Breann Woolley

ENG 400

Curriculum Development Project

Evaluating a Reading Curriculum

When evaluating Unit 1 of Macmillan McGraw-Hill 2003 teachers edition (2nd grade), I

found many genres that were present throughout the curriculum. One specific example I found

was poetry. In this poetry lesson, the teacher would read aloud the poem “Baby Chick” by

Aileen Fisher. Then after the teacher read the poem the class would participate in an echo

reading exercise emphasizing on all the rhyming words. Another genre I found in this

curriculum was a fable called “Dog and his Bone”. This lesson included oral comprehension

exercises in which the students would be asked specific questions about this fable.

This curriculum did a fantastic job of providing strategies throughout the lessons to

provide support for teachers dealing with struggling students. In fact, this curriculum had a

whole section specifically designed for alternative teaching strategies. These strategies

included different ways of teaching for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. Modifications

for specific lessons could also be found in this section.

This curriculum provides many opportunities for students to talk about reading and

make connections with their own life experiences. At the beginning of each lesson there is a

section called activate and assess prior knowledge. This section usually provided a “hook” for

the lesson. Frequently the hook is specific questions to get the students thinking about the

lesson or a warm up activity.

This curriculum also proves to be an outstanding resource for teachers with diverse

classrooms. The language and cultural differences of a classroom are addressed in each lesson

with a specific section devoted to cultural perspectives. Also, in the lessons there is a reference

to a language support book and includes the specific pages that incorporate that specific lesson.

Unfortunately, I had a hard time locating this book in the library, but just the fact that they had

a whole language support book integrated with this curriculum is honorable. All in all, at the

end of my evaluation I considered this curriculum to be more than adequate.

Lesson plan #1- Reading or writing for an ELL student

Subject area- English Language Arts

Lesson Title: Learn about the Olympics

Grade Level: 3rd grade

Duration: 45 minutes

Content Area: ELA, Math: Solve applied problems on worksheet (attached)

Purposes/Goals: To use the history of the Olympics as a foundation to allow students to make

connections about the effect that time can have on our environment over time.

Objectives:

The students will pick apart texts to learn about when the Olympics started, and how it has evolved over time.

By participating in this Olympic study, connections with text and deeper understanding will be

made as students create their own opinions about these time periods and the Olympians within

them.

Students will be able to interpret informational texts that depicts different time periods.

Students will be able to solve presented scenarios by adding or subtracting dates.

Students will be able to solve presented scenarios by adding or subtracting dates.

Students will be able to respond to the text G is for Gold: An Olympics Alphabet by Brad Herog by retelling the sequence of elements that occurred within this book.

Students will be able to respond to multiple texts as well as two internet websites by writing a

reflection that will require each student to make a connection with the previous investigations.

State and National Standards:

Common Core: Math

M.PS.03.12 Solve applied problems involving money, length, and time.

Common Core: Reading

R.CM.03.02 Retell in sequence the story elements of grade-level narrative text and major idea(s) and relevant details of grade-level informational text.

Common Core: English

R.IT.03-05.04 respond to individual and multiple texts by finding evidence, discussing, illustrating, and/or writing to reflect, make connections, take a position, and/or show understanding.

Assessment:

Students complete a few different tasks that are assessable within this lesson:

First, students demonstrate their ability to read and interpret a timeline by completing the History of the Olympics worksheet. Students must use the timeline as a guide to answer the questions that are asked on the worksheet. The teacher can easily assess the students’ ability to interpret the timeline by checking their performance of the worksheet.

Secondly, the students writing may be used as an assessment task. Students have to relate ideas and concepts to the writing prompt that will assess their understanding of this lesson.

The teacher will take a look at the worksheet to make sure that students are demonstrating the ability to understand how to add and subtract when working with dates and the passage of time. This will be a formative assessment.

The teacher can also use the students writing to assess their understanding of the resources that they have had the opportunity to look at, and their ability to relate what they have learned to a personal situation. The students can use the rubric to self-assess

themselves and then they will turn in their writing with the rubric for the teacher to score. This is a summative assessment that the teacher will use. (Rubric below)

Community Knowledge: The “hook” of the lesson is a question to assess prior knowledge of the Olympics allowing students to share experiences. To conclude this lesson, students will share some of their written pieces with the class upon completion. Students’ will volunteer to share their work allowing students to share knowledge and engage with entire class.

Procedure: I am sure that there are many websites out there that feature information/time periods of the Olympics that would be written in different languages. This would be beneficial for my ELL students.

1. Introduction: Students will be asked the following question as an introduction into the lesson: If you were to guess, when and where do you think the Olympics began? The students will think independently and write their thoughts down on a half sheet of paper, then they will share with their shoulder partner, and then the entire class will share some ideas. (Think-Pair-Share) The teacher will randomly call on approximately 5-10 students. (~ 2 min)

2. Following the discussion, students will be split into groups of 6. Each group will be assigned a station where they will engage in a study that will take them through time by following different dates. This time period is from the start of the Olympics until present day. Each station will be described to the students, before they move to the designated places. At station 1, students will read the book G is for Gold: An Olympics Alphabet by Brad Herog. At station 2, students will look at the timeline in the back of the book, The Story of the Olympics by Minna Lacey. At Station 3, students will look at an internet resource. This website allows them to view all of the American gold medalists since 1896, telling them the exact date, the event, the sport event, the athlete and the country that they are from. Lastly, at station 4 students will explore another website. This site takes the students through a virtual exhibition of the Olympics and its past up until now. The students can enter the exhibition which brings them through information all about ancient times, then traditional, modern, and finally the globalized periods of the Olympics. Both websites can be accessed in different languages.

3. Students will be given approximately 30 minutes total to complete all 4 stations. At station 2 where the students will be looking at a timeline of the different Olympic events. The students will have to answer questions on a worksheet that addresses their ability to add and subtract the passage of time using the unit of years.

4. Once each student has had an opportunity to attend all stations, the teacher will display the timeline again illustrating the date and the location of the summer Olympics. Students will be asked to analyze this information once again, using the information that they have gathered from all four stations. Then the students’ will be given a writing prompt. (~ 2 min)

5. Students will have 10 minutes to reflect upon what they have learned and make connections to the texts and web resources that they used by writing and answering the question: If given a time machine that allows you to go back to any date in time, which summer Olympic Event would you attend and why? How much would you pay to use this time machine and why? The students should split this question up into 2 paragraphs (one for the first question and another for the second question).

6. To conclude this lesson, students will share some of their written pieces with the class upon completion. Students’ will volunteer to share their work; if no volunteers arise then the teacher will draw from name jar that is already in the classroom for this purpose.

Resources:

1 half sheet of paper per student- for “hook” activity G is For Gold: An Olympics Alphabet by Brad Herog – Station 1 activity The Story of the Olympics by Minna Lacey- Station 2 activity Timeline Worksheet- Station 3 activity 2 Computers with Internet Access- Station 3 and 4 activity

o http://assets.olympic.org/virtualexhibitions/expo-heroes-en.html o http://www.olympic.org/medallistsresults?

athletename=&category=&games=&sport=&event=&mengender=false&womengender=false&mixedgender=true&teamclassification=false&individualclassification=true&continent=4&country=&goldmedal=true&silvermedal=false&bronzemedal=false&worldrecord=true&olympicrecord=true&targetresults=true

Timeline of summer Olympic Events (for document camera or on overhead)- Modeling for class in order to make comprehension more concrete.

Lined Paper- Needed in order to complete the written conclusion assignment Pencils- Needed to complete all assignments as a writing utensil. Teacher- Needed to lead discussion, provide materials, and assist throughout the lesson. Student- Essential part of the lesson, without their cooperation the lesson could not be

taught. Rubric- Assessment tool used to clarify if students comprehend content taught in lesson.

Applications, Connections, Extensions: (Reference to Universal Design for Learning Chart attached)

The students use strategies learned in this lesson to depict informational texts.

Students will be able to respond to multiple texts as well as two internet websites by writing a

reflection that will require each student to make a connection with the previous investigations.

4.1 Vary the methods for response and navigation- Students could respond to the activity by

using email, drawings, drama, projects (posters, portfolio, diagram, etc). Then students wouldn’t

have to be just writing about a prompt.

Inclusive Instruction: (Reference to Universal Design for Learning Chart attached)

1.2 Offer alternatives for auditory information- Students are listening to the teacher, group members, and internet exhibits.

1.3 Offer alternatives for visual information- Students are receiving visual information by the handouts, display board, and internet sights.

2.4 Promote understanding across languages- This lesson incorporates a lot of partner/group work to help struggling students. Also the worksheets can be broken down/interpreted very easily. The websites also offers multi-language option to promote understanding across all languages.

2.5 Illustrate through multiple media- Teacher is displaying information from an over-head, students are listening to sounds on the website, pictures, and videos on the website.

3.1 Activate or supply background knowledge- Students activated background knowledge by answering “hook” question at the beginning of lesson.

Work Sheets and Rubrics for Lesson # 1

Name: ___________________________________

The History of the Olympics:

Traveling Back in Time

Directions: Please use pages 62 and 63 in The Story of the Olympics by Minna Lacey to answer the questions on this worksheet. Use these pages and the timeline that have been written out for you. The timeline shows the dates of all of the summer and winter Olympics from the start until now. You may work with the people at your station to answer these questions.

1. When was the first summer Olympics and where did they take place?

2. Were the first winter Olympics before or after the first summer Olympics?

What was the actual date of the first winter Olympics and how many years apart were the first winter Olympics and first summer Olympics?

3. In 2002 the United States held the winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. As you all know, this summer London will host the Olympics. What is the difference in years between these two Olympic dates?

4. In 2014 Sochia, Russia will hold the winter Olympics. When this occurs, how many years will the winter Olympics have been around for?

Timeline of the Summer Olympics

1896 Athens, Greece

1900 Paris, France

1904 St. Louis, USA

1908 London, UK

1912 Stockholm, Sweden

1916 (Not Held- WWI)

1920 Antwerp, Belgium

1924 Paris, France

1928 Amsterdam, Netherlands

1932 Los Angeles, USA

1936 Berlin, Germany

1940 (Not Held- WWII)

1944 (Not Held- WWII)

1948 London, UK

1952 Helsinki, Finland

1956 Melbourne, Australia

1960 Rome, Italy

1964 Tokyo, Japan

1968 Mexico City, Mexico

1972 Munich, Germany

1976 Montreal, Canada

1980 Moscow, USSR

1984 Los Angeles, USA

1988 Seoul, Korea

1992 Barcelona, Spain

1996 Atlanta, USA

2000 Sydney, Australia

2004 Athens, Greece

2008 Beijing, China

2012 London, UK

Olympic Choice Writing Rubric

3 Points 2 Points 1 Point

Statement of Olympic Event (Date) the student would choose if given the opportunity to use a time machine:

Statement is clear. Student clearly articulates which Olympic event they would go back to.

Statement is somewhat clear. The date is not completely clear.

Statement is not clear. The student does not show any sign of making a choice.

Explanation for why the student chose that date:

The student’s explanation is very clear. It is obvious that the student has put some thought into the explanation.

The statement is somewhat clear, but the explanation needs to be developed more for the purposes of clarification.

The student does not show any attempt to explain their reasoning.

Amount the student is willing to spend to use the time machine and why:

The student clearly writes a coin or dollar amount that they are willing to spend to use the time machine and it is obvious why they chose this amount based on their explanation.

The student makes an effort to include a coin or dollar amount, but it is not written correctly. The student attempts to give an explanation for their decision, but it is not clear.

The student makes no attempt to include a coin or dollar amount for using the time machine and no explanation is evident.

**The student will also receive 1 point if 2 paragraphs are used correctly!

Self Evaluation: ____/10

Final Score: _____/10

Teacher Comments:

Lesson plan #2- Formal to Informal Codeswitching

Subject area- English Language Arts

Lesson Title: Post Card

Grade Level: 3rd grade

Duration: 45 minutes

Content Area: ELA

Purposes/Goals:

After conducting previous study of the Olympics and using ideas about time, students

will create an informal post card to a family member/friend and a formal post card to

the principle describing some of the things they have learned about the Olympics.

While creating this post card, students will incorporate the main ideas of this unit, time

and money, while incorporating formal and informal codeswitching into their

understanding.

Students will also learn to figure out how many days it would take for their post card to

be delivered to Michigan from London.

Students will learn how much it would cost to buy a stamp for their post card.

Objectives:

Students will learn how time affects the delivery of items, such as a post card, and how

much it costs to deliver a post card to their family or friend in Michigan.

Students will also learn how to write formal and informal letters, and how to develop

their ideas in a sequence using the information that they have discovered in previous

lesson.

Students will use their personal creativity to illustrate a cover for their post card that will

be reflective of the thing they found most interesting while discovering time and money

within the Olympics.

Understand the time frame that it takes to send a post card from different locations by

calculating time in units of minutes, hours, and days.

Write formal and informal letters using a sequence of events where ideas from their

personal lives and experiences can be shared with others through their writing.

State and National Standards:

Common Core: English

W.3.3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

Common Core Math:

3.MD.1. Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes. Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals in minutes, e.g., by representing the problem on a number line diagram.

3.OA.7. Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division (e.g., knowing that 8 × 5 = 40, one knows 40 ÷ 5 = 8) or properties of operations. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

GLCEs: Art

ART.VA.II.3.4 Combine ideas, symbols, and experiences that express and communicate meaning.

ART.VA.III.3.5 Discuss how personal experiences influence the creation of art.

Assessment:

Students complete a few different tasks that are assessable within this lesson:

First, students create their own personal friendly letters that can be assessed to see what the student have taken away from this unit thus far or what they have learned about time and money. Their ability to write in sequence within these friendly letters will be present as well.

I plan to use self-assessment with the students on the hand out that they are given where they can give themselves a score out of 10 based on the work that they have produced. I will also look over their work to see if they are assessing themselves appropriately. For the friendly letters, I will use a scale to assess their ability to write in sequence and to describe ideas that relate to the idea of time and money that they have learned thus far. These assessments will be formative assessments.

Community Knowledge: The teacher will guide questions related to what students have learned about time and money in relationship to the Olympics. Some of these questions will include: What did you learn about the Olympics as we have been working through this unit? What can you tell someone about time and money now that you have been exploring these things throughout our Olympic unit? Teacher will also allow students to share experiences with post cards, trips, anything related to formal or informal talking/writing.

Procedure:

1. Introduction: The teacher will lead a class discussion reflecting on what students have learned in previously lessons within this unit. The teacher will guide questions related to what students have learned about time and money in relationship to the Olympics. Some of these questions will include: What did you learn about the Olympics as we have been working through this unit? What can you tell someone about time and money now that you have been exploring these things throughout our Olympic unit? The teacher will have the students take two 5x8 note card and continue passing the pile around until each student has two. These 5x8 note card is what they will use for the postcard. (~ 5 minutes)

2. The students will volunteer to collaboratively share ideas to the entire class. The teacher will write these ideas on the board and briefly discuss their relevance. Then, the students will individually choose which two ideas were their favorites. They may come up with an idea on their own as well. These ideas will be used to develop their post card letter to a family or friend and the principle. Discussion should revolve around what appropriate formal and informal language entails. (~ 10 min)

3. The teacher will explain to the students that they will be writing their own post card in a sequence of events based on what they’ve learned. The teacher will explain and share her post cards with the class. The teacher will answer any questions that may arise as well. (~ 5 min)

4. Once students have completed their post cards, the teacher will ask students what they know about mailing things to other people. Students will share any ideas or experiences that they have had. (~ 20 min)

5. The students will address their letters appropriately by writing their address in the correct place on the post card as well as placing the stamp (star sticker) in the upper right hand corner. The teacher will also give directions and time for the students to draw a picture for the front of their post card. This picture must relate to some aspect of the history of the Olympics that they have learned about. Once the post card is complete on both sides, the students will bring it up to the front of the class for sending (fake mail box). (~ 2 min)

6. Letters will then be redistributed to the class, each student having a different classmate’s letter. The students will then be required to act out the formal or informal situation/plot/ideas the post card covers. (~ 3 min)

Resources:

White Board- Needed to display information to the class as a whole.

Markers- Used by teacher to expand on ideas and concepts.

Teacher- Model and informant component of the classroom.

Student- Most essential component of this lesson and every lesson. Participation is necessary for learning to occur!

Pretend mail box- Creates excitement in the classroom and a purpose for completing the assignment. Also creates a more real connection to how the postal service works in the real world outside the classroom.

5x8 note cards (post card)- Will be used to complete both formal and informal post card

Teacher’s Post Card- Model for students to display expectations but not to limit their creativity.

Pencils- These are necessary writing tool to complete the assignment.

Pretend stamps (star stickers)- Little component but necessary to keep students excited and participating in this lesson creating a more realistic connection to the real world.

Applications, Connections, Extensions:

1.3 Offer alternatives for visual information- The teacher could have the students make a video rather than a post card stating their 2 main ideas that would replace the friendly/principle letter and the visual writing and drawing that this requires.

2.4 Promote understanding across languages- Students can write letters in other languages to their family if appropriate. The hand out could also have both directions in English and Spanish to help guide ELL’s.

4: Provide options for physical action: Students could actually take a field trip to the post office, and buy stamps and then send their post cards to their desired family member or friend.

Inclusive Instruction:

3.1 Activate or supply background knowledge- Teacher assesses and builds off of student’s prior knowledge. Questions are asked to inspire discussion and ideas about specific concepts taught in the lesson.

7.1 Optimize individual choice and autonomy- Students can independently choose what they would like to write about, who they send their letter to, and what picture they draw on the front. Some students do very well with and prefer independent work.

8.3 Foster collaboration and community- By allowing the students to share and read others writing students are working as a community. There is a symbol of trust and respect that must be present in the classroom environment for the sense of community between the class members and teacher to succeed.

III. Provide

Multiple Means ofEngagementResourceful, knowledgeable learners Strategic, goal-directed learners Purposeful, motivated learners© 2011 by CAST. All rights reserved. www.cast.org, www.udlcenter.orgAPA Citation: CAST (2011). Universal design for learning guidelines version 2.0. Wake_eld, MA: Author.