Week 1 Guidance
EDU 381
I N T R O D U C T I O N
Welcome to Week 1 Everyone! I am looking forward to our time together as we are going to get into
the nitty gritty of teaching…planning an instructional lesson.
In discussion one for this week, you will be challenged to share your knowledge and opinions on the
common core state standards. As you examine the assigned readings you should get information on how
the standards came into existence and the importance of the standards in the public school system and
on society as a whole. After pondering this information you should be able to extrapolate your own
opinion, and hypothesize successes and challenges that you may encounter when you enter your own
classrooms as full-time teachers.
In discussion two for this week, you will be challenged to share your knowledge and opinions on using
Backward Design in the planning process, and how these two work together to establish curriculum
planning in the classroom and affects student learning in positive ways.
The guidance for this week is tailored to help you more intelligently answer and contribute to the
discussion boards.
C O N N E C T I O N S
The quote above is a perfect depiction of the kind of lessons you will be creating. The lesson you plan
to teach is based on the “vision” of the perfect classroom. This “vision” almost never happens
because it truly does exist in a fantasy world. After you have completed a lesson, you will find
yourself saying… “That wasn’t the way it was supposed to go.” The lesson you actually teach accounts
for all the other factors, like behavior or technology problems, that your “vision” did not account for.
Finally, the lesson you wish you had taught is based on your reflection on the actual lesson plan that
was implemented, as you determine areas of strengths and improvements for future instruction of
that lesson plan. Reflective teaching is one of the most critical features of lesson planning because it is...