ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

Through analyzing data from the Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement and State Standardized Assessments, it is clear that the students I teach range from two to six grade levels below their grade placement in Reading, Written Language, Science, Social Studies, and Math. The behavioral data also indicates a need for learning basic social skills which include but are not limited to working as a team and appropriately communicating together.
The students in my classroom were in the 6th grade last year at Circle of Nations. The following is data from the Terra Nova CAT 6th Grade Performance on Objectives compared to students nationally. The Objectives Performance Index(OPI)is an estimate of the number of items that a student could be expected to answer correctly if there had been 100 items for that objective. The first number following the objective titles is the Circle of Nations OPI, the second number is the National OPI, and the last number is the difference of the two.
Reading - Basic Understanding 53, 68, -15   Analyze Text 51, 63, -12   Evaluate/Extend Meaning 45, 55, -12Identify Reading Strategies 43, 55, -12   Language - Sentence Structure 50, 67, -17   Writing Strategies 48, 63, -15   Editing Skills 42, 55, -13   Mathematics - Number & Number Relations 67, 76, -9   Computation & Estimation 51, 68, -17   Measurement 32, 47, -15   Geometry & Spatial Sense 37, 51, -14   Data, Stats, & Probability 46, 60, -14     Patterns, Functions, Algebra 39, 56, -17     Problem Solving & Reasoning 32, 50, -18Communication 43, 57, -14     Science - Science Inquiry 64, 73, -9   Physical Science 42, 57, -15   Life Science 50, 63, -13     Earth and Space Science 36, 49   Personal and Social Pers 29, 44, -15Social Studies     Geographic Perspectives 47, 64, -17
History & Culture 39, 56, -17
Civics and Government 45, 59, -14     Economic Perspectives 44, 57, -13
Because of the wide variety of needs in my classroom, I felt it would be appropriate to implement a unit reviewing key concepts in the core subject areas culminating in a final jeopardy game. My unit will also support behavior deficiences by integrating team projects and activities because all of the students in my classroom are on Behavior Intervention Plans. The standards incorporated into my unit range in grade level to address individual needs of students in my classroom.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: 1. I want my students to know the basic terminology and key concepts needed in life. 2.  I also want my students to learn how to work in groups and communicate effectively because these are also life-long skills.
Goal(s):1. The students will learn identified key concepts in core subject areas.  2. The students will learn to work in a group to complete a project or activity.

Questions Answered

Essential questions:  1. How is broadening my vocabulary,understanding the parts of speech, and using correct grammar going to help me communicate?  2. How is learning key subject area concepts like the states of matter, continents, human body and value of money going to help me to be successful in life?  3. Why is it important in society to learn how to work with a group of people on a team?
Objectives:  1. When presented with a picture or name of a solid, liquid, or gas, the students will verbally or in writing identify the correct state of matter with 90% accuracy in four consecutive assignments.  2. When shown a picture of the continents, the students will correctly identify the continents with 100% accuracy in two consecutive assignments.  3. When given a word, the students will identify the correct part of speech with 90% accuracy in four consecutive assignments.  4. When given a group of coins, the students will identify the equivilant coin with 90% accuracy in four consecutive assignments.  5. When given a group activity or project, the students will participate in the activity and communicate with their group members without any warnings for being disrespectful 100% of the time over the group project.  6. When given a noun that forms an irregular plural, the students will form the irregular plural with 90% accuracy in four consecutive trials.  7. When given a Human Body Web Quest, the students will complete the web quest task earning 80 points on the final rubric.  8. When given a list of common vocabulary words found in the State Standards, the students will look up the definitions of the words and create a word search on the computer using all assigned vocabulary words with 100% accuracy over the unit.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding?  1. The culminating jeopardy game incorporating all key concepts and objectives identified will provide evidence of understanding.  2. Varying assessments for each objective will also provide evidence of understanding.
What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance)will provide evidence of understanding?  The Human Body Web Quest gives students a problem they need to solve and results in a power point about the group’s specific body system. What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product)will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?  1. The students will be put into teams to compete in a jeopardy game that incorporates all objectives.  2. The game will be done on the TV just like the real jeopardy game.  3. The teams will have to behave as if they were on the real game show, by buzzing in to answer questions, phrasing the answers in questions, and following all rules of the game.
What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect?  1. The students will earn points for the jeopardy game.  2. The students will use a rubric to grade their Human Body Web Quest.  3. At the completion of all unit activities, each student will evaluate their effectiveness as a team player using a rubric they developed together on the teach-nology website utilizing the smart board . 4. The students will print a certificate to indicate their success rate on identifying the continents and will also take a computerized quiz and print it to determine their grade.  5. The students will complete worksheets on different objectives.

Instructional Strategies

The students know that the final activity in this project is to play a game of Jeopardy against their classmates. This will motivate students to learn as much as they can about each key concept, so they may successfully participate in the game. This should help with self and team motivation. Before beginning the unit, the class will brainstorm key issues to being a team player. The information will be organized into a rubric utilizing the rubric maker on the teach-nology website (http://teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/general/). Upon completion of the unit, each student will evaluate themselves according to the rubric. The students will also be asked to reflect on this unit and evaluate how their team worked together citing positive and negative aspects to the group projects. The students will brainstorm what they would do differently for their next group project.