Exploring Together

5 responses so far ↓

• 1    Leanne Sittampalam // Nov 14, 2009 at 9:43 pm

  For the unit I have planned, a lot of thought and preparation must go into every stage. Hands on activities are always very labour and planning intensive. I tend to prepare all equipment for all classes at the same time. I then have to have the storage facilities. As we are also about to embark on building construction, I have modified this Unit to teach Year 3-6. I have had some difficulties when we haven’t completed all of the activity in a lesson. Storage is one thing I didn’t plan sufficiently.
  In this type of Unit, it is far easier if the resource/equipment list is comprehensive. Introducing the Unit, including CFQs dictates the flow of the unit. It was important that time was spent in ensuring students had a good understanding of gravity and friction. Continuing to build and what students know allows for the consolidation of concepts and CFQ’s. During the Unit it is important to follow the assessment plan and higher order thinking tasks. Toward the end of the unit a reflection of the KWLH and self-assessment will ascertain whether the CFQ’s have been addressed.

• 2    Anni Adams // Nov 22, 2009 at 12:26 am

  As the unit has developed I have had to revisit the CFQs. I am partially dictated by the end of year eam which is on the text book. I would personally prefer to do less text work and more research. Setting up the text work differently may be what is required as at the moment I don’t think it supports the students centred and questioning outcomes I am looking for. I am piloting the unit as I go and the studnets need more support for the esearch and questions as they are not used to being proactive. We have also run out of time but with more focus on the skills of questions and research I believe it would run to schedule.

• 3    Anni Adams // Nov 22, 2009 at 12:40 am

  I realize there needs to be more scaffolding within the unit. Already as part of the unit there is an example of a finished project and google map. What I needed to include and what I have done now is included a lesson on the questions students could ask. I have done this as part of the example project. My senior students need support in this are more than the junior ones as our teaching methods have changed. Eliciting the project criteria and their responsibilities from the students has them be responsible rather than teacher directing them. I like the idea of a final class devoted to discussion and a “look where we have come to” feel.

• 4    lois // Dec 1, 2009 at 4:33 pm

  I agree with you Annie that the Curriculum Framing Questions need to be revisited. This is particularly relevant to me as we take in a new cohort of students each term and have to address or adjust to their different learning styles and abilities on an individual basis. I have also found it useful to resort to the 21st century Learning & Innovation sheet to cross reference whether my unit is achieving the desired outcomes. For example, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving. Does my unit provide for the students to exercise sound reasoning in understanding? Are they better able to ask significant questionsthat clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions?
  I have also found it necessary to take the time to prepare the students for peer evaluation and self-assessment with the use of wikis and blogs as many of them have not been exposed to them before. Also to support the students in providing constructive feedback to their peers has required discussion about the types of feedback and general guidelines for giving constructive feedback. They need to know these beforehand just like we are having to do now in giving feedback about each other’s units!!

• 5    rita chiodo // Dec 2, 2009 at 3:12 am

  As my unit developed, i realised how much time it was taking away from other aspects of the year 8 curriculum (initially we spend 3-4 weeks/6-8 lessons lokking at Pop art) and was a little concened. With my plan we are looking at 10 weeks. As the unit plan developed i found that it is worth while devoting more time to an area of study if it means that many more aspects of student learning were going to be encouraged and developed. I’m actually more concerned that 10 weeks might not be enough and wont know until i trial it in 2010 as long as i get a yr 8 class. The main focus as always are the CFQ’s and like Annie and Lois i agree that they do need to be constantly reviewed depending on your cohort. This has been evident in my yr7 classes this sem. Although i’m teaching the same course/skills and concepts etc. i have to run these two classes very differently because of the dynamics of the students in these classes. My main issue will be acess to ICT and i need to ensure that i plan the time effectively before hand and book these students into the computer rooms. Unlike other schools, it is very difficult and some times impossible to acess computers because senior classes or other specialist classes have priority. We will persist however!As long as there is ongoing assessment throught the process using a variety of methods,( in my case the peer review rubrics,powerpoint assesment sheet and rubrics for assesment of practical work,just to mention a few) students will get much more out of this unit. During the unit the students will be made aware of the type of assessments and shown/explained how they are used.There are so many variables for me but through trial and error i hope this will be a sucessful unit. For me , i will need to rely on ‘experts’ to get me started to ensure i teach the powerpoint & wiki aspects of this unit well. This is something that students will need to be able to do easily for this unit. So before hand i need to revisit this also ! at the end of the unit after we look at each others work, there needs to be a constructive discussion about their achievements. Hopefully their confidence in discussing what they have learnt through unit content and unit process will be clear in the way they talk about what they know now about pop art compared to thet first lesson.It could be handy to take out the original KWL sheet and as a class compare the progress made?

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