Summary
It is very critical for educators to teach elements of a story because it helps readers understand and appreciate reading better. Learning about characters, setting, plot, theme and other elements enhances comprehension, critical thinking and analytical skills. Students then foster a deeper connection with the narrative and encourages creativity in both their reading and writing.
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| Lesson is clear and direct Teachers goals are clear Learning targets match the goals Standards are aligned I do, you do, We do | Lacks Student engagement Lacks student involvement Not accessible to all learners Needs multiple means of representation Visuals need to be added Fun activities More student facing than teacher Hands on No slides |
Revised Work
Learning Activites
Multiple means of Representation
Engagement
Timers
| Strengths | Weakness |
| Slides Prior knowledge Hands on activities Multiple means of Representation Student facing Teacher facing Engagement Collaborative learning Extensions for higher level thinking Clear instructions Small groups Teacher check ins Assessments Students check for understanding | Technology |
Teacher Conversations
| First conversation prior to revamp | After Revamping the lesson |
| Me: ” What kind of technology is in your classroom?” Jackie: “Students share Ipads.” Me: ” I notice that you use backward design model based on your lesson plan.” Jackie: ” Yes that goes with their pedagogy but I don’t like it.” Me: ” That’s fine and all but what are doing to fix it if you don’t like it?” Jackie: ” I try to improvise on the spot on my deliverance and focus on student needs.” Me: ” But how?” Jackie has no clear explanation just that she is able to deliver the content following UDL aside from backward design. Me: “How do you deliver the material?” Jackie: ” we use smart boards, hand outs , videos and more.” Me: ” Okay, What is the essential problem you wanted fixed from this lesson?’ Jackie: ” I feel that it is not as engaging for all students as I intended, I lose some students, lack of technology doesn’t help either, I want to add visuals, more inclusive work with students and not leave it as a dictatorship lesson.” Me: ” Honestly speaking, the lesson plan expectations are great, backward design for little kids without technology needs more than UDL, I think The 5 E model will work perfect for this lesson and maybe future lessons. It’s great to follow the models our schools are using but you can always add a little razzle dazzle of your own when you teach it to ensure that you meet the need of all your learners in the classroom. “ | Me: ” What are your thoughts after viewing the slides?” Jackie: “Wow! This is great and it looks so cool! My school shows brainPops but we never have to create our own slides” Me:” Creating your own slides helps a lot. It brings your lesson vision to life, students can view it and really comprehension better. Visuals are helping our visual learners and silent learners.” Jackie” I really like the timers.” Me: ” Timers are great when implementing structure but it can also be sensitive to some learners that fold under pressure so it’s important to let them know that more time can be added if needed but you are trying to show them that they can do it in a timely fashion; reference the state test for example. “ Jackie:” I feel the inclusiveness, I can see my students being engaged and me for that matter. I have a interview for another school and I will demo this.” Me: “That is great to hear and I can’t wait to hear how that turned out for you and the difference you see when doing your demo. My focus was to use the 5 E model since it has some aspects of backwards design and bring your lesson to life. the model will also enhance the aspects of backwards designs by adding to the assessment methods and instructional strategies used in the lesson. Jackie:” Thank You! I am going to look into the instructional models and see areas in future lesson plans that need attention to make sure I am following UDL better and more efficiently.” |
Practical Exercise:
- Explore the following questions:
- How is it being accepted or not accepted by students/instructors? Teachers are following backward design and lesson format structured by the school. It seems like the course material is pretty much shared and no room for individuality of the teacher.
- What institutional support and barriers have they identified? Teachers do not have technology for all students due to covid. There are a few that maybe students can share but that can also cause drama in the classroom during instruction. Applying digital tools as a whole wasn’t an option for this teacher. Lack of technology use on teachers part as well. they rely on the internet browsers and not creating their own content to correspond.
- What approaches are being taken? Are there any instructional design or development models used?Backward design is used, smart abord, Brainpop and many others that can be showcased.
- Is the use and effectiveness of the topic being evaluated? Are there any instructional tech evaluation models used? For this lesson no, it is mainly on the instructional models used, activities , deliverance and engagement.
Reflection
In Ms. Medina’s Lesson on The Story Elements ; I focused on the activities of the lesson and the deliverance by using google slides. The activities chosen were to make sure it enhanced her original teaching model of backward design while sprinkling some 5 E to make it shine. Teaching young children requires more engagement and involvement than anything. At that age they are like sponges and soak everything up. It is important to help them store that information, question it, retrective it and implement it. To do that; lessons must be inclusive, engaging, hands-on, require some high level thinking and grasp their intelligence.
Some challenges that arise during this lesson was the lack of technology. I come from a school that supplies technology so it is very easy to implement digital tools into learning that way. Schools without technology can also used some digital tools but I don’t think it has the same effect when students can access them for themselves. another challenge was making sure I did not change how the schools teaching model flows since they strongly focus on backwards design. Lastly, introducing timers in the classroom because they do not use them. Change can be scary for the younger grades and they can have a harder time adapting. Since the school year is out; speaking with Ms. Medina about the use of timers in the classroom and how effective it can be structuring the lesson; she has agreed to begin using them this upcoming year. When speaking with Ms. Medina she mentioned that she loses students throughout her lessons, Many students don’t comprehend and she needed new ideas, activities, and ensight on creating and maintaining that engagement.
| 5 E Instructional Model | Revisions for lesson |
| Engage |   |
| Explore |  |
| Explain |   |
| Elaborate |  |
| Evaluate |  |
Applying the 5 E model to the lesson struck imagination, wonder, compliance, engagement, collaboration, groupings, extension and formative assessments all in one. Children learn better with variety of resources because of the many diverse learners we have in our classrooms. It was a fun challenge for me as well to not utilize digital learning tools that one would normally look for like brainpop, nearpod, etc. It took me back to old school learning with a little twist of technology on the teachers part. Even Though Google slides is a digital tool that is effective because it ranks between the 13-18 percentile on the evaluation of Triple E as i used on my previous coursework. In this case; It is teacher facing materials since students can’t access on their own. It is still a great tool to use in the classroom because posters, videos, and other ways teachers deliver content aren’t always following UDL. Also, Bitmoji has taken its run in the classrooms as well as another digital tool that is used for teachers but students have used it as well in other classes with technology. For this class, it is to add character to the lesson. That character is the teachers . Bringing color, joy to the lesson really sparks something in the classroom learning environment. I felt the tackle on this lesson was great challenge for me when applying what I have learned in both EDU 226 & 227. I was able to educate a fellow teacher and have her see through a different view in order for her to see areas of strengths and weaknesses.
Both Backward design and 5 E model focus on student centered learning and emphasizes understanding and meaningful learning experiences. As we integrate the two , all that would be added to the 5 E would be learning outcomes. The original lesson plan already focused on the learning outcomes for the students and what is intended to me learned and goals to be met. for example: Students are to know the elements of a story, detect them, and comprehend them in order to move onto other elements like theme. My job was to enhance that by using 5 E in which you can see in my design above that I did for Ms. Medina. Her original activities didn’t foister the needs of all learners and didn’t hold the class throughout the whole lesson and that is what we agreed to focus on. The combination of 5 E and Backward design can lead to more meaningful and successful learning experiences for students as one focuses on learning outcomes and the other structured engaging learning experiences. Ms. Medina is proud of the work we put in, the suggestions and instructional design that I did. She is hopeful for her demo, and use of this lesson this upcoming school year. As well as her interest in taking EDU 226 & EDU 227.
