This week was a mixed bag. First, the negative. While I understand that incorporating theory into teaching and lesson planning is important, it is one of my least liked aspects of education. I love content and I have enjoyed exploring ideas relating to incorporating technology with teaching. The focus this week, particularly with the readings in the book, was on the theory of designing lessons. Theory is nice, but the complexities of reality should be considered. Cross-curriculum lesson planning is nice, but I question the need for involving ELA, Social Studies, Math, and Science at the same time. I cringe when I hear teachers of other subjects delving too much into social studies, I don't want to meander too much into scientific principles. District SLOs are simple recall questions evaluated by a multiple choice test, state core standards are still broad, classes contain 40 students in each, and the complexity of the Understanding by Design model is time intensive.
Now on to the positive, these chapters did provide some concrete examples of differentiating between knowledge and understanding, as well as breaking down the Big Idea and core tasks. I think it is incredibly important for a teacher to be aware and avoid falling into the Blind Spot and there should be constant attempts to make and identify connections to previous learning. I also think students should be challenged to go beyond simply knowing content, but in being pushed out of their comfort zone to achieve a level of understanding. Care should be given by a teacher to identify the end result, but I do think some understanding can be achieved without the complexity required by this model.
Now on to the positive, these chapters did provide some concrete examples of differentiating between knowledge and understanding, as well as breaking down the Big Idea and core tasks. I think it is incredibly important for a teacher to be aware and avoid falling into the Blind Spot and there should be constant attempts to make and identify connections to previous learning. I also think students should be challenged to go beyond simply knowing content, but in being pushed out of their comfort zone to achieve a level of understanding. Care should be given by a teacher to identify the end result, but I do think some understanding can be achieved without the complexity required by this model.