1. What major insights did you gain from completing the two connected lessons (along with the formative/summative assessments)?
    From completing the lesson, I gain insight on how to use data continuously through a lesson to adjust a new lesson. I saw in my data that many of the students did make gains in their learning. Since I had never really done two lesson one after the other, it was an interesting experience. I felt much more confident in what I was teaching because I knew what the students were taught and what knowledge they had about the content. I’ve attached a paper of notes of observations that I noticed from the multiple assessments I gave. Most of the students showed some sort of learning through the two lessons and formative/summative assessments.
  2. How do you think the connected lesson cycle–pre-assessing, planning, lessons, revising them as you go, etc.–helped differentiate and meet the needs of your students?
    I think that doing the steps of this connected lesson allowed me to really address concerns that students had with the content. It showed me what students I needed to push further because they already mastered the concepts being taught. Additionally, it allows a visual of misconceptions students have. If a student has a misconception, and it isn’t explicit taught then it may exist further down the road of their leaning. Not only does this process display misconceptions, but it also allows a teacher to see if instead of moving on,, they are able to reteach the content in a different manor. The purpose of this entire process is designed to truly form and mold your classroom according to the learners.
  3. How can you realistically apply concepts learned from the connected lesson cycle to everyday teaching in your own classroom? What do you think will be the limitations and how will you overcome them?
    Realistically, you may not be able to do this kind of connection every single day for ever single lesson if you are a self-contained class. However, if you use your resources wisely, there are many assessments that give instant results. For example, kahoot, neared, and other technology tools allow this type of instant feedback. If technology is not an option, a simple exit ticket is an easy and quick way to view student learning. I believe that within every lesson you should be able to walk away with some sort of knowledge of your students learning; without that, how are you knowing what or how to teach them. If you don’t know what they know or don’t know how are you able to fully support them? The limitations to this process is that it could increase the work load on a teacher if not properly organized. If a teacher is viewing assessments every day and making adjustments everyday it could become overwhelming. It might be more beneficial if there is a pre-assessment that you are able to see where students are before the lesson unit, then adjust your unit accordingly. Throughout the unit you can use formative assessments so you know you’re going in the right direction. If you were to ONLY give a summative assessment after teaching, you would probably be confused why students may have done bad. This is why doing the lesson cycle should be a realistic goal for teachers.

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