Have you ever had a moment where you ask your students
a question in referencing a previous lesson in order to start a new lesson and
the classroom is silent? You give them prompts but the vocabulary you are
looking for from them does not seem to exist. You eventually give them the
answer to move on. You then ask yourself was I effective at teaching them the
material? Did I not do a good job? What activities did I do? What could I had
done differently? Should I reteach the lesson or redo some activities that
could enhance the material so that it could be permanently imprinted on their
minds? This week we read two articles that gave insight onto similar situations
like this and offered some solutions that would enhance students’ comprehension
of material and “master” their skills. The articles were Classroom Assessment and Grading to Assure Mastery by James P.
Lalley and J. Ronald Gentile, and Backward
Design: Targeting Depth of Understanding for All Learners by Amy Childre,
Jennifer R. Sands, and Saundra Tanner Pope. This synthesis will analyze the material
within each article and address how it applies to teachers within their
classroom.

Scaffolding allows students and teachers to build upon
prior knowledge in order to understand new information and skills. Through this
approach, in inclusive classrooms, teachers are able to step away from the
textbook and expand lessons through activities that would benefit them. “…backward
design planning focuses on learning outcomes, and standards, and the
assessments for accomplishing those standards. These assessments then guide the
development of the learning activities. (Wiggins and Mc Tighe, 2006) (Childre,
Sands, and Tanner Pope, 2013, p. 128) In the article, Backward Design, it discusses the backward design approach in which
teachers create enhancive activities that would span through numerous academias
that would help students with and without learning disabilities comprehend the
material and learn. In order for this approach to be successful, teachers should
recognize students’ strengths and weaknesses, student experiences, identify
standards that associate with the lesson, ask thought provoking questions that
encourage discussion, and conduct a wide range of assessments such as
observations. Each lesson should be sequenced so that each expands on a new
skill learned. Learning activities should encourage students apply information,
make interpretive judgments, and/ or synthesize information to generate
knowledge and gain understanding of the larger issue (Bulgren et al., 2007;
Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1994; Childre, Sands, and Tanner Pope, 2013, p. 131).
Changing the way we teach, changes the outcome of learning for our students.
We
want our students to be successful, but we have to be successful at teaching
all of them.
References:
Childre,
A., Sands, J.R., and Saundra Tanner Pope. (2013). Article 27: Backward Design:
Targeting Depth of Understanding for All Learners. In Annual
Editions: Educational Psychology 12/13, 127-135.
Lalley, J. P. and J. Ronald Gentile. (2013). Article
26: Classroom Assessment and Grading to Assure Mastery. In Annual Editions: Educational Psychology 12/13, 122-126.
Further Information:
Assessment,
Evaluation, and Curriculum Redesign. Retrieved from: http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/assessment/
Halverson,
E., (2009)The “Backward Design” Process. Retrieved from: https://tle.wisc.edu/solutions/lecturing/%E2%80%9Cbackward-design%E2%80%9D-process
Using Curriculum and Assessment to Strengthen Classroom Practice. Retrieved from: http://www.pakeys.org/docs/PKC%20Curriculum%20Doc.pdf
Wiggins,
G., McTighe, J. (2005) Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition. Retrieved
from: http://www.ubdexchange.org/resources/backwards.html
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