Sunday, September 21, 2014

Week 3 Lesson Plan: Writing & Spelling 5th Graders

   
Lesson Plan: Writing & Spelling 5th Grade
Tamara Stotler
ESE 697: Characteristics of Students with Mild & Moderate
Disabilities & Evidence-based Strategies
Julie Treadwell
September 21, 2014



Lesson Plan: Writing & Spelling 5th Grade
            Teachers need to create all kinds of lesson plans throughout their educational career. Understanding how to incorporate all levels of abilities and readiness in the lesson plan can be challenging especially if the teacher is unprepared. Teachers need to understand there are many different ways to incorporate teaching and learning strategies in the classroom to help students in each area of mastery: reading, writing, spelling, and math. Creating a lesson plan for writing and spelling can be difficult if a teacher does not pay attention to the needs of their students. Teachers need to assess and monitor their teaching style to make sure that their students are being successful in the concepts being learned.
The Classroom
            This fictional classroom consists of 15 fifth graders that range in likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, readiness, and abilities. There are two students in the classroom on an IEP with varying disabilities. One student has autism and struggles with writing, while the other student has a mild hearing impairment (HI) and a visual impairment (VI). The classroom is set-up in five pods or groups of three desks/students. The student with the visual impairment and hearing impairment is placed in a group closer to the front of the class so they can hear and see the board. This will also allow the teacher to interact with the student if further assistance is needed.
The Lesson Plan: Super Hero Book
            The teacher will present a lesson plan that incorporates previous knowledge gained from vocabulary words, writing journal, and previous discussions about creating a story and what makes up a super hero. The classroom has discussed real-life super powers of heroes and how those qualities are used to help save people. For this final activity the teacher will dress up as a super hero and encourage their students to be engaged with their own super hero creation. There are several teaching styles that the teacher can use to teach the lesson plan. Using vocabulary organizers, writing journals, and even brainstorming techniques will give students the opportunity to complete the assignment while differentiating between tools. Each student learns differently and offering a technique such as a six-step writing program: choose a topic, brainstorm, organize ideas, reflect and edit, create a draft, and finalize (Graham, Harris, & MacArthur, 2006). The teacher will be able to instruct the class by using modeling and scaffolding to help students succeed and a way to assess the students’ success is when they turn in their final projects for review based on the grading rubric originally given to them at the beginning of the lesson unit.
Lesson Overview

Lesson Title
Super Hero Book
Grade Level
5th Grade
Subject
Language Arts/ Writing & Spelling
Summary
Students will take information from their writing journals and apply them to a blank hard back book, to create their own super hero story. They will set a scene, create a plot, and tell the story with a proper conclusion. The book will include illustrations to show readers the different scenes and action of the story. Students will use their vocabulary words that they are working on and pay close attention to proper use of punctuation and capitalization of letters. Each comic book page will have at least two sentences to move the story along.
Classroom Scenario
The classroom consists of 15 5th graders and it is set up in pods (pods= groups of three desks). Students are stationed around the room to give access for all students to move freely while being close enough to offer each other support. The classroom is set-up as an inclusive room that allows the teacher to differentiate with small and large grouping. The student with a visual and hearing disability is placed towards the front of the classroom to have less distractions and closer to the teacher and front board.
Students with Disabilities in the Classroom
There are two students in the classroom: one student has autism and struggles with writing, and the other student who has a visual impairment (VI) and mild hearing impairment (HI) with the use of a hearing aid.
PRETEACHING TASKS/PLANNING

Common Core State Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.3
“Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences,” (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2014).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.3.a
“Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally,” (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2014).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.3.e
“Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events,” (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2014).
Lesson Objective
Students will create a story/comic book based on their fictional super hero, using detailed vocabulary words from the word list (example: challenge, bungle, suspend, reliable, retain, guardian, gigantic, intercept, luxurious, miniature, mischief, and more). They will have a beginning, middle, and end of the story paying attention to plot, scene, and storyline to tell a story using illustrations.
Assessment (Describe the assessment task and the levels of achievement based on what you expect from students on this task).
Students will put together their story/comic books that they have started and created from their rough draft. They would have already checked their rough draft for errors (spelling, capitalization, and punctuation). The teacher can assess the final project and review each student’s book. The grading rubric that was sent home with each student stated, at least two sentences needed to be on each page along with illustrations to tell the story of their super hero with a beginning, middle, and end while using vocabulary words to help describe in detail the story.
Materials
  • Blank Book
  • Writing Journal (and previous writing entries)
  • Rough Draft of Story
  • Crayons/markers/pens/pencils
  • Glue or glue sticks
  • Ruler or straight edge
  • Scissors (to cut out pre-printed papers if a student typed their story)
  • Vocabulary Organizer
  • Story/Comic Book Rubric/Checklist
  • Computer access

Accommodations/Modifications to be provided
  • Hand written notes for the vocabulary words for the student with autism and VI/HI.
  • Both students received extra time and assistance with the creating the rough draft (autism & VI/HI).
  • The print is larger (VI).
  • One-on-one direction and small groups (autism & HI/VI).
  • Extended time to complete the final project for both students to allow for completion.
  • The use of computers and word processors for students to write up their stories instead of hand writing it (differentiate) (all students).
  • Available software: speech-to-text (VI/HI).

TEACHING PROCEDURES

Opening/Activating Prior Knowledge

Students would recall previous talks about how to create stories and they are used to writing ideas about their super hero in their writing journals. The teacher will be dressed in a super hero costume to catch their attention. “Ta DA! Guess what today is?” They would offer a few moments to let student’s guess and then they will say: “Today we will copy our super hero stories into our books with print and pictures or illustrations! Exciting times!” The teacher will have a student/teacher helper hand out books to each of the tables, and tell students to get our their writing journal, vocabulary organizer, crayons, markers, pens, and their rough draft that has been edited/corrected for mistakes by using the six-steps of writing technique.  
I DO:  Teacher Input and Modeling
The teacher will grab a blank book and bring up previous writing journal prompts from previous writing sessions, along with their rough draft of the story that they started and show students the pieces of information that they would need.
Opening to the first page the teacher will show students how to copy information over from the rough draft to the blank book. Showing tips such as using a straight edge (like a ruler) to get it lined perfectly if the book. These lines can already be placed in the book to distinguish sections for writing and illustrations.
Checks for Understanding (How will you know if students are grasping the concepts? What formative assessments will you use to check for understanding?)
Students will be following along and watching the teacher and offering input as they ask questions. What do you think will go here? How many sentences need to be on each page? What do you put in the blank box (illustrations)? The teacher will be able to tell if students are struggling and offer them further assistance during independent time or offer quick feedback to get students on board.
WE DO:  Guided Practice

The teacher will have students open their books and write down the first sentence together. There may be variations to the sentence, but for the most part the teacher will write down on their book that is projected on the SMART board: It seemed like a normal day at Twin Lakes Elementary, but of course that changed in an instant when the sun went out! The teachers and students were shocked and scared! The teacher will then draw a picture of a school and a black sun. They will take time and show the different illustrations and then flip the page to start the next page because there were two sentences on this page.
Checks for Understanding (How will you know if students are grasping the concepts? What formative assessments will you use to check for understanding?)
The teacher will call on students to ask what they think would help illustrate the sun being dark, and what kind of picture should be on the opening page. Gaining insight from the students will help them decide what they will do for their own stories and how it will open up.
YOU DO: Independent Practice

Students will work on their books working quietly amongst their pods. They will be able to work on their books independently and talking with their neighbors if they need help.
The teacher will walk around and offer assistance for students who may be struggling with copying their paper over into the book or pasting the information to the book.
Ample time will be given to students to complete their projects, allowing students to gain help if they need it and to take their time to follow the guidelines of the rubric.
Lesson Closure
The teacher will have students share their projects with the class at the end and talk about what it is to be a super hero. They will remind students about the real life super heroes and have students recall who/what they are (parents, firefighters, police, doctors, vets, etc.). The students will turn in their projects and grade the students projects based on the grading rubric/checklist that was handed out at the beginning of the unit.
Reflection

Assessment for Learning: How will you use assessment results to assess student performance on the lesson objective?



What steps will be taken if objectives not met by all students?
Using different levels of instruction: modeling, simplifying tasks into smaller steps, providing reviews, and offering further guidance will help students who may be struggling understand the writing process further (Vaughn & Bos, 2012). Differentiating the instruction will allow the teacher to adjust the teaching styles to fit the needs of students in their classroom. Offering small pods or groupings will also allow the teacher to go to each group during independent time and offer assistance and further instruction.

The teacher can offer further instruction or more time for students who may be struggling based on the circumstances. The location of the task can be changed or even offer peer assistance (Vaughn & Bos, 2012). By offering alternative ways for a student to have their papers written will help students who are struggling in writing not feel overwhelmed with the requirement. Assistive technology can help students in the classroom gain further skills that are required for adulthood.

Conclusion
            Using multiple teaching and learning strategies in the classroom will help students succeed learning new and mastering current skills. The teacher can incorporate assistive technology in the classroom for students who may be struggling. Teachers can adapt and modify the assignment for students who need it, giving students’ the opportunity to display conceptual understanding without overwhelming them. Quality over quantity will still show skill mastery and understanding without making the student loose interest (Vaughn & Bos, 2012). Teachers can create lesson plans that incorporate multiple teaching styles into their classroom when they use universal design for learning and differentiated instruction. Using these techniques in the classroom will allow teachers to assess and monitor students’ areas of need or determine which areas have already been mastered.




References
Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2014). English language arts standards. Writing grade 5. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/5/.
Graham, S., Harris, K. R., & MacArthur, C. (2006). Explicitly teaching struggling writers: Strategies for mastering the writing process. Intervention in School and Clinic, 41(5), 290-294. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/211714139?accountid=32521. 
Vaughn, S. & Bos, C. (2012). Strategies for teaching students with learning and behavior problems (8th ed.).  Boston: Pearson.


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