Module 1 - What's Worth Learning?
Overview
Suppose you are planning an orientation presentation at the beginning of a new school year for your students' parents. After sitting through a less-than-enthusiastic assembly in the school auditorium on a Wednesday evening in early September, the parents of your students will make their way to your classroom for a 15-minute presentation to learn more about you and what you hope to accomplish in the coming semester.
One of the most important things you hope to communicate to your parents is a clear description of your actual (possibly hidden) curriculum, so you begin the presentation design process with a compelling title for your brief talk:
What's worth learning in my class?
Of course, you want your presentation to be as professional as possible. As exciting as possible. As least boring as possible. So you decide to take the time to develop a PowerPoint presentation to compliment your presentation. For this project, you must create a PowerPoint presentation that you would use to go along with your oral presentation to the parents. Information and examples associated with the following steps of this project are detailed below (and on other pages):
What is important to be learned?
When I visit teachers and students in classrooms today, the most important thing I try to observe as an outsider is what the students are learning how to do, and what the teachers are doing to promote such learning. I begin my observations by simply watching and listening to the students and teachers. I then insinuate myself into the experience by asking the teachers about what they hope the students are learning, and I ask the students what they believe they are learning.
The trick with my inquiries, however, is that I ask "what are you learning how to do?" This often throws both students and their teachers for a bit of a loop. They are usually quick to tell me what they are learning about (i.e. "We're learning about commas" or "We're learning about fractions"), but trying to communicate what they are learning how to do is often harder. But this is actually a more important question than just "What are you learning?"
Why? Because if you can articulate what you are learning how to do, then you are describing what you are applying/practicing, and application/practice is, in nearly every case, the most effective strategy for ensuring that you, or anybody else, is actually learning something. And when you take a step away from talking with students about what they think they are learning about, and observe what they are, in fact, applying/practicing....then you get a good sense of what they are really learning.
And the most interesting thing about this process, is that you also pull the curtain back to reveal the HIDDEN CURRICULUM. And there is always a hidden curriculum. This is the collection of skills, knowledge and attitudes that the students are actually learning and applying/practicing in the classroom, and it usually becomes the most important (and durable) things that students really learn from school.
It is worth considering what your hidden curriculum is at all times because, without planning a worthwhile hidden curriculum, you will likely default to facilitating skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are counterproductive and, in many cases, downright destructive. For example, Last semester I observed a 7th grade mathematics teacher insist the kids in the class sit quiet and watch her use the formula to find the median of a set of numbers. In this scenario, what do you think the kids were practicing? Listening? Yes...that's a good skill. But consider what they were NOT practicing? Making observations about how the numbers were ordered, identifying differences between values, asking questions about their observations, pursuing personal lines of inquiry in order to try and solve problems, collaborating and communicating with peers...just to name some important. So the hidden curriculum in the classroom associated the field of mathematics with a body of knowledge that is best understood by listening to somebody talk about it.
After reflecting on the information, make a list of the most important things you really want your students to learn in your class.
One of the most important things you hope to communicate to your parents is a clear description of your actual (possibly hidden) curriculum, so you begin the presentation design process with a compelling title for your brief talk:
What's worth learning in my class?
Of course, you want your presentation to be as professional as possible. As exciting as possible. As least boring as possible. So you decide to take the time to develop a PowerPoint presentation to compliment your presentation. For this project, you must create a PowerPoint presentation that you would use to go along with your oral presentation to the parents. Information and examples associated with the following steps of this project are detailed below (and on other pages):
- Decide what you want to communicate in your presentation (what is important for your students to learn in your class).
- Create a well-designed PowerPoint presentation
- Convert the presentation into an online format and embed it into a Weebly page
What is important to be learned?
When I visit teachers and students in classrooms today, the most important thing I try to observe as an outsider is what the students are learning how to do, and what the teachers are doing to promote such learning. I begin my observations by simply watching and listening to the students and teachers. I then insinuate myself into the experience by asking the teachers about what they hope the students are learning, and I ask the students what they believe they are learning.
The trick with my inquiries, however, is that I ask "what are you learning how to do?" This often throws both students and their teachers for a bit of a loop. They are usually quick to tell me what they are learning about (i.e. "We're learning about commas" or "We're learning about fractions"), but trying to communicate what they are learning how to do is often harder. But this is actually a more important question than just "What are you learning?"
Why? Because if you can articulate what you are learning how to do, then you are describing what you are applying/practicing, and application/practice is, in nearly every case, the most effective strategy for ensuring that you, or anybody else, is actually learning something. And when you take a step away from talking with students about what they think they are learning about, and observe what they are, in fact, applying/practicing....then you get a good sense of what they are really learning.
And the most interesting thing about this process, is that you also pull the curtain back to reveal the HIDDEN CURRICULUM. And there is always a hidden curriculum. This is the collection of skills, knowledge and attitudes that the students are actually learning and applying/practicing in the classroom, and it usually becomes the most important (and durable) things that students really learn from school.
It is worth considering what your hidden curriculum is at all times because, without planning a worthwhile hidden curriculum, you will likely default to facilitating skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are counterproductive and, in many cases, downright destructive. For example, Last semester I observed a 7th grade mathematics teacher insist the kids in the class sit quiet and watch her use the formula to find the median of a set of numbers. In this scenario, what do you think the kids were practicing? Listening? Yes...that's a good skill. But consider what they were NOT practicing? Making observations about how the numbers were ordered, identifying differences between values, asking questions about their observations, pursuing personal lines of inquiry in order to try and solve problems, collaborating and communicating with peers...just to name some important. So the hidden curriculum in the classroom associated the field of mathematics with a body of knowledge that is best understood by listening to somebody talk about it.
After reflecting on the information, make a list of the most important things you really want your students to learn in your class.
You might want to consider the skills detailed in Project for 21st Century Learning's Framework for 21st Century Skills to help you make decisions about what you really want your students to learn.
Effective Projected Messages
Basic multimedia design rules should be followed when developing projected messages. Information and examples to help you learn more about these matters are presented on the following page:
Basic multimedia design rules should be followed when developing projected messages. Information and examples to help you learn more about these matters are presented on the following page:
If you have done a good job following the design rules, you will need to make a few notes to yourself in the "Notes" section of selected PowerPoint slides because most of the information on the slides should be visual in nature, rather than text. Include these notes where appropriate.
To Do
Step 1:
You will develop a well-designed PowerPoint presentation that you would show the parents of the students in your class to help you answer the questions, “What’s worth learning in my class?”
Step 2:
Once you create your presentation in Google Slides, (with any notes included in the "Notes" section of certain slides), share your presentation and embed it in a Weebly page. The title of the new page should be “Parent Presentation: What’s Worth Learning” and should be located under the Parent Resources Tab. If you created the presentation in PowerPoint, you should upload and convert the presentation to Google Slides.
If you need support embedding a Google Slides presentation into your Weebly page, view the following video:
You will develop a well-designed PowerPoint presentation that you would show the parents of the students in your class to help you answer the questions, “What’s worth learning in my class?”
- The content of the presentation should include at least one of the skills in the Project for 21st Century Learning's Framework for 21st Century Skills
- The power point should adhere to the basic multimedia design rules
- Include any notes you would need for the presentation in the “Notes” Section.
Step 2:
Once you create your presentation in Google Slides, (with any notes included in the "Notes" section of certain slides), share your presentation and embed it in a Weebly page. The title of the new page should be “Parent Presentation: What’s Worth Learning” and should be located under the Parent Resources Tab. If you created the presentation in PowerPoint, you should upload and convert the presentation to Google Slides.
If you need support embedding a Google Slides presentation into your Weebly page, view the following video: