Client:

Ms. Tiera Lee, 4th-grade teacher

Email:

tiera.lee@clayton.k12.ga.us

Instructional Problem:

The client wishes to enhance her lesson and artifact used in the lesson to reteach. The artifact she

hopes for me to improve is a PowerPoint presentation utilized. She wants the PowerPoint to be

more interactive and kid-friendly. The client also wants a way to evaluate the PowerPoint for

immediate feedback on the students’ level of understanding. Also, the client would like to extend

the lesson so that students are hands-on in this learning experience. She wants the students to

display their knowledge on the subject of identifying subject and predicate in a sentence. Ms.

Lee serves approximately 150 kids on a rotational schedule, teaching Reading and ELA in the

same class block.

Instructional Model:

I followed the ADDIE instructional model to approach and rectify this problem. In my analysis

phase, I had to look at the demographics and needs of the students. Ms. Lee has a varying level

of learners, with various learning accommodations. She also serves ESOL students from various

ethnic backgrounds, but the majority of ESOL students are Hispanic. From this information, I

had to decide what would benefit all learners so that the outcome would be a class average of

passing on an assessment of identifying subject and predicate in a sentence. In my design phase,

I worked alongside Ms. Lee and determined which visuals and audio would be appropriately

aligned with her learning target and standard. The standard states “L.4.1f Produce complete

sentences, recognizing and correcting inappropriate fragments and run-ons.” The learning targets

were “I can produce complete sentences, I can recognize fragments and run-ons, I can correct

inappropriate fragments, and I can correct inappropriate run-ons.” After reviewing the media to

be integrated, I decided to have students work individually to create their posters/infographics in

complete sentences. I created an infographic as both an additional learning artifact and an

example for students on how to complete their poster/infographic. During the design phase, I had

to relocate several resources so that they were kid friendly as requested. I made sure to cite all

information and felt that copyright was not violated due to all resources being utilized from a

public domain and the purpose served to be public education. I also realized that students did not

have the background knowledge on how to create infographics online. Due to the strict

instructional time limit, I realized Ms. Lee did not have time to teach students how to utilize

online media to create an infographic. From this point, I modified the lesson for students to

merely complete handmade posters about complete sentences versus generating an infographic

online. The implementation of the lesson was straightforward. Ms. Lee utilized the revised

PowerPoint during whole group instruction over two days. On the third day, my infographic was

introduced in electronic form and printed out as a visual handout for each student. Ms. Lee

explained the purpose of the infographics and the information contained on my infographic in

regards to how it related to the lesson. Students were then directed to create their infographic

poster using the lesson, my infographic, notes, and previous knowledge about complete

sentences. The only directives were that the poster defined complete sentences, included subject

and predicate, and had an example of a complete sentence with subject and predicate identified. I
wanted to provide students with maximum creativity to express their understanding of the

subject. The evaluation of the lesson came in the clicker PowerPoint polling questions inserted

into the slideshow, along with the creation of the complete sentences poster. These two forms of

assessment provided Ms. Lee to assess students both formally and informally to analyze a level

of understanding of the lesson.

Redesigned Lesson:

As stated previously, visuals and audio were added as a part of the Dual Coding Theory to

enhance the presentation. This allowed the lesson to reach all learners regardless of their

academic or language barrier. The multiple sources of both words, audio, and pictures permitted

students various sources of examples and understanding of the lesson. The infographic was an

additional reference resource for students in regards to the lesson and their assignment. To

alleviate the creative and kid-friendly aspect of the lesson I changed the layout of the PowerPoint

to be visually attractive. I also added the task of students to create their posters. Students creating

their posters allowed creativity for students and a form of evaluation for the educator.

Methods to Assess Lesson

One method to assess the lesson was the clicker PowerPoint questions inserted as independent

practice. This provided a quick informal assessment of the class as a whole. Students were also

directed to complete their assignment. This method was a formal evaluation to determine if the

student understood the lesson and was able to produce a visual representation of their

understanding of the lesson. My evaluation from Ms. Lee was an informal verbal conversation

asking her if anything could have been improved about the lesson. She had no constructive

criticism or feedback in regards to modifying the presentation.

Artifacts as solutions

I believe that the modified PowerPoint was a great solution for multiple reasons. Students are

familiar with this format of the lesson, which saved time on confusion on how to complete the

lesson. The audio and visuals added to the PowerPoint added multiple sources of stimulation for

students. The audio and visuals also added method of reaching learners who had numerous

learning styles. The infographic was a great resource for students to have on hand in their seats.

It alleviated students from having to take notes during the lesson so that they were able to focus.

It also offered students a visual example of how to create an infographic in regards to the topic.

This saved time for Ms. Lee in her instruction and served as an added visual stimulate for

learners.

ACRL Visual and Literacy Competency Standards:

The following standard was addressed in this lesson:

Standard Six- The visually literate student designs and creates meaningful images and visual

media.

Performance Indicator: The visually literate student produces visual materials for a range of

projects and scholarly uses.

The students were tasked to design a poster demonstrating their knowledge and interpretation of

what a complete sentence was. This was a scholarly resource that students could use a reference

moving forward. The students also had a defined audience of their peers in which they had to
share their posters. The content had to, of course, be aligned with the learning target and concept

of the lesson.

Assignment Challenges

As an educator, my primary challenge with this lesson is the instructional time limit Ms. Lee has

with each group. She rotates four different classes of students a day. I initially wanted to

integrate the student utilization of media to complete the infographics. After reviewing the

background knowledge of the students and the time constraints of the class, I realized that

creating infographics online would not be possible. As a teacher, I had to design the assignment

and the presentation so that it engaged fourth-grade students without being too verbally enhanced

past their understanding. It was a great assignment overall and provided me the opportunity to

assist a co-worker with her instruction.