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ELEMENTARY UNIT/ LESSON PLANNING COMMENTARY

Your Name: Shauna Maldonado
Date: 5-17-14
Unit/Lesson Title: What is History?
Grade Level and Content Area: 2
nd
Grade, Social Studies
Number of Students: 27
Total Amount of Time: 90 minutes
1. Learning Goals/Standards: What concepts, essential questions or key skills will be your focus? What do
you want your students to know at the end of this unit/lesson?
The lesson objective is to instruct students so that they will be able to understand the meaning of the term
history and historical figure, summarize the definition in their own words, identify a historical figure, of
their choice, and learn how to use a graphic organizer (bubble map).
2. Rationale: Why is this content important for your students to learn and how does it promote social justice?
Students will be able to pair share about what they know regarding historical figures and why they are important
with a partner. Also, these goals relate to the pre-assessment that make real world connections building upon
their knowledge of history and people. Students will also have the opportunity to chose who they will write
about, thus allowing them the opportunity to learn about others they relate to in the world.
3. Identifying and supporting language needs: What are the language demands of the unit/lesson? How do
you plan to support students in meeting their English language development needs including academic
language!?
"y differentiated instruction includes pre#teaching in small groups, teaching whole group and re#teaching in
small groups to check for understanding$ % have also embedded differentiation in the lesson with discussion
starters posted and allowing students to work ahead if they are ready$ %n order for students to feel connected and
engaged in the lesson % have given them the opportunity to chose which historical figure they want to write and
learn about$
4. Accessing prior knowledge and building upon students backgrounds, interests and needs: How do
your choices of instructional strategies, materials and sequence of learning tasks connect with your students&
backgrounds, interests, and needs?
Students will be able to pair share about what they know regarding historical figures and why they are important
with a partner. Also, these goals relate to the pre-assessment that make real world connections building upon
their knowledge of history and people. Students will also have the opportunity to chose who they will write
about, thus allowing them the opportunity to learn about others they relate to in the world.
. Acco!!odations: What accommodations or support will you use for all students including English
'anguage 'earners and students with special educational needs, i$e$ ()*E students and students
with %E+&s!? E,plain how these features of your learning and assessment tasks will provide all
students access to the curriculum and allow them to demonstrate their learning$
For my struggling readers: I will also clarify any misconceptions of the learning objective by re-teaching the
lesson in a small group and answering any questions that they might have. Then, I will meet with students
individually and help them identify the main points of the text and offer guided instruction for their bubble map.
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For my students with behavioral issues: I will pre-teach and re-teach the lesson to these students and give
them access to the texts and bubble map prior to the whole group lesson.
For the whole group: After my opening move, connection and teaching point I will model how to find key
ideas and details within the text and write this information inside a bubble map on the smart board.
". #$eor%: Which theories support your unit/lesson plan? e,plain the connections!
Lev Vygotskys sociocultural learning theory regarding the zone of proximal development or the space between
what students know and what they need to know, guide the construction and basis for planning. Thus, pre and
post assessments of each lesson guide the thinking and structure of the next in other words on an aggregate
basis. By beginning lessons with a whole group discussion or structured check-in as an informal assessment,
the teacher can easily gage students learning and understanding of the previous or current lesson and teach from
that point (or in that proximal zone). Further, by orienting students to one another by allowing them to
think/pair/share promotes a collaborative learning environment that Vygotsky labels as peer learning. Also,
students learn and construct their knowledge in different ways therefore understanding their way of knowing
as suggested by Gardners theory on multiple intelligences leads my instruction by incorporating differentiation
(or small group work) into each lesson. Plainly speaking, letting students collaborate and learn not only together
but also from each other in a collaborative setting places the teacher as a facilitator to learning as opposed to the
director of learning.
7. Reflection: (answer the following questions after the teaching of this unit/lesson)
What do you feel was successful in your lesson and why? I feel that the discussion forum was successful
within this lesson. I charted our answers and the students responded very well to the prompts. I feel this helped
everyone stay focused and on topic.
If you could go back and teach this learning segment again to the same group of students, what would
you do differently in relation to planning, instruction, and assessment? I would stretch this lesson out
between 2 days. I would simply have the discussion and create a GLAD poster for our discussion then build
upon it each day. This would help solidify the information for my students about History and Historical
Figures. I would allow more time for reading and possibly have 4 different groups read the same book instead
of every student choosing a different book to read about a person in history. This way I could model how to
take notes and annotate more precisely for each group.
How could the changes improve the learning of students with different needs and characteristics? These
changes would ease anxiety and streamline expectations that I have for each student. Also, grouping the
students together with the same topic would allow for more interconnected learning and peer interaction. The
students that are more advanced can teach their peers that are struggling or need a little extra help.
**COMMENTARY IS REQUIRED FOR ALL UCLA ELEMENTARY FORMAL OBSERVATIONS **
2013-2014