Critical Reflection

Well, it's hard to imagine that the end of our four week coursework has finally come to end. It has been a long road, but fulfilling in the sense that I am proud of what I have accomplished. I feel that I am a role model to my four children because they can look at their mother as someone who persevered even when things were difficult. Looking at another aspect of a teaching model has also been an exciting endeavor. I would like to further explore the UBD model in my 1st grade classroom. I have already shared my Native American unit with my colleague and we will expand on the unit this fall. My principal has agreed to incorporate the Newark Museum's lending program into our school-wide program this year. I am excited about the possibilities that object-based learning can provide.
Upon reflection of my mission statement the unit design is coherent with my goals of teaching. My principles, practices, and purposes of teaching are congruent with the goals of the unit design and in essence are reflective of the performance tasks that were established. Susan and I created tasks that were based on principles of cooperative learning, critical thinking, and constructivism. The students will be actively engaged in the learning of the life of Eastern Woodland Native American life. I believe that primary grade students learn by "doing." The object-based learning model of teaching that we were taught is a wonderful way for students to have a visual model as an entry point for learning. I was a skeptic when we began our museum study three weeks ago and was told that we would be creating a table top exhibit using museum artifacts. I must admit I was amazed to see how objects can make such a huge impact on the learning of your audience. Because we were so impressed with the statement that the artifacts made and the response that we had from the museum visitors, we tried to plan lots of objects in our lessons. We believed that they would be strongly received and the message of the lesson would be more powerfully spoken by the presence of the items.
Our Understanding by Design Plan was systematically created by aligning the student goals, the student understandings, and the performance tasks. The assessments that we created directly correlate to the goals that address the themes of Eastern Woodland Native American life, basic goods and services, needs and wants, and families. The assessment provides the students with choice based on their learning preferences. The assessment requires the students to select a writing activity, speaking activity, drawing activity, and performance activity. Each task activity provides the student with a multitude of variety. It speaks to their individuality as a learner as well as a member of a group. I believe that students should should have their individual voice but they need to learn so many critical skills in collaborative learning environments. They learn how to work cooperatively, listen and talk through problem situations, and create a project. Some of our assessment tasks are designed so that the students will work in cooperative situations as well.
What I am most pleased about is the knowledge that I gained in the area of technology. I was the most technology challenged individual before this course. I would like to thank you for the knowledge that you provided me with regarding setting up a web page, navigating google docs, blogging and google sharing, and cutting and pasting with ease. I can bring this knowledge and use it with my students this year. Maybe Susan's first grade students and my students can do something using technology. I am very excited about the prospect about the world of technology that is available to us! I will expand my web page throughout the year as pertinent information arises. Thank you for enlightening my world.