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Lesson Planning: Not for the Faint of Heart

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In previous posts I have discussed lesson planning, UDL, and supports/accommodations for students.  Each of these elements is key to helping students understand new material and giving them the best opportunity to succeed.  The tricky thing is putting all of this together.  In the past I have presented lesson plans that utilize the learning map and give overview, but the lesson plan I am sharing today combines these elements and discusses them in depth. Learning Map Referring back to the TPEs:  TPE 1: Engaging and Supporting All Students in Learning Elements Beginning teachers:  1. Apply knowledge of students, including their prior experiences, interests, and socialemotional learning needs, as well as their funds of knowledge and cultural, language, and socioeconomic backgrounds, to engage them in learning.  4. Use a variety of developmentally and ability-appropriate instructional strategies, resources, and assistive technology, including principles of Uni
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For your consideration

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As a teacher you will encounter a diverse group of students (especially if you work in California).  This means that you have to be prepared to meet the needs of various students.  This includes English Language Learners, ELL, and Standard English Language Learners, SEL. Remember, these students are facing extra challenges may require extra accommodations in order to access the material you are trying to teach.  Take a moment and think about yourself.  Just imagine how much harder it would be for you if you had to learn new material in a new language.  Maybe you can speak the language, maybe you only know a little bit.  How would this effect your ability to learn and your willingness to participate in class. Let's focus again on our TPEs, especially: TPE 1: Engaging and Supporting All Students in Learning Elements Beginning teachers:   4. Use a variety of developmentally and ability-appropriate instructional strategies, resources, and assistive technology, inclu
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Behavior Management II: Rappin' with Mr. Lim

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I spoke about behavior management in a different post, but my knowledge of how it works and its application have expanded.  If you saw my previous post, you know I believe that students need to be kept in a classroom and should only be sent away as the very last resort.  That may have left you asking, so what do I do?  Let's ask the TPEs... TPE 2: Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for Student Learning 5. Maintain high expectations for learning with appropriate support for the full range of students in the classroom. 6. Establish and maintain clear expectations for positive classroom behavior and for student to-student and student-to-teacher interactions by communicating classroom routines, procedures, and norms to students and families. The key word you may have noticed is setting expectations.  It is vital to create a clear set of rules and procedures, consequences, and rewards.  Here is an example of a PowerPoint I use to introduce my classroom exp
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Actions and Consequences

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How you use behavior management and the punishments you give can have a lasting effect on a student learning and relationships.  The idea is that certain actions, such as sending a student out of the classroom and suspending a student, can have detrimental effects that go beyond the scope of what is intended.  We as teachers need to be aware of these effects and find alternatives that will allow our students to grow and thrive. Let us focus on: TPE 2: Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for Student 1. Promote students' social-emotional growth, development, and individual responsibility using positive interventions and supports, restorative justice, and conflict resolution practices to foster a caring community where each student is treated fairly and respectfully by adults and peers. The goal of behavior management is to create a safe environment for our students that is conducive to learning.  This is a goal we can never lose sight of.  One dang
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Gotta Catch 'Em All

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When teaching a lesson how do you "catch 'em all"?  That is, how do you keep all students engaged and how can you provide access points for all student? In my last post I discussed what I learned about behavior management from ITL 608, but t he real focus of the class was understanding the learning map and how to create effective learning plans using Universal Design Learning, or UDL, and the six elements, teaching standards, the big question, student knowledge , student skills, learners' needs, and the teacher.   Effective learning plans take these parts into consideration to benefit the student by creating lessons that are accessible and help the student growth.   These help the teacher by creating lessons that are effective and minimize behavior issues due to student confusion. Using the knowledge I have gained from this class I will implement learning plans that follow the learning map.  These will take into consideration what they will learn in terms of
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Behavior Management

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I believe the best way to help a student succeed is to give them the tools necessary to make good decisions and manage their own behavior.  Reflecting upon my time in National University course ITL 608, the class helped me to understand why this concept is important.  It also helped me understand just how beneficial it is to add restorative justice to a behavior management plan.  Restorative justice will allow me to help my students become more self aware and better equipped to make good decisions. The class has also helped me to solidify my learning management techniques and expanded upon the tools I can draw from.  I have learned that I use a combination of behavioral and cognitive approaches to learning management and as I result I will focus on helping students understand the reason for each rule/procedure and have them reflect upon how their behavior affects those around them.  I will also reward positive behaviors. Which brings us to: TPE 2: Creating and Maintaining Ef
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The More You Know...

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There are two interesting psychological phenomena known as Impostor Syndrome and the Dunning-Kruger Effect.  Impostor Syndrome is when a person who is quite accomplished begins to fear that they will be outed as a fraud because they are undeserving of the the praise they have received.  This occurs because the more we learn about something, the more we realize that we don't know.  The most learned individuals will have the most questions and begin to feel as if they know very little. On the flip side of this is the Dunning Kruger Effect.  This occurs when an individual who knows very little about a topic begins to feel as though they are an expert.  This occurs because they do not have the depth of knowledge to properly assess themselves.  As a result, they over emphasize what they know. So what does this have to do with teaching?  I suppose the obvious answer would be a discussion about cultivating a healthy inquiry by our students, but I would flip the script and ask if we
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