1. Autobiography (10 points): Due Thursday Jan. 14, 1999

Read the following questions and try to respond the questions as best as you can.

Look back and think about your early childhood (ages 3 to 8):

How did I learn when I was a young child?
What is my best way of learning new things? How did I know that was the best way of learning new things?
How did my-best-way-of-learning-new-things help my later school life? Or
How did my-best-way-of-learning-new-things limit my later school life?
How did my teachers promote (or hinder) my-best-way-of-learning-new-things in the classroom? Why do I think in this way?

Now, what do I learn from this reflection as a becoming a teacher?

Grading Rubric for Students' Autobiography (Click here to see the grading rubric)

2. On-line class activity participation (100 points)

Participating in the electronic class experiences is the most important part of the course. In each weekly on-line class, there will be discussion activities based on your reading and weekly academic journal questions.

Your weekly responsibilities (100 points) are; 1) answer to one question; and 2) respond/or react to others' answers. Each missing responsibility will lose 5 points. Everyone start with 100 points. It is your responsibility to maintain the full points until the end of the semester for the final grade.

Weekly CHAT time in the course WebBoard (Suggested activity, not required): Every Wednesday evening from 9:00 - 10:00 p.m. is a CHAT time for you to talk with other classmates. Feel free to use this CHAT time for the course related discussion as well as your internship field experience. If there is already more than three people are talking on the WebBoard, you may need to wait couple minutes until they finish their discussion topic. And, then you can bring a question or comments, etc. Of course you may try anytime of the day to CHAT, but it may not guaranty that you will have someone to interact with the time you are on the chat room, so try to use this established time to meet someone to talk electronically!

3. Reflective academic journals including responses to chapter reading questions (11 Journals x 4 points each = 44 points)

Every week you are required to write a reflective academic journal. For each journal entry you should follow the guides in Appendix 1: Academic Journal Guides for Weekly Chapter Readings. Every week you should use your academic journal when you are on-line discussion activity with the classmates. Thursday of each week you should send me your weekly academic journal through e-mail (by midnight). If your journal entries are not satisfactory week to week, I will indicate this when I turn them back to you on the following week through e-mail by 4:00 p.m..  At the final class, please turn in all your journal entries. This is when I will assign an overall grade to the journal. I will return your journal to you during final exam week. You will pick it up at my office. The Journals are an important part of your grade and your synthesis of the learning experience, so please put time and energy into them.

For guiding questions to weekly academic journals, see Academic Journal Guides

Grading Rubric for Academic Journals

3. Develop five integrated lesson plans (5 lesson plans X 5 points = 25 points)

Lesson plans shall promote young children's higher level of thinking and their divergent cognitive problem solving skills. You may use the Sunshine State Standards as a resource (http://www.firn.edu/doe/menu/sss.htm) for your development of lesson objectives or visit web-sites listed in the "Resources." In your lesson plan, you should have divergent but content focused leading questions that match with each one of your lesson objectives. So that, your divergent questions will guide the learners' self-discovery oriented learning achievement/experiences. Consider using these lesson plans for your internship level II teacching. Since most of you are also taking courses such as Integrated Science & Math, Language & Emerging Literacy, and/or Literature in Early Childhood Education, I encourage you integrate these subject areas into the leson plan development. (Remember! You need to see the interconnectedness among the courses you are taking) (It is what North Americans call "One stone hit several birds!" Ha! But, don't kill them. It is just a metaphor)

For Example:

Lesson Objective: Children will point out the front and the back of a book as well as the top and the bottom, using their own finger.

Divergent but content focused leading questions: Where do we start from to read the book? Where does the book end?

Please create your own five integrated lesson plans using a "webbing" format. See an example of integrated lesson plan development format. (Note: this is just an EXAMPLE. Please CREATE your own webbing format that would make sense to your own lesson preparation) (5 lesson plans X 5 points = 25 points)

Click here to see a webbing format

Grading Rubric for Lesson Plan (Click to see the rubric)

 

4. Develop a set of instructional materials (25 points)

A set of instructional materials is a set of self-contained learning kit that has a theme or a topic of certain concept learning and development. The kit should contain the following items:

1) Rational for the kit - What is it?; What are the age group for that kit?; How many children can play in each time?; How do children use it for the purpose of self-discovery oriented learning tool?; What are learning objectives?; and How do children assess themselves for their developmentally appropriate self-assessment?;

2) Develop an Instruction: Developmentally appropriate and constructivistic guided instruction for young children, so that the young children will be able to make sense of how to use it or play with it by simply reading/looking at the guided instruction by themselves; and

3) Fully completed activity set. (example: A Math & Logical Thinking activity set, A Science Discovery set, A Social Learning set, A Creative Reading and Writing set, etc. You may use a computer technology and develop a computer software activity set. Why not! Be contemporary!) Those of you who are taking the course "ECE Integrated Curriculum for Science& Math," you could consider developing one high quality set for the both courses' similar assignment. Once again, "One stone, but two high and health quality birds to care, love and enjoy!

Grading Rubric for the Set of Instructional Materials