Develop A Mind Map Education Essay

Develop a mind map indicating your plan to conduct a learning-teaching session of a single period, for a selected topic, in a selected grade. It should indicate the subject matter covered as subtopics, learning objectives, learning experiences linked with related resources, and methods of assessment.

B. Based on your mind map, write a short essay focusing on the following:

(i) Justification for selecting the learning/teaching resources indicated in the mind map.

– State the reasons for selecting the resources indicated and how these will meet the needs of your learners (P3.1)

– Explain ways in which these resources may be adapted to meet inclusive needs of learners (P3.2)

– Review the advantages of using technology as a resource for learning and teaching, providing examples (P3.3)

(ii) Justification for selecting the methods of assessment indicated in the mind map

– State the reasons for selecting the assessment methods indicated, and review their purposes (P4.1)

– Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the assessment methods you have selected (P4.2)

– Explain why it is important to keep records of assessment (P4.3)

– Discuss how evaluation may be used to inform practice and indicate areas for improvement (P4.4)

B)

(i) Lesson planning is an essential teaching standard to bring about an efficient learning environment. Learning/teaching resources play a major role in lesson planning and help in discovering various modes of delivering knowledge to different types of learners. While selecting the resources to assist in learning, it is important to check whether it will meet the needs of all the learners.

First of all, I would introduce a music from the Mayan era played through a cassette from a radio and ask the students to guess what today’s lesson is going to be about, creating an excitement and eagerness to know about the lesson. Next, I would make them watch a movie about the Mayans on a virtual setting of a movie theatre while giving them a checklist to tick and answer brief questions so that they have a clear focus and an educational idea on what they are watching. The learners will also get a real “feel” about living during the Mayan era and experience that atmosphere within them. After the movie, a power point presentation on the Mayans will be shown and asked to concentrate and write what they feel is important. Here, the learners will be able to show a real interest on what they are learning. The pictures, information and video clips in the presentation may stimulate the visual learners while the sound effects and music from the movie benefits the auditory learners. Therefore in this case, a laptop, radio, smart board and a pointer becomes really helpful in meeting the needs of the learners. Further, these teaching aids make lessons much more interesting while motivating the students and avoiding their dullness which could prevail during long sessions of monotonous teaching. The learners will also have the opportunity to actively participate, experience and engage in the lesson.

Before beginning a lesson, it is vital to make sure that the relevant teaching aids are placed in the correct order and organized in an appropriate manner. If the learners cannot see the texts clearly, we can make the font size bigger and use colours and highlighted texts to emphasize important notes. This may help in students having a specific learning difficulty such as dysgraphia or dyslexia as well. If the pictures looked small, an enlarged version of it could be used. The cassettes and video clips could be played several times with increased volume and at different pace if a learner seems to have a difficulty in hearing and catching up with what is being taught. If the inclusive needs of learners are unmet, it may cause serious discomfort in them reducing their ability to concentrate on learning.

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In this rapidly advancing world, it’s almost impossible to ignore the blooming technology. The Information Technology used in teaching provide many advantages such as making learning much more interesting and attractive. E.g. virtual classroom, moodles, e-learning, power point presentations etc., gets the students animated while addressing their different learning styles. E.g. – slides, radio, television, MP3 players, gramophone, OHP etc and helps the students to self-learn thus saving time and energy.

“Technology offers solutions to a diverse set of instructional problems and instructors augment courses with the Internet and other instructional technologies for a whole host of reasons”-(Teaching and Learning with Technology, Faculty Guide, University of Missouri)

(ii) Assessments are important aspects in teaching. It could be formative, which is used internally and adjusted to suit the objectives of a lesson and usually conducted while teaching a course or lesson or either summative which is conducted at the end of a course or unit. I have thought of conducting some group activities to assess the learners on their knowledge. Through the group discussion after the presentation, the checklist will be discussed and corrected. Hence any child perceiving a wrong idea on the lesson will be corrected immediately while providing feedback if necessary. The brainstorming sessions get the students motivated making them want to learn more. During role plays, the learners are made to dress up according to the Mayan tradition and act out some of what they have learnt. This takes the students back to the ancient period and allows them to experience like real Mayans. This will influence them physically as well as mentally thus making them remember and understand the characters very much, greatly benefitting the kinesthetic learners. Through group discussions some students may feel shy to contribute or question thus having confusions within themselves. This could happen during brainstorming sessions as well. The worksheets test on each individual’s knowledge. But some can copy their friend’s answers. This is a weakness found in worksheets. Posters and role-plays help to bring out the hidden potentials of the students. But however, since it’s a group activity, some may not contribute much but rely on other’s work. This may not relate the real knowledge of a student.

In an organization such as the school, records based on student activities and attendances are being kept in a traditional manner. It is important to keep records of assessment to have a constant check on a child’s progress on learning, to discuss and provide feedback during parent-teacher meetings by making meaningful judgments based on the records, to organize the prize list during prize giving or any other events and to select suitable students to send for various competitions.

Evaluation is necessary to check whether learning objectives are met accordingly. Through question and answer sessions, we could evaluate whether each learner has an accurate knowledge on the Mayan food, clothing, economy and culture. The classroom discussion enables each learner to give their final comments and allows space for further clarification based on the lesson. This helps in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the learners and to adjust the different learning styles to suit the needs of them while improving the quality in learning.

“Given the profound influence that teachers have on student achievement, accurately evaluating their performance is a natural leverage point for increasing teacher quality and expanding student learning.”-(Supporting Effective Teaching Through Teacher Evaluation by Morgaen L.Donaldson &Heather G.Peske)

Timely feedback and support due to evaluation through examinations, classroom discussions, quizzes, rubric and reports may boost their confidence in learning. Hence it is clear that evaluation plays not only as a diagnostic measure but also as a method of facilitating learning.