My hybrid class is ED494, Standards and Curriculum for Middle Level and High School. The class is 3 credits and runs once a week in the fall, the first term of the Teacher Education program. The students in the class plan to teach middle or high school in a variety of subject areas, i.e. social studies, language arts, health. While the students are new to the teacher education program, they will have already finished a bachelor’s in a content area appropriate for their teaching plans.
The course covers three primary areas. The students learn how to plan their lessons and curriculum using Backward Design and Big Ideas. The students also learn how to write learning objectives as well as lesson plans that include Essential Questions and higher level thinking strategies. In addition, students begin work on their teacher licensing project (edTPA portfolio). I plan to include readings, videos, partner concept mapping, and small group discussions as online assignments. During class, the students will practice writing their edTPA portfolios and lesson plans/learning objectives, and discuss the concepts from their online work.
Last year, I found that the students were challenged by three areas: understanding how to identify the Big Idea of a lesson; addressing the concepts required in writing their edTPA portfolios; and remembering how to identify measurable verbs for learning objectives over the course of the term. This last issue is probably easy to solve by using the online quiz tool in Canvas to keep students practicing how to identify measurable verbs without using up class time.
A hybrid format will fit nicely with addressing the students’ challenge with writing the edTPA portfolio. I intend to build videos to provide online instructions for how to understand the edTPA concepts. Last year it was difficult to help the students from different subject areas write their edTPA, because each area had different concepts to address. The videos will allow students to review their own edTPA requirements. They will also be able to rewatch the video when they are confused. They will come to class prepared to practice writing their edTPA portfolios with partners. The students will also be able to discuss in a small online group how to identify the Big Idea of a lesson. During the following class, they can share their strategies with a larger content group.
After practicing in class, the students will write their own edTPA portfolios and submit online. They will also submit their lesson plans online. The plans will include the Big Idea and measurable learning objectives which they discussed with their classmates online and in class. They will work with partners both online and in class to review the lesson plans and ask questions about the lesson’s Big Ideas.
