This was a really interesting read for me. The beginning seemed a little farfetched until the authors starting talking about how Darth Vader assigns essays. It was very reminiscent of my time in high school. Much of the assignments were research based, and we weren’t given as much direction as we needed, which made it a lot more work than it could have been. I remember getting so frustrated trying to figure out what the assignment wanted me to do and how to do it but it never really mattered because we all got the same grade we always got.
I know I don’t want to be the teacher whose assignments frustrate students and make them feel like they’re alone in working on the assignments. The CRAFT model for designing assignments is something that I am really excited to try. In particular, I like the role portion of the model. Students that are asked to pretend to be something else for an assignment will gain a fresh, new perspective, on a topic. This is the higher level thinking I want to see in my classroom. I want to hear kids wondering what it’s like for an animal or bacteria to be alive. “What kind of things do they need to do every day?” When I was a little kid, I remember asking my grandpa where the birds go when it rains. I believe this sort of thinking leads to new questions and helps build a new thought or belief about a topic. It’s a skill I want my students to have because of its transfer capabilities.
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