Innovative Educator
Effective urban educators are Innovative Practitioners who are able to demonstrate the ability to problem solve, develop ideas, and use creative methods.
As an educator, being innovative is a must in my eyes. When I think about what innovation in the classroom means, one idea that pops up is that of project based learning. Not only does project based learning set itself up for being innovative a great deal of the time, problem based learning is flexible and in my experience, has proven to be very effective in the classroom. I think project based learning leads its way into teaching cross-curriculum lessons. Cross-curricular lessons are a great way to show innovation. Whenever I am creating a lesson plan, whether it is a unit plan, 1-day lesson plan, or a mini-lesson, I always try to integrate different curriculums. Adding in an art factor into a lesson is a great way to enhance learning. I personally learn by doing so whenever I am in motion trying to learn something or physically touching something I seem to always learn more. In terms of checking for student understanding and methods of assessments, a pencil and paper aren’t always the answer. Students can be extremely creative so creating an assessment in which they are showing you how they learned while also showing their creativity are amazing. For example, I was teaching a lesson on the writing process. The students were to present the different steps of the writing process in a way that helped them learn and understand. One group created a rap that they performed to the class about the writing process. It was so catchy that everyone was humming it by the end of the day! Students were assessed by the information they presented and it was all in the rap. I thought that was a very creative way to present the information.
As previously stated, I try to integrate content across curriculum on a daily basis. One example is a lesson on maps that I taught. Students were taught about different items that are located on most all maps, cardinal directions, as well as where they were on the map - planet, continent, country, state, county, city, street, house, them. After the lesson students were placed in groups. One group explored different maps of their city, state, country, continent, and world. Another created a flipbook of their place on the map, starting out small with themselves and ending up on a much larger scale, Earth. A different station was to create a map of their own bedroom and the final station was for students to explore the city around them via Google Maps. These different stations got each student involved in learning about maps and taking what they just learned and utilizing it.
When thinking about ways to make connections with the real world, math comes to mind. Whenever I am teaching a lesson about ‘greater than, less than, or equal to’ I always incorporate pizza. I usually choose pizza because many students love pizza. If they don't, I move onto candy or ice cream! I have the students imagine that they are extremely hungry and they can’t wait for lunch. I draw one large pizza on the board, with all the best toppings, of course! I leave a space to the side of it then draw one small slice of pizza. Having students imagine they are very hungry usually brings out hungry minds. I ask them to choose the whole pizza or the slice. Since they are very hungry, they choose the whole pizza. So, I make the greater than symbol with the 'mouth' opening towards the large pizza, showing that the large pizza is greater than the slice of pizza. This then leads into a discussion on numbers that are greater than others, less than others, and that the same number is equal to itself.
In today's world, technology is extremely relevant. Integrating technology as much as possible in order to facilitate learning is important. Students seem to be driven by the use of technology. If technology is used in the correct manner it can definitely be helpful. I was working in a building where each classroom had a class set of 'notebooks' - small laptops and I thought it was such a great tool to be able to incorporate into any lesson at any given time. For example, after a writing lesson, students could grab a computer, type their paper and print it out. Students took what they learned in the computer lab to work and utilized it.
InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards
Instructional Practice
Standard #7: Planning for Instruction
The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.
Link to Artifact: Lesson Plan Innovation
Description:
The purpose of this assignment was to take an exsisting lesson plan that I created and redesign it in order to better meet the needs or the learners. After I taught the lesson, I wrote notes for myself about what worked and what did not work out as I thought it would have. I took those notes and the best practices that I have learned and re-engineered it so that the next time I teach the lesson, my students will get even more out of it.
Reflection:
Teachers often are given curriculum, instructional materials, and pre-existing lesson plans and are instructed to use the given materials. I believe this is helpful for teachers, especially new teachers; however, what worked for one person and one class may not be the case for another. I think it is important and imperative for teachers to reflect on what they teach. After teaching a lesson, it is important to notate what worked during the lesson, what did not work or if there was anything that can be added or subtracted because they did/didn't add much to the lesson.
Taking the notes that I took about the lesson the first time I taught it and redesigning it so that the next time I teach it students will be more engaged and will be able to get so much more out of the lesson is empowering. I know that I am re-engineering not only my lesson plan but my instruction as well.
