Chapter 3: Gaining Clarity on our Goals
As a teacher I always have problems with lesson plans and time. Priorities seem to be easy when I have to make decisions or make choices, but it is not really true.
To reach a solution for the aspects mentioned above, we have to focus on the most meaningful and useful tasks. When we are able to establish priorities and we are able to determine what is necessary for students to learn, means that we are not overloading with contents and contents.
In that sense, teachers have to ask essential questions which are connected with BIG IDEAS . They are central to the design. Those BIG IDEAS make our students to work and carry out the goals. In addition, the discussion, reflections, problems solving, research and debate are very important for developing deep understanding of essential ideas.
Authors suggest helping students to “learn how to learn” and “how to perform”. For them is both, a vital mission but a commonly overlooked one. On the other hand, contents are a means and there is not the main AIM in teaching/learning.
BIG IDEAS can help to connect discrete topics and obviously to skills because they are transferable. That means that BIG IDEAS are useful, completely effective and efficient in our students`learning process.
BIG IDEAS must be identified and carefully designed because it can exist the temptation of teaching as much as possible and ignoring the real value of a specific topic. We, as teachers, have always to remember that some is great for us, it is not for our students, so priorities are different too, so BIG IDEAS have to be relevant for them not for us.
Finally, I think, we have to consider challenges for our students: realistic situations, context in which tasks are as faithful as possible to real life opportunities and difficult situations will make our students develop the skills they need to face life.
I like what you said about establishing priorities. I think it´s so important, and you´re right in that it really cuts down information overload!
ResponderEliminarAs I read you comment, I remembered I had an American professor who made us design a lesson plan taking into account concepts such as BIG IDEAS, LONG AND SHORT-TERM GOALS. And as teachers we are so used to plan our lessons around a topic and some activities that you kinda loose focus on things that are vital for our students' progress.
ResponderEliminarHaving clarity about our big ideas and goals is more helpful that giving students a bunch of purposeless activities, hoping that they'll get something
I think the same about the importance of priorities when dealing with our plans and syllabi and taking aside all that load of contents which aim is to recall most of the information and not to accomplish the skills our learners need in real life.
ResponderEliminarI agree, since the important thing here is that students should know what are we expecting from them, what goals should they achieve and what skills are they supposed to develop. So first, we need to keep in mind what are our goals in order to help students work and develop different skills while learning the foreign language.
ResponderEliminarI agree with you on setting priorities. Establishing them is the only way to avoid overloading, which is one of the main problems teachers have to face when planning a lesson.
ResponderEliminarI agree with you,we have to establish priorities when dealing with plans,but it's difficult because of the time and overload.
ResponderEliminar