Wooley or Won't She?

“What light through yonder window breaks?” (Macrone, 2007.) Yes, a play on William Shakespeare’s words from one delirious student. Will she or won’t she? Is there an end in sight for this ASSURE model lesson plan? Until recently, these were the questions plaguing this author. It’s never a good indication when a reflection paper is written in the third person, so let me move forward in the first person now that I’ve uploaded my lesson plan.

I struggled with the assignment from the start. Aside from having difficulty figuring out what content I would have my students “count, graph and explain” in the lesson plan, my personal MAC computer crashed just as I was discovering that I am technologically-challenged. I’d never claimed to be tech savvy, but I didn’t realize that I was nearly technologically-illiterate.

To overcome my many challenges, I knew that I would have to start somewhere, so I looked up the NETS*T standards on the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) website. I found a connection with NETS*T Standard 1b: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. Engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources. (ISTE.org, 2008.) I realized that the MAT/ED609 assignment was given to me with this standard in mind and that I could and would do the same for my students.

It was still a daunting task trying to come up with my lesson plan, but I knew that I had to consider the 3Rs of the 21st Century “Rigor, Relevance, Relationship” (Landon, 2010.) With my ED609 instructor’s approval, I sought to have my students create assessments on public high school graduation statistics on Guam. I had to narrow the focus as my class sizes are small. I chose four specific years: 1968, 1978, 1998 and 2008.

The “rigor” of the assignment was twofold: students would have to find resources that are not so readily available here on Guam for the answers and they had to learn how to implement the assignment on a new media: the digital spreadsheet. Students would collect and organize the data based on a serious of requirements and then chart or graph the information. Students would then present their findings in a group presentation for the class.

The “relevance” of the assignment is that the researchers are graduating seniors of John F. Kennedy High School here on Guam. I thought it would be interesting for them to make this snapshot assessment of people unlike them in some ways, but different in others i.e. wartime, post-typhoon, economic boom, etc.

A look at the “relationship” aspect of the assignment was that is was going be conducted by and with their peers. Many of these classmates would be walking with each other during graduation. Many of them had been schoolmates for four years, but had never sat in a class together until this one.

Oddly enough, as I worked on the 3Rs of my lesson plan, I found myself thinking of this MAT group that I’m working with now. We all emphatically agree that working in ED609 is a rigorous process, but the information is so relevant to the times in which we live. And, I know that the relationship-building I am doing through this class will last me for many years to come.

References:

Landon, J. (February 2010.) 'The three R's' have changed: Relevance, rigor and relationship.

Retrieved June 14, 2010, from naplesnews.com website:

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/feb/17/three-rs-have-changed-relevance-rigor-and-relation/?citizen=1

Macrone, M. (2007). "What light through yonder window breaks?." Brush Up Your

Shakespeare. Cader Company, 1990. Retrieved June 14, 2010, from eNotes.com website:

http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/soft-what-light-through-yonder-window-breaks

NETS for Teachers 2008. Retrieved on June 14, 2010 from iste.org website:

http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm