UbDDI+B1+Chapter+4

Abstract (Amanda Martemucci)
Chapter 4 discusses the role of a teacher in planning for student success. To begin, teachers should build a curriculum that focuses on giving the students the materials to develop meaningful knowledge on a topic. They should also understand that it is the teacher's responsibility for his or her students' success. Students have some responsibility in their learning but teachers have the task of building an environment where all learners can succeed. With differentiation instruction, it is important for teachers to learn several strategies of teaching and be flexible in their use since all students learn differently at any given time. Furthermore, a teacher needs to assess the growth of his or her students while keeping focus on the curriculum goals.

Synthesis (Amanda Martemucci)
We all believe that it is important to notice that students learn in different ways and at different paces. As teachers, we should encourage students in their learning no matter what their ability. It is important for the curriculum and its goals to be the same for every student, but changes will be made in the [|learning process] to seek the needs of each student. We also agree that it is a teacher's responsibility for a student's learning. We understand that it could be easy for a teacher to give up on a student if the student does not seem to care or continuously does poorly on his or her work. We can not do this as teachers. We need to find ways to encourage and [|engage] our students to learn. Differentiation instruction enables us to be encouraging of every learner. toc

Amanda Martemucci
UbD/DI-Chapter 4: Chapter 4 focuses on nine attitudes or skills that model a teacher who helps all learners. I found the skill of “establishing clarity about curricular essentials” to be both important and possibly difficult to accomplish. Carol Tomlinson and Jay McTighe that “In an effectively differentiated classroom, the same powerful understanding-based goals will nearly always ‘belong’ to everyone” (p.41). This means that a teacher shouldn’t give students more or less work due to their abilities. Everyone is equal on the tasks they should accomplish. Although I agree with this statement, I find that it is difficult to practice, especially in my first years of teaching. I feel like many teachers do not mean to separate the higher-level students from the lower, but I have seen it happen many times. It may not even be that the teacher gives more or less work but that they give more challenging work to other students. Won’t students know when other students are receiving harder work? Will those students who are not higher-level students in the classroom possibly feel discouraged in their work? I do not want this happening in my classroom. Hopefully further chapters will address this issue.

Kristen
The teacher must be aware of his or her strengths and weaknesses as well as lesson design. Once a teacher knows their issues they can then focus their attention on the problems the students have with their lessons. A pre-assessment is a good idea to get to know your students understanding of the material. With that knowledge in mind you can then help the students that might struggle with it and challenge more the students who already know the material inside and out. UbD suggests that it is a good idea to keep notes on our students so you can see how they are learning and how they are working on the lessons. It gives good insight in how they might deal with future lessons. Let the students take ownership of what goes on in the classroom both in their learning activities and in the general classroom. If a teacher can answer the following three questions effectively they can consider their efforts a job well done. "Do we have the will and skill to accept responsibility for the diverse individuals we teach?... Do we have a vision of the power of high-quality learning to help young people build lives?... Are we willing to do the work of building bridges of possibility between what we teach and the diverse learners we teach?" (p. 56 -57)

Moe
This chapter emphasized that consistency and persistence will lead to more success with your students. To follow through with these things you have to send frequent and encouraging messages to the students about help and being on track. Another thing that I need to remember in the classroom is that all of my students will learn at different paces and that all of the students need to understand that different paces are okay. I always hated it in school when other students would say that some kids in the class were holding the class up. I hated that because they didn’t understand that we all learned at different paces and had different learning styles. As a teacher I hope that I can get all of my student’s to understand that everyone is different and that its okay, and natural.

Bridget
The goal of teachers should be finding different wants to teach students so that they can all learn what is necessary for them to succeed. Differentiation is important in teaching students, because everyone learns differently. When starting a unit, some students will be proficient at the abilities needed to work through the unit, while others don’t have the necessary skills and some possess almost all the knowledge already. Because of these gaps in student standings, it is the job of the teacher to assist students in reaching the goals of the unit as well as progressing past their former knowledge. Teachers also need to create environments in which all students can respect each other and work well, together and apart. Students need to learn how to become aware of their goals and how to meet them as well as how to set new ones, and this can be done with the aide of a teacher, and then students can develop to the point where teacher assistance is limited or unnecessary in creating practical goals. This all impacts me as a teacher because I will need to plan units for my class as a whole, but assist students individually and teach groups of students differently in order to have them all finish the unit with the knowledge they were supposed to learn. This may mean different lessons or projects for different students, working with students individually or in groups, and paying attention to make sure none of my students fall behind.

Christina
Chapter four of //Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design// starts off by stating that to be effective, teachers must ensure that the instruction and curriculum are equally emphasized. As a teacher, it will not do me any good if the curriculum is very rich, but not be able to teach it in a manner the students learn it thoroughly. The same is for the other side, no matter how well I teach, if there is no quality to the curriculum, then the students are really learning nothing at all. I deeply agree that the nine attitudes and skills, listed within the chapter, are greatly required to help all learners. By developing and building upon these skills, I will be able to more successfully help all students achieve their goals.

Chelsea
This chapter discusses how teachers need to constantly adjust for their students, without sacrificing the goals of the curriculum. The book states that the curriculum should create a solid basis for students to build from; teachers should differentiate their teaching for students needs, but without sacrificing what the students should learn. The book says that it is important for the students to understand their similarities and their differences in order for all students to feel included and comfortable in the classroom. Students should also become self directed and learn to acknowledge when they are bored but also when they are struggling and address these issues. Teachers should constantly observe their students to figure out what approaches allow students to be most successful. In order for students to be successful it is both the job of the teacher and the student.

Jesika
This chapter had a lot to do with explaining the multiple intelligences to your students. Much time was spent talking about how to teach young children about MI. This chapter impacted me because I feel as though this should have had more impact on my education as a younger student. This will impact my classroom because I will be able to use the MI theories with my students rather than on my students.

Kevin
The chapter starts off with a very important point that they key to any unit is to focus on the essential main ideas, and try, as a minimum, to ensure that each student grasps the essential content. One of the nine attitudes that typify teachers who help all learners is "accept responsibility for learner success." This ideal seems very easy to forget or lose sight of. If a student seems to be not trying it is only natural to be upset or annoyed with the student. It takes a lot for a teacher to say 'how is it me failing to engage the student.'The book makes the point that clarity refers to not only being clear to one's students, but also having clarity yourself as to what exactly are you trying to get across.