Planning and management

Learning objective

In Course 2 you'll explore:

• Instructional theories (thematic, cooperative, outcome-based, character education)
• Approaches to curriculum (knowledge/product, process, praxis, context)
• Creating the context for students to think about thinking; and to safely learn via classroom management

All for the purpose of applying what you learn to classroom lesson planning and practice.

Resources

Course material; Conversations with global colleagues.

Assignments

Assignment 1 : Generating Themes

Assignment 2 : Cooperative Learning Groups

Assignment 3 : Reflecting Upon Instructional Theories

Assignment 4 : Reflecting Upon Curriculum

Assignment 5 : Students Learning About Learning

Assignment 6 : Your Classroom Management Plan

Assignment 7 : Lesson Planning with Cooperative Learning in Mind

Assignment 8 : Journal on Implementation

Assignment 9 : Critical Questions

Assignment 10 : Effectiveness of Course Two

Timeline

4 weeks

HOW TO GET THE BIG PICTURE:

As you proceed through Course 2, use your "Outline" button to get an overall sense of the topics covered in this course. (The"Outline" button is on the right-hand side of this screen under the blue, horizontal bar.) Review the topic titles listed. Read through theassignments first to see what will be asked of you. Knowing what comes next will help you to become an active reader - engaing with the material. You mayeven find yourself wishing to take notes as you read. You can take handwritten notes or "copy" and "paste" sentences that stand out for you and"save" them in a file on your disk or hard drive. This interaction with the text will help you to take in the richness of the text and the assignments.

Introduction

Students learn best when their minds are engaged and their bodies are moving. People learn through experimentation with thereal world, rather than by memorizing a list of rules. This statement has implications for the design of instruction. Learning opportunitiesshould be based, as much as possible, on real tasks and rich environments, and include opportunities for reflection and application.

This course will provide theory and practice so that you can make your classroom a lively, interactive, and safe place forexploration and learning. You will be introduced to ideas such as thematic learning and cooperative learning and have a chance to develop lesson planswith these ideas in mind. You will be given practical tools for classroom management and ways in which you can guide your students to think about theirown process of learning.

Required Reading :

Accelerated Learning

PDF File:

Accelerated Learning

Scaffolding

Scaffolding is a term that one would normally associate with buildings - the structure outside, allowing workers tocrawl around and construct the building. It is also a way of providing these same workers with materials so that ropes and ladders can haul buildingmaterials to higher and higher levels. Without a proper scaffold, the building is faulty, subject to collapse from its own weight or from a naturaldisaster. In short, the building will not last.