Maha+El+Farouki+(Beidas)

My name is Maha Farouki. I teach Arabic as a Global language at International Schools Group (ISG) in Dhahran. I also taught French for the last five years at the same school. I teach High School Students (grades 9-12). At our school, we teach this year " Arabic Studies". At the start of the year 2006, I was a member of a Curriculum Mapping Committee that worked on this latter new course. I expect to solidify my knowledge of "Understanding By Design". I have attended workshops about UBD in different NESA Conferences and is convinced that it is an effective approach. This course will help me in revising my teaching strategies, activities and objectives in general. It will definitely help me reach my students better and fulfill the desired results. It will increase students' analytical skills, interest and thus engagement in learning.
 * Response Journal # 1**

**Response Journal # 2** David Perkins promotes the knowledge art as the imperative new approach of teaching involving creating, communicating, organizing and acting. As opposed to traditional old perspectives of teaching that focus on mere lecturing, Perkins calls on Teachers to encourage students to be creative, critical thinkers, problem solvers and finally apply knowledge in the real world. The outcome would be well-rounded students and later active members serving their community in all domains.
 * What is the author's point of view with regard to the knowledge arts?**

I strongly believe that teaching strategies have to be reviewed to better suit our "Digital Natives". Students in this era are dynamic, curious and eager to learn. The learning process they expect is no way comparable to the traditonal one we went through. We cannot under-estimate those mutli-task Students and expect them to be mere recipients of knowledge when they look for challenge, excitment and hands-on experience. As Perkins stated Teachers have to revive knowledge " and keep it alive". We teachers have to realize that teaching Students is important, but teaching them how to apply that knowledge in the real world is even more important. According to Perkins, knowledge art reinforces information and retention, and eventually long-term learning. I strongly agree to that. Educators have to re-evaluate their curricula designs all together. Teaching Global languages my self, I started thinking of many ways for applying knowledge art in my teaching. We All have to modify our objectives, learning activities and standards. Understanding by design and Curriculum mapping will greatly hlep us in this respect, ranking the Knowledge Art as a priority in the teaching approach. Preparing for Tomorrow
 * How would you respond to his ideas and suggestions?**
 * What are the implications of his ideas for curriculum designers?**

Eisner stresses the importance of teaching our Students to deal with the present-day world problems, as a means or an attempt to help them deal with the ever-lasting changes in life especially when the future seems so "unpredictable" as he puts it. Thus, we as Educators are held accoutable for providing our Learners with education that is meaningful. And what he means here; very similar to Perkins' view, is that we have to be up to the standard of our new generation of challenged, intelectual demanding and problem solving Students. Only then, we would be preparing them to manage the future, their own future.
 * In Eisner's view what aims are appropriate for schools seeking to prepare students for today and tomorrow?**

I feel that "competition" is the main reason. Competing to applying to Colleges and Universities, especially that all of these rely to a great deal on Standardized tests such as the SAT, GRE, GMAT, MCAT, or LCAT. We also have parents of students who insist on enlisting in 4 or 5 AP courses when the average should be 2 per year. Or the student him/herself would insist on that believing that this would increase his/her admission to the desired University or even to IV Leagues. Unfortunately, we have to admit that this is true. Yet, if Universities change their Standards by giving up such Standardized Tests, things will change. We have to start at the school level first and wish for the best.
 * What gives rise to "hoop jumping" conception that runs contrary to his beliegs?**

I teach Arabic as a Global Language. I am afraid that there is not much of judgement in lower level courses (Level I & II). Meaningful literacy on the other hand is definitely a core area in our Global Language Department. Students learn about Saudi culture specifically (and also about similar/different cultures in the Middle East) and they have a good feel of the environment they live in. Due to the restrictions of our culture though, we don't have much chance in the service area, and I strongly believe it is a "wasted chance". I know that had we been anywhere else in the Middle East, we would have exploited this excellent chance. We do a lot of collaborative group work in all levels. We read excerpts of literature in high levels and discuss issues, and relate it to today's world. I believe it is at the 4th level of the language that Students practice critical thinking. I will on the other hand, start thinking about innovative means to incorporate all aspects in my teaching.
 * To what extent are you able to focus on Eisner's aims in your teaching?**


 * Response Journal # 3 **

Constructivism stresses the importance of learning in a collaborative environment and applying knowledge to the outside world. Students are encouraged to critically think about what they learn, assess this knowledge against pre-existing conceptions, debate freely, share ideas, learn from hands-on experiences and finally apply this knowledge in the outside world. The benefit of Constructivism is that it " transforms the student to an active learner" and thus the student "draws conclusions from his findings" and best of all that he retains this knowledge as he feels he took part of that process. The Teacher guides Students all along working more like coaches or facilitators. We as Educators, have to watch Students who are not as fortunate as their peers. As E.D. Hirsch puts it Constructivism might exclude Students who are socially "introverts" or less smarter. We have to pay extra attention and make sure that " no student is left behind". I do not believe though that this has to do with social class as critics of Constructivism claim.
 * Benefits of constructivism and what educators should be cautious of in relation to that?**


 * Response journal # 4 **

In Global languages, Learners retain knowledge that would help them cope in travelling. Our Spanish Learners enjoyed tremendously the trip we organized 2 years ago to Spain and managed to practice their language skills beautifully. Moreover, they were proud about themselves.(This is viable in my teaching) We should not under-estimate our students' intelligence. Students are better motivated when given challenging tasks. Trivial tasks would on the other hand cause boredom and lack of interest.(viable) In my Arabic Classes, I have different students with different nationalities, backgrounds, and cultures. Their learning varries according to the extent of exposure to the Arabic culture.(viable) An Austrian Student just joined my Arabic I class last week. I had doubts as to her capability of catching up with us, and hence told her counselor and her parents telling them about my worries. She insisted on giving it a try and was in my class for a week. I was surprized to find out that that young lady managed to catch up with us. It is true that I spent with her 3 hours of tutoring, but that is about it. That young girl managed to grasp in 5 hours what we covered in 2 months. On the other hand, there are still some students who are not able to distinguish between short vowels and long ones. (viable) //**5. People construct new knowledge by building on their current knowledge**// The learning process is an ever-lasting and an on-going process. First level of a Language such as Arabic, the student has to learn the alphabet before reading. I cannot teach grammar before having my students read texts correctly. Actually, to teach grammar in Arabic, I review with my students grammar skills in English explaining all over again subjects, predicates, adjectives, adverbs, verbal nouns, gerunds etc.. (viable) I can say that I am fortunate in this respect as I teach Arabic in an Arabic environment and thus my students have the chance to interact socially. They often come back to me telling me how they managed to carry a conversation in Arabic with the salesperson at the store the night before, or with the waiter at the restaurant.(viable) //**7. People need feedback to learn**// Students have to know and ask to know about their performance. If there is no feedback, Students will keep making the same mistakes no knowing it in the first place. They also need encouragement and you need to give them credit for what they do.(viable) I encourage students to innovate their own strategies and some are quite good at this. Teaching the Arabic alpahbet, I try to help them recalling how many dots different letters have and the placement of the dot. (viable) Positive learning only happens in a positive emotional environment. Students have to feel comfortable and relaxed in the classroom. Students have to feel that the Teacher loves them and cares about them. I had a wonderful History Teacher who used to tell history as stories and we were all in love with him as he was the most careful teacher at school.(viable) No wonder classrooms have to represent the subject that is taught. If I introduce a unit about "Seasons", then I have to create an ambiance of that in the classroom. Students could help in creating posters about that, and this will indeed increase their engagement in learning.(viable)
 * //1. People learn what is meaningful to them//**
 * //2. People learn more when they accept challenging but achievable goals.//**
 * //3. Learning is developmental//**
 * //4. Individuals learn differently//**
 * //6. Much learning occurs through social interaction//**
 * //8. Successful learning involves use of strategies which themselves are learned//**
 * //9. A positive emotional environment strengthens learning//**
 * //10. Learning is influenced by the whole environment//**

//Justify the claim that the best lesson and unit designs are "backwards".//**
 * Response journal # 5

This type of design calls for educators to identify the end results first, followed by recognizing the proofs, and finally establishing " means to this end" as McTighe and Wiggins put it. Maybe we can say here ,as opposed to Machiavelli, "the means justifies the end" considering that the end here is the desired result, which is actually the beginning. This actually sounds logical in almost all initiatives, although unusual to some. The UBD approach calls for Educators to set the desired results, along with the outcomes and goals. In this stage, we also have to decide what Students will understand and know in any unit. Having this on mind, Educators then create assessments to ensure that we reach All Students. These could be called benchmarks or standards and function as evidence. Finally, these are implemented in various flexible teaching strategies and techniques. These could vary and take many forms and will be the learning activities tailored to suit each and every student. The desired result "No child is left behind" is thus achieved.

**Response journal # 6**

In global languages, I assume it is when students succeed in presenting dialogues in front of their colleagues. I often carry these in my classes. Students have to create scripts in various forms and for different situations ( at a restaurant, a clinic, or a bank). Unfortunately, in languages as opposed to mathematics, or sciences, a major part of student's assessment relies on vocabulary retention. Another behavior, is when students explain to each other, something that could even take place in the classroom as the teacher speaks. Very often this happens, and I find it helpful provided the student got it right in the first place.
 * //What behaviors do you associate with student understanding?//**
 * //How do I distinguish between students " knowing" versus understanding?//**

In Arabic, it is very important for a student to learn how to read correctly, applying all diacritic marks. Those marks are actually what constitute our grammar. I make sure they read well in the first level of Arabic (I consider this knowing). In the second year though, students learn how to insert those marks, a challenging skill that depends on analyzing the grammatical function of each word. It is worth mentioning here that my students eventually read newspapers applying grammatical rules correctly towards the mid year of level 3, and all through level 4 (I consider this understanding).