PPAT Task Three Describe your classroom.

Include the grade level, content area, subject matter, and number of students. Provide relevant information about any of your students with special needs. A. This is a 5th grade classroom that teaches math, language arts, writing, and social studies. There are 26 students in this class. There are 12 females in this classroom and 14 males. There are three students who get served for ELL. There are also five students who get GATIS pull outs and four who are in an advanced math program. There are six students who receive RTI support. Describe any physical, social, behavioral, or developmental factors that may impact the instruction that occurs in your classroom. Mention any linguistic, cultural, or health considerations that may also impact teaching and learning in your classroom. B. Four students have a first language that is not English. One students religious views prevent him from participating in specific celebrations. Seven students in this classroom are ADD/ADHD. One student also has speech issues. Describe any factors related to the school and surrounding community that may impact the teaching and learning that occurs in your classroom. C. This school is one in a low income area. They receive government funds and many students receive free or reduced lunch. Many of the students within my class do not have regular access to technology and may need more instruction before beginning our lesson. What learning theory will guide your planning process? Please provide a brief description of the theory. How will you make use of it?
A.

I used the cognitivist theory while planning. This theory states that learning is a change in a students mental processes. I will use this process to gage if my students have mastered the concept of comparing and contrasting.

What learning goal(s) and content standards, both state and national standards, did you identify for the lesson? How will they guide the planned learning activities?
B.

The Common Core standard that I focused on was CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.9.a which states students will draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. The specific indicator that I focused on was CCSS.ELALiteracy.W.5.9.a. Which states students need to apply grade 5 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or a drama, drawing on specific details in the text [e.g., how characters interact]"). My learning goal for the students was for them to be able to compare and contrast web based articles by drawing on evidence from informational texts on alligators and crocodiles. They will guide my planning because I will be assessing the students based on

this learning goal and this standard. So when I am planning I will keep the end goal of assessing this standard in mind. What is the content focus of the lesson? What related content that the students have previously encountered will support the learning in this lesson?
C.

The content focus of this lesson will be on comparing and contrasting. Students have been introduced to this concept through comparing and contrasting characters in literature, but have never compared and contrasted concepts and scientific ideas after completing their own research.

What are some difficulties students might encounter with the content, and how will you address the difficulties?
D.

They might have a hard time transitioning the information that they have learned about comparing and contrasting characters and applying it to comparing and contrasting alligators. I will address these difficulties by reviewing the concept at the beginning of the lesson.

Select a maximum of three different instructional strategies that you plan to use to engage students in the lesson and to enhance their learning. Provide a rationale for your choice of each strategy. A. Instructional Strategies a. Strategy 1: I will review the concept of comparing and contrasting with the students before we begin the lesson. This will allow me to clear up any misconceptions that the students may have. It will also refresh the concept in the students mind before we begin. b. Strategy 2: I will scaffold the students to be able to read a text and then make notes on comparing and contrasting by reading one article together and picking it apart together and putting the information into its respective place on the organizer. How do the instructional strategies connect to the learning goal(s) to facilitate student learning? B. The instructional strategies will allow me to more easily attain the learning goal of being able to accurately compare and contrast. This will be obtained by refreshing the students memory of comparing and contrasting and by secondly scaffolding the students up to the level of comparing and contrasting by themselves. What informed your decisions to use individual, small group, and/or whole group instruction to facilitate student learning? C. I used whole group instruction to facilitate student learning because the students have already been introduced to the concept of comparing and contrasting so they did not need one on one individual attention to continue working with this concept.

What learning activities do you plan to implement in the lesson? Provide a rationale for your choices. A. Learning activities: a. Activity 1: Students will begin to complete a graphic organizer together as a class. This will help scaffold them up to the point where they can complete an organizer on their own. We will read a passage together and decide together which part of the graphic organizer the information should go into. This gives me the opportunity to see how well the students are grasping the information. It also gives the students confidence before they complete them individually. b. Activity 2: Students will complete research on the Chrome books to give them information for comparing and contrasting crocodiles and alligators. This will help keep students interests because they love working with technology and are learning computer skills. How do the chosen activities address student strengths and needs? B. These activities address the students strengths because the students are very curious and quick to learn how to work with the technology of the Chrome books. This is also a need for some of the students who have very limited access to technology and are often assessed through MAP and Benchmark tests on an electronic device. How do your class demographics inform the design of the learning activities you chose? C. I chose to work with technology during the lesson because some of the students in the classroom are from a low income family and do not have access to technology, which is vital to their assessment success throughout school. What materials and resources will you use to support your instruction and student learning? Provide a rationale to support your choices. A. I found the alligator and crocodile worksheet that we worked on together on the Super Teacher Worksheet website. The students also read articles on alligators at http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/american-alligator/. The students read articles on crocodiles at http://www.defenders.org/crocodile/basic-factsabout-crocodiles. Students also needed a Chrome book to complete their research on and to access the Todays Meet chat room and their ELA notebook to record their information on comparing and contrasting. I planned to use these materials because the students enjoy working with technology and it helps keep them on task longer. What types of technology do you plan to use in your instruction? B. Students will use Chrome books to complete their research to provide information for their Venn-diagrams. Students enjoy doing their own research and finding information out on their own.

How will your chosen technology enhance your instruction and student learning in the lesson? C. The Chrome books will enhance the instruction for the students because they are exposed to a wider variety of information on the internet than they would be through worksheets and the students are more engaged when working with technology. Focus Student 1: Identify Focus Student 1's learning strengths and challenges related to the learning goal(s) of the lesson. A. She has a great understanding of comparing and contrasting already, but has a difficult time staying on task if she is not being challenged. Describe how you will differentiate specific parts of your lesson plan to help Focus Student 1 meet the learning goal(s) of the lesson. Provide a rationale. B. This student will be given more complex and specific questions to research while completing her Venn-diagram. She will also be allowed to do research on other websites besides the ones provided. What evidence will you collect to show the progress Focus Student 1 makes toward the learning goal(s)? C. I will review her responses to her partner on Todays Meet and determine how well she understands the concepts based on the accuracy of her responses. Focus Student 2: Identify Focus Student 2's learning strengths and challenges related to the learning goal(s) of the lesson. A. This students strength is that he stays on task and completes his work to the best of his ability, but does confuse comparing and contrasting. Describe how you will differentiate specific parts of your lesson plan to help Focus Student 2 meet the learning goal(s) of the lesson. Provide a rationale. B. I will break up his prompt on the discussion board to only include one element of comparing and contrasting to help ensure that he focuses on the prompt and clears up his misconception. What evidence will you collect to show the progress Focus Student 2 makes toward the learning goal(s)?

C. I will review his responses to his partner on Todays Meet and determine how well he understands the concept based on the accuracy of his responses. To what extent did the lesson facilitate student learning? What evidence did you gather to support your conclusion? A. This lesson facilitated student learning because they were excited to conduct the research and they also made great strides toward the learning goal of being able to compare and contrast accurately. I gather evidence based on the students post test results on comparing and contrasting. How did the students use the content presented to demonstrate meaningful learning? Provide specific examples from the lesson and from the students' work to support your analysis. B. The students took the content presented and wrote friendly letters to a local alligator hunter describing for him the similarities and differences between alligators and crocodiles. What modifications/adaptations to the lesson did you implement during instruction for the whole class to better support student engagement and learning? Provide examples to support your decisions. C. During the lesson I found that students were really interested in filling their Venndiagrams with information about alligators and crocodiles. I then allowed students to go on other academic websites that I preapproved of. What steps did you take to foster teacher-to-student and student-to-student interactions? How did they impact student engagement and learning? D. I walked around the classroom and ask the students questions about their progress and answered any questions that they may have. They also worked in partners in an online chat room and discussed the similarities and differences between alligators and crocodiles. They then physically got with their partners to write the friendly letter. What feedback did you provide during the lesson to facilitate student learning? What impact did the feedback have on student learning? Provide specific examples. E. I read the students Venn-diagrams and discussed interesting information with them, showing my interest in their learning and work. I also corrected students who had incorrect information and congratulated the students who were working hard and staying on topic. To what extent did each of the two focus students achieve the learning goal(s) of the lesson? Cite examples to support your analysis.

A. Both of the students received a 100% on the post-test showing that they mastered the learning goal. They both also received an A on their discussion showing that they had accurate information on the two animals. They also completed their friendly letters with accurate information and presented it in an effective manner. How did your differentiation of specific parts of the lesson plan help each of the two focus students meet the learning goal(s)? Cite examples to support your analysis. B. By allowing each of the students to work at their own pace and by differentiating their prompt each of the students was able to master the concept of comparing and contrasting as shown by their post-test data, their online discussion, and their friendly letters. What specific instructional strategies, resources, and technology will you use to help students who did not achieve the learning goal(s)? Describe how these lesson components will help the students achieve the learning goal(s). A. All of the students were able to achieve their learning goal of accurately comparing and contrasting, but if they did not meet their goal I had planned to work one on one with these students. We would work on comparing and contrasting text that was simpler to ensure that students understood comparing and contrasting and were not being confused by the rigor of the text. How will you use your analysis of the lesson and the evidence of student learning to guide your planning of future lessons? B. My data analysis shows that students are competent at comparing and contrasting and are ready to move on to more complex forms of this skill, like comparing multiple concepts at a time. How will you use your analysis of the lesson and the evidence of student learning to guide your planning of future lessons for each of the two Focus Students? A. My data show that these students understand comparing and contrasting and have mastered the learning goal and are ready to move on to more complex forms of the skill. They are now prepared to compare and contrast multiple concepts at a time, three or more. What differentiation will you apply to future lessons for each of the two Focus Students? Provide a rationale for your choices. B. I will continue to allow student one to complete more complex work because it helped her to stay on task and allowed her to further her knowledge of multiple concepts. I will also continue to break down assignments and lessons for student two it allowed him to

focus more clearly on each task and provided him with a better understanding of the concept.