One of the things that I like about the curriculum mapping process is the collaboration that is involved. When I was first hired 5 years ago, the school district wanted me to pilot a program called Project Lead the Way (PLTW). Now every technology teacher in my district has been required to attend the same training because the district and other principals have seen the benefit on student achievement at my school.
PLTW curriculum focuses on integrating math and science into problem solving activities that give the student a feeling of what it is like to be an engineer. It was started in New York state high schools during the 1997-1998 school year and has expanded to around 3,000 schools today. The program has developed a good reputation with industry, colleges, and school administrations. Most schools look forward to joining the program because it helps train the teacher and gives students a more real life problem solving curriculum that is constantly being updated and shared through the program. I like to look at PLTW as being a giant, nationwide professional learning community (PLC) that continuously updates its curriculum map. Teachers are able to look at new curriculum as it is developed each year and attend training sessions to help implement the program. PLTW provides teachers with standardized workbooks and worksheets to help guide the class.
When teachers attend training to teach a PLTW course, they are given a mountain of information in two weeks that they need to be able to teach the next year. I have noticed that many teachers become overwhelmed with this mountain of curriculum. Most of it gets put in a file cabinet and waits to be implemented while they stick to most of the things that they were teaching before. I would like to find ways to reduce the amount of time that it takes a teacher to add in the new curriculum. One strategy that I would like to implement is creating smaller, local PLCs. DuFour (2007) said it best when he said that “the rise or fall of the professional learning community concept in any school will depend not on the merits of the concept itself, but on the most important element in the improvement of any school—the collective capacity, commitment, and persistence of the educators within it.” These PLCs would look at the new curriculum and find out the best way to teach it.
By implementing a PLC, all of the teachers who have been trained in PLTW can collaborate and share the best methods that they have found to teach the new curriculum. Teachers who have just been trained can share with me new additions to the curriculum and I can in turn show them tricks and strategies to help them to better teach the curriculum.
There is a group of master teachers that get together and create new PLTW curriculum every year. I would like to work towards becoming a master teacher for PLTW because I would like to share some of the curriculum that I have developed with other teachers so that we can all work together to improve student learning.
Whether my curriculum comes from a giant, national community of educators or is something that I have created on my own, I should take the time to map out what I teach. This will help me keep better track of the content and the skills that I teach, how I assess my students, and align to academic standards. With a map in place it will be easier for me to share with others and collaborate to make changes easily when needed.
References
DuFour, R. (2007). Professional Learning Communities: A Bandwagon, an Idea Worth Considering, or Our Best Hope for High Levels of Learning?. Middle School Journal, 39(1), 4-8. http://search.ebscohost.com.kaplan.uah.edu
PLTW (2007-2009). Project Lead the Way. Retrieved April 21, 2010, from http://pltw.org/
Udelhofen, S. (2005). Keys to curriculum mapping: strategies and tools to make it work. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
What Will Students Learn??
A good teacher is ready to improve something new at any moment if they see something that relates to the students at that moment in time. I like the statement that “Learning is something that the learner does, not something that is done to the learner.”
In my subject area (CTE) there is a strong temptation to just do projects. I had a curriculum specialist that would always tell me, “Don’t just do the project for the projects sake.” He would always ask, “What will the student learn from this?” Every project has some way to connect to the core classes. My classroom is the best place for students to see how all the other classes come together to create things or analyze how they work.
Critical thinking is what solidifies the knowledge in the mind. It usually happens when students connect two or more things together (cross-linking). It is like a type of resin that I use to make little chess pieces with the students. It comes in 2 bottles in a liquid state. If you were to try and pour it into your hands it would leak through and be lost. If you mix the 2 together and stir for 20 seconds the result 3 minutes later is a solid piece that you can hold onto. The reason that the mixture solidifies is that the long chains of molecules are cross-linking together to form the solid. Another important part is the mold that shapes the resin while it is curing. As teachers we need to help the students connect (mix) things together or the knowledge will stay in “liquid” form and just run out. We also need to make the knowledge useful or give it shape like the mold.
In my subject area (CTE) there is a strong temptation to just do projects. I had a curriculum specialist that would always tell me, “Don’t just do the project for the projects sake.” He would always ask, “What will the student learn from this?” Every project has some way to connect to the core classes. My classroom is the best place for students to see how all the other classes come together to create things or analyze how they work.
Critical thinking is what solidifies the knowledge in the mind. It usually happens when students connect two or more things together (cross-linking). It is like a type of resin that I use to make little chess pieces with the students. It comes in 2 bottles in a liquid state. If you were to try and pour it into your hands it would leak through and be lost. If you mix the 2 together and stir for 20 seconds the result 3 minutes later is a solid piece that you can hold onto. The reason that the mixture solidifies is that the long chains of molecules are cross-linking together to form the solid. Another important part is the mold that shapes the resin while it is curing. As teachers we need to help the students connect (mix) things together or the knowledge will stay in “liquid” form and just run out. We also need to make the knowledge useful or give it shape like the mold.
Artificial Limbs & Robotics – Diagnostic
Artificial Limbs & Robotics – Diagnostic
I Decided to look at a lesson plan that I have used from the beginning to see how it stands up to the 9 principles of Coherent Instruction. I do things a little different than the lesson plan I found, but it is close enough.
Learning and Knowledge Goals
In this activity there is no one right answer. It is to allow the students to realize the use of technology in health. Students who like competition get excited because they want to be the one who gets the most candy.
Real-World Interactions
Most lessons in the CTE classroom are linked to real world applications. This activity has the students using many objects in ways that they never thought about before.
Interesting Texts for Instruction
This is one area that could use some improvement. I need to find more recourses than just the video and a few web sites.
Autonomy Support
Once I give all the information that the students need they are able to work independently to come up with new ideas.
Strategy Instruction
I go over the engineering process with the students. This helps the students learn how to think through a problem and come up with multiple solutions.
Collaboration Support
I encourage them to bounce ideas off of each other and parents as well.
Rewards and Praise
The candy is an extrinsic reward. I also give praise for the ideas that they came up with.
Evaluation for Engagement
I don’t grade on how much candy. I use how well they documented following the engineering process and completion of the project.
Teacher Involvement
I make sure I am moving about the room so I can get to know the students and help them with any problems. One purpose of this activity is to find out if the students like this type of work so they will be able to take other classes in the future to work towards a career in the health field.
The goal of this assignment is to utilize creativity and problem solving in exploring the design of health-related equipment. Assessment of this goal is difficult because there is no measure to creativity. This is why I focus on making sure that the students learn the problem-solving process as they go through the activity.
Denise, A. & Snelson, S. (2002) TECH:Artificial Limbs & Robotics - Diagnostic (HST). Retrieved July 16, 2009, from UEN website: http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview?LPid=213
Engaging Young Readers (2000). Edited by L. Baker, M. J. Dreher, and J. T. Guthrie
I Decided to look at a lesson plan that I have used from the beginning to see how it stands up to the 9 principles of Coherent Instruction. I do things a little different than the lesson plan I found, but it is close enough.
Learning and Knowledge Goals
In this activity there is no one right answer. It is to allow the students to realize the use of technology in health. Students who like competition get excited because they want to be the one who gets the most candy.
Real-World Interactions
Most lessons in the CTE classroom are linked to real world applications. This activity has the students using many objects in ways that they never thought about before.
Interesting Texts for Instruction
This is one area that could use some improvement. I need to find more recourses than just the video and a few web sites.
Autonomy Support
Once I give all the information that the students need they are able to work independently to come up with new ideas.
Strategy Instruction
I go over the engineering process with the students. This helps the students learn how to think through a problem and come up with multiple solutions.
Collaboration Support
I encourage them to bounce ideas off of each other and parents as well.
Rewards and Praise
The candy is an extrinsic reward. I also give praise for the ideas that they came up with.
Evaluation for Engagement
I don’t grade on how much candy. I use how well they documented following the engineering process and completion of the project.
Teacher Involvement
I make sure I am moving about the room so I can get to know the students and help them with any problems. One purpose of this activity is to find out if the students like this type of work so they will be able to take other classes in the future to work towards a career in the health field.
The goal of this assignment is to utilize creativity and problem solving in exploring the design of health-related equipment. Assessment of this goal is difficult because there is no measure to creativity. This is why I focus on making sure that the students learn the problem-solving process as they go through the activity.
Denise, A. & Snelson, S. (2002) TECH:Artificial Limbs & Robotics - Diagnostic (HST). Retrieved July 16, 2009, from UEN website: http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview?LPid=213
Engaging Young Readers (2000). Edited by L. Baker, M. J. Dreher, and J. T. Guthrie
Change Can Be Good
The rules of my classroom should be posted clearly so that there is no confusion as to what my expectations for the students are. I will spend time at the beginning of the year to go over what I expect the students to do and review as needed. If I notice any problems I should be quick to make any needed changes so that the problems will not continue. We should never get stuck doing the same thing over and over again. Things can always be made better. If I notice that students are not learning how to do something or are not behaving properly I can usually trace the problem to how I am running the activity. I think that boredom is the most common cause of problems in the classroom. One thing that I have done in the past is create side projects that the students can do to keep them engaged. I also have a collection of technology related books and magazines available to students when they need something to do. If a student has something constructive to do he won’t be destructive.
Classroom Management Concerns
When I think of classroom management, safety is the number one concern on my list. I have had teachers walk into my room and wonder how I can keep students from hurting themselves on the power machines that I have. Everything has some sharp point on it or a blade of some kind. The truth is I have given out way more band aids to students for injuries that have happened outside of my class than inside. They will have picked a scab or wore shoes that were digging into their feet or fell of their skateboard on the way to school.
The secret to avoiding most injuries is good classroom management. I have procedures set so that the students know where to put things so that they don’t become safety hazards. I plan out my activities so that I don’t have too many students huddled around one machine. I have the students make safety posters that I hang up so that they have put some effort into the rules of safety.
One project that I had problems with last year was a wooden pen project. Only two students could perform the last steps at a time. I gave instruction and showed a video of how to make one. As the class progressed I would have 2 students at a time go through the whole process. At first they did well, but soon they started forgetting what to do and would not use the equipment the way that had been taught. Next year I will have all the students work together on this project as far as they can. This will make sure that they remember how to do all the steps up to the last few that can only be done 2 at a time. I will also make the video available to watch at any time on the student computers. I talked about this idea with some of the students at the end of last year and they approved of the idea. I have found that the students will give me good feedback to make my class better because in the end they will benefit.
Another big concern that I have is class size. In the past, a traditional shop class would have no more than 24 students. With some of my classes reaching 36 I need to make sure that they all have something to do. I will purposefully let a few get ahead so that I don’t have all of them working on the same project. I will also have more than one project going at the same time. For classroom management to work in a shop class, organization and preparedness are the key elements that must be accomplished first.
The secret to avoiding most injuries is good classroom management. I have procedures set so that the students know where to put things so that they don’t become safety hazards. I plan out my activities so that I don’t have too many students huddled around one machine. I have the students make safety posters that I hang up so that they have put some effort into the rules of safety.
One project that I had problems with last year was a wooden pen project. Only two students could perform the last steps at a time. I gave instruction and showed a video of how to make one. As the class progressed I would have 2 students at a time go through the whole process. At first they did well, but soon they started forgetting what to do and would not use the equipment the way that had been taught. Next year I will have all the students work together on this project as far as they can. This will make sure that they remember how to do all the steps up to the last few that can only be done 2 at a time. I will also make the video available to watch at any time on the student computers. I talked about this idea with some of the students at the end of last year and they approved of the idea. I have found that the students will give me good feedback to make my class better because in the end they will benefit.
Another big concern that I have is class size. In the past, a traditional shop class would have no more than 24 students. With some of my classes reaching 36 I need to make sure that they all have something to do. I will purposefully let a few get ahead so that I don’t have all of them working on the same project. I will also have more than one project going at the same time. For classroom management to work in a shop class, organization and preparedness are the key elements that must be accomplished first.
A Nation at Risk and The Silent Epidemic
I have recently read the reports "A Nation at Risk" and "The Silent Epidemic" and I wanted to share my thoughts about them. I have seen students that are the pride of the school in test taking not able to do simple things in my shop classes. There is a difference between book smart and street smart. If we only focus on scores we will lose sight of why we are teaching. I think that the Nation at Risk Report had it right when it stated "Some worry that schools may emphasize such rudiments as reading and computation at the expense of other essential skills such as comprehension, analysis, solving problems, and drawing conclusions." (The National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1993)
What surprised you?
It is surprising that we knew that we had this problem so long ago and still haven’t done all of the recommendations that were mentioned. They have yet to increase time in school or teachers wages enough to be professionally competitive, market-sensitive, and performance-based.
I think that this is like the tortoise and the hare. We are the hare, we got ahead of everyone else and then decided that we were good enough. While we were asleep the tortoise went on by. We woke up and saw what was happening. Now we are trying to catch up, but we are tripping over our own feet.
What policies have you observed in local school?
I have seen books and books full of standards that teachers are supposed to know and teach. I have seen increased requirements for graduation. I think that we have more evaluations of teachers and more requirements of new teachers.
There are many new programs and incentives to help teachers, students, and parents. The problem is some don’t care and others don’t know about them. In my district there is a technical center where students can get a head start on a career. They can take medical assisting classes for free while in high school. They might spend about $50 to take a certification test and get a job as a medical assistant while they attend college to become a doctor or something else. My wife spent almost $10,000 to take the same classes and get the exact same job. Educational PBS TV programs are also available to help get kids a head start in education.
How have these policies had an impact on teachers and students?
Teachers are so overwhelmed by the number of standards that they have to teach that they can’t spend enough time to cover each one effectively. Many of these standards are not tested and not seen as useful to the real world. Students are not seeing the relevance of why they need education until it is too late. I think that you can’t force innovation with standards. You need to change the culture. We may need to fall down even more before we get the desire to stand up.
Apparently we were able to accomplish a small comeback during the space race. The reason that I think it worked is that everyone had the same goal in mind.
Even though we do have some problems I think that our students have the most creativity and testing cannot measure creativity. Other Nations do not have some of the problems that we have to overcome such as diverse cultures with different languages and expectations. Our challenge is to turn this weakness into strength.
Civic Enterprises, LLC. (2006, March). The silent epidemic: perspectives of high school dropouts. Washington, DC: Bridgeland, J. M., DiIulio, J. J., Jr., & Morison, K. B.
The National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1993, April). A nation at risk: the imperative for educational reform. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
What surprised you?
It is surprising that we knew that we had this problem so long ago and still haven’t done all of the recommendations that were mentioned. They have yet to increase time in school or teachers wages enough to be professionally competitive, market-sensitive, and performance-based.
I think that this is like the tortoise and the hare. We are the hare, we got ahead of everyone else and then decided that we were good enough. While we were asleep the tortoise went on by. We woke up and saw what was happening. Now we are trying to catch up, but we are tripping over our own feet.
What policies have you observed in local school?
I have seen books and books full of standards that teachers are supposed to know and teach. I have seen increased requirements for graduation. I think that we have more evaluations of teachers and more requirements of new teachers.
There are many new programs and incentives to help teachers, students, and parents. The problem is some don’t care and others don’t know about them. In my district there is a technical center where students can get a head start on a career. They can take medical assisting classes for free while in high school. They might spend about $50 to take a certification test and get a job as a medical assistant while they attend college to become a doctor or something else. My wife spent almost $10,000 to take the same classes and get the exact same job. Educational PBS TV programs are also available to help get kids a head start in education.
How have these policies had an impact on teachers and students?
Teachers are so overwhelmed by the number of standards that they have to teach that they can’t spend enough time to cover each one effectively. Many of these standards are not tested and not seen as useful to the real world. Students are not seeing the relevance of why they need education until it is too late. I think that you can’t force innovation with standards. You need to change the culture. We may need to fall down even more before we get the desire to stand up.
Apparently we were able to accomplish a small comeback during the space race. The reason that I think it worked is that everyone had the same goal in mind.
Even though we do have some problems I think that our students have the most creativity and testing cannot measure creativity. Other Nations do not have some of the problems that we have to overcome such as diverse cultures with different languages and expectations. Our challenge is to turn this weakness into strength.
Civic Enterprises, LLC. (2006, March). The silent epidemic: perspectives of high school dropouts. Washington, DC: Bridgeland, J. M., DiIulio, J. J., Jr., & Morison, K. B.
The National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1993, April). A nation at risk: the imperative for educational reform. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Teacher vs. Subject
I was talking with my principal a few days ago. He was trying to find a choir teacher who could relate to the students better. He said that most students will take an elective class because they like the teacher more than the subject. Then, after they have had the class for a while they begin to like the subject too.I have seen a steady rise in students taking my classes as I have become a better teacher. I had so many students sign up for my class next year that they almost had me do an early morning class to handle the demand. I will have a total of about 550 students spread out over the year. This make it hard for me to get to know each and every one of them like I would like to.
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