Ch. 4 Reflection - Potential Pitfalls

The word “pitfall” simply sounds awful, like the pit falling out of the bottom of your stomach. I tend to associate this word with failure. When I feel like I did poorly on a test or when something goes wrong, I get that terrible feeling deep down in my tummy. I am going to be responsible for a classroom of eager learners, little blank slates I am going to guide and expose to new ideas, thoughts, and teachings. I am going to be dreaming up and providing access to project based learning, and there are some potential pitfalls and snares along the way.

I think the pitfall I am most concerned about is “long on activity, short of learning outcomes”. Right now in our Special Education department, we have been focusing on building S.M.A.R.T goals (specific, measureable, attainable, realistic, and timely) to ensure significant and positive learning outcomes. I don’t want to waste my students’ time. When I create a project, I need to have smart planning and S.M.A.R.T goals in place to ensure successful learning. We are always striving for higher-ordering thinking in terms of Bloom’s Taxonomy. I want my students to be analyzing, creating, and applying their knowledge to new thinking.

I think that step-by-step guidance can be important for working with our students, especially our students with disabilities. We need to break things down into smaller chunks, but this is not helpful to all students. Too many steps and too many details can be overwhelming, and Boom! We’ve lost them.  This can be a giant pitfall when trying to engage the class in active and creative learning. Too many steps can cause confusion and frustration. With many of our students, frustration is a giant pitfall. We cannot bring some students back once they “turn off” to learning for the day.

So how can we prevent these potential pitfalls? Well, of course it starts with me, the teacher, and the planning and effort I put into our projects. I need to allow my students to make real life connections present in the 21^st century and remember each child’s learning strengths. Nobody learns in the same way, and multiple means of representation and expression are paramount for learning.