Read Chapter 1 Weekly reflection (BELOW) and explain how and why this text has been most helpful! (MINIMUM OF 1 PAGE).
CHAPTER 1 WEEKLY REFLECTION
This chapter has focused on how teachers should plan for instructions before they make decisions on how to teach and what to teach their students. Some of the major considerations of the chapter are the huge variety of subjects that are taught in schools, the appropriate knowledge required by students, and the essence of having diversity consideration. It has also focused on some of the measures that guide the teachers in choosing what their students should learn and how they should prepare that content for teaching. One of the ideas presented in this chapter is thinking of what students need to learn or be taught in schools, and teachers have to decide what students should learn depending on standards, individual requirements, and district guidelines. Teachers have to consider subjects that enable students to read, write, do arithmetic, understand health and fitness, acquire emotional skills, cognitive behavioral skills, vocational skills, and be able to think critically and acquire learning strategies. Pressure in society has made the teachers feel that it is their responsibility to teach their students how to responsibly use credit cards, practicing safe sex, and living an honest and healthy life.
The teachers should create content that enables the students to acquire declarative and procedural knowledge, which enables them to know some things and how to do the somethings. Having declarative knowledge would enable the students to understand facts which is content that remains true and indisputable. They are also able to understand concepts in the content they learn which are situations, actions, or events that have similar characteristics. Lastly, declarative knowledge enables the students to understand principles which are the rules that explain the connection among different concepts. The declarative knowledge enables the students to know about things. Procedural knowledge involves making the students understand the steps or methods they should follow so that they know how to do some things. It enables the student to combine different concepts to find a solution or complete an idea. It enables the students to understand the need of having the knowing the basic ideas of different concepts.
From this idea, I also think that it is essential for teachers to consider including declarative and procedural knowledge in the content that they present to the students. By including declarative and procedural knowledge, the teachers make it easy for students to understand different concepts. But I also think that it is essential for the teachers to include content that enables the students to have effective communication and collaboration skills in the classroom and in the outside world. This is because communication and collaboration skills would make it easy for the students to communicate with different not only with their classmates but also other individuals who may assist them in learning. This can be achieved by creating time for the students to think and discussing on what they have learned by presenting open-ended questions.
Despite presenting declarative and procedural knowledge to the students, I also think that it is essential that the teachers take their time and reflect on what their students have learned as well as what they find difficult to understand. Through this, the teacher is able to understand the concepts that are easy for the students to understand and how the students perceive the declarative and procedural knowledge. Through conducting reflection, it also becomes easy for the teachers to understand what the students have learned and if they are able to apply what they have learned to something. The concepts they present to the students should also reflect on the students’ different cultures in the classroom.
