Curriculum, Intruction And Assessment

During the first week of my student teaching, I was leading a classroom discussion- of grade 12 learners and we lookef at ethics. I did not allow the learners an opportunity to ask questions. My aim was to get through the entire lesson plan, forgetting to allow opportunities fie inquiry based learning.

When my mentor teacher pointed it out, I was able to make out a plan that allowed more learner questioning.

I came to understand and see that qhen learners aks their own questions, they are more engaged and consequently want to learn more about the topic.

A lesson plan is a teacher's guide, prior to the lesson for what learners need to know, how it will be taught and how learning will be measured.

Lessons plans exist for a number

Of reasons;

1. They ensure that learners are taught what they need to know, as per caps document.

2.They serve as a way for teachers to evaluate their teaching effectiveness.

3. They ensure that teaching is both effective and efficient so classroom time is used appropriately.

4. They are an outline that allow teachers to prepare and attend to differences between and among learners.

A good lesson plan provides an outline of the specific tasks to be accomplished while at the same time allowing a measure of flexibility in terms of interest and needs of learners.

My lesson plans consist of several critical elements.

1. The topic and its objectives-I look at the objectives for the set topic, as per caps.

2. I look at the learners prior learning, what they need to know to be able to excel in the topic. This will assisting me in finding a way to connect the leaners' prior know to the one that already exist.

3.Next, I look at the teaching strategies, activities and material which I am going to use. And how I am going to differentiate instruction.

4. I then look at the 3 phases of the lessons. The introductory, engaging with the content and conclusion. In the introduction, there must be a motivational opening to elicit the interest of learners. Next in the engaging with the content, there must be a way in which I am going to connect the learners' prior knowlege with the new content. Then there must be a conclusion, some form of closure of the lesson, highlighting important aspects of the lesson. It may be a teacher or learner summary.

4. I then look at the 3 phases of the lessons. The introductory, engaging with the content and conclusion. In the introduction, there must be a motivational opening to elicit the interest of learners. Next in the engaging with the content, there must be a way in which I am going to connect the learners' prior knowlege with the new content. Then there must be a conclusion, some form of closure of the lesson, highlighting important aspects of the lesson. It may be a teacher or learner summary.

Above all, I make sure thateverything in a lesson is geared torwards the objectives identified.

During my student teaching, I taught grade 11 Accounting, inventory systems. I used the gallery walk as my teaching method.

I had already taught the learners the two inventory systems, perpertual and periodic. So, in a time frame of 60 minutes, I grouped 15 learners into groups of 5 and asked them to compare the two systems which they have learned so far and how inventory is recorded in each.

I gave the A5 pages and asked them to write there, and they have 25 minutes to study and write the two systems in their pages.

After 25 minutes, I tool the pages and pasted them on the wall and each grouped walked aroud to review another groups' answer, take notes and ask questions.

H

Assessment is when teachers gather information about the levels of perfomance of learners.

Evaluations is comparing the learners' perfomance with other learners or with a set of standards.

Although there is a slight difference between the two, there are also similarities.

- both assessment and evaluation should be continuous and ongoing processes. So there should be a variety of tools used in order to provide the most accurate gauge of learners' learning and progress.

Good evaluation and assessment are also collaborative between learners and teachers. They must be authentic consisting of activities learners do in class and and in their everyday lives.

Evaluation is an important part of the learning process. It must be sensetive to the needs, attitudes and abilities of individual learners as well as the class as a whole.

I must be careful that i do not overrely on one form of evaluation just because it's easy to use.

Rather, I will have to use a multi faceted evaluation programme, if I am to determine whether learners are mastering the objectives of each lesson.

To that end -i need to use formative evaluation measures in order to assess learner progress. Also diagnostic intruments to deter learner strength and weaknesses

And to provide learner feedback. I also need to use summative measures at the conclusion of a unit in order to assess the extend of pupil's achievenent, to provide a basis for the calculation of grades.

In conclusion, ehen I recieve positive results from those evaluation measure, that when I would know that the learners have learned.

Differentiated instruction is a concept that makes it possible for us teachers to maximoze leaning for all learners.

It is a collection of instructionally intelligent strategies to create different pathways that respond to the needs of diverse learners.

The basic premise of DI is that learners are different in how they learn best, what interests them and readiness for the content.

Teachers can differentiate at least four classroom elements based on student readiness, interest, or learning profile:

1. Content – what the student needs to learn or how the student will get access to the information;for e.g.Meeting with small groups to re-teach an idea or skill for struggling learners, or to extend the thinking or skills of advanced learners.

2.Process – differentiating activities in which the student engages in order to make sense of or master the content;

For e.g. Varying the length of time a student may take to complete a task in order to provide additional support for a struggling learner or to encourage an advanced learner to pursue a topic in greater depth.

3.Products – differentiating projects that ask the student to rehearse, apply, and extend what he or she has learned in a unit; for example Allowing students to work alone or in small groups on their products; and

Learning environment – the way the classroom works and feels. For example the seating arrangement.

So as a teacher in a heterogeneous classroom I need to recognize the similarities and differences in leaners and proactively plam for these differences.

Content standards describe what learners should know in content areas e.g accounting.

Benchmarks describe what learne4s should be able to do and know at different grade spans. E.g senior phase, FET phase.

Perfomance standards answer questions like what does good perfomance look like? And how is it good enough

-The number one use of technology is in a form of research. The internet provides learners with a wealth of current information on any topic. My learners before and after every topic tge have homework assignment which require me to research.

I want my learners to expirience the incredible array of data available in their subject area.

-I also use things such as power point presentation and project my colourful slides on a projector,or smartboard.

I would also like to explore the possibility of online assessment for my learners, it can be in a form of a game or a quiz. There is an online platform called kahoot, it allows teachers to create online quizes for learners to complete. Ther's is also scratch coding online platform which can be used to create an game for learners on any topic.

If the learners have an opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned through the use of technology, then I would have more avalable time to teach.

I would create an online platform where I share information( e.g homeworks to the learners or where we will be able to communicate. Platforms such as youtube, zoom , google classrooms and etc.

Technology keeps learners engaged and accommodates learners with different learning styles.

My learners' perfomance will improve in the following areas.

1.learners will have increased opportunities to become actively engaged in the dynamics of the lesson. Tech will offer them an array of information.

2. It will also help me and my learners improve their critical thinking skills as well as problem solving abilities.

3.it will provibe me with some incredible opportunities to differentiate my instruction. I will be able to use technology to target specific learners with specific intructional options.

In my methodology courses, I learned that there is a positive correlation between homework and learner achievement and that homework should be tailored to the learners' age and grade level. So how much homework should I assign my learners? There should be homework after every class so they don't forget the princles and procedures of accounting.

I believe that the value of homework is threfold.

1. Homework helps leaners develop good study habits.

2. It fosters positive attitude torwards school expecially of its relevant.

3. It communicates to learners that learning happens in and outside of school

Assessment is when teachers gather information about the learners' level of perfomance or achievement.

There are different forms of assessment like formative, summative, diagnostic and etc which must be used collaboratively to endure learner success.

Good assesment should be designed to address four major concerns.

1. It should be able to provide meaningful feedback, that is to say, are learners learning what I am teaching?

2. It should be used effectively to measure instruction, in other words is the intruction tailored to individual needs

3. Assessment is used to measure progress. In other words are learners progressing in a satisfactory manner.

4. Assessment must inform instruction. That is to say it must be used to develop appropriate activities to ensure learner success thoughout a topic.

In adhering to these 4 basic concepts, I use tools such as projects, demonstrations, portfolios, rubrics and samples to help me effectively gauge each learner's progress and perfomance in a lesson.

Many learners consider homeworks as some form of academic punishment. They often ask what does this have to do with everything? Thus it would be important for me to ensure that there is some kind of connection between the homework I assign and the real world.

Learners need yo undestand the why in each assessment. Not the why because I told them so.

During my student teaching, I tried to help learners relate the relevance of accounting to their everyday lives. I asked them to identify retail busineses in their neighborhood and and classify accordingly whether they are using perpetual or periodic inventory systems.