Samaa+Farghaly

= = =Unit: Lessons For Life....Folktales and Fables.= ==

====Journal#1 Deepening my knowledge of curriculum design and assessment will, without a doubt, help me know **how to plan for learning and teach for understanding.** The backward design, which //Understanding by Design// focuses on, looks like a true challenging technique that I am excited to learn and use in my classroom. Focusing on what the big ideas are, developing essential questions related to those ideas, keeping in mind the 6 facets of understanding, the WHERETO acronym, are all **sound** techniques that any skilled teacher should master in order to help her students understand in a way that is both effective and developmentally wise. I also wish that this course will help me develop authentic performance assessments; something that will truly show that understanding is occurring; something more than just quizzes, tests and observations; something that would signal to me that my students are getting the knowledge from within. When my students get the answer right, I feel rewarded, but actually, it is the misunderstanding that challenges me to think about the bits and pieces that are lost in my teaching plan. So I really hope that this course will answer all my questions on curriculum design and assessment so I can be a better teacher. ====

Journal #2
__The knowledge Art__
 * Perkins’ point of view is that knowledge in the broad sense_facts, ideas, and skills_is not enough for this new generation of learners, since it doesn’t really guarantee true understanding. Teaching our students to use this knowledge to communicate effectively and to think critically, should be our main concern as educators.


 * As a technology teacher, I find Perkins’ ideas and suggestions a perfect fit for this age of digital learners. We are responsible for preparing our students for more effective functioning in their lives. So it is not just about teaching different tools in Microsoft Word; instead it is more about teaching them to apply their understanding of those tools to work with any other piece of software.

*How can we encourage deeper understanding, regardless of subject or learning level? How to make subject matter instruction more accessible and meaningful? How to design a curriculum that focuses on reasoning and inventive thinking? …Similar questions can be investigated in the light of Perkins’ educational theories and will eventually turn into a wealth of ideas for curriculum designers.

__Preparing for today & tomorrow__


 * Judgment, critical thinking, meaningful literacy, collaboration and service are appropriate aims for schools seeking to prepart students for today and tomorrow.


 * A school curriculum that is content driven, something that doesn’t challenge our kids to think and look for true understanding of what they are learning is of a hoop jumping nature.Also State tests such as the MCAS, being administered to rate a school performance is another misleading routine that is of a hoop jumping nature, Looking at our school system in the US, I feel that , with all the big and sound slogans on Teaching for Understanding, we are still not getting it and this is really pathetic.


 * I personally always try to trigger critical thinking in my classroom. And even though I like to simplify things for the little ones, I still encourage them to embrace complexity. I also teach my kids to collaborate and work together; they learn to dig for thoughts and ideas, to think for themselves and more importantly to share their findings with each others.

Journal # 3

// Describe some of the benefits of constructivism. // Besides enabling students to appreciate somebody else's perspective, a constructivist class gives them a chance to listen to and to evaluate ideas and the logic or lack of logic of ideas presented to them. For example, -- the strategy of "academic controversy," in which students research and gather information about a controversy, advocate a particular position using evidence to support their point of view, is a outstanding technique that can create an authentic learning experience. A constructivist approach develops thinking skills as well as communication and social skills; it also encourages alternative methods of assessment, helps students transfer skills to the real world and promotes intrinsic motivation to learn.

// What should educators be cautious of in relation to constructivism? // It is the kids who should be constructing their own knowledge, whereas the role of educator is to guide them, to help them, to facilitate that. This understanding of our true job as “observers” is something we need to stay aware of it. Now, as a technology teacher, I feel I have something to say on applying multimedia technology in a constructivist classroom: Technology, specifically the computer, can help a student to become independent. But, with respect to the constructivist learning theory, even the best multimedia programs CANNOT replace a field trip for a science project. As educators, we need to be aware and **cautious** of being fooled by all the glitz and glamour of technology. Students must interact with content to construct their own meanings......Don't you agree?

Journal #4

 * // Give an example from your own experience for each of Brandt's conditions for //**//** powerful learning **//**// . Which of these conditions are viable in your present teaching assignment? //**

// 1. People learn what is personally meaningful for them // One technique I always use is displaying an exampler or a sample of how the End project should look like; I also ask my students whether it appeals to them or not…..whether they would want to do it or not….it is more like making them feel that they have POWER over their learning….and this gets them more involved in the given task.

// 2. People learn more when they accept challenging, but achievable goals // A group of kids will perform best on any given task if I pick a complex task, challenge them to do it, tell them that they can do it. This sounds exactly like Stephen Krashen’s Input+ 1 hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, the learner improves and progresses along the 'natural order' when he/she receives second language 'input' that is one step beyond his/her current stage of linguistic competence. //"The best methods are therefore those that supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are 'ready', recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production." //// Stephen Krashen //

// 3. Learning is developmental // Step by step instruction is one of my teaching techniques that I use with my students. It is proven helpful for those kids who really need directions to follow…The only thing I don’t like about it is that it doesn’t seem to challenge advanced students.

// 4. Individuals learn differently, multiple intelligences // Gardner theory of multiple intelligences is always present in my lesson plan. Every student in my class has a unique "cognitive" profile that I keep track of……I find it very useful, since I use it to customize bits and pieces of the given task to meet the interests of my students. So if I know that Sarah is good at painting, I might include a coloring activity in the given project. Sarah will love it, and Alex ( who is weak in mouse control) will benefit from it.

// 5. //// Much learning occurs through social interaction // Kids tend to learn from each others; I learned that by watching a Chinese student in the playground. “kick ball” he said, signaling to his friend in school to start to play….and it was that same Chinese kid who couldn’t say any English word on the school admission test. When I tried to understand the theory behind this “playground language”, I came across Cummins theories of (BIC) and (CALP); something that really enriched my understanding of language acquisition.

// 6. Successful learning involves use of strategies-which themselves are learned: // Again it sounds too close to krashen’s Acquisition VS learning hypothesis. According to Krashen there are two independent systems of second language performance: 'the acquired system' and 'the learned system'. The 'acquired system' or '**acquisition**' is the product of a subconscious process very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language. It requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concentrated not in the form of their utterances, but in the communicative act. The 'learned system' or '**learning**' is the product of formal instruction and it comprises a conscious process which results in conscious knowledge 'about' the language, for example knowledge of grammar rules.

// 7. A positive emotional climate strengthens learning // It is Krashen’s fifth hypothesis, the **Affective Filter** hypothesis. Krashen believed that a number of 'affective variables' play a facilitative, but non-causal, role in second language acquisition. These variables include: motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. Krashen claims that learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety are better equipped for success in second language acquisition. Low motivation, low self-esteem, and debilitating anxiety can combine to 'raise' the affective filter and form a 'mental block' that prevents comprehensible input from being used for acquisition. In other words, when the filter is 'up' it impedes language acquisition. And since I am a fan of all of krashen's theories, I consider this to be **RULE#1** for an authentic learning experience to happen. "You can do it!" " Well done!" "You amazed me!" is the vocab that I use everyday in my classroom. // 8. Learning is influenced by the total environment: // Meaning that as a teacher, my job is to attend to all aspect of my classroom setting ( physical, emotional and psychological). I recall doing a lesson on “directional programming concepts” and using PIXIES robot that I dressed up as a Monkey. It was the only time that I really felt that the kids are getting it…............

//** Journal# 5 **//
//Why the best units design are backward:

Backward Design shifts us into thinking about theme-driven units as opposed to a text-driven units; it is more about “Big Ideas and questions” that engage students and help them ** SEE **the relevance of the study of a content. We all know that covering a topic doesn't cause genuine insight, that we cannot cover all the knowledge on a given topic, and that understanding is earned; therefore with a focus on those Big Ideas, and with Essential questions revisited overtimes, students connect discrete knowledge to a larger intellectual frame; they get to explain Why is that So? what does it mean and what does it illuminate in human experience? ..........thus a learning experience so unique and TRUE.//


 * Response# 6 **

What behaviors are associated with student understanding? This is could be this "ahhh" sound that they make when they understand ; it could be those hands up telling you all kind of stories from their own lives echoing you point; it could be, like one teacher mentioned, that twinkle in the eyes of my students ( this is really LOVELY).

How do you distinguish between students "knowing" and "doing" versus understanding what they are studying? To know and do is all about drills....but to understand, it is about uncovering an idea, about making connections, about transferring the knowledge... It is this student who will tell you that the fall of the evil signals the rise of the good ( in fables & folktales), or that, he knows another story very similar to the one you said, except that......the hero dies at the end........... Right now I am looking at this conceptual map on the ceiling.........and that means: I understand, I can relate my learning.......I SEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!