1 Katherine Brou TWS: Energy 2nd Grade Bains Elementary
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE……………………………………………………………………….….1 CONTEXTUAL FACTORS…………………………………………………………3 LEARNING GOALS…………………………………………………………………7 ASSESSMENT PLANT…………………………………………………………….9 DESIGN FOR INSTRUCTION………………………………………………….17 LESSON PLANS INSTRUCTIONAL DECISION‐MAKING ANALYSIS OF STUDENT LEARNING REFLECTION AND SELF‐EVALUATION CONTEXTUAL FACTORS
3 CONTEXTUAL FACTORS Community, District, and School Factors I am placed in a 2nd grade classroom in the St. Francisville, Louisiana. St. Francisville is a rural town in West Feliciana Parish slightly northwest of the state capital of Baton Rouge. The estimated population of West Feliciana Parish is 15,625. In this parish, there are 10,251 males and 5,394 females meaning 65.5% of the county is males, while only 34.5% are females. The primary ethnicities of this community include African American, 46.5%, Caucasian, 51%, 2% Hispanic and the final 0.5% are made up of other ethnicities including Asian, Indian, and mixed ethnicities. It is important to note that the average household income is decently high at $49,936, however, about 22% of the parish falls below the poverty line. St. Francisville, the town my school is located in, is a small, country, farming town with a population of 1,765 people (as of the 2010 census). The town’s population consists of 3 main categories of ethnicities, 70% Caucasian, 27% African American and 1.5% Hispanic. The political climate of West Feliciana is almost evenly split, with 56% republican voters, 43% democratic voters. The majority of the members of St. Francisville are college graduates and appreciate quality education. St. Francisville is a very stable town with a high support for education. I have heard multiple times, on multiple platforms, that the parents and members of the parish in general always strive for the best interest of the education system. It is important to note that within this parish is the state penitentiary, Angola Prison. This definitely has some impact on the data and therefore slightly skews these statistics. The prison contains about 5000 inmates, which is approximately one third of the parish’s population. The prison also contains another 1800 workers who mostly reside in the neighboring towns of Angola, Tunica, and St. Francisville. Until 2011, there was a separate elementary school (Tunica Elementary Pk‐6th) that served the area near the prison. It was very small and as a result was closed due to budget issues in the parish system. As a result, this year the parish consists of only 4 schools (lower elementary, elementary, middle and high schools) that serve 2400 students in all. These 4 schools serve the entire community of West Feliciana Parish. So if you live in this parish, you will attend all 4 schools in this area starting in Pre‐K and continuing through graduation in 12th grade. For the 2011 school year, Bains Elementary has a total of 140 second graders, 147 third graders, 152 fourth graders and 161 fifth graders that make up a grand total of 600 students for grades 2‐5. There is a teacher to student ration of 1:13 with 48 teachers and average classroom sizes at about 22 to 23. The school overall is pretty evenly split with 304 males and 296 females. 39% of the school is African American, 57% are Caucasian, and 1% is Hispanic. Of the 600 students, 50.25% qualify for free/reduced lunch.
4 Classroom Factors Mrs. Daniel’s class is located in the 2nd grade hall. When you walk in you notice the desks are grouped into 3 groups consisting of 6‐8 children each. The children were initially able to choose where they wanted to sit but children have been moved around to help with classroom management or to suit individual educational needs. Each group has a colored football with points around the edge. The groups can earn points throughout the day for being on task or working well together. This helps promote teamwork among the groups. Each child also has a personal incentive with signature cards on their desks. When on task, or displaying exceptional behavior children can get a signature. When their square is filled up, the children are rewarded with a homework pass. Other than the desk layout, other things you can see are the semi‐circular table in the back used for reading instruction, the buckets of books all around the room, copious technological equipment, and plenty of wall and bulletin board space for display of children’s work. The technological equipment includes 3 computers for the children to use, 1 computer for Mrs. Daniel’s personal use, a SMART board, projector, ELMO projector, internet access and all the software access needed to make all of this technology run smoothly to benefit education. The schedule of Mrs. Daniel’s class begins with Language arts and P.E. in the morning before lunch at 11:00. Math, Computer Lab, Fundations, and ancillary subjects come next and the day finishes out with a Social Living lesson. There are a few routines worth mentioning: bathroom breaks are taken as a class throughout the day, usually around 3 times; recess is the very last part of our day; in the mornings the children have daily language and math work as well as a journal entry to complete; throughout the day there are many opportunities for the children to go to the library and exchange books/borrow new ones; at the very end of the day is a time period devoted to Sustained and Silent Reading (SSR). Mrs. Daniel allowed quit some transition time at the beginning of the year for the children to adjust to a new schedule, but the times of these routines and her schedule have never changed. It is because of this consistency that the children are able to expect what comes next, which alleviates some of the classroom management problems that might occur from the children not knowing what to expect. For lessons the children are grouped differently depending on the subject being taught and the lesson of the day. However, some common grouping strategies are by their seating arrangements or skill level in a certain area (this is especially how it is for reading instruction). Mrs. Daniel is very good at giving the children clear expectations. Overall the children have a very good understanding of what is expected of them at different times throughout the day because Mrs. Daniel discussed the rules and routines extensively the first few weeks of school. Mrs. Daniel is also very good at communicating with parents. There is open communication daily through the children’s planners and she is very receptive to individual
5 needs for the child’s caregivers and is willing to meet with them or call them during her free time. There is constant contact between the parents and Mrs. Daniel. She will even call or text a parent just to let them know that his/her child was not feeling well that day. Mrs. Daniel uses these techniques to build strong relationships with parents. Student Characteristics As of now Mrs. Daniel’s class consists of 10 girls and 12 boys making 22 students in all. All of the students are native English speakers. 10 students are African American and 12 are Caucasian. Eleven students, which is half of the class, qualify for free/reduced lunch. Parent involvement in the class is pretty decent. Almost all children were dropped off to the classroom by a parent the first day of school, all necessary and voluntary forms were returned at the beginning of the school year and all but 3 parents came to meet the teacher for open house. Four parents have already inquired about or volunteered for different positions/jobs in the classroom or at the school. We have also had a few parents send money to sponsor the class, which allows spending money for things needed throughout the year. We have 2 children who have parents that work at Bains Elementary and 2 more who has a parent that works at a different West Feliciana School We have 1 student new to the St. Francisville area (he moved from Zachary) and 3 students who were transferred to Bains when Tunica Elementary was closed. . Mrs. Daniel also has 5 boys on medication for ADD/ADHD. While none of these children have IEP’s all 5 are diagnosed with either ADD or ADHD. Two children in the class receive speech therapy, and 1 is in the process of being evaluated for speech services. Eight children in the class receive specialized reading instruction throughout the day. There is 1 child that is in the process of being tested for gifted (as suggested by Mrs. Daniel), and there is 1 child that is in the talented art program. We have quite a few children being raised by single parents and a few who are even being raised by grandparents/other relatives. The children in the class are a fairly average spread with high, low, and average students. According to Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, the children are at transition time where they are moving from the pre‐operational stage to the concrete operational stage. Most of the students in Mrs. Daniel’s class are auditory and visual learners and she does her best to appeal to all learning modalities. The children especially like to discuss or share their thoughts and ideas and Mrs. Daniel does a great job making time for that in her lessons and schedule. Throughout class discussion and every day conversation I have discovered that the students are very interested in animals of any kind. The children especially enjoy talking about the different animals they have at home. The children are also very interested in sharing what they hear/know so almost any current topic plays into their interests in some way.
6 Instructional Implications The city of St. Francisville and community of West Feliciana is in a unique situation where they are small enough to have a small school system that attends to all children in one area. This allows the parish and community the ability to really control what goes on in their school system because the system only serves four schools in all and not multiple schools of each level across the parish. Parents have a greater say in what can happen and changes are able to happen fast because the system is a smaller entity than most school systems. Home life, cultural background, and open parental communication are very important in the first few weeks of school. Mrs. Daniel wanted to learn as much as she could about the children so that she could understand each child and know how to help them grow individually. While all the students were attending a school they never had before because Bains starts in 2nd grade, the fact that there were 4 students completely new to the area was something that needed to be considered. Sensitivity and information was provided to the parents as they needed it, and the children needed to be encouraged to socialize with their classmates who all already have known each other for 2‐3 years. There are many times throughout the day that children are pulled out for one of the many different individual issues. These “pull‐out” times affect instructional time and are not always convenient. Teachers are responsible for planning around these times to help the individual child and class stay on track. The variety of student backgrounds, differences, and talents in the class is also a basis for teaching acceptance and empowerment to children as needed. Because the class contains such diverse levels, individual instruction is a must. Children’s strengths vary subject to subject, topic to topic, and across the class. This means it is absolutely necessary to individualize instruction as much as possible. Children need to be provided with the appropriate materials, questions, and activities to help them grow individually and should not be held back, or pushed ahead, because they are different than the majority. Experiences provided throughout the learning process needs to match the various learning styles of the class, including auditory and visual. Because the children are at an age where some may be moving on to the next stage of cognitive development according to Piaget’s theory, the teacher needs to recognize what stage the child is in and provide guidance accordingly. If a child is still in the pre‐operational stage, activities and questions need to be appropriate to help this child transition to the next stage. At the same time, if a student has already moved into the concrete operational stage, questions and activities need to be appropriate for this child as well because if not he/she will get bored with remedial knowledge and thought processes. If this happens, it is possible that the child will act and cause disorder therefore making a classroom management issue. To keep children learning and engaged differentiated instruction is so important in a class with such diverse children. (Which of course we know is really ANY class anywhere)
7 LEARNING GOALS Learning Goal 1: TCW expand his/her knowledge of plants and their structures. (GLE: 28, 29, 30, 33) Will be referred to as LG1 Learning Goal 2: TCW increase his/her understanding plants in comparison to the world (living/non‐living things, what they are used for by humans, what they are used for in the wild). (GLE: 45) Will be referred to as LG2 GLE’s Coordinated with Learning Goals 28. Describe structures of plants (e.g., roots, leaves, stems, flowers, seeds) (LS‐E‐A) 29. Compare differences and similarities among a variety of seed plants (LS‐E‐A3) 30. Identify physical characteristics of organisms (e.g., worms, amphibians, plants) (LSE‐A4) 33. Compare the life cycles of selected organisms (e.g., mealworm, caterpillar, tadpole) (LS‐E‐ B1) 45. Locate and identify plants and animals within an ecosystem (SE‐E‐A2) 1. Ask questions about objects and events in the environment (e.g., plants, rocks, storms) (SI‐E‐ A1) 2. Pose questions that can be answered by using students’ own observations, scientific knowledge, and testable scientific investigations (SI‐E‐A1) 3. Use observations to design and conduct simple investigations or experiments to answer testable questions (SI‐E‐A2) 4. Predict and anticipate possible outcomes (SI‐E‐A2) *main GLE’s are in bold; minor science GLE’s are normal font *These GLE’s represent the main GLE’s that this unit will cover. Individual lesson plans will have more cross‐curriculum involved and therefore GLE’s from other areas/subjects. ‐Source from where GLE’s come from: http://www.doe.state.la.us/lde/uploads/3929.pdf
8
The learning goals I created are appropriate because they are aligned with the
GLE’s having to do with plants as well as what the curriculum for Energy in 2nd grade at Bains Elementary needs to cover. I created these learning goals by looking at the GLE’s for first, second, and third grade so I could see the spread of what the children should already know and need to know about plants. I saw that in first grade the children should have really focused on living vs. nonliving, the difference between plants and animals, what plants need to grow, and the lifecycle of a plant. This is helpful because I know what I can review with and what most children will already know. For the children who are behind, I now know what to work on with them. I then looked at third grade GLE’s at what the children will need to know next year. They will be focusing on plant structures, comparing them among plants and talking about the functions of them and how these functions help plants meet their basic needs. This helps me to see what direction my children will be going in beyond this classroom. This is the direction I can gear my higher level kids in. Once I had looked at the first and third grade GLE’s having to do with plants, I looked at the second grade ones, and made my learning goals cover these GLE’s while trying to bridge the gap between first and third grade and allowing for my children to learn at their level (somewhere in between first, second, and third grade GLE expectations). The learning goals address skills the children of this level can learn because they are very broad and can be easily attuned for different levels or needs.
9 ASSESSMENT PLAN Overview
This unit on plants will contain many different types of assessment throughout. I will
have a pre and post assessment as well as various formative assessments. Each assessment tool is provided and further explained and the following chart serves as a visual organizer of all the assessments throughout this unit. The chart contains each learning goal along with the types assessments that correspond to that learning goal and a short description of their format and adaptations. Learning Goals Assessments LG1 Pre assessment
Format of Assessment Questions 1‐4 and drawing (up to 21 points) Formative Assessment Observation, Objective Checklist, child’s self‐ assessment, anecdotal records, individual lesson assessments Post Assessment Questions 1‐4 and drawing (up to 21 points) Pre Assessment Question 5 (up to 4 points) Formative Assessment Observation, Objective Checklist, child’s self‐ assessment, anecdotal records, individual lesson assessments Post Assessment Questions 5 (up to 4 points)
Adaptations
LG2
Allow children as much time as needed for pre and post assessment Read questions to children and repeat as necessary Allowing children more time or option of group work when necessary throughout unit.
Allow children as much time as needed for pre and post assessment Read questions to children and repeat as necessary Allowing children more time or option of group work when necessary throughout unit.
10
Pre and Post Assessment
For my pre and post assessment I compiled a questionnaire for the children to fill out.
The questionnaire consisted of 5 open‐ended questions that were carefully formed to help measure each learning goal. The children to responded with their written answers and I made sure to stress that spelling did not matter because I was just trying to see what they know. I read the questions aloud to the class several times and the children were allowed as much time as they needed to answer them. I also walked around and answered any questions that children had, and reread the questions to them as necessary. The questions were all worth various points and there is a rubric attached at the end to show each questions point value. Overall the child could earn up to 30 points for the entire questionnaire. The points will be added up and a total will be reached fro both pre and post assessment so that overall growth can be seen. It is also easy to see individual learning goal or question growth because of how the assessment was made to correspond to the goals. The assessment and rubrics follow this section of the TWS.
I repeated the questions a few times and allowed ample time for children to complete
the survey as a way of individualizing the assessment. I told the class if they had any questions to raise their hand and I would come to them. A few children needed more repetition of the questions, clarification/different word choice, or more time and that was perfectly fine I gave it to them as they asked questions. I also had a child who really needed the test to be read to him
11
because he had a hard time understanding the questions and then focusing enough to write his answer. I accommodated for this by allowing him to retake the test the next morning while I read it to him one on one. The questions were very open‐ended allowing children to answer with what they knew and not expecting only one answer/way of saying something. I also had the children draw a diagram of a plant and label its parts on the back of the test as part of the assessment. This was almost a repeat of question 4, and this not only proved that they knew what the parts looked like, but it also allowed children who were more visual learners to be able to prove their knowledge and understanding of the parts of the plant. I had some children go back and add in parts they remembered to question 4 or I could see if they did not go add it back I could see they were a stronger visual learner. I think the drawing was a different module of learning that some children really needed to feel successful on that assessment. It also allowed for a more fair, clear, and accurate measure of the children in my class because it allowed those visual learners to be able to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding. Formative Assessment
Throughout the unit my biggest form of assessment will be observation. I will be talking
to the children individually, having class discussions, and asking them questions throughout the unit. I should be able to see their strengths and weaknesses as time goes on but the checklist that I will talk about soon will also help me to keep track of each child’s growth throughout the
12
unit. My personal observations of the class’s/individual’s growth will also include physical things I use to record my observations, such as anecdotal records, pictures, and data sheets from experiments/activities. I also plan on using self‐assessment sheets for the children to fill out throughout the unit to help me better understand their personal feelings about their learning. Along with personal observations, I have a checklist of all the objectives I have for the unit that I can mark off as I see children working towards learning those things. A lot of this observation will be done when children answer questions or I overhear conversation or even have conversations with them about ideas connected to the objectives. There are 4 different ways a box can be marked and it is something I will fill in throughout the entirety of the unit. A check mark means the objective has been accomplished, a plus sign means it is in progress of being accomplished (meaning I have seen some growth but it is not quite there yet), an x means that the objective has not been met/is not understood, and a blank box means nothing has been observed yet. I will use a pencil to fill these in so that they can easily be adjusted as necessary. This will help me see the different levels the children on and their understanding of the information being presented. I will be able to see what the whole class needs work on and what individuals need to work on. Hopefully in the end this checklist will match up with the post assessment results.
13
Anthony
Antonio
Ashleigh
Catherine
Caylen
Connor
Devin
Donovin
Hayes
Jarius
Jayla
Joseph
Josie
Kaitlin
Ker’Lisa
Maggie
Mari
Mason
Maverick
Parker
Sidney
Skyler
Objectives
LG1: understands the difference between living and nonliving things LG1: understands what all living things needs to grow LG1: understands what plants in particular need to live and grow
LG1: can name the different parts of the plant Root Stem Leaves Fruit Flower Seed Pollen
LG1: can label the different parts of the plant Root Stem Leaves Fruit Flower Seed Pollen
LG1 understands the different functions of the plant parts
LG2: can name things that plants are used for: Food Habitat for animals Decoration/smell To sell/grow crops Produce oxygen
14
Pre and Post assessment Sheet
Name: _________________________________ 1. How can you tell if something is living?
2. What do living things need to live and grow?
3. What do plants need to live and grow?
4. What are the different parts of the plant
5. What are plants used for?
6. Draw a picture of a plant on the back and label its parts.
15 Pre and Post assessment Key 1. How can you tell if something is living? It grows or changes 1 point 2. What do living things need to live and grow? •
•
1 point for each of the following: • space • water
• •
nutrients/food air
• •
space/air soil/minerals/food
• • •
seed pollen fruit
• • •
decorations/smell grow crops/sell them use for materials
3. What do plants need to live and grow? •
1 point for each of the following: • •
sunlight water
4. What are the different parts of the plant? 1 point for each of the following: • root • stem • leaves • flower 5. What are plants used for? •
•
1 point for each correct answer; examples: • food • provide oxygen • homes for animals
6. Draw a picture of a plant on the back of this sheet and label the parts. •
1 point for each: • attempting to draw a plant • labeling flower correctly • labeling root correctly • labeling stem correctly • labeling leaves correctly • • •
labeling seed correctly labeling pollen correctly labeling fruit correctly
16 Self Assessment
We recently talked about _______________________________. Circle one: I feel like I
I feel like I
but still have
and don’t
really
understood
a few
remember a
understood
most of this
questions.
lot.
everything
topic.
I did not
this topic.
I understood
understand
some things,
this topic,
Some questions I have are:
We recently talked about _______________________________. Circle one: I feel like I
I feel like I
I understood
I did not
really
understood
some things,
understand
understood
most of this
but still have
this topic,
everything
topic.
a few
and don’t
questions.
remember a
this topic.
lot.
Some questions I have are:
17
DESIGN FOR INSTRUCTION