week+of+april+13+and+15

Week of April 13 and 15 During this week, we'll work on two products. On Tuesday, you'll bring in a draft of one lesson plan and during our class session we'll read and respond to each of them. On Thursday, you'll bring in a draft of the rationale for your unit and during our class session we'll read and respond to each of them. The aim for the week is to begin piecing the unit together in order to see how we might design instruction for student understanding.

April 13

Jim's feedback on performance tasks and rubrics will be emailed later today. Two main things for us to consider when we revise the tasks and rubrics. The first next step would be to write the tasks in student friendly language. You'll still use the ideas from GRASPS, but it's ok for you to use second person point of view (e.g., You will take on the role of a magazine editor; Your purpose in drafting this story is create tension for your target audience (who are kids about the age of 9; etc.). The second next step is to keep refining the rubrics to the point of drafting language that offers specific, observable features for students.

For instance, let's look at the draft of the rubric I have put together for the rationales you need to write for your unit plan portfolio. In this rubric I have not gotten to the point of writing specific, observable features for you - so let's see if we can refine the language to do so. The entire document is here, but let's just look at the first part of it (which I'll copy and paste below)



Language from the unit rationale rubric: G = A rationale A = Anyone who might ask you to defend and explain your instructional design P = To justify how your instructional design (unit plan) leads to student understanding of targeted concepts, strategies, principles, facts, terms, processes S = Rationales include the WHY for WHAT and HOW you are teaching and designing your instruction. Rationale statements typically include evidence from the larger profession of teaching, including research and theories of learning and learners, of subject matter, and of assessment. This evidence can take the form of state and district standards, as well as professional resources such as our class texts (because they rely on research and theory).

A rationale receiving an A will do the following: § a clearly articulated overall thesis § a set of related claims § responsible evidence that serves to support those claims (drawn from some form of scholarship and standards) § warrants that explain how the evidence supports the claims § an anticipation of a counterargument to the rationale § a rebuttal of that counterargument.
 * Provide a justification for teaching a conceptual unit that is convincing to its targeted audience.
 * Take the form of an argument, consisting of
 * Orchestrate these components into a coherent argument
 * Use language suitable to impress your readers that you are qualified to be an English teacher.

Specifically, let's look at the last line in that description. The question for you might be, "How would I know if the language I use to impress my readers? What kind of language would I have to use?"

If you want to look at examples of rationales, then take a look at the rationales written by Smagorinsky's students at his virtual library of conceptual units (found [|here] ). In class, we'll look at Katie Crowell's (9th grade on Speaking Up) rationale. You'll notice that it's written much like an academic paper, however she's very explicit about WHY she is including particular texts and particular activities. Since we read scholarship mostly pertaining to designing instruction, our rationales might also include WHY our units (and the way we have structured our tasks, activities, and lessons) will lead to student understanding. For Thursday, we're bringing in rough drafts - so bring in what you can. Writing the rationale will help you as you revise lessons and the unit during the next few weeks.

Looking at Lesson Plans PQP protocol - Praise, Questions, Possibilities/Polish Let's look at form and content when we read. More specifically, are all parts of the lesson plan included? And, do each of those parts achieve their purpose?

We'll turn in the lesson plans at the end of class so that Jim can take a look at them for Thursday. Next Tuesday you're turning in two more lesson plans.

April 15 Today has two big activities. One will be reading and responding to one another's unit rationales. The other will be discussing the feedback on lesson plans.

Writing our way in ... Three questions (one at a time): What is it you want students to understand in your unit? Why does understanding these concepts matter for students in situations outside of school? How does your unit address the six facets of understandings? (In other words, when in your unit will students explain, interpret, apply, have self-knowledge, empathize, and have perspectives in relation to the concepts you want them to understand?)

Partner up to discuss and respond to one another's rationale. The task is for you to identify or map out the argument you're making in your rationale.

The rationale is the WHY for WHAT you are teaching (or students are learning) and for HOW you are teaching (or students are learning.
 * **Claim** (I believe ...) [The What and the How are important ...)
 * **Reasons** (... because ... ) [The principles you have about learning/learners and/or subject matter (including literacy, writing, reading, media, language, technology, etc ..)
 * **Evidence** (... based on this data.) [Research and theory; professional texts; standards; NCTE belief statements]
 * **Acknowledge and Respond to possible objections** (Although some might say X, Y, or Z, they are not considering ...)

Lesson Plan Feedback 1. Make sure you include all the essential sections to the LP
 * Day of Lesson
 * Classroom arrangement
 * Unit EQs
 * Learning outcomes
 * Resources needed (for teacher / for student)
 * Activities and Instruction
 * Assessment and Evidence
 * (Homework)
 * (Notes)

2. Check for ALIGNMENT. For example, you're looking to see if the activities help you get after the outcomes. If, for instance, you have a discussion, then you need to make sure that the questions help you see if students are understanding what you want them to understand in this lesson. That is, you'll need to include the actual questions in the lesson plan and/or note what you want to listen for during the discussion.

Outcomes --> Activities --> Assessment and Evidence and Assessment and Evidence --> (back to) Outcomes

3. Remember, you're doing a lot of hard and new thinking. Be patient with yourself. If you start to feel overwhelmed, do one thing at a time. I'd start with the next couple of lesson plans that are due Tuesday and then start revising and refining your performance tasks and rubrics. You all have smart and meaningful units going.