Reading Response Chapters 3-5

I loved the Know/Do/Be framework. I felt this really helps teachers emphasize on the 3 main aspects of teaching any lesson, which are: whats important for the students to know, what should they be able to do, and what kind of person should the students be. These are all valuable parts to a successful curriculum, and often times they are overlooked. I too agree that the "BE" section is very important in a child's learning. All students need to know about character education and know the appropriate attitudes and actions to display in school and in their community. At Blandy Hills Elementary every student in all grade levels go by these 3 words: Be respectful, responsible, and prepared. And I feel like in the Know/Do/Be framework these 3 school wide rules could be reiterated over and over in every part of the curriculum, especially in the "BE" section.
The backward design process is something totally different than any teaching I've seen, but the more I read about it the more it makes complete sense and even seems to make planning lessons/units easier. Identifying the purpose and results of the lesson before doing anything makes the assessments so much more beneficial because you would already have the knowledge of what you want the students to know and accomplish, so you just match up and align the curriculum to those assessments. Not only are the assessments helping you see what the students know and learn, but they are also helping you connect the integrated curriculum so that it all flows together. This then makes it easier for the students to learn and comprehend the standards. I liked that it focused on the constructivist principle to guide instructional strategies. I think that active learning experiences are essential to helping children learn and create deeper thinking, which leads to deeper knowledge. They then focused on keeping the same active, hands-on approach for the assessments. I really liked this idea! It is important to keep the same kind of approach throughout the learning experience and assessment. There can be a variety of these all integrated into one curriculum, which will make it more interesting and fun for the students to learn, and for the teacher to teach!