Week 2 Response

Power standards have truly transformed the way I teach. With the overwhelming curriculum expectations, it is increasingly important to identify vital skills that are crucial to the future academic success of students. Also, there are some skills that, when mastered, will provide a foundation on which students can use to acquire some of the other curriculum skills that might not have been mastered as well without the power standard foundation. Power standards allow me to clearly identify a teaching plan that most effectively continues to incorporate key learning skills throughout the year. I feel much less overwhelmed with a clear set of prioritized skills, and I share this concept with my students. Even though I know the power standards from the curriculum after studying them myself, I actually let my classes join in the narrowing down of the power standards. For the most part, the list ends up looking exactly the same, and my students have more ownership and knowledge of what is expected of them through the 7th grade Language Arts curriculum. Also, they know the vital skills that we will incorporate often through the year.

Keeping students engaged is certainly not always an easy task, but it is an essential element to in-depth, active learning. I try to do this in several ways. First, I structure my lessons in chunks of teaching, partner/group activity, teaching, active engagement/practice, and closure. I also find that by having a well-planned working group activity that covers several curriculum standards at the end of a unit or subject really does give me a very good alternative assessment opportunity that I use in addition to classroom tests. Just observing students while working and seeing the final products of their work provide a solid testament to their understanding, and the students are also able to review these concepts while being actively engaged for further cementing of the material. Partner teaching also seems to engage my students well. I use games, projects, and student choice of assignment. This is the first year that I have allowed students to choose from a list of options, and I have been very surprised at their willingness to complete the task since they chose.