Back-to-Back Mini-Lessons

This past week in my Literacy/Curriculum education courses, we conducted back-to-back 20 mini lessons for our chosen unit for the semester, with one lesson being taught on Tuesday and the other part being taught on Thursday during class time. For this lesson, I chose to teach a lesson on the different advantage factors between the North and the South at the very beginning of the war. Linked below is a Google folder that contains all of the parts to my unit, including this particular lesson plan and materials (Nearpod presentation, graphic organizer, kahoot formative assessment, a creative writing formative task).

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jUpsNGq8jOhIErEGvz0M0_-zBqCuFw3w

Standards addressed in Lesson:

D2.His.14.6-8:  Explain multiple causes and effects of events and developments in the past.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.4:
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.

To begin the lesson on the first day, I presented a Nearpod slideshow that focused on four influential factors that would eventually lead and determine the outcome of the Civil War. These four factors included Population, Military leadership, differing economies, and their respective infrastructures at the time. The slideshow, as well as the accompanying graphic organizer students that was handed to fill out during the presentation, were both formated in a clear compare and contrast manner between the North and the South. At the end of the slideshow, the students gathered into a group to compare each other’s graphic organizer notes, as well as creating a group Venn-diagram comparing and contrasting the difference in factors. My reasoning for doing this was because my accomodation focus for this lesson was to assist students with note-taking anxiety. Students were able to listen and gather their own notes, had an opportunity to convene with fellow classmates to write down anything they may have missed, and created a Venn-diagram to discuss, recap, and confirm the newly presented material.

To begin the lesson on the second day, I conducted a four question formative Kahoot assessment that had a question on each of the four factors we discussed on Tuesday. Students demonstrated their understanding of the content in both the graphic organizers and kahoot assessment to a point where I felt it was appropriate to begin to apply the knowledge to writing. Students were then prompted to complete the creative writing task, where they essentially summarized the difference in factors at the beginning of the war, as well as taking on a perspective from either the North or the South. The final summative performance assessment task for this unit is a creative writing assignment, so my reason for completing this creative writing task was to begin to creative writing, which entails taking on a role, writing to a specific audience, and using a tone separate from the student’s usual writing tone. Through employing this write-to-learn activity, I felt the students were much more engaged and were able to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the content. I could have asked students to just write a summary, but allowing students to take on a perspective from the North or the South and having them defend which side holds the superior difference at the onset of the war created a much more memorable and effective learning experience. This activity also created an opportunity for students to demonstrate learning for the standards I chose to address in this lesson. Students were able to effectively explain the difference in factors between the two sides, as well as demonstrating their understanding of unit vocabulary. This lesson would probably take place after an extensive vocabulary lesson, so this was also used as an opportunity to become more familiar with Civil War related vocabulary and big ideas.

The three Performance Criterion I was looking to address through planning and administering this lesson are:

Performance Criterion 3.1: Candidates design learning environments that support individual learning marked by active engagement.

Performance Criterion 5.2: Candidates integrate cross-disciplinary skills (such as critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving) to help learners demonstrate their learning in unique ways.

Performance Criterion 6.1: Candidates implement multiple methods of assessment to monitor learner progress to  inform instructional practice.

Performance Criterion 3.1 was addressed through providing a graphic organizer to students as they followed along to the Nearpod slideshow. This gave students an opportunity to take clearly formatted notes that assists their understanding of the comparisons and contrasts between the North and the South. Students also had an opportunity to work in a group to go over any content they may have missed and constructed a Venn-diagram for evidence. My focus for doing this was based off of the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model (I do, we do, you do). The ‘I Do’ would be the nearpod presentation, the ‘We do’ would be the graphic organizer and Venn-diagram, and the ‘You Do’ being the kahoot assessment and creative writing task on the second day.

Performance Criterion 5.2 was addressed through administering the creative writing task, which gave students an opportunity to practice their creative writing skills, and writing skills in general. Students were using the writing strategy RAFT to construct their responses. In retrospect, I wish I could have provided time to go over RAFT and conduct a pre-writing activity to get students cognitively thinking about what RAFT means and how they could apply it their creative writing throughout the unit.

Performance Criterion 6.1 was addressed through students being assessed on the content multiple times in multiple ways over the course of the lesson. Students were assessed on the first day by turning in their graphic organizer and group constructed Venn-Diagram. On the second day, they completed both a selected response (Kahoot)  and an essay (creative writing task) assessment.

In teaching these two mini-lessons back-to-back, I learned a lot about lesson planning and execution. One aspect of lesson planning and teaching that I have noticed to be crucial is connecting every learning activity to the standards I am addressing, as well as making the desired standards and focusing questions transparent with the students. On the first day of the lesson, I never communicated with the students what the focusing questions for the lesson were and never introduced them to the standards we are trying to address. I made sure to begin my second lesson period by telling the students what the focusing questions were for the lesson, and felt as if students were able to begin class with a better focus of what is being taught and what they are about to do/learn. I also realize that in failing to be transparent with my students about the desired learning outcomes, I am not  aligned with my Accomodation goals for this particular lesson. As I continue to construct lesson plans for this unit, I will continue to think about and create specific learning opportunities that adequately addresses the standards I am wishing to meet with my students. Another focus I will have moving forward in every lesson that I design and implement in my classes is to be clear with my students on the focusing questions for that particular lesson. This will keep students focused on the expected learning outcomes, and it only takes about 1 minute of time do at the beginning of each lesson.

Gradual Release of Responsibility Model