PART II: Transformation
The ideal transformation of my students would be for them to have a firm grasp of who they are as unique individuals. I want my student to think for themselves, explore on their own, and discover some kind of understanding on their own apart from their peers and apart from what the world tells them. I desire my students to question everything, explore, and engage with one another as they grow into self-motivated, self-directed, curious individuals who are eager to figure out the world.
6 Facets of Understanding in order of most important
The Sophomore Composition and Literature curriculum is designed around the theme of guiding students to wrestle with their identities as individuals and as part of society. These questions are important in the development of teenagers and the curriculum seeks to be relevant in shaping these students. Students are asked what they might do in someone else’s shoes, they share their responses, and discuss how they make sense of the decisions made by others. This practice will widen their perspective and allow them to think outside of themselves.
Students will be assessed by how well they are able to explain and interpret their understanding. Students will ideally be able to develop higher order thinking where they will be able to make connections and transfer understanding. For example, students might be given a modern day article about a situation and asked to make conceptual connections using their understand constructed from their readings. This type of assessment would get rid of plagiarism issues and would be a true test of what the student understood.
- Self-Knowledge : Understanding the world through the understanding of ourselves
- Perspective : Awareness that there are many ways to approach and “see” a complex problem
- Empathy : Escaping one’s own responses and reactions to grasp another’s
- Application : Matching our ideas, knowledge and actions to context
- Explanation : Going beyond mere knowledge of facts to inferences about how and why using evidence and logic
- Interpretation : The objective is meaning, powerful stories and not abstract theories
The Sophomore Composition and Literature curriculum is designed around the theme of guiding students to wrestle with their identities as individuals and as part of society. These questions are important in the development of teenagers and the curriculum seeks to be relevant in shaping these students. Students are asked what they might do in someone else’s shoes, they share their responses, and discuss how they make sense of the decisions made by others. This practice will widen their perspective and allow them to think outside of themselves.
Students will be assessed by how well they are able to explain and interpret their understanding. Students will ideally be able to develop higher order thinking where they will be able to make connections and transfer understanding. For example, students might be given a modern day article about a situation and asked to make conceptual connections using their understand constructed from their readings. This type of assessment would get rid of plagiarism issues and would be a true test of what the student understood.
The DreamIt Project is an assignment for Michigan State University's Master of Arts in Education Technology course CEP 800. The purpose of this assignment is to see how students will "intelligently integrate new technologies to help student understanding within [their] subject area in a transformational way." The ideas of this program and project are centered around TPACK.
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