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I am interested in the
activities in which my students are involved, and I do want to know what
their interests and hobbies are … It would be helpful to know something
about their learning styles … Once exposed to all of the strategies of
differentiating instruction available in the classes for gifted instruction
that I recently completed, I realized that the information sheet that I
typically require students to complete on the first day of class was only
touching the tip of the iceberg of pertinent information.
Researching various learning
style questionnaires and multiple intelligence surveys available on the
internet, I found a wealth of information. On first glance one of the sites
seemed to be a possibility. A test that students could take on line was
provided. After students took this test and submitted their answers, I
would have immediate results indicating the type of learning style of each
student. While this may have been
helpful, it didn’t really seem to cover all of the aspects of my students
that I desired.
After much thought and
discussion with a colleague, I decided to devise a tool that I could use
which would provide information that I felt would be helpful to me to learn about my students. I created categories to
represent each of the characteristics of my students I wished to
understand. The tool that I will use
to gain information about my students as learners is “A Day in the Life…”
The strengths of this tool
are that it is personalized to include the information that I feel
important to planning instruction that will engage my students. I think
that students will be more likely to take time to sincerely answer the
questions in this interest inventory knowing that I have designed this with
them in mind. It shows that I am interested in what they do and who they
are.
Artifact
2: Students as Teachers
Learning is a continuous process. While it may
sound trite, I find that I continue to learn something new each year. A student may provide a different method
of solving a particular math problem that I had never considered, or a
concept that I have taught many times may finally take on a deeper, clearer
meaning. This aspect of my job
continues to make it totally exciting.
To share the learning
process with my students and to help them get the most out of learning, I
design a project that gives students an opportunity to be the teacher. I make a list of topics and assign them
to a student, or group of students whom I feel would most benefit from an
in-depth study of the topic.
Students plan and prepare a PowerPoint presentation on the assigned
topic and then share it with the class upon completion.
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