Learning Experiences
February is another month that just flew by. Where is the time going? We did a lot this month and learned a great amount. Some of the big things we worked on in Social Studies methods this month were performance tasks, our Today’s Learner project, and edTPA. Our Today’s Learner project was a group project where we worked to understand how the students of this time and age learn versus how we may have learned when we were in elementary school. The goal of this was to see how much of a change there is in kids that are growing up with all of this technology and with different views and how this impacts how they learn. Students today need to be active in their own learning, let them drive the learning in the classroom. They also like to collaborate and need to learn the communication skill to be better off in life. Group activities are a good way to do this. They are problem solvers and critical thinkers and we need to hone this skill.
We have been steadily working on our Units for class. One of the big pieces we worked on was our performance task. To do this we had to learn what these were and what made a good one. A performance task or culminating task is an assessment project where students go beyond proving their knowledge. They are actually demonstrating their knowledge and skills. We learned how to use GRASPS to create our performance tasks. GRASPS stand for goal, role, audience, situation, performance, and standards. So what the student’s goal is, their performance and product and why. What their role in this process is (who are they in the situation). Who their audience is and what their context is. What they are creating. And how it connects to that state standards. We also learned how we should work backwards from this final project to create the lessons and learning experiences in the unit so that they lead to this task, making them valid.
Since we have been going to Washington Elementary on Tuesdays we are limited to only having in class Social Studies on Thursdays. For the past few weeks we have put a huge focus on edTPA. I now have 3 packets printed out to read and study on edTPA so that I am prepared for it. EdTPA has so many parts and seems so daunting, but it is all connected when you look at it as a whole. I am glad we have been going over this little by little in class, even if it is overwhelming at times.
Outside Learning
My other classes have been no less busy. In my EC class we have been going over eligibility of students for special education services. I have learned that there is a 3-prong test for these students, to determine their eligibility. These 3 prongs include whether the student has a disability, whether this disability has an adverse effect on their academic performance, and whether they require specially designed instruction. They must meet each prong to receive SDI. In my Integration and Assessment class we have still been working on assessments. We learned what makes assessments valid and reliable and what that means. We then put it into practice when we had to create our own assessment. In my Elementary Health class, I have learned how to spot certain symptoms for sicknesses and diseases in my students and what to do, plus many other things. I have also enjoyed being at Washington and working with the 4th graders there. It has been a great opportunity to see what is going on in the classrooms. Today I had a completely new experience. Today I observed both an inclusion class and a self-contained class at my local middle school. I have seen inclusion, so that was not too different, but viewing the self-contained class was such a different experience. It was very surprising and not what I expected, I am not sure how to explain it exactly, but I was glad to experience it. I feel like it opened my eyes some, and gave me more understanding of these students.
Connections and My Future
This month the Teacher Candidate Standards that I connected most with were probably 2d, 3d, and 4e. In my EC class we have been learning a lot about 2d: “Teachers adapt their teaching for the benefit of students with special needs”. We have been learning about who these students are, and what they need. We have also been learning about how to get the students what they need and everyones different roles in these processes. Going into Gen Ed, I feel like this is great knowledge because I think many teachers do not understand these processes and I think they should. I love knowing and understanding these things so that I can be more help to my future students. But I have also been thinking that this might be more of the direction I want to take myself. Standard 3d. “Teachers make instruction relevant to students” talks about incorporating 21st century skills into my teaching, and 4e. “Teachers help students develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills” fits right in with this. These are both some things I connected with during out Today’s Learners project. I believe that these skills are so important, if students have these skills they can make their way in the world so much better. These skills also transcend so much. I do not think these skills are new to the 21st century either. They might not have been focused on in the classroom, but they are timeless skills and I want to make sure to apply them in my classroom, not matter what I do.
