I like the idea around alignment as it ensures students will have all the domains of knowledge needed for the workplace.
I like that students can see what the learning outcomes are for a given course or even a given lesson. They know, from the beginning, how everything ties together, both vertically and horizontally.
I was familiar with Bloom's Taxonomy but not with the other two diagrams shared. I will be using those as I design lessons, to ensure that my students are engaging at the appropriate level for their psychomotor and affective domains as well as their cognitive domains.
Curriculum alignment, Blooms Taxonomy important for cognitive as well as affective skills. Setting expectations with a planned out lesson is very important. Monitoring the students progress qand meeting with students to go over strengths and weaknesses so they know what to work on going forward.
There was a lot of valuable information/resources in this module. I liked the idea of using a rubric to assess workplace skills and the importance of teaching those skills early in the school year. The Career Prepped Whitepaper was pretty eye opening and helped me understand some of the key differences in the new vs. the old work paradigm. I especially loved the quote by Alvin Toffler that talks about the illiterate of the 21st century being those who cannot learn, relearn and unlearn.
Instruction and assessment in the CTE classroom needs to be rigorous. Assessing students in their work-based learning experiences in a relevant way is imperative to student learning and success.
The plan is important but not every minute of the plan needs to be outlined. You need to allow for some flexibility as different groups of students will need need more or less time in certain areas.
We're in the process of integrating some "life skills" courses into our CTE program, so this was helpful in that regard.
Although it doesn't directly apply to me, it's still an interesting concept that would keep things organized and relevant. It really makes no sense to teach concepts that don't fit with the purpose or lead to the next step.
Blooms Triangle and its applications for furthering and helping students understand as well as helping me understand different ways to help students and the various ways students learn as well as the process
Im new to Teaching, steel industry for 25+ years, which doesn't touch these topics. It's a learning triangle for me too!
I like that they are giving us links to websites that we can come back to later so that we can use them in our classrooms.
Curriculum seems to be one of those forever evolving things that never seems to be as perfect as it can be. However using what I learned in this chapter about horizontal and vertical alignment will help me ensure that my class content is relevant to each of the course learning objectives are. Additionally, goal setting is incredibly important for the same reason that Course learning outcomes are. without them the plan becomes unclear.
I learned that in order to teach something you have to not only know how but why each step is done. Also a good way to asses if a student has learned a new skill is if they can "teach it" or fully describe it back to me. Minus the physically doing the skill part that is.
I feel employability skills are incredibly important in the CTE program. We are preparing students to leave our classes and head out into the workplace. They should not only have the knowledge and skills to complete tasks, but they need to know how to perform in a professional manner at all times. I also find it important that what we teach in CTE aligns with what is being taught post-secondary so we give students a step ahead when they head off to college.
I have learned the difference between goals or course outcomes and objectives. The big picture is the course outcome the roadmap to that is the objectives outlined for the course.
Key Learnings:
Alignment of Objectives and Outcomes:
Ensuring course objectives match industry standards and certifications.
Designing lessons that prepare students to meet both academic and practical skill outcomes.
Importance of Clear Expectations:
Setting clear, measurable objectives that align with assessments.
Communicating these objectives to students at the start of a course or training session.
Role of Assessments:
Creating assessments that accurately measure the skills and knowledge outlined in the objectives.
Using formative and summative assessments to guide both teaching and student learning.
Continuous Improvement:
Gathering feedback from students and industry to refine curriculum and teaching methods.
Incorporating real-world scenarios and hands-on training to bridge the gap between classroom learning and job performance.
