Chapter 3

I think the “big idea” of this chapter is having the teacher decide on what they want to teach and then find the appropriate benchmarks to link to the lessons.  When taking in effect of the 21^st century learning it is important to remember the following:

·         “Analyze – examine, explain, investigate, characterize, classify, compare, deduce, differentiate, discriminate, illustrate, prioritize.”

·         “Evaluate – judge, select, decide, justify, verify, improve, defend, debate, convince, recommend, assess”

·          “Create – adapt, anticipate, combine, compose, invent, design, imagine, propose, theorize, formulate”

When we use these guidelines it shows us exactly what we want each student to obtain from each lesson. As the teacher we need to keep these ideas in the backs of our minds at all times.

Of the eight essential learning functions, I believe every one of them is important to our children’s learning process. The functions are:

1.) Ubiquity: Learning inside and outside the classroom, and all the time

2.) Deep learning

3.) Making things visible and discussable

4.) Expressing ourselves, sharing ideas, building community

5.) Collaboration-teaching and learning with others

6.) Research

7.) Project management: Planning and organization

8.) Reflection and iteration

I think it is important when figuring out everything we as a group want to do for our lessons to remember to focus on these eight essential learning functions. I believe we can get the most out of our students if we remember to focus on these as part of our lessons.