Theatre Scene Lesson

I. Rationale

It is often debated among school officials and government officials just how important the arts are in schools.  I think that the expression of ones self through the arts is a great way for students to find a way to enjoy school and focus during the rest of the school.  Personally, I believe that the arts can be incorporated into every classroom environment.

II. Overview

Grade Level: 4th Grade

Subject(s): Theatre

Topic of study: Set design

Time allotment: 30 minutes

Standards: 
PO 101. Describe and/or document the setting/environment of a story to be dramatized (e.g., through words, drawings, technical elements).

Objectives: SWBAT create a set design to use based on the book "The Night Before Halloween."

Reflection: Assessing Prior Knowledge and Planning Instruction

• Students need to have knowledge on how to use Pixie to draw.
• Students will be given about 5 minutes to play around with Pixie to ensure that they know how to use some of it's tools before they begin creating their set.
• I will incorporate time into their lesson to explore Pixie to ensure they know what they're doing.
• The content should be taught at this grade level because students will be listening to a picture book and creating a simple set that could then be used to perform a play or readers theatre of this book.
• The standard involved creating a set by doing something such as drawings.  My objective states that students will create a set through drawings.
• This lesson will be taught around Halloween time because the students can then perform their play/readers theatre for their parents around the 31st.

III. Implementation

Procedure:

1. Students will begin by opening Pixie on their computers and I will give them about 5 minutes to play around on the program.

2. Students will then push their computers aside and prepare to listen to the story I will be reading.

3. Students will listen to "The Night Before Halloween."

4. We will discuss that we will be performing a play or readers theatre on Halloween for our families

5. I will ask the students what a "set" is and how we use it in theatre.

6. Students will guess what a set is and we will have a discussion about what it actually is.

7. We will discuss that a set has a background and props that help the performance.

8. Students will be dismissed to begin working on designing their set on Pixie.

9. Students will be given 10 minutes to work on their set.

10.  We will come back together and students will share with the group their set and the rationale behind their set design.

11. Students will vote on which set they like the most and we will plan to make it for our play/readers theatre.

12. Students will save their document to the desktop under "Name Set Design."

13. We will review what a set is and what it's purpose is in a play to bring closure to the lesson.

Technology Integration: We will use the Pixie program to create our set.

Differentiated Instruction: 

Cognitive Delay - Students have the ability to ask questions as necessary.  They may have the ability to work with Pixie while we read the story if they need more time to gain an understanding of how Pixie works.  Additionally, these students can make a plan for their set on a piece of paper before they do their design on the computer.

Gifted - Students who finish their set design can then go on to practice their typing by making a rationale as to why they decided to make their set the way they did.

ELL - The picture book will help students to understand what is happening in our book even though it is written in English.  Additionally students will be drawing on the computer which doesn't require language skills.  

Reflection: Designing Instruction (Intask Standards 7 and 8)

• The point of this lesson is for students to express their creativity through the arts and have a stress free lesson while incorporating literature and Halloween into the mix.
• The multiple intelligence's have been addressed by giving students freedom with their creativity.
• Students must take what happens in a story and find a way to create something that will visually make the book come alive.  Additionally, they have to think about why they want their set to look a certain way and be able to explain their to their peers.

IV. Assessment

Procedure: 

• Students will be pre-assessed through their knowledge of a set and how it is used in a theatre setting.
• Students will be assessed by submitting their completed set and through their presentation where they will demonstrate an understanding of the elements of a set.

Instruments: I will be  using a simple checklist rubric to make sure that my students have an understanding of a set and put forth the effort in their creation.

Name: _________________________________________  Date: _____________________

Background Design  _____

Props                         _____

Effort                         _____

Stays focused             _____

Presentation               _____

Reflection: Planning Assessment (Intask Standard 6)

• My objective is that the students will be able to create a set based on the book we read and therefore by doing their presentation and turning in their set design I will be able to assess an understanding and show a completion of the activity.
• Students engage in higher level thinking because they are required to do their own set up and draw on their individual creativity.  They aren't given many limitations and therefore have to think about what they think would look best, rather than designing what they think someone is looking for.
• Students have freedom based on their own intelligence and ability level to create what they are capable of doing.

V. Materials and Resources

• "The Night Before Halloween" book
• Computers

Reflection: How does your lesson meet each of the ISTE NET's Standards?

• My lesson meets student creativity because I am not giving many parameters to their set design because I want them to make it their own.
• Students will be practicing their use of computer skills by using Pixie.
• Students will be given time to explore Pixie prior to actually creating their lesson.
• Students have prior knowledge of the use of technology and we will be further enhancing those skills by practicing on Pixie.  We won't be using any other programs or browsers and therefore this limits the amount of items that students may come across that may not be age appropriate.  We will be accepting of everyones designs and students have the ability to create what makes sense in their heads and what makes sense with their culture.

Current Events Lesson Reflection

Lesson Reflection

1. Instructional Decisions/Teaching (Intask Standard #9): Discuss the implementation process and describe...

• What went well and what didn't go well during the implementation of your lesson?

• Overall, I feel as though my lesson went very well.  Throughout the lesson, I was given the feedback that my "students" were pleased with how I stopped and asked if there were any questions throughout the lesson.  The other part of my lesson that I believe went the best was my timing.  Everything flowed smoothly with transitions and the students were given plenty of time to finish and bring us to the 25 minutes perfectly.  In my opinion, none of my students seemed to feel rushed during the lesson.  Obviously if I was doing this with a class of more than four students, we have a much larger varying number of paces between students.  Therefore I think I would have needed to give an example of the activity in it's entirety so that students could move at their own pace.  I would also include my extensions right away so the students who finish extremely fast would have no down time to fool around on the computer.

• I think that the only thing that didn't go well during my lesson is that I had written it the week before so when it came time to teach it, I needed to refer to my lesson plans quite often because I couldn't remember exactly what I had written down to happen in which order.  I would have liked to be better prepared and only have to refer to my plan once or twice during the lesson, and preferably not at all.  I felt like it was a bad example to my students when I couldn't remember exactly what I had done.

• How well was the alignment to objectives and standards maintained.

• My standards were: 

PO 1. Describe current events using information from class discussions and various resources (e.g., newspapers, magazines, television, Internet, books, maps).PO 2. Discuss the connections between current events and historical events and issues from contentstudied in Strand 1 using information from class discussions and various resources (e.g., newspapers,magazines, television, Internet, books, maps).

• My objective was:

Objectives: SWBAT compare and contrast a current event to a previous event in history using a Venn Diagram.

• My objective and my standards aligned very well throughout my lesson.  We defined what a current event was in the beginning of my lesson and gave a few examples before leading into the next standard of comparing and contrasting a current event and a historical event.  We then used a Venn Diagram to display our comparisons as it says in my objective.  Throughout the entire lesson, I stuck by both these standards and the objective.

• Describe any modifications made during the implementation of the lesson.

• During my lesson I was going to give my students the opportunity to pull up my blog post and then from there choose the website they wanted to find a current event on.  When we actually did the lesson, I ended up just posting the names of the websites on the SmartBoard so they could see the options.  However, once they made a decision on which website they wanted to visit, their opportunity to go to another website was limited because the SmartBoard went dark and they didn't know what their other options were.

• Also, I hadn't originally planned to use the SmartBoard and then decided that I couldn't just talk about the steps to do the assignment, but instead needed to demonstrate the directions where all the students would be able to see.

2. Mechanics:

• What technologies did I use (for the teacher and the learner)?  How were the technologies used (by whom and in what manner)?

• In the beginning of my lesson, I used the SmartBoard to demonstrate what we would be doing so my students could visually see what we would be doing.  Next, the students pulled up their browser and went to one of the three websites I listed to allow them to do research on their current event.  Once they did their research and read their article, they pulled up the Kidsperation program to take the notes on their article and create their Venn Diagram.

• My lesson was within the correct time frame because...

• My lesson was within the correct time frame because we were able to keep together with plenty of time without feeling too rushed.  Each of my students completed all the parts of the assignment and we had time to share with our partners.  If I had more time, we would have had time for an extension and if we had run out of time, I also could have taken some parts of the activity out.  The lesson went exactly how I had planned it.

3. Assessment of Learning (InTask Standard #6): Refer to Assessing Student Learning

• Include at least 2 digital artifacts that demonstrate what you or your students (peers) have created as a result of your lesson.

• Venn Diagrams my students created to demonstrate the similarities and differences between a current event and a historical event.

• Describe your students' level of success in achieving the standards and objectives for your lesson based on your assessment.

• My students were very successful on their assessment achievement.  I am very pleased with how their Venn Diagrams came out and they seemed to understand the difference between a current event and a historical event very well.

• Describe the level of success you had in teaching the lesson.

• I believe that my lesson was very successful.  I received positive feedback from my peers about the lesson and had all 5's in every category except for one 4 on catering to the needs of all students.  Based on their feedback, and my own reflection, I think I will ensure that I am better prepared for my lesson and make sure that I help with any accommodations my students need.  Other than that, I believe my lesson was extremely successful and I'm happy with how it turned out!

Current Events Lesson

I. Rationale

I believe that it is important for students to start to become aware of the world they are living in at an early age.  I think that introducing current events to 3rd graders is a perfect way to give them the freedom and enjoyment of keeping up with what is happening in our community, country, and world.

II. Overview

Grade Level: Third

Subject(s): Social Studies

Topic of Study: Current Events

Time Allotment: 30 minutes

Standards:

PO 1. Describe current events using information from class discussions and various resources (e.g., newspapers, magazines, television, Internet, books, maps).
PO 2. Discuss the connections between current events and historical events and issues from content
studied in Strand 1 using information from class discussions and various resources (e.g., newspapers,
magazines, television, Internet, books, maps).

Objectives: SWBAT compare and contrast a current event to a previous event in history using a Venn Diagram.

Reflection

• Students will need to be aware of some of the events that have taken place in history in either our community, city, country, or world.
• We will have a discussion about some of the historical events we have talked about throughout the year (lesson would take place towards the end of the year.)  We will make a list of the events and then reflect verbally on some of the details about those events.
• I will need to recall what my students and I have talked about throughout the year to know what to remind them of if they forget any of the topics.
• When students are in 3rd grade they have begun to notice more of the world around them and this would be a good time to begin to introduce that there is more happening than just in our school or there homes.  I think it is also a good time for me, as their teacher, to still censor some of the information they get, but to keep them aware.
• My standard involves them doing research about current events and then comparing this to a past historical event.  Therefore, in my objective I ask them to use a Venn Diagram as a method to record their comparisons.
• This lesson will be taught towards the end of the school year because we will spend the majority of the year discussing past events that have taken place in history.  This will lead us into discussing that we are still creating history and that it is never-ending.  Additionally we can relate this to why we learn about history and about keeping bad events from repeating themselves.

III. Implementation

Procedures:

1. Students and I will gather on the carpet to discuss some of the past events they have learned about that year or in their years past.  Together we will compile a list of these events.

2. We will have a brief discussion about these events and remind each other of some details we know about these events.

3. I will then introduce the idea of "Current Events" and see what the students already know about it.

4. We will discuss a few examples of "Current Events" that are happening in our school community.

5. I will introduce our activity.

6. Students will be told that we will be going on our computers or iPads to look at some current events that are happening in the world right now.  They will then be comparing it to an event that has happened in history.  I will ask the students to volunteer an idea about how we could organize our thoughts.

7.  We will come to a general consensus that a Venn Diagram would be the best way to organize our comparisons.

8. Students will create a Venn Diagram using Kidsperation  and before we are dismissed to our computer or iPad's, the students will label their diagram with my assistance.  Once side will say "Historical Event", the other side will say "Current Event" and the middle will say "Both."  

9.  When the students have been dismissed to their computers or iPads, they will use one of 3 possible websites I will give them the option to use, to begin finding a current event they would like to write about.

• WEBSITES
• www.timeforkids.com > NEWS 
• magazines.scholastic.com
• www.dogonews.com > Current Events

10. Students will be given around 10 minutes to do research and decide on a current event and historical event.

11. Once they have decided on their events, they will begin to fill out their Venn Diagram with as much information as they can.
12. Students will be expected to save their Venn Diagram using the title "NameVenn."

13.  Students will then work in a small collaboration group to teach their peers about what they learned is similar and different between a current event and a historical event.

14.  We will then all come together to discuss if events is very different or very similar to some of the events that have happened in history and why?  This will provide our closure to the topic.

Technology Integration: Students will use websites to research current events and/or historical events.  In addition, students will create a Venn Diagram to record their information using Kidsperation.

Differentiated Instruction: 
Cognitive delay - While students are working on their individual research, I will help any students with cognitive delays to do their research and work on recording what they find on a piece of paper first before we transition to the Kidsperation chart.  I will also help guide them to finding a topic to research if they are struggling with this.  Additional time can be added if necessary.
Gifted - These students would most likely gather their information rather quickly, and I would then ask them to transition their notes from being in their Venn Diagram to being in a paragraph/essay format depending on where they stand in writing skills.  They would also be able to gather more information than some of my lower level students.
ELL - While any of my ELL students are doing their research, I would deem it appropriate for them to translate their websites to their native language to help them grasp the information they are learning, but I would still expect them to write their notes in their Venn Diagram in English to practice those skills.  I think it might be easier for them to translate it into their own words in English, if they understand what is being talked about in the article that is written in their native language.
Additional Differentiation - Under the accessories folder there is an "Ease of Access" folder where there are are functions such as a magnifier or a narrator which is available to those who need it. 

Reflection

• My instructional methods allow for my students to gather information as they understand it and is very friendly to students who are at different levels to gather what makes sense to them and take notes based on what they are comprehending from their research.
• My method brings in multiple subjects to practice our use of social studies, reading and writing.  The students have the ability to comprehend articles at different age levels so those who are at lower levels or higher levels can go to a different part of the website and get easier or harder websites.
• The comparing and contrasting of the events makes students have to think about what is similar and what is different to come up with unique parts of it.  Students must recall on the past events we have learned about as well and draw on their critical thinking about what we learned and find similarities, even if they aren't that obvious.  Additionally, they have to be able to explain it if they had to verbally present to a friend of a group.

IV. Assessment

Procedure:

Diagnostic Assessment - Students and I will compile a list of historical events we have discussed throughout the year and this will inform me about how much they have learned from the year and where we stand on their familiarity with historical events.

Formative Assessment - I will be walking around as students are doing their research and creating their Venn Diagram.  I will be able to see if the majority of them understand what they are reading or whether they are confused about what a current event is.  Throughout, I will have the ability to stop the students and make points that they need to know to continue to progress through the lesson.

Summative Assessment - At the end, I will be collecting their Venn Diagrams (and in some cases essays) to see their understanding of the difference between historical events and current events.  Additionally I will be able to see if they are grasping the difference between comparing and contrasting topics.  If I see that the majority of them understand, then we will be sharing them with each other at a later date.

Instruments: Students will be taking their notes on the computer and creating their Venn Diagram on the computer as well.

Reflection

• My standards are about learning about a current event and it's purpose and then comparing an event to another event that happened in history.  They will also practice knowing their difference between comparing and contrasting.  Their final Venn Diagram and/or essay will show me if they understood or if we need to touch on this subject again from a different angle.
• The students will demonstrate their understanding through their diagram as well as possibly sharing what they've learned with a small group following our research.
• Students must draw on prior memory and discuss differences and similarities on a subject they are just beginning research on.
• The assessment will show me which children struggled and where they succeeded.  This will help me to move onto reteaching if necessary.

V. Materials and Resources

• WEBSITES
• www.timeforkids.com > NEWS 
• magazines.scholastic.com
• www.dogonews.com > Current Events
• Kidsperation

Reflection

• Students are given the freedom to write about whatever current event or historical event they feel like they personally connect with so they are interested in the research they are doing.  They can be different or similar to each other, but whatever peaks their interest, is open to their research.
• Students are exposed to how to find information on the internet through reading or videos on the given websites, as well as recording their information in a computer program to practice their typing skills and their creativity on the computer.
• Students will be aware of the etiquette for using the computers and what is expected of them.  We will have prior knowledge of what a responsible computer user does and how they get the computers taken away from them if they are not following directions.  Additionally, I've provided websites for them to visit so that no one is visiting any funny websites whose content is questionable.