Module 11: Completing Your Unit

You are almost finished with your Unit Plan!  You have now created an assessment plan, refelcted on your unit activities and wrapped up any loose ends in your plan.

 

As you reflect on the activities you completed in tonight's class, please answer the following question:

 

• How do I create effective, authentic assessment?
• How can I best provide constructive feedback for my peers and my students?

Once you have posted your thoughts, reply to the post of at least one other participant. You may ask them a question, comment on their good ideas, or even disagree (respectfully), as long as you are saying more then just, "I agree" or "Good job". Before entering your comments, please make sure to start with the person's name you are replying to, such as "@ Melodie" or "To Melodie".

Module 9: Showing Evidence

In this module, you learned about the argumentation in the classroom and you explored the Showing Evidence Tool. You also used it to create an activity for your classroom.

 

As you reflect on the activities you completed in this module, please answer the following question:

• How can I help students build well-constructed arguments?
• How can Showing Evidence promote communication and collaboration in my classroom?

 

Once you have posted your thoughts, reply to the post of at least one other participant. You may ask them a question, comment on their good ideas, or even disagree (respectfully), as long as you are saying more then just, "I agree" or "Good job". Before entering your comments, please make sure to start with the person's name you are replying to, such as "@ Melodie" or "To Melodie".

Modules 5/6 - Visual Ranking

Tonight, we explored the Visual Ranking Tool from Intel.  We used it as a student, brainstormed how we could implement it in our own classroom and created and tested our own project using the tool.  Now that you have had time to work with this tool, please answer the following:

• Considering your test results, do you think you will keep this tool in your unit plan?
• How do you see the use of the Visual Ranking Tool fitting in with the objectives and standards you are trying to target? To the overall plan or your unit?
• How do you see the Visual Ranking Tool enhancing your students' higher-order thinking skills, as well as collaboration and communication in your classroom?
• How can the use of this tool be implemented into other areas of your instruction?
• What questions do you still have about this project's design, implementation, or assessment?

Module 4: Planning Student Centered Assessment

Tonight we focused on creating student-centered assessments.  You explored a variety of assesment strategies and drafted an assessment timeline for your unit plan that meets all of the purposes for assessing students and defines clear expectations and standards for student work.  Like all good assessments, this plan should involve students in reviewing and managing their learning progress during the course of the unit. As you reflect on your work tonight, please answer the following questions:

• How did I plan for high quality assessment throughout my unit?
• How do my assessments make me aware of my students' progress toward meeting the objectives and standards I have chosen for them?
• How have the assessments I have selected align to the thinking skills I have chosen for my students in my taxonomy of learning?

Once you have posted your thoughts, reply to the post of at least one other participant. You may ask them a question, comment on their good ideas, or even disagree (respectfully), as long as you are saying more then just, "I agree" or "Good job".

Module 3: Creating CFQ's

Tonight we focused on creating Curriculum Framing Questions (CFQ's) for our unit plans. We learned about 3 types of CFQ's - essential, unit and content questions.  Please take some time to asnwer the following:

• What are your thoughts about using CFQ's in your classroom?
• How does using these questions impact student learning and higher-order thinking skills?

Once you have posted your thoughts, reply to the post of at least one other participant. You may ask them a question, comment on their good ideas, or even disagree (respectfully), as long as you are saying more then just, "I agree" or "Good job". Before entering your comments, please make sure to start with the person's name you are replying to, such as "@ Melodie" or "To Melodie".

Module 2: Designing Standards-Based Projects

This week, we began designing our unit plans. We started to think about project ideas that we could include as part of our instructional activities. We began adding state and national (NETS) standards for our students and creating student objectives to guide our instructional activities. Take some time to think about what you have completed so far and then answer the following questions:

• How can I create standards-based projects that provide opportunities for deeper, higher-order thinking?
• How do my standards and objectives  relate to the taxonomy of learning my group created in Module 1?
• How does the project my team is considering relate to the taxonomy of learning my group created in Module 1?
  
  
  

Once you have posted your thoughts, reply to the post of at least one other participant. You may ask them a question, comment on their good ideas, or even disagree (respectfully), as long as you are saying more then just, "I agree" or "Good job". Before entering your comments, please make sure to start with the person's name you are replying to, such as "@ Melodie" or "To Melodie".

Module 1: Targeting Thinking in the Classroom

In this module, we thought about the essential skills that are needed to be succesful in the classroom and beyond.  We learned  that instruction that builds upon and encourages higher-order thinking skills results in greater levels of student learning. We created our own taxonomies of learning, including the skills that we feel our necessary to succeed as 21st Century Learners.  We also identified positive and negative influences that can affect thinking, from the viewpoint of a 21st Century citizen.

As you reflect on the activities you completed in tonight's class, please answer the following question:

• What does thinking look like?
• What thinking skills should I target for my classroom?
• How can I best design instruction that promotes thinking?

Once you have posted your thoughts, reply to the post of at least one other participant. You may ask them a question, comment on their good ideas, or even disagree (respectfully), as long as you are saying more then just, "I agree" or "Good job". Before entering your comments, please make sure to start with the person's name you are replying to, such as "@ Melodie" or "To Melodie".