Which theory guided your instructional decision when

planning your Common Core Language & Literacy

lesson?

Backward design, as described by Wiggins and McTighe (2005), guided my
instructional decision when planning my Common Core Language and Literacy
Lesson. Not having much experience with lesson planning, I found their three-stage
approach very helpful. Starting with stage one, I was able to choose a focus standard
and formulate a learning objective. Wiggins and McTighe (2005) identify the state
standards as useful framework to help us identify teaching and learning priorities and
guide our design of curriculum and assessments (p.14). So I chose CA CCSS RL.1.7:
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events. I
then used pieces of this standard to create an objective; Students will be able to
illustrate facial expressions for their own character and will describe why their character
feels that way.

After I identified what it is I want students to be able understand and do, I
moved on to stage two and determined acceptable evidence. I can only know my
students are able to use illustrations and describe a character if I actually let them
exercise their illustrating and describing skills. So I made a summative assessment that
provided a blank face where students have room to draw facial expressions and a
space underneath for them to describe why their character feels that way.

Once I had stage one and two complete, I was ready to plan learning
experiences and instruction. Stage 3 helped me to figure out with activities were
appropriate for engaging my students in accomplishing the learning objective. This
stage goes hand in hand with TPE 3.2 which essentially says to apply what you know
about the students and the learning goals to organize the curriculum to facilitate
student understanding of subject matter and ensure they have access to the
curriculum. As I wrote out the procedure section for my lesson plan I kept my standard,
objective, and assessment in mind. It helped to ensure my students would make
progress towards successfully meeting the learning goal. By intentionally choosing
activities that focus on the illustrators expressions for the main character in the book,
and the causes for why the main characters emotions are changing I can feel confident
that the students will be prepared for the assessment at the end of the lesson.