Week Four!

It's safe to say that I am learning so much in this course and it is only week three. I want to start out by just reviewing the past four weeks and how everything is starting to connect and makes since. The first week of class we talked about all of our assignments and when everything is due. For the second week of class, we talked about concepts and how they are abstract, universal, timeless, transfer, and the big idea. Concepts are like the big umbrella and topics are the smaller, more specific ideas. Then for week three we learn about generalizations. This is how you relate the two concepts together. When creating a generalization it needs to have a qualifier, straight forward (short, sweet and to the point), be reversible, and include the two concepts. Generalizations are what you want your students to know but you do not tell them. That leads us into what we have learned this week, guiding questions. These are the questions that you ask your students and want them to answer. There are three different types of guiding questions. The first question is factual questions and these are locked in time, place or situation. The second question is conceptual questions and these transfer over time and space. The last question is provocative questions and these are the questions that you ask your students to start a debate but have no right or wrong answers. Taking a step back and looking at what I have learned over the last four weeks, I now understand how to use this information for my unit.

For my research this week I decided to use the video that Megan and myself found for the Differentiation discussion. When trying to find something for the differentiation discussion I didn't know what to pick, an article, video, blog, etc. I came across a video that talked about how a teacher handles differentiation in classroom. I really think that this video did a very good job of explaining differentiation and how teachers can include it in their classroom. There are four different students, each with a different disability, and the video gives ways that the teacher handles each student. I found that this video was very interesting and made me realize that there are going to be students in my classroom that have learning disabilities and I will have to make learning for them just as engaging as the other students. I specifically like that the teacher included arms motions to an educational dance that a student in a wheelchair could participate. Simple things such as that can be considered ways to include all students in learning activities.
Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuOOH5v6eBg

For my future classroom I want to make learning engaging for students and I want them to enjoy what is being taught. I also think that it is very important for each student to have an equal opportunity of learning just as every other student. This video relates exactly with the North Carolina Teaching Standard number two which is, "Teachers establish a respectful environment for a diverse population of students". This is directly related to the video I shared because teachers need to create a safe and respectful environment for each student to learn and be included in the lessons.