task Five. Domain 1

the first item i found was a video of Howard Gardner http://www.edutopia.org/howard-gardner-interview#graph7
Howard Gardner’s interest in the multiple intelligences, the student direct learning and the different types of learners is the center of my teaching philosophy. I enjoyed listening to Gardner talking about the need for a new approach to assessment; his words were music to my ear. His idea about engaging the students in what they are learning and creating a meaning to what students are learning, if the students have the chance to manipulate the material being taught and are able to use it, it will stay with them forever. because it was taught in a context. As a French teacher I see the importance of that. I am moving away from one word answer into “chunks” or complete sentences since students will be able to use it. With my fifth graders I give them research to do on their own to help them own what they have learned and assist them in exploring instead of presenting the facts to them. And so many times I have learned great things from their research topics.
I liked listening to him talk about what I call an effective assessment. We shouldn’t assess to come up with a final verdict, but we should assess so that we can better our teaching and maximize the students’ learning. We should share the results with the students and get their feedback about what worked and what didn’t. By analyzing data we can look for patterns and notice flaws in our way of teaching and move to the self-assessment.

the second item i found was an article http://www.edutopia.org/comprehensive-assessment-introduction
With the states so worried about funding, and meeting the endless goals. Teachers and students are caught in the cross fire, the quality of teaching is going down while the quantity is going up. Teachers are teaching for the test and so many skills are left out. The No Child Left Behind had left us with No Teacher Left Alive. Assessing should tell us where we are, where are we headed and how can we change the outcomes and correct errors. I liked the fact that the article highlighted the importance of the performance –based assessment. As a language teacher of k-5th students with limited linguistic abilities (French). I find that the performance based assessment if a great way of assessing and checking for understanding. It gives me reassurance that my students learned and understood what I taught them and are able to show that, and it gives the students the chance to share what they have learned. Both summative and formative should be used to generate data and use the data to improve teaching and learning experience as well as scores.

The last item was a blog “Differentiated Instruction Allows Students to Succeed” http://www.edutopia.org/differentiated-instruction-student-success

I believe that all the students can learn, but not all the same way the day. Therefore I see the importance of differentiating instruction and ways of assessing the students to make sure that they are learning and succeeding. The blogger touched down on something very important which is the need for attention from the students as well as the neglect that most teachers do unintentionally to the quiet and shy students, those who obeys, do their work and never cause nay problems. I have decided last year to make sure that I would talk to one of them each day and not only by saying hi but trying to make a personal connection. “The ideal is to provide equivalent learning activities that cater to the students' strengths but bring all of the students to the same learning objective.” That’s the ideal fro me I would like to designs lessons and assessments well thought, challenging but yet age and level appropriate. Allowing extra time to finish the tasks to those needs maximizes their grades earning.

TASK #4

Important Note: Dr. Clarke you will notice many similarities between my answers for this task and those of Carmen, and the reason in not that I am copying her work but we both went through the option7 Program for World language teachers at NKU, and we both work with JCPS, and also we are both part of a team of world language elementary teachers designing a framework that is language neutral. So we have the same goals and we are working on improving same areas.

What was that domain? Why did you choose this domain?

I chose this domain because as I stated I am part of group of teachers in JCPS designing a framework. A knowledgeable and well prepared teacher can contribute the success of the students. And also because I see that I have much room for improvement in this area.

Which component from this domain are you most comfortable with?

The component that I feel the most comfortable with is in demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy. Even though French is my first language teaching it and passing the knowledge on to my students was not and still not an easy task. Knowing the language doesn’t guarantee that a person can teach it and that’s why I had to become certified. I went trough a range of pedagogy courses to gain delivery skills. Now that I have gained more classroom management skills and had learned more about the children’s cognitive development, and the different factors that affect the teaching/learning. Teaching French to English speaker had helped me reflect even deeper on the structure of the French language, and helped me find similarities between the two languages and therefore finding way to tie both of them together and demonstrate to my students that they can learn it.

Which component from this domain do you believe most strongly ties to instruction?

I believe that setting instructional outcomes is the strongest tie to instruction. When designing a unit of study in general and each lesson in particular, the outcomes and the goals should be clearly set. The backward design is the best example that supports the importance of setting the instructional outcomes and its positive impact on the learning. In the past world language teachers used to teach so many things without asking themselves why do I teach what I teach? For example for so long world language teachers had taught the Alphabet as a start and in isolation, they don’t have a solid argument for teaching the alphabet in isolation. The students memorize the alphabet at the end, but what are they going to do with it is the question that the teacher should ask him/herself.

Which component from this domain would you like to zero in on in your own instruction?

As I stated before I have made progress in managing my class and delivering lessons. But a big part of teaching is assessing, and if the assessment is not done the way it should, the teachers will not know how to proceed or even end up with conflicting data. Therefore I chose to focus on designing student assessments.

Question to my group.
How do you go about touching down on the multiple intelligences when designing a lesson?