Well, I guess it is that time in the semester. I am at the critical point where I need to really demonstrate what I have learned in my classes through some rather intense assignments. Recently in my ED 330 Assessment class, we have been discussing our Understanding by Design unit assignment. I knew this would be an involved task, but I was kind of looking forward to going through all the steps that were necessary to create a two-week unit in a classroom. There is definitely so much to think about and analyze. Sometimes I have a tendency to over-think.. but in the end I decided that my topic would compare the environments of Athabascans to that of the Navajo Indians with my understanding goal stating, "Students will understand that the natural environments of the Athabascans and the Navajos impact their ways of life." One of my essential questions for the topic is "What can we learn from the way the Athabascans live as compared to the Navajo?" I thought this topic would be interesting to students in Alaska to compare the lifestyles of such different environments because both groups have such strong cultural beliefs. I know that while teaching this unit I need to ensure that the students feel a relevance to the topic, and I need to be prepared to answer "Why do we need to know this?". This can be more difficult to specifically address than it sounds.
For my performance task at the end of the semester, I thought it would be interesting for the students to create a journal describing their life using their role in one of the two environments that we discussed. They will describe their homes, clothing, food, as well as how their food was acquired. I am still developing this more specifically, but I wanted to be able to give students other options to complete the task that would still connect with my goal. Because I am taking ED 329 this semester, I was thinking of ways that technology could be incorporated in my unit. I thought it might be appealing for students to have the option of creating a blog if they were not drawn to the handwritten journal.
I am excited to see the end of this unit and the final product that I will create. I am learning much more about the people as I am preparing for this assignment. I have some really good ideas for activities that can be done in the classroom during the unit as well.
I don't get to take ED 330 until next spring :(, but it is good to know that what I am learning in this class will be useful in ED 330. I am glad that you have more ideas for your unit. I am excited to take the class now more so than I was before. I also tend to over think sometimes too, you just want everything to be great. I hope your unit turns out well.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your unit. Your ideas sound very good; and you are right- you have to make sure that the material is relevant to the student and their learning now. Otherwise, there is really no reason to put forth the effort to learn it. My daughter just got finished designing a lesson for a class she is taking, at a university in Texas. She incorporated many different methods of student participation; online responses to the written portion of the lesson, online collaboration for students who wish to work on the lesson with a partner, and a self guided ('mini') lesson accelerator, for those who worked at a faster pace than the group. After I showed her our slide shows and Comic Life posters she thought she might like to revise the lesson for future use, incorporating the poster into her lesson plan. Keep in mind, she will be teaching 7th grade English. She thought that it would be yet another way to accommodate and encourage self expression.
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