Week 13

Week 13

1.    Think back to your many experiences with well-designed learning, both in and out of school. What was the most well-designed learning experience you have ever encountered as a learner? What features of the design- not the teacher's style or your interests-made the learning so engaging and effective? (Design elements include challenges posed, sequence of activities, resources provided, assignments, assessments, groupings, site, and teacher's role.) Briefly describe the sign.

One of the best well designed learning experience was a lesson plan that I developed for a 5^th grade Social Studies lesson. One of the reasons was because I was able to create checklists with differentiation, and teach the students how to write a news article which was totally in my element. The checklist including the rubric allowed for the students to have a tool that allowed them to follow to create their article based on the Inca’s. There were different topics that the students were able to use for their article such as fashion, religion, food, clothing, and sports. I provided the students with the checklists, rubrics, articles on different topics, sample of an article, and an online video. The students worked individually, and I worked with them when the article needed editing. The assessment was based on class participation, and their article. The assignment was based on the Social Studies unit that they were learning about.

2.    In sharing your recollections and analyses with your peers, build a list of generalizations that follow from the accounts. What do well-designed learning experiences have in common? In other words, what must be built in by design for any learning experience to be maximally effective and engaging for students. 

An important part of the well-designed learning experience is creating goals, assignments, rubrics, and creating a lesson that will keep students engaged. These are important tools that will maximize the effectiveness of students learning. Incorporating technology is also another tool that can benefit students because videos or online games can really enhance the lesson and keep students focused, engaged, and having fun while learning at the same time.

3.    Where in your school or the school that you are observing are the characteristics of best design most likely to be seen in action? In what programs and subject areas would we most expect to see these characteristics, compared with other programs or subjects? Are there any patterns, If so, why?

In the school that I observed the characteristic with best design is most likely seen for ELA. There is a lot more creativity and the majority of teachers try to incorporate technology with their lessons by adding online games, and videos. Other teachers create art projects based on the lesson, and it follows the standards and the rubrics. By adding the art elements or the online videos or games really enhances the learning experience for students especially in the younger grades because it brings literacy to life. Students in the younger grades are a lot more visual and incorporating technology engages students especially for those students that are struggling with literacy. 

4.    After a study of sample units, and one of your own designs, edit or amend your list of characteristics of the best designs, as appropriate.

·        Common Core Standards

·        Assessments

·        Technology

·        Visual Aid

·        Starter Sentence

·        Class Participation

·        Hands on Activity

·        Rubrics

·        Differentiation

·        Objectives and Expectations