Eman+Zenhom

 Lower Elementary Group Eman Zenhom Email: mom2mustafa@yahoo.com Unit: Light & Shadows

You are able to meet a variety of goals with this unit. TB ** || **B.Doogan** || Good questions for uncovering the answers. TB ** ||  || Nice k & s., this is a great start. TB ** ||  ||
 * **Guiding Question** || **Response** || **Posted By** ||
 * **Stage 1 - Identify Desired Results : //To what extent are the targeted understandings... //** ||  ||   ||
 * **   Aligned with appropriate goals (standards, benchmarks)?     ** || **Goals look good. Are they an interpretation of prescribed goals, or have you developed them?BD
 * ** Big ideas at the heart of the discipline (as opposed to basic facts and skills) in need of // uncoverage? //  ** || **These are certainly complex and abstract - especially in light of the targeted grade level.BD** ||   ||
 * ** Framed by provocative // essential // and // unit // questions?    ** || **They have no simple answer, require investigation, and naturally occur in everyday life...so yes. Consider limiting them to five? BD
 * **Linked to valid and relevant knowledge and skills? ** || **These are appropriate and aligned. I suspect this list will grow as you work through stages 2 and 3. BD
 * **Stage 2 - Determine Acceptable Evidence** || Response || Posted by ||
 * **//To what extent are...//**
 *  Students asked to demonstrate their understanding through authentic performance tasks?
 *   A variety of appropriate assessment formats used?
 *  Assessments used as feedback for students and teachers, as well as for evaluation?
 * Students encouraged to self-assess ||  ||   ||
 * **Stage 3 - Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction** ||  ||   ||
 * **//To what extent will...//**
 *  Students know //where// they're going (the learning goals) and //why// the material is important, and //what is required of them// (in terms of unit goals, performance requirements, and evaluative criteria)?
 *  Students be hooked and //engaged// in digging into the big ideas of the unit (through inquiry, research, problem solving, and experimentation)?
 *  Students receive explicit instruction on the knowledge and skills needed to //equip// them for the required performances?
 *  Students have opportunities to //rehearse//, //revise//, and //refine// their work based on feedback?
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Students //self-assess// and set goals prior to the conclusion of the unit? ||  ||   ||


 * Journal Response #1:**

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif">Hi everyone! My name is Eman Zenhom and I am an Early Childhood Educator. I graduated from the University of Missouri -Columbia with a Bachelors of Science in Human Development and Family Studies with an emphasis in Children in Group Settings. I have enjoyed working with young children (3 to 5 year olds) on and off, for the past 10 years both here in Riyadh and in Columbia, Missouri, our hometown. My family and I have been in Riyadh for 8 years now… (Wow, time flies!) I was the previous Early Years Program Manager at AIS-R for 2 years. I am currently with AIS-R on an as needed basis for teacher training while working on my degree and being a mom to three busy kids.

I look forward to getting a detailed understanding of the science of designing and assessing lessons, teaching that is geared towards young children and pre-school teachers alike. My ambition is to practice applying the information learned in this course to developmentally appropriate curriculum design for early learners. A deeper knowledge of curriculum design and assessment is invaluable to my teaching practices since it will aid in setting appropriate goals for each individual child and planning the suitable learning activities to reach those goals. In turn, students will learn self-evaluation and critical thinking from a very young age.


 * Journal Response #2:**

This article by David Perkins literally hits the nail on the head when it comes to the meaning of purposeful education. His points have extreme merit in that while teachers spend a lot of thought and time in preparing what they will teach, the important aspect of what they will do with the knowledge is somewhat neglected. He relates that knowledge in society or the real world is created and acted upon differently than we are preparing our students for. He invites his readers to look at the significance of creating, communicating, organizing, and acting upon knowledge and making knowledge active in the minds of learners instead of passive information.

I found his article insightful and agreed with his arguments. His suggestions made sense especially in that they all geared towards teaching students to take responsibility and create “thoughtful management of their own learning”. As I was reading this, I couldn’t help but think how great it would be for teachers to not only tell students to study, but to show them how to study, an invaluable tool. Making thinking visible is an excellent tool in the classroom that will stay with the student forever. Young learners are continuously constructing their knowledge and when ECE teachers keep these points in mind, the stage is set and young students will begin their schooling not only loving knowledge but also loving what they can do with it.

Curriculum designers must ask themselves what their goal is for students, which surrounds the idea that we want them to love learning because it is meaningful for them in their lives. When designing curriculum, it is essential to incorporate various learning activities and assignments that encourage students to practice creating, communicating, organizing, and acting upon the knowledge. As Perkins mentions, these skills should be blended into and integrated into the curriculum. When curriculum designers and teachers see that it is the best way for learners to construct their knowledge, more attention will be given to “bringing knowledge alive”.

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif">Preparing for Today and Tomorrow: <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif">What a great article! He made many excellent points and suggestions that would move schools in the right direction. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif">In Eisner’s view, schools need to aim for the following: <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif">1. To encourage educators to continuously provoke students to ask, “How does this relate to me and who I am?” while learning. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif">2. To create problems that require students to use good judgment and that don’t necessarily have one correct answer, but can be supported by their newly learned reasoning. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif">3. To consider the earlier specialization of study based on the student’s interests. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif">4. To become more holistic in understanding what it means to have literacy and passing that idea on so that students may become literate in all experiences including the arts. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif">5. To empower and provide space to collaborate with other students in the class and globally to keep up with the smaller world we live in. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif">6. To invest in their students by planting the desire to give back to society with what they have learned and thus promote service learning.

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif">The idea that you have to pass one level or standard to get to the next is what the education systems are based on. The emphasis on grades without much attention to multiple intelligences is problematic. Getting through the material, entrance exams and scores needed to get to the next level, college all are factors. Once you graduate, how much do you know about what you’ve learned? How much does it relate to y ou as a person? How are you going to use it to make the world a better place? I know several teachers/moms who chose to home-school their children because they felt they had more flexibility in relating the learning to their children. My experience in public schools in the US, is that every few years, I had a teacher who really made me think about why we did the work and isn’t it funny how we remember those teachers more vividly?

If the service learning experience, ‘the payback’, had more significance on the students report card, I wonder which parents would realize that real learning took place and continue to send their children to the school knowing that they have applied their knowledge and that knowledge was demonstrated in a way that had more than one answer. If we all think back to our teaching practicum classes, and recall how empowering it was to actually practice what we have learned…to be put in the situation, being accountable and responsible for making the classroom environment work. Most would agree that it is experiences like these that demonstrate and internalize knowledge. It is however, the letter grades and test scores that dictate college acceptance though and whether or not that school produces good students. The whole system of education has to have a paradigm shift to give more room for his ideas.

Eisner’s aims work well with young children as well. I can steer away from ‘one size fits all curriculum’ as he mentions. Using open ended questions and prompts; I can encourage young children to relate anything to themselves and their world. Accepting and celebrating all responses in group discussions as valid at a young age is key in teaching them to learn how to provide good reasons for their answers and think for themselves. It is sad when preschoolers’ creativity is killed upon entering some grade schools because they are no longer permitted to “color outside the lines” and must conform to be rewarded. When training teachers, these same aims are effective. Encouraging them to develop good judgment in how they teach, having broader, more meaningful literacy in all areas, to collaborate with each other for a win/win situation, and to allow them opportunities to service their school to practice those new skills.


 * Journal Response #3** to __Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning__ Workshop

According to what I found in the readings, the many benefits of constructivism most certainly outweigh the possible areas of caution. Constructivism is a viewpoint on how to learn. Children are active participants in creating their knowledge based continuously relating the learning to what they know. They have fun and more learning takes place when one has fun. When the focus is on understanding and critical thinking instead of just memorizing, a deeper level of understanding occurs. Constructivism also encourages a student to make connections to other situations. The learning is their own; they are involved in the questioning process, how they got the answers, and how they will see if their reasoning is valid. There is so much room for student creativity and personalization. Students not only learn to work together and share ideas, they must learn to get along and respect different viewpoints as it is in the real world.

Educators must take into account and consider the following when planning lessons with this perspective. Not every student is blessed with a rich learning environment at home or at school. Teachers should not just take for granted that all will have parents who have the same dialogue style or socioeconomic status that implies weekends at the library or the zoo. Exposing such students to this way of thinking at school is definitely positive but teachers must realize that this may or may not be reinforced at home. Another point is that teachers must be aware during group discussions to look for every child’s voice. It is easy to run a lesson with the same outspoken, opinionated students chiming in all the time. Without probing and encouraging quiet students to participate, full constructivist learning does not take place for them. In addition, teachers must provide opportunities to incorporate their practical, basic skills to be developed while constructing their knowledge as well.


 * Journal Response #4** to __Powerful Learning__

1**0. Learning is influenced by the total environment.** When new students are adjusting to the program and may cry and miss their mommy, this reminds other students who just got used to separating of how much they too miss their mommies. That affects the learning environment. However, when we did our theme on transportation, when everyone was settled, our drama center was transformed into an airport/ airplane. Children learned about air travel by pretending to go on a trip, (physically) packing bags, exchanging tickets, (socially) getting along on the “flight”, and using what they know from traveling with their families. Later on in the year, they were able to recall vocabulary that was used in this play because they were immersed in the experience and were emotionally content.
 * 1**. **People learn what is personally meaningful to them**. This statement is the true essence of constructivism! For example, when I was taking my college child development classes my own two first children were under four years old. This was an added motivation to understand the learning theories. I would relate everything to what I observed with my own children and that made the learning meaningful to me. Many of my papers on the theories were supported by personal examples from behaviors I dealt with first-hand. Needless to say, I loved those classes the most because of the many relationships that were made to my life as a young mother.
 * 2. People learn more when they accept challenging but achievable goals.** When I delivered my first child Mariam, I switched from being a full time student to part-time through correspondence. Many of my friends told me to just stop classes altogether till I was ready to go back full time. Despite this hard decision, I convinced myself that I needed to challenge myself and continue studying and that my goals were not impossible.
 * 3. Learning is developmental.** My youngest daughter joined the swim team last fall when she was five. Although she was trying to produce the strokes like the older swimmers, her body just was not ready to move in that same way. Developmentally, she didn’t have the coordination to continuously kick the butterfly kick the length of the pool last year, but this year she can. . Luckily, our coach understood this and gave her appropriate feedback and encouragement to want to keep trying.
 * 4. Individuals learn differently.** I will never forget my professor for our psychology 101 class. I learned so much during his lectures because he used to involve our section in the class in a lively manner. I am a physical/kinesthetic learner and prefer to be actively involved in what I am learning about. He would walk up and down the aisles of the huge auditorium, asked students to get out of their seats to demonstrate certain points in a way that kept you wondering what he was going to do next.
 * 5. People construct new knowledge by building on their current knowledge.** The acquisition of language is an excellent example of this. Our family is bilingual and my youngest daughter used to call any moving animal a bird in Arabic. The first time we took her to the zoo she had only seen and learned the word for bird and used it all the time. So she would point and say, “Asfoora” and I would say, “Oh, you see a fish” or whatever animal it was until she could distinguish and realize that if it flies it’s a bird. When she saw a dragonfly or a butterfly and got to learn those names further building took place.
 * 6. Much learning occurs through social interaction.** While I am listening to an interesting speaker, I find that ideas, personal examples, and experiences frequently pop into my head. I feel the need to share those ideas with someone and exchange ideas with them before going on to another point. This helps me process the information and makes the learning real for me because through these exchanges, I am connecting the thought to what I already know. When educators keep this in mind and provide this time in their lessons, learning is maximized.
 * 7. People need feedback to learn.** Part of my position as an Early Years Manager required me to manage preschool teachers. It was essential to provide enough positive feedback about what they were doing great (to encourage more of it) as well as constructive criticism about what they needed to work on for learning to take place. When training teachers, recalling my own practicum feedback sessions helped me to become an effective leader.
 * 8. Successful learning involves use of strategies.** What I have found to be extremely helpful when working with young children who are struggling with separation from mom/ dad/ nanny is to help them find comfort in understanding the routine by directing them to our class poster about the day. I include pictures of parts of the day such as morning circle, outdoor play, mealtime, and going home time in sequence that is easy for the child to follow. This strategy has helped my “worried” students find comfort and assurance that it’s going to be ok and each event followed the next on the pointer. After only a few times, children would run up to the poster and look to see what was happening next on their own.
 * 9. A positive emotional climate strengthens learning.** I like to spend the first month of school really focusing on bonding with the students, getting to know them, what they like, and their learning styles. Creating a feeling of family in our classroom where smiles, hugs, and good times are celebrated encourages my students to feel safe to question, experiment, and express themselves without fear of rejection. Wouldn’t I want the same?

All of these conditions are viable in my present teacher training assignments. Adults need to have all of these conditions just as much as children do for optimal learning. This article reinforced that the measures I was taking (breaking the ice, providing time for discussion, and using different senses during the workshop) were really important in the total learning process.


 * __Journal Response # 5__**: Justify the claim that the best lesson and unit designs are “backwards.”

As a fan of Stephen Covey’s work, I agree with him when he writes, "Begin with the end in mind". As teachers, we see the benefit of picturing what learning will take place with our students ahead of time. That doesn't take away from the learning that is gained through the process of course. The best lessons and unit designs are "backwards" because the goal is clear. The focus is on what we want the students to be able to do. It is not just a fun activity; there is meaning and purpose behind every thing we have our students experience. This design enables teachers to really think about not only what they teach but also how they are teaching it so that they are assessing themselves as well as the students' learning. It is easy for teachers to find themselves doing the same activities just because they are favorites or comfortable without really assessing the goal of why they are doing the activity. This framework really allows teachers to ask themselves vital questions. What do I want them to learn? (Identify desired goals) How will I know that they are learning? (Determine acceptable evidence) What will demonstrate this learning and which activities will help me to reach the goal? (Planning learning experiences and instruction). True learning occurs when students are able to take this information and use it in other instances in their lives, not just in the classroom or during an activity. I think we all agree that seeing this transfer is what makes teachers love what they do!

Journal # 6


 * What behaviors do you associate with student understanding?
 * How do you distinguish between students "knowing" and "doing" versus understanding what they are studying?

Understanding at the preschool level can be demonstrated by observing what they are doing during their play or following an activity. It is not instantaneous and takes a lot of “doing” before real learning takes place. The child usually observes others first, then experiments with doing making mistakes along the way, needing guidance from an adult, then independently being able to do the skill or task.

A young child learns by doing. I have observed children who show interest in problem solving. They have learned by doing that if I use my words I can get something resolved. From a child’s perspective, when another student comes and pushes me out of the way at the sensory table to take my turn, if I say, “Please stop, I was here first.” I can protect my turn. I can ask the teacher to help me by reminding her of the rule that only 3 children are supposed to be at the table at a time. Teachers are there to help children help themselves in solving their problems. Doing this over and over gave the child the understanding that I can express myself to solve a problem.

Another example is, if we are doing a lesson on car safety and after singing songs and playing games about the importance of wearing seatbelts, a student reenacts the songs or actions with a friend or a baby doll and buckles him or her up, which is a sign of understanding. When he or she reminds his parents to wear their seatbelt that is also a form of understanding by doing.

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