Design for Instructions

Design for Instructions

     One example of how I changed my original plan for design was given to me by a student in my class. While in the last week of instruction, the class was working on matching objects according to the sense. I planned an activity which I would place the students in partners and they played a matching game at the computer. The students would take turns matching objects that were the opposite of one another.  We did this activity following a smart board lesson on matching.   When I observed one group I noticed, one group did not begin right away. I went over to help and one of the students told me that he did not know how to match the pictures for the level they had chosen. I asked him to name some of the objects being shown and I discovered that he could identify some of the objects. I then asked the other student to identify the objects and she was able to do so.  After the student heard her name the objects he was able to play the game and match some of the pictures.  His partners held him with the ones he did not know.

         Before this activity, I had played the matching lotto game with them. With the direction, the students were able to play the game. Now I had given them a less concrete activity, and they were having difficulty. In my original plan for design, I had planned more matching activities in which I gave them the method for matching objects. After this incident, I reflected upon what had happened and my lesson designs and decided to make a change.

         I decided that the students had enough practice in matching with concrete directions and that they needed more practice with less direction.   I allowed more practice in partners, and small groups.

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 To start out these new activities the students had to first realize that they knew a variety of ways to math objects. We started out by brainstorming at each practice session the different way they could match. By the end of the unit I could tell the students to match objects and they were able to do so.   I believe that this change in design improved student learning because, without the added instruction, that some of the students could not independently match objects. These added activities gave the students the opportunity to use their higher order thinking and thought them valuable skills in building narratives, design, matching, and much more. The students would also have to really understand each method of matching in order to be able to use it with the new objects. For example, the student would have to really understand the concept of matching by different attributes and size in order to understand if they could not arrange objects according their attributes color and size.

          I feel that changing my plans took the students to a higher order of thinking and understanding of these skills. Although I changed my plans, the new activities still required the students to fulfill the learning goals of the unit. The students were still able to match objects from a variety of designs. I am very glad that I observed the difficulty of the students because I feel that it has improved the teaching of the unit and the learning and the growth of all the students.

         A second response that affected the teaching of the unit was given by another student.  While the class was performing an individual matching activity, the student was having a difficult time. The rest of the class was able to do the activity independently, but this student was

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still having difficulty. I worked with the student to finish the activity, but it became clear to me that he did not understand the concept of matching by shape at all.    After class I reflected upon the student's performance, the activity, and the past assessments. I decided that the rest of the class was ready to move on, but this student was not ready. I decided that he was going to need one on one instruction with much more scaffolding.

           Then the next day at center time, I worked with him and performed a formative assessment in which I gathered data as to what he understood.  I worked with him during center. We began with the easiest learning goal of sorting by color. He needed visual aids in sorting, so I created three circles with yam to give her boundaries for sorting. This helped him to understand better. We used those until she did not need them anymore and she could match and sort independently. Then we moved on to the next learning goal.

         I believed that this one-on-one instruction would help him progress toward the learning goals because I could individualize what I was teaching to him needs. While doing whole class instruction, the rest of the class needed less scaffolding than he.  With the additional instruction, he was getting the help he needed and was able to progress.

        Though this modification did not affect the learning of the other students, it was an important modification because it meant a large amount of growth could be made in one student.  Without the individualized instruction, he could not have met the learning goals. I was excited of the progress that he showed.

Learning Objectives Five Sense-2

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Five Senses Learning Objectives

Donna Scott

Ashford University

June 18, 2012

Learning and Assessment for the 21^st Century

 donnascottdonna@gmail.com

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H/PE1 –apply structures of, and relationship among the human body system.

Objectives: The student will be able to recall and identify:

Goal-1 Classify or sort, by shape, size, sound, and or color

Goal -2 Name the five senses and names a body part used for each sense

Goal 3 Matches a picture with an illustration of the five senses

 

Unit Overview

    The preschool students already know that the body parts exist through teaching and prior knowledge.  The goal is for the students to recognize how each of these functions works prior to this lesson.  The primary focus of the unit on “Five Sensory Organs” is to let children respond to the stimuli in their world around them. The main goals of the unit is to introduce the senses through observation and exploration, to develop the concept that using the senses help people communicate information about their environment to the body to introduce the vocabulary of sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell, and relate them to the corresponding sensory organ and to introduce important parts and functions of the sensory organs.

 I provided activities at several different levels to reinforce students learning. The class watched a movie that showed the study of the senses. The students learned about the sensory organs. More specifically, the students should have an understanding of how each sensory organ works. The movie provided an excellent explanation of how the sensory organs work and why we need them. I also incorporated computer time into the unit. As students worked at centers, I allowed them to work at the computer using the interactive learning CD Rom "The Magic School Bus: The Body" to explore the body and the senses through a different learning style.

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The students gained a brief introduction to the body and its systems. I then evaluated the students by close observation during the lessons and activities. I was looking at interest levels and their abilities to actively participate. I also observed the students demonstration of the knowledge gained through open-ended discussions. I planned a couple of small group activities where I could get a greater understanding of the students’ learning.

Day-1

   I began talking about the brain because of its important role in our body.   Letting the students know that the brain is the central controller of the entire body and introduced the five senses.   After the general introduction to the five senses, I began focusing on individual senses.

Day-2

I read the book Seeing by Kathie Billingslea Smith. Then, I showed the students showed the students a video about the eye on the smart board. It described the parts and functions. As a class we labeled the eye, and each student had a chance to label the eye using the smart board. Then, as part of a center, I had four to six students meet with me, and we reviewed the parts and functions of the eye by exploring a large picture model of the eye.

Day-3

     We focused on the sense of hearing and the ear. I read the book The Listening Walk by Paul Showers. I took the students on our own listening walk around the school. We recorded the sounds that

                                                                                                                                                           

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we heard on our walk. Next, I showed them a picture of the ear, and again we labeled parts of the ear using the smart board. Then I read the poem "Ears Hear" and ask open-ended questions about the poem.

Day-4

     We focused on the sense of touch. We discussed different things that we could feel, and listed descriptive touch words, such as: soft, hard, smooth, rough, hot, cold, light and heavy. Then I read the story "Steven and the Mystery Monster”.  During the story I passed a bag around the circle. The contents of the bag added "touch clues" and excitement to the story. Each student reached inside the bag felt what was in it, and then passed the bag on to the next person.

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     We focused on tasting and the tongue as well as sense of smell and the nose. We discussed different tastes: what we like and what we did not like. For a center in the classroom, I created a taste test. The taste test had the four basic flavors that our tongue and taste buds detect: sour, bitter, salty and sweet. The students tasted four different foods. They recorded on a worksheet with the assistance of the teacher and the co-teacher which foods they like or disliked. They also marked their favorite taste. Then each student wrote his/her name on four construction paper cards. The student tacked his/her cards above their favorite taste choice in each of the four basic taste groups on a bulletin board.

     In addition we focused on our sense of smell and the nose. We talked about different things that smelled. We discussed good and bad scents. I set up a center that allowed the students to use their sense of smell. I created a smelling mystery box with different fruits. The students had to pick a picture of the fruit that he/she thought it smelled like. Then, I had the students draw and color a picture of that fruit that they though it smelled like.

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The Five Senses Culminating Activity

     The concluding activity for this lesson was a hands-on exploration of the senses.  It teaches the five senses. It included several activities that the students used their five senses to explore. It is called “My Five Sensorama." There were five stations, one for each sense, and groups rotated after approximately eight to ten minutes at each station. Parents were invited to come in to assist at the stations.

     I read the book My Five Senses by Aliki to the students.  We discussed the book as we went on a picture walk and how the characters were using their senses?

Pre-Assessment

     The pre-assessment for learning these goals was based off of the information the students gain knowledge of from LG-1.  In LG-1the students became skilled at classifying, and sorting, by shape, sound, and or color. As a result they should have been able to label a picture of the human body that includes the five sensory organs.  The students were assessed on their ability to label the eyes, nose, mouth, hands and ears.

Formative Assessment

    Throughout the formative assessment, the students created their own self portrait.  The students practice drawings from skills they learned in LG-1 and LG-2 to help them get started. The portrait should have included the entire body showing them using one of the five sensory organs.  The drawing included a picture of them smelling, touching, listening, or eating something.  Once the students finished drawing their pictures, the teacher and co-teacher communicated with the students’ one-one asking them to describe what they drew.  Then the teacher/co-teacher wrote their response on their   

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 drawings.  Finally they traced over what the teacher and co-teacher wrote with a pencil.  The drawing was graded an assessed using a   rubric.

Post Assessment

     The students applied what they learned from LG-1 and LG-2 and applied the skills to LG-3 about  the five sensory organs. First, they answered related questions; about each of the sensory organs.  Then the students completed a worksheet matching pictures with illustrations of the five senses using a bar graph.  The students were asked to discuss various pictures and tell why they placed the picture in a specific category as it relates to that particular organ. The Five Senses Culminating Activity

     The concluding activity for this lesson was a hands-on exploration of the senses.  It teaches the five senses. It included several activities that the students used their five senses to explore. It is called " My Five Sensorama." There were five stations, one for each sense, and groups rotated after approximately eight to ten minutes at each station. Parents were invited to come in to assist at the stations.

    I read the book My Five Senses by Aliki to the students.  We discussed the book as we went on a picture walk and how the characters were using their senses?

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5 Senses Assessment

Student Name: ___________________________________                   Date_________________

                                                                                                                                            Y       N

	“What is this body part called?” “When we are talking about our five senses, what are they used for?”
	What is this body part called?” “When we are talking about our five senses, what are they used for?”
	“What is this body part called?” “When we are talking about our five senses, what is it used for?”
mouth	“What is this body part called?” “When we are talking about our five senses, what is it used for?”
	“What is this body part called?” “When we are talking about our five senses, what are they used for?”

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Five Senses Bar Graph

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Sensory Pictures

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Learning Goals

Learning Goals	Assessment	Format of Assessment	Adaptation
Learning Goal 1: The learner will demonstrate skills in classifying or sorting, by shape, size, sound, and or color. The learner will match pictures with an illustration of the five senses.	Pre Assessment Sorting and classifying by their attributes, size sound and color. Student orally explains the shape, and the color chosen by the teacher.	Labeling picture of human body.	Students will be given templates to trace in order to make geometric shapes. Help students when needed.
Learning Goal 2 The learner will name and identify the five sensory organs. LG2	Formative Assessment Oral questions about the sensory organs. Brainstorming and sorting according to their sensory organ domains. (small group)	Drawing of self-portrait	Teacher/co-teacher will lend a hand when needed. Students will have visual clues and a mirror to model from. Modify instruction for some learners.
Learning Goal 3 The learner will match pictures with an illustration of the five senses. The learner will demonstrate skills in classifying or sorting, by shape, size, sound, and or color.	Post Assessment Student identification of the sensory organs from a group of pictures. Student orally describes which organ being used is chosen by the teacher.	Matching sensory pictures	Review and give examples before testing begins.

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Instructional Decision Making

     The Pre-assessment of this unit gave a lot of interesting information. When the testing was finished, I found that 87 % of students passed LG-1 (classifying and sorting), 90% passed LG-2 (naming and identifying the sensory organs), and 61% passed LG-3 (matching),         

     After analyzing the pre-assessment I made many decisions about the teaching of the unit.  Because such a high percentage of students were able to pass LG-1 and LG- 2, less time will be spent on them (unless the students demonstrate otherwise) and the majority of the time will be spent on LG-3.  I also needed to use more formative assessments when teaching LG-3 making sure that the students were making adequate progress.

         When designing this unit, I had to plan many activities that would lead to student learning. The activities had to address many learning styles and require a variety of   instructional strategies for all the students to become academically successful.

         An activity that was used in this unit was called A/B patterns which required the use of cooperative learning groups. The students were grouped by 3 or 4 at their tables.  Each student received10 cube blocks, then they had to create a pattern using two colors.   The students decided the color they would use first.  This activity is directly related to instructional LG-1, in which the student needed to arrange objects by their color. This activity was performed on the second day of unit instruction because many of the students were able to sort by color in the pre-assessment. I chose to use cube blocks so that the students would be challenged to create A/B patterns. I chose to have students work at their table as a group. I assessed this activity by observation of how each student worked on their patterns by questioning the students as to their placements.

    Another activity that was used in the unit was a writing activity. In this activity the students listen to frame sentences that were read by the teacher.  They then completed the sentences using pictures to

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complete the sentence. The students supplied the words. I wrote the words on a chart for students to use view and copy print.  After they were observed, the students were allowed to continue working at that station or go to another work station.  This activity related to LG-3. This goal required the students to identify a sensory related object. In this activity the student was required to understand the term match that was a counterpart in the relationship of an object. In the post-assessment, very few students could pass this learning goal. Because of this fact, the students needed a lot of practice handling, making, and identifying skills. For this reason, this activity occurred toward the end of the unit when more time could be spent on these types of activities. This activity was assessed by teacher observation of the students' performance.

         A third activity that was used in this unit was cutting pictures from magazines. The students were first allowed to look through the magazines.  Then, they were allowed to cut out pictures of their choice. Each student was given the chance to sort their pictures. Then the students were given glue to post their picture onto a large poster board under that sensory organ description.  Each student was given the chance to post their pictures throughout the day. This activity is related to LG-1,LG- 2, and LG- 3.  This activity was designed to give students practice in matching and sorting in all these areas because in the pre-assessment most students could only sort objects in 1 or 2 ways. This activity was performed m the last week of the unit, after the students had practice sorting individually in many ways. These activities were assessed by observation and anecdotal record.