Gaining clarity in our goals
According to Wiggins, the design process to plan a unit of study has to be coherent and focused on clear and worthy intellectual priorities – on what we call “big ideas” and “core tasks”. All this means that teachers are in charge of setting explicit or clear priorities; we have to make choices according to the objectives we have set for the course and therefore, according to these objectives, we juggle with multiple responsibilities such as deciding what we are going to include in our units or what we are going to leave aside, or the time we are going to spend in the tasks designed. But, is it that easy for us to make decisions on what to teach? Maybe yes, maybe no, probably some of us have got the freedom to choose a textbook; but anyway, textbooks contain lots of units which should be covered in a year, and developing big ideas - which is our main topic today- demands time, time to reflect, to analyze and compare different ideas or concepts that might appear in the lesson. Then, probably the question is: do we have enough time to do our job as it should be done? Remember that big ideas are at the core of subjects and they need to be uncovered through collaborative and reflective work that results from the use of essential questions; therefore, students need time to make connections between the new information given, the information they’ve already got and their own life –in other words, transferability-.
To round off, it is of great importance to have clarity on what we decide to teach and why, but please consider that it is a huge task, since we don’t have enough time to do it properly. But anyway, ‘ideally’ there should be a clear and straightforward answer for these questions, considering our big goal which is helping our students to truly understand new concepts as well as use their skills wisely, in order to become autonomous and efficient learners.
Definitely, big ideas are at the core of subjects and they need to be not only ‘uncovered’, but ‘covered’ ‘discovered’ and ‘rediscovered’through collaborative and reflective work as you explain Scarlette. Of course time constraints are one of the big issues teachers must face and solve in our daily teaching.
ReplyDeleteClarity and efficiency in terms of generating big ideas and creating core tasks is one important thing you allude to, for it is our mission to, first of all, be clear about what we want to develop in our students, and of course what we want to do in terms of getting concrete achievements, and indeed autonomy of learning is one of the ideal goals we must reach.
Scarlette:
ReplyDeleteActually, time is a constraint which hinders teachers from developing lesson plans which encourage big ideas. The easiest thing to do is to plan our classes based on isolated contents. Unfortunately, this kind of planning is going to lead students to be dependent and unable to think critically. Connecting knowledge with other areas is something that does not exist so transferability is not possible. What should teachers do in order to change this situation? Framing priorities is the answer according to Wiggins. In this respect, two questions arise: Are parents willing to accept these priorities? and are headmasters going to support their teachers’ decisions?
What do you think?
Dear Scarlette,
ReplyDeleteWhat you actually mention about establishing priorities, seems to to be the key issue, since apart from having a clear goal or goals, we need to design the process by which we are going to get reach that goal. In this respect we have to be consistent in what we choose to teach and what we leave aside. This decisions are crucial for the fullfillmet of the goals.
Hi Scarlette,
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly a challenge to comply with everything which is being asked in such a short period of time, and under difficult situations which most of the time are beyond our control.
There is something which seems to be a key issue: making the most of time in the classroom, taking advantage of every single second for learning, and narrow down the wasted time between activities or due to discipline problems.
Having our students commited with what we or they propose them to do in order to achieve what we have set as an objective, definitely makes a difference with what we live today in the classrooms.
I am sure we are already making a difference in this process of permanent training. We are concerned teachers who are not perfect, yet we are somehow a step beyond the rest, with a long way to go.
To wrap up, better lesson planning with better timing can lead us improve our teaching practice in the classroom and thus, our students learning.
you made an excelllent question,"do we have enough time to do our job as it should be done?", as far as my own reallity, my answer is NO, most of us do not have time to prepare good lessons, I know we all try to do our best, we prepare classes on unpaid times (at home, while we should be with our families) but that si because we want to have well prepare classes, what we are teaching them have to be meaningful to not be forget.
ReplyDeleteMy dear Scarlette, let me refer to your question:
ReplyDeleteDo we have enough time to do our job as it should be done?
Absolutely, no. The article proposes two ideas;putting aside some contents that are not relevant for real understanding and focusing on what is relevant. In other words, if we want to make changes, we should start a revolution from our beds; thinking, everynight before sleeping, what is important for the students and what is not. Then, we can (lie or) decide what to teach, when and how. Probably, we are going to get good results, but another question arises: How can we evade the school control? In the place I work, there are some standarized tests which aim to evaluate all the syllabus content at the end of the term and I have already had problems with the administration because "I have not been able to cover what I was asked to". What to do in such cases? All in all, we may wish a change, but we are not autonomous entities, we are bound to an institution that believes the same evaluation can be given in different campuses, to different students who belong to a different socio-economical status, and what is worse, they think it is possible to get the same results. How to deal with that, then? How can we decide what to teach, when and how, when we are also risking our jobs?
Bye my dear.
Hi Scarlette!
ReplyDeleteI think you have included the main aspects of the article in your post. And the idea to help have autonomus and successful learners is a major task, and also, how to develop in our students the necessary skills to get real understanding of the subject to be studied. In other words, a careful planning can lead us and our students into meaningful learning.
Dear,
ReplyDeleteWell, I agree with you on the key issue of time. Ok, I accept that the ministry is improving several things, implementing programs and so on and so forth, but we still have this issue of covering not only content, but covering the number of students that need to receive education, dedication, attention, care, TIME in other words. Let's dream about having 20 students one day, that would make our lives so easy and feasible in terms of goals, questions, critical thinking. Wish our government has enough budget to take education to this extreme.
hugs