What is the most important thing that you learned in school? Where did you learn this? Why is it the most important?
Respond to these questions in 1-2 pages in narrative form.
Due online September 18.
Example of Assignment 1 (PDF)
Use the web resources (
PDF) to find six mission statements for different schools. You should find three that you like and three that you don't like. For each of the statements define what you like and don't like about each of the statements (this can be a bulleted list for each statement).
Now, define a mission statement for a school of your choosing. Defend this statement. What values does it stand for? Does it apply to a specific audience of community?
Be prepared to defend and discuss your statement in class.
Due online Sepember 30.
The purpose of your teacher interview is to get some information on why the person teaches. You might ask questions about their background and career in teaching as well as questions such as why they chose teaching as a profession, what are the greatest challenges and rewards of teaching, what are the changes that they have seen in teaching since they began, how teaching is/isn't like what they thought it would be, etc. The interview should last 10-15 minutes. You should have a short paper (2-4 pages) that summarizes the interview and provides some of your reflections on what you heard.
Due online October 16.
Example of Assignment 3 (PDF)
The assignment is to write a paper that describes the classroom environment that you observed. What kind of activities were the students doing? What kinds of teaching methods did the teacher use? How were these methods effective or ineffective? How were they appropriate or inappropriate for the students that were in the class? What could have been done differently/more effectively in the class? Include as many specifics and examples as you can. Include anecdotes and observations about what particular students were doing.
The paper should be about 3 pages in length.
Example of Assignment 4 (PDF)
Look at the grade 8 science MCAS exam or grade 10 math exam. Take the sample exam. Choose 3 questions that you thought were good and 3 that were bad. Defend why you thought the questions were good and bad and rewrite the questions that were bad. Consider how the questions were phrased, the format of the questions, the breadth and depth of the questions, how they relate to the standards that you read, age and grade appropriateness etc.
Example of Assignment 5 (PDF)
Based on classroom observations. Focus on one or two students. What do you think they are learning in the class? How do you figure this out? How does the teacher appear to be assessing what and how the students are learning?
Consider the pulley and gear designs that you worked on over the last week. How did you and the other group members attempt to come up with a solution to the problem? If you were not able to come up with a solution, what prevented you from doing so? If you did come up with a solution, how did you arrive at it? What were the intermediate steps and how did you get from one step to another? Present evidence about what your partners were thinking during this process. You should include your own explanations of your understanding of these systems, and your understanding at the end of the experiment.