Andrea Coates
ISP: INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES
PLAN
UNIT TOPIC: United States Geography and Topography
UNIT OVERVIEW
The
topic of the geography and
topography of the United States
is of interest to students because
students are living in the United States
so they will want to be familiar with its geography and topography. In this increasingly global world, the
students in my class might grow up to be businesspeople or any other profession
that requires them to travel for their work, so it is important to know about
the geography of the United States. Moreover, many of my students are the
children of immigrant families so my students will not have the opportunity to
learn about the geography of the United States
from their parents so they should have the opportunity to thoroughly learn
about the geography and topography of the United
States.
Learning about various places is interesting to children in general
because children like to imagine what it would be like to live in places that
are different from where they currently live.
The purpose of this unit on U.S.
geography and topography is to teach students about the lay of the land of the
country in which they live. I have
noticed that many students leave elementary school with only a cursory
conception of U.S.
topography and geography. People are at
a great disadvantage when they are unfamiliar with the land where they
live. For example, if one of my students
is interviewing for a job someday and the interviewer asks my former student if
she is willing to relocate to Topeka
there could be a problem if my student has no idea where Topeka
is. In fact, this lack of knowledge by
my former student might cause the interviewer to decide not to offer the position
to my former student. By teaching children about the different regions in the U.S.
students will become aware that there are many different regional cultures and
customs within the U.S. Furthermore, as future voting citizens, it is
important that my students feel familiar with areas of the U.S.
so they feel like they are connected to the rest of the country, which is
important for building a certain sense of patriotism and civil
responsibility. It is also important
that students learn about U.S.
topography and geography because when they grow up they probably will have to
travel for personal reasons to visit relatives and friends. Furthermore, when my students apply for
scholarships to various universities, it is important to know about geography
so that they can determine if the university is too far from home that it would
cost too much to visit home. The
students need to learn how to read a map at a young age because many adults
still don’t really know how to read a map. The purpose of this unit is to teach children important aspects of the
geography and topography of the United States
so they will be knowledgeable about the various regions of the U.S.,
about the topography of the U.S.,
about major cities, and about what various areas are known for. By knowing about the geography of the U.S.
my students will have the advantage of knowing about where they live and this
will help my students become successful in the United
States.
This
unit is targeted for fifth (5th)
grade. Students often learn about
some U.S.
history in the upper grades so it is important that they are very familiar with
the topography and geography of the U.S.
by this time so that they can better integrate what they learn in later history
lessons. By the fifth grade some students
have a basic idea of U.S.
geography but I believe when students are older when they are in fifth grade,
they are ready to deepen and expand their knowledge of U.S.
geography and topography.
This
unit is designed to be two and a half
weeks in length.
5 UNIT LEARNING GOALS
1. The learner will be able to a. name the major regions of the U.S and
will b. learn how to read a map. (part b makes use of
the critical thinking/analytic cognitive level)
2. The learner will be able to recognize and describe the physical
features of the U.S.
(This makes use of the knowledge
cognitive level)
3. The learner will be able to create a U.S.
map depicting U.S.
topography and geography. (This makes use of the applications cognitive level).
4. The learner will be able to research and report on what various
states are famous for.
5. The learner will be able to identify the state to which various
state capitols cities belong.
The Unit Learning Goals meet the
following California State Standards:
1.
Research topic from various resources including use of
textbook, library, and internet.
2.
Social Sciences—Familiarity with United
States cities and geography
3.
Social Sciences—Understanding how to create a map
4.
Presentation—Ability to orally present information to
others
INSTRUCTIONAL OVERVIEW
I
will teach some aspects of this unit in a deductive
fashion, while I will teach other parts of this unit in an inductive manner. I will begin the unit using the deductive approach, from
generalizations to specific facts, so that my students are all on the same
level of knowing the major regions of the U.S.
The deductive approach will be used when
the knowledge foundation is needed in order to take the learning to the next
level. I want to educate my students
about the “big picture” of the different regions of the U.S.
and the geography and topography in general before we get into too many
specifics as this will help them organize and internalize what they learn
easier. I feel that students must have
an overall understanding of the different regions of the U.S.
(ex: the Southern region) before they can appreciate where individual cities
are (ex: Atlanta) in relation to
the rest of the U.S.
I
will use direct instruction to
introduce the information we will be learning in each lesson. It is important to use some direct
instruction where the teacher lectures for a few minutes because this will
prepare students for high school and college where most of the instruction is
direct instruction. However, I believe a
combination of direct and indirect instruction is necessary. Elementary school children learn better from indirect instruction methods, so the
majority of the time for each lesson will be taught in and indirect style. Students will learn to discover things for
themselves and this will help them retain the knowledge which makes the
indirect approach better than just “spoon-feeding” the students.
Once
my students have developed sufficient background knowledge of the topic I will
switch to a more inductive approach
in which students will explore and research facets of the topic on their own so
they can learn to think for themselves.
This will be accomplished by having the students work cooperatively in
groups on projects at various learning
centers such as a “map-making” learning center, for many lessons in the
unit. Cooperative learning will give my students the chance to learn from
one another. It will also give my
students a sense of responsibility, internal locus of control, and it will
increase their enthusiasm and participation since they have the opportunity to
engage in hands-on learning. Cooperative learning group learning centers will
help the students learn how to work in a group environment. Also, the class
discussions will provide students with the chance to share their ideas and
opinions and they will remember this more than the monotonous tone of a teacher
lecturing. In this way this unit is student-centered
and it espouses self-directed learning.
The unit is student-centered because the students will contribute to
class discussions, ask questions to which they will be answered with feedback,
and students will have the opportunity to discuss what they are learning with
their peers.
TEACHER FACILITATION: The
teacher will facilitate student learning in general by prompting insightful
questions during class discussions, by monitoring students via kid-watching,
and by asking individual students questions and by giving students the
opportunity to ask questions. The
teacher will answer questions, clarify points of confusion, and will use many
visuals such as children-friendly maps.
The teacher will also facilitate student learning by using techniques
that support different learning styles.
I will have some lessons that appeal to visual learners, other lessons
that appeal to auditory-focused learners, and other lessons that include
hands-on activities for students who learn by doing. Some activities will be well-structured to
appeal to field-dependent students while other lessons will be more open ended
and creative to appeal to field-independent learners. I will also model activities and projects while
explaining them for my students so they have a better idea of what to do. Furthermore, I will give my students an
assessment rubric so they can see exactly what they must do to earn different
levels of points and the teacher will provide a great deal of feedback. Another example of teacher facilitation I will use is that I will use scaffolding
techniques including the method of “previewing” vocabulary to help increase the
amount of comprehensible input for those of my students who are English
Language Learners. Moreover, another
aspect of teacher facilitation that should not be overlooked is the energy and
enthusiasm the teacher puts into the lessons.
Instead of giving a boring lecture that strains children’s attention
spans, I will try to make the lessons fun, enjoyable, interesting, and
authentic in quality.
Furthermore,
I designed this unit to be thematic in that the lesson plans draw on various
other subjects such as language arts, technology, writing, research and
investigation skills, and the arts.
The
lessons in this unit build upon one another.
Knowledge students learn from the first lesson are useful background
knowledge that help them complete the second lesson, and they learn things in
the second lesson that help them with the third lesson and so forth.
In
this unit we will also have class discussions in which we consider questions
such as why U.S.
states are different certain shapes and sizes. At the end of the unit students will
ultimately be able to create (draw) a map of the U.S. including topographical
features, state boundaries, different colored regions of the U.S., with labels
of big cities, and what various states are known for, also including the
locations of national or historic monuments.
This
unit is designed to help students
acquire a good understanding of, and become aware of, the land in which they
live. Knowing the topography and
geography of the U.S.
will help students in their personal and work lives. It is also designed to help students learn
about the process of classification, and it will help students learn how to
read maps in general.
Lesson
number 1/ U.S. Topography will open the unit by giving students an overview of U.S.
topography and geography. This lesson is
the first in the series because it is designed to put all of my students on the
same page. By fifth grade some students
have some knowledge of U.S.
geography, especially if they have traveled.
It is important to refresh everyone’s memory and teach them something
new also.
I
will begin Lesson 1/ “U.S. Topography: Physical Features of the U.S.”
by giving a prompt to spur their curiosity and I will ask them questions during
a class discussion. I will have my
students locate the U.S.
on a globe and we will discuss how the U.S.
is in the northern hemisphere. As part
of an anticipatory set to spur their curiosity I will show the National
Geographic Educational Video on U.S. Topography and Geography. The video has stunning camera shots of
physical features of the U.S. such as stunning vistas of the Rockies,
incredible shots of the Grand Canyon, a visit to the swamps in Florida, views
of the Great Lakes and the Great Salt Lake, shots of the expansive Mississippi
River, views of Mount Rushmore, shots of the hot springs at Mount Rushmore,
magnificent views of Half Dome at Yosemite National Park, views of the
expansive plains, the glaciers in Alaska, and the waterfalls on the Hawaiian
Islands. This will pique my students’
curiosity and it will inspire them to learn about the lay of the land in the U.S. For the next part of the lesson we will
discuss the video and we’ll have a class discussion on U.S.
topography. I will take out an outline of the U.S.
that marks our country’s borders and I will use this on the overhead
projector. During the class discussion
that ensues I will ask students to name some physical features of the U.S. If someone says “The Rocky Mountains” I will
ask the students where I should draw the Rocky Mountains
with my marker on the overhead outline of the U.S. I will draw all the physical features that my
students name and I will prompt them and give them clues to some physical
features they are missing. For example,
I will ask the students if they know of any big lake in Utah
that is salty. This might prompt a
student to name the Great Salt Lake. I will discuss what the term “topography” and
I will draw other physical features on the overhead projector map that the
students were not familiar with. Many
students might not be familiar with the Cascade Mountains
by fifth grade, so I will teach them by showing them on the map. After our class discussion, we will read a
section out of our social studies/ history textbooks on U.S.
geography and topography, and we will also read a selection on various physical
features of the U.S.
out of a book from the school library.
We will do this by “popcorn” reading where one student reads a paragraph
and then calls on another student at random to read. After we do our reading I will tell my
students that we are going to write a poem about the physical features in the U.S. I will model for them that I want them to
write “UNITED STATES” vertically, with one letter on each successive line of
their paper. Then they are to start each
line with that particular letter. They
will also learn that a poem need not rhyme.
For example, I will tell them that when I write the poem I will begin my
poem: “Under the geysers at Yellowstone
there are hot springs, Northwest has mountains called the
Cascades, I can’t believe the Grand
Canyon is so deep, To
the south the border of Texas is
marked by the Rio Grande River,…etc. I will tell my
students that each line of their poems must talk about the physical features of
the U.S. and
they must include the appropriate names.
I will give them an example of what not to do by telling them not to
write “There are mountains in the northwest.”
Rather, they are to include the appropriate name, that is, the Cascades.
Lesson 2/ “Regions
of the U.S.” is designed to clarify and expand students’ conceptions of
the major regions of the U.S. By fifth grade some students have some
knowledge of U.S.
geography, but many students have never traveled to many places in the U.S.
and they often don’t really know where a state like Missouri
or Wisconsin is located. This lesson will teach students the official
names of various regions. For example,
by fifth grade some students know that Oregon,
Nevada, and Arizona
are all in “The West.” However, most
students probably do not know the official classifications that distinguish the
three states such as the Pacific Coast Region, the Rocky Mountain Region, and
the Southwestern Region, respectively. I
will have the students work in pairs. I
will hand each pair a handout that has the outline of the U.S.
on it. I will tell them that they are to
divide up the U.S.
into seven regions depending on how they se best fit. I will tell them that they can divide up the U.S.
into seven sections however they think it should be done, but I will tell them
they might want to take into consideration U.S.
topography when dividing up the U.S.
This will help me gain an idea of
students’ prior knowledge regarding U.S.
geography. After students divide up
their outlines of the U.S.
on the handout into seven sections we will have a class discussion. Students will volunteer to share how they
divided up the U.S.
and we will discuss how it makes sense to divide the U.S.
into seven regions based on distinctions between north, south, east, and
west. We will discuss how many of the
states in a particular region have a lot in common. For example, the Midwestern Region is
composed of a cluster of states that are very flat plains, while all of the
states in the Rocky Mountain Region have big mountain peaks of the Rocky
Mountains. We will also
discuss why the Northeast is separated into the New England Region and the
Middle Atlantic Region. Students will
learn that states are smaller in these regions because that is where the
European settlers started to settle during a time when means of transportation
were slow. After our class discussion
students will get into groups of four or five.
I will give them small note-cards.
They will work together by looking at a map with states colored in
various colors according to the region.
I will show students that they map key tells them that yellow states all
belong to the Southwestern Region. I
will instruct the students to write the name of each state on one side of the
note-cards and the region to which that state belongs on the reverse side of
the note-card. The students in each
group will quiz each other. For example,
one student will say “Maryland”
and the other student will hopefully say “Southern Region.” Then the student who answered correctly first
will choose a card from the deck, will say “North
Dakota” and another student will say “Midwestern
Region.” After I give the students some
time to practice within their groups we will play a game as a class. I will divide the class into two teams and I
will tell the students we are going to have a little light competition game in
which we will put together the pieces of a big jigsaw puzzle of the U.S. A student will call out the name of a state
and whatever group gets the right answer by saying the correct region to which
it belongs will get a point. Then
someone within that group will place the state in the proper position. If the student knows that Oklahoma
is in the Southwestern region the team gets one point. However, if the team member places Oklahoma
in its correct position (directly above Texas)
then the team gets an extra point. This
light competition increases student participation and attention, yet it is not
harmful because the winning team is not rewarded with a prize. The completion of the jigsaw puzzle map as a
class completes Lesson 2.
Lesson 3/ “Research
and Presentation on a U.S. State” is designed to deepen students
knowledge of the particulars of a U.S.
state of their choice. So far students
know where states are and what physical features are present in various areas
but now we need to give students a personal connection with a state of their
choice. This is important for students
to learn that even though states are grouped together in a particular region
like the Rocky Mountain Region, despite this lumping together, each state
within that region is unique in many ways.
This will teach students “not to judge a book by its cover” because even
though all the states in this region are colored orange on the map (as noted in
the key) each state is unique. Students
will learn how to research information about their state on the internet and we
will go to the school library and find books pertaining to various states. I will teach students how to search for
information on the internet and we will use educational websites that are
relatively easy for the students to read and understand. The students will learn how to scan articles
from websites and books for information they are looking for by spotting for
key words. This will also give students
an authentic opportunity to use the index in books to find particular
information about their selected state. Each student will research a different
state and will answer a set of questions I have prepared such as “What is this
state famous for, what types of manufacturing occur in this state, do a lot of
people live in this state, what’s the weather like, what’s the capitol of the
state, what would you recommend a tourist to visit in this state?” Students will write a short essay including a
paragraph in response to each of these questions and will conclude with a
paragraph of why the student is interested in the particular state she
chose. The next day the students will
each give a short oral presentation about their state to the class and the rest
of the class will take notes in their journals so they can use this information
for the project in the final lesson.
Lesson 4/
“Reading a Map” is will build on students’ knowledge
from the prior lessons. It is helpful
that they already have an idea about where states are and where physical
features of the U.S.
are located so they can better imagine what it would be like to travel from
city A to city B. First I will give the
class a general lesson on map-reading with special attention to the key. We will learn how to measure distances on the
map(one inch represents 100 miles) and we will note
marks of elevation and the difference between major highways and smaller roads.
I will go over an example in map-reading with the class as a whole. For example, I will give the example that we
have to travel from Oklahoma City
to Denver. I will photocopy the map from Rand McNally’s
Atlas Today’s World and I will bring in maps from the Automobile
Club. I will show the map to the
students and I will ask them how we should get there. Since the Rockies are in the way somewhat we
will discuss how we should go north on the highway from Oklahoma City up a
little past Wichita, Kansas, at which point we should turn left and go west on
the highway that will bring us west all the way to Denver. We will then discuss how far the trip will
be. We will look at the key and note
that one centimeter is 100 miles. We will
measure the number of centimeters with a ruler from Oklahoma
City to Wichita
and we will add this number to the number of centimeters from Wichita
to Denver, which turns out to be
about 8 centimeters. Since each
centimeter represents 100 miles we know that our entire trip will be
(8X100=800) about 800 miles. Next we can
calculate how long it would take us to go from Oklahoma
City to Denver
if we drive at an average speed of 60 miles per hour. This means that in every one hour we travel
60 miles. To do this we will do the following conversion (given that we have
already studied conversions in math lessons) where the units cancel:
800 miles X 1 hour/
60 miles
In this case the
miles cancel since miles are in the numerator and the denominator and we are
left with 800/60 hours. We reduce 80/6
and do long division to determine that it will take us approximately a little
over thirteen hours. This kind of
application will be very useful for students to know in the future. I will have the students work collaboratively
in groups of about four and I will give each group a similar problem, “How to
go from Nashville, TN,
to Trenton, NJ?”
Each group will answer the following questions:
What route should we take? How
many miles is it? About how long will it take us to get there if we drive at
about 50 miles per hour? What should we
pack for the trip given the weather in the region we are going to? Is there any historic site along the way we
might want to see? What will the
elevation be like for parts of the trip?
Will we see any big rivers/mountains, etc? The group members will take on different
roles and the recorder will write the answers to the questions on a piece of
paper that each group will turn in to the teacher at the end of Lesson 4.
The unit will
culminate with Lesson 5/ “Drawing a Detailed Map of the U.S.”
which will sum up what students have been learning about U.S.
topography and geography during the two and a half week unit. I will explain to my students the steps
involved in map-making. This final
lesson will hopefully cement in students’ brains the locations of the fifty
states, the relative sizes and shapes of the states, and the regions in which
the states are found. This will be
accomplished by having students, in small groups, start with a big blank sheet
of white construction paper. They will
use maps provided to study the shapes and sizes of the states. They will begin the map-making process by
carefully drawing the outline of the United
States in pencil and they will draw the
boundaries of each individual state. I
will remind them to study the sizes of each state relative to the others
carefully so they remember to draw Montana
larger than Wyoming, for
instance. Once they have drawn the
outlines of each state they will write the name of each state, the capital, and
what the state is famous for within the boundaries of the state. Once they have done this for all states they
will draw significant topographical features such as various mountain ranges,
noteworthy lakes and rivers, and the locations of national historic
monuments. Finally they will use colored
pencils to lightly shade in states according to the region to which they
belong, and what the color represents (ie. Yellow for
Southwest Region) should be noted in the key.
Also noted in the map key will be approximate relative distances (ie. One inch represents 100 miles). Upon completion of the map students will be
very familiar with the topography and geography of the U.S.,
as they have studied this topic for the past two and a half weeks. The last activity of the unit that I will use
as a assessment in addition to the other assessments
will be a selected response multiple choice test that includes matching, true
and false, etc. Also, I will include a
page of short response questions so students can express their knowledge in
multiple ways.
Since my goal is
to have my students walk away knowledgeable about the topography and geography
of the U.S. I
have chosen to present the material in a variety of ways so all my students
with various learning styles learn about the country in which they live. I have used inductive, deductive, direct, and
indirect forms of instruction in addition to the use of learning centers and
cooperative learning hands-on activities because all of these techniques have
been supported by research in the field of education.
Clearly then, I
have designed my lessons based on the tenet that variety of instruction
techniques is the best method. This is
how I will facilitate the instruction of my unit. I will use a variety of instructional methods
so every student can relate to some technique and students will learn about
different ways of learning. The
introduction to many lessons starts out with a
deductive approach that involves direct instruction and modeling by the teacher
to get the students started. The
activities are based on a more inductive approach in which students engage in
discovery learning where they learn things by drawing their own conclusions
rather than being constantly spoon-fed the information. Most of the activities during my lessons
included cooperative learning experiences for my students in which they worked
on a project with several peers at learning centers to produce a final product.
I will also
facilitate the instruction of these lessons by constantly monitoring the
students by circulating through the classroom and noting how students are doing
on their activities. I will use
kid-watching techniques to monitor students’ interest and attentiveness in
various activities. If students seem to
be having a hard time or look bored I will explain the concepts again, answer
questions, and I might choose to modify the activity to make it appeal to my
students more.
COGNITIVE PROGRESSION/STRUCTURE OF THE UNIT: the
activities I planned invoked a range of different cognitive levels with the
earlier lessons focusing on knowledge levels and then invoking reasoning,
critical thinking, analytical and application knowledge levels as the lessons
progressed and built on one another over time.
First we learned about the lay of the physical landscape of the U.S. Then we learned how some of the physical
features of the land form the basis for dividing the U.S.
up into several general regions. Next we
learned general information about individual states by doing research and then
giving presentations. Once we had an
idea of where places were and why they are significant, we learned how to read
a map. We applied this to think about
how we would travel from one city to another, how far it was, what to pack for
our trip, etc. Other lessons in this
unit expand on the topic of topography and U.S.
geography. The final lesson tied
everything we had learned together in that groups of students designed their
own detailed maps of the U.S.
and this hands-on activity will help them remember the topic of U.S.
topography and geography.
Students should
come away from this unit with thorough understanding of the regions of the
U.S., an idea of where states are located, an appreciation that each state is
unique, an understanding of the physical features of the U.S., skills regarding
map-reading and map-making, reasoning, researching and critical thinking
skills, and a better idea of how to work cooperatively with others.
ASSESSMENT OVERVIEW:
--All the ways
in which I will obtain evidence of student learning:
I will use a
wide variety of assessment techniques during this unit. At the beginning of the unit I will use
mostly informal assessments such as personal communication, student
self-assessments, kid watching, and class discussions. Students will still be learning the material
at the beginning of
the unit, and they learn at different rates, so it is best to
give them time to learn the material before they are formally tested on
it. The informal assessments I will use
during the earlier lessons, such as the lessons I will present the first week,
are used mostly to give me, the teacher, a better idea of how my students are
digesting the material. From these
informal assessments I
will learn what I should clarify, where the students are having trouble, what
they already know, and how I should modify the following lessons. The students will do self-assessments when
they write in their journals about what they learned,
what they felt confused about and need to review, what they feel very
knowledgeable about, etc.
During the
second week of studying this topic, after students have background knowledge
about U.S. topography and geography, I will use more formal assessment methods such as performance assessments (in which I will take the product and the
process of completing that product as evidence of student learning) which
measure skills, some selected response
questions including selected response, true and false questions, and matching (
which will assess basic student knowledge), and I will use some short essay questions which will be a good
evidence for students’ knowledge, reasoning, and affect/dispositions regarding
the topic (according to Stiggins).
RATIONALE FOR
WHY I CHOSE EACH ASSESSMENT METHOD: I chose to use a variety of assessment
methods because different assessment methods provide me with different kinds of
information. My goal is for my students
to achieve a variety of outcomes, and I want my assessment methods to be well
matched to Stiggins target areas of learning. I used performance assessment so I will have
evidence that students can do a skill such as determine from the key of a map
how many miles it is from point A to point B and I will also use performance
assessment to evaluate students’ ability to collaboratively construct a
product, namely, their final project, the map of the U.S. Since the performance assessment won’t tell
me much about the affect/dispositions of my students I will use personal communication and
essay questions to ascertain this.
Furthermore, since reasoning skills involve the opportunity for
explanations by the student I will use personal communication and essay
questions to assess students’ reasoning ability. Throughout the unit I will assess
students knowledge of the topic. I will
asses them informally during the first week by personal communication and then
I will assess them formally during the second week via essays, performance
assessments, and selected response test questions. I used a variety of assessment methods also
due to the fact that students with different cognitive learning styles do
better on different types of assessments.
Since some of my students are English-Language-Learners I might better
discover how much they really comprehend by personal communication and
performance assessments since they might not understand the questions on a
selected response test. Other students
have a terrible time with selected response tests but can show they know the
subject when given the opportunity to write about it in their own words. Still, other students do best when they can
create things in a hands-on fashion, so those students will be able to shine
during the part of the assessment where I assess the products they produced,
and the related skills used.
HOW I WILL
COLLECT, AND USE, MY ASSESSMENT INFORMATION:
Personal
Communication Method: I will collect
evidence of learning via personal communication by class discussions and by
talking privately with individuals.
During class discussions I will note how students are responding, and I
will note any inconsistencies in their explanations. I will ask them to clarify when their
responses imply incorrect information. I
will ask the class questions continually during class discussions to collect
evidence that students are learning the material. Also, when the students are working either
individually at their desks or in groups I will circulate around the classroom
asking various students if they have any questions and I will ask them some
questions so I can get an idea of how well they understand the concepts by
talking to them. I will keep a little
notepad in my pocket and I will jot down notes of areas of confusion amongst my
students.
Other
Informal Assessments such as Student Self-Assessments: I will collect other informal evidence of
learning by collecting students’ journals and I will read their short responses
to my questions. This will not be graded
but it will give me a sampling of what they have learned. One such journal question might be “Tell me
about all the mountain ranges you know of in the U.S.?” I will collect the journals every few days
and this will help me determine what I need to clarify during the next lesson.
Formal
Assessment methods: I will have each
student write a short essay about the state that he or she researched. This essay is to include all major
topographical features in the state, the location of the state (the region),
and the capital and big cities in that state.
I will take the essay as evidence that the student knows how to research
a topic and how to write an essay in paragraph form. This essay will give me some insight into the
students’ conception of where a particular state is located and what physical
features are found in that region of the U.S. I will collect assessment information from
performance assessments when the students make their final product, their
hand-drawn detailed maps of the U.S. From the final product, the map that they
will turn in, I will collect information regarding their knowledge (it will
show me they know the relative sizes of various states, what region they are
found in, and what topographical features are found in various regions). Also, I will monitor the students during the
process of their map-making activity and I will also consider this as evidence
of their learning about the process of how to go about making a map and
labeling it using a key. Finally at the
end of the unit I will give them a selected response quiz with twenty questions
regarding U.S.
geography and topography. All questions
in the selected response quiz will assess students’ knowledge about things we
covered in depth. If the student gets
16/20 answers correct he will get an A.
If he gets 12-16 correct he will get a B. If he gets 8-12 correct he will get a C. These are just grades on the quiz. I will provide feedback and explanations of
grades for all graded material, including essay and performance
assessments. There will be matching
questions, multiple choice, and true/false questions as part of this selected
response quiz. I will take the score on
this quiz as evidence of student knowledge. I feel it is important to give the
students one selected response quiz at the end of the
unit because it will give students practice in taking tests. Even though I believe tests are not the best
way to assess students’ ability, college admissions and administrations require
that students take tests as evidence of their knowledge so it is a good idea to
have students practice taking multiple choice tests. This is why I included a selected response
quiz at the end of the unit. Students’
final grade for this unit will be based on a combination (weighted average) of
all the assessment methods mentioned.
To
collect evidence of student learning from Lesson 1 I will use personal
communication during the class discussion and I will collect their poems
(product/performance assessment) about the physical features of the U.S.
to assess how well they are digesting the material. This will be graded with a
check, check plus, or check minus, depending on the
effort and if the students followed my guidelines in one of the checklists I
gave them.
To
collect evidence of student learning from Lesson 2 I will use personal
communication as I ask individual groups questions and I will use monitoring
while I watch how much trouble students have in completing the jigsaw puzzle
“Name the Region” game. Students will
write about their experience in this game in their journals (student
self-assessment) and I will read their journals (informal assessment) to
collect evidence of student learning and points of confusion.
To
collect evidence of student learning from Lesson 3 I will use personal
communication in which I will talk with individual students about how they are
coming on their research projects for the state they will write their essay
about. I will also collect evidence of
student learning from reading their essays. Their essays will be given a check
plus if they included 9-10 the items I asked for on the check-ist, a check if they included 6-8 items I asked them to
include and a check minus if they included five or fewer items that I asked for
on the checklist.
To
collect evidence of student learning for Lesson 4 I will use personal
communication and performance assessments in which I will collect students
responses to my questions and I’ll take this as evidence of student learning. I will ask students to show their work so if
they set up the conversion from centimeters to miles correctly but did not
compute the correct answer I will still take it as evidence of student
learning.
To
collect evidence of student learning from Lesson 5 I will use performance
assessment in which I will take their product, their hand-drawn detailed map of
the U.S. as
evidence of student learning. I will
also monitor students (via kid-watching) during the process of their map-making
exercise and I will consider this also as evidence of student learning. BELOW IS A RUBRIC FOR HOW I WILL ASSESS THE
MAP:
AUTHENTIC PEFORMANCE ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT:
The authentic performance
assessment instrument I have chose to assess the product (detailed hand-drawn U.S.
map) for Lesson 5 is an analytic/Primary Trait Scale that will serve as an
assessment rubric. I will give this
rubric to each student before they begin the project so they know what I will
be looking for in their final product when I grade it. I chose to use the primary trait scale
because there are several aspects of the map I will be assessing, and there are
multiple combinations of points to be earned, so I must be able to assign a
point value to each trait individually.
This is why a primary trait scale is the best assessment rubric for this
particular performance assessment project.
I will be assessing three traits: Trait A/Topographical features, Trait
B/Region distinctions Trait C/Capitol cities.
Level 1 signifies highest accomplishment on meeting all the requisites
for a state, Level 2 means average accomplishment, and Level 3 represents
relatively poor accomplishment. To
determine the overall grade on the project I will take the average of the
scores on the three traits. I will
provide the rubric with comments as feedback to the students so they can see
why they earned the mark they earned.
For
Lesson 5 the project will be for the students to draw a map of the U.S.
with certain components included. I will
encourage the students to include as many features as they can as these maps
will be displayed during Open House.
However, I will tell them that I am only grading them on three main
areas, namely their work regarding topography, regions, and capitol cities. For the project the students will work in groups
of about four. I will give each group a
large sheet of white construction paper.
The students will draw the outline of the U.S.,
the state boundaries, will label each state with the
state name, the capitol city, etc. I
will encourage the students to write such facts as what the state is famous for
or how large the population is, but they are only to do this after they finish
what is required since they will only be graded on topography, regions, and
capitols. I want the students to choose
five topographical physical landscape features of the U.S.
and I want them to draw these features (labeled) in the correct region of the U.S. For example, if students draw the Great
Lakes for one of their features, but place this feature in the Rocky
Mountains region this will not count as a physical feature since
they were completely wrong on its location.
I want the students to use color pencils to shade in all the states in
the Southwest Region one color, and all the states in the Midwest Region
another color as labeled in the legend of the map. If a student’s legend says pink represents
the Southern Region and blue represents the Midwestern Region, and the student
colors Kentucky blue (as a Midwestern state instead of a Southern state) the
student, and the student colors all the other states their appropriate regional
color as indicated in the legend, the student will have colored 49/50 states
correctly and this places him in Level 1for the Region trait. Finally, students will be assessed by the
number of capitols they labeled correctly for the state. If a student accidentally names the capitol
of North Dakota Pierre and the capitol of South Dakota Bismark
(switching the capitols) but the student labels all other capitols
appropriately for their state, the student will have labeled 48/50 capitols
correctly and this merits Level 1 for the Capitols trait. Each student will be graded based on the map
created by his group. I will make sure
my collection of student performance data is reliable by monitoring students
while they are working in groups to make sure everyone is participating and I
will tell students I will mark them down if I find them not participating. I will use this performance data to compute
students’ grades on their map-making project, and this grade will be averaged
with all the other assessments to compute their overall grade for the
unit. I will collect student performance
data by collecting the group-made maps and assessing them. When I grade their maps
I will use the rubric shown below to reliably evaluate their performance on
this product. This is for Lesson Plan # 5
AUTHENTIC PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT
INSTRUMENT RUBRIC:
PRIMARY TRAIT SCALE:
________________________________________________________________________
| TRAIT A: | TRAIT B: | TRAIT
C: |
| Topography | Regions | Capitols |
LEVEL 1 student drew 5 student colored 46-50 Student wrote the
correct
(3pts) physical features states
the right color name of the capitol of
and the features according
to major and the state name of
were located in U.S.
region as 46-50 states.
the proper shaded noted
in the key.
region. (ie. Oklahoma
is
(ie. The Rocky colored yellow
Mountains
were because it belongs
drawn in the to
the Southwestern
orange-shaded Region
and yellow
Rocky
Mountain demarks the Southwest
Region.) according to the key.
________________________________________________________________________
LEVEL 2 student drew 3-4 student
grouped 40-46 Student wrote
the
(2pts) physical features
states into the correct correct
name of the
and 3-4 of the major
U.S. region by capitol and state name
topographical coloring
40-46 states of 40-46
states.
features were the
proper color for
located within the
region as noted in
the proper major the
map key.
Level 3 student drew student colored 39 student wrote the
(1pt) 2 or fewer or
fewer U.S.
states correct name of
Topographical the proper color for the capitol and the
Features
in the their region as state name of 39 or
Correct
major depicted in the map’s fewer states.
Level 0 No
attempt No attempt No attempt
I will add up all the points a
student earned by adding up the total number of points he earned on this
rubric. The following grading scale will
be used:
9pts=A+, 8pts=A, 7pts=B+, 6pts=B,
5pts= C+, 4pts=C, 3pts=D+, 2pts=D, 1pt=F
LESSON PLANS:
LESSON PLAN #1:
Introduction, Purpose, Overview
LESSON TITLE: “Physical Features of the U.S.”
Unit Topic: Topography and Geography of the U.S.
Time: 1 class period, about 90 minutes
Grade Level: Fifth (5th) grade
Subject Area: Reading,
language arts and poetry, basic science
Goal: To introduce students to the physical features of the U.S.
and the topic of topography. The students will understand what types of
physical features there are on the U.S.
landscape, and they will understand about where these features are located.
Specific Behavioral OBJECTIVES:
1. The learner will be able to make a list of at least five physical features of
the U.S.
landscape.
2. The learner will identify the approximate locations of various physical features of
the U.S.
landscape (ie. They will know that the Cascade
mountains are in the northwestern U.S.)
3. The learner will create an acrostic poem in which they describe features of the
physical landscape of the U.S.
STANDARDS:
This lesson meets standards in
the following areas:
Reading Comprehension—Students
will comprehend what they read about academic subject matter.
Writing Standards—Students will
be able to write more complex poems that do not necessarily rhyme.
Social Studies/Geography—Students
will be knowledgeable of the location of various physical features of the U.S.
landscape.
MATERIALS: National Geographic Educational Video about the physical
features of the U.S. landscape, television, overhead projector, overheads,
chalk for the board, social studies textbooks, 30 sheets of lined paper, 30
pencils, teacher’s model poem, dictionary.
PROCEDURE (Steps)
ANTICIPATORY SET:
1.
We will watch the National Geographic educational video
on the physical features of the U.S.
landscape.
PROMPT:
2.
Hold a class discussion about the U.S.
physical landscape
3.
Ask students to name all the physical features they
already know and draw the features on an overhead that you project via an
overhead projector. For example, if one
student says “The Cascade Mountains” ask him where you
should draw them on the map.
ACTIVITY:
1.
Discuss the term “topography.”
2.
Popcorn-read the selection on the U.S.
physical landscape out of the social studies textbook.
3.
Explain what an acrostic poem is and tell the students
they are to write such a poem in which they describe physical features of the U.S.
landscape. Tell the students that they will write “UNITED STATES” vertically on
their page, with one letter on each successive line. They will use each letter in “UNITED STATES”
to begin that line of the poem
4.
Model the project for the students and show them the example
the teacher has written (see my explanation in the Instructional Overview
section).
CLOSURE:
5.
Have the students work independently on their poems and
provide each student with a map of physical features on the U.S.
landscape. Provide students with a checklist of things to include in their
poem.
6.
Have the students hand in their poems and ask them if
they had any questions.
FOLLOW-UP/Extension
Activity: Have the students read their
poems to one another in partners so they learn about other landscape features
that they did not include in their own poems.
ASSESSMENT FOR LESSON 1:
I will use informal assessment methods such as personal communication
with individual students while they are writing their poems and I will evaluate
their learning from the responses they give to the questions I ask them during
the class discussion. This will tell me what I need to clarify or re-teach. I
will grade their poems by judging them according to the checklist that I
provided the students. If the students
included all the aspects on the checklist the student will receive a check
plus. If the student was missing
several items in the poem from the checklist I will return the poem with
feedback about what the student needs to do in order to improve. I will give the students who were missing
several items the chance to polish their poem up for homework and then they can
re-submit the poem to get a check plus. This will show me how well students are
internalizing the new information.
LESSON PLAN # 2
TITLE: “REGIONS OF THE U.S.”
UNIT TOPIC: U.S.
Topography and Geography
TIME: 1 class period, about 90 minutes
GRADE: Fifth (5th) grade
SUBJECT AREA: language arts
(spelling, speaking), geography, critical thinking
GOAL: To introduce students
to why U.S.
states are classified into various regions and to deepen students’ knowledge of
the regional locations of individual U.S.
states.
Specific Behavioral OBJECTIVES:
1.
The learner will categorize
(match) individual states to the appropriate geographical region to which
they belong (ie. by saying “Southwest” when shown the
piece of the jigsaw puzzle labeled Arizona)
2.
The learner will compare
and contrast the sizes and shapes of different U.S.
states
3.
The learner will be able to describe in detail why various states belong to the same major U.S.
region (ie. Colorado,
Wyoming, Montana,
Idaho, Nevada,
Utah all belong
to the Rocky Mountain Region because all these states contain the Rocky
Mountains).
STANDARDS:
This lesson meets standards in
the following areas:
Analytical skills--students learn
how to compare and contrast.
Oral Communication skills—students
will be able to explain academic matters
Study Skills—students will be made aware of ways to help
them study (such as flashcards)
MATERIALS: 30
Worksheets/Handouts with outline of the borders of the U.S., 30 pencils,
overheads, overhead projector, dry-erase marker, (50 states X 5 groups=) 250
small note-cards, U.S. maps from the AAA, 30 copies of U.S. map from textbook,
jigsaw puzzle of the U.S., scorecard to keep track of points.
PROCEDURE:
ANTICIPATORY SET:
1.
Pass out the worksheet/handouts of the outline borders
of the U.S. to
each student. Instruct the students to
think about what they learned about the major features of the U.S.
landscape from Lesson 1 and instruct them to divide up the continental U.S.
into seven areas as they see best fit to categorize different parts of the U.S.
2.
Ask students to share with the class how they divided
up the U.S.
into seven sections.
PROMPT:
3.
Hold a class discussion. Prompt students with questions such as, “Why
should we group certain states together into the same region?” “Does it makes sense
to classify different regions in terms of north, south, east, and west?”
4.
Ask students why they think western states are
generally larger than eastern states?
5.
Discuss with students why certain states have certain
shapes (when a major river borders the state).
ACTIVITY:
1.
Have the students get into groups of about 5
2.
Teacher will distribute a stack of 50 small flashcards
to each group.
3.
Students in each group will divide up the note-cards
between them.
4.
The teacher will instruct the students to write the
name of a U.S. state on one side of the notecard and
the region to which it belongs on the reverse side (for example, they will
write “Oklahoma” on one side of the notecard and
“Southwest” on the reverse side.
5.
Once they complete their notecards,
each group will quiz each other using the notecards
as flashcards.
6.
The teacher will instruct the class that they will play
a group game with a large jigsaw puzzle of the U.S.
with the class divided into two teams.
7.
One person will call out the name of a state (say Oregon)
and then one person from team X will have the chance to give the answer. If that person says “Pacific Coast Region”
(the correct answer) that team will get one point. Since team X got the answer correct they get
a chance of placing Oregon in the
right spot on the map (below Washington
state) that is already there. If they do this correctly team X gets another
point. However, if team X did not do
either of these tasks correctly team Y will get a chance.
8.
Continue the sub-steps in step 7 until you have
completed the jigsaw puzzle.
CLOSURE:
9.
Have the students gather/sit around the completed
jigsaw puzzle and take a photograph (provided parents’ earlier permission) for
the class scrapbook.
10.
FOLLOW UP/EXTENSION ACTIVITY: Have the students get back into their earlier
groups. One student in each group will
count the number of states in the region they were assigned to, another person
in the group will record it in their journal, another student in the group will
write the name of the region with the corresponding number of states on the
board (i.e. New England Region: 6), an another student will report the number
to the class.
ASSESSMENT FOR LESSON 2:
For this lesson I will use solely informal assessment because students
are just starting to learn about which states belong to which regions of the U.S.
since it is only our second lesson in the unit.
I will assess them informally when the students are quizzing each other
with the flashcards. I will circulate
from group to group and I will mentally note if students are taking a long time
to locate Kentucky or whether
they quickly and confidently respond that it belongs to the Southern Region. Also, when we are playing our jigsaw puzzle
game as a class I will note the approximate percentage of correct answers. For example, if students give correct answers
for most of the Rocky Mountain Region states I will not have us spend much more
time on that region. However, If students tend to get a significant percentage of answers
wrong for the Middle Atlantic Region and the Southern Region I might ask the
students to study these two regions for a quiz in a few days.
LESSON PLAN # 3
TITLE: “RESEARCH AND
PRESENTATION ON A U.S. STATE”
UNIT TOPIC: U.S.
Topography and Geography
TIME: 2 class periods, about 120 minutes
GRADE LEVEL: Fifth (5th)
grade
SUBJECT AREA: language arts,
speech, researching, technology, and writing
GOAL: For each student to
develop an in-depth understanding of one U.S.
state; to give students skills in researching, technology, and summarizing. The students will know how to present
academic material to an audience.
Specific Behavioral OBJECTIVES:
1. The learner will demonstrate that he/she knows how to
use the internet to research his/her state by providing a list of websites used to research his/her state. (Application)
2. The learner will write a short essay in which they summarize and describe several
noteworthy points about their state.
3. The learner will explain to the class audience where his or her state is located,
the physical setting, and one other interesting fact about the state.
(Comprehension)
STANDARDS:
Students will be knowledgeable
about how to use the internet for research.
Students will be able to write an
essay about academic content, students will be ale to summarize and present
academic material to an audience.
MATERIALS: Computers with
internet access, a selection of library books on U.S.
states, encyclopedias (from teacher’s home), dry-erase marker for the board, 30
pieces of lined paper, 30 pencils, dictionary, students’ journals for them to
take notes.
PROCEDURE:
ANTICIPATORY SET/PROMPT:
1.
The teacher will ask her class if they know what
certain U.S.
states are well-known for.
2.
Hold a class discussion and write down student input on
the board
3.
Count up the number of facts students know about the U.S.
states.
4.
Tell students that there are so many interesting facts
about U.S.
states.
5.
Ask the class if anyone knows the home of President
Lincoln is Illinois.
ACTIVITY:
1.
Each student will choose one U.S.
state to research and present.
2.
Take the class to the school library and have them find
books that they can use to research their state of interest.
3.
Bring the library books back to the classroom and have
the students read about their state.
4.
Teacher will list several questions on the board in the
form of a checklist that students must answer:
a. What is this state famous for? b. What ty