Analysis & Reflection on Planning Instruction and Assessment
As a teacher, my purpose was to provide a learning structure that could demonstrate my ability to plan my instructions so as to meet the needs of my students and at the same time provide evidence of the impact on student learning. As a professional, I acknowledge the components to my assignment with an appendix. Some of these components include;
1) Contextual factors that are related to the entire community, the classroom or students.
2) Connecting instructional plans or units that are based on goals that I like my students to meet as well as the pre-assessment of the learners.
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3) A clear analysis of the learning of students.
4) Learning objective and also a rationale for the student’s selection.
5) A reflection on the new discoveries that I make concerning the student’s development and most importantly, the self evaluation of my progress.
Before the presentations, my students were industrious and cooperative. One thing I knew about my students is that they understood their goals and objectives. As a result, it was easier for me to organize my instructional planning as I briefed them before the commencement of the lesson. I was able to indicate the goals that were aligned with the lesson activities in accordance with my plans. I was able to make sure that all their goals and objectives were properly addressed by the activities of the day. Also, I made sure that each and every activity related to at least one objective. As soon as I briefed them, students were well behaved and they really got into class and they wanted to participate and know more. When students began analyzing the of depictions of Boston Massacre, and when I asked them to write down their take on the pictures, most of them questioned the motive and interest of Paul Revere. Most of them believed the fact that Revere’s role in the historic Boston Massacre contained some discrepancies. Most of the students questioned whether Revere was present at the time of the Massacre. I was excited when they were asking questions including whether Revere had visited the site.
Students asked me whether Revere had visited the site severally and whether he was in a position to determine the positions that were taken by the participants and also the lifeless bodies. I also found it amazing when others indicated that Revere knew some of the eye witnesses and some of those who later took part in Boston Tea Party with him. Their understanding made my work easier since I was in a good position to of including the information on how I accommodated for their individual need. After analyzing two of the Boston Massacre pictures, there were mixed reactions among students. Most of them were excited while other chose to stay mum. It was quite apparent to me as a teacher that students understood and liked it more during field or practical activities. For instance during the analysis of the two pictures, students seemed to be more keen and attentive. As a result, they were shouting questions due to excitement therefore giving me a hard time to restrain them. I realized that field work was real to students since they seemed happy when learning in a practical manner. Most of the students questioned the depiction in Reveres’ engraving more so after learning that is was somehow identical to an earlier image that was produced by Henry Pelham a Boston artist. Majority of them concurred with Pelham’s publication of a letter that accused Revere of plagiarism. I had to intervene as a teacher and put things clear for them but on the other hand, it was a build up exercise for them. As a result of challenges among them, their minds were developed following the availability of proper structures of instructional learning. After administering the pre-assessment of students on the pictures, I analyzed their performance in relation to their objectives. I provided a narrative description pattern which guided well my instruction or rather the modification of the objectives.
I understood very well that learning is not complete without the application of important tasks. In that reason, I had to apply two of the most important tasks so as to make the lessons complete. Firstly, I applied inductive task. In this task, I invited students to clarify where they were, at that time, and in terms of new content, where they could begin their lessons from and what their current conception of the topic included. It began with their lives and experiences. This set their stage for their learning by sharpening their perceptions. As far as the topic of the day was concerned, the task told students what they were about to learn and they could easily find out what they either perceived or already knew. To some of them, the Boston Massacre was a rude awakening and to others, it was a corroborating experience. To my students, it was a warm up activity. The content of students’ perceptions was the substance of the task. This task aimed at connecting the new knowing with former studies and prior knowledge with the next content. The Inductive Task also helped to self-motivate for the new learning.
Secondly, I applied the Input Task. With such a strategy, I was able to marshal students to directly grapple with the new learning tasks. I presented the fresh content, then set the challenge among the students, and threw the gauntlet. The task involved the presentation of substantive concepts, skills, data, practice, comparison and attitudes. All the pictures were presented as an integral area of the studying task for students to work together In order to meet the diverse learning and characteristics. I had to employ a strategy that could accommodate all of them. As a result, I arranged them in groups that contained students from various backgrounds. This really helped them since they were at ease on each other and they could ask questions concerning the massacre freely. This strategy also saw the students who were shy gain confident and talk loudly and at some occasions, they were shouting answers when asked questions. Since the pictures had drawn mixed reactions and feelings among students, they could ask questions freely. For instance, when I projected lyrics from “Yankee Doodle” onto the screen, and leading students into classroom rendition, they were all excited and they seemed to enjoy it. Following the shedding of American blood in American soil, they declined to answer who was winning the war and instead, they all condemned the aggressors. They even took exception with the Legal representation of the British Army by lawyer and patriot John Adams.
In order for me to make sure that everyone understood fully what was going on, I had to employ a Hand Signal strategy. With this strategy, I could be able to rate or indicate the students’ understanding of all contents. Students were therefore able to show with their five fingers by signaling their maximum and minimal understanding through their fingers. By showing their thumbs up, it symbolized that they had understood and could therefore explain. Thumb sideways meant that the students were absolutely sure of what they had learnt. Thumbs down meant that they had not understood anything. This strategy involved the engagement by all students and as a result, it allowed me to check for their understanding even if they were within a large group.
Another fruitful system that I used to measure their understanding was a One Question Quiz method. With this system, I could put a specific question with a specific objective that could be answered within a minute or two. For instance, I could put the question forward on which the aggressors were. They all responded well to this system. Through it, I could be able to quickly scan their written responses so as to assess their understanding. Another strategy that was very effective in monitoring their understanding was a 3-2-1. Through such a method, the students were able to consider what they had learnt by responding to so prompts at the end of the lessons. For instance: 3: the things they had learnt about the pictures of the massacre that particular day. 2: things they wanted to know more about; like what followed later after the massacre and the response from the British government and finally, 1: the questions that they had. For example, how the massacre was stage managed, their understanding on the contents or lyrics of the ‘Yankee Doodle’. When singing the lyrics, I could be able to examine their understanding since the song seemed to interest them a lot.
Language supports was also very crucial in my lessons since it supported my teaching. As a result, I used Language Parameters. I could be able to indicate the language in the Boston Massacre Pictures by the use of style-sheet parameters therefore setting it to language code. It was useful to me especially on documents that did not have a Lang attribute whereby I could not edit or add or when overriding the available attributes. My `students were attentive and industrious. For instance, when I was going over the Declaratory Act, and when giving the students a brief review of the Boston Massacre, and also the Sons of Liberty as well as the acts of the 1st Continental Congress, they enjoyed a lot and even when I tested them after the lesson, they all narrated the entire topic as if they were the teachers themselves. During the presentations of the notes with the power point slides, they all seemed attentive and interested in the whole thing. They even demanded for a rerun at some occasions.
Having discussed the Lyrics of the Song Yankee Doodle, I wrapped up the lesson and let them discuss them themselves. As a teacher, I managed to keep them on task and they could not shout answers anyhow. As the students read and excerpt of The History in the Making, they were interested to know more. They wanted to know more on how the Bostonians had guts to assemble and boldly match defiantly but nervously against towards the British Army. They also questioned how could find it difficult say that the crown was not aware of Americans being stripped away their civil liberty by having an army standby in Boston. I tactically explained to them all the details to avoid any inconveniences as well as conflict in their interests.
As a successful teacher, I found it necessary to uphold the best teaching strategies especially the six keys to classroom excellence. For instance, I embraced the interest and explanation theory. I understood well that when my interest is aroused in something, whether a hobby or an academic subject, I enjoyed working hard at it. I come to desire that I can in one way or another desire to have it as mine and I can use it to make sense of the world around me. All this, coupled with the need to establishing the relevance of contents, I knew that as an instructor, I needed to craft explanations that could enable all the students to understand the pictures. I also had it in mind that a backup plan was essential. Whenever I applied a strategy, I had to make sure that it suited all the students. If not I had to quickly switch to another strategy. I also gave each and every student enough time to respond as I made them feel as free as possible. I understood well that as a teacher, I had to avoid discrimination of any kind.
