My blog post today is my reflection on a Masters course I am about to complete, Design/Production of Instructional Materials. This course has helped me think like a designer and has shifted my thinking from teacher to thinking about my learners first. It has helped me make better choices about what to teach and how to teach it. I start by thinking about who my learners are, what they know, and what roadblocks they may face, so that I can reach them more effectively. Rather than simply delivering content, I am thinking about the variety of materials to select, how my learners learn, and what will most help them achieve their learning goals. This is different from how I used to plan because before this course, I primarily thought about what content I needed my students to learn, and, without much thought about the students, did my best to plan some activities that seemed to go along with the objective. Sometimes the lesson went well; many times it fell flat. I definitely feel more confident in planning when I approach planning from an instructional designer’s perspective.
The ideas within instructional design theory and practice will assist me as I continue in my role as a school librarian. Not only will I do a better job constructing lessons from the library, I feel like I will do a better job as a co-teacher planning lessons with my teachers. I will know my learners, and I will know what questions to ask my SpEd teachers and ELL teacher when planning lessons with them. It is my hope that my lessons are richer and that I will do a better job reaching my students effectively so they get the most from the lesson.
- #psubuildingbridges
- #imls
- #aasl
- #ala
- #schoollibrarians
