Christine Forrester/Learning Journal Blog # 3

I am having trouble with the task analysis - I think. I did this part of the project incorrectly, and thankfully my peer group (Billie and Erin) set me on the correct path last Thursday evening in class. I re-wrote parts of the task analysis and re-posted it in the group discussion files. I am still not sure I did this right! I am reaching out for help here!! Please give me some insight.
I also do not understand question 8/section 2 of the IDP - Describe the plan for the interface design/production of materials and media. I really need clarification here. I have no clue what this means!

Setting Instructional goals and objectives is the easiest part of teaching for me. Once I have these clarified, which in many cases my curriculum guide does this for me, I can jump right into planning units and individual lessons. Sometimes I get very bogged down in the details of lesson planning. Often, I find that I have trouble deciding what materials to use because I have so much I can choose from. I learned a long time ago that setting goals and objectives and sharing them with students at the start of every lesson is essential to student success and closure of a particular topic. I identify completely with Morrison, Ross, and Kemp's Approach to objective setting. For every lesson I teach I have my students write in their notebook the objective (s). I combine Morrison's, et. al. terminal and enabling objectives when I write them. This way students know from the beginning of a lesson what the expected outcomes will be.
In chapter 9, Creating Instruction, I learned the specific names of the steps of creating instruction. This chapter definitely gave me "food for thought" about the scope and sequence of unit and lesson planning. It emphasized the importance of understanding the organization of materials, events, learning experiences, delivery methods of instruction, and scope and sequence in order for learners of all levels to be reached in an effective instructional manner.
As a teacher, I use both open-ended learning environments and directed learning environments. I started using open-ended learning environments very recently, though, and I am not very comfortable using this type of environment. I am always afraid that the "big ideas" will somehow not get taught, but they always do. So long as I am clear about my expectations for students and in explaining the goals and objectives. I have found that this type of environment works well with long-term assignments and research projects.
The chapter on evaluation was interesting to me. I use many of the evaluation processes that were described in this chapter, including performance assessment. When using technology in a lesson or for a project, some students do not know how to use selected software programs. I have found the doing direct testing along the way and then performance ratings after, have proven to be great sources of hands-on learning for students and confidence builders. Constructed response, short-answer, matching, and selected response are types of questions I often use during a lesson/unit and after a lesson/unit to evaluate how well students are grasping what is being learned in class. True/false test items are not something that I use often. I have found that students get very confused when answering these type of question. When I do use them, it is usually as a preinstruction tool and I always require students to correct the word or phrase that is incorrect in a false statement or question. It has been my experience that students will change and re-write the entire sentence and still get the answer wrong.


My instructional philosophy has not changed. I re-read my first learning journal blog post and I still identify with cognitivism, constructivism, and postmodernism. Mental processes can be identified in many cases and the human mind, hence thinking, is very complex. I totally agree with the constructivist view in that learning and thinking are directly connected to a person’s understanding of the world and their experiences. Postmodernism piggy-backs on this thought, in that a person’s reality is based on their experiences and the realities in their life. This is constantly changing and depends on a person’s interpretation of the world in which they live. The way that students think and learn are directly connected to each other, as well as the philophies discussed above.