Instructional Decisions:
It has been very eye-opening to think about and reflect upon the SAMR levels. Over my last 5 years in the middle school classroom, I believe I have naturally tried to move my teaching through the SAMR levels. I began by just substituting as a form of convenience. Simultaneously, I augmented lessons for efficiency by encouraging the use of tools within Google Docs. As I learned, I was able to modify and redesign lessons to incorporate more collaborative work. I have found that my students learn a great deal more through collaborative work. By changing the way students learn, this has helped deepen their understanding of the subject matter. When moving to redefinition, I have had to push myself to be more creative, but have found that the more creative and innovative the lesson, the more engaged my students are and the more they internalize their learning.
As I move through the levels, I move to being more of a facilitator of learning and put more responsibility on the student and his or her process. I am there to guide their learning, but they are not just sitting and memorizing facts.
As students move through the SAMR levels, they have more agency to shape their learning and have more opportunities for creativity and problem solving. Students are are able to take a more self-directed role and explore topics that interest them; they are able to pursue their own inquiries.
Teachers as Designers:
My decisions in this process have pushed me to be creative and innovative. Through this process, I wanted to create dynamic, captivating, and engaging lessons. As a middle school teacher, engagement is essential. If I can create lessons that involve and engage students, the likelihood they are going to learn is much higher.
This lesson in particular is novel, effective, and whole. It is novel because it follows students’ interests. It engages their interests and curiosities. They are able to choose their topic for their persuasive essay. They are also able to present their findings in a novel way through multimedia resources.
The lesson is effective because it clearly meets learning objectives. Students are finding a topic based on a social issue, they are researching the topic, and they are presenting their findings in a persuasive format. This lesson can always be differentiated for different learners.
Finally, this lesson is whole. It is comprehensive and coherent. Everything works together cohesively and flows well together. There is a logical progression of content and activities. By having a final project, students will be able to make connections to the bigger picture as well. Everything is connected to create a seamless and coherent learning experience.
This process clearly exemplifies teacher as a designer. The lesson showed that I carefully crafted a learning environment and resources to facilitate meaningful and engaging learning. It is imperative that educators shape the learning environment, resources, and instructional strategies to optimize student engagement and achievement. This lesson shows thoughtful planning, creativity, adaptability, and a commitment to meeting the needs of a diverse group of students.