Understanding and Applying Standards

Reflection 

This week was very new for me. I have never looked at the Common Core State Standards in detail before and have only skimmed what will be required of me when I start my teaching. I loved getting the opportunity to go onto the District Website where I will be teaching and seeing exactly what I will need to do for my grade level. I really liked how detailed the standards were and how organized the California Common Core State Standards are. This made it extremely easy for me to read through them all and get aquatinted with the ones I felt comfortable with for this module. 

In the first assignment this week where we did unpacking of standards, I felt that I struggled with figuring out projects for my standard. It was easy to think of fun things to do but I was more focused on finding the nouns and verbs and reflecting on my own learning experiences as a student. I think it would be beneficial to sit down and think in more detail about activities and projects that can reflect the standard I am teaching. I plan on doing more research to help break down activities for this standard so that I am more prepared when I student teach next month. 

The second assignment, backwards mapping, was my favorite. I felt that I had adequate resources to understand this assignment and this really helped me to focus on the planning of lessons for this standard. I really like to plan and think in detail when it comes to lessons because this means I will be more prepared. In previous modules we learned a lot about being prepared and planning ahead. I really feel that planning ahead and being organized is a strength and if I also understand the lesson in detail, I feel that I will be successful in teaching my lessons to my students. I also really liked being able to visualize what exactly the students would be doing when breaking down this standard. I thought of so many ideas in terms of worksheets and group activities. 

The third assignment for me was definitely a struggle. I am not used to writing SMART objectives and do not feel confident in the five objects I wrote for that assignment. I tried to do research and read  the required material but I just feel that this is a very weak point for me in applying standards. I hope to see more examples in the future or find resources that will help me be more confident when writing SMART objectives for my lessons. 

Overall this week was a great learning experience for me. I am very new to lesson planning but can't wait to get everything planned and ready for when I teach. I hope that in this module I will be more prepared for next month in the classroom. I really do feel that the more organized and prepared a teacher is, the smoother a lesson will go.