Week 13 - Putting Together

1. Think back to your many experiences with well-designed learning, both in and out of school. What was the most well-designed learning experience you have ever encountered as a learner? What features of the design- not the teacher's style or your interests-made the learning so engaging and effective? (Design elements include challenges posed, sequence of activities, resources provided, assignments, assessments, groupings, site, and teacher's role.) Briefly describe the sign.       

I taught Chemistry for one year, and I would normally observe an experienced teacher give her lessons before I prepared for mine so that I could get ideas and re-visit some of the material I learned during college.  She was teaching combustion reactions and gave a demonstration. Mrs. Avalos used to start her lessons by first reviewing the homework from the night before.  Next, she would teach the chemistry behind the material in this case she talked about the combustion reaction being one in which your burn something, a carbon based fuel.  This reaction absorbs oxygen gas (O2) and it yields water, carbon dioxide and heat. After she explained the reaction, using isopropyl (rubbing alcohol), she balanced the equation (always fun, if you are a math fanatic such as me).  Then, Mrs. Avalos moved on to the demonstration.  She used a big water jug (like one of those used in water coolers), poured some alcohol in it, and through a lit match into it.  Immediately, she blocked the mouth of the jug, told us to be very silent, and removed her hand.  We all heard how the air was literally sucked into the jug (oxygen absorption), we saw the black smoke (containing CO2 and we saw the alcohol turn into water (believe me we tested it), and we touched the jug and it was hot.  She then had the students write about the demo and do percentage yield problem.  This lesson had it all.  Direct instruction, hands on experience, individual work and amazement!.  It was the best lesson I had seen in a very long time, and it taught the students and me exactly what she wanted us to learn.  I learned the best through direct instruction, by seeing and by working individually.

2. In sharing your recollections and analyses with your peers, build a list of generalizations that follow from the accounts. What do well-designed learning experiences have in common? In other words, what must be built in by design for any learning experience to be maximally effective and engaging for students.

• The teacher must be knowledgeable and be comfortable with the material.  Must seem flawless.
• Must be related/applied to the real world.
• Direct Instruction - to allow the teacher to show expertise.
• Teacher respects the students' opinions and questions, while staying in the topic at hand.
• There is a portion where the students can ask questions. 
• Some sort of demo, or hands on activity. 
• Students feel like they own their learning. They are leaders.
• Student work is appreciated and the students get to share what they learned. 

3. Where in your school or the school that you are observing are the characteristics of best design most likely to be seen in action? In what programs and subject areas would we most expect to see these characteristics, compared with other programs or subjects? Are there any patterns, If so, why?

Of the teachers that I have observed, I saw this happen in Ms. Rengifo's class.  She teaches a 7th grade special ed math and science class.  She has taught in my room for the last two years, and I am in the room doing my prep work.  She has wonderful command of the material.  She is able to break down whatever she is teaching so that the students can understand it better.  Ms. Rengifo has an uncanny ability to use examples and situations in her teaching that apply to the real world.  The teaching is definitely meaningful and the students can relate to it.  Visual aids, videos and hands on activities are essential part of her lessons because of the population that she teaches.  I think science and math definitely lend themselves to be the subjects in which you can see many, if not all, the characteristics that I look for in a lesson.

4. After a study of sample units, and one of your own designs, edit or amend your list of characteristics of the best designs, as appropriate.

I would add technology integration to the list of characteristics of a well designed lesson.  I have incorporated a lot of technology to my lessons since I started this program, and the students have responded very well to it.  I would say that partner work is something that can make a lesson much better, however, too much group work can backfire on lessons.

Keystone - Lesson Plan and Lesson Materials

The files are best viewed if you download them.  The formatting is off when you just view it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2GRmTCep6WiMHg2Ukt0U19nMzg/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2GRmTCep6WiV2FhRUl3bmEzSEk/edit?usp=sharing

Keystone Assignment - UbD Framework, Teacher Interview and Lesson Implementation Reflection

Curriculum Design and Using the UbD Framework

The UbD framework promotes identification of goals and objectives of the lesson before outlining the specifics of the lesson; in other words, a “backwards” design.  Many teachers begin their lesson planning knowing what activity or task they want the students to carry out during the lesson. Next, the teacher writes the goals that this task will accomplish.  In the UbD framework, the teacher focuses on what skills or knowledge the student should leave the class with, and then the majority of the planning time, is spent on finding the appropriate task to accomplish those goals.  This framework works by making sure that the teacher creates meaningful task that will ensure that real learning is going on in the classroom.  The teacher therefore is planning with a purpose: real understanding and transfer of learning.  The aim is to get students provide students with tools that they can use across the content areas, these are called the six facets of learning: explain, interpret, apply, shift perspectives, empathize and self-asses.  These facets of learning also provide the teacher with evidence that learning happened in the class.

Planning effectively through the UbD framework requires the teacher to follow three stages.  Stage 1 – Identify desired results, Stage 2 – Determine acceptable evidence and Stage 3 – Plan learning experiences and instructions. During stage 1, the teacher identifies the understanding, knowledge and skills the students should acquire.  In this stage, the teacher states the essential questions of the lesson.  Determining the acceptable evidence of learning is stage 2 of the design.  The design breaks down the evidence into two categories: performance tasks and other assessments.  The performance tasks are aligned to the facets of learning; and any other assessments can be tests, quizzes and others.  The last stage then is planning the tasks that will be carried out during the lesson. Here teachers follow the W.H.E.R.E.T.O, which is an acronym, which is the guide for instructional planning.  W-communication of goal  (how, what, why); H-hook; E-learning experience; R-revision/revising prior learning; E-self-evaluation/reflection; T-tailoring/differentiation and O-organizing experiences.

I have been trying to apply this to my lesson planning, and I have to say I like it.  At the beginning it was awkward, but I have been getting used to it.  It does make me search for better tasks, it has focused my teaching and it has led me to continuously assess my teaching.

Teacher Interview

I interviewed Cecilia Delgado, she teaches 7^th and 8^th grade Science at IS 145Q, the same school where I work.  I asked her to take me through the process of her lesson planning.  She told me she reviews the curriculum, and she identifies the skills and knowledge she feels are the ones that the students will have the most difficulty with, and will definitely be in the 8^th grade Science exam.  Ms. Delgado explained that she spends a lot of time looking into what she wants the students to accomplish; so then she can find tasks that will lead the students to fulfill those goals.  After hearing this, I said that it sounds like she does backwards planning, and she replied “Yes!”.  She told me that she read an article about this way of lesson planning and that she absolutely loved it. Although it can be tedious at times, she doesn’t mind spending the time because she believes that using backwards design will help her maximize the learning that goes on in her classroom.  Lastly, Ms. Delgado said that she was surprised that many people don’t know about it, and that we all should plan our lessons that way.

Reflection on Implementation of the Lesson

I wanted to expose the students to an interactive lesson in which they were active participants, and introduce reinforce the concepts of how the Earth itself changes the rocks and how materials such as minerals get recycled.  The lesson consisted in introducing the students to the different types of rocks and how they form and can be changed from one type into another. The particular group of students that I prepared the lesson for are 7^th graders, with various levels of learning disabilities, I know from having observed them, that they obviously learned better from visuals and repetition and from the technology that the teacher has been using, therefore I wanted them to use interactive demos and activities so that they could not only visualize the concepts but be more motivated through the use of technology.

The handout I prepared for the students was color coded so that they could focus on each type of rock.  I did this as per the lead teacher’s recommendations. Also, when explaining metamorphosis (the process by which metamorphic rocks form) I mentioned X-Men’s Mystique, the character that morphs into other people.  The students were amazed and enjoyed this bit very much.  I also wanted to introduce all three types of rocks, so the lecture took a little longer than anticipated.  I wanted the lecture portion to be 25 minutes, but it actually took 35 minutes, and I only was able to do two of the activities.  The mini-lesson was prepared for a double period (90 minutes), and I wanted to go through all three interactive activities.

When I was explaining sedimentary rocks, I mentioned that one of their properties was that they were easily crumbled since for example conglomerate rocks were made up of pebbles, sand and shells.  When I finished the explanation, I asked the students if they had any questions.  One student still couldn’t understand what that was the case.  I took a paper towel, a tissue and a sheet of loose leaf and I told them to pretend they were three different types of sediments, I tore them into pieces to demonstrate how sediments are formed, then I took all the pieces and got them wet (I have a faucet in my classroom), I then squished them together, to demonstrate compacting and cementing.  I showed this ball of paper together and told them it was a newly formed conglomerate.  Then I took a corner of the ball of paper and shook it, the pieces started flying all over the place.  This showed them how easily the rock is broken apart, because the rock is cemented by a mixture of sand and water.  The student said he understood. I continued to explain the rest of the rocks.  A student asked if metamorphic rocks were the hardest to break? To which I asked, why do you think that? The student replied: because I would imagine that being formed by a lot of pressure and if you add the heat, it’s like welding something. I answered yes, that is a wonderful observation and you are right, metamorphic rocks are very strong.

The students loved the lesson.   They loved the visuals and the fact that they got to use the computers to learn about rocks. Some students who have computers at home came back the next day and told their teacher that they went back to the website and went through the activities again, and that they felt that it help them understand the process a lot better.

I feel that the lesson was a little bit rushed and it was ambitious because of the type of students in the class.  I think that if it was the general population, it would actually work better.  For this particular group of students, I would probably just do the types of rocks one day, and the processes on the next day.  The lesson was planned for a double period, I was in charge of doing the lecture/interactives portion, and as I mentioned earlier only got through two of the three planned.  Ms. Rengifo (their regular teacher) finished the lesson.  She was supposed to complete instruct them to do the task in class; however, she ended up just going over the processes that shaped the rock again, and assigned the task for homework.