Subject Knowledge > Performance Tasks >
In my Educational Psychology course (EDUC 381), the instructor lectured on Monday. During the smaller discussion meeting later in the week, I was responsible for creating a 20 minute lesson based on the lecture. My main goal was to help my peers perceive, process, and remember the big ideas about the topic. I also wanted them to actively reflect on their beliefs and strategies as future teachers.
I planned several short activities, with lots of student participation. First, I challenged students to draw the Information Processing Model from memory. Then, they brainstormed problems that can interfere with each stage of processing/learning. After that, I listed their strategies for addressing those problems. Finally, I asked them to imagine silly ways to simulate different problems (e.g., wearing earplugs to simulate poor hearing).
I planned more activities than we had time for, but I didn't rush. My students seemed very engaged and thoughtful (4/Instruction). Discussion was lively, and my students volunteered many ideas. I used their brainstorming to review big ideas (1/Content). My students didn't share as many silly ideas as I hoped (8/Assessment). Perhaps I needed to give them more time to think, or to share with a partner. However, they seemed especially engaged by discussing strategies to address possible problems.
I created several printed visual aids. I displayed them on the visualizer (document camera). I also used the whiteboard a lot, to list my students' ideas.