Assignment 8:

Comprehensive Instructional Design Plan

Corey Barnwell
MEDT 7490
University of West Georgia

Client and the instructional problem:

My client is Christina Smith, a first grade teacher at Heard Mixon Elementary school.
Her email is smith.christina@newton.k12.ga.us. The instructional problem is a lack of resources
for their Social Studies standards on American heroes. The students are learning about important
figures in American History, how they contributed to society and how their lives differed from
ours today. This lessons focus is on George Washington Carver.
Description of the re-designed lesson:
My focus will be on creating a visually enhanced instructional activity that Mrs. Smiths
students can view to understand the role George Washington Carver played in American History.
The standard states that students must read about and describe his contributions and daily life.
The students can both read and listen while watching a cartoon about Carver and his
accomplishments in the form of a PowToon. This will help to engage her first graders and
capture their attention and interest. The cartoon can be used as an introduction to the standard, as
well as a tool to review it.
I will also put together an infographic on Georgia Washington Carver, highlighting his
contributions to our country. The main focus will be comparing and contrasting his life to our life
in the present. This can be placed on Mrs. Smiths wall for students to refer to as a study guide
and for review purposes. The infographic will include both visuals and text to enhance students
understanding of the content.
Both the cartoon and infographic will be used by the teacher for instructional purposes, as
well as an example of what students final project/assessment should include and look like.
Students will then create their own cartoon drawing or infographic of Georgia Washington

Carver, making sure to include elements in their drawing that support how he contributed to
American History.

Methods to assess/evaluate the lesson:

The teacher will assess students understanding and ability to create a visual based on a
rubric created that aligns to the standard being addressed. Students will also present their projects
to the class, describing their representation of the cartoon or infographic.
Visual literacy also gives students the opportunity to express themselves in visual voice, which
appeals to childrens differentiation of learning. The struggling readers and writers can express
themselves through art, demonstrating their full understanding of information, only representing
it in a different form. This would be hard to grade however, so teachers must devise their own
rubric following specific standards for each assignment.

CCGPS and ACRL Visual and Literacy Competency Standards

SS1H1 The student will read about and describe the life of historical figures in American History.
a. Identify the contributions made by these figures: George Washington Carver (science).
b. Describe how everyday life of these historical figures is similar to and different from
everyday life in the present (food, clothing, transportation, homes, communication,
recreations).
Standard Four The visually literate student evaluates images and their sources.
3.

The visually literate student evaluates textual information accompanying images.

a. Evaluates information that accompanies images for accuracy, reliability, currency, and
completeness
b. Uses observation of visual content to evaluate textual information

Standard Five The visually literate student uses images and visual media effectively.
1.

The visually literate student uses images effectively for different purposes.

b. Selects appropriate images and visual media aligned with a projects purpose
d. Uses images for a variety of purposes (e.g., as illustrations, evidence, visual models, primary
sources, focus of analysis)
Explanation of artifacts:
Visual literacy gives students the opportunity to express themselves in visual voice,
which appeals to childrens differentiation of learning. The struggling readers and writers can
express themselves through art, demonstrating their full understanding of information, only
representing it in a different form.
The main focus of this redesign was on Mayers Multimedia theory. The main idea
behind this theory is that people can develop a deeper understanding of concepts when they
study both words and pictures, instead of just words alone. The use of infographics and cartoons
in this lesson contain both words and images for the first graders to have a greater chance of
comprehending the material.
Cartoons are a great way to enable the use of visual content, and increase student
motivation and discussion in the classroom. Dual coding theory states that the brain processes

information in two basic ways, through images and through verbal communication. I included
appropriate images, text and sound into the cartoon to appeal to this theory fully.
Students that may not have a strong sense of content knowledge can use these cartoons to
spark interest and attention. The infographics will help aid the students in interactive discussion
and learning by examining its content. Utilizing cartoons and infographics in education are two
great strategies to actively engage students in the learning process and keep their attention and
focus.
Reflection:
Overall, this project was easily obtainable. As an educator, we are constantly reminded,
and even scored and critiqued, on the fact that students need differentiated learning. Teachers
must appeal to all types of learners in order to give students the best chance at being successful
in the classroom. This can be difficult and this was my main focus when creating this re-design
project. I kept in mind dual coding and Mayors theories, and the fact that they need to be
encouraged in the classroom to provide equal opportunities for all students.
These theories enhance students thinking processes while focusing on their individual
differences in thinking styles. They also help students with language understanding, creative
thinking, and even athletic performance. By redesigning resources that encourage students
understanding of materials through multimedia, we are giving them our best efforts to have them
be successful in the real world.