UbDDI+B2+Chapter+4

Chapter Analysis by Taylor Kemp
Abstract UbD/DI is all about the students. It is what is best for the students, how they can be more successful, what do they need special, and how can they get it. Education on the whole is about the students, and everything that is updated or revised in the ways of education is all to benefit the students. Understanding by Design and Diffiereintiaed Instruction are just another tool that can help the students get more out of their time in the classroom. It allows them to have a more individualized learning experience in a classroom. For these practices to be effective, some pre-steps need to be taken. Knowing your student and their learning style is important. Also understanding what is needed is also necessary.

Synthesis In this chapter, a lot of people made points about which skills and characteristics they most identified with. Each person had previously known a few, such as being clear with the curriculum, always having an end goal in mind, as well as pre-assessment. These are all very important things to keep in mind while in the classroom. Although the two major skills that people overall said were the ones they thought were the most important were having a [|comforting] environment and taking responsibly for the learner and how they succeed. With the environment one, no one can really open up and learn when they do not feel at ease where they are. If someone is always on edge, how will they be able to focus on what is being taught? The taking resonsibily one goes right along with this, as well as pretty much the whole chapter. This is the teachers job, to make sure that the student learned to the best of their ability, it is their [|responsibility] to make sure the information is presented in a way that can be understood. Teachers don’t just give up on a student if they don’t understand a concept at first, they give it to them in a different way, this is taking responsibility for the students success.

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Kassaundra
Chapter 4: What Really Matters in Planning for Student Success For teaching to be effective teachers must be attentive to both the curriculum and instructions. With over attention to one the other may lose effectiveness. There are nine attributes that exemplify a teacher who helps all learners in their classroom. Some of the attributes I am weary about such as developing classroom management routines that contribute to success. To do this I will need to focus on establishing certain expectations for how my classroom will operate, ask students how they think I could make an effective classroom and also have students help out with tasks. Besides this attribute I am nervous about developing a flexible classroom routines because I am the type of person who likes things a certain way. To help me with this I will need to keep in mind that students will need to work at different paces, my classroom set up should be experimented with so it can effectively aid in all types of instruction and I will need to be able to teach in a variety of ways. Also, this chapter emphasizes three questions that need to be answered positively for differentiated instruction to work: Can we accept responsibility for diverse students, can we have a vision for the high-quality learning that will help our students build their lives and are we as teachers willing to make connections between what we teach and the different students we teach?

Charli Sayward
Differentiated instruction was the theme of this reading. It focused on how teachers can be effective with a variety of students. One interesting approach was the pre-assessment, which helped a teacher decide the student’s ability before assigning a project. It helped the teacher understand how she needed to adjust the project for certain students. The teacher still made a point of having all the students share their work in order to extend their learning. Although students learned differently everyone was included in the assignment. Another important aspect was how although teachers are very much responsible for students’ success, students should become more proactive and independent with their own success. I can relate to this because I took responsibility for my own learning and always went for help when I needed it. I never expected a teacher to come to me if I was struggling. It is inevitable that I will be teaching students who are not as proactive, but one of my goals is to make my classroom a comfortable environment so my students will want to come see me for help.

Matt Towle
Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"> In chapter 4 I learned that one of the best ways to be a responsive teacher is to teach with clear final goals using "big ideas." If this is done, you can then change the individual assignments and activities to best fit different student's learning needs. As long as each student reaches the same goal, it does not necessarily matter how they got there. This chapter also talked about how to effectively run a classroom. In one of the scenarios, the book talked about a teacher who would ask his students what they thought the rules should be. I never would have come up with this idea or even considered it to be a working possibility. What I learned in this chapter will affect my teaching because if I can learn to construct lessons in the same fashion of following the "big ideas" then I will be able to more easily create a differentiated classroom. If all students are able to learn at their specific rates and by their specific learning styles then they are less likely to be disruptive as they will always be challenged to do their best.

**Jenn Baum**
Chapter 4: What Really Matters in Planning For Student Success? This chapter identified examples of skills and characteristics that teachers have who are able to help all learners. Some of the skills were not new to me. For example, being clear about the curriculum, developing a respectful environment, and having consistent classroom management rules were all concepts that I already had knowledge about. Other concepts like being flexible and bringing a wide variety of strategies gave me a new outlook towards incorporating differentiated instruction into my classroom. One tip that I had not previously considered was avoiding giving ‘more’ or ‘less’ to students of varying abilities and instead finding different ways for each learner to get to the desired goals. Another important characteristic of an effective teacher in obtaining student success is making sure to not let differences (ex. gender, economic status, level of parental involvement, etc..) become excuses for work that is less than what the students are capable of achieving. And a final tip that I think would be particularly helpful in my class is to use at least two or three different strategies in presenting material in order to ensure that differentiation occurs in the class at all times.

The fourth chapter talked about the nine attitudes and skills that teachers need to learn. Those are establish clarity about curricular essentials, accept responsibility for learner success, develop communities of respect, build awareness of what works for each student, develop classroom management routines that contribute to success, help students become effective partners in their own success, develop flexible classroom teaching routines, expand a repertoire of instructional strategies, and reflect on individual progress with an eye toward curricular goals and personal growth. These are all good examples of the skills that I hope to acquire over time while in practicum and when I’ve become a teacher. I will have to really watch out for ways to change my instruction and personality to fit these important components. My classes will greatly benefit from the essential skills and attitudes such as the expansion of a repertoire of instructional strategies. The lessons will vary in the structure and work that they will be asked to work on in and out of the classroom.

Erin
Chapter 4: What Really Matters in Planning for Student Success? lists nine attitudes teachers must have to assure the success of their students. The one attitude that grabbed my attention was the point that teachers have to take responsibility for their students’ success. Teachers cannot assume that if their students do not comprehend the material, it is the students’ fault. Maybe you are teaching in a visual sense but some students learn through kinesthetic. You not only have to assess your students, but you have to assess yourself. Establishing clarity about the curriculum includes assigning the same amount of work to each of your students. According to the text, some teachers use the excuse of “diversity” when they assign struggling students less work than the excelling students. No one is winning in this situation. I know now from the reading to never do this. If any student needs extra help with the material, then I will make myself available. If the student is struggling tremendously, then I would talk to his or her other teachers and discuss what to do from there.

Alyssa Wadsworth
Chapter four is about student success, and what teachers can do to help students succeed. What I learned from the chapter—and what I think will help students the most—is pre-assessment. This is not a //new// concept to me but I have never given it much thought because teachers did not try to do it much with my classes—they just jumped into their plans. This will have an affect on my students because, although I do not think it is helpful (and learned that it isn’t) to give some students less work because they do not understand it, if I know how much my students already know, I can start where their understanding leaves off. If necessary, I might implement a group project to help my students understand the content better, and to help each other. As the book said, “The teacher does not ‘give up’ anything in allowing a student to work alone or with a partner, or to express an idea in a more divergent versus convergent format” (page 42). This will impact me as a teacher because it could help me to know where to start teaching in a subject, and thus make the unit more helpful for my students so they can succeed more easily.

Darcie
In this chapter, the thing that I learned, and was comforting to read was that there is “no such thing as the perfect lesson, the perfect day in school, or the perfect teacher…the goal is not perfection but persistence in the pursuit of understanding important things” (UbD p. 56). It was nice to read this, because being a teacher brings a lot of responsibilities. But, going into it knowing that it’s not going to run smoothly everyday is comforting to read from other professionals. I completely agree with the idea of always on the pursuit of understanding the important things. So maybe something doesn’t go right that day in the lesson that I planned out, that’s fine, as long as the students are learning something from me, then what does it matter if it’s not exactly what I planned out?

Megan Wallace
I learned that clarity is key with teaching: clarity about what I need to teach, clarity about what I am going to teach, and clarity about how I am going to teach it. I have partial responsibility in the success of my students. If I do not teach well, they cannot learn well. I intend on making my classroom a place where my students can learn. I will help them build a community with each other and I will adapt to meet their needs. I will make sure that they have the chance to own their learning and help them to reach their goals.

Linda McLaughlin
//Chapter Four: What Really Matters in Planning for Student Success?// This chapter examined and discussed the different skills and attitudes that teachers need to have for differentiated instruction. A lot of these skills and attitudes were things I already knew about, such as being clear about curriculum, taking responsibility for success of the students, create an environment that is respectful, and creating classroom management routines. Something that provided a new perspective for me was when the author said, “In a classroom composed of many individuals, it becomes increasingly important for those individuals to participate in crafting their own success.” (p. 50). This helped me realize that students need to be able to tell me when the material is too difficult, and that they need more time, or vice versa. I need to create an environment where my students help determine their progress and set goals.

Kaitlyn Haase
Chapter 4: What Really Matters in Planning for Student Success? In chapter 4, I learned that clarity is imperative to teach for understanding. I also learned about nine essential attitudes and skills that teachers must have to help all of their students learn. One attitude/skill in particular that stuck out to me was, “They build awareness of what works for each student.” This is very important because not everything works for everybody. It is inevitable that my classroom will be diverse in many ways, and I must be aware of what works for each student to assure that they are able to succeed. A second attitude/skill that caught my attention was, “They accept responsibility for learner success.” I’ve had teachers in the past that made me feel as though it was my fault if I did not understand something. I don’t want to be like any of those teachers. It will be me obligation to create lessons that are meaningful and engaging enough so that all of my students will be able to understand the content.

Bri Douglass
Most of what we have discussed in class is about what and how we need to teach. But I was intrigued to learn in Chapter 4 that with differentiated instruction it is important to incorporate the student in his/her learning. Students need to have responsibility within the classroom and become more self-reliant. This idea will definitely impact my classroom someday because I believe that it is important for students to have responsible and respectful. I could use this in my classroom so that I am not always in charge of everything but rather students, hopefully, will be able to take some responsibility. I think that because students have more responsibility they will have more respect for themselves, the classroom and their peers.

Ryan Pelletier
Differentiation in the classroom does not have to make things difficult. In fact, it can make your curriculum more creative. I enjoyed learning about how you do not have to give the students that understand the material more work, nor do you have to lessen the workload for students who do not understand the material. "In an effectively differentiated classroom, the same powerful understanding-based goals will nearly always "belong" to everyone." (Ubd/DI) Knowing this as a teacher I will have to always focus on the clarity of a unit. I will need to know my students and their learning abilities before I can know what is important and not important from the material. If I am able to determine what I think is important for them to learn, then I will hopefully engage all my students.

Lyzz Stevenson
Chapter 4: The success and growth of your students is what really matters as a teacher. If your students are learning the material but are not growing as a learner then you need to be cautious of the teaching style. The environment for student success is key. You need to have a clear curriculum that covers all different learning styles. Building success and respect and awareness are all ways in which one can create a learning environment. For me observing each student shows that you are engaged and care about their education, as well as allows you some insight to a students learning style and intelligence. I think this is most definitely something that I am going to do in my classroom. This way I will be able to cater to students learning styles and interests.

Olivia
In chapter 4 of UbD - DI, the ability to teach students with the best quality of teaching and following the curriculum and being a responsive teacher. The successful planning for differentiation was discussed, and the indicators of effective differentiation in the classroom.

I learned about the attitudes and skills that typify a teacher who "help all learners." Two of these skills stood out to me as an educator, the first skill being that a teacher can accept responsibility for a learner's success, and the second skill is building an awareness of what works for each student. I learned about the goals that matter to a teacher, because not everything can be taught. In this chapter, goals were described as a "springboard" and differentiation should begin here.

I learned about understanding based teaching in this chapter. In this section, I learned that a curriculum based on concepts and principles are more engaging to students because it can link to a students life experiences and interest in the curriculum. Also in this section I learned about how a curriculum based on enduring understandings creates opportunities for students with varied backgrounds. I learned that teachers can benefit from allowing students to decide how they want to work (i.e. alone/with a partner), and the students can benefit as well.

When I become a teacher, I definitely want to be the type of educator who considers multiple ways to teach the curriculum. The idea of goals in the classroom (that was discussed in the previous chapter) is still something I plan on using as an educator.

Taylor Kemp
This chapter talks about nine different skills that make a teacher able to teach to a variety of different students. Some of these examples are being clear about what is being taught, having classroom management that helps make the classroom on the whole be successful, having routines, but also the ability to step away from them, and helping students help themselves. All of these skills that I have listed as well as the other ones mentioned in the book are attributes that I hope to possess as a teacher, as all of them are key to being successful, as well as having successful students.

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Kelly Steinhagen
Incorporating the students in planning some aspects of the class or allowing them to be apart of their progress in school seems like it would wield great response. It would also allow me to reflect upon myself and how I was teaching with insight from the students. However, even though every student is different, I would not be able to completely change certain things, like the amount of work given or how they should be graded. This is mainly because of the fact that the key point of any class is the essential questions and desired outcomes. I also honestly like the idea of allowing students to have influence in what happens in my classroom and how it will effect them as a learner.