Emily Kapfer Mora

ISTC 702

Summer 2021

4 Shifts Protocol Analysis

Introduction

I chose to analyze a lesson that I planned and taught while I was interning in college. The

lesson was an English language arts lesson focusing on grammar, and more specifically,

adjectives. It was taught to a first grade class in Howard County.

The lesson began in a whole group with the teacher prompting students to share if they

knew about or could define adjectives. After time was allotted for discussion to build

background knowledge, the students watched a BrainPOP Jr. video defining and giving detailed

examples of adjectives. After the video, students were asked to turn to a peer and whisper the

definition of an adjective to reinforce what they learned from the video. The lesson then moved

into the teacher recording a student-provided definition of ‘adjective’ on an anchor chart.

Students were able to brainstorm and share adjectives and the teacher would make a web of

student ideas on the anchor chart.

Students had prior knowledge of Ruby Bridges as they had studied courageous leaders

for several weeks before moving on to the grammar unit. For a formative assessment, students

were expected to write 7 or more adjectives on a body template page describing Ruby Bridges.

Once they finished writing adjectives about her, they could color the body to look like Ruby

Bridges.

Higher-Order Thinking

Defining a new concept involves thinking, but generating new ideas within the new

concept involves critical thinking. The application portion of the lesson entails the most higher-

order thinking. Asking students to come up with adjectives to describe Ruby Bridges requires

recalling prior knowledge of how she acts, behaves, and looks and translating this knowledge
into a descriptive word. Students are further challenged by being asked to produce at least seven

adjectives to describe the courageous leader.

Students would be further challenged if they were asked to generate adjectives to

describe both Ruby Bridges’ personality and physical appearance. This would task students with

distinguishing between internal and external adjectives. This extra step would make them think

more critically about how they are defining the leader and categorizing these adjectives as

opposed to just yielding the adjectives.

Authentic Work

Students participated in authentic work by applying a grammatical practice to a

courageous leader who is also a woman and person of color. Analyzing Ruby Bridges was a

practice that was relevant to antiracism, a topic that should be spoken on in our classrooms. The

students could have used adjectives to describe anything: zoo animals, a friend, their parent’s

car. However, students deepened their understanding of how a young African American girl felt

and acted by empathizing with her to realize adjectives that describe her.

A way to provide an even more authentic experience could include providing students

with a list of diverse courageous leaders we had previously learned about and encouraging them

to choose which they would like to describe. Ruby Bridges was famous for being one of the first

African American children to attend an all-white school; her story may be more relevant to some

students than others. Perhaps a Hispanic male student would relate better to describing Roberto

Clemente, for example.

Student Agency

With the exception of students working to brainstorm their own adjectives to describe

Ruby Bridges, the lesson does not allow for personalization of individualization. The video
provides differentiation to auditory and visual learners who may not have learned best from

whole group discussions or teacher lectures. Time to turn and talk about the definition of an

adjective benefits students who learn well through peer communication. The anchor chart is

designed for both visual learners and any students who need a concrete or written example of the

concept.

Once technology is better integrated into the lesson, allowing for student choice of which

technology platform they would like to use would give them more ownership of their learning.

Learners could choose to create their adjective project on a platform that best meets their needs; I

find that when we support students in making their own choices when it comes to their learning,

that this leads them to being more successful in the assignment. To be specific, a student who is

artistic might choose a platform such as Piktochart for their project, while an auditory learner

may prefer to make a voice recording sharing adjectives that describe Ruby Bridges.

Technology Infusion

The only technology integrated into this lesson was an instructional video used to support

students’ developing understanding of adjectives. This was shown to enhance student

understanding of adjectives since it was newly introduced. BrainPOP Jr. videos are effective in

explaining concepts to young learners in a way that gives a definition with many relatable

examples.

This lesson utilizes little technology and would benefit from technology being added into

the student assessment piece. Instead of just using the typical pencil-paper method, students

could use a technology platform to demonstrate their learning. They could use an application like

Wixie to add adjectives as text and to paint an illustration of Ruby Bridges. Or, they could use a

word cloud site to type adjectives describing Ruby Bridges and select the shape of a girl to make
the visual connection to her. One-to-one laptops are available in this classroom as well as six to

seven iPads, so this would be simple to implement.

Below is a copy of the lesson plan.

Grade Class Size Date/ Time of Lesson Subject Day: e.g. One, Two

1 23 2/21/19 11:00am Writing Three

Central Focus: The central focus of this lesson is grammar usage in the
interdisciplinary context of social studies.
CCR Standards: L.1.1f. Use frequently occurring adjectives.

Lesson Objective(s): Students will be able to use adjectives by writing about Ruby Bridges
based on what they know from her books and interview.
Grouping: Describe how the The students will begin in a whole group during the
group will be arranged to fully introductory video and anchor chart. Then students will work
participate in the planned individually to use adjectives to describe Ruby Bridges.
lesson (whole class, small
groups, pairs, etc.; peer
coaching?
Cooperative/collaborative
learning?)

Teaching Materials and Technologies Student Materials and Technologies

• adjectives video • character template papers

• chart paper • pencils
• markers • crayons

Responsiveness for All Children

IEP/504 Plans: Supports, Accommodations, Modifications, Pertinent IEP

Classifications/Needs Goals

504: Adjustment Disorder This student will be offered breaks as necessary and will
 receive incentives for positive behavior.

Other Learning Needs Supports, Accommodations, Modifications

English Language Learner This student will receive extra support in spelling if
necessary.

Active, Multimodal Nature of Children’s Learning

• Visual • Visual learners will benefit from seeing adjective defined in

the video, the visual aid of the anchor chart, and the
• Auditory adjectives that they will write in the character template
graphic organizer.
• Auditory learners will benefit from hearing adjective
defined in the video and hearing their peers give examples
of adjectives.

Academic Teacher Support for Children’s Use of Vocabulary

Vocabulary Children’s Understanding

• adjective • “An adjective is a word that Students will use the term
describes another word. What ‘adjective’ when they are
are some things we could brainstorming the definition and
describe?” Let students give examples and choosing adjectives
examples such as how large to describe Ruby Bridges.
something is, what color, what
amount, what it smells like,
etc. “Can anyone give some
examples of adjectives?”
Teacher Action Student Action
Introduction “Today we are learning about
adjectives.”
Link To Prior “Does anyone know what the Give students a chance to share
Learning word ‘adjective’ means?” their knowledge of adjectives.
Discuss if children have some
ideas. If not, move into video.
Motivation and “We are going to watch a video Students will watch the video with
Objective to learn what an adjective is. the purpose of learning what an
Pay close attention so you’ll be adjective is.
able to tell what an adjective is.”
Guided Practice Once video is over: “Whisper to Students will whisper their
a neighbor what an adjective is.” definition of an adjective to a
Then, “Who can share what an neighbor. Then they will have an
adjective is?” Let students share, opportunity to share the definition
then see Academic and examples with the class.
Vocabulary. Record on the
anchor chart the definition and
examples students give.
Direct "To practice with adjectives, we
Instruction/Modeling are going to describe Ruby
Bridges based on the books
we’ve read over the last few
days and the video we watched
this morning. Everyone is going
to get a character body paper.
Write adjectives that describe
Ruby Bridges either around or
inside the body. Try to write at
least 7 adjectives, but it's great if
you can write more! Once
you’ve showed me your
adjectives, you can color the
body to look like Ruby Bridges.
Any questions on what to do?”
Independent Practice Students will write adjectives that
(apply the skill or describe Ruby Bridges, then color
strategy)(assessment) their character to look like Ruby
Bridges.
Closure/Whole “Today we learned that an adjective is a describing word and used
Lesson adjectives to describe Ruby Bridges. Would anyone like to share
some adjectives they wrote on their Ruby Bridges character?”
Assessment (Pre- • Pre-assessment: students’ prior knowledge of adjectives
Assessment, • Embedded formative assessment: observation of student
Embedded Formative conversation about adjective definition, student responses of
Assessment, End of adjective definition and examples after video
Lesson Formative • End of lesson formative assessment: adjectives written on Ruby
Assessment) Bridges character
Evaluative Criteria Students are advanced if they are able to write more than 7 accurate
adjectives describing Ruby Bridges. Students are proficient if they are
able to record 5 to 7 accurate adjectives about Ruby Bridges. Students
are emerging if they are able to write 4 or less adjectives about Ruby
Bridges.
Adjectives along the lines of: brave, courageous, African-American,
young, smart, fearless, etc.