UbD ch. 8, MI chs. 8, 11, 12 Response

One point that was emphasized at least to some extent in each of the chapters was the importance of focusing on what a given student CAN do versus what he or she cannot do. This applies to special education students in that teachers should use MI theory to help them grow as learners, allowing them to use their stronger intelliegences in place of an intelligence that is weaker or less developed. Even though the student may not be taking the same "route" or using the same means as his or her peers, he or she will still reach the desired endpoint one way or another, and maybe even at a different time, and this is okay. By focusing on what special education students CAN do (because in many cases, a student who is deficient on one or more intelligences makes up for it by being extremely strong in another), these students will have better self-esteem and an "increased understanding and appreciation" from their peers (Armstrong, 159). In terms of cognitive skills, a students' memory can be refined by helping them practice it through their strongest intelligences instead of forcing them to memorize content through their weaker intelligences. I really liked the list of ways that memory can be practiced through all the different MIs. It is also important for teachers to use the MIs of their students to help them determine which classroom management strategies will be most effective. If a teacher is trying to manage his/her classroom through strategies that don't appeal to the MIs of his/her students, then the students won't be ask likely to listen and the teacher will get frustrated. This is why the teacher must focus on the strengths of the students. Lastly chapter 8 of UbD discussed the importance of paying attention to the abilities of students when grading them, and also suggested ways to grade most holistically and in ways the support the learning of the student. It is the teacher's job to communicate learning development to the students, focusing just as much on their successes as the things that they need to improve upon. And, just as it is important to differentiate instruction, it also important to differentiate grading strategies to make sure that everything is being accounted for. These are things that I will keep in mind when I have my own students.

MI Chapters 7, 8, 13, and 14 Response

I felt that each of the chapters we read discussed ways to bring MI theory to life in the classroom with some methods being more practical than others.

I found the first part of chapter to 7 to be more helpful than the second part because it outlined general aspects of classroom design and how they affect/relate to MIs.  I do think that the activity centers are more conducive to and realistic for an elementary school classroom, mainly because teachers at the high school level teach a variety of different grades and classes a day, which means one classroom set up may work for one group of students but not another.  Since I will (most likely) be teaching just one subject, it may be plausible for me to set up my classroom in a way that best suits how MIs are used in the English classroom.  This might make my set up more universal for all my different grades and classes and still appeal to a variety of intelligences.  For example, I might have a quiet reading center with for students to work and read independently (intrapersonal, linguistic), another space across the classroom for students to collaborate (interpersonal), and another space where they move about freely (kinesthetic).  I would then incorporate other elements that appeal to the other MIs throughout the classroom, but maybe not in “activity centers.”

I really liked the different ideas for using MI theory in classroom management, but again, I found many of them to be better suited for elementary grades.  However, I thought this chapter provided good insight as to how rules and expectations can be conveyed through all the different intelligences, and this is something that I will attempt even in my high school classroom.  This chapter made me consider the possibility that the reason some students have behavioral issues could be because the rules are not conveyed in a way that is easily interpreted through their strongest intelligences.

I was glad that chapter 13 provided examples of how technology can be used as a tool for allowing students to work with and explore MIs.  Because I’m not great with technology myself, I’m looking for ways to incorporate it into my curriculum that are meaningful and not too complicated and this chapter provided ideas on how to do that while appealing to all MIs.

Lastly, I enjoyed reading about the possible “existential intelligence” because I think it is found in a lot of literature, so I can easily incorporate it into my curriculum!

MI chapters 5, 6 and UbD chapters 6,7 combined response

One of the biggest points that all four chapters agreed upon is that students should be able to find meaning in what they are learning as well being able to make connections to real world scenarios.  However, all students will come to conclusions at different paces and through different mediums.  Lesson planning must be differentiated and flexible so that material can be “translated” from one intelligence to another (known as multimodal teaching), and the chapters provided tools that can aid teachers in achieving this—I will certainly refer to them.  The chapters also place emphasis on the idea that understanding often leads to meaning; Tomlinson and McTighe state that “we believe it is through the interplay of drill and practice in combination with authentic tasks (i.e., playing the game) that meaningful learning in achieved.”  Along these lines, the UbD chapters often compared students in the classroom to athletes and teachers to coaches, which is a metaphor that is easily relatable for me.  UbD chapter 6 discusses the importance of giving all the students the opportunity to “play the game” while also participating in “sideline drills.”  This resonated with me because, as an athlete, there are times when I would rather not compete because I am nervous or do not feel that I am ready, but my coach enters me in the race anyway, telling me that it will be a good experience even I don’t hit the time I want.  Then, after I finish the race, I feel much more satisfied with myself and I learn something new each time, even if I don’t run a personal best time.  If I didn’t have the opportunity to compete, I wouldn’t have the chance to run a fast time let alone learn anything from the experience.  Then, after the race, I know exactly what it is that I need to work on or refine for next time, whether it’s going out a little slower, finishing speed, or keeping a consistent pace.  In my future classroom, I will always have my students combining “sideline drills” with opportunities to apply their skills.  That way, they can learn from their experiences and know what they have mastered and what they need to refine while I can adjust my lesson plans based on how my students are doing, just like my coach refines my training regime after each race.  

FIAE Chapter 6 Response

This chapter provided a handful of straightforward and practical tips and tricks for designing test questions.  While some of them seemed like common sense, many of them made me stop and think, “wow, I never thought of that before, but it makes a lot of sense.”  Others alluded to things that I had experienced on tests as a student, some good and some bad.  For example, I’ve always hated timed tests, and I’ve had teachers that have projected a ticking digital clock onto the screen at the front of the room during a test.  This only made me anxious and made it harder for me to focus on the test.  I can understand that putting a time limit on tests can sometimes be necessary and beneficial, such as when students are practicing for an AP exam.  I will try not to intimidate my students with timed testing unless it is for a purpose like AP prep.  Another thing that I can’t stand to see on tests as a student is questions like the first one the chapter introduces in which you are required to choose an answer that “best fits.”  Unfortunately, many AP exams ask questions like this (or at least I found that the literature and language composition ones did), but it doesn’t mean that teachers should model these questions in tests that they design themselves.  I certainly won’t do that in my classroom.  Instead, I will do as Wormeli suggests and include a variety of different questions that are clear and straightforward.  I was a little surprised by the section where he said to “include common errors as candidates for responses” (81)  To me, these sound a lot like trick questions, which most students dread and deem as “unfair,” but I can understand how they provide insight as to how well as student has mastered a subject.  I agree that it’s important to let students know ahead of time that there will be such questions on the test, however.

FIAE Chapter 5 Response

I had never heard of the concept of tiering before reading this chapter, but it sounds very similar to scaffolding.  I understand how it can be a valuable tool in the classroom because it allows students to begin with a relatively simple task and then gradually build off of that knowledge while the complexity of the task at hand increases.  In theory, it makes a lot of sense.  The only thing I am worried about is learning how to “tier” at a rate that is comfortable and beneficial for my students.  In order to do this, not only I am going to have practice tiering like Wormeli suggests, but I’m also going to have to really get to know my students.  (It seems like everything we’ve been reading about goes back to the concept of knowing your students).  Once I know where their strengths are and what things they need extra help with I will be able to tier their lessons accordingly.  One thing I really like about the tiering strategies that Wormeli presents is that they are easily differentiated.  A few of my favorite ones were learning contracts, RAFT(S) (which reminded me a lot of GRASPS) and one-word summaries.  I think that learning contracts sound excellent for differentiation because they allow students to work at their own pace and to build from the level that they are at.  RAFT(S) reminded me a lot of GRASPS, except it sounds like it would take a lot of planning to create “menus.”  Lastly, I think that one-word summaries are good for the English classroom because they require students to exercise their vocabulary.  Again, before I could use these ideas in my classroom I would need to know my students’ strengths and weaknesses.

FIAE Chapter 4 Response

Although it wasn’t stated, I’m assuming that it is best for teachers to use a combination of the three types of assessment (portfolios, rubrics, and student self-assessments) discussed in this chapter.  I especially like the idea of portfolios, but I’ve never really liked rubrics.  However, because they are so different from each other, they are probably each useful in their own way.  In my future classroom, for example, I might use portfolios to gauge the progress of my students’ writing abilities while using rubrics to grade the individual pieces that go into the portfolio.  I would definitely place more weight on the grade of the entire portfolio, however, versus the grade of each individual piece.  I like to think of rubrics more as guides for students than strict criteria for which they will be graded.  I understand that it’s important to be consistent, but if a student reads too much in a rubric, they may “settle” for the average requirements just to get a decent grade and not take the time to push themselves to hand in their best work.  As a student, I often found (and still do find) rubrics to be confusing and daunting.  Sometimes I wouldn’t even read them thoroughly because I felt like I would rather just put my best effort forward and “hope” that met the criteria.  I’m assuming there are others out there like me, and I’ll keep that in mind as a teacher by not relying too heavily on rubrics.  I will value the final form of assessment that the chapter discussed, student self-assessment, because it will give me an idea of what my students feel they are capable of along with how they view their own work and effort.  

MI Chapter 10 Response

Reading about all the different ways to assess student through MI theory was very enlightening, especially considering how everything seems to revolve around standardized testing these days.  Like many people, I do not feel that standardized tests provide an accurate depiction of a student’s knowledge.  And, it’s not all about knowledge anyway!  Students also need to know how to use their knowledge.  Testing via authentic measures allows students to use their knowledge in context, which is what they really should be getting assessed on.  I think that the list of varieties of assessment will be a helpful reference to have when I am a teacher because one thing I certainly don’t want to do as a teacher is automatically resort to using the same assessment over and over again—especially written tests.  I also really liked the idea about using student portfolios as means of assessment.  Portfolios allow teachers to look at “the entire photo album” instead of single “snapshots.”  For this reason, portfolios provide a much more accurate depiction of a student’s abilities than a single test ever could.  And, I think that portfolios put much less pressure on students than having them sit down to take a test.  If a portfolio is viewed as an ongoing product to track progress over time, then there is less pressure associated with each individual assignment.  I really like the idea that “assessment experiences and instructional experiences should begin to appear virtually indistinguishable.”  What’s the point of putting pressure and stress onto your students?  This will only give them a negative attitude towards learning.  I would definitely like to use portfolios in my future classroom.

UbD Chapter 5 Response

I found this chapter to be especially helpful in allowing me to think about the goals of assessment and how those goals are best met.  I will definitely keep the three assessment principles in mind when deciding how I will assess my future students.  Because I absolutely loathe the idea of “high stakes” testing (as I’m certain most teachers do), I agree that it is extremely important to “consider photo albums versus snapshots” when it comes to assessment.  While I understand that imposition of high stakes tests is sometimes beyond the control of teachers, it is comforting to know that the assessment practices we use within the confines of our own classrooms do not have to follow the model of standardized testing.  Since I will be teaching English, I would like to avoid testing as much as possible and still feel that I will be able to readily and accurately assess my students through series of more open-ended and “natural” measures, such as journals, essays, presentations, and observations (this is not to say that such measures would be difficult to use in a math or science classroom, either).  Also, when I am teaching a unit, I certainly want to incorporate differing methods of assessment versus relying on the same method over and over again.  Not only does using different methods of assessment keep learning more interesting for the students, it also “increases the opportunity for students to work to their strengths” as mentioned on page 63.  When deciding which forms of assessments to use at what point in the unit, I will be sure to focus first on the goals of the unit, as stated in assessment principle number two, and to keep in mind that form always follows function, using a successive combination of diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments.

FIAE Chapter 3 Response

One question that arose in my mind very early into this chapter was: if we as teachers are supposed to be very clear about what information the students are going to be “tested” on or assessed on, how do we show students that the content they are learning is important for reasons beyond the test or assessment?  On page 21, Wormeli says, “it may be radical, but go ahead and give students the end-of-unit test on the first day of teaching the unit… when you teach the unit and mention an answer to one of the test questions, students will perk up and listen, elevating the information to importance.”  While I understand Wormeli’s point in that by introducing the test material at the beginning of a unit, students will immediately know what to expect and what to look for, thus giving them more incentive to pay attention as the unit moves forward.  It’s kind of like showing the students the backward design process as you are giving them an outline of the desired goals, and it also makes it more likely that they will succeed on the test.  However, I do not feel that this strategy comes without drawbacks.  The biggest concern I have about introducing a unit with test questions is that it could make students feel as though the only reason they are learning the content is to that they can use it on the test, not because it has significance outside of the classroom.  I also worry that the students may be more likely to “zone out” during parts of the unit that do not pertain directly to the questions on the test because they will not find the information important and/or worthwhile simply because there aren’t any test questions about it.  For these reasons, I will be very careful if I ever chose to use this method in my classroom and make sure that I show students how what they are learning is important can be applied in the “real world.”

FIAE Chapter 2 Response

I found that many of the concepts in this chapter connect to those outlined in chapter five of Understanding by Design, making them seem slightly repetitive but also reinforced.  One section that I found to be quite helpful, however, was the list of resources for helping determine what is important to teach in a particular unit.  I’ve always wondered how teachers decide what they are going to focus on and what to skip over (because let’s face it, it’s impossible to cover absolutely everything), despite having standards to guide them.  One of my biggest fears about teaching deals with determining the content and resources that are necessary (and most relevant) to helping students master the standards, so I will definitely refer back to this list!  I also don’t want to get stuck “teaching to the textbook”, which I feel could be an easy trap to fall into, especially for a new teacher.  One suggestion the chapter made that I didn’t really like, however, was the use of district scripts.  I don’t know if this is something I will ever encounter, but the idea of having a bunch of students from different classrooms and different schools being told to focus on the same thing on a particular day just doesn’t seem realistic.  I see it as more of a stressor for the teacher, who may have to adjust their curriculum in order to follow the generic guidelines.  All students and classes are at different paces and I think that a teacher should stick with the pace that works best for her students.

FIAE Chapter 1 Response

This chapter was helpful because it answered a question that I had regarding differentiated instruction.  While reading Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design, I began to wonder that if too much differentiation can actually make students too dependent on having others make amendments for them, therefore making their transition into the “real world” more difficult.  Wormeli makes a strong argument against this possibility when he claims that by differentiating, teachers are really providing their students with the “appropriate challenge that enables [them] to thrive” (4).  If students are faced with a teacher who does not provide differentiation, the greater the chances that they do not follow through and succeed because they will be more likely to give up when the teaching style does not meet their needs.  I also agree that differentiation leads to student awareness in terms of their individual learning styles and that it encourages them to think about how they learn best.  Once they have an understanding of this, they will be better equipped to make sure that they are getting the right kind of instruction later on in their schooling, thus making them independent enough to know what they need.  Because of this, I will not try to hide differentiation from my students.  In fact, I will encourage them to consider how everyone learns differently and I will be sure to emphasize how a variety of different learning styles is actually very beneficial in creating a dynamic classroom environment.  That way, no one will feel like they need to be ashamed for “learning differently” and they will instead embrace it.