Autumn Combs PEI Weekly Assignment 2 1. Language Arts (2nd grade): a.

Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral. [RL.2.2] b. Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures. [RL.2.9] 2. Math (kindergarten): a. Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects). [K-CC3] b. Fluently add and subtract within 5. [K-OA5] 3. Do you think that it is important for teachers to know and teach according to state and national standards for the grade level that they teach? a. It is vital that teachers teach based on the standards for that grade level. There are multiple reasons for this. First of all, if a teacher wants to keep her job, then implementing the standards is a must. Second, the students need to learn the information discussed in the standards so that when they move on to the next grade they will all be at the same level, prepared, and ready to move on to the new material. Finally, the standards are important for teachers to follow because the standards provide a guide or set of goals for the teacher to meet. She is not blindly teaching random subjects that she prefers, but she is teaching all the information that the students need to know. She has a process already made for her and motivation to teach all the material.

Autumn Combs Weekly Assignment 3 1. When you think about your own school experiences, what kinds of assessments do you remember most? Were they formative or summative? Give some examples. a. I remember having tests at the end of each chapter after we had had our lessons and a review session. The assessments were also determined at the end of the lesson, not before, when the lesson was planned. Many of the assessments were formative. We had homework every night and quizzes, reports, graphic organizers, and group work many times throughout the lesson. I feel like these were used as evaluations instead of assessments of progress because we would often receive a grade for the formative assessment and then not review much if at all. We also had summative assessments during lessons. Some examples of summative assessments used are projects, tests and reports. Formative assessments are for learning, whereas, summative assessment is of learning. 2. Do you think that it would be important to use a variety of assessment methods in the classroom? Why or why not? a. Yes I think that it is important to vary the types of assessments used in the classroom because not every person will benefit from the same type of assessment. When you provide the variety, you are allowing a chance for everyone to succeed. Another reason why it is important to vary the types of assessment is because traditional assessments do not provide a look at all the student has learned and understands about the lesson. Authentic assessments allow the teacher a better understanding of what the student has learned. 3. How would you define a learning target? a. A learning target is created to break down the objective into the most important material that the student is supposed to learn. It acts as a guide to show students what they are expected to achieve. It is geared toward the student and written in their language/from their perspective. 4. Explain why it is important for both the teacher and the student to know the learning target in a classroom.

a. It is important for the students to know the learning target so that time is not wasted on trying to figure out what the teacher is asking of them and so that they are not exhausted by the learning process. The student is also motivated to achieve more in a classroom with a clear objective. By having the target, the teacher is able to focus on instructing for the outcome and facilitating childrens learning to achieve the target. When both the teacher and the student understand the learning target, the student is able to learn and achieve more.

Autumn Combs Weekly Assignment 4

1.

Have you seen your teacher model both of these methods of teaching? Give examples of what you have observed. a. I have observed my teacher using direct instruction many times. When we begin a lesson, he stands in the front of the room and makes sure that everyone is listening to him before he continues. He also makes connections between what has been taught and what the lesson will be about that day. He is also very good about modeling procedures for the children before they have a chance at their own problems. b. My teacher also uses indirect styles of teaching. The most common time that this style takes place is during math. The children are allowed to play a game that is reviewing and teaching them skills as they go. During this time, the students are participating a learning the objective but by themselves. At the end, the students are encouraged to share their findings and discover what is happening.

2.

Questions that I have heard in my classroom: a. What do you mean? This is an example of the Follow a yes or no question with an additional question. My teacher is assessing what the children know by asking them to talk about and explain their situations. This would go into the comprehension level of Blooms Taxonomy. b. Tell me how many dots you see? This is an example of an Application Problem. This question was asked after a lesson had been taught and for the review, the teacher showed the students a sample of what they did previously to do a speed drill with the problems. This required problem solving and application of the information that they just learned. c. What was the name of the story we read yesterday? This is an example of a Knowledge question. This question simply asks the students to recall what the title of the book was.

Design for Learning

Instructor: Autumn Combs Grade Level/Cooperating Teacher: Name of teacher unless simply a classwork assignment. Lesson Title: Helps keep lesson focused. Curriculum Area: What is the subject area? Date: Date lesson will be taught. Estimated Time: How long you think it will be.

Standards Connection: Alabama State standard goes here.

Learning Objective(s): The objective describes what students will do, what the will learn, and how you will know that they have learned it.

Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language: Posting the kid friendly objective will keep teacher on track and not keep students guessing about what they will be learning.

Evaluation of Learning Objective(s): There should be a description of the assessment in this section that details what type of instrument will be used to measure the objective and how it will be scored and graded.

Engagement: Teacher accesses prior knowledge in order to discover what the students know or do not know about the topic so that misconceptions can be dealt with.

Learning Design: Description of how you are going to teach the children the material

I. Teaching: The more you talk and the students do not, the more chance they have to become disengaged.

II. Opportunity for Practice: Practice should be given in a failure free environment during initial phase.

III. Assessment: This is not the same as the practice, this is a completely different activity.

IV. Closure: The lesson should have a definite ending to give the students a sense of closure.

Materials and Resources: Resources should add value to the lesson and provide access to the content or skill for the students.

Differentiation Strategies (including plans for individual learners): This section is to ensure that all students in class have access to the content taught and to demonstrate learning that matches their strengths or needs.

Data Analysis: Data that you collected from the lesson about your students progress. Reflection: Talk about the lesson and some things that could be changed if you used it again.

Samford University Design for Learning

Autumn Combs Weekly Assignment 6 3 Things I learned from the reading: 1. Providing students with different vocabulary or spelling lists based on their needs is acceptable and differentiated. 2. Learning centers, while it seems obvious, are differentiated opportunities for the class because they are able to choose at what pace they work and the content they work on within the limits of that center. 3. Content, process, and product/evaluation can all be differentiated within a lesson in order to provide students with the best learning experience.

2 Examples of differentiated instruction: 1. My teacher provides one on one reading time with students while offering them meaningful feedback. 2. The students use leveled books based on their independent reading abilities.

1 Way I have tried to differentiate: 1. The amount and type of help that I provide each student while reading with them is different for each child depending on their abilities.

Autumn Combs Weekly Assignment 7 This article takes a look at what feedback is and what it is not. For feedback to be effective, there should be a goal that the feedback is referencing. The feedback that is given should also be easy to understand and easy to see. The next very important trait of feedback is that it be actionable or allow specific information of what was right and wrong in the performance so that the problems can be fixed and the correct things can be broadened. It is vital that the feedback continue through the performance and is delivered immediately so that adjustments can be made to enhance the product. This product should also be kept in mind while giving feedback so that the performer is able to make the adjustments needed to reach the goal that is the final product. An important thing to keep in mind is to avoid advice and simply give feedback that will help the student to make changes that will include the product. This feedback will help encourage the students confidence in his own abilities. This article emphasizes the importance of timely, accurate feedback that allows direction for the student to improve the work and encourages teachers to resist using vague phrases and grades that simply put a value on the work without any direction.

Autumn Combs Weekly Assignment 8 Data can impact student achievement by providing the teacher with the knowledge that she needs about each student. With this she can see who needs extra help, who gets the information, and who is beyond the information. This teacher knowledge can then impact student achievement due to the fact that the teacher now has a profile for that students and can develop ways to work alongside them to increase learning achievements. Data is a useful tool to use to inform your teaching. For the data received during formative assessments, the teacher is able to see where any misconceptions are or where information is lacking. Once this is noticed, the teaching can change the teaching plan to encompass that missing information. It also allows the teacher to see strengths in the lesson. Overall, data is allowing the teacher to be reflective during and at the end of the lesson. I have used data during my Research Analysis group. I gave my students a pretest to see where they were in their sight word knowledge to this point. I used the data received in the first pretest to determine that my kids were not on grade level and that it would be best to retest in order to find a better level for them to work with. I had planned to continue with teaching and practice after the pretest but because my students were unable to perform, I had to change my approach and retest. Another example of using data to change lesson plans is the fact that one of my students has test anxiety. This was evident during the first test so for the retesting process I decided to make a change to the way that I presented the material by making flashcards instead. Again using observations or formative assessment data and test data can help change the path that the lesson is going down, make the teacher to reflect on effectiveness and quality of the lesson, and cause the instruction to be more student specific based on their needs.

Autumn Combs Weekly Assignment 9 McREL has identified nine effective strategies to use in the classroom that are meant to improve student achievement. One of these strategies is identifying similarities and differences between two items. This method helps students break the items down into more simple areas and allow them to make their own discoveries and answer their own questions. The second strategy is note taking. This strategy is best when used during reading. It provides a basic outline of the text and causes the student to think about what is important to include and what is not important. In this strategy the student is manipulating the text and studying at the same time. The third strategy is effort and recognition. In this strategy the student keeps track of his efforts and the teacher, through praise, teaches him the relationship between effort and achievement. In the fourth strategy we have homework and this strategy is based on the idea that the students should receive extra time with the information and get more practice that is meaningful and has feedback. Next is the nonlinguistic representation which simply calls on the teacher to provide a combination of word and image representations of material. The sixth strategy is cooperative learning which calls for the use of student small groups to reinforce material. The seventh strategy, setting objectives and giving feedback, calls for objectives that direct the students and keep them on task and feedback that is effective. The next strategy is generating and testing hypotheses and this strategy calls for higher level thinking for the students. Finally there is cues, questions, and organizers. This strategy accesses students prior knowledge and helps them remember the information. McREL strategies can impact student achievement because they increase student confidence. Students are able to interact with the information at deeper levels than without McREL strategies. This interaction helps the information mean more and stay with the students. McREL strategies are effective because the students are engaged throughout the lesson and are continuously manipulating the information in meaningful ways.

Autumn Combs Weekly Assignment 10 I like the strategies used in the kindergarten video. They are always on the move. The teacher has the students moving at all times. The different activities that she uses are specifically made for the children to have hands on experience with the material. I like this strategy, of incorporating movement, because it allows the students to continuously be on the move instead of sitting at their desk in a boring environment. When the movement is incorporated into a lesson, the students have something to look forward to and they are distracted and do not fully realize that they are learning. They also incorporate music for the students to move to. This is important for the students to move and for those who prefer music or whose learning ability is grounded more in music. I also like the strategy that is talked about in the other video of college talk. With this college talk, the teacher has changed phrases that are used most often into phrases that expand the students vocabulary. This is important because it gives students experience with the words that they might not otherwise have. The students also get into the habit of hearing the words and phrases so they begin to mimic the teacher. Whether they mean to or not, they are expanding their knowledge of words and their relationship to other words while building experiences and new meanings. I think that both of these strategies would increase lesson plans. It is important that the students are up moving around because the more that they are engaged in the material, the more they will retain. I can incorporate this in the engagement of in the practice parts of lessons to jazz them up a little bit. Also, the college talk is worth incorporating in the lesson plans because you are constantly working on the childs vocabulary skills. Even if the lesson is not a vocabulary lesson, the students are still able to pick up the words and learn them. This could be incorporated into all parts of the lesson and during the day when a lesson is not being taught. High expectations produce high performances.

Autumn Combs Weekly Assignment 11 Write some higher order questions that you could use in a lesson plan. Upload your questions here. 1. Predict what will happen next in the story. 2. Propose a solution to the problem that is taking place in the story. 3. Argue that the main character is a hero in the story. 4. Imagine that you are a character. Develop the next scene of the play making sure to include your character. 5. Where have you seen this issue before in the world? 6. How would the story have ended if the main character was actually the bad guy? 7. Give a friend a recommendation of a book that he/she should read. Use the books that we have read this year and give details that explain why they should read this book. 8. If we add a different liquid to the solution then what will happen? 9. Propose a plan that can help the school reduce, reuse, and recycle. 10. Construct an equation using three numbers that will equal 100. 11. Select one method discussed in class and solve the equation. 12. Debate whether or not the school should participate in a recycling program.