In this class on creating significant learning environments, I have come to see why it is so important for us to look at the big picture when creating plans for our class. Seth Godin (TEDxYouth, 2012) in his talk "Stop Stealing Dreams" says that we need to stop having our students collect the dots and help them to connect the dots.  We, as teachers, need to have a significant learning environment where our students are interacting with the material and each other to build their learning. We need to identify what our Big Hairy Audacious Goals are and use them to help align the assessments and activities to go with them that students will connect the dots between the concepts instead of just grabbing the dots for a short period of time.

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Using Fink's Self-Directed Guide to Designing Courses for Significant Learning (n.d.), I have looked at goals for a particular unit of Algebra 1 which goes through Linear Functions. My innovation plan is to use flipped classroom content which allows for more collaborative work and blended learning in the class time I have with my students. Hopefully using the time in class for more interactive lessons will work to connect the dots.