Portfolio Project – from 3/2016

I completed this assignment as part of my Doctoral work. It was submitted on March 13, 2016 .

Table of Contents

Portfolio Project Part 1 – Theory Journals. 3

Unit1: Journal Entry 1 – Bridging Theory to Practice. 3

Unit 2: Journal Entry 2 – Your Own Self-Efficacy. 5

Unit 3: Journal Entry 3 – Working Definition and Reflection. 8

Unit 6: Journal Entry 4 – The Memory Game. 10

Unit 7: Journal Entry 5 – Lessons for Multiple Intelligences. 12

Portfolio Project Part 2 – Literature Review.. 14

Unit 4: Literature Review.. 14

Portfolio Project Part 3 – Teaching Tools. 19

Unit 8: Parents’ Letter 19

Unit 8: Teacher’s Role. 20

Unit 9: Cross Sectioned Student Information. 21

Portfolio Project Part 4 – Lesson Plan. 22

Unit 10: Lesson Development 22

Portfolio Project Part 1 – Theory Journals

Unit 1: Journal Entry 1 – Bridging Theory to Practice

Educators must master classroom management in order for learning to occur. Classroom management must include a consistent application of behavior theories.  The behavior theories that an educator used should be consistent with the educator’s own belief systems, as well as consistent with the school’s vision and mission. 

Edward Thorndike developed the Laws of Exercise and Effect (Schunk 2012). These particular laws were part of the connectivist theory.  Thorndike believed that continued skill and drill exercises would not guarantee a positive effect (Schunk, 2012).  Skill and drill exercises; however, are still utilized frequently in courses for students will low skill levels as well as in elementary school classrooms.  Thorndike also believed that teachers were responsible for helping students develop habits (Schunk, 2012).  The greatest challenge for educators is ensuring that the habits they are helping their students develop are good habits. We oftentimes talk about student bad habits in professional development meetings.  It is more difficult to combat the bad habits that we have assisted our students in creating, rather than conditioning students to behave from the very beginning through firm, consistent expectations.

Ivan Pavlov developed the basis for conditioning (Schunk, 2012).  Pavlov believed that specific stimuli could be used to elicit specific responses (Schunk, 2012).  This was later enhanced with B.F. Skinner’s theory. B.F. Skinner believed that reinforcing the desired behavior and ignoring the undesirable behavior would condition the appropriate response (Schunk, 2012).  Pavlov’s conditioned response is too basic for full application in a classroom.  Yes, educators use Pavlov’s conditioned response to have students follow basic commands, such as raising their hands to be called upon, but this behavioral application does not bridge into learning without the support of Skinner’s operant conditioning.  Additionally, the principles of operant conditioning can be seen in classrooms through positive effects of student learning and achievement (Schunk, 2012). 

When it comes to my own classroom management style, I utilized Skinner’s operant conditioning by reinforcing positive behaviors, and finding ways to not pay attention to misbehavior.  Oftentimes, when students are misbehaving, they are seeking attention.  For me, that posed a bit of a challenge, so as an educator, I had to decide what level of misbehavior I had to address and what I could ignore.  Once students were able to realize that I would stand silent at the front of class and wait for the side conversations to stop, there was reaction.  I was not calling out students, but I did let them know in the beginning what I was doing and why.  Positive reinforcement has always worked for me. Once a student does well and they begin to seek the positive attention.  One thing that we do on my campus is positive contacts home.  Oftentimes, the parents have received so many negative comments about their own child from their previous school that it takes the positive contact for the parent to begin to develop a relationship with the school.  Our parents are grateful when they realize we are calling to discuss the good things about the child and not to continually harp on the negative.

Reference:

Schunk, Dale H. Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective, 6/e Vitalsource ebook for Capella University. Pearson Learning Solutions, 07/2012. VitalBook file.

 

Unit 2: Journal Entry 2 – Your Own Self-Efficacy

Social cognitive theory is based on the notion that the learning of expected behavior occurs in social settings (Schunk, 2012). The organization that I have worked with for 7 years focuses on the needs of at-risk youth.  Our mission is to help at-risk youth obtain a standard high school diploma and prepare for post-secondary success.  We define at-risk youth as those students who have fallen off track to graduate on time, usually due to things beyond their control, such as chronic illness or death of a loved one, prolonged illness of the student, homelessness, economic hardship, etc.  The students in my school all deal with issues outside of school that make it difficult for them to be successful.  Many of them, not all, come from single parent or absent parent households and or situations that to not provide opportunities for students to have positive, consistent role models when it comes to adulthood.  One way we combat this is through the delivery of School Connect lessons.  These lessons are specifically designed to address the social-emotional needs of our students.  We deliver these lessons every Friday.  The lessons include topics such as: How to negotiate a win-win, time management, goal setting, and the effects of stress on your brain, etc.  We also include goal setting on a weekly basis for short term goals and monthly basis for long term goals when we meet with our students for progress monitoring, which occurs no less than every other week.  Because of the way the school is designed, we have put in safeguards to ensure our students are staying motivated and transition into contributing members of society, often being the first in their families to graduate from high school.

Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy was the notion that people will live up to or down to their own belief in their own ability (Schunk, 2012).  Self-efficacy is difficult to teach.  Working in a school that has at-risk youth, self-efficacy is difficult to instill in the students.  Multiple times per week I am in meeting with students who have lost motivation and do not feel that they can finish and get their diploma. In these meetings, the only way that I have found that positively combats this issue is asking the students why they feel they do not deserve a diploma, because I believe all students deserve the opportunity to get a diploma and move on with their lives.  This works about half of the time.  Sometimes, I am just not able to help students overcome their issues enough to see that there is hope.  When students come to me, sometimes I will share with them my story.  My students are like me.  I grew up getting told I would never amount to anything, so why try, by my own father.  My mother passed away when I was 7, so the experiences my students have is similar to my own.  When I am able to really express what it felt like for me growing up and how grateful I would have been for a program like this, they realize that I am where I am because I really do care about my students.  When I was growing up, I had no choice but to graduate from high school. Unfortunately, I had to find out how to do that while moving from couch to couch because I left home at the age of 15.  I know what it’s like to start believing the negative things I was being told as a child; however, because of the teachers that I had who did believe in me, I was able to persevere.  Now, I try to show students that sometimes they just need to embrace the fact that we are here to help and not to feel discouraged.  When they can see that I have accomplished everything that I had hoped, and am pursuing my PhD, I would like to think that they feel as empowered as I do.

References:

Beland, K., Douglass, J., & Matheny, R. (2016). School-Connect – Social-Emotional and Academic Skills Curriculum. Retrieved January 18, 2016, from http://www.schoolconnect.net/

Schunk, D. (2012). Learning theories: An educational perspective (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Unit 3:  Journal Entry 3 – Working Definition and Reflection

Constructivism is the learning theory that knowledge does not exist as a truth, but rather as the belief that learning is constructed.  There are two prominent theorists for constructivism: Piaget and Vygotsky.  Piaget’s theory is based on the idea that people go through four cognitive development stages in childhood.  Piaget emphasized the ability of children to learn based on their cognitive stages and did not include the social aspect of learning (Schunk, 2012). Vygotsky’s constructivist theory included the social aspect of learning.  Vygotsky believed there was importance in the social-cultural and historical elements included in learning process (Schunk, 2012).  A great deal of Vygotsky’s theory has been implemented into classroom learning and teaching strategies, such as scaffolding, reciprocal teaching and peer collaboration (Schunk, 2012).

Looking back at the thirteen years I have been in education, I can see that when I started teaching I fully believed in the constructivist approach.  Throughout the entire years I was in the classroom, I did everything I could to integrate learning environments where students could work together to teach each other and learn from each other.  I also work in a district that believes in the “I do, we do, you do” model of teaching where the teacher demonstrates the expectations, the class works together on one or two problems as a whole group, then the students work individually.  The idea was that the teacher was not the one doing the majority of the work, but that the students are.  I also apply the notion that in order for true learning to occur, my students will work harder than I do.  If all I do is just spoon feed the answers, then long time learning will not occur.  In the current educational setting for my students they are working through pre-designed online curriculum on their own.  In order to apply a constructivist approach to this model, the teacher must utilize the teaching strategies during direct instruction interventions used for skill building and assessment preparation.

Reference:

Schunk, Dale H. Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective, 6/e Vitalsource ebook for Capella University. Pearson Learning Solutions, 07/2012. VitalBook file.

Unit 6: Journal Entry 4 – The Memory Game

It is difficult for me to truly reflect on a lesson that I have recently taught. I have been out of the classroom for almost 5 years.    I don’t know if I’ll ever go back into a classroom with students, but it is definitely an option as I get closer to the end of the doctoral process.  It is also very scary since I have worked with a specific demographic for 7 years and the thought that I would possibly leave this demographic, or even become more removed from the classroom, since that is really the last thing I think I could happy doing.  However, looking back at some of the lessons that were my favorite, I am able to see where things could have been better and where things were really well done.

One thing I have learned from this process is that it really is not about what the students are learning, but how they are learning that will determine the level of retention the students will have.  There are two kinds of knowledge: Declarative and procedural.  Declarative knowledge is what we want our students to know and procedural knowledge is what we want our students to be able to do based on the learning (Tileston, 2004). Both types of knowledge require meaning for students to learn.  Therefore, as teacher, it is my job to not only figure out what it is I want my students to know about and to know how to do, but also to find a way for students to make a connection with the learning for meaning and purpose.

Looking back at my lessons, I would like to think that I was fairly creative in my teaching methods. I would have 6^th grade language arts students rewriting fairy tales into plays from the point of view of the antagonist in the story, instead of the traditional protagonist point of view, and then act out the play for the other students in the class.  A way to make tis better would have been the inclusion of better background screens based on different scenes that students could create on a smart board, instead of one “main” background that they drew on a long sheet of poster paper.  This would help students who are more digitally creative add purpose to the things they were doing as well as keeping one student who was less adventurous and opportunity to be more actively involved without having to be part of the overall play performers.  So many things were addressed in this final year-end project that the students were able to demonstrate understanding (declarative knowledge) of the various standards will also showing (procedural knowledge) what it was that they learned.  Because the lessons built over time and were not “quick fixes” to learning a skill, I believe the students were able to transfer the information from short term memory to long term memory and really create something they could be proud of in the process. 

Reference:

Tileston, D. W. (2004). What every teacher should know about learning, memory, and the brain. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Unit 7: Journal Entry 5 – Lessons for Multiple Intelligences

Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences includes 8 different intelligence styles: Verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, body kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalist.  According to Gardner’s theory, we all possess the 8 intelligences, but some of us are more gifted in one of the areas than we are in the others.  Educators need to take time to understand the different intelligences in order to include opportunities for all student so be successful. 

Looking back at my time in the classroom, I was not very aware of the multiple intelligences of my students, or at least I was not familiar with the specific categorization that was outlined and defined by Gardner; however, I was aware that students needed different opportunities and choices when it came to the project based learning activities.  Sometimes, the classroom was very teacher driven, such as when we were learning parts of speech or breaking down grammar, but when it came to exploring literature or putting all of the learning together into a larger project for students to demonstrate mastery and understanding in the application of the learning, then I would have to bring in choices for the students.

One of my options was always for the student to create their own project, but they had to explain to me what it was he or she wanted to do and get my permission prior to starting the project.  My musical students almost always wanted to write poems to express their learning.  My interpersonal students would always try and find a way to turn the entire thing into a group project.  My body kinesthetic students always tried to build something to show what they learned.  My visual-spatial students always had the best looking poster boards.  All of my students had something they were pleased doing and most of the time, I would let them work within that area of comfort, but not always.  Sometimes I would make them pick a project style that they had not yet done.  Even though my students did not feel as confident working through the project when I did this, they were able to discover that they can do other things successfully that they had might not considered before.

If I had known and understood the 8 different multiple intelligences, then I could have been a better teacher. I did take the time to get to know my students’ strengths and weakness as well as any teacher with 120 students and only 47 minutes per day with them.  I like to think that if I were to go back into a classroom now, it would look a lot like it did before, but I would definitely be more creative with the master based assessments to ensure that all students had greater buy-in than they did before.

Portfolio Project Part 2 – Literature Review

Unit 4: Literature Review

The topic for this portfolio project is motivation and emotion.  One theorist that addressed motivation was Abraham Maslow when he developed his hierarchy of needs to identify the psychology behind motivation through various stages of needs that must be met prior to moving up the continuum (Schunk, 2010).  It is also understood that a person can move up or down Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as the circumstances change (Schunk, 2010).  However, having needs met can lend to overall motivation, motivation is not only effected by what one needs.

Emotion also plays a part in the learning process.  The more positive the experience for students, the greater motivation that can occur to continue to learn in the current environment (Meyer & Turner, 2006).  Meyers and Turner present a multitude of theories to support their discussion on the ties between emotion and motivation, there is very little author’s voice because every other sentence includes a citation.  Therefore, this article would be used more for reference mining than for actual support for any assertion or research.

There is a distinct relationship between emotion and motivation that should continue to be studied (Turner, Meyer, & Schweinle, 2004).  Not only is emotion coming from the students as individuals, but also as a collective emotion (Turner, et. al, 2004).  The statements and actions of the teachers have an impact on the students’ emotions and the collective emotions (Turner, et.al, 2004).  This article opens up the possibility that there is a collective mindset in the classroom and this should be studied addressing the notion of a collective emotion that effects a collective motivation.  This article is of value if the research topic is looking at the collective and not the individual.

When students are able or unable to reach a level of achievement, emotions about learning arise (Pekrun, Goetz, Frenzel, Barchfield & Perry, 2010).  When students do well, their positive feeling about learning increase and the students’ level of motivation increases. The opposite occurs when students fail to reach a level of achievement, causing negative feelings about learning and decreasing motivation (Pekrun, et. al, 2010).  This article provides additional supports to show the correlation between emotion about learning and the overall motivation that comes with those emotions.

Pekrun also published an earlier article in 2006 that addressed the correlation between emotions and academic goal attainment.  His earlier research tested the effect of emotions on a students’ academic goal attainment.  Pekrun was developing a theory that could be applied to students’ emotions and teachers’ emotions.  Emotions influence teaching practices and those emotions about the topic, and students, will be conveyed through the delivery of the lessons (Pekrun, 2006).   This article provides a unique perspective outside of student learning by addressing the possibility that teachers play a role in a students’ ability to be motivated through positive emotions of the teacher.

Motivation is not only tied to student academic achievement, but could also be connected to the level of self-regulated learning (Mega, Ronconi, & De Beni, 2014). Mega, et. al studied the level of student motivation of self-regulated learners on academic achievement.  The authors made a connection between motivation and the student’s ability to be self-regulated, tying these two things together.  Mega, et. al also addressed emotions and how student’s emotions affected motivation and student achievement.  This article provides some theoretical framework for increasing student motivation through addressing student emotions.

Determining which emotions contribute to the level of intrinsic motivation should be differentiated between positive and negative emotions (Vandercammen, Hofmans & Theuns, 2014).  In the workplace, happy workers are more intrinsically motivated and have greater productivity (Vandercammen, et. al, 2014).  The study found that the more positive differentiator the greater the effect on the level of intrinsic motivation. This study could be used to test a theory in education with college students, or younger, to determine the level of intrinsic motivation.

Motivation to learn is not isolated to the school location.  Parental support plays a key role in students’ motivation and positive emotions surrounding learning and homework (Froiland, 2013).  Froiland asserts that the level of parental involvement is a predictor of the level of positive emotions and academic success experienced by the child.  Parental involvement has been addressed in many different articles with regard to student achievement; therefore, the connection between parental involvement and students’ emotions surrounding school is not that farfetched. Surprisingly, there were very few articles that addressed parents and family at all when searching for emotions and motivation. 

Reward, affect and motivation on learning are defined as three different constructs; however, they all influence each other (Madan, 2013).  Madan defines affect as emotions.  Even though each construct can be uniquely defined as separate, the inter-relationship between the three constructs makes it difficult to truly determine which construct is actually the one producing the effect (Madan, 2013).  Looking at all three constructs together as one is the foundation for this framework. This article is helpful in showing that even though there are three distinct possibilities, there is no true way to distinguish which of the three construct actually are at play in the research.

References:

Froiland, J. (2015). Parents’ weekly descriptions of autonomy supportive communication: Promoting children’s motivation to learn and positive emotions. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 24(1), 117-126. doi:10.1007/s10826-013-9819-x

Madan, C. R. (2013). Toward a common theory for learning from reward, affect, and motivation: the SIMON framework. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 7, 59. http://doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.3389/fnsys.2013.00059

Mega, C., Ronconi, L., & De Beni, R. (2014). What makes a good student? how emotions, self-regulated learning, and motivation contribute to academic achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 106(1), 121-131. doi:10.1037/a0033546

Meyer, D. K., & Turner, J. C. (2006). Re-conceptualizing emotion and motivation to learn in classroom contexts. Educational Psychology Review, 18(4), 377-390. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10648-006-9032-1

Pekrun, R. (2006). The control-value theory of achievement emotions: Assumptions, corollaries, and implications for educational research and practice. Educational Psychology Review, 18(4), 315-341. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10648-006-9029-9

Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Frenzel, A. C., Barchfeld, P., & Perry, R. P. (2011). Measuring emotions in students’ learning and performance: The achievement emotions questionnaire (AEQ). Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36(1), 36-48. doi:http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2010.10.002

Schunk, Dale H. Learning Theories: An Educational Perspective, 6/e Vitalsource ebook for Capella University. Pearson Learning Solutions, 07/2012. VitalBook file.

Turner, J. C., Meyer, D. K., & Schweinle, A. (2003). The importance of emotion in theories of motivation: Empirical, methodological, and theoretical considerations from a goal theory perspective. International Journal of Educational Research, 39(4–5), 375-393. doi:http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1016/j.ijer.2004.06.005

Vandercammen, L., Hofmans, J., & Theuns, P. (2014). Relating specific emotions to intrinsic motivation: On the moderating role of positive and negative emotion differentiation. PLoS One, 9(12) doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115396

Portfolio Project Part 3 – Teaching Tools

Unit 8: Parents’ Letter

Dear Parents,

Welcome to a new school year! I just want to take quick minute to introduce myself as well as introduce you to a few things your students will be doing this year. First, I have been an educator for over 10 years. I love being in the classroom and have really enjoyed seeing my students grow into curious and independent learners.  I have been at this school for 7 of my 10 years, and I would not want to be anywhere else.

I have a unique role here.  As the Reading and English Language Arts teacher, I will be working with your students in a blended learning environment that is designed to truly differentiate to your student’s individual needs.  For example, all students will be working in the Reading Plus program.  This program is amazing! What it does is place your student into the appropriate grade level for reading and then helps to build your student’s skills up, while giving the student the choice of what it is he or she wants to read. This program will also be giving me information about your specific student’s needs. I will be taking this information and conducting one on one and small group instruction based on the areas of needs that have been identified.  Each student will work through Reading Plus every day, and each student will be reading what they want to at the level they need to. 

Reading Plus is only part of our day.  We will also be working through English Language Arts skills, such as grammar, writing and literature.  Since this class is designed to include 2 class periods, one period we will be working on our Reading skills and the other class period we will be working on our English Language Arts skills.  The genius of the 2 class periods is that it allows us the necessary time to really work on our individual levels while providing additional time and opportunity to excel.  During the English Language Arts period, students will be working in whole group and small group on various projects throughout the year.  The students will also have a choice in which projects they want to complete and in what order.  Students will have a variety of choices and within each choice, each student will have differentiated expectations based on the individual student skill level and needs.  For example, your student might be one that really struggles with the concept of prepositional phrases.  Most students do! It’s tough!  Well, some students will have additional time to grasp this concept and will work in small groups with me to get the additional time they need, while also working on an overall grammar based project that encompasses all of the parts of speech.

This letter is a just a brief example of some of the things you could see when visiting my room.  I do encourage each and every parent to visit multiple times throughout the school year to see what it is your child is doing in my class.  You are welcome at any time!

Sincerely,

Amy Wright

Unit 8: Teacher’s Role

Make a chart to demonstrate 8 to 10 differences in the role of the teacher in a differentiated vs. non-differentiated classroom.

Differentiated Classroom	Non-Differentiated
Students working at various speeds	Whole Class moving at the same pace
Students working on different skills	Whole class working on the same thing
Students have choices in activities	All students completing the same activity
Various Activity centers	No “centers” for students to work at
Teachers plan by student, or even by level	Teachers have one lesson plan for all
Teachers create different tests or assessments for different level of students	All students take the same assessment or test
The length of the assignment will vary by student	All students are expected complete the same amount of work
Teacher will work with small groups or one on one for targeted intervention	Teacher provides lesson in a lecture format – whole group only

 

Unit 9: Cross Sectioned Student Information

This chart is to be completed for all students in the class and to be updated option to reflect any additional evidence collected or additional notes needed.

Student Name:                                                                                                 Grade:                       

Reading Level:		Evidence:
Interests:		Evidence:
Preferred Learning Style:	Auditory Visual Kinesthetic	Evidence:
Preferred Intelligence(s):	Verbal-Linguistic Logical Mathematical Visual-Spatial Body Kinesthetic Musical Interpersonal Intrapersonal Naturalist	Evidence:
Additional Information:

Portfolio Project Part 4 – Lesson Plan

Name:  Amy Wright	Date:  3/13/16
Unit Title: Playing with Point of View
Grade Level: 6th grade
Subject: English Language Arts
Unit Length: 3 weeks
Brief Summary of Unit
As a final culmination of what students have learned thus far this year, the students will be taking common fairy tales and retelling them from a different character’s point of view. Throughout the three weeks, the students will turn the story into a screen play, design a backdrop for their play and then present the same to the entire group.  The students will work in groups appropriate for the fairy tale he or she chooses, for example, the Three Little Pigs has a different number of characters than Jack and the Beanstalk so the groups will vary in size. Each group is required to have a set producer/director in addition to the actors/actresses.
Stage 1: DESIRED RESULTS
Establish Goals The students will be able to effectively retell a common fairy tale from the point of view of a major character who is not telling the story in the original version.   The students will be able to produce a screen play inclusive of all details needed for stage direction and actor/actress emotion.   The students will be able to effectively collaborate and design an appropriate backdrop for their scene.   The students will be able to effectively coordinate all the moving parts of the set, including any necessary set changes, cues for performances, etc.
Understandings   Students will understand that perspectives change depending upon the characters’ involvement in a story.   The students will understand the necessity of stage direction in the writing of a screen play.   The students will understand the necessity of a director leading the group through production.   The students will understand that working in collaboration with each other is imperative in group projects.	Essential Questions   What are the key events in the story?   How could the perspective of another character influence how the story is told?   How can group members work together toward a common goal and resolve issues as they arise?
What key knowledge and skills are needed to develop the desired understandings and meet the goals of the unit?   What knowledge and skill relate to the content standards on which the unit is focused?   Students will know:   Point of view is critical to the telling of a story. Point of view can change depending on who is telling the story. How to identify key components of play writing/ screen play writing Collaboration and cooperation are important life skills.
Students will be able to:   effectively retell a common fairy tale from the point of view of a major character who is not telling the story in the original version.   produce a screen play inclusive of all details needed for stage direction and actor/actress emotion.   effectively collaborate and design an appropriate backdrop for their scene.   effectively coordinate all the moving parts of the set, including any necessary set changes, cues for performances, etc.
Stage 2: ASSESSMENT
Performance Tasks   The students will submit multiple drafts of their screen plays to show the evolution of their understanding of point of view.   The students will create an appropriate backdrop for their production.   The students will perform the screen play they wrote for the class.
Other Evidence   The teacher will work with each group to assist in determining their fairy tale choice and the character they are choosing to retell the story – this must be approved by the teacher prior to any other work on their production.
Student Self-Assessment and Reflection   Students will be given self-assessment and reflection papers to complete once the production as finished.   As students deliver their productions, other groups will be observing and evaluating their effectiveness in retelling the story, as well as being true to the nature of the story.
Assessment Task Blueprint
Using the performance tasks and other evidence (including student-self assessment), complete the assessment task blueprint.   What understandings or goals will be assessed through this task? (Students will…)   Students will be able to show how point of view can change and demonstrate this through the production of a short play in front of the entire class.  Students will receive individual grades at checkpoints along the way and a group grade for the overall production.
What criteria are implied in the standards and understandings, regardless of the task specifics? What qualities must student work demonstrate to signify that standards were met?   Students will address all of LAFS.6.RL: Reading Standards for Literature, to include Key ideas and Details, Craft and structure, Integration of knowledge and Ideas, and Range of Reading and level of Text Complexity. Students will also address all of LAFS.6.SL: Standards for Speaking and Listening, to include Comprehension and Collaboration, and Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas. Students will address LAFS.6.W.1: Text Types and Purposes and LAFS.6.W.4: Range of Writing
Through what authentic performance task will students demonstrate understanding? (Provide a task overview.)   The final performance task will be the submission of the final screen play and the overall production in front of the entire class.
What student products and performances will provide evidence of better understandings?   The screen play will evolve as the students move through the unit, as well as the production of their backdrop.  Rehearsal time will be allowed as well to provide feedback for improvement prior to the final production.
By what criteria will student products and performances be evaluated?   The students will receive individual grades throughout the unit for their effort and participation in the production, as well as a group grade for the final production. The students will complete a self-assessment as an additional individual grade. The students will receive an evaluation from other classmates as part of the overall group grade.
Rubric
Here is the final production RUBRIC for the group grade   CATEGORY 4 3 2 1 Accuracy of Story All important parts of story were included and were accurate. Almost all important parts of story were included and were accurate. Quite a few important parts of story were included and were accurate. Much of the story was left out or was inaccurate. Scenery Scenery was creative, added interest to the play, and did not get in the way of the actors/actresses. Scenery was creative and did not get in the way of the actors/ actresses. Scenery did not get in the way of the actors/actresses. Scenery got in the way of the actors/actresses OR distracted the audience. Playwriting Play was creative and really held the audience’s interest. Play was creative and usually held the audience’s interest. Play had several creative elements, but often did not hold the audience’s interest. Play needed more creative elements. Staying in Character Actors/actresses stayed in character throughout the performance. Actors/actresses stayed in character through almost all of the performance. Actors/actresses tried to stay in character through some of the performance. Actors/actresses acted silly or showed off. Expression Actors/actresses’ voices showed a lot of expression and emotion. Actors/actresses’ voices showed some expression and emotion. Actors/actresses’ voices showed a little expression and emotion. Actors/actresses’ voices were monotone and not expressive.

Stage 3: LEARNING PLAN

Learning Activities What sequence of learning activities and teaching will help students to engage with, develop, and demonstrate the desired understandings? List the key teaching and learning activities in sequence. Code each activity with the appropriate initials of the WHERETO elements. The WHERETO elements are: W : Where are we going? Why? What is expected? H :  How will we hook and hold student interest? E :  How will we equip students for expected performances? R :  How will we help students rethink and revise? E :  How will students self-evaluate and reflect on their learning? T :  How will we tailor learning to varied needs, interests, learning styles? O :  How will we organize and sequence the learning?   W:  We are going to understand how point of view can change the way a story is told H:  We will hook and hold the students interest by reading aloud The Three Little Pigs and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (as told by the Big Bad Wolf) E: We will provide students with rubrics along the way and checkpoints for progress R: We will help students rethink and revise through the rehearsal process E: We will have students complete a self-assessment after their final production T: We will tailor learning to varied needs, interests, and learning styles by providing different “jobs” within the production process. Students who do not want to be “front and center” can take on the director role. Students who write well and can communicate more effectively will work on the writing of the screen play, while others who struggle in that area can be working on the creation of the backdrop. O: We will organize and sequence the learning into small milestones: 1) selection of fairy tale and character they will use to tell the story, 2) evaluation of key elements in the story and an outline of how those key elements will be portrayed in the new story, 3) first draft of the screen play and first rehearsal, 4) second and third drafts of the screen play with second and third rehearsals, 5) final submission of the screen play and final production with appropriate backdrop

Synthesis of Learning Theories   The scope of this project is extremely wide. Students will be able to work within their own intelligence while still contributing to the overall product.  The project is designed to meet the intelligences needs of all students through varied “roles” within their groups.

Differentiation   Students learn differently. This project allows for each student to contribute to the group differently which will allow for differentiation.  The roles that that students select to contribute to the whole will assist in the differentiation needs for skill levels, and even for exceptionalities.

Adapted from Understanding by Design Template available online, the Understanding by Design: Professional Development Workbook, and the appendix of Understanding by Design (2005) text. References Arter, J., and McTighe, J. (2000). Scoring rubrics in the classroom: Using performance criteria for assessing and improving student performance. (Experts in Assessment Series.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.  ISBN: 0761975756. Marzano, R., Pickering, D. J., and Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ISBN: 0871205041. McTighe, J. and Wiggins, G. (2004). Understanding by design: Professional development workbook. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ISBN: 0871208555. Wiggins, G., and McTighe, J. (n.d.). Understanding by design exchange. Retrieved September 14, 2005 from http://www.ubdexchange.org/. Wiggins, G., and  McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd Edition). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ISBN: 1416600353.