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PPAT Task 4 Submission- Michael Gresham

Task 4.0- Contextual Information A.) Describe your classroom. Include the grade-level, content area, subject matter, and number of students. Provide relevant information about any students with special needs. This fifth grade classroom has twenty-six students. Fifteen students are male with ten Caucasian males, four African-American males, and one Hispanic male. Eleven students are female with five African-American females, four Caucasian females, one Asian female, and one Hispanic female. The students are taught the content areas of mathematics, reading, writing, science, and social studies on a daily basis. Regarding special needs, two students receive ESOL services, six students receive gifted and talented services, eight students have been diagnosed with ADHD, and two students have anger issues and follow a behavior plan. Also, three other students follow a behavior plan to help with classroom behaviors. B.) Describe any physical, social, behavioral, or developmental factors that may impact the instruction that occurs in your classroom. Mention any linguistic, cultural, or health considerations that may also impact teaching and learning in your classroom. Social Factors- there are some social factors that impact the instruction that occurs in my classroom. One of the major social factors includes the socio-economic status of the students. Some students come from very well, respectful, two parent households. In contrast, there are also students who come from very poor, single parent households. This impacts instruction in to many ways including the amount of time spent at home studying the subject matter, resources, and the types of lives the students live outside the classroom. Developmental Factors- several students are not developmentally on grade-level. Several students read below grade-level, which impacts their performance in certain subjects such as math and reading. This factor greatly impacts teaching and learning as the instruction must be differentiated to meet their needs. C.) Describe any factors related to the school and surrounding community that may impact the teaching and learning that occurs in your classroom. After-School Program- this program is for students who need extra support with work from the classroom. This program provides mentors and tutors for these students. With extra one-on-one assistance, students are exposed to the process and receive help from their tutors that strengthen their skills. This impacts the learning of these students as they are able to receive extra practice and guidance from a tutor.

Task 4.1.1.- Goals and Student Background A.) Explain how the selected content standards and learning goals are appropriate for the lesson and your students learning needs. The content standards are appropriate for the lesson as they were selected from the Common Core Standards. The standard (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.2) and the indicator (CCSS.ELA-Literacy W.5.2.D) are all addressed in the content of the lesson. The learning goal for this lesson is for students to incorporate vivid vocabulary into their writing with use of a thesaurus. The selected learning goal is appropriate for fifth grade students because students have prior knowledge of using a thesaurus and are familiar with the writing process. Finally, this lesson is appropriate for the students learning needs as the students demonstrated lack of understanding for this particular element of the writing process. B.) How did your students prior knowledge and background informatio n influence your planning process? Prior to the lesson, the students were in the midst of their writing unit. Their performance on prior writing samples proved that there was a lack of understanding for adding vivid vocabulary, and students needed more instruction. The students already understood the writing process, including brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. The students also had working background knowledge of vivid vocabulary through the Golden Ticket (a packet that explains each part of the writing process). With the evidence of student need and with their past experience with vivid vocabulary, I formulated a lesson to help students add vivid vocabulary and incorporate it into their own writing samples. Task 4.1.2- Instructional Strategies A.) What researched-based instructional strategies do you plan to use with students to engage them in the following? 1. Content area language To engage students in content area language, I plan to communicate language that connects to the area of writing. The students understand content area language such as the writing process, rubric, edit, revise, thesaurus, etc. Throughout the lesson, I plan to use these words as much as possible; because this will help students connect to the content. 2. Critical Thinking To engage students in critical thinking skills, I plan to have the students assess their own writing and have them critically think about their writing. When the students assess their own work,

they need to think about what the rubric calls for in terms of their writing and where their writing falls on the rubric. The students determine whether their own writing sample has all of the criteria that would meet standards for a score of a four, three, two, or one.

3. Inquiry In the lesson, the students will briefly incorporate inquiry skills. The students are faced with a problem at the beginning of the lesson, as there are words that are repeated or too simplistic for the fifth grade standards. The students are then asked t he question, What tool helps us change words? This question helps the students understand how to go about solving the problem. Finally, the students will solve the problem by thinking of words that are more precise and up to fifth grade standard. 4. Reading integrated within the content area Reading will be incorporated into the content area by students using the thesauruses. This is a reading skill that the students have previously been exposed in the reading content area. The students have prior knowledge of using guide words to help direct them toward finding their desired word to find in the thesaurus. B.) How will each of these instructional strategies enhance your teaching skills and improve your students learning? Content Area Language-The usage of content area language will enhance students learning through a greater connection with the content. The language will help the students understand and relate what is being presented. This also helps students connect to background knowledge as the students have already been exposed to this type of language throughout the writing unit. Critical Thinking- Students using critical thinking helps improve student learning by having the students thinking about the choices they are making. The students can choose a word; however, I want the students to understand why they chose this word. Did the students choose the word because it looks precise? Did the students choose the word because it sounds better? Using this instructional strategy, the students are learning that their choices impact their writing, and they have an understanding of why they chose the word. When looking at their own writing, the students also think about their own writing samples and assess their own skills. With the expectations laid out in the rubric, the students have to analyze and think about their own levels of work.

Inquiry- Beginning the lesson with a stated problem will help enhance my teaching skills in the lesson. After stating a problem, I can begin teaching the students the steps of correcting the problem that I have noticed. This also helps enhance student learning, as the students are presented with a problem, and the students attention is captured because they want to figure out the problem. In this focus, the students are likely to pay attention and want to fix the problem. This will cause the students to feel a sense of accomplishment and success upon completion. Reading in the Content Area- Integrating reading in the content area will help enhance student learning. Before implementing the lesson, the students had an understanding of the thesaurus; however, they did not use it. A reason students did not use this tool is that several did not feel that they could use them effectively. Integrating the reading skills associated with using a thesaurus gives students exposure to using this in the writing process and also gives the students who feel unsuccessful at using the tool more exposure and practice, increasing their learning skills.

Task 4.1.3.- Lesson Activities A.) Describe one activity that is the main focus of the lesson plan. Explain how that activity is designed to anticipate and address student learning needs? The main activity of the lesson consists of the students using think-pair-share. With this activity, the students are paired together with the person they sit beside. Each group receives a copy of the rough draft paragraph and together, the students and I decide which words need to be changed to become more precise. Each group will collaboratively find synonyms for the word using a thesaurus. Selected groups will present their new words at the conclusion of the lesson. This activity helps anticipate the students learning needs through exposing them to the process of how to add vivid vocabulary to their writing. Finally, it addresses student learning needs by showing them all of the steps involved and helping the students understand how to incorporate vivid vocabulary in their own writing samples. B.) Describe how you will monitor student learning during the course of the lesson. Student learning will be monitored in two ways throughout the course of the lesson. First, student learning will be monitored through question and answer. When students answer, I will make mental of notes of the answer the student will provide, and this will give an indication to whether or not he is showing learning. Secondly, when the students are paired together for think-pair-share, I will walk around and actively listen to what the students are saying and talking about with their partner. This is where tremendous amounts of knowledge about

student performance can be attained. The monitoring of groups and student work will help me make important instructional decision including continuing the lesson, will re-teach as needed to pull certain students for strategy groups. C.) What work samples will you require the students to submit as part of your assessment of student learning resulting from the lesson? Provide a rationale for your choice of student work. The work samples that students will submit for the assessment include their final draft essays of the current essays which will be graded on a rubric. The rubric includes a domain titled voice. In this domain, the students will be graded on the element of vivid vocabulary. In their essays, students will be asked to follow the process of the lesson and circle words that are in need of becoming more precise. This happens during the revising and editing stages of the writing process in which students will be involved. With the final draft essay, the students should have evidence of making words more precise following the steps of the lesson. 4.2.1.- Instructional Strategies A.) How effectively did you use content area language in this lesson? During the lesson, I used some content area language. However, I feel like I could have used more content area language, especially words such as precise and vivid. I did effectively use content area language in terms of their assessment with words such as rubric and vivid. However, when teaching the lesson, I noted that I really did not apply the use of content area language as I planned to. B.) How effectively did you use instructional strategies, including questioning skills, to engage students in critical thinking? With the use of instructional strategies, I thought that this aspect of planning went very effectively. The first instructional strategy I noticed was that I presented new material in small steps gradually proceeding the big concept and activity for the lesson. Second, I used a model to help students recognize how to identify, change, and correct words in their own writing. Thirdly, I had the students work in think-pair-share groups to have them facilitate their own learning with my checking for student understanding. With questioning, I felt I was effective using this strategy, asking the students questions in both the lesson and during the activity. The questioning ranged from simple questions such as What tool can we use to help us find more precise words? to Why are you choosing this word? The questioning during the activity helped the students think critically and gave the students the opportunity to think deeply including situations such as Why did I choose this word, How does this word make the paragraph sound more precise?

C.) How did engagement in critical thinking promote student learning? During the lesson, I promoted student learning through critical thinking. When visiting the student groups during the think-pair-share, several students pointed out the new words they found in the thesaurus. When students showed their newfound words, I then asked the students to tell me why they chose the word. Did they choose the word because it looks more precise? Does it sound more precise? I wanted them to tell me why they picked the word.

D.) How effectively did you integrate reading in your lesson? After reviewing the lesson, I feel that I did not effectively integrate reading into the lesson as I should have. I only used one reading strategy in the lesson, which was a minor strategy at best. Even though the strategy was used effectively and the students remembered how to use the guide words and were able to find their desired word, I feel as though I could have added more reading into the content area of writing.

Task 4.2.2.- Interacting with the Students A.) How did you monitor student learning during the lesson? In what ways did evidence of learning guide your instructional decision making during the lesson? During the lesson, I monitored student learning by walking around the classroom. While doing so, I listened to what the students were saying and saw what the students were doing in their groups. In the video, at 6:24 you see that I walked to a group and monitored their work. It was evident that the students were having trouble finding the word scared in the thesaurus. This group had confused the word sacred and scared, which caused confusion. At 6:49, you hear me told the students that the word they chose was sacred. I then tell the students that scared begins with sc not sa. With this evidence, in my mind I am thinking if the students remembered how to use guide words in the thesaurus. Throughout the video, you will hear me say use your guide words to help students remember this important element of a thesaurus. As the video pans to student groups, you can hear me converse with several other groups. While conversing with these students, I am asking them to show me what word they are deciding and where they are finding the word in the thesaurus. This helped me get an overall picture that the students could use the thesaurus and could find a word with the same meaning (at 7:20 in the video, you will see where the students use their knowledge of finding synonyms to make the word more precise). With this, I gathered a representation of how well the

students did with the activity. If the students responded well to finding precise words, then the students would move on to the next activity with less scaffolding and help from me. B.) How did your feedback to individuals, small groups, and/or the whole class advance student learning? Feedback was critical for students because the feedback helped the student to determine if they were on the right path in their own learning. When doing the chart at the beginning of the lesson (0:51-3:00), you hear me give student feedback such as love it, okay, say it louder for everyone to hear. With these indications, the students understood that their answer was appropriate and accepted for the activity. In a small group setting, I gave feedback with comments such as excellent, wonderful, keep working at it! Just as this helped the students individually, it also helped them in a group setting to ensure that they were doing what was expected. C.) How did your use of verbal and nonverbal communication techniques foster student learning? Verbal communication was a strong point in the lesson. When using verbal communication, I communicated what the students were expected to do in terms of the assignment, which the students did wonderfully, causing the lesson to become a success. I also communicated how the students were graded not only on the assignment, but how they are assessed on the state test as well by verbally communicating with them what domain they were going to be graded in and how to get voice points. In communicating non verbally to my students, when I noticed that students were getting out of line or started talking about things other than the assignment I walked to a close proximity of the group and gave them a visual cue to get back to work. This helped keep distractions to a minimum. Task 4.2.3: Classroom Management A.) What classroom-management strategies did you use during the lesson? At 3:16 in the video, this shows when classroom management strategies begin to come into the lesson. At the point, I am preparing the students for the activity. To help minimize time spent on the students writing the essay on the board, I already had copies ready to hand out to the groups. This strategy eliminated time spent waiting on all of the students to copy down the paragraph. At 3:22 in the video, I verbally told students how we were going to work. This way the students already knew how they were going to work in this activity. Following the verbal instructions, I gave examples of how the groupings were determined. You see in the video that I gave two students names and then said are a group. This helped students understand and determine that their partner was the person sitting behind them. This strategy helped with

time management as well since the students did not have to move to find their partner. At 3:37 in the video, I had to move students who did not have a partner. You hear me say Chastity come work with Marion. Then when I realized the next student and the next available student were buddies who tend to cut up in class, I quickly changed the grouping and said, Chastity, will you come work with Jaden? This helped eliminate a possible behavior problem. B.) In what ways did you engage students and promote a positive learning environment? At the beginning of the video, I engaged the students through explaining what the lesson was gearing the students for. In the video at 0:19-0:51, you see that I got students ready by reminding them that the element of vivid vocabulary is on their rubric for their assessment piece. I also had students engaged by wanting to see what they knew (almost like showing-off to me what they already know). To promote a positive learning environment, I gave students positive feedback on their answer choices throughout the lesson (mainly evident at the beginning of the lesson). This evidence of a positive learning environment can be seen beginning at 0:51 of the video. Secondly, I had the students clap after each student changed the determined word and made it more precise. This evidence can be seen beginning at 13:15 in the video.

Task 4.3.1: Student Work A.) Describe two student work samples that resulted from the lesson. The student work samples that came from the lesson include two artifacts. The first artifact is the copy of the sample paragraph that the students used during their think-pair-share activity. This artifact contained the same paragraph that was projected on the smartboard. This work sample, gives evidence about how well the students paid attention to the lesson by seeing if the students circled the correct words as indicated by me. In addition, it presents evidence to how well the students used the thesaurus to find a more precise word and how they used the word in their own paragraph. The second work sample is the rough draft paragraph of the students writing. This work sample contains two paragraphs that are written by the student. The students should have circled words that they thought are not precise. B.) Explain how each work sample you selected demonstrates learning of each student relative to your learning goal(s). Copy of Sample Paragraph- This student work sample demonstrates learning of the pairs of students as they had to determine a more precise word to change the simple words indicated in the paragraph. This work sample provides evidence that the pair could efficiently use the

thesaurus and find a more precise word. This helps demonstrate that the students used the selected tool and could correctly find a word and use it in the writing sample. Writing Sample- The second work sample demonstrates how well the student incorporated the learning from the lesson independently. This helped demonstrate if the student could effectively use the thesaurus and think about a more precise word and correctly use it in their writing samples that are assessed on the rubric. C.) What feedback did you provide to the two students concerning their responses? How did the feedback improve the students understanding of the content being taught? Copy of Sample Paragraph- During the think-pair-share activity, I provided students with feedback regarding their choices. When a group presented the new word they wanted to use in the paragraph, I asked them to think about their choice. What circumstances came about for them to choose the desired word. Did the word look more precise? Did the word sound more precise? In some cases, students chose a word because it looked more precise; however, it gave a new, unrelated meaning. This feedback helped students understand that they have to ensure that they are not changing the meaning just because the word looks more precise or sounds more precise. Rough Draft- When reviewing the rough drafts of the students, I could understand how well the students were progressing towards the learning goal independently. When conferencing with students, I looked at the words the students chose. I asked the students to explain to me why they chose this word. Was it due to the fact that they were repeating the word? Did it sound too simplistic? Their responses helped me understand what the students were thinking during the process and also helped me formulate an understanding of the student progress towards the learning goal.

Task 4.4.1: Reflection A.) To what extent did the students reach the learning goal(s)? The students reached the learning goal to a great extent. After this lesson, the students worked with their writing samples to provide evidence of learning through this lesson. When analyzing their writing samples, many students had words that were repeated or that could use more precision circled in their rough draft. In their final draft, it was evident that the students had changed several words to make them more precise. In the video, the students were already showing progress toward meeting the learning goal. At the beginning between 0:00 and 3:16, it is evident that the students understood what vivid vocabulary meant when working with the

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chart and coming up with what the term meant to them. When looking at various groups working on finding precise words between 10:23 and 12:32 in the video, the way the students are using the thesaurus and talking about the possible word choices helped me understand that the students were grasping the goal of this lesson. B.) Reflect on your instructional strategies, interactions with students, and classroommanagement strategies. Discuss what went well and areas you would revise in future lessons. When reviewing this lesson, I noted many things that I would revise and keep the same. To begin, I feel the instructional strategies went well. I liked having the student think-pair-and share. This strategy helped students work together, and it also helped the students as they had someone to talk through their learning with. The students thoroughly enjoyed this strategy and it helped the flow of the lesson as well. Another strategy I thought worked efficiently was having a model of an example rough draft paragraph. This helped the student see how the concept of adding precise language in their writing works and how they can edit their own rough draft paragraphs. One thing I could change would be more interactions with students. Even though examples of student interaction are evident in this video, I would like to have had more time to get to each group as I feel this would have helped me plan the instruction for the remainder of the lesson more effectively. The final implementation from this lesson I would change is the classroom management. Beforehand, we went through what to do and not to do during a videoed lesson. When teaching the lesson, it was great to not have any behavior problems; however, upon watching the video, it seemed like the class was robotic and stiff. One thing I would do should I have to videotape a lesson is that I would want to handle discipline during the lesson to prove that I can manage a classroom. C.) Describe revisions you could make if you were to teach the lesson again. Why would you make each revision? After reviewing the lesson and the lesson plan, there are several items I would revise when teaching this lesson again. One thing I noted in the video is that I am often repeating phrases such as, okay, and now. This became really irritating during the review of the lesson because I realized that this was something that happened frequently. When planning to teach this lesson a second time, I will try to be more aware of repeating phrases. Secondly, during the lesson, I had to stop and ask a student to spell a word for me as my mind went blank on how to spell the word. This error led to a waste of precious instructional time. Next time, when brainstorming a list of words I would like the students to change, I will have words students might use written on a sticky note. This will help eliminate waste of instruction time by asking students to spell the word for me. The final revision I would make includes student feedback. While the feedback was evident at the beginning, I did notice that I did not give as much feedback at the beginning as at the end of the lesson. When reviewing this, I felt as I had

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neglected to give feedback to students who really needed that sense of pride for having a correct answer. This mistake helped me understand that in future lessons (and this lesson if taught again) I need to provide positive feedback after every answer.