Forums

Our program has decided to teach all methods courses online, where students would normally be placed as a practicum student in the schools with a face to face seminar course once a week. This means that I have been reorganizing my course. I would love suggestions for how best to walk my students through lesson planning and content support. Have you seen a larger benefit for focusing on content first or should I facilitate the lesson planning process to begin the class?

Hi Cecilia,

We're working with a hybrid approach and we start the semester by introducing 3D learning in conjunction with the CER (claims, evidence, & reasoning) framework. Early on we do a lot of modeling of science practices. As we go through investigations, we discuss how they can be adapted for different grade levels. We also use video analysis. Once the teacher candidates have lots of ideas for getting started, then we do the lesson planning. I found that setting up screencasts for assignments and lesson planning allows students to work at their own pace. Then we can use Zoom for collective sensemaking and idea generation, rather than going over assignment specifications. What have you found helpful so far? 

Hope you're having a good semester!
~Carmen