UbD/DI Chapter 4: What Really Matters in Planning for Student Success?

The fourth chapter of UbD/DI is about using differentiation in the classroom in order to help the most students possible achieve the curriculum goals. I learned that in order to successfully incorporate differentiated instruction I must have a positive attitude, be clear about curricular essentials, know what works for my students and be willing to take responsibility for my students’ success. I learned that all of these things will make my curriculum relevant to all students regardless of how proficient they are with the material. This is very important in my classroom because I want my students to be successful. I want them to walk away having learned something about life and about themselves. In order to do this I need to able to reach all learners regardless of learning style or proficiency.

UbD/DI Chapter 3: What Really Matters in Learning? (Content)

The third chapter of UbD/DI is about developing content. In this chapter I learned how to use the backwards design model to think about goals, essential questions, knowledge and skills that I want my students to obtain through the lesson. The chapter also suggested which areas are best to use differentiation in, in order to help the most students learn and show what they have learned. This chapter is very important for classroom because this is how I will develop curriculum for my students. This model is easy to use. It is also helpful in thinking about goals and how best to obtain them in the classroom.

MI Chapter 4: Teaching Students About MI Theory

Chapter four of MI is about teaching the multiple intelligences theory to my students. In this chapter I learned that it can be beneficial for my students to reflect on their own learning processes. The chapter suggests many different activities to teach the theory to my students including a kind of treasure hunt, field trips, wall displays, readings and board games. These activities both teach the students about the theory and help them to learn about their own learning processes. This chapter gave me some ideas as to how to help me assess my students’ intelligences and help them understand themselves more. Both will help them succeed in school.

MI Chapter 3: Describing Intelligences in Students

Chapter three of MI is all about trying to figure out what intelligences are strongest in each student. I learned several ways to figure this out including asking parents, collecting student work, looking at school records and asking the students themselves. I also learned how important it is to try and figure out how students learn best as it is helpful in trying to plan assignments that will keep the students engaged in the class. Keeping students engaged will ensure that more students succeed in my classroom. Hopefully, it will also keep behavioral issues to a minimum. All of which will make my classroom excellent.
 

MI Chapter 2: MI and Personal Development

In the book Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, chapter two discusses ways in which I can develop my own intelligences. I learned in this chapter that it is often helpful for a teacher to be skilled in multiple intelligences in order to better help the different learners in his/her classroom. I also learned that certain experiences can either help to “kick start” learning in a certain intelligence or hinder it. The last one is very important in my classroom because it means that I could stunt my student’s growth if I am not supportive enough. Teachers should help students grow, not hinder them.

MI Chapter 1: The Foundations of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences

The first chapter of Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom is about the Multiple Intelligence theory. In this chapter I learned that there are currently 8 intelligences in this theory and that everyone has capacity in all intelligences. It doesn’t mean that a person is very good at music and nothing else. Also, the theory states that, most often, more than one intelligence is used at a time. The intelligences are a nice way to think about how students that I will have in my classroom learn best. I am sure that they will all have their strengths and weaknesses, and this theory may help me to find ways to teach to those strengths.

UbD/DI Chapter 2: What Really Matters In Teaching? (The Students)

Chapter 2 of UbD/Di emphasizes on how important the students are when it comes to being an effective teacher. By reading this chapter I learned that there are sometimes outsides factors affecting a students learning and that the best way to help these students to respond to them when they seem to have a problem. By allowing them to shape the way I teach I can more effectively help them learn and hopefully get past their difficulties. This is going to be very important in my classroom because this means that my teaching will have to change with every new group of students. If all students are different than I can’t just create a curriculum and reuse it every year as is because the students will be different. They will learn differently. It is better to change it up to match the students, thus helping more of them be successful in my class.

UbD/DI Chapter 1: An Essential Partnership

In chapter 1 of Ubd/Di I learned that Understanding by design is a model that focuses on what and how teachers teach while Differentiated Instruction is more focused on who, where and how. When put together, the two complement each other in a way that helps teachers be effective. This is important for me to know because I will probably be using them in conjunction when I start creating my own curriculum. If I want to be an effective teacher I need to keep in mind all the different factors that affect learning. The chapter describes these factors as “elements” and lists them as who I teach, where I teach, what I teach and how I teach. It does kind of make sense that all four would make a difference. I have had teachers who had one or two but because they missed the other two were not helpful in teaching me the material.