To conclude a lesson plan, a unit, or even a topic you need to assess the student’ new knowledge and evaluate memory content. I believe that allowing 48 hrs between the end of content and evaluation allows me to fully evaluate if knowledge of content is in long term memory. I must integrate these appropriate time frames and assessment in my curriculum map. The ILPE method doesn’t always have formal assessments and evaluations (Gabler & Schroeder, 2003). I believe if I used standard testing alone to evaluate my students, I would be doing a disservice to me, the students, and the school. We don’t make important decisions in life on one measure, so why should we measure our student’s knowledge with one standard method? Curriculum mapping help me prioritize and gives me a quick overview of how many different assessment I have incorporated in a timeframe. I believe that our education system today demands we use multiple measures in the assessment and evaluation process. Title 1 of No Child Left Behind (as cited in Brookhart, 2009) states “assessments shall involve multiple up to date measures of student’s academic achievement, including measures that assess higher order thinking skills and understanding” (p.6). For example, I will give students written math problems on central tendencies for a grade. I will also give them a article to read, and have them write down 5 critical thinking questions in relation to central tendencies, and then ask them to write a paragraph on how central tendencies are used in daily living. I will combine all three assignments for one grade. This way I can use “several different measures of the same construct in a compensatory manner” (Brookhart, 2009, p.8). The information that we gather from assessment should directly impart future planning (Gabler & Schroder, 2003). I believe lesson plans should be authentic and directly affect our students’ past evaluations. Having all this information incorporated into my artifact of curriculum mapping ensures that class will be conducting appropriately.
In conclusion I believe self actualization is what we, as teaches, and students, should obtain. I believe finding out what is important to me to teach and what the student believes is important to learn will enrich the classroom setting. Our learning environment is only as good as its participants. This paper has challenged me to reflect on my views and teaching method in relation to my career. Reflection as a new teacher was a hard concept due to limited experiences, but as you can see, I pulled textbook knowledge, my own trial and errors in the classroom, and my memories of being a student to design lesson plans that integrate student’s learning styles and enhance their utmost potential. I believe if I continue to reflect throughout my teaching career, I can become the teacher that can make a difference in a student’s life.

As a new teacher, I went into teaching to help students that others have given up on. Teaching the Emotionally Behavioral students has taught me that you always have to be alert, and that you must have a mastery of your content. Kennedy (as cited in Gabler & Schroder, 2003) found that teachers “teach content only for exposure, not for understanding” (p.7). Teaching in a way that our student can retain, and reuse the information is a high priority in my classroom. During one of our class discussions, we talked about Kaplan Universities Master of Science in Education, Conceptual Framework. What I found interesting is Competency 2: Content Matter Mastery and Instructional Planning. I believe this Compentency and Knowledge indicators are a goal we will continuously strive towards. We will have to revise our lesson plans, curriculum mapping to incoroporate growing technology, target different learning styles and enhance our instructional strategies to adhere to different measurable learning outcomes. The ILPE method is the teaching strategy that I incorporated into my curriculum mapping to gain insige into my student’s understanding of a topic, and to find interesting ways to engage them to new topics (Gabler & Schroeder, 2003). Investigating Learners Previous Experiences (ILPE) Method is an invigorating and new age way of assessing our students and implementing appropriate lesson plans. I believe in this method, and if incorporated into my classroom through my curriculum mapping on a daily basis, my students will be motivated to learn. The ILPE method demands a mastery level on knowledge of content, and a detailed assessment on student learning styles, for competent instructional planning and curriculum mapping.

References to follow on my 3rd journal entry

Hello everyone! Myname is Adam Smith and I am working in a middle school teaching 7th grade Math. This year is my first year teaching math. What are you teaching?