Synthesis Paper #1: The binding cord
As I read the articles this week, I looked for a common thread. I found that well written and clear objectives drive instruction also how one should use those objectives to produce your assessments so that students can show mastery of the skills. What stood out to me the most was what Guskey, T. R. (2005) stated, “But to bring about significant improvement in education, we must link standards to what takes place in classrooms. For that to happen, teachers need to do two important things: (1) translate the standards into specific classroom experiences that facilitate student learning and (2) ensure that classroom assessments effectively measure that learning (Guskey, 1999).”
This week’s articles helped
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I decided to examine my TEKS and develop well written objectives first by using a few of the indicators that I read in the articles. I found that Shank, P. (2005) Stated that,” Well-written learning objectives describe, in specific, measurable, and observable terms, the skills students are expected to exhibit as a result of instruction. In other words, learning objectives answer the question, “What will the learner be able to DO?” rather than indicating what the student will be taught” and “Well-written learning objectives always contain a specific, measurable, and observable action verb that describes the skill that the learner will …show more content…
R. (2005)
For example, if we are studying geometry my guiding questions to plan would be, what would be the learner outcomes? What do I want the students to learn by the end of the unit? From here I would develop my instruction to directly target the skills that I want each learner to understand. Guskey, T. R. (2005) supports, “The second essential question is, What must students he able to do with what they learn? In answering this question, teachers must determine what particular skills, abilities, or capacities must pair up with the new concepts and material.”
Throughout my career as an educator I have heard the term “backwards planning” however, what does that really mean? What does it look like? I found myself knowing the concept but not fully understanding the concept. Shank, P. (2005) states that, “Once you know what assessments are needed, your next task is to design content and activities so students can gain adequate understanding and practice to be able to perform at the desired level on assessments (thereby showing they have met the learning
Standards 7 and 8 of the InTASC Model Core Teacher Standards address the Instructional Practice of planning for instruction and instructional strategies. Standard 7 states: “ The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.” Standard 8 states: “The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.” As I read Standards 7 and 8, I think about the importance of planning for each
Ideally teachers should first look at how the objectives correspond to the larger goals and aims and then identify the skills required to achieve the objectives (Noddings, Aims, Goals and Objectives, 2007).
Summary In One Size Fits Few: The Folly of Educational Standards, the author Susan Ohanian closely studies the establishments and effects of standards-based classrooms in the U.S. Each year educators experience the joys and frustrations of using standards and standardized assessments as the primary means of monitoring student achievement. Many educators believe classroom standards are beautiful, but should it be the driving force of the school? Susan Ohanian provides readers with a personal perspective on the major impact educator officials have placed on teacher and students with the use of standards.
To remediate this, we contracted with the Achievement Network to help us connect the standards to a curriculum and plan for a more fluid instructional delivery that would improve the assessment outcomes. They provided us a structure that laid out the Common Core Standards of assessed skills that included a scripted curriculum and instructional activities outlined in their guidelines. Students are making growth towards attainment. However, only 9% of the student population have met grade-level proficiency targets. Teachers are feeling that they are harshly judged because 30% of their evaluation is based on students meeting proficiency.
For example, placing learning objective on the board at the beginning of class tells students exactly what they are expected to master. Students then use metacognitive strategies to determine whether they have sufficient mastery. In addition, teachers can utilize formative assessments drawn directly from the learning objective and adjust instruction to ensure all students have mastered the objective. The learning objective has a parallel in the Great Commission (Matthew 28: 16-20, New International Version). Jesus understands that his disciples need a clear purpose for how to continue their ministry in his absence. Likewise, students need a clear understanding of how to study when the teacher isn’t
Teaching demands a lot of creativity and being able to adapt to different situations and environments. However, in order to experience lasting success, more than pot luck, charisma and spontaneity are required. Planning is essential. Planning and preparation gives a certain level of confidence. Whether it is a single lesson or a whole course, planning allows you to design the learning journey you wish to take your students on. In designing, you can make sure that you are catering for all your learners’ needs. This includes sufficient differentiation; for SEN needs as well as your gifted and talented students. In planning you can ensure that your lessons have a definite beginning, middle and end and have clear aims and targets. At this stage you will also prepare and plan resources. Also, you must plan your assessments. How will you know when the students have learned what you set out to teach? How will they know? How are you going to prove that learning has taken place at the end of the course? All these points will be addressed in the planning stage of the teacher training cycle.
Throughout the day teachers are faced with teaching math, science, language arts, and social studies. While teaching these subjects the teacher has to be educated in all of the different subjects because students will have questions about all of the different subjects. In classrooms today, many subjects are focused on math, reading, and writing because these are the subjects on the standardized tests. Depending on the district and state, there may be outlines of the curriculum. For example all of the elementary schools in Albany County’s district follow the same math outline. With this being said, I do think it is important to follow these outlines, but I think it is important that we are not focused on the assessment. Teachers’ should be focused on the students’ learning and how they are retaining the information. While learning to teach I have watched a few teachers shut down students; questions about certain subjects because it was not a subject they needed to learn. Throughout the year we will have to cover different standards and take multiple assessments, but throughout the school year I want my students to feel excited and ask questions. Questions allow students and teachers to grow, and theses questions may not fall in the standardized test are. These questions are so important and as teachers we should answer them because our student are interested in what they are asking. Teachers have the responsibility to make sure students feel like they
Standardized tests do not give us a complete and direct measure of student achievement because they often only measure the goals of education(Harris). And while teachers and administration are forced to increase preparation for these tests, important -arguably more important - skills are being overlooked. Here are some attributes that standardized tests do not even try to cover: creativity, motivation, persistence, curiosity, reliability, critical thinking, self-awareness, leadership, civic-mindedness, empathy, courage, compassion, sense of beauty and wonder, honesty and integrity. Surely these are all “achievements” that students should be experiencing, so why don’t schools these as well as academic goals? Rochelle Gutiérrez, a member of The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics says "Achievement—all the outcomes that students and teachers attain. Achievement is more than test scores but also includes class participation, students' course-taking patterns, and teachers' professional development patterns"(Harris). These are all qualities that standardized tests cannot measure.
My personal objectives for teaching is to connect the dots for the students when they learn new things and find ways to integrate what they knew and continuing to learn (Moran, Burson & Conrad,
There is much debate circulating around how the affairs of the american educational system should be conducted, specifically regarding the utilization of standardized testing. Supporters of standardized testing view it was an objective way to evaluate student achievement across the globe. (Jain, L. Role and Benefits of..) According to the US Department of Education,”If teachers cover subject matter required by the standards and teach it well, then students will master the material on which they will be tested--and probably much more.” Meaning, teaching to the test is not necessarily a negative thing as it allows the student to focus on the essentials of a subject. (USDE, Testing: Frequently Asked…) Standardized testing grants teachers the ability to organize their curriculums to meet national and international standards. In this paper, I want to analyze the effects of standardized testing, while also identifying the potential negatives.
It is important for my students to understand and value learning goals in the classroom. At the start of every chapter students will be supplied an outline of what they are going to encounter in the upcoming weeks.
8. Standards are learning goals that students should know at the end of the grade level they are in. Assessments should be used to ensure that all students are meeting each learning goal. During the assessment, if a student is struggling, the teacher may need to reteach some topics to the child. 9. Assessment is important because then the teacher knows if their students are excelling in some areas but need help in others. Assessment’s essentially tell teachers which areas they need to reteach or cover more. 10. Authentic Assessment in Kindergarten, is monitoring student progress using effective strategies, tools, and ideas. This type of assessment can be carried out in kindergarten by using checklists, rubrics, portfolios, and many other tools to help them monitor students’ progress.
It is very important for teachers to align their curriculum goals with state standards. Ideally, completing classroom assignments should lead students to meeting classroom objectives. Furthermore, classroom objectives should help a student develop and meet state standards. Using Pennsylvania academic standards, I clarified my instructional goals. I created classroom objectives that are reflective of the information in the Video Basics text. Then I used these objectives to develop my performance task assessment. Below is a table that highlights the alignment between Pennsylvania academic standards, classroom objectives, and the performance assessment.
For the instructional goal of the lesson plan, I had created a learning goal for the unit plan. The students were not given options to fit it to their learning so to benefit the diverse type of learners and to provide multiple means of action and expression. The teacher would use the main goal as a guide for the student’s own goal setting. The main goal being the students will be able to explore and investigate the different landforms and how they are formed through weathering and rapid changes. The teacher would have the students come up with their own goal for the lesson after instructing the students of her goal. The students will point to a goal on a task card created by the teacher, verbalize or write their goal in the appropriate area. This would benefit the learners by giving them the option and
This has been my experience as an adult in college as well. Our syllabus for each course we take will state what the objectives are for the course before activities and homework are broken down into each week’s expectations. Each new week often starts with an announcement (our Post-It) that explains what we will be learning about, what activities we will complete, and what is expected other wise as well (the Double Plan). With the 4 M’s in mind, our objectives are almost always manageable by both the teacher and the students; they are measurable in that we show what we are learning through our interactions within discussions; they are designed to give us weekly objectives (as we do not meet every day); and the objective focus on what is most important on our track to becoming teachers (Lemov, 2015).