Curriculum, lessons, & materials

This weeks reading really got into the in-depth thought processes that go into what you do in a classroom. I felt that Brown did not speak enough about assessment. I think that is a very important aspect of curriculum design that helps to inform your future instruction. It deems more of a focus especially with CLD students. You have to be careful if your assessment will measure their mastery of the content or their language. I felt the lesson plan example was good for a basic universal lesson plan. Something I always have to seriously consider is the range of proficiency levels in my classroom and how to reach each one. It requires some serious thought for instruction and assessment. And being a teacher in a bilingual program, we have to create our own materials all of the time because if you don’t take a critical look at what the district provides you may miss that it is not appropriate. Many of us have found after evaluating our textbooks that there is a lack of diversity, it is not authentic; language is a direct translation and may not make sense. So, I have spent a lot of time making my own material. However, the great thing is I put my stuff out there for others and many others have created materials and are willing to share. I have gotten some great ideas by collaborating with others on blogs and websites.