Design

I. Target Audience and Context

1. Target Audience:
The target audience for this course is 9 & 10 year old fourth grade students.
These students attend the Title1 School, Burnett Elementary in Douglas
County. The teacher Mrs. Mathews is also a part of the audience. It is
imperative that she has strategies to engage her students in writing.
Students must meet the Common Core state requirements for fourth grade.
Students will use these skills to construct brief responses related to content
areas on the Georgia Milestone online Assessment for fourth grade. A
constructed-response item asks a question and solicits the student to provide
a response he or she constructs on his or her own, as opposed to selecting
from options provided.
2. Context:
The fourth grade students at Burnett Elementary School possess some basic
paragraph writing skills. They have knowledge and understanding of story
elements, various writing genres and basic formatting for narratives,
informational, and opinion writitng. This course is needed to provide students
that are struggling in the area of writing with empowering tools to produce
creative writing pieces and better equip them to write constructed
responses. This course will contain computer-based writing lessons that
motivate students and spark their imagination. Students will build on
fundamental writing skills that they have already learned such as paragraphs
(beginning, middle, end), and writing conventions. Students will be able to
find their inner writer as they will be prepared to construct brief responses
required for the upcoming Georgia Milestone online assessment.

II. Instructional Objectives

1. Overall goal of instruction:
This online course is designed to provide our client Mrs. Mathews and her
students with writing strategies and activities that contain interactive
lessons of reasonable length. These activities will guide and provide
students with authentic practice in prepration for the Georgia Milestone
Assessment. Students will be able to produce constructed and extended
constructed responses in the four content areas. This instruction will be
self-paced, and tiered with differentiated course assignments that provide
a variety of choices based on ability levels. The instruction will provide
students with skills to write produce brief constructed responses.

2. Specific Objectives: Upon completion of the course the student will

be able to do the following in the modules below:
Module 1 Objectives ELA:

Give sufficient evidence of the ability to refer to details and examples

when supporting an inference and explaining that support.
Include specific examples/details that make clear reference to the
texts.
Adequately provide references, details, and examples or provide
explanations with clear relevant information based on the texts.
Module 2 Objectives Math:

Show application of a reasonable and relevant strategy to explain how

to answer math constructed response questions
Express mathematical with a clear and logically developed responses
using words, symbols, and calculations
Utilize vocabulary to help understand content knowledge of fractions

Module 3 Objectives - Science:

Make predictions based on provided information

Make choices based on a reasoned argument
Translate knowledge into new contexts
Module 4 - Social Studies:

Effectively integrate ideas and details from source material

Describe key events specific to a content area
Include specific key details that make clear reference to the texts to
justify an opinion

III. Instructional Strategies and Tools

1. Instructional approach and justification
Writing Wizardry has four (4) content modules-reading/ELA, math, science,
and social studies. In an effort to meet the needs of our client, our instruction
will contain a lesson in each module. Students will be introduced to the
R.A.C.E. strategy in each of the modules and required to follow and use this
strategy in their activities. R.A.C.E. stands for R-restate, A-answer, C-cite, and

E-expand. This strategy will prove to be effective in helping students

construct brief responses that are needed for year-end assessments and for
future grades. Students will work in the
Group
Level
online Writing Wizardry course and select
Yellow
Below Level
two (2) out of the four (4) modules in the
Wizards
course that they must complete.
Green
On Level
Assignments and activities will be tiered
Wizards
and differentiated to meet students at
Purple
Above Level
their individual levels. The levels are as
Wizards
follows: Yellow =below level group; Green
= on level group; and Purple = above level group. Mrs. Mathews students
currently use the colored groups in their classroom, therefore, students
already know which group they belong to in each of the four (4) content
areas. Depending on writing level, students will be directed to work on
certain activities. Although the module assignments are grouped by content
areas, all writing assignments will be assessed using a tiered rubric that
corresponds with the Georgia Milestone Assessment requirements.

Reading/ELA is the first module and will provide students with different levels
of support and challenge for how they can demonstrate their knowledge
and/or skills by constructing a brief response. Every student will be meeting
the same learning goals, answering the same lesson essential question, and
reaching a common understanding of the standards. Students will be
progressing through levels of learning with each level moving students to
greater understanding and ability to apply what they are learning. This
module will include a Voki video to explain the assignment instructions in
detail and remind students of the R.A.C.E. strategy to use.
The second module is math and will provide students at various levels
opportunities to complete activities and constructed response questions
using the content of fractions. Content standards and essential questions
will be universal however; activities and constructed response questions may
be tiered to meet the needs and abilities of the individual student. In this
particular module, the students will have access to vocabulary, games,
assessments, and media presentations to help support the content
information and examples of how to answer constructed responses using the
R.A.C.E. strategy.

Science is the third module and will provide students with writing practice in
science using interactive media and leveled ecology reading assignments
about animal interactions. Students will be exposed to vocabulary games to
reinforce content knowledge, video, and an interactive assessment with
immediate feedback. Each of these strategies will help prepare students to
respond to a constructed response, using the R.A.C.E. strategy to effectively
explain their answer.
The fourth module is social studies and will provide students with the CCGPS
standards and essential questions related to the American Revolution. The
information and video will allow the student to progress at their own ability
rate. If the student needs to reread the material or view the video again, the
student will have the opportunity to ensure the student gains understanding
of the material. The activity will include an introduction to the content
material, a video, a short assessment, and a differentiated constructive
response. The differentiation will be provided through the product of the
constructive response portion of the module which will have a different
question for each color group based on increased level of difficulty. The
students will have access to a reminder for the R.A.C.E. strategy.

2. Motivational strategies
Writing Wizardry is an asynchronous, self-paced course developed to improve
the writing skills of Mrs. Mathews 4th grade students, and to generate
excitement for the writing process. To accomplish this, several strategies of
the ARCs Model components will be applied within the content area modules.
The ARCS Model defines four major conditionsAttention, Relevance,
Confidence, and Satisfactionthat have to be met for the students to
become and remain motivated (Keller, 1987).
Component #1 (Attention) Mrs. Mathews identified to us a wide range of
abilities and interest levels of her students in the writing process. One of her
key concerns is her students lack of interest in writing. Because many of
them view writing as a grueling process, it is vital that each module includes
stimulating activities to both grab and sustain their attention throughout the
lesson. The modules will include the use of animated characters using
GoAnimate, talking avatars created in Voki to walk them through the creative
writing process, humorous analogies for explanations and summarizations,
and varying the typeface, visuals, and use of white space. The use of an
interactive word cloud from Tagul as an information assessment will also
keep them involved and attentive.

Component #2 (Relevance) The modules have been written in a way which

illustrates the importance of writing creatively and succinctly in each content
area. The strategies incorporated in each module will show the relevance of
writing by using scenarios related to the world of a 4th grader. By presenting
these connections, in the form of animated interactions or stories, students
will be inspired to write a response to what they have experienced. Video
clips will also be used to connect real-world topics to the writing.
Additionally, we recognize that students may have an affinity to a particular
subject, consequently the modules will model enthusiasm for the subject
taught with the use of animations and pictures. While we want students to
gain writing proficiency in all content areas, giving the students an
opportunity to select the two assignments for which they have the most
interest will help create relevance for each individual student.
Component #3 (Confidence) Many of the target students grossly lack
grade-level creative writing skills, particularly writing using technology. By
clearly outlining the expectations from their writing by incorporating
appealing learning goals into instructional materials, students are poised to
successfully complete the module. These modules will incorporate scaffolded
instruction to foster confidence within the young writers as they will achieve
small goals at each step of the writing process. Included in the modules will
be prompts to guide students through the writing process, and praise as they
complete portions of the lesson.
Component #4 (Satisfaction) The lesson will be constructed to provide the
greatest opportunity for personal satisfaction of each student and their
writings. To give students a true sense of achievement, the lesson will
visually and audibly reinforce a students intrinsic pride in completing a
creative writing piecesomething once considered a difficult task. In doing
so, the modules will be designed to require students to apply the newly
acquired skill immediately to a short written response of 3-4 sentences. The
lesson will also incorporate intermittent reinforcements and helpful feedback
to encourage students to continue improving their writing competency.
3. Assessment strategies:
Formative assessments will be provided in each individual content area.
The type of formative assessments will vary in each individual module and
will be based on assignment and or activity. The assessments will give
students immediate feedback to ensure understanding of content.
Assessments types will include online vocabulary quizzes, fill in the blank,
and multiple choice.

Summative Assessment: Students will create constructed responses from

two of the four content modules. The Georgia milestone rubric will serve as
guide to score student summative assessments.
4. Development tools:
The designers of this instructional design project will use a variety of
technology tools and software, such as Microsoft Word, throughout the four
module content areas. The external media sources will include several
YouTube videos and photographs to enhance the content material.
GoAnimate, Voki, and Tagul are original media sources designed specifically
for this project. The assessments created for this program, such as Quizlet,
are developed to drive instruction for remediation and acceleration.

IV. Content Outline

Module 1: Reading/ELA
ELACC4RL1: Refer to detail and examples in a text when explaining what
the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Essential
Content
Descripti
on

Question: What is a constructed response?

Students will be instructed by the character Willie the Wizard, to
complete three (3) tasks in the Reading/ELA module in order to receive
a certificate of completion for Writing Wizardry.
Their first task (#1) will require them to become Word Wizards by
using familiar stories and manipulating letters to create words from the
story. This activity is differentiated and students will select a story
based on their class wizard color.
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/wordwizard/
Task #2 requires students to become a Magic Story Maker! They will

use strategies already learned to create a story with a setting,

characters and a plot. They will be allowed to include images and
vocabulary to make their story interesting. This task will allow students
to be creative, publish their stories, as well as get them warmed up
for writing their final task.
http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/embed.cfm
Task # 3 is Constructed Response Masters. Here students will watch a
video using the story Cinderella as the R.A.C.E. strategy is
demonstrated to them. Students will be instructed to watch closely
and listen carefully as they will need the information for the quiz right
after the video. Students will take an on-line multiple-choice
assessment to determine how well they learned the new strategy. This
quiz will provide immediate feedback, a score and a certificate.
Students will access the video Answering Constructed Response
Questions using R.A.C.E at https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=g0sh5DDqRfw. The R.A.C.E strategy will be modeled to help
students answer constructed responses.
The video poses a question about the fairytale Cinderella and
walks students through the four steps of the strategy:
R- reword
A- answer
C-cite with evidence and examples
E-explain by elaborating
Students should be able to recall the information from the video as
they continue with the Reading/ELA module of the course introducing
them to the R.A.C.E. strategy. Students will be able to demonstrate
their learning by writing a constructed response to answer a question
using the new R.A.C.E. strategy. They will be given help by the Help
Wizards throughout the entire writing course.

Media
objects
(original
)
Media
object
(externa
l)

Student learning will be further engaged as they will have to complete

2 out of the 4 modules. In addition, Mrs. Mathews can use the
assessment scores as a baseline to plan additional constructed
response lessons after the entire. on-line course is completed for all
class subjects.
R.A.C.E. Strategy video of Burnett Elementary students (On
Wizard Help page)

YouTube R.A.C.E strategy introduction video

YouTube R.A. C.E strategy using a fairytale
R.A.C.E. Prezi outlining strategy

Practice
or
Assessm
ent

Online Word Wizard practice lesson.

On-line Story Masters practice lesson.
R.A.C.E. assessment using multiple choice. (Propofs)
Writing a constructed response using the R.A.C.E. strategy
(ProPofs)

Module 2: Math

CCGPS.4.NF.3 Understand a fraction a/b with a > 1

as a sum of fractions 1/b. (d) Solve word problems involving addition and
subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole and having like
denominators, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to
represent the problem.

Essential Question: How can I use models and equations to solve word
problems involving addition and subtraction with constructed response?
Content
Students will reviews tips and strategies for writing math
constructed response
Descripti

Students will watch a short review video on how to implement

on
the RACE Strategy and view infographic for additional tips to
write math constructed response

Media
objects
(original
)
Media
object
(externa
l)
Practice
or
Assessm
ent

Practice using vocabulary flashcards in quizlet.com and take a

multiple choice test online
Students will watch an adding and subtracting fractions with like
denominators video to help prepare them for constructed
response
Students will answer math constructed response questions
based on their ability or colored wizard from Pro Profs
Students will receive a certificate of completion for completing
the module and earn 20 minutes of free computer time for
successfully completing the math module.

Infographic

You tube video R.A.C.E. Strategy

Addition and Subtraction video of fractions with like
denominators on a number line

Quizlet vocabulary

Online vocabulary assessment quizlet

Pro Profs constructed response

Module 3: Science

S4CS5 - Students will communicate scientific

ideas and activities clearly. S4L1b - Demonstrate the flow of energy through
a food web /food chain beginning with sunlight and including producers,

consumers, & decomposers.

Essential Question: How does energy flow through an ecosystem?
Content Lesson will start with a GoAnimate video of two talking animals at the
th
Descripti zoo, and how they want to learn from the 4 graders visiting why some
animals eat just plants, and others chase others for food.
on

Media
objects
(original

)
Media
object
(externa
l)
Practice
or
Assessm
ent

Animals will show a poorly written paragraph from a visitor yesterday

describing the food chain of an ecosystem; then how they dont really
understand the description the student wrote.
Animals will ask the student (todays visitor) if they think they can help
them better understand why animals eat certain things by writing a
better description.
Animals will ask the student if they know of some good descriptive
words they could use to write the explanation.
Tagul word cloud will be inserted here with various descriptive words.
Directions on the screen will ask students to click on 5 good words
they can use to help describe the polar bear and where it lives. If the
student clicks on a helpful word, the words Very good! This word will
be helpful will appearand so on.
After the 5 words are found (clicked on), students will be taken to a
screen with a short paragraph with many mistakes. Students will be
asked to locate the mistakes and to complete the descriptive
paragraph activity. This is a leveled activity based on student
groupingspurple, green, yellow. Students will click on appropriate
color Next button to take them to the appropriate activity. The
activity is differentiated by the amount of details students are required
to insert into the paragraph.
CONGRATULATIONS!! WELL DONE!! message appears with a gold
badge of achievement.
Then, Click on the Next button to complete a short quiz.
Students will complete a fill in the blank and matching quiz of
completing sentences with the correct descriptive and transition
words.

GoAnimate video describing a science concept

Voki Presenter to guide the students through the lesson
Tagul interactive word cloud as a mini formative assessment
Photo of a sheet of paper divided into 4 parts with the wordsIt all
startedand thenI wonderedfinally
Photos and clipart of different producers, consumers, and decomposers
of the savannah biome.

Online quiz and constructed response created by ProProfs

Module 4: Social Studies

SS4H4 - The student will explain the

causes, events, and results of the American Revolution. (c) Describe the
major events of the Revolution and explain the factors leading to American
victory and British defeat; include the Battles of Lexington and Concord,
Saratoga, and Yorktown.

Essential Question: What are the key battles of the American Revolution?
Students will be asked the essential question at the beginning of
Content
this module. They should be able to recall this information from
Descripti
the content information and video at the start of the course.
on

Media
objects
(original
)
Media
object
(externa
l)
Practice
or
Assessm
ent

Students will be able to write important details from Lexington,

Concord, and Bunker Hill.

Powtoons video of the key facts of the SchoolHouse Rock video.

Photos of appropriate social studies content

You Tube video of the American Revolution

Lexington and Concord reading comprehension lesson with a

short assessment using ProProfs
Constructive Response with 3 differentiation levels

V. References
4th Grade English Language Arts Common Core Georgia Performance Standards [PDF document]
(2011). Retrieved from https://www.georgiastandards.org/Common-Core/Common%20Core
%20Frameworks/CCGPS_ELA_Grade4_Standards.pdf
4th Grade Social Studies Common Core Georgia Performance Standards (2015).
Retrieved from:
https://www.georgiastandards.org/standards/Pages/BrowseStandards/SocialSt
udiesStandardsK-5.aspx
Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J. O. (2014). The Systematic Design of Instruction With
Pearson Etext -- Access Card (8th ed.).
Georgia Department of Education: Georgia Milestones Assessment System (2015).
Retrieved from: http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-andAssessment/Assessment/Pages/Georgia-Milestones-Assessment-System.aspx

Keller, J. M. (1987). Development and use of the ARCS model of motivational design.
Journal of Instructional Development, 10(3), 2-10.