Jennifer Nelson

My fiance and me

About Me

I recently received my Bachelor's of Science in Art Education from the College of Saint Rose. I have a a minor in Art History and a concentration in Photography. This is the beginning of my Master's in Educational Technology and Curriculum Instruction. I got my first teaching job this year as a K-8 art teacher at an independent school. It is actually the school that I attended for ten years as a kid! My school is a very hands-on, project based environment that makes learning fun for kids. I'm very excited to be starting my teaching career!

I'm a very crafty person, I enjoy sewing and creating in my free time. I recently got engaged and have been doing a lot of planning! I also love to watch movies. My fiance and I go to the movies quite a bit. And we have the cutest dogs alive, Benji and Kade!

My Topic/Purpose

The purpose of this course is to show teachers that choice-based curriculums are more engaging to students. By implementing choice-based strategies students are able to express themselves and learn in a way that best suits them. As part of this course we will examine the benefits and some of the challenges of creating a choice based curriculum.

Needs Assessment

For my needs Assessment I created a survey using Google forms, and sent it out to all of my colleagues and teacher friends. My survey consisted of 7 questions, and can be found at this here (https://goo.gl/forms/WSQiB04Q1fbeFi8H2). In my survey I asked about the teachers' experience, how they were instructed to teach, and how they felt about choice-based curriculum. What I found was that only about a third of participating teachers were taught to integrate student choice into their lessons. However, 90% of them believed when students have choice in their learning they are more engaged. When asked what ways the teachers included choice into their curriculum there was a wide array of answers that ranged from very little choice, to a great deal of choice. Over half of the teachers that filled out my survey said that they would like to learn more about choice based curriculum before implementing it into their own classrooms. From this information we can see that teachers clearly know that students are more invested and interested in learning when they can have some input. Whether teachers are actually able to integrate choice is where the question seems to be. To what degree should students have control over the curriculum? And how can you ensure that students are still learning what they need to in order to be successful in school? These are the questions that need to be addressed in this module so that teachers can be more comfortable loosening the reins a little.

Performance Objectives

1. Learners will be able to explain the benefits and difficulties of creating, and implementing, choice-based lessons from memory without any aids by the end of this course.

2. Learners will be able to identify the most important aspects of a lesson when reviewing a lesson plan until they have pared down the lesson to the most crucial parts.

3. Learners will modify, and design their own, lessons to be more choice-based with the provided materials until they feel they have created a successful choice- based lesson.

Task Analysis

Unit 1: What is Choice-Based Learning?

• Students will review the benefits and difficulties of teaching choice-based lessons by completing a quiz

• Students will describe the benefits and challenges of choice-based instruction in a written response

Unit 2: What Are The Key Elements of This Lesson?

• Learners will review examples of lessons that have been modified to become choice-based

• Learners will complete a quiz identifying elements of a lesson they think are most important

• Learners will review a given lesson plan, highlighting all the constraints

• Learners will practice paring down lesson plans to the most crucial parts

Unit 3: Create Your Own Choice-Based Lesson

• Participants will either choose to alter a previously made lesson, or create a new lesson in their chosen subject matter

• Participants will define the most important objective(s) of the lesson they are completing

• Participants will determine whether their lesson would allow student choice, while also reaching the lesson objective(s)

• Participants will review their lesson and complete a reflection

Necessary Prerequisites

• Students must be familiar with web browsers as well as the Google suit

• Students must be willing to consider loosening the reigns on their classroom

Recommended Prerequisites

• Participants should be self-motivated

• Participants should be flexible in the classroom

• Participants should have a solid knowledge of their content area

• Participants should be able to think on their feet

• Participants should be able to prioritize

Curriculum Map

Follow the link below to view the curriculum map

File:Curriculum map draft 1.pdf

References and Resources

Corley, Mary A. "TEAL Center Fact Sheet No. 6: Student-Centered Learning." Literacy Information and Communication System. U.S. Department of Education, 20 May 2016. Web. 04 May 2017.

Erwin, Jonathan C. "Chapter 4. Power in the Classroom: Creating the Environment." Books. ASCD, 2017. Web. 04 May 2017.

Kohn, Alfie. "Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide (*)." Alfie Kohn. Phi Delta Kappan, 16 Nov. 2014. Web. 04 May 2017.

McCarthy, John. "Student-Centered Learning: It Starts With the Teacher." Edutopia. Edutopia, 09 Sept. 2015. Web. 04 May 2017.

Pipkin, Cameron. "Three Ways to Give Students a Choice with Student Centered Learning (EdSurge News)." EdSurge. EdSurge, 10 July 2016. Web. 04 May 2017.

"Project-Based Learning with Academic Choice." Front of the Class. W.B. Simpson Elementary School, 02 Nov. 2016. Web. 05 May 2017.

Ronan, Amanda. "7 Ways to Hack Your Classroom to Include Student Choice." Edudemic. Edudemic, 20 Mar. 2015. Web. 04 May 2017.

TEDxTalks. "Teaching art or teaching to think like an artist? | Cindy Foley | TEDxColumbus." YouTube. YouTube, 26 Nov. 2014. Web. 04 May 2017.