Content Area: Language Arts
Grade Level: Middle Level
Lesson Theme: Writing Descriptive Paragraphs
Length of Plan: 5 days
Objectives: Students will:
a. Learn the structure and components of the descriptive paragraph.
b. Develop descriptive paragraph writing skills.
c. Write a descriptive paragraph that includes a topic sentence, three supporting details (descriptive words) and a closing sentence.
Standard: Writing Expectative: W.8.3 DOK: Level 2 (Basic Application
of skills and concepts)
Key Words: descriptive, sentences, adjectives, paragraph
Materials: computer (PowerPoint presentation), projector, exercise handout, Descriptive Paragraph Rubric
Lesson Development
Day 1:
1. Greet students. read the quote of the day, have students express their thoughts about it.
2. Brainstorm ideas of what descriptive writing may be. Write students' ideas on the board.
3. Present the definition and elements of the narrative paragraph. Compare with the students' ideas.
Day 2
1. Read aloud a sample of a descriptive paragraph.
2. Have students identify the nouns being described; explain that the words used to describe a noun are adjectives.
3. Point out the use of the five senses to describe.
4. Work on an adjective exercise: the student underlines the adjective and the sense related to the description.
Day 3
1. Using a given topic ( school) students pre- write at least five adjectives to describe the topic.
2. Begin to draft the paragraph, using the adjectives listed.
3. Differentiated Instruction: Give SE students a cloze paragraph to complete the sentences using the adjectives listed.
Days 4-5
1. Work on a special activity: writing a descriptive paragraph about a topic selected by the student.
2. Students will follow the writing process: pre-write (using a web), draft, revise, editing ( the teacher will assist during the class period) and publish.
3. Teacher will evaluate paragraphs using the Rubric previously discussed with the students.
Assessments: Completed adjectives exercise
Published paragraph
Group Interaction
Teacher's observations.
miércoles, 24 de marzo de 2010
miércoles, 17 de marzo de 2010
The Miracle Worker: Learning Journal #1
This movie is a representation of the efforts to teach a deaf-blind mute girl to communicate. The fact that she was able to utter (babble) wa-wa to refer to water, kept her parents hoping to find someone to teach her how to communicate. A tutor, who had partial lost of sight, came from a Blind Institute to teach Helen to communicate. She used various strategies, such as finger spelling to teach what the objects name were. However, this strategy was not being effective due to the fact that Helen knew how to finger spell, but did not know what the word represented. According to Piaget's cognitive development theory, Helen's sensorimotor abilities needed to be developed so she could learn new intellectual abilities. The adaptation to the environment, according to Piaget, is essential for the child's cognitive development.
Another area the tutor wanted to improve was Helen's misbehavior. She eradicated her awful table manners and taught her how to dress herself by being consistent. She didn't allow her parents to reward her for misbehaving, thus creating Helen to reject her tutor. The tutor used what we now know as the positive and negative reinforcements (Skinner's Theory). Whenever Helen acted as instructed, she would let her play with the doll, otherwise she would insist until the desired conduct was achieved.
Finally, finger spelled words came alive to Helen when she was taken to the water pump. Her tutor spelled the word water, and that was the beginning of Helen's language development. she began to inquire about the things around her, and her tutor kept finger spelling the words to Helen, who was astonish to finally being able to discover the world around her and understand what the objects represented. This event, according to Vygotsky (Social Development Theory), is what makes lerning pertinent:teachers collaborate with the student to facilitate meaning construction by the students, making this a reciprocal learning experience.
Another area the tutor wanted to improve was Helen's misbehavior. She eradicated her awful table manners and taught her how to dress herself by being consistent. She didn't allow her parents to reward her for misbehaving, thus creating Helen to reject her tutor. The tutor used what we now know as the positive and negative reinforcements (Skinner's Theory). Whenever Helen acted as instructed, she would let her play with the doll, otherwise she would insist until the desired conduct was achieved.
Finally, finger spelled words came alive to Helen when she was taken to the water pump. Her tutor spelled the word water, and that was the beginning of Helen's language development. she began to inquire about the things around her, and her tutor kept finger spelling the words to Helen, who was astonish to finally being able to discover the world around her and understand what the objects represented. This event, according to Vygotsky (Social Development Theory), is what makes lerning pertinent:teachers collaborate with the student to facilitate meaning construction by the students, making this a reciprocal learning experience.
Renaissance Man Movie: Educational Implications
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
Hamlet, Act II, scene ii
In this movie the behaviorist, conductivist and constructivist learning theories are used to teach a group of soldiers to comprehend and think critically. These students were lacking reading comprehension skills and analytical abilities. One technique the professor tried to use was to let them choose the reading topics they prefer (constructivism), but when they saw the book he was reading, Hamlet by Shakespeare, they asked what was the book about. He got them engaged by using the chapters main ideas, i.e. incest, murder, dishonesty, etc. Once they began reading, their prior personal experiences were contrasted with the story's characters situation and then they were able to understand the meaning of what they read. According to Bruner, (constructivist theory) this is the way in which learners construct new ideas or concepts, based upon their current or past knowledge. This is the learning schema that the student will later on use to make decisions and understand new concepts.
One of the constructivist theory principles is the use of rewards and punishments. In the movie, the professor rewarded the students with a trip to see a play, Hamlet, which would make them appreciate and further understand the concepts they were learning.
Another theory used by the professor was the behaviorist theory. He made each student read aloud portions of the play (characterization technique), and when one of them could not intonate adequately, he read first the portion and made the student imitate his intonation and pace. In another scene, he modeled how to read each character's part.
On the other hand, the conductist theory, which was the approach the institution used to teach their soldiers, was also utilized by the professor. The professor contributed to the change in behavior of the students by giving them praise and letting them know that they were responsible of their choices and decision in life, specifically with the one that was arrested for dealing with drugs. This soldier sent him a letter that demonstrated how he had learned a new way of conducting himself. Basically all of the students showed a change in their attitudes after the course was completed, being able to graduate from their basic training was their final accomplishment.
As teachers, this movie made us realize the importance of teaching our students to think, comprehend and most of all construct their own learning by using their experiences and changing their attitudes. One o the best demonstrations of how this was accomplished was when the students sang and performed a hip-hop version of the novel. To me, this is what learning is all about: to be able to use what you learned and what you know to live.
Hamlet, Act II, scene ii
In this movie the behaviorist, conductivist and constructivist learning theories are used to teach a group of soldiers to comprehend and think critically. These students were lacking reading comprehension skills and analytical abilities. One technique the professor tried to use was to let them choose the reading topics they prefer (constructivism), but when they saw the book he was reading, Hamlet by Shakespeare, they asked what was the book about. He got them engaged by using the chapters main ideas, i.e. incest, murder, dishonesty, etc. Once they began reading, their prior personal experiences were contrasted with the story's characters situation and then they were able to understand the meaning of what they read. According to Bruner, (constructivist theory) this is the way in which learners construct new ideas or concepts, based upon their current or past knowledge. This is the learning schema that the student will later on use to make decisions and understand new concepts.
One of the constructivist theory principles is the use of rewards and punishments. In the movie, the professor rewarded the students with a trip to see a play, Hamlet, which would make them appreciate and further understand the concepts they were learning.
Another theory used by the professor was the behaviorist theory. He made each student read aloud portions of the play (characterization technique), and when one of them could not intonate adequately, he read first the portion and made the student imitate his intonation and pace. In another scene, he modeled how to read each character's part.
On the other hand, the conductist theory, which was the approach the institution used to teach their soldiers, was also utilized by the professor. The professor contributed to the change in behavior of the students by giving them praise and letting them know that they were responsible of their choices and decision in life, specifically with the one that was arrested for dealing with drugs. This soldier sent him a letter that demonstrated how he had learned a new way of conducting himself. Basically all of the students showed a change in their attitudes after the course was completed, being able to graduate from their basic training was their final accomplishment.
As teachers, this movie made us realize the importance of teaching our students to think, comprehend and most of all construct their own learning by using their experiences and changing their attitudes. One o the best demonstrations of how this was accomplished was when the students sang and performed a hip-hop version of the novel. To me, this is what learning is all about: to be able to use what you learned and what you know to live.
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