Reflection Week 8

As a teacher, working in the classroom with young people, it becomes easy to assume that today’s student has it all figured out when it comes to new literacy skills. Specifically I do assume certain things about my students as it relates to working with technology that may or may not be true. It is easy to assume that students are very adept at not only doing research, but also ways in which they can showcase what they know and are able to do. When use the term showcase, I am referring to the way in which students are able to collaborate or share ideas with other students and teachers. One of the things I have learned is that these assumptions are often times wrong. Many students may seem like they are masters at tapping into and making the web a useful tool when in reality they need coaching, and guidance from me. The way I teach kids to go about the research process as it relates to the web is going to change greatly as I move forward. I never considered teaching kids a model of internet inquiry until recently. It seems that I have been doing my students a huge disservice over the years. I think about the way in which I would bring the computers into my class and give little or no direction when it came to doing research. This part of my classroom will forever be changed. I envision using several weeks of instruction on a model of internet inquiry.
Essential knowledge is another area of my classroom that I have been thinking a lot about. As a government teacher it is very important to think about the essential knowledge that I want all of my students to leave my classroom with. In the past I have not done a very good job of separating essential knowledge from essential skills. Some of my assessments for instance were very poor. I was not measuring what I thought I was measuring. When trying to measure content knowledge, for instance, I would have students write an essay. The ability to write is important, but at times my students were not being assessed fairly. The grade I gave them was a reflection of how well they were able to write and not, what it should have been in many cases, a reflection of their content knowledge.
In the future I would like to have, in place, a unit plan that I can work with for every unit of study in my class. I would like to be able to teach from the unit plan while at the same time make changes as I move forward. The unit plan often times takes on a life of its own as you work with it. For example, when giving a formative assessment during a unit the information gained from the assessment may lead to a situation where it is necessary to make changes to the plan. The summative assessment for that matter may lead to a complete overhaul or re-teaching of the plan depending on the results. Ultimately we all want our students to learn. The plan may or may not be successful depending on a plethora of factors. Flexibility is one thing I know I need to work on. No longer is it acceptable to say, “I taught the information, they just didn’t get it “, If this is the case their needs to be a change.
Chad