Reflection #Mbili (That's 2 in Swahili)

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?

The work on StoryMaker was a success. The students were very engaged and enjoyed learning how to use this new application. It was nice to allow them to have some freedom to be creative and create a unique story. The students also enjoyed the story, it was engaging, entertaining, and connected well with the lesson.

Initially I had created an example story; however, it was tragically deleted, so I had no example. The students reflected in my peer survey that it would have been helpful if I would have an example of what I was expecting. At the same time, I enjoyed seeing the unique story lines they came up with and feel like they would have not been as creative if there was an example. I also was notified that I could have spent more time talking through dialogue. Overall, I felt like the lesson was a success.

How well was the alignment to objectives and standards maintained?

I feel like it was completely aligned with my objectives and standards. Throughout the whole lesson I was focused on teaching what dialogue is, how it is used in stories, and how to appropriately include it into their own story. I don’t really move away from that base objective.

Describe any modifications made during the implementation of the lesson

I went far faster than I would in a fourth grade classroom, because the students I was teaching were adults, so they already know how to punctuate dialogue and use it correctly. This lesson was supposed to take a total of 4 hours over a period of 4 days, I did this one in 30 minutes, so obviously not all the activities were completed. The final activity was not actually graded or scored because the students did not have enough time to complete it. About half of the lesson was “talked through”, as in I briefly stated what I would do. The students also worked individually, rather than in pairs.

2. Mechanics:

What technologies did I use (for the teacher and the learner)?

I used Ipads and the doc cam. The students used the application StoryMaker to create their final project.

How were the technologies used (by whom and in what manner)?

The teacher (me) used the Ipad to read the story to the students. If I were in a large classroom with many students I would use the doc cam to project the story larger so all could see it. But, since it was a small group of three I just read it to them in a semi circle.

The students used an application called StoryMaker on the Ipads to create a story book about Rufus for their final project. Some screenshots from those final projects are shown below.

My lesson was within the correct time frame

• It was short because…
• It was too long because…
• The lesson was within the correct time frame because…

My lesson end up being too short because it was supposed to be completed within the time frame of 4 hours over 4 days. The reason it was shortened is because I only had 30 minutes in class to teach it. Also, many of the concepts that would have to be taught in depth to fourth graders, do not have to be taught at all to adults who already have a firm understanding of this concept. I also want to give  the students plenty of time to create elaborate, interesting, creative stories. The stories created by my adult students were decent, but they did not have enough time to put really good planning and creating in.

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

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

The students did really well at grasping the concept of dialogue and its purpose in a story. They did not have enough time to complete the project in its entirety, so technically on the rubric, they would have done poorly, at no fault of their own. If they would have been given adequate time I know they would have completed wonderful final projects.  

Describe the level of success you had in teaching the lesson

• How do your individual reflections support this?
• How do the comments from your classmates support this?

I think I did fairly well with teaching the lesson, if technology had been more kind to me, it would have been even more awesome. But, you work with what you have. I think that I could have spent more time clarifying what I would do with my students and how I would teach them the concepts, because I feel like in my lesson plan I teach things thoroughly and well, but in my peer surveys I was notified that I did not do it enough. There was one activity that I was fairly proud of, but I had to skim over it due to time constraints, and I don’t think the idea was communicated clearly enough.

However, overall  I think I did very well. I taught it as quickly and well as I could, and allowed enough time for them to explore StoryMaker and create short stories. They commented that they really enjoyed learning how to use StoryMaker and see it as a potential tool they could use in their future classroom. I was glad to expose them to it and show them just one of the many ways it could be used.

Rufus’ Dialogue Lesson

OVERVIEW

Grade Level: 4th Grade

Subject(s): Writing

Topic of Study: Dialogue in Writing

Time Allotment: 4 hours, over the span of 4 days. (one hour per day)

Standards: (Include Common Core and/or Subject Area (if needed))

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.3

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3.B

Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.

Objectives: (What do you want the students to know or be able to do?, I will be looking carefully on how they align with your assessment)

1. Demonstrate an understanding of how to use dialogue to advance the plot of a story.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the three purposes of dialogue in a story.
3. Demonstrate the ability to write dialogue grammatically correct into a story.

Reflection: Assessing Prior Knowledge and Planning Instruction

• What do the students need to know prior to the lesson?
• The students should have an understanding of written English, how to read, and how to write.
• The students should have some knowledge of punctuation and how it is used correctly in writing to convey meaning.
• How will prior knowledge and experience be assessed?
• We will talk about dialogue, what it is, how it is used, and how we indicate it in writing.
• How will you use this information in the planning process?
• I will know if I need to spend more time teaching the basics of dialogue by doing more examples, or if they are competent on this topic and ready to move on to more difficult things.

• Why should the content of this lesson be taught at this grade level?
• There is a standard that states that students should be able to use dialogue in a written work to advance the plot of a story.
• How do the objectives that you have for the lesson align with the standards?
• I am directly teaching and having students practice how to use dialogue correctly and effectively in a written work. All of the objectives revolve around the use of dialogue in a story.
• When will the lesson be taught in the course of the school year? Why?
• Depending on the level of the students I feel that this could be taught early in the year. I would gage the students abilities in writing and then decide if they need some supplementary teaching and practice before I do this lesson with them.

IMPLEMENTATION

Procedure: (Include a step-by-step description of what the students and the teacher will be doing (i.e. walk me through the lesson)

Introduction:

“Class, Class” (Yes, yes)

“Today we are going to be reading a book about a monster! He has a problem and we are going to read about it! Ready to read?”

*Read “Rufus’ ROOOAAARRRR”*

Pre-Assessment:

“What do we do to communicate what we want?” ( talk, say something, use words)

“A new word for talking or communicating is ‘dialogue’.” *Write it on the board*

“How do we see dialogue in books or writing?” *show them a page of the book that uses quotation marks to cue* *I will write an example of dialogue on the board, then write a sentence and ask them to tell me how to punctuate it correctly to make it written dialogue

“How do we convey emotion in writing?” (exclamation points, question marks, periods)

Learning Activity:

“What was the problem that Rufus had in the story?” (He couldn’t speak, he couldn’t convey what he wanted.)

“Dialogue is supposed to one, if not all of these 3 things:

1. Reveal characters’ relationships to one another.

2. Move the story forward.

3. Increase the tension.”

“What do these mean?”

(I will give each pair a section of dialogue that I believe represents one of the 3 purposes of dialogue well. It will be on a piece of paper. I will have the three purposes up on the board in a Venn Diagram. Students will come up and tape the dialogue in the section that reveals the purpose well and they must defend their decision.)

• Reveal characters’ relationships to one another: What would you say if you really liked someone? What would you say differently if you really didn’t like someone? What can a discussion show us about two characters and how they are related? (Discuss more if needed)

Ex.) "What's the capital of Spain?" Jerry asked, pausing over his crossword puzzle. Susan looked up from her book and rolled her eyes. "Madrid, duh."

"Why are you so sarcastic all the time?” Jerry slammed his pencil on table.

He looked like he was going to cry. “I don't think I can take much more of this."

• Move story forward: Why couldn’t the story move past the original problem of Rufus wanting ice cream? (he couldn’t speak) How can we use dialogue to make more happen in a story?

Ex.) The phone rang, and Jerry picked it up. "Hello?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end.

"Is this Jerry Simmons?" a male voice asked.

"Yeah. Who is this?"

The man paused. Jerry could hear him take a deep breath.

"Jerry, my name is Dave. I’m your brother”

"If this is a prank, it isn’t funny,” Jerry said. “My family died a long time ago."

“Not your whole family,” Dave said. Jerry hung up the phone.

• Increase the tension: What is tension? (allow some responses) It is when something really exciting is happening in the story or is about to happen.

Ex.) "Dave!" Jerry shouted. "We've got to get away from here! The building's gonna blow!"

"We've got to go back!" Dave screamed.

"Why?" Dave pointed at the roof. "Susan's still up there!"

“I want you all to close your eyes, and imagine in your head what would happen if Rufus could speak rather than roaring?” *give them some time to imagine it*

“Alright, now open your eyes, I want you to work in pairs (teacher will choose the pairs) to create a story on StoryMaker that retells Rufus’s story, except that he can speak now. I want you to be creative and make the story interesting. You must use at least five lines of dialogue and the story must be at least 15 pages long and each line of dialogue must use one of the ‘purposes’ of dialogue (reveal relationships, move the story forward, or increase tension). Each pair will present their story to the class in three days and they will read it aloud to the class. I want you to try your very best on creating the illustrations on StoryMaker, I want them to be very nice and match up with what is happening in the story.”

I will also suggest that they create a flow chart or outline on paper before creating the story on StoryMaker.

During lesson I will walk around and talk with students about their stories and assist them where needed.

Technology Integration: (Describe how students and the teacher will use technology throughout the lesson)

• The teacher will use the Ipad on the doc cam or projected onto the board to read the story to the classroom.

• Students will use StoryMaker to create a new story about Rufus, if he could speak with the people.

Differentiated Instruction: Describe how you will differentiate the instruction for each of the following:

• Cognitive delay: The students will be working in pairs, so if a student has a cognitive delay I will pair them with a student that is more of a “nurturer” personality who will help them and allow them to make contributions to the story. They will not be required to read it to the class.
• Gifted: These students will be paired together and I will ask them to make a longer story (at least 15 pages and 10 lines of dialogue) and more complex- each line will have at least 2 of the purposes of dialogue.
• ELL: These students will be paired with a native English speaker who has a “nurturer” personality who will help them and still allow them to make contributions to the story. The ELL student can also write some dialogue of their native language into their story, if desired. They will not be required to read it to the class.

Reflection: Designing Instruction (InTask Standards 7 and 8):

• Why are you using the instructional methods you have described?
• I feel like this is the right combination of direct instruction and experience for the students to learn and then use their knowledge to construct their own story. Creating their story will engage them well and allow them to put their knowledge to use.
• How do the instructional methods align with what you know about best practices (think about your methods classes)?
• I think this aligns with best practices because we know that students learn when they are engaged and through experience. I feel like this lesson offers both of these things.
• How are you engaging students in creative and higher order thinking?
• I believe that creation is a higher order thinking skill. I want my students to use their creativity to construct a story that exemplifies their understanding of the concept of dialogue, and their imagination.

ASSESSMENT

Procedure: Read Assessing Student Learning (Include a description of how you will determine the students' success in meeting the standards and objectives of the lesson (You must include what artifacts and activities will be assessed as well as a description of the assessment process))

• The only thing that will be assessed is the students final StoryMaker project and their presentation of their story. I will use a rubric to assess each of the pairs’ stories and readings of the stories.

Instruments: (Include [or link to] any tools that you will be using to assess your students (i.e.. rubric, checklist, worksheet, test)

Rubric	0	1	2	3	4
Grammatically correct dialogue	There are 4 or more errors in the punctuation of the dialogue.	There are 3 errors in the punctuation of the dialogue.	There are 2 errors in the punctuation of the dialogue.	There is one error in the punctuation of the dialogue.	All dialogue is punctuated correctly.
Purpose of dialogue	Four or more of the lines are not justified with at least one of the purposes of good dialogue. Gifted: Four or more of the lines are not justified with at least one of the purposes of good dialogue.	Three of the lines are not justified with at least one of the purposes of good dialogue. Gifted: Three of the lines are not justified with at least two of the purposes of good dialogue.	All but two of the lines are justified with at least one of the purposes of good dialogue. Gifted: All but two of the lines are justified with at least two of the purposes of good dialogue.	All but one of the lines is justified with at least one of the purposes of good dialogue. Gifted: All but one of the lines is justified with at least two of the purposes of good dialogue.	All dialogue is justified with at least one of the purposes of good dialogue. Gifted: All dialogue is justified with at least two of the purposes of good dialogue.
Length of story	The story is 6 or less pages in length. Gifted: the story is 11 or less pages in length.	The story is 7 pages in length. Gifted: The story is 12 pages in length.	The story is 8 pages in length. Gifted: The story is 13 pages in length.	The story is 9 pages in length. Gifted: The story is 14 pages in length.	The story is 10 or more pages in length. Gifted: The story is 15 or more pages in length.
Story presentation	Story was read very unconfidently, with a quiet voice.				Story was read confidently, with a loud voice.

Reflection: Planning Assessment (InTask Standard # 6):

• How does the assessment align with the standards and objectives of this lesson?
• The assessment is directly assessing the students’ abilities to use dialogue in their story, their abilities to use it for one of the specific purposes, and how to identify it punctuationally correctly.
• How does the assessment demonstrate that the students have been successful in learning the content?
• The assessment will demonstrate that students have been successful in learning the content by giving them points specifically for the correct use of dialogue in a story, giving their dialogue purpose, and punctuating their dialogue correctly.
• How does the assessment demonstrate student engagement in higher order thinking?
• The students are asked to give their dialogue specific purposes, which can be slightly abstract. This requires interpreting the underlying meaning of dialogue, which is a higher order thinking skill.
• How does the assessment demonstrate that individual student needs were met?
• The students who are lower functioning are paired with someone who is able to support them well, so there does not need to be an assessment adjustment in that area.
• I included adjustments to the rubric for the gifted students in my class. I wrote their adjusted expectations in italics on the rubric. In reality I would create a completely separate rubric so students who are not classified as “gifted” do not feel insecure about that.

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES

In this section include any examples you have created for the students, resources (software, weblinks, books, crafting items, etc.) and other necessary items

• Ipads (enough for every pair to have one)
• StoryMaker app on each Ipad
• App: MeeGenius: 800+ Award Winning Interactive Kids Storybooks- “Rufus’ ROOOOAR” by: James Novy (Downloaded on teacher’s Ipad)

Reflection: How does your lesson meet each of the ISTE NETs Standards?

1. How does your lesson meet Standard 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity ?

Students are creating stories and imagining new possibilities for Rufus as he is able to engage in conversation. Students are also creating illustrations that are colorful, stimulating, and relate to the story. I believe that this lesson promotes student learning and engages students in fun, creative experiences.

2. How does your lesson meet Standard 2: Provide Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments?

Students are using Ipads to create their stories. They are learning how to navigate them and learning what they are able to achieve with technology. They will be possibly learning how to use a new application to create something. They will learn that there can be a connect between technology and creativity.

3. How does your lesson meet Standard 3: Model Digital-Age Work & Learning?

I model how to use the application before having students complete their own project. While modeling I will show and verbally explain to the students how I am using the application and how I am using it with Global Digital Citizenship ideals in mind.

4. How does your lesson Meet all four elements of Standard 4: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility by:
• advocating, modeling, and teaching safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.
1. Story maker is its own application and if students are only on that application, there is nothing unsafe, illegal, or unethical. The only bad thing that could happen would be if the student went off Storymaker and onto the internet and did something unsafe, illegal, or unethical.
• addressing the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources.
1. I made sure to create pairs that would be good and students who have disabilities, that would hinder them from doing well on this project are paired with people who would support them well and still allow them to make contributions to the project.
2. This project would be completed entirely in class, so students would not have to access any technology outside of class.
3. Any other need would be addressed as they came up in my class. I believe that this is a fairly equally accessible activity, that with the appropriate support, anybody could do.
• promoting and modeling digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information.
1. Students would not be interacting socially with anyone online, so that would not be a problem.
2. I would talk with students about how when we create our stories that we do not make them to be mean to another person or to embarrass or hurt someone else.
3. I would reference cyberbullying and talk about the implications of that, with my class.
• developing and modeling cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools.
1. Students are able to be completely free with what they write their story about (within the parameters of being kind to one another and not including inappropriate themes) so the students are free to implement ideas, celebrations, items, or anything that is a part of their culture. I believe that through this we can notice the true diversity of culture, background, and personality within our classroom.
2. If I were to add some things I would add an emphasis on promoting this idea more in my lesson.