Assignment 3 Teaching and Learning

Veola Stewart Module 1A Assignment 3

I am a business and computer studies teacher at a high school in The Bahamas.  I have been teaching for six years.  Throughout my years of teaching I have learned that adjustments must be made to how my lesson is taught and must accommodate each student by using various ways to present my lesson.  Throughout the years I have utilized cooperative learning, guided practice, individual work, lectures, presentations and role plays to present my lessons.  The readings for units 9 – 12 were very informative and I will make some adjustments to how my lessons are presented.  Cooperative and collaborative learning, contrast lessons, problem solving and questioning are strategies that I intend to implement into my lessons this upcoming school year.

Problem solving is a strategy that I would like to implement into my class. In presenting a problem solving lesson a problem must be identified.  Throughout the school year I would utilize an intriguing introduction or role play to stimulate the students’ attention.  In a problem solving lesson my students would be challenged with a scenario, where they would identify the problem.  They would then create a strategy on how to solve the problem.  The strategy would then be implemented and the results would be recorded.  What I have learned is that I can also utilize visual tools to stimulate the students’ interest.  I can utilize a contrast lesson that illustrates different scenarios to engage the class in a discussion.  In presenting a contrast lessons the students would identify differences and discuss the current issue being presented.   A contrast lesson is a great tool to stimulate discussion and develop critical thinking within the students.

The information that I have learned during the two modules have been invaluable.  I have changed my approach to my lessons to increase student learning and engagement.  I have learned about the think-ink-pair-share strategy and I am going to use this approach in my class. The think-ink-pair-share strategy would allow the students strategize and analyze their thoughts, then enhance their written communication by writing their thoughts.  The students would then express their opinion to a partner and then reassess their findings.  This strategy would be a great tool to use when addressing higher order questions.  The students would be able to develop analyze, access and present their findings.

The questioning strategies that I intend to use in upcoming lessons are: agree and disagree strategy, contrast lessons and open and closed questions.  Agree and disagree can allows create an environment for debate and justification of opinions.  Students normally are eager to express their opinions on an intriguing topic.  By utilizing agree and disagree strategy students would be able to comprehend, analyze, apply and evaluate.   The students would have to use critical thinking skills to create and express their thoughts. In the proper setting, sharing of ideas can take place.  Students so often learn from one another and also each student interprets things differently, so the revealing of different thought processes also occurs.  

Open and closed questioning can also be use in the class.  I found closed questioning to be effective for subjects that have dates and specific answers.  With closed questioning the students are using more of the lower order thinking of the bloom’s taxonomy.   Open questioning is useful when a teacher wants to create an environment that enables higher order thinking. This is great when teachers want to challenge the students to come up with solutions to problems. The students are able to devise solutions to various problems but they have to define, design and select the relevant solution.   Define, design and select is a great strategy to use when addressing a problem solving question.  The students would define the problem, design a solution and then select the best way to solve the problem. The students would be able to cover the analysis, synthesis and evaluation level of the bloom’s taxonomy with problem solving and open questions.

ICT is a tool that can be use to enhance the lesson and assist with transferring the information to the student.  ICT has supported the development of questioning and thinking skills by stimulating feelings and thoughts.   The students are able to express their thoughts and feelings with ICT tools such as blogs, Google docs, websites, and other web 2.0 tools.  ICT can be used to create an atmosphere that would allow the students to investigate their thoughts and feelings and then express themselves.  Pictures and sounds can be displayed on a projector or a computer to stimulate the class and be used to support questioning.   ICT tools can also assist questioning by making the process easier to present.  ICT should not be challenging for the students to use or appreciate but it should aid with helping the students understand the content being presented.

My lesson went well when I was discussing the topic of marketing.  The students felt challenge of not knowing what to create to market the school but they finally made a decision.  I knew my students know how to create a video or PowerPoint presentation because I taught them how to create them.  Some students had an issue of working with other persons but I still insisted that they complete the group activity as a team and not an individual because the social skills that are developed from team work are important in the work force.

What I would do differently is pick the leaders of the teams.  A good leader is important to the success of team.  Some teams really struggle to complete the task.   Some students did not see the importance of participating so I would personally assign each individual a task.  If the students do not like that option I would let each student decide which part of the task they were going to complete based on their expertise.  

With learning comes along with teaching.  If something does not work successful it should be evaluated and adjusted so that it can work.  As a teacher I want to reach all of my students. I hope to inspire my students to do the best that they can to become the best that they can.  The information that I learnt in this module has been informative and I hope to change lives by adjusting my teaching strategies.