KUD'S

What I have learned with looking through these lesson plans is how important it is to be very specific in writing and implementation of the KUD's. By doing this it gives students a clear idea of where they are going with a particular lesson and what they need to accomplish. Then that way if a child is not understanding a part of the lesson they would know to get help. I really liked the science lesson and how many different approaches Eidson used in creating this lesson. There were many different activity that the students would participate in, but some being individual activities while most were done in various groups. These lessons are a great resource and example of what differentiated lesson can and should be like, as well as how specific the KUD's need to be for any lesson.

Pages 120-162

I am not really sure what I am suppose to be blogging about other than the fact that I really liked some of the lesson approaches found in these pages. I really like the graphic organizers because they really help the students to compare and contrast different subjects that are studied at the same time. For example, 2 or more characters in a book, planets and star etc. I also liked the interactive notes. This would allow for the students to really stop and think about what they are reading, and to make sure they are comprehending that in which they need to. Interactive notes would be a great way to tier the lesson to fit specific students and their needs, by having some students look for and answer questions that are straight out of the reading to questions that are abstract to help the advanced students think more deeply about the assignment. This would also lend to a great whole class discussion, staring with those students who had the more specific questions being discussed and moving toward the more abstract questions with the more advanced students. This would allow all for the student the opportunity to see how all the information is important. I also really liked the tiered example 2 with the aliens. This would be a great way to help students come up with different questions and answers about a given topic. Helping them to move from the more simple questions and answers to the more complex as they deepen their analytical think skills. There are a lot of great tools in the book that can be adapted to almost any lesson. Which would really help the students be clear about the objectives, giving them choices to make it more fun and interesting but tiered so that they are working withing their own ZPD.

TIERING

Tiering is teaching the essentials of any given lesson to students but by creating multiple tasks with varying difficulty according to the students readiness to ensure success for every student as well as keeping their educational experience with in each students ZPD.
Pages 130-135
These are great examples of tiered lessons. The basic assignment is there for all the students to participate in, but each task is slightly different accommodating the different levels of readiness. By the end of the assignment each of the students will have performed the task that was within their ZPD, solidifying their new found knowledge.
Pages 149-162
It is my belief that most lessons can be tiered. Some may take more creativity. Some of the lessons that may not be as tierable as others are math lessons,because there is such a natural progression of math skills. So as far as I can tell not all of these would be tierable. But with such lessons, students could still be groups according to readiness, or paired up with other students for a peer tutoring to ensure that students are successful with the assigned task.

Chapter 6

There are many ways in which to help ensure quality work in our students. One of the ways is to create rubrics that they students know exaclty what is expected of them. This will help them to perform to the level of quality that they desire in a given assignment. It is imporant to help the student to aim high and to realize that the level of effort they put into the assignment will determine the result. Group work is a great way to help student enrich their education as they share idea and solutions to the subject. Think alouds are a great way for students to talk through their strategies, this not only helps them to solve problems, but allows them opportunity to communicate with others and value what they have to contribute. Other suggestions are study buddies and peer critiques to help students achieve their goal for excellence. The goal as a teacher is to ensure that our students can be successful in all that is taught. These are some great ways to make sure that that goal can be accompished. Changing things up for students will also help to continually engage them, and well as giving them a variety of ways to succeed, and helping them find out what works best for them.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5 is about the 5 different characteristics that need to exist in the curriculum and instruction to help students meet their eduacational goals. Curriculum and instruction needs to be important to the students furture to build a solid foundation that the studnets can continue to build upon and work with. It is important for the students to balance knowledge and understanding as they make sense of the information that is presented to them. The curriculum must also be focused so that they students can meet the educational goals that have been set for them. In addition, students need to know why they are learning such things inorder to help them understand it's importance to their future. Engaging students is a vital part of the curriculum. It is when students are engaged in the work that they find it meaningful, memorable, celebrate in their accomplishments and provoke curiosity to futher their education. In the midst of all of this the assignments need to be within their ZPD in make sure that the knowledge is just out side of their reach to help them to stretch and grow. This will help students to work hard and focus on the task at hand. The 5th characteristic of curriculum and instrucion is scaffolding. This is where it is important that the students know what is expected of them, students are given the tools and support that they need inorder to accomplish the assigned tasks. This is also critical that students with special needs are accomidated to ensure their success as well. In the process of doing all of this it is important to help each student feel that they are given the positive encouaragement, help them feel that they have valuable contributions to make to empower and give them purpose in all that they are learning. This is something that I really look forward to doing. Since I always struggled in school, I want to be able to encourage students and help them to believe in themselves that they can succeed in what they pursue.