Morgan's Blog

                  In the last two weeks, we discussed quantitative data and how to create/alter instruction with it. In week 7, we discussed the foundational concepts associated with understanding data. Population is the entire group you want to draw conclusions about, for example, all 7-year-olds. The population is then used to draw samples. A sample is a specific group used to collect data from, for example, one classroom containing 7-year-olds. We also discussed the importance of validity and reliability in testing. Validity is about determining if a given assessment measures what it is supposed to measure. Reliability refers to whether the assessment results consistently and accurately measure that learning. Both of these concepts are needed for teachers to understand if their assessments and instruct ion are beneficial for students. Lastly, we reviewed mean, median, mode, and range to know how to interpret different areas of a graph. ...

                    In week 6, we discussed what it means to have alignment between standards, objectives, instructional activities, and assessments. It is essential that lessons taught to young children contain all of these parts in order for them to be successful and also beneficial for students. Effective lesson planning begins by first selecting a developmentally appropriate standard for the current grade level. An objective is then created based on that standard that contains instructional activities explaining what a child should be doing. The teacher selects these instructional activities will the goal in mind that their students will be able to accomplish that standard after completing those chosen tasks. However, teachers must then implement multiple types of assessments for them to actually understand how well students have mastered that standard. Without a combination of all of these, teachers can not ensure that their student...