Tuesday, July 28, 2009

R/D10

There are a lot of similarities in all 3 context areas as in needing some type of change. All three areas seem to agree that instructional design is not perfect and needs to change whether it is in business, p-12 education, or higher education. All three seem to try and focus on management and facilitating smooth integration of timelines and teamwork. I know i have even experienced some of the change that has come about, from working individually to working in a group. This was hard for me because i am a very independent person and have trouble learning new ways. I admit i don't like to disagree so i usually go along with others ideas and try to give a working chance. I know working with a group will only enhance the procedure and work of the outcome. Trying to keep up with the ever changing literature and educational theories and practices can be so demanding in itself so having more than one head to put to use only helps keep everyone more up to date. I like some of the ideas that were stated in the Brenda Litchefield paragraph. The fact that she surveys new faculty at the beginning of the to plan her workshops accordingly. And she meets regularly with faculty individually to analyze what they know about teaching and what they need to know. How she sends out faculty "teaching tips" dealing with her experiences over the years. I think all these things would help in my place of business where we all have different shifts and its hard to always talk face to face. It feels like we are playing phone tag with messages and this hard when you have parents that have issues that need to be dealt with and you werent the person handling the intial concern. Having regularly schedule meetings to analyze things would help along with the faculty 'teaching tips' that could be used as fyi's in our case.
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4 comments:

  1. Mrs. DrakeJuly 30, 2009 at 10:21 AM

    Teamwork seems to be a huge role in instructional design. Its interesting to me then, that teachers are rarely given the chance (unless they do it in their own time) to plan lessons with other teachers of their subject area or grade. In reading about successful instructional design, teamwork is almost always a factor. I think it would be beneficial for P-12 educators to plan lessons in a team as it seems higher education educators have the opportunity to do.

    Danelle Drake

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  2. Jackie SowleJuly 30, 2009 at 12:01 PM

    Tracy,

    As you and Danelle mentioned teamwork is ideal. Being a middle school teacher, I am assigned to an academic team that meets once a week. However, the focus of many team meetings throughout the building is not instruction but is instead intervention. We discuss what is happening with individual students, if they are misbehaving in one room and not another, if they are having issues at home, if someone has talked with a parent, etc. As a member of one of these teams it is often overwhelming to even get this much accomplished in 50 minutes.

    I think in addition to team time, teachers need "department" planning time to get tips, info, materials, etc. from other teachers in their same content area.

    Another area you touched on is communication. Communication is essential as a teacher. Whether you are communicating with teachers, principals, secretaries, maintenance, parents or students. It is extremeley important to keep everyone in the loop so no one is left to wonder what is going on. It will also help things to run much more smoothly.


    Jackie Sowle

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  3. JasonJuly 30, 2009 at 7:25 PM

    As a first year teacher, "teamwork" has helped me tremendously. I am fortunate to have two very helpful math colleagues that are there when ever I have a question or problem, and neither of them are my mentor. They take time out of their schedule to keep me sane, and I really appreciated that. I went to them often for lesson ideas that I was struggling with. Having someone to turn to for help is very beneficial. Teamwork is great!!

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  4. Mrs. ByvilleAugust 1, 2009 at 5:59 PM

    I agree that the Brenda Litchefield part of the chapter was great! She seems like she's got things figured out. :) It's an awesome way to see what is really needed and wanted. Maybe a blog of frequent problems or questions would be a good running total for any tech. specialist to figure out what problems are surfacing! :)-Suzy

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