As per module
"Post a response to the following on the discussion board: How do you think class and individual profiles will inform your planning of assessment and instruction? Respond to 2 of your colleagues' postings."
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As per Discussion,
"For myself, I have been trying to employ aspects/UDL completely into the classroom of my English class.
Once I began teaching HFN/HFA, I began to quickly see how this was possible and the potential that lies in having taught in an O/M course as wel as a course that students are taking out of interest rather than as a high stakes credit of need.
I have been teaching Socials and English for nearly 10 years and enjoy the opportunities to see the differences between the two kinds of classrooms because it creates opportunities for trial and error without the fear of losing a day or focus point that is needed to achieve the goal that we set out to achieve (students and myself-individually and as a group).
Each semester begins with a look at the Big Ideas or questions and many of my students are mark driven. I will ask them to create a SMART Goal that they plan to employ to achieve their academic goal (that is generally our first week of introductions-SMART Goals and how they fit into whatever course I am teaching-this is also my diagnostic on many levels).
In the socials courses I have taught, the best aspect about the instructional side of teaching that class is the ability to create choice boards and employ focus on more than just "writing; speaking; reading", there is a great deal of skill that students have and can employ that goes beyond just "learning English through cooking".
In the more successful cases, students walk away and end up going to Cordon Bleu or somewhere else where they employ their skills in hospitality and management programs. In many successful cases, I have students who step out of the class interest in learning more about the impacts of palm tree plantations on the indigenous peoples within the Phillippines and banana plantation pest crisis on the environment and economy in places like Costa Rica. On the top of success its interesting to say there are students who hate school that walk into the classroom everyday because parents/guardians have made it very clear that if they are not in school-they are cut-off, and despite this student have the kind of rapport with teachers that is characterized by their desire to just not teach their subjects to that student, I am fortunate to have those students walk out of the classroom saying in varying degrees of English command, "I will miss this class".
I can't say its much of my personality-sometimes it is sure, but for the most part its the projects that they are expected to put together and sales they attempt to make using their own skills that makes them proud to see what they can do under their own understanding of success.
That being said, I used to use individual profiles, I have since moved to the use of portfolios. For many students in the Socials classes I keep a running record through lab feedback between myself and themselves-accountability. These inform a great deal of direction in the course wherein, if too many students are missing skills, or dropping knives unexpecedtly, these behaviours have an impact and are literally a hazard to eachother-more a warning to me that, "hey, we need to talk, as a class".
Students respect and appreciate the idea of the protfolio, because in other situations, like P.E. or other HF- Courses, a student is injured and to the fault of "no-one", but this is never something that people are willing to accept, so in order to keep people in check-keep ourselves accountable we participate in portfolio and running records, keeps the class professional-usually-or drives the teacher up the wall (I'm as stubborn as they come, so-never an issue for me).
That being said, portfolios/profiles have given me a chance to praise students, move forward in connect that meets the needs of students and present students with opportunites to challenge themselves; likewise it can be used to point out potential hazards to administration (students who cannot be expected to hold a knife and behave) in the first week who are eligible for timetable changes. (This is not so common)."
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