For my innovation plan, I've been working on what my lesson plans should like. I first created a lesson plan for my colleagues about blended learning using Fink's 3-column table and then I created a lesson plan about a unit in my algebra 2 course using the backwards design template from Wiggins' and McTighe's book Understanding by Design (UbD). I used different audiences for the plans because my innovation plan applies to both audiences and I needed practice addressing both.
The lesson plan below uses the UbD template for an entire unit. I prefer doing lesson plans as a whole unit as it helps me to know exactly where I want my students to go in order to better communicate to them what their end goal is. It also allows me to see how all of the lessons in the unit work together in order to better write critical thinking and reflection questions for my students' ePortfolio assignments. I believe this lesson plan reflects all of the components of the MISD technology plan as it involves students collaborating, showing curiosity, communicating ideas, creating a real-word example, and answering critical thinking written response questions through an ePortfolio that requires digital citizenship and provides differentiation.
Now having completed this unit, I believe this lesson plan worked really well overall. I loved seeing my students creativity and problem-solving skills through the quadratic applications video project. What I discovered I needed to improve was a few of my ePortfolio questions as some them needed a little bit more guidance to get the answer I was looking for. These questions are always a challenge balancing the amount of information given as I want to guide the students the best that I can while still leaving room for them to explore and connect the dots themselves rather than just regurgitating information from the notes.
I have found both the 3-column-table and the UbD template extremely useful for planning purposes. The 3-column-table gives more of an overview or big picture, while the UbD focuses on smaller details. I honestly think the UbD template should be used within the 3-column-table. The 3-column-table should be used to plan for the overall course, while the UbD template should be used for each individual unit. If I had to choose just one of these guides, I would choose the UbD template because I felt as those I could better process and organize my thoughts with how it was aligned. In other words, it was more straightforward than the 3-column-table.
These lesson templates will help me to better organize my innovation plan so that I can ensure that I am staying focused on the end goal. It will also help me to create a significant learning environment within my own classroom so that I am maximizing the impact my blended learning classroom will have when I share it with my colleagues.
References:
Fink, L. D. (2003). A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning.. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (expanded second ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.