TENTH BLOG ENTRY

Lesson Plan

A lesson plan is the instructor’s road map of what students need to learn and how it will be done effectively during the class time. Every teacher must write a lesson class before any class because as it is said the lesson plan is the road in which teacher will teach and students will learn.

Before you plan your lesson, you will first need to identify the learning objectives for the class.  Then, you can design appropriate learning activities and develop strategies to obtain feedback on student learning. A successful lesson plan addresses and integrates these three key components:

• Objectives for student learning
• Teaching/learning activities
• Strategies to check student understanding

Ways to diffirentiate a lesson plan

·         Learning by Pace

This involves the time on task that best accommodates learners. While some learners need a good deal of time to complete an assignment, others may require less time, or a small extension of time, in order to address the material presented. Your lessons need to take this into consideration by providing some students the opportunity to work for longer, shorter, or intermediate periods of time on the same assignment.

·         Learning by Ability Level

This refers to the general expectation of student performance and competency at a given grade and/or age. Student learners may function at what has been determined as above, at, or below grade level. More specifically, achievement level may vary from one discipline to another, so that grade or age level is acceptable.

·         Learners’ Interests

This refers to the areas where students are focused on concern, curiosity, importance, consequence, and variations of thinking or feeling regarding learning fields. Some learners may want to gain information about sports, while others are not even mildly concerned.

·         Learners’ Needs

While some students’ needs are obvious, others require an amplification system in the classroom, or students need enrichment activities to stimulate them. Student needs vary as much as individuals themselves at any given time.

·         Learning Styles

This is attention to the way individuals process and retain information. Brain dominance with respect to one’s being field-dependent or field-independent, and emotional, sociological, psychological, and physiological factors are taken a account when it comes to learn.

NINETH BLOG ENTRY

Teacher’s style of delivery

 

It is well known that every student has his or her own learning style, so teachers have his or her own style to teach. Those styles can vary for many factors. One of those factors are teachers personality, other could be teachers belief.

 As I said, people have individual learning styles; teachers have teaching styles that works best for them. It is important to be aware of our preferences when we as teachers are creating and delivering instruction. 

Developing an effective teaching style for our subject-area requires time, effort, a willingness to experiment with different teaching strategies, and an examination of what is effective in our teaching. 

My style of delivery

Well, I cans say that my teaching style is the facilitator because I believe that we as teachers have to help our students as much as we can, and when we chose to help our students to learn in the best way as possible; we are facilitating their learning process.

Teachers who have a facilitator model teaching style tend to focus on activities. Teachers typically design group activities which necessitate active learning, student-to-student collaboration and problem solving. This type of teacher will often try to design learning situations and activities that require student processing and application of course content in creative and original ways. I consider myself as a facilitator because I like to look for the best and most suitable activities for my students. Also, I think that every teacher should be a facilitator because it is our responsibility to facilitate our student learning.

EIGTH BLOG ENTRY

Convergent Questions

A convergent question is a specific question which represents the analysis and integration of given or remembered information. These questions could be a 'yes' or a 'no'. It is a question that does not permit a long conversation or any significant creativity. These kinds of questions could be are called yes no question because they are the most often use.  They are usually use by teachers when they want to get just a simple answer.

As, I said this questions are questions with a specific answer. They lead you to an expected result or answer. These questions usually start with what, where and when example: what is your favorite color? or did you eat today?

I think that this kind of question doesn’t make students to think because they just have to say a simple answer.  But I know that they are very useful when you just want your students to participate in class and you know that they are kind of shy, this is a good way to help your students to lose their fear to talk in front of their classmates.

Divergent Questions

A divergent question is a question that has no specific answer. It could have more than one answer. A divergent question makes one analyze and encourage greater involvement and have more accurate assessment because students have to do a good analysis of answer the question, I can say that this questions help students to think well and give the most appropriate answer to the question.

Divergent questions usually begins with suppose, predict. If... then, can you create.

These types of questions are always open-ended, allowing the students to express themselves as they demonstrate their ability to reason in the subject.

I believe that these two kinds of question are effective when you are teaching, but we as teacher have to know when is appropriate to use convergent or divergent questions in the classroom because sometime the topic will not allow us to use convergent and other topics will not allow us to use divergent or vise versa.

SEVENTH BLOG ENTRY

CLASSROOMS DESIGNS

Traditional Classroom

The traditional classroom designs is the one in which students are sat in lines they don’t see each other. As it is stated on the book, students’ desks and hard chairs are organized, with one being behind the other. The students face the teacher’s desk, which is customarily in the front of the room and well within the line of vision of all his/her students.

The teachers usually teach in the old same way that they were taught when they were students. The teachers often stand in front of the class in order to see everybody as well they can see the teacher.

Also the book stated that students most often are the passive recipients of information. The classroom is teacher-centered and subsequently teacher-controlled.

Nontraditional Classroom

The students are sat in a U form or semicircle, and students are able to see each other not as the traditional classroom that they are sitting in lines. Also students can be arranged in groups.

Another important point stated on the book is that the teacher delivers lessons using varied and/or multiple styles of delivery in different parts of the room. These may include anecdotes, storytelling, small-group collaborative exercises, and hands-on activities involving the entire class, partnerships, some individualization, and/or learning centers where the teacher serves as lesson facilitator.

Nowadays these two types are found in many schools around the world but these two classroom styles are also change in the last twenty year, now teacher are mixed these two types in order to improve the lesson.