Lesson Alignment to Standards

Video Transcription

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you are having a wonderful day today. Today, we're going to be looking at lesson alignment to standards, focusing in on how we can revise a lesson or create a lesson so that it is aligned to both our content area standards and to technology standards.

For today's lesson, I've chosen a quote by William Arthur Ward, which states, "the mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates, and the great teacher inspires." Just a little something to remind us of our role in all of this.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to create a lesson aligned to the outcomes and objectives of both the subject area standards and the appropriate technology standards. So for today's lesson, we are going to use a proficiency scale or rubric that I created on iRubrics. So let's take a look at that very quickly.

This is the rubric that I created using iRubric. It is a wonderful tool to use. It helps the creation of that rubric, and I am going to use what I've created here, the proficiency scale as we walk through the major elements of the lesson. This proficiency scale was developed using both a language arts content standard, as well as an ISTE student technology standard.

We've created the proficiency scale first so that I know exactly where I want my students to end up by the end of the lesson. You'll notice this is really important in creating a lesson that fits within that standards-based model. So let's break down what this lesson includes.

In our lesson plan, like I said before, we have our content standard. This is the English language arts literacy standard for ninth through 10th grade, which says that students will determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details. They'll also provide an objective summary of the text.

I've also aligned this with technology standard, the ISTE student standard number 2, communication and collaboration, which states that students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Once we have those two standards, we're able to develop our outcomes or our objectives, the "I can" statements for what we want our students to be able to show by the end of the lesson. The "I can" statements for this lesson are I can provide an objective summary of the text. You'll notice that connects directly to our content standard. I can determine the theme of a text and analyze its development throughout the text, again, directly connected to our content standard. And, finally, the "I can" statement that's connected to our technology standard-- I can use digital tools to collaborate with peers and communicate the theme and summary of the text.

Now let's take a look at what this lesson plan will look like in action. I have my learning plan. Now this isn't very detailed. Yours can be more or less detailed depending on how much control and foresight you want in terms of your lesson, or you can leave it a little more open to allow yourself room to be flexible with your students. So my learning plan is that over the course of a week students will read a short story, discuss the content, analyze the theme, and work in groups to present their findings to the class.

If I were going to develop this learning plan even more, I would include the specific day-by-day elements. I would include the specific story that I'm going to use. I would also probably have in there for my notes a little information on developing with the students strong vocabulary for theme, and I would also have in their more specific details about their final project.

The formative assessments that I'm going to use-- I'm going to use two of them. The first is I'm going to have students respond using Google Docs. This is a wonderful way for them to collaborate, share with their peers and, share with meme responses to various textual content questions. Here is how I'm going to be looking along the way to see whether or not students are following in on what's happening in the text.

Next, I'll look at in class discussions on theme and the development of that theme. That way, I'm able to really focused in on if students are following how to find the theme, how to assess the theme, and then look at how the theme develops. Finally, I have my summative assessment, my assessment at the very end, which states that student will present a Prezi that they have created in groups, summarizing the text and explaining the development of the theme. I've chosen this Prezi because I think it is a very student-friendly and fun way of interacting with technology to present the information that I want them to know.

After we have created this lesson plan, we are now going to check for or map the alignment of it. We're going to use the DuFour 5 Essential Learning Questions in order to check for that. So the first question of the DuFour 5 states is the objective clear?

Do students know what I expect them to know or be able to do? I can look directly back at my "I can" statements. I think that those are very clearly laid out and strongly tied in to the content and the technology objectives and the technology standards. Therefore, I'm going to give a yes to this question. I think it is.

Question number two says, do I indicate how I will get them there? This is the area that I talk to you about briefly with the overall lesson plan. I have created probably a pretty loose indicator of how I'm going to get them there. I would say that depending on where you are in your teaching and whether or not you're going to be sharing this lesson plan with someone else for reproduction, that it might be a good idea to get a little more detailed. So this is really a yes or a no depending on how detailed you feel you need to be.

Question number three is how will I know what the students know and are able to do? This is where I've honed in on those formative assessments, as well as the summative assessment. I am going to be able to check and see those Google Doc responses to ensure that each and every student is following along with the content. I'll be able to measure student participation in those group discussions on theme so that I can follow along and track student progress on how well they are grappling with that concept.

Finally, every student's name will be attached to a project at the end of the lesson, which shows me what they have learned concerning theme and use of technology. Four, what will I do if they aren't ready, if they are not getting the information? This is where I really look at that differentiation.

Now I have not accounted for this in my lesson plan. So if I was going to go back, I would probably include some additional work and resources, perhaps additional readings, perhaps additional pinpointed questions about the text that I can give students who are really struggling with either picking out the theme of a text or who are struggling following the summary of the text. The final question is what will I do if they've already mastered it? This is where I will provide possibly extra credit opportunities or advanced learning opportunities for students who seem to be already mastering these elements.

Now the interesting thing about this is that when we are combining both a content standard and a technology standard, especially a content standard like this one, which has multiple levels to it, you really have to parse out what they do and don't know, right? It's very rare that you will have one student who is completely missing all of those levels. Rather, you'll probably have a student who is proficient in the summary but maybe is struggling to find a coherent theme. Or a student who is able to identify the summary and the theme but is really struggling with that technology. And that's where you have to really put your time into looking at each student individually.

Now that we've reached the end of our lesson today, you're able to create a lesson aligned to the outcomes and objectives of both the subject area standards and the appropriate technology standards. Now I would like to take just a moment for reflection. As you reflect on the information covered in this past lesson, what are the challenges that you foresee as you create your own lessons aligned to the outcomes and objectives of both your subject area standards and the appropriate technology standards? Feel free to pause the video for a moment to think about your answers to that question.

For more information on how to apply what you've learned in this video, please view the additional resources section that accompanies this video presentation. The additional resources section includes hyperlinks useful for applications of this course material, including a brief description of each resource. That's all we three have for right now. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.