Marzono's 9 Strategy

I really enjoyed learning about Marzono's strategies to classroom instruction. I like how adjustable he was to other theories and that many more strategies exist in a classroom. He admits that his 9 are not the only ones that teachers should use. He actually encourages them to expand and try new strategies. The strategy that I would like to incorporate in my lesson plan would be identifying similarities and differences. I am a big history and politics guy. Almost everything in both subjects can be compared throughout history. In my lesson plan I would like to teach about the 3 branches of government. Using similarities and differences would help students understand the differences and uniqueness of each branch.

Think Maps for a better

Thursday in class we learned about thinking maps. When you walk through a school you will probably see multiple thinking maps without knowing what they actually are for or why they are there. A thinking map displays information for students. There are 8 thinking maps that we learned. Each one sort of specifies information in a way to expand information or display it to help the visual learner. 

The thinking map that I really like are flow charts. I really like seeing and displaying information as a process. Everything in life is a process. You do not just teach a student algebra. There is a learning process that needs to take place first and within that materials the student needs to know.  Also, a flow chart can display the events that led up to World War II. A flow chart is great for displaying the following:

• Sequencing
• Ordering
• Analyzing patterns
• Life cycles

I am fully enjoy all of my education certification process. I am learning a lot and enjoy the fact that I get to share the experience with people I have taken numerous classes with here at Columbia College- Evening Campus. Hope everyone has a great weekend! See you next Thursday!

Madeline Hunter Lesson Plan

Madeline Hunter's lesson plan design has definitely helped me understand how to write clear and helpful lesson plans. I really like how it makes the teacher think very far ahead of the class and organizes the thinking so it could be easily understood by other teachers or principals.

The hard parts for me are the learning standards. I looked online at some of the Missouri learning standards and it was very detailed. Picking one and making sure I am actually teaching the correct thing is like a puzzle. The easy parts would be the teaching part. Giving the information to the students. I also am very familiar with modifications. I have worked with many teachers who are excellent at doing them.

The check for understanding is probably the most important to students. Seeing that they are learning the material. Checking with a 1,2,3,4 system. 4 being that they could teach it to another student. 1 being "please help me."

Objectives are Important

There are no short cuts to writing learning objectives. I was not expecting the detail needed to write them. I completely understand why they are important but without the ABCDs of Objective Writing it would be very difficult to put together. I also like that they can be used for anything. In class we had examples from school work to the basketball court. I thought it would be interesting to write some objectives for my basketball players with this format. Maybe one can be: Given the type of zone the defense sets, athletes will be be able to identify which offense they should run with 95% accuracy. Sorry, I completely love basketball and can sit and talk about it all day everyday. There is so much that I would like to get done at home. Given the numerous chores, Scott will complete all listed with 100% accuracy.

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend and I look forward to reading your first blog posts!