Page 259 - Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students 4th Edition

CHAPTER 11
HOW CAN I DESIGN, IMPLEMENT, AND EVALUATE INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES?
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Michael Adams, First-Year Teacher
In an educational system that constantly strives for standardization and measur- able results, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture. Canned curriculums, basal readers, and standardized tests are all evidence of a growing trend that equates setting standards with homogenization and standardization. But when 7-year-old Thomas asks you, his teacher, why he needs to learn how to read a map when his parents have a GPS, it becomes pretty clear that these canned programs don’t have all the answers. The truth is, knowledge does not come wrapped in cellophane. There is no such thing as a ready-made education, just as there are no two children who are exactly alike. It takes careful planning and thoughtful crafting to create content and activities that will be memorable to a wide range of students.
The authors of this book approach this chapter with the understanding that education and teaching are not measured in the number of worksheets assigned and completed, but rather in a student’s lifelong relationship with knowledge, meant for a world beyond the classroom. In this chapter, Brophy, Alleman, and Halvorsen encourage you not just to ask what you want your stu- dents to have learned, but to envision what they should be able to do as the result of a lesson. After all, skills that can be applied to many different situations are often based on ideas, rather than driven by easily forgotten facts. When feeling overwhelmed by the details of lesson planning, I find stepping back to
© Keith Knighton
TEACHER VOICE