Ch. 3-5 Reading Response

In Chapters 3-5 it talks about backward design, and the know/do/be bridge. These ideas really stood out to me because they just make more sense! A teachers goal should be to acomplish the questions: "What is most important for students to KNOW?, What is most important for students to be able to DO?, and What kind of person do we want students to BE?" This framework helps teachers in a way in which they are getting exactly what they ask for. By using the know/do/ be bridge, teachers' expectations are very clear. The "BE" part of the bridge really stood out to me too because as teachers we are shaping our future. Our future will be in the hands of the children that we teach. We want our students to grow up and be great people. As teachers we also teach students everyday about personal values, whether we are actually "teaching" or not by our actions - what we say or do. The know part is just the basic understandings, it is what you want your students to know. The do part includes the skills that the students should be able to do. These chapters were such a great help to me and i intend to use all of this information as I work on my teacher work sample.

Backwards Design seems to make the most sense. To start planning ,by knowing what you want the students to know at the end of the unit will just be easier for everyone. After all, using the backwards design will make the "so what" of the lesson be known. You will know from the beginning of the lesson what your purpose is.

These chapters also focused more on the integrated curriculum. It is important for teachers to teach across the curriculum. Students need to know that the information they learn about in science can also be used in math for example. Students will be able to make more connections with the information they are given.