Intel Teach Program: Module 2

Module 2 was extremely helpful for me to go through before beginning to design my unit. Since this is the first unit I have ever designed myself, I am not completely comfortable with the idea of creating assessments, writing Curriculum Based Questions (or even what CFQs even were, really!), or applying the state and national standards to my unit. The program helped to walk me through the very first steps, which I would have initially thought would be the last steps.

The CFQs were possibly my biggest challenge in this section of the program. I was not aware there were so many different levels of questioning your students and finding ways to pull the most possible educational experiences from a unit. While I still feel like my questions could use some tweaking to provide more opportunities for cross-curricular connections, I think I accomplished this part of the task well.

I also need to begin to train myself away from what I initially think "assessment" means. To me, assessment has always been a large-scale, scary, paper and pencil exam. One of my biggest challenges as a student of the education world is to train myself away from this idea. After exploring options, I felt that one of the most helpful options, for me, for pre-assessment was to use a KWL chart to find out what my students know and understand exactly what they are interested in learning. This is one of the best ways of changing your unit to be as stimulating as possible before even beginning lessons. My biggest challenge throughout the course of this unit creation will definitely be formulating student assessments.

I realized that much more goes into planning a lesson than I realized. I thought teachers merely planned activities and presented them to students. Knowing the step-by-steps of standards, CFQs, and assessment will help me a great deal when I enter the world of having my own classroom.