This project was geared towards planning a lesson that incorporated many times of media in order to enhance the learning experience of some sort of set of students. And, I think that the objectives of this lesson is plainly pointed out in NET*S standard II that states that “Teachers plan and design effective learning environments and experiences supported by technology” (“NETS”, 2000, II.) It sounded easy enough, but when it came to the actual planning it was actually much harder than it seemed. Once I had gotten the content somewhat down I felt somewhat lost with where to go from there. How could I analyze learners that did not exist? Do I fabricate a class along with their characteristics and needs? I disliked the idea of fabricating the characteristics, abilities, and needs of my class and kind of wished it was randomly fabricated for us. I felt as if it would be all too easy to fabricate my class in such a way that I would have no big problems with teaching them. Although, it was fun imaging and contemplating the demographics of my class, it just felt unfair that I could choose them. So, you could say that creating a fake class was my favorite and least favorite part of the assignment, because after I had fixed the setting of the class to be as simple as possible for me, the rest of the lesson plan seemed simple enough. And, I will admit that I did not make an effort to make the scenario or lesson too complicated.
If I had included students with disabilities that were a bit more complicated to deal with, such as ADHD or autism, I think that I would have to change my lesson to include a bit more creativity such as making a song or skit to demonstrate how to combine monomials and polynomials (Collins 2005 Sec.1-2). But, considering the content I felt it somewhat excessive to include such activities. Perhaps I feel this way now because the methods of my current math professors are rubbing off on me, but hopefully in the future my feeling will be more compassionate towards my students. I think that because my students in this scenario are fictional I cannot bring myself to truly make an effort to understand them. But, I feel as if, if they were real, I would make an effort to try to make learning working with polynomials fun. When it comes to using something like the ASSURE model, I believe that it should be used with a particular scenario in mind already, because you cannot create a customized lesson for a class that does not exist. Nor, do I believe that it’s simple to simply create one lesson plan and apply it to all classes. I believe that it should be fitted to each and every class, and done differently with each and every class. An honors class may do very well with the lesson plan that I created, but a more varied class may be bored to death of it. In the case of the more varied class, I would probably assign the skit and make a point to do a majority of the work in class, rather than leave them to work at it on their own at their own pace like I would let an honors class. If I wanted to challenge an honors class, I would probably ask them to make their own digital tutorials utilizing zooburst as a tool. For the more varied class, I would probably do a fast paced game with them.
All in all, I felt rather confused and somewhat flustered with this assignment. I had little problems with the lesson plan content, but I felt somewhat put off at the fact that I had to fabricate the class myself, because the type of class would determine the methods and media I would utilize with the class. So, because I could manipulate the characteristics of the class I kind of felt distanced and did not feel the need to challenge myself or cater to the students, since I had fabricated students that met my standards. Under more realistic situations, I am sure I would have approached the situation completely differently.
Collins, J. (Dec. 8 2005). What Are the 13 Categories of Disability For Special
Education Eligibility?.
Retrieved November 30, 2011, from Ezine Articles website:
http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Are-the-13-Categories-of-Disability-For-Special-Education-Eligibility?&id=1762111
International Society for Technology in Education. (2000). ISTE National
Educational Technology Standards (NETS) and Performance Indicators For
Teachers.Retrieved October 6, 2011, from:
http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2000.sflb.ashx
http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Are-the-13-Categories-of-Disability-For-Special-Education-Eligibility?&id=1762111
International Society for Technology in Education. (2000). ISTE National
Educational Technology Standards (NETS) and Performance Indicators For
Teachers.Retrieved October 6, 2011, from:
http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2000.sflb.ashx
