make choices by guidance so we must be aware of where they go in life and why. I appreciated how the NMSA broke down each developmental characteristic between pages 55 and 62 to show us what we should look out for during these adolescent years and how we can be of assistance because going into the classroom blind would not be beneficial for anybody affected in the teaching atmosphere (principal, colleagues, teachers, parents, community members and students themselves). They described each developmental factor physical, cognitive-intellectual, moral, psychological, and social-emotional in a way they we can manipulate the way in which we teach in the way in which students learn. This section, I feel, will be very helpful when placed in a classroom as a reflective piece in which we can get a sense of re-focus, why are we in this profession and how can we enforce change state-of-mind, a sense that can help us be better teachers overall.

Pages 33-42

This section focuses on the culture and community characteristics brought to life on the chart on page 14 by the NMSA. The subsequent section of this particular characteristic includes the school environment, adult advocates, guidance services, family involvement and community and businesses at large. I personally feel that this characteristic is the most important in forming a well-rounded person out of the young adolescent they start out as in the middle school. We must teach them to be respectful, confident and competent citizens, role models and individuals. In doing this they must know that they can confide in us and the community, we are there for them, we have their backs. Maybe, I realized it more in my school because it was so small, but our middle school “team” worked and ran like a family which made communication and questioning easy. The students always knew their place in the school and that no question was a “dumb” question, most teachers were always pleasant and friendly, always willing to help as well as the presents of parents, who were constantly volunteering, chaperoning and willing to help out and change things when needed. Our school ran like clockwork with the help of everyone contributing, it was never a one-man act, which is the type of school I’d love to work in. I love the quote on page 41 that says, “Schools do not presume to educate children alone,” the school is not and should not work as a separate entity of the town. In my high school, unfortunately for block scheduling we could not do it in middle school, we had the opportunity to have a school to career. Our guidance counselor would set us up around town in jobs we wished to have after graduation. It would last for a full 9 weeks and we could go anywhere that was willing to help and advocate for us. I was placed in a 2nd grade classroom for 9 weeks and a Freshman English class for 9 weeks. It was a great opportunity to see the different age groups and figure out where I wanted to go in life. Some students went to the hospital others to construction sites, etc. but this “apprenticeship” helped build us as citizens and community members as well as allow the community to help in our education. These characteristics overall help form a school as well as a community and I feel they are very useful in the “real” world.

Ch. 9: Planning for Block Scheduling

Wormeli stated it very well on page 102, “I figured out that what my students learned from the curriculum is more important than what I covered in class.” I feel that learning comes from everywhere and everything around us, we should not be concerned with hitting every key point as long as every student “gets” what you want them to learn. If you spend two class periods on something and the students uncover another aspect that they want to study in which you haven’t planned out, teach it. You are there for them. There are advantages and disadvantages for block scheduling. I never went through blocks though. At my school I saw the same teachers every day at the same time for 90 minute blocks a semester (high school) and everyday all year for 45 minute periods (middle school). I felt the set-up at my school was tedious and boring. There was no change so you felt like a robot half-way through the year. Wormeli’s set-up works much better, in having alternate days for students. It becomes less boring for both the students and the teachers, I presume. His set-up in the chapter on building plans for the curriculum reminded me a lot of the backwards design from practicum in starting with the end in mind. This process helps see the bigger picture through lesson objectives, formative and summative assessment, the design as a whole, inviting activities, which I’ve always known as “hooks” and group work, setting context, making a mood and what you want the students to learn, the “experience”. When all these aspects work together, success in the classroom can and will be reached. Extensions were also explained further as ways to include other content areas which is helpful in making our integrated units and were a refresher from what we learned and used in practicum.

Turning Points 2000 Ch. 6: Organizing Relationships for Learning

Jackson and Davis articulate the places where improvement is needed in the classroom. They believe that we must (1) change the curriculum, (2) change teaching methods, and (3) change assessment strategies. Through these three main components we also need to visualize solids relationships with our students and the other teachers we interact with on a daily basis. I appreciate when they say education “happens” through relationships because if we’re not happy with who we’re around we are less apt to pay attention and stay focused. At least, when I am uncomfortable in a situation, I shut down, I don’t participate and I’m blank. Students are capable of this shut down to or sometimes, they go to the other extreme and become the class clown. Motivation derives from support. Therefore, if our students are supported then they will be motivated to succeed. Numbers come into focus during these changes. How many students on a team? How many teachers? Is it better big or small? I agree with the smaller the better in the classroom atmosphere, but I also think a “good and successful” school will have a wide-range of dynamic teachers, maybe ten maximum so that each team has two teachers of each subject so variety occurs and not everyone does the math the same way or read the same books, yet, they can bounce ideas, curriculum and strategy off each other. In practicum, the teams worked out well and think overall they are beneficial depending on the persona of each team teacher and how they hold themselves and work with each other. I could live with it.

Meet Me in the Middle Ch. 12: Advisories--A Proposal for Change

Wormeli sets advisories up in 3 forms (full day, monthly and individual) throughout this chapter, in my school our advisory teacher was the teacher we had first block. Our advisory teachers basically took attendance and gave out report cards at the end of each semester. We had no real contact with them, whereas the advisories described in this chapter seem extremely beneficial. Wormeli first introduced the chapter with a story, I kept wondering what the point of telling me about a field trip was until I reached the end. This field trip was an advisory trip that should have never happened due to weather, but in the end the students all learned how to work together as a team. They grew together. Through the teacher’s flexibility, she learned that there are teachable moments everywhere, for instance, page 144 hit home when the kid said, “Is this what you meant by irony?” A classroom is not the only place to learn or teach. I see the full day advisories as the most beneficial set-up because the advisor has the time to get to know all of his/her advisees and have active, engaging conversations that build confidence and independence. Having an advisor, a home-base, gives all students a place to feel safe and a person to confide in. I wish my school would have had something like this in middle school because it helps build life-long relationships as well as gain ownership for actions. I also agree full-heartedly with having the guidance counselor involved in advisory because then it gives the students another loyal person to trust and confide in.

Meet Me in the Middle Ch. 11: Teaming

For me, teaming is an odd concept, I didn’t have a team in middle school as is explained in this chapter my team was a 7-8 grade set-up where all the 7th grade teachers and all 8th grade teachers were the same. We had 5 teachers (math, science, social studies, English and French), each of which had a home room, yet, they all just taught their own subject. I appreciate the way that Wormeli set up teams in the book. Teams are meant to foster relationships and teach students to be more responsible and respectable. In the “teams” my middle school was set up in, we had no one teacher to rely on—all of our teachers were all so called advisors. They all knew us which worked as both a good and bad at the same time. Although they saw us for who we were, they all had the same stamp upon our heads because they all saw us for an equal amount of time whereas in the book, Wormeli said the team leader was meant to advocate and facilitate the classroom. As teams meet regularly they must brainstorm on how to spread curriculum and assignments to each class and figure out when they can integrate. I absolutely wish my middle school teachers would have integrated curriculum more. I believe with this there would have been more of a drive to succeed then there was from the get-go.

pages 27-33 of This We Believe

The second group of characteristics to create “successful schools” for young adolescents is leadership and organization. In this grouping the NMSA things teachers need to possess a shared vision, committed leader (ship), courageous and collaborative leader (ship), professional development and organizational structures. When teachers bounce ideas off each other it forms this community bond where each person is a leader in their own way and they essentially are the building blocks to a “successful” school. I found it interesting that “mission statements” were brought up in this section because I always thought they were more administrative than on a teacher level, yet, the NMSA made a good point by saying, “the mission statement takes into account the district philosophy and goals as well as relevant official guidelines,” (27). Although I don’t agree with mission statement solely falling on the teachers back, I find it excellent placement for the “mission statement” being placed in the subset of leadership and organization because the “mission statement” sets up a school, it is the rules, and regulations everyone must follow to ensure success. These mission statements include the learning each student needs to achieve, the very best knowledge that we have about the human growth and development of youngsters ages 10-15 and the accepted principles of learning. Our vision must be uplifting and idealistic across the board. Across the spectrum as a whole (core knowledge and growth) we must introduce the outside components inside the school. We need parent involvement as well as community interaction. After all, our job is to create well-to-do citizens so why isolate them from the community? Collaboration and organization is the key component to leadership. The NMSA made it clear about how we should teach and learn effectively to boost the morale of the middle school team as a whole.

Pages 1-26 of This We Believe

Throughout these first 26 pages, I conclude that the NMSA has a solid opinion on what a middle school should consist of and how the teachers should relate to their students. In middle school, students are constantly changing and growing and maturing at different paces. Middle school is the link in the pre K-16 curriculum and is the most crucial time in a young adolescent’s life. Middle school essentially sets the stage for success in high school and further, throughout career goals and planning for college. The middle school movement started in the 1960’s and continuously changes. In the 1980’s, we are taught that the “middle grades” is where the teachers and specific practices are the main focuses. Further, into chapter 2, we see the continuum of the curriculum, “middle school students deserve an education that will enhance their healthy growth as lifelong learners, ethical and democratic citizens and increasingly competent, self-sufficient individuals who are optimistic about the future and prepared to succeed in our ever-changing world.” Isn’t this a lot to ask of ourselves and our students? Where do we start? How does this whole process work? On page 14, the NMSA introduces us to a chart of 16 characteristics of the “successful school” for young adolescents, which at first glance seems overwhelming, but when supplemented together help create an excellent place for learning, engaging, growth and success. This portion of the reading focused mainly on curriculum, instruction and assessment. Teachers need to value each of these aspects across the board, just as students would so the engagement factor is always there. In this first category, we must remember that we have to be sensitive to each individual and their learning styles. We are essentially role models for are students. If they cannot connect with us, then who can they turn to? When focused on curriculum, it is important that we make connections to real-world and their individual interests to reach a particular goal and objective. It is key to focus on issues that matter to keep the attention of our students. This chapter overall felt like aspects we already should know through practicum but drove all the important aspects home as to how and why we do what we do.