Thinking back to my experiences as a learner, I would say that most of my teachers had a similar style of teaching. In my opinion, it wasn't necessarily wrong, but it was far less engaging than the teaching styles of today.
In elementary school a majority of instruction was teacher directed, with occasional time for collaboration among peers. The teacher would review the previous day's lesson, introduce a new concept, give you time to independently practice concept, then close the lesson only to revisit it the next day if necessary. We often worked out of text books and utilized worksheets to practice newly learned concepts. Most assessments, that I remember, were at the end of the week or unit-there was not a daily assessment to check for student understanding. However, there is always that 1-2 teachers that stood out, and impacted you through their original teaching and attitude. My fifth grade teacher was the one that influenced me and aided in my decision to teach; she believed in me, created lessons/instruction that was student-centered, and integrated collaborative projects into the curriculum. We had a class newspaper, that each student contributed to-I remember feeling so proud and valued, as she made each student feel that his/her contribution was needed and valuable. This same teacher often integrated projects, in which parents and/or volunteers would need to come in and assist in the process. Everything was hands-on and she worked hard at getting parents involved in the educational process-I think that makes a huge difference. Most of my memories of elementary school are related to experiences in that class-that is a true indication of the effectiveness of her teaching.
In middle school and high school, instruction was quite similar. However, the lessons were more fast paced and there were times where students would be working together on a collaborative project. During collaboration, students were often not engaged and off-task, working out of a textbook or other resource to locate information for the purpose of answering questions and sharing out. The teachers I remember most during these years are the ones that forced us to think critically and creatively, such as: creating a children's book, and constructing a bridge out of limited resources. Some projects were done independently and some within a group, but the difference with these teachers was their ability to create lessons that required you to expand your thinking and forced you to collaborate and share ideas.
Unlike in today's educational system, technology was not much of an option and you only saw it in the library-you were lucky to use it a handful of times during the year. I don't recall having small group, differentiated instruction, but do remember feeling uncomfortable and like a failure if I didn't understand certain concepts(one particular teacher that had the "one size fits all approach").
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.
In order for a learning experience to be maximally effective and well-designed, it seems to need to include the following:
- Collaboration
- Exploration (Backwards Design)
- Integration of technology
- Higher-Order Thinking questioning
- Immediate and continual feedback/reinforcement
- Student centered/Teacher guides and facilitates
- Differentiation
- Small group instruction
- Connection to students
- Appeal to a variety of learning styles
- Explicit goals and clear objective
- Assessment
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?
In the school I teach in you would most likely see the characteristics of best design in the upper elementary grades (4-5), and specifically in math, science, and social studies. I feel like teachers are not aware of the capabilities of the younger students, as far as technology goes, so they avoid implementing it within the classroom. I also think that there is a minimal amount of collaboration time because the younger students (K-3) need more structure and guidance, as opposed to the more mature students. In all grades and across all subjects, teachers make students aware of the objective, provide small group instruction, assess, provide feedback, and ask H.O.T questions. However, the utilization of technology, student centered activities, and collaboration are more seen in classrooms where students are more mature and self-motivated.
I believe that technology and collaboration is often seen in math, science, and social studies because these subjects appeal to exploratory learning and collaboration. Students are required to work together to explore and understand a given topic/concept and technology is a helpful tool in the process. Since learning about the variety of technological resources available, I have realized that technology is just as good a tool for ELA, as there are an abundance of reading and writing resources available to enhance instruction and engage students.
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.
The best characteristics of instructional design are as follows:
- Identifying a clear objective
- Consider the different learning styles of students
- Establish criteria for assessment/ Student awareness of expectations
- Hands-on Collaboration
- Technology integration
- Student-centered: Allow them to be part of the planning process/Instruction based on feedback
- Differentiation
- Social-Constructivist Approach/ How to Learn
- ICT's for the purpose of research and exploration
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