Graduate Class #7

Thankfully, we discussed designing individual lessons. I've felt swamped by talks of unit design, year-long plans and unit coherence and connections, and have hoped for some guidance in my day-to-day plans. I found this section of the class quite helpful and enlightening, and I'm relieved to find that I've been using an effective format in my planning. I focus on 'active learning' and strive to provide an activity every day in the classroom. The idea that teachers frequently run out of time which necessitates leaving out the reflection portion resonates in my class as well, although my higher level class allows for more discussion since they are more relaxed and require less effort to engage in conversation. The presentation on Assessment opened my eyes to the fact that I could be assessing my students much more frequently and that I need to help students be more aware of their own progressive thinking. My literature circle problems came to a head and I realized that I can't possibly put myself in someone else's shoes, and that people will always be limited by the paradigms they live in, including myself. The presentation on Objectives and Feedback was entertaining and enlightening. I've applied their suggestions in my class and had a fantastic change in attitudes of certain students. The academic quarter ended last week and a few of my students barely passed due to late assignments and lack of effort. Instead of berating them and telling them to do better in the next quarter, I praised them preemptively. I told each student individually that he was perfectly capable of getting an 'A; in science, and that I was already glad to see that he was doing his classwork with good effort. All students so far are in good standing and clearly studied for the first quiz. I've also made an effort to praise specific elements of work. I've also incorporated written feedback as much as possible, instead of verbal.