Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
CWS
Candidate Work Sample
Teacher’s Name: Kaylan Penland Grade level: Kindergarten
School: Elementary School Year: 2011
CWS Section I: Unit Topic or Title (from the long range plan (LRP), key element 1.C)
Earth Science: Fall/Autumn
CWS Section II: Contextual Factors (from the LRP, key element 1.A)
My kindergarten class consists of a mixture of races: Caucasian, Hispanic, and African American. They are also mostly middle class with a few in the lower class. The school is located in Goose Creek, which is a pretty heavily populated area. The school is the biggest title 1 elementary school in the district. The children in my class learn in a variety of ways, and some are on different achieving levels than others. Many of the students kind of know what goes on in the fall, such as it starts to get chilly, they need a little more clothing and may even notice the changing colors of the leaves. However, they don’t know its alternative name (Autumn), that it falls between Summer and Winter, and specifics about what goes on during this particular season with animals and plants. For the most part all the children are taken of by either their parents or grandparents. Many parents seem too busy to continue the education at home as needed, which means there are limitations on parent-guided activities that can be sent home, as well as how much time the activity will take. Most of the students did attend some kind of pre-school. For the few that did not, parent and grandparent guidance in learning has well equipped them for kindergarten.
Step 1 (I) – Identify Overall Classroom Demands
Classroom Organization:
-Physical Organization: There will be a rug at the front of the classroom in front of the smart board. This will be for group time. There will also be about 5 different tables so that the children are grouped by colors. This is where they will do their individual work and go for small groups.
-Classroom routines: Routines will consist of group time, sing and dance time, snack, rotations in small groups, story time, recess, lunch, quiet/rest time, more instructional group time, centers, special area (computer lab, music, etc.), and more instructional group time.
-Classroom Climate: Everyone’s work will be displayed around the room. Children will respect each other as well as the teacher. The teacher will greet each student as they come in to make a welcoming/comfortable feeling. Positive attitudes will be strongly encouraged. The teacher will have a variety of teaching strategies to meet the needs of every student. ( Dr. Shaffer, http://www.personal.psu.edu/scs15/idweb/positiveclimate.htm)
-Behavior Management: The children will move from activity to activity, while never spending more than 30 minutes at one place. Children may stay at centers a little longer. The teacher will be consistent with punishments and consequences.
-Use of time: Children will constantly be learning whether through play or instruction. There will be a certain around about time for each period of the day.
Classroom Grouping:
- There will be whole group time to start class. This when we will do the calendar, weather, “get the wiggles out” time, story time, and the morning message.
- There will be small groups when there are different tasks to be done by each individual student or just with a small number of people, and the groups will rotate to each station.
- There will be individual instruction when during assessments, a child needs to be talked to privately to straighten out a problem, or if a child missed a day and needs to know particular information.
- “Teachers work with individual children, small groups, and the whole group at different times during the day. They do not spend time only with the entire group” (http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Top_10_Signs_Good/)
Instructional Materials:
- There will be a lot of manipulatives used in the classroom pertaining to the lesson. These things might include leaves, acorns, pumpkins, and pictures.
- Other materials include books, pencils, crayons, and smart board.
Instructional Method:
- The first important instructional method I would use is through play. Through play you can see what children are learning and what they understand. During this time, facilitation will be going on such as asking them questions referring to what they are doing and being there if they need someone. The teacher can discretely facilitate by simply joining in on the play. http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/kindergarten/kindapp.html
- Direct instruction will be when new information is introduced or older information is being reviewed.
- Scaffolding will be used when students are struggling and need some guidance.
- Children will have plenty of time to put new and old concepts to practice in small groups.
- Taking into consideration the age of the children, homework will be scarce. There may be assignments though where its that’s child’s day to present something, such as a simple weather report.
- Student evaluation can mainly be done during small groups as the teacher watches each child do a particular activity or assignment. Assessments may include observations, a checklist, parent-teacher conferences, and play based activities. (Clearinghouse,aq http://www.ldonline.org/article/Assessments_for_Young_Children)
Case Study Student Description:
Ben is a five year old student who is partially deaf and has poor eyesight. His parents are trying to decide what type of school setting would be most beneficial to Ben. Ben has always demonstrated that he is very bright and outgoing, and his parents want him to be in a supportive environment so that their son will continue to laugh and grow.
Step 2 (N) – Note Case study Student Strengths and Needs
-Ben has a very positive attitude and loves to smile (+)
-He is good at following directions (+)
-Likes to participate when it is time to draw (+)
-Only says a few words a day (-)
- Can’t see board if not almost right up on it (-)
-Very organized (+)
-Likes to run and play at recess (+)
-Confident (+)
-Poor eye-hand coordination (-)
-Easily gets caught up in her own world and have to talk directly talk to her when wanting her to do something (after have given the instructions to a groups) (-)
Step 3 (C) – Check for Potential Areas of Student Success
- Usually always completes tasks on time.
- Always comes to school on time.
- Transitions very well throughout the day.
- Can sit still as long as needed.
- Handles any changes in the day well and is very easy going.
- When specifically asked to say something , he will.
Step 4 (L) – Look for Potential Problem Areas
- May have trouble with social interactions and communication with others.
- Understanding what is expected by just giving directions to a group may be difficult.
- Words expected to be read by the student needs to be in bigger print.
- Making her way around in any new environment by herself may be difficult. She often bumps into things, looks around for something in plain sight, and seems to have some bad depth perception ( orientation and Mobility). (M. Friend, W. Bursuck pg 216)
- Difficulty in articulation due to hearing loss, because he can’t hear the correct way to say words.
- Can’t stay on task properly without an adult nearby.
- Could end up getting frustrated if the task is difficult and is not understanding what the teacher is telling her to do.
- Reading will be difficult.
Add a classroom map depicting an ideal learning environment for your students.
See attached map.
CWS Section III: Unit Plan
CWS Section III, Part A (key element 2.A):
A. Unit Outline: Make a detailed outline of the instructional unit using the table below. Identify unit objectives and their correlated standards or expectations.
Unit Objectives ( Key element 2.A) | Correlated Standards/Expectations |
The student will be able to show how the season of Fall affects plants and animals through a variety of activities such as writing, art, games, and listening to books. | Standard K-4: The student will demonstrate an understanding of seasonal weather changes. (Earth Science). |
The student will be able to identify the 2 names of the season (Fall and Autumn), and what seasons are before and after it. | Standard K-4: The student will demonstrate an understanding of seasonal weather changes. (Earth Science). |
The students will be able to identify what Fall weather feels like and what the usual dress is. | Standard K-4: The student will demonstrate an understanding of seasonal weather changes. (Earth Science). |
B. One Lesson Plan –
S.C. Standard addressed:
Standard K-4: The student will demonstrate an understanding of seasonal weather changes. (Earth Science).
Objectives:
The students will be able to show how the season of Fall affects plants by choosing objects from outside that fell onto the ground as a result of the season changing.
The students will demonstrate their understanding of what colors are associated with fall by looking at the color of leaves and then making a Fall Collage.
The students will be able to identify the alternative name of fall (autumn).
Assessment: The students will be assessed on their understanding of what falls in fall by what they bring in from the “fall walk”. (A rock, for example, would not be correct.)
Materials:
- A calendar
- It’s Fall by Linda Glaser
- A piece of white construction paper for each child
- Whole pieces or scraps of paper in a variety of fall colors: orange, yellow, brown, red
- Poster board with the poem Down, Down written on it
Procedures:
1. The teacher will call the students to the carpet for whole group time. She will instruct them to sit in a circle.
2. The teacher will begin by asking what month we are in.
3. As the students answer the teacher will bring out a calendar and flip to the September page.
4. The teacher will ask if they what is something special that happens this month, to bring up the topic of Fall.
5. The teacher will ask if they know another word for fall. The teacher will then tell the students how autumn is another word for fall.
6. The teacher will state one thing she knows about fall to get the conversation started and then ask if anyone else knows something about fall.
7. After comments and answers are taken the teacher will move into how we are going to be focusing on how fall effects plants, such as the color of the leaves.
8. The teacher will tell the students that we are going to read a short poem called “Down, Down”, which is about leaves in the fall and then we are going to do something very special. (At this time the teacher brings out the poster with the poem written in it.
9. The teacher will read the poem aloud the first time, then she will have everyone read it the second time, and on the third time she will have everyone clap along as they say it to get the rhythm of the poem.
10. The teacher will check for understanding: “From our poem, what was falling?”
11. The teacher will tell the students that they are going on a “fall walk” around the school to look for leaves that have fallen as well as other objects.
12. The teacher will ask the students to make a prediction about some things they might find.
13. The teacher will talk about safety rules before heading out on the adventure (ex: not going too far from the teacher). She will also tell them that when we come back in we will share what everyone gathered.
14. The teacher will instruct the children to carry their items carefully back to the classroom.
15. After arriving at the classroom the students will sit in a circle at the carpet. At this time the teacher will go around and let everyone share what they found and have a short conversation about a few of them. If a student did not pick something that it correct she will say “That’s really interesting but”… and explain why it doesn’t go with the fall theme.
16. After everyone has had a chance to share the teacher will instruct the students to pick their most favorite item out of their own pile to be placed in the classrooms science center so that we can enjoy them later on.
17. The teacher will instruct the children to bring their leftover items to the backdoor and then go have a seat back on the carpet so I can explain the next fun activity.
18. The teacher will explain to the students that they will be making a fall collage.
19. The teacher will explain that they will be given orange, red, brown, and yellow colored construction paper. The teacher will pause and ask "now why are we using these colors again?" then continue with instructions. They must tear them into smaller pieces. The teacher will demonstrate the tearing of a piece to show them about how big they should be.
20. Then the teacher will explain how they are going to use all the different little colored pieces of paper to cover the white sheet of paper by randomly gluing them all over the page. (While saying this, the teacher will be doing a short demo by holding up the white paper and holding the piece she tore from another color on top of it.)
21. The teacher will assist throughout the activity if help is needed.
22. After the art activity the teacher will conclude the lesson by bringing the students back to the carpet and read It’s Fall by Linda Glaser.
Accommodations:
Ben will stay near an adult while outside.
If the students become too crazy while outside, bring them together and go over the rules. Also, state the consequence if they can follow the rules.
Have baskets for those children who need them to help carry their items from outside.
Resources:
Glaser, L. (2002). It's fall. Turtleback Books.
Step 5(U) Use Information to Brainstorm adaptations for your case study student
Accommodations:
-He should be in a line behind someone so he can easily see that person to follow. “One important area of need for students with visual impairment is orientation and mobility,…” (Friend pg 216) He will also stay closer to the teacher on outside adventures.
- Desks, tables, and chairs are all arranged so that there is plenty of room in between each other. “Your first task in preparing for a student with visual impairment might be to arrange your classroom carefully, leaving adequate space for all students to move about.” ( pg 216)
-Each table will be color coded to help him be more independent on finding where he is suppose to be. For example, if the teacher told him go to the green table, he can go find the table with that color.
- In order to “seat the student to optimize visual learning”, he should be seated beside the teacher or in front during whole group. This will also serve as an accommodation for partial hearing loss. Sitting the student beside the teacher will give the student a chance to better hear them. The student will also sit beside the teacher during small groups.
-If the teacher pauses in the middle of the book to talk about something, the teacher will point at what she is talking about.
-During poems the teacher will have the students say it and clap to the rhythm so that more than one sense is involved.
-There will be many hands-on experiences to involve many other senses as well. If the student can’t see something in detail, he will be able to feel it.
-There will be “specific directions instead of using general words such as here and there.” (pg 217)
-If possible send an extra copy of the book home with the student that is going to be read the next day. This way they can go ahead and explore it by looking at the pictures as they need to and get someone to read it to them.
-Special hearing devices can be use such as a microphone that connect to the child’s hearing aid. This is known as the FM system. (pg 222)
-When asking him a question, make sure he is focused on you and use clear and simple words. He can “get some information through speech reading, or watching others’ lips, mouths, and expressions” (Friend 21). The teacher may also need to talk at a slower pace when in conversation with this child than others. Speaking a little louder may be necessary at times.
-The teacher will always face the children when presenting information.
-Don’t ask the student a question that requires a long verbal answer (speech is taking a longer time to form due to disabilities, a one or two word answer is good)
-If anything in print is meant for the students to see, make sure it is big enough.
Step 6(D) Decide which adaptations to implement for your case study student.
-Students will form a line to move from place to place.
-Classroom furniture will be arranged so that everyone can get around the classroom easily.
-Each table will have a different color hanging down over them, from the ceiling.
- While the teacher is instructing during whole or small group, the student will have a special spot.
-Visual cues will be given that relates to the conversation/instructional time.
-Use hand-on experiences that involve many of the senses.
-Conduct active read-alouds (Ex: the poem from the lesson above)
-Give specific directions.
-Let the students take extra time to explore the books read in class (centers can be a great time for this).
-Use any devices that have been made available to you and the student. In this case it would be the FM system.
-Get the student’s attention before entering into conversation or ask a question.
-Keep questions brief.
-Use questions that require a shorter answer.
-Always face students when presenting information.
-Make sure print is large enough for all students to see.
Step7 (E) Evaluate (case study) student progress
The effectiveness of my strategies will mainly be done by observations. There may also be times when I can get some one on one time with him. During these times I can just have a short conversation to discretely see if he understood the lesson, and to see how much he will verbalize. By having the student more active and using all kinds of senses I will also be able to tell if is working by observing his attitude and how well he is participating. I will constantly be watching to see just how well he can follow specific directions on his own before intervening. This will help me monitor how specific he needs the directions as well as the level of independence.
Section III, Part B: Lesson Plan Assessment (Kay elements 3.A and 3.C)
Objective 1: The students will be able to show how the season of Fall affects plants by choosing objects from outside that fell onto the ground as a result of the season changing.
Pre-assessment: Students will be asked to make a prediction about what they might find on the ground that has fallen because of the new season.
Post – assessment: The students will be assessed on their understanding of what falls in fall by what they bring in from the “fall walk”. (A rock, for example, would not be correct.) This will be done by using a checklist. They will get a check for bringing in the correct things. There will also be a box for notes so that I can keep track of anyone who may have brought in something that doesn’t fit. We will talk about it in circle time but I will also be able to go back to that checklist and either check up on that student at another time (to see if they are still having trouble after our group discussion) or see if they need extra help.
Accommodation: Students will say what they found. This will help Ben with language and also I will know for sure if he meant to pick up what he did, because of poor eye sight.
Objective 2: The students will demonstrate their understanding of what colors are associated with fall by looking at the color of leaves and then making a Fall Collage.
Pre-Assessment: The students will be asked why they are going to use the colors orange, red, yellow, and brown.
Post-Assessment: Students will get a check for using the fall colors to represent the season.
Accommodation: Students will be given a white pierce of paper to cover with other colors so that it will be more obvious when a spot is not covered.
Objective 3: The students will be able to identify the alternative name of fall (autumn).
Pre-Assessment: Students will be asked early on in the lesson if they know another word for fall.
Post-Assessment: The students will be asked if they can write another name for fall on the back of their collages.
Student Name | Correct items were brought in from the “fall walk” | The students used fall colors to represent the season. | The student wrote Autumn as another word for fall. | Other notes: |
Ben | ||||
Kelly | ||||
Brenden | ||||
Liam | ||||
Aiden | ||||
Sean | ||||
Molly | ||||
Jeffery | ||||
Maeve | ||||
Joey | ||||
Jessica |
Section III, Part D: (key elements 2.B)
Activities/Strategies/Materials/Resources (Key element 2.B) | Unit Objective Number(s) |
Whole class time to introduce fall and describe it. | 1,2,3 |
Students will read a poem out loud together and clap along to get the rhythm. | 1 |
Students will take a walk around the school gathering item that have fall to the ground because of the new season. | 1 |
The students will have a class discussion on what they found and any other things that fall from plants that weren’t found. | 1 |
Students will make a fall collage using colors that are found in fall leaves and identify the alternative word of fall on the back. | 1, 2 |
The teacher will read It’s Fall by Linda Glaser out loud. | 1 |
Students will take a trip outside and describe what it feels like and talk about the type of clothes they had to put on to go out that day. | 3 |
Students will create a scene of themselves in an autumn setting, dressed appropriately. (Students can have access to buttons, pieces of cloth, twigs and leaves to help create their scene.) Then the students will write a sentence or two below the drawing to describe it. | 3 |
Read a poem by Angela W. La Fon titled “Weathering the seasons” | 3 |
Read Timmy Tiptoes by Beatrix Potter | 1 |
Class discussion about how squirrels gather food at the end of fall/autumn for the winter. Briefly list other animals that also prepare for hibernation in the Fall. | 1, 2 |
Give each child a cut out of an acorn (so it’s bigger than an actual one) and ask them to hide it somewhere around the room and at the end of the day they have to see if they can remember where they put it. | 1 |
Make a nut ball (or use seeds if allergies to nuts) out of a pine cone, peanut butter, and assorted nuts or seeds. We will hang them up outside so we can observe. | 1 |
Read Tractor Mac Harvest Time by Billy Steers | 1 |
Discussion on what harvesting means, why it happens, and types of foods that get harvested. | 1,2 |
Let the students graph what type of harvest food they like the best. | 1 |
Serve pumpkin pie as a snack. | 1 |
Annotated Bibliography
http://www.personal.psu.edu/scs15/idweb/positiveclimate.htm - This is a website created by Dr. Suzanne Shaffer from Penn State. The site is a resource about positive climate in the classroom. It contains 8 main things a teacher can due to build a positive classroom climate, tips to sustain a positive learning environment, how to support different types of students, and it also contains links to other resources about the topic.
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Top_10_Signs_Good/ - Education.com is a central site for tons of articles, activities, and answers to many questions for education. Most of the information comes from either universities or government institutions. The age group for educational topics goes up through college students. Some of the major categories consist of: school and academics, outside the classroom, learning and your child, child and adolescent development, physical health, parenting and families, and study help and practice problems. Under each one of these categories is many sub categories.
http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/kindergarten/kindapp.html is a link to an article that lays out ways for you to work with you students. It has a range in topics from instructional strategies to using puppetry. For example, one of the topics is brainstorming. The article tells you what brainstorming is all about then it goes into the purposes, procedures, assessments, and the teacher’s role during the activity.
http://www.ldonline.org/article/Assessments_for_Young_Children has a lot of useful information about learning disabilities but also great general information for young children as well. There is one section that strictly talks about what an assessment is and what are the different kinds. It also has resources that give advice about not stressing children out and how to help them develop good study habits.
Including Student with Special Needs by Marilyn Friend and William D. Bursuck is a great resource to prepare teachers for a special needs student(s). It gives a foundation for what services may be available to you as a teacher in the school to help the child. It also describes some of the major disabilities and gives suggestions for accommodations. Another important aspect is that it also gives information about how people with disabilities are protected by the government. This book really focuses on the fact that each student is unique and different, and that means that you need to pay attention to each one’s needs.
Reference Page
Shaffer, S. (2009, June 16). Creating a positive classroom environment. Retrieved from http://www.personal.psu.edu/scs15/idweb/positiveclimate.htm
naeyc. (2006-2011). Top 10 signs of a godd kindergarten classroom. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Top_10_Signs_Good/
Instructional Resources Unit: Curriculum and Instructional Branch. Teaching kindergarten: using a variety of instructional approaches. (1991). Retrieved from http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/kindergarten/kindapp.html
Clearinghouse, E. (1999). Assessments for young children. Retrieved from http://www.ldonline.org/article/Assessments_for_Young_Children
Friend, M, & Bursuck, W. (2009). Including students with special needs. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
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