Weekly Writing - 2

What if every moment was an E-Moment?  You know, something engaging?  That would be beyond awesome in a scholastic environment.  Students would want to actually learn the content and students of all backgrounds and abilities would be able to grasp and comprehend the objectives within the lesson. 

This video shows that teens do not want their disabilities to define who they are.  This shows that everyone wants to be engaged.  This week's readings provides many ways for educators to ensure that everyone has E-Moments!

This video is from DO-IT ~ Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology

All of this week’s readings do not necessarily revolve around the term “E-Moment” like in Reardon’s, Strategies for Great Teaching, however, all of the readings imply a sense of deeper learning and sense of engagement. 

In addition to describing the E-Moments, Reardon also explains five strategies that aid in achieving great teaching:

1)      Chunking = organizing information into meaningful units

2)      Rote Rehearsal = repeating information of a skill many times

3)      Elaborative Rehearsal = immersing information in meaning or highlighting its relevance

4)      Pattern recognition = identifying familiar patterns

5)      Emotional involvement = embedding information with feelings or emotions

Understanding by Design Framework focuses heavily on the concept of “Backward Design.”  The idea of this learning style being backwards is mainly to indicate that it is a different style for curriculum.  This suggests from the very name that it is different and will help to make one open minded upon approaching this style.  The three components of it are: Identify Desired Results, Determine Assessment Evidence, and Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction.

In A Self-Directed Guide to Designing Courses for Significant Learning the author discusses the importance of using “Background Design” connecting the two readings.  The author stresses the importance of reflection and making certain that there is time for many types of assessments and feedback.

Learning how to learn

Foundational knowledge

Application

Integration

+   Human Dimension               

 Components of Significant Learning

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy includes six major steps for learning: Creating, Evaluating, Analyzing, Applying, Understanding, and Remembering.  These six steps tie nicely into the Pennsylvania Academic Standards and Assessment Anchors.  Standards have been in place since 1999 by law in Pennsylvania.  There are standards for the average students as well as different standards for students with disabilities.  Standards aid as a resource for the teachers, administration, parents, students, and community members to help gauge and understand what the expectations are of the students.  They also help with creating goals and expectations for standardized testing.  The main assessment anchors are: clear, focused, aligned, grade appropriate, organized, rigorous, and manageable. 

The goals of Bloom’s Taxonomy as well as the standards and anchors can be achieved by utilizing many different learning and teaching styles.  One of these methods is known as “Scaffolding.”  Scaffolding can be defined as “A process in which students are given support until they can apply new skills and strategies independently.”  The five main guidelines for scaffolding are: beginning with what students can do, help students achieve success quickly, help students to “be” like everyone else, know when it is time to stop, help students to be independent when they have command of the activity. 

For the Universal Design for Learning it is essentially a method that reiterates what all the other readings focus on: a curriculum that is designed to serve all learners.  The description says that it provides “a blueprint” for creating different means and tools to teach students with diverse needs.  There are three main principles: Multiple means of representation, Multiple means of action and expression, and multiple means of engagement.  The final principle brings us back full circle to Reardon’s “E-Moment” having things that are engaging.  All of the readings create techniques and strategies to ensure that learning and reflecting can be engaging so that learners may retain the information.  This ultimately creates smarter youth who become life-long learners.