DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

1. The curriculum. Obtain a state and district curriculum guide for elementary or secondary education. How would you improve the curriculum at the level you plan to teach? Should teachers be free to determine what they will teach? What forces commonly influence the school curriculum? The formal curriculum? The hidden curriculum?

2. Planning a course. Select a basic textbook from your area of specialization. Using the selected textbook, plan a series of instructional units. Select the topics (chapters) to be covered, supplement the textbook where needed, combine the topics (chapters) into appropriate units of study, and make unit time allotments.

3. Analysis of textbook objectives. Review the teacher's edition of a school textbook from the grade level or subject you expect to teach that lists the unit or chapter objectives. Address the following questions in your review. a. Are informational objectives given for the chapters? Are instructional objectives given? Are the objectives the same for all students? b. Are objectives written for all three domains of learning? c. Are the objectives written at the different taxonomy levels within each of the learning domains?

4. Writing goals and objectives. Consider your planned teaching grade level or subject and write a broad educational goal that you feel should be addressed at the identified level. Now write at least three different informational and instructional objectives that tell what students should do to show you that the goal has been accomplished.

5. Backward design. Write an enduring understanding for an area you expect to teach. Write guiding essential questions that cover the enduring understanding.

6. Writing cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domain objectives. Write 10 cognitive and psychomotor domain objectives for a topic from your area. Make the objectives at various taxonomy levels of complexity. Now write five affective domain objectives at various taxonomy levels for the same class. Let your classmates review and critique your objectives.