Lesson 2 - ELA

Universal Design for Learning Lesson Plan

Teacher: Esmeralda Tully   Date: 3/13/13 Subject: ELA

Common Core Standard:

NY.CC.5.W: Writing Standards

Production and Distribution of Writing

W.5.4:      Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Behavioral Objective:

Utilizing their completed essay map from the previous lesson to guide their writing, the student will be able to use editing to write a final draft of a “How to Succeed in the Fifth Grade” essay, scoring at least 20 out of 24 on the writing rubric.

• The rubric is comprised of the following six categories: "Steps for Success," "Reasoning," "Logical Order/Sequence," "Detailed Directions," "Audience," and "Language Conventions." Each category is scaled from 1-4 (4 being the highest amount of points for each category). A perfect score would be 24 points. 

Materials Needed:

• Computer with internet access
• Hardcopy of student’s completed essay map
• iPad
• Pens/Pencils
• Loose-leaf paper (yellow and white)
• How to Succeed in the Fifth Grade: Writing Rubric
• Spell Better—App on iPad

Procedures:

•  Activating Prior Knowledge
• The teacher will begin by asking the student if they are familiar with rubrics. Have a discussion with the student and explain that a writing rubric is a basic scoring outline that one needs to follow in order to get all possible points on an essay.
• Give the student the How-To Succeed in the Fifth Grade: Writing Rubric. Discuss the expectations for the writing assignment as described on the rubric. Focus the conversation on how the student can achieve a score of four in each category.
• Discuss the different stages of the writing process, prewriting (which they did during the last lesson), drafting, revising and editing, and rewriting, and why it is important for students to do in order to create a well-developed essay.
• Utilize this time to conference with the student by making positive comments first, then to make grammatical corrections on their essay map, followed by explanations. Tell the student that they must use these corrections when writing their rough draft.

• Teacher Modeling
• Teacher will model how to use their essay map printouts on “How to Survive on a Deserted Island,” to demonstrate this step. Model how to skip lines as you write your draft to allow for revisions and proofreading marks.
• Afterward, show student how to revise specific aspects of writing to make it more coherent and clear. The teacher will model her own writing and do a think aloud about how she could add more details and make it more clear.
• The teacher will reread their writing more than once and emphasize why this is important in order to understand what revisions are needed. Teacher will encourage the student to offer any suggestions.

        

• Guided Practice 
• Have the student use their essay map print out to begin writing their rough draft on yellow loose-leaf, incorporating the corrections that were made earlier in the lesson. Remind the student to skip lines as they write their draft in order to allow for subsequent proofreading marks and revisions.
  
• Once the child has finished writing their draft, offer support in helping the child to revise their writing, adding more details, and answering any questions they may have while practicing this skill.
• After prompting the student to read their writing quietly to themselves, have them read it aloud to you.
• Direct their attention to the writing rubric and encourage them to use it in order to make any changes and/or add information. The student can use a red pen to mark up their drafts. Student can also use the Spell Better application on the iPad to help them spell words.
• Have the child read their draft, with their revisions, aloud to you once more and offer any final suggestions.

• Independent Practice
  
• The student will incorporate changes as they carefully write their final drafts on white loose-leaf paper independently. The student may use the writing rubric and Spell Better in order to aid them with their writing. When finished, the teacher will encourage the student to electronically publish their writing by recording it on the iPad using a speech-to-text feature.

Assessment:

The teacher will review student work to determine whether they were able to use editing to write a final draft of a “How to Succeed in the Fifth Grade” essay, scoring at least 20 out of 24 on the writing rubric. The teacher will also informally monitor the student when collaborating with them during guided practice. 

UDL ELEMENTS:

Multiple Means of Representation:

1.2            Offer alternatives for auditory information:   The teacher will use the writing aloud strategy in order to demonstrate how to write a rough draft and use the thinking aloud strategy in order to show the student how to revise writing.

3.1   Activate or supply background knowledge:   The teacher will activate background knowledge by asking the student if they are familiar with rubrics. The instructor will have a discussion with the student and explain that a writing rubric is a basic scoring outline that one needs to follow in order to get all possible points on an essay.

1.3            Offer alternatives for visual information:   The teacher will allow student to use text-to-speech software in order to electronically publish their writing on the iPad.

Multiple Means of Engagement:

7.2   Optimize relevance, value, and authenticity:   By having the student write an essay on “How to Succeed in the Fifth Grade,” the teacher is relating content to the child’s life (It is age and ability appropriate, and it is personalized and contextualized to the learner’s life), thereby recruiting interest.

8.3   Foster collaboration and communication:   During modeling and guided practice, the teacher encourages opportunities for interactions and supports. The teacher and the student act as peer tutors as they read their writing aloud to one another and offer feedback and suggestions.

Multiple Means of Action and Expression:

4.1   Vary the methods for response and navigation:   When using the Spell Better application on the iPad, the student is provided with an alternative for physically interacting with the material: they can use their voice and say the word(s) aloud, as opposed to typing the word(s).

5.2   Use multiple tools for construction and composition:   Student will be provided with a spellchecker (Spell Better application). Student will also be provided with speech-to-text software on the iPad to dictate a recording of their writing, which will electronically publish their work.

6.1   Guide appropriate goal-setting:   Teacher will post the lesson objective and give student a copy of the writing rubric for them to use in order to guide their work.

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edTPA rubric components:

#4Justification of Instruction & Support:

            Clear connections to research and/or theory

• Huntley-Johnston, L., Merritt, S.P., & Huffman, L.E. (1997). How to do how-to books: Real life writing in the classroom. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 41(3), 172–179.
  • Students need to understand that there are purposes for writing other than for the teacher to read and grade it. Writing how-to essays has been found to be a successful alternative to the traditional research paper or teacher-based essay.
  • How-to writing is a genre that appeals to most students because it is applicable in the world. This genre involves exploring interests and needs to identify a topic, conducting several research methods, and working through the writing process.
  • When students' writing has an authentic audience beyond the classroom teacher, they can see a direct connection between their lives and their literacy development.
  • Think-aloud/Writing Aloud
    • Readers use metacognitive processes to comprehend text: adjusting reading to purpose, self-monitoring and questioning, and reflecting on an author's purpose. Think-aloud, in which a teacher verbalizes his thinking for students while reading a text, improves students' understanding of these processes.
    • Writing is also a complex cognitive activity. Research has demonstrated that students improve their writing ability when cognitive strategies are demonstrated for them in clear and explicit ways. Students learn the forms and functions of writing as they observe and participate in writing events directed by knowledgeable writers, particularly when these events are followed by opportunities for independent writing. Instruction that makes writing processes visible to students is key to improving their writing skills. Several excellent instructional frameworks for writing, including modeled, shared, interactive, guided or independent writing, can provide strong support for students' successful writing based on the level and type of teacher support that is provided for students. During write-aloud, like think-aloud, teachers verbalize the internal dialog they use as they write a particular type of text, explicitly demonstrating metacognitive processes.

           

Clear connections to the learner’s strengths & needs

• During the ELA pre-assessment when she was required to write an alternate ending to the story, Leydi wrote three sentences, which was the minimum requirement. While Leydi is able to write sentences, her writing is very fragmented, and lacks descriptive details and clear event sequences. This lesson targets her needs because the essay map will help her to write informative/explanatory texts in order to convey ideas and information clearly. In addition, after lesson 1, I was very surprised by some of Leydi’s comments, and it was apparent that she is able to verbally express very detailed thoughts. Therefore, I believe that having her read her writing aloud and discuss details that she can add to her writing with the teacher, will help her to develop a very detailed essay.

            Plans for specific adaptations (if needed)

• I adapted the lesson by drawing on her needs. The original lesson called for students to type the final draft of their essay. However, as I learned in the previous lesson, keyboarding is a skill that the student has not yet mastered, and it acts as more of a roadblock than as a support. As a result, I decided that I will have Leydi write her essay on white paper, and when finished, offer her the opportunity to record her writing on the iPad so that it can be electronically published. I want the lesson to help her to use her strengths to build on her weaknesses, in a manageable way.

#5 Supporting Language/Communication Development

            Identification of:

1)    vocabulary and/or symbols

• In order to understand the requirements of this lesson, Leydi has to understand what is expected of her. Therefore, in the beginning of the lesson, the teacher will discuss what a writing rubric is, and give the student the How-To Succeed in the Fifth Grade: Writing Rubric. The expectations for the writing assignment as described on the rubric will be specifically discussed. The conversation will focus on how the student can achieve a score of four in each category.

2)    language/communication demands related to behavioral objective

• Before engaging in the task, the teacher asks the student what is expected of them by the end of the lesson. The student should respond by restating the behavioral objective.
• In order to help Leydi with the language needed in order to carry out each task, I modeled the components beforehand, and allowed her to use it as a frame of reference when she was required to complete the essay during independent practice.

Justification: why supports will provide access to the learning task/behavioral objective

• The interactive graphic organizer (the essay map) developed an outline that includes an introductory statement, main ideas they want to discuss or describe, supporting details, and a conclusion that summarizes the main ideas, so that the student can now begin their writing.
• The writing rubric acts as a support by helping to make expectations and grading procedures clear.
• The teacher acts as a mentor during guided practice in order to support students in revising their writing.
• The Spell Better application helps students to correctly spell words, by either speaking into the device or manually typing the words.

Justification: why supports will provide access to the demonstration of

1)    language function

• As the student collaborates with the teacher during the revising stage, they will develop greater language proficiency. The teacher and the student can have conversations about the writing and discuss where and what details can be added.
• The teacher modeling is a support that provides access to the demonstration of the language demands related to the behavioral objective. The teacher models reading their own writing and does a think aloud about how they could add more details and make it clearer. This will help students understand what kind of vocabulary and wording to use in order to make their writing sufficient.
• The Spell Better application demonstrates the correct spelling and the meaning of vocabulary that students may use in their writing.

2)    learning task/behavioral objective

• Teacher modeling demonstrates how students can achieve the behavioral objective by breaking down the lesson, and modeling each step very carefully.
• The writing rubric acts as a support by helping to make expectations and grading procedures clear. It specifically describes what is expected of the student in order to receive each score.

Justification: why supports move the learner toward maintenance and generalization or self-directed use of the targeted vocab/symbols or language/communication

• The support that the essay map and the writing rubric provides, in conjunction with the support that the teacher will provide during modeling and guided practice, shall move Leydi towards generalization of the targeted vocabulary and communication. As I model the behavioral objective and the use of strategies, I will use writing aloud so that it improves Leydi’s understanding of these processes. When it comes time for Leydi to complete the task independently, she will have witnessed a model of the performance, had an opportunity to practice the task with the teacher’s guidance, and had the teacher’s example and writing rubric to use as a reference.

#6 Planning Assessments to Monitor & Support Learning

Assessment: aligned with baseline data

• The child’s baseline data was gathered during the pre-assessment by both a systematic observation and a teacher made test. I used this information to guide instruction and align it with the assessment for lesson one and two. Leydi met the behavioral objective for lesson one, and the results from the assessment helped to guide and improve my instruction for this lesson. In addition to an introduction and a conclusion statement, the student was able to write three main ideas, with two supporting details, in the previous lesson. When Leydi is told what is required of her at the beginning of the lesson, she uses it to ensure that she carries out the behavioral objective. Therefore, this lesson will use a rubric to assess the student’s ability to follow the rubric in creating a well-developed essay.

Assessment provides evidence for monitoring learner’s progress at different points

in the learning segment

• The student will not just be assessed at the end of the lesson. The teacher will informally monitor student progress through learner questions and responses during instruction, and teacher observation of the learner.

Assessment reflects appropriate levels of challenge and support (in light of

learner’s needs, strengths & behavioral objective)

• The teacher will use the information from informally monitoring the student in order to modify support and feedback as necessary.
• This lesson will appropriately challenge and support the child. They will have their outline from the previous lesson, the writing rubric, and the support from the teacher (which will be gradually removed) in order to aid them in writing the essay.
• The student will be challenged to take what they have learned and apply it by independently writing the final draft of the essay.

Assessment: designed to provide diagnostic information about where learner

may need additional support to make further progress and work toward

generalized and maintained OR self-directed use and knowledge and/or skills.

• By informally assessing the child through observations, the teacher will be able to make note of exactly where and why the child struggled during the lesson.
• At the end of the lesson, the teacher will use the rubric in order to formally assess whether the child met the behavioral objective.

REFLECTION

On Wednesday, March 13^th, 2013, I met with my student, Leydi Sanchez for the third time. During this lesson, the objective was for the student to utilize her completed essay map from the previous lesson in order to write a “How to Succeed in the Fifth Grade” essay, scoring at least a 20 out of 24 on the writing rubric.

In the very beginning of the lesson, I activated the student’s prior knowledge by asking her if she had any familiarity with writing rubrics. To my surprise, she had never seen one before, so I knew that I had to supply her with background knowledge. I explained that a writing rubric is a basic scoring outline that one needs to follow in order to get all of the possible points on an essay. Then I handed Leydi the How to Succeed in the Fifth Grade: Writing Rubric, and I discussed the expectations for the writing assignment as described. Leydi was given a couple of minutes to scan the rubric, and I answered any questions that she had. The writing rubric acted as a support because it helped to make expectations and grading procedures clear.

I also used this time to conference with the student by making positive comments about her writing on the essay map first, and then I made corrections on her map with a red pen. If a word was spelled wrong, I circled it and wrote “sp.” above it. I directed Leydi to utilize the Spell Better application to correct any misspelled words. This support helped to provide access to the behavioral objective because ‘language conventions’ is one of the criteria on the rubric.

The lesson then progressed to the teacher modeling of the behavioral objective. This stage is so important because research indicates that students improve their writing ability when cognitive strategies are demonstrated for them in clear and explicit ways. I used my “How to Survive on a Deserted Island” essay map print out and thinking aloud in order to demonstrate how to write the rough draft. I modeled how to skip lines so that there was room for revisions and proofreading marks.

After I was finished writing the draft, I showed Leydi how to revise specific aspects of writing to make it more coherent and clear. I also used a think aloud to show how I could add more details to expand my writing. I reread my essay aloud more than once, and encouraged Leydi to offer any suggestions. This part of the lesson fostered collaboration and communication because the student acted as a peer tutor for the teacher. I was very impressed with some of the suggestions Leydi had to offer. As I learned during the last lesson, she is very good at verbally expressing and expanding on ideas, so this activity really connected to her strengths.

Then the lesson moved to guided practice, where Leydi practiced the strategy under my guidance. The student used her essay map print out to begin writing her rough draft, incorporating the grammatical corrections that were made. During this time, the teacher not only offered support as necessary, but she informally monitored the student’s progress through observation. My anecdotal records indicate that she was reading her writing aloud during this stage, which was something that she learned was important earlier in the lesson.

When she was finished with her draft, I acted as a mentor in order to support her in revising her writing, so that she could have access to the behavioral objective. I prompted the child to read her writing to herself, and then aloud to me. I also directed Leydi’s attention to the writing rubric and encouraged her to utilize it to make any changes and/or add information. The teacher acted as a peer tutor to the student, as I offered feedback and suggestions. As the student collaborated with the teacher during the revising stage, she developed greater language proficiency. The teacher and the student had conversations about the writing and discussed where and what details could be added. Leydi read her draft, with the revisions, once more aloud, and I did not have to make any suggestions. In fact, there was one sentence that did not sound right, and after hearing herself read it aloud, she automatically said, “No. I need to add this word to it.” The sentence was, “You must follow all the directions of the school,” and she added ‘of’ so that it read, “You must follow all of the directions of the school.”

Lastly, it was time for the focus learner to independently demonstrate her ability to meet the behavioral objective. She incorporated her revisions from her rough draft and wrote her final draft on white loose-leaf paper. I adapted this portion of the lesson by meeting her needs. The original lesson called for students to type their final drafts. However, as I previously learned, keyboarding acts as a roadblock for the student because it is too difficult for her. I wanted her writing to flow naturally, without any frustrating distractions, so I decided to have her write out her final draft.

Leydi was able to generalize what she had learned from my modeling and guidance, and she self-directed herself to carry out the behavioral objective. After reviewing her work, Leydi received a score of 23 out of 24 on the writing rubric. She received a 3 out of 4 in the “Language Conventions” category because her essay included one spelling error. She received a perfect four in the "Steps for Success," "Reasoning," “Logical/Order Sequence,” “Detailed Directions,” and “Audience,” categories.

Due to time constraints, we were not able to record her essay on the iPad using the speech-to-text feature. Therefore, if time permits during out next session, I will be sure to have her publish her writing electronically.

In addition, while this lesson went very well, I noticed that Leydi neglected to use the rubric to guide her writing. She looked at it maybe once or twice, but she did not utilize it to help her compose her essay. When I asked her why she put it off to the side, she said that she still doesn’t understand how it works. With this in mind, I will focus the next lesson on teaching Leydi to use the writing rubric to accurately critique “how-to” essays.