Week 1 continued

Updated Week 1 reflection

In thinking about the events of the first week, the most important factor that I would like to focus on is preparation. I am in the position of having taught a variation of the same subject matter for many years. Planning and adapting both lessons and materials have become internalized and often feel more like instinct than a well thought out process. Looking over the materials for the 6 Traits takes me back to that position of a beginning teacher. And in many ways I have to remind myself that that is exactly what I am at this point in my professional life.

I have spent a week trying to get a clear picture in my mind of the overarching questions that go along with the new curriculum of the 6 traits. It feels like I am translating one language that I know into a new language of the 6 traits and so I don’t think I yet fully grasp the big picture of the course. For me course and lesson design works well through a backwards design process. But in order to use that process I have to understand where I want my students to end up and then decide how to break the information into manageable weekly chunks.

The most useful thing that I can do for myself at this point is actually step away from the readings and let myself digest and assimilate the ideas. The writing process and the elements assessed by the 6 traits are familiar but I have to adjust my thinking from the real world applications I experienced to the broader realm of possible real world applications.