Learning Indicators Essay
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Texas A&M University *
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5600
Subject
Communications
Date
Jun 27, 2024
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4
Uploaded by PrivateThunderPheasant45
Learning Indicators Essay
As a teacher, creating a checklist of learning indicators while introducing a new
objective is key for making sure all different types of learners are able to grasp the
material throughout the unit. The following objective I will be teaching to my 2nd grade
science class is: students will be able to observe, describe, and record patterns of
shadows caused by the sun.
Below is the following checklist I would use as my key factors influencing a
student’s readiness to learn:
1.
Learner Mindset
2.
Health and Home Life
3.
Previous Experience
4.
Prior Knowledge
5.
Self-Efficacy
6.
Displaying Learning Indicators
Learner Mindset
Creating a positive learning environment for students is crucial for promoting
students to be curious, seeking more information, and wanting to comprehend a
concept. Allowing for the classroom environment to be relaxed, but have the students
alert and engaged throughout the day without having to be stressed if they do not fully
understand the learning objective yet. This will be achieved by allowing success and
understanding measured in multiple ways throughout the unit, while still promoting
learning.
While displaying the Sun and an object, I will have students write on a
whiteboard on which side they think the object’s shadow will be cast. I will have them all
raise their boards all at once and show me their answers. After seeing all the answers, I
will be able to announce the correct answer and review the reason why, if multiple
student’s displayed an incorrect answer. This will promote a positive learning
environment with allowing the students to have multiple chances to apply their
knowledge, without having to be graded. This also allows me to instantly capture learner
comprehension on the questions.
Health and Home Life
Throughout teaching the course, if I notice a student is struggling grasping the
objective or simply not being able to be engaged during the class there could be more
underlying reasons than just “not paying attention”.
Getting to know and learn about each individual student and any factors outside
of the classroom that are hindering them to excel. While creating a relationship of
understanding with students’, this allows me to be transparent with my parent
communication and offer students to any resources the school may have such as a
counselor, lunch assistance, or getting tested for any learning disability that the school
can assist with.
Previous Experience & Prior Knowledge
Previous experience and prior knowledge go hand in hand partially. Experiences
throughout a child’s life thus far have allowed them to form concepts and
misconceptions, take in information that may be true or false, all based on their
upbringing and prior schooling, if any.
Prior knowledge can take from experiences and integrate those instances into
previous learned curriculum to allow students to easily relate to the subject if they have
already experienced it. Prior to this objective, the students' have completed learning
about the Sun and the Moon, the differences between day and night, observations of
objects in the sky, and how day and night is caused by the Earth’s rotation.
For instance, the objective is learning about shadows and how/when they appear
and what they look like. A student who has previous experience but no prior knowledge,
may have observed shadows while being outside, but not fully understand what causes
the shadow or the patterns that are associated with them throughout the day. Then, a
student who has experienced observing a shadow, and has prior knowledge that a
shadow is caused by light casting on an object.
As a teacher, I can understand my class and their prior experiences and
knowledge by having a warm up assignment given at the start of introducing the lesson.
This warm up will display an apple and a Sun, and ask the students to draw the apple’s
shadow. I will also display the same apple on two more questions, but have the Sun
moving to a high or low position. This will allow me to see if the student, firstly,
understands what a shadow is. Secondly, will allow me to see if they have any prior
knowledge of the patterns of the shadow such as which side the shadow should be on
correlated with the position of the Sun and if the shadow changes in size (long or short)
based on if the Sun is high or low.
If a student is not able to display comprehension from the warm up, this will
indicate that I need to daily introduce the class to numerous examples to instill
understanding as we continue through the course. Examples given to students will be:
●
Showing an object in the dark, with a flashlight behind it, displaying its
shadow. And having the student’s observe the shadow as the light source
moves.
●
Going on a shadow hunt outside, and having students draw objects and
their shadow in position to the Sun.
●
Having students record their observations of objects and their shadows at
different times of the day.
Being able to apply instant and observable examples over the objective will allow
students that did not have prior experience or knowledge to implement the lesson in
their everyday observations of the world around them.
Self-Efficacy
Creating a learning environment with the factors stated above, will allow students
to build upon their self concept and efficiency. As a student learns the objective, a
reward system is in place to continuously promote the positive behavior of learning. The
reward system would be verbal praises to students as they try to answer the questions
and put forth effort, or improve on their graded assignments with a sticker of
accomplishment.
If the student is confident in themselves, they will be confident in trial and error as
they learn a new concept. The classroom atmosphere that I hope to promote is one of a
learning objective rather than a performance objective. Even if a student only learns or
improves by 1% each day, that is still improvement regardless of the percentage scale.
If a student is still struggling in this area, trying to find small victories each day to praise
the student will be key.
I would tell the students as they enter the classroom that the goal for today is to learn
something new, something they did not know or understand before the end of the day.
This educational setting of learning vs performing objectives creates a safe place for
students to take risks and give new things a try. Fear of failing is replaced with
opportunities to learn.
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A task worth accomplishing + A sense that he/she can be successful = Motivation
Displaying Learning Indicators
The final point on the checklist would be, when I see the class display the
learning indicators, I know my students will have become competent in the learning
outcome. A learning indicator is the first sign that a student is practicing the skill that will
lead to the desired performance outcome. It’s not everything I want to see, but it’s the
most important thing to see at a particular moment in the process. If we can find a
student displaying a learning indicator, we can see learning.
All of the above checklist points feed into this final point. If a student improves at
least by 1% with a warm up, exit ticket, assignment, or class participation the learning
objective is being instilled into that individual.