Overview

So, this class has come to an end. It was an interesting semester because I found myself asking so frequently throughout the semester "what am I supposed to be doing?" In the end everything came together though, and really made sense. I have worked with groups in many of my other classes, but never to the point where I was working with a group for the entire marking period. Everything worked out well in the end because we figured out how to work off of each other's strengths and supported each other when there were any problems or questions. I enjoyed this class because it was a challenge for myself as a professional. I don't know if I will ever work on curriculum again, but when and if I do I will be better prepared to do so because of some of the information I learned i this class.

Core Curriculum Content Standards

We just recently finished our CCCS projects and I feel it was an insightful process looking into a subject that I a not completely comfortable with. Looking the at Language Arts Literacy Content Standards was interesting because I got to see how the LAL standards were similar to my content area, P.E. and Health. I found that looking at the different content areas that the standards are a guide for all teachers. The commonality between all the standards was that they're very wordy, but also vague. I feel that they create the standards this way so it gives the teacher a chance to work with each of the standards in their own individual way. Another thing that was evident in all of the standards was that they're meant to build off of each other's strengths and supplement each other. This is neccessary to prepare students in becoming life-long learners.

The NT Curriculum Develpment Process

I have to admit that at the beginning of this project and semester I didn't really know what to expect from this project, or what I was going to get out of it as an educator. Even half way through and a little bit towards the end I didn't really get what was going on, but now that we are coming towards the end of the project things have gotten much clearer. I see where everything fits in and it gives me some insight to the process of developing curriculum. It also made me start to think about myself three years ago when I was just starting my career as a new teacher. Would the curriculum my group has developed been helpful to me as a new teacher just starting out.

My school runs a 3 day workshops for new teachers to prepare them for the upcoming year. The three days usually include workshops on using the computers and technological systems the school offers. There are tours of the school and time with supervisors to get to know one another. Different teachers give lectures on things you can expect to see as a new teacher, and for the most part you are sitting there watching other people explain many different things. I was actually exempt from from about half of this time because I was involved in a sport, so I didn't get to enjoy the whole process, but from what I did see I can definitely the NT program my group developed in class would be much more helpful as a new teacher. There are so many things that i didn't know about teaching and had to learn though experience. The most helpful part of my first year of teaching was collaborating with my peers about ideas and techniques. If the people I work with weren't so helpful my first year would have been much more difficult. This is why it's important to have a productive New Teacher program in many schools because there won't always be that support from other teachers and new teachers need to be prepared to take on the many aspects of the classroom. Any help a new teacher can get about their profession will only prepare them for their future tasks.

Thinking like an Assessor

Assessment is such a big part of the educational process today and so many times teachers often can challenge with ways to implement it. I know as a physical educator I have struggled with this problem before. I think UBD comes up with three good questions to think about in assessment. What kinds of evidence do we need? As a teacher it's always important to know what you're looking for in your own teaching, and what do you want to get from the students in the activities you teach. What specific characteristics in student responses, products, or performances should we examine? What exactly do you need to look at in order to find out if the students understood what was being taught to them. This can often lead to problems for teachers because they can be examining the wrong information. It's important to know exactly what should be looked at and why you are looking at it. Does the proposed evidence enable us to infer a student's knowledge, skill, or understanding? This is probably the most important question because it's asking if the evidence aligns with the goals. Is what you were trying to complete through your goals answered by the evidence that you have found. If your evidence is telling you something completely different than what the actual goals were looking for than you have to question why this happened.

What are the enduring understandings that teachers must grapple with?

Enduring understandings are a big part of education because they stick with students and show true understanding of content and knowledge rather than just memory. When students are able to take information they have learned in class and apply it to everyday life I feel they have truly processed the information and know how to properly use it.

Teachers have to deal with "enduring understandings' in their everyday classes, and this can be a challenge for any new or experienced teacher. Finding ways to transfer a teachers knowledge to a students is a huge challenge itself. It can be very frustrating for a teacher when a student is not processing new ideas that the teacher is trying to teach. There can be a few reasons for this. Sometimes students just don't care about the subject they're in and really don't show any interest, but there are also students who just may not get certain information for whatever reason it is. The teachers challenge is to find ways to get their information across to both types of students in a way that sparks the students interest, so after they have learned the knowledge they just don't memorize it, but also apply it to other things.

For me, a physical educator, it can be something as simple as throwing an object. I work with students of all different skill level in my classes, and some students pick up skills very quickly while others can struggle at times. I believe there is a sense of "enduring understanding" if a student uses similar throwing techniques learned from a previous softball unit in a football unit later on. Although they are not exactly the same throw there are similar motions, and that shows the students has taken prior information and transfer ed it to the key idea of trowing an object.

What are the characteristics of a successful novice teacher?

I believe there can be many different characteristics of a successful novice teacher because there are so many different ways how any teacher can be successful. First off, novice teachers need to be continuous learners. At times there can be a lot of information thrown at new teachers, and instead of becoming overwhelmed with all this information they need to find ways to use it a learn from it. Teaching is a constant growing experience where teachers learn new things daily. Successful teachers make positive experiences out of the new information they learn. Another characteristic is a teacher who communicates with other teachers and professionals. I know the biggest help my first year of teaching was communicating with members of my department. Any question I had they were willing to help with, and if I needed an idea or some guidance they always pointed me in the right direction. I know this is not the case for everyone because not everybody like the people they work with, but in my case it was helpful. If you don't communicate well with the people in your department it's important to find somebody in the building that you can communicate with and share ideas because it can be a very valuable tool. Finding ways to manage time is another characteristic of a successful teacher. Novice teachers can become overwhelmed with all that is going on when they start teaching and if they don't figure out how to put things in order there's a chance of falling behind. The last characteristic is to make sure that new teachers really enjoy what they're doing because if they don't want to be there it's going to make things impossible to deal with.

Backward Design

I feel that if used correctly backward design can be a very helpful tool in education. In order to come up with a desired final product a person must determine the results they wish to obtain before they get started. These questions that will be asked at this point will be the questions will be the questions that will be focused on during the entire process so they should be focused on main points. After you find out what the results should be there needs to be a source of assessment and evidence. There need to be facts that support the results a person is searching for. The last step is to plan the instruction. I feel that planning the instruction will now be much easier to do because the majority of the work has already been done. I know for has been a few times for myself where I had trouble planning instruction because I didn't know exactly which direction I was going in. If I knew exactly what my desired results were it would have been much easier to plan what I was going to do.

What is curriculum? Who should design it? Who should control it?

From what I have learned in my short teaching career the curriculum lays out and explains different subjects and information that should be taught in class. It doesn't have to be followed word for word, but it is a guideline to what should be taught in the classroom. All different subjects have their own curriculum and the goals and objectives of each can be very different, but they are all aimed at improving students' knowledge and skills. Where as a physical education curriculum may focus on improving one's health through physcial activity, a math curriculum's purpose is working with algebra, geometry, etc. Although these two curriculums are very different they are both benefiting the student.

I feel that teachers should be the primary designers of curriculum. I feel this way because who has a better sense of what should be taught in classes than the people who who are doing the actual teaching. They know what goes on in class, and what work or doesn't work. When developing curriculum it's very important to stay current with what is happening in the present time. I feel curriculum does need to be changed oftern in some circumstances because what may have worked ten years ago might not make much sense now.

I think curriculum should be controled by groups of teachers, administrators, and specialist. No one person should have the final say if curriculum needs to be changed. In order for changes to be made it should go through a group process in which the majority of the group agrees that changes need to be made.

My Mission Statement

As an educator I am trying to develop respectful and goal oriented students through my teaching. I believe that if students learn how to really work for something they want that in the end they will be better people than if it is just giving to them. Students should be given guidance towards their goals, but it is important that they obtain them on their own.