EDCI 480 Digital Portfolio

Narrative:

Throughout my time in this class, I learned many interesting and helpful things that I know will improve my classroom, planning, and teaching. Students depend on their teachers for a well-planned and engaging academic journey. As a future educator, I will use the skills and knowledge gained in this course to carry out that mission. Below, is a list of three different skills and knowledge that I gained in this course. This list contains the big takeaways I took from this course that I plan to integrate into my class. 

Accommodating EL Learners:

It is inevitable that a student will walk into a classroom not fully understanding the language they are expected to learn in. Every student in the classroom should have an opportunity to understand the lesson and the people around them. As a future teacher, I have recognized that it is my job to go out of my way to help those students and make sure they are setup for a fair educational journey. Accommodating EL learners helps improve the skills needed not only in the classroom, but in society. As teachers, it is our responsibility to be patient with EL learners and guide them towards success. I've learned that there are multiple ways to improve a lesson so everyone in the class can participate and learn.

Bloom's Taxonomy:

The use of Bloom's Taxonomy is a helpful way to break down the objectives of a lesson plan.  It showed me how to separate the appropriate assignments and activities for specific times in the lesson. Teachers need to understand the different ways to enact lower-order thinking skills and higher-order thinking skills.  By using Bloom's Taxonomy, teachers can control what their students takeaway from the lesson. It ties into the standards for the class and communicates with students about what is expected from them.

Lesson Planning:

After creating a lesson plan and observing a class, I now know that preparing a lesson plan prior to the class is incredibly important to ensure successful learning. The teacher must have a step by step plan to guarantee that the students are learning in an organized and efficient way. If the teacher is not fully prepared for what they need to lecture or assign then students are not receiving the attention they deserve. Lesson planning also benefits the class when the teacher is absent so the substitute knows exactly what the students should be completing during the class period. For my future classroom, I will create an in-depth lesson plan for each class that guarantees student learning.