Big Idea: Critical Thinking
Essential Question: Do I have what it takes to be an effective teacher?
Understandings:
1. I am responsible for my own depth and direction of learning.
2. The reflective practice helps me gain skills and grow.
3. Effective teachers are effective communicators.
4. What I believe as a learner impacts how I perform as a teacher.
Standards (colors indicate unpacked KNOWLEDGE and SKILL):
- INTASC (Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium) Standards
- Standard #8: The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates the effects of his choices and actions on others and who actively seeks out opportunities to grow professionally.
- Indiana Career and Technical Program Curriculum Standards
- 4.2 Curriculum activities help students apply appropriate English/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies standards in work-related situations.
- Indiana High School Composition Standards
- CMP 1.8 Review, evaluate, and revise by writing for meaning, clarity, achievement of purpose, and mechanics.
- CMP 1.13 Develop presentations using clear research questions and creative and critical research strategies, such as conducting field studies, interviews, and experiments; researching oral histories; and using Internet sources.
- American Association of School Librarians (AASL) standards
- 2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings.
- 3.1.1 Conclude an inquiry-based research process by sharing new understandings and reflecting on the learning.
- 3.1.3 Use writing and speaking skills to communicate new understandings effectively.
- Information Literacy Standard
- Standard #4: The student who is an independent learner is information literate and pursues information related to personal interests.
Learning Outcomes (which include information concepts and skills):
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Knowledge (vocabuary, concepts, facts ):
Students will know . . .
Vocab: reflective, practioner, revision, drafting, protocol, inquiry, literate, information literate, media literacy, visual literacy
Concepts: writing for meaning, writing for clarity, writing for purpose |
Skill (skills, processes, and procedures):
Students will be able to . . .
Skills: grammar, language conventions, demonstrate application of language arts standards, narrowing topics, sharing ideas through writing, independent learning, evaluating web sources
Processes: evaluate effects of choices, evaluate effects of actions, writing process
Procedures: review own writing and writing of peers, evaluate own writing and writing of peers, revise own writing, pursuing information, research strategies, conducting interviews |
Mini-lesson Collaboration and Watching/Wondering Activities:
(Note: Clicking on the links of the name of each mini-lesson will provide a full explanation of the lesson.)
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Mini-Lessons |
Student Activities
Student Role*: problem solver, critical thinker, creator, collaborator, communicator |
Teacher Activities
Teacher Role*: guide and facilitator |
Media Specialist Activities
Media Role: support, guide, and facilitator |
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#1: Weekly Reflections |
- sorts sample reflections
- ranks sample reflections
- defends rankings
- creates defining traits of sample reflections
- creates rubric
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- reviews writer's crafts which include: time focus, repetition, contrast, inner story, point of view, parallelism, setting, sensory details, poetic license
- models effective writing
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- assists students with rubric creation
- manages technical aspect of Moodle
- models effective writing
Inquiry skills*: observing, reading, viewing, writing, discussing |
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#2: Guided Discussions |
- modifies literature circles model as seen on Teacher Tube
- creates evaluation checklist
- storyboards
- creates video model of discussion circles
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- creates discussion questions for topics
- oversees weekly discussion circles
- monitors on-line progress
- assists with modification of literature circles
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- introduces literature circles
- assists with modification to "non-fiction" discussion circles
- trains small groups of students to lead circles
- oversees creation of Teacher Tube video
Inquiry skills*: reading, discussing, finding purpose, questioning, connecting |
| #3: Belief Statements |
- generate personal list of non-negotiable belief statements
- conceptualize and communicate beliefs with a nonlinguistic representation
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- create sample belief statements
- create a nonlinguistic representation
- create list of components to include in final product
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- collect real world examples of belief statements and share
- collaborate with other staff members to collect more belief statements
- publish examples on Google Sites
- model inquiry process throughout the semester by participating with the creation of belief statements as a student
Inquiry skills*: connecting, finding focus, narrowing topic |
* Student and Teacher roles taken from Lamb's 8Ws inquiry model as are inquiry skills.
Assessment Methods:
The ultimate goal of this unit is to foster self-assessment skills. A variety of assessment strategies are present. All of which are an attempt at assessment FOR learning versus an assessment OF learning as differentiated by Chappuis in Understanding School Assessment and adapted by Stiggens in Classroom Assessment for Student Learning (page 33). Detailed and specific examples can be found on the pages detailing each mini-lesson. Types of assessment include:
- checklist
- rubric
- written response
- performance tasks
- personal response
- descriptive feedback
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