Curriculum Review Lesson Plans

Lesson Plans
Introduction
Lesson plans ought to be designed as per the level of the targeted learner's skills and capabilities. Also, a lesson plan must seek to achieve the standards and goals set but the school, the state, or federal authorities. For a lesson plan to be not just successful but also effective, it must be designed to suit the resources available. Alternatively, a lesson plan should not be designed to utilize resources that are not or cannot be availed. In this paper, therefore, is a review of a curriculum guide - Common Core Literacy Lesson Plans: Ready-to-Use Resources, K-5 by Lauren Davis, and afterward, two lesson plans that are designed based on the reviewed curriculum guide.
Part I: A Review of Curriculum
Review of "Common Core Literacy Lesson Plans: Ready-to-Use Resources, K-5"
The Common Core Literacy Lesson Plans: Ready-to-Use Resources, K-5 by Lauren Davis, is the curriculum guide that is reviewed and used in this paper. This guide is meant for learners from K to grade 5 (K-5) levels in the education system. The guide is meant for teachers, curriculum leaders, and literacy coaches to empower them to address better the educational needs of learners in the grades covered in the guide. This book provides the user with a variety of engaging lesson plans that are easy to implement based on the standards. The guide is divided into four sections, referred to as parts in the guide: these include reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language. Each part includes examples of lesson plans, in total 35, and extensive activities, tips on differentiation, and assessment. Moreover, each of the four parts includes a checklist for lesson planning to help educators when creating their lesson plans.
Part one on reading covers requirements for teaching literacy, in addition to the Common Core State Standards that exist. According to the Common Core State Standards, in teaching literacy, teachers/schools are required to use more-complex texts. In addition to these more-complex texts, Davis (2013) suggests that educators should be able to inject fun readings and other activities that engage the learners in the learning activity. In reading, several instructional activities are suggested among them; questioning, activating, monitoring-clarifying, inferring, searching-selecting, play-based instruction, and visual-organizing. The organization of the lesson plan in this section follows the Herbartian approach (Ramakrishna & Sawhney, 2012), which includes an Introduction, Foundation, Brain Activity, Body of New Information, Clarification, Practice and Review, Independent Practice, and Closure. However, the lesson plans included in this section do not religiously adhere to this organization structure as outlined; nevertheless, the general organization in these lesson plans includes an introduction, Brain Activity, Body of the Content, practice, and review, then closure. The section has been backed up with research findings from various authors. These are mainly in the tips that are available in the book. These tips are founded on research findings by independent researchers. In this section, the scope and sequence by Davis (2013) is the injection of fun and creativity into the Common Core State Standards that have recommended for reading literacy, with a specific focus on the more complex text. Lauren (2013) advocates for the more informal context in the reading lesson, about 50% of the total content.
The second section is writing, which covers common Core State Standards for writing. The section emphasizes the applicability of writing nonfiction context for students as well as writing arguments. The section uses a variety of instructional activities for writing, including handouts, tapping into prior knowledge, talking time, and visual aids. The organization of the lesson plan in this section follows the Herbartian approach (Ramakrishna & Sawhney, 2012), which includes an Introduction, Foundation, Brain Activity, Body of New Information, Clarification, Practice and Review, Independent Practice, and Closure. The research included in the book is covered in the tips provided in the section. The scope and sequence in the section are all about the injection of personality in the writing sections, e.g., fun and games into the formal content required for the Common Core State Standards.
The third section is speaking and listening. The section provides educators with useful information that can be used in the classroom to teach K-5 learners speaking and listening skills. The section provides teachers with activities that they can use to make the Common Core State Standards fun to achieve in the classroom, how to achieve differentiation in the classroom for advanced learners and challenged learners, and also provides educators with tips. The instructional activities included in the section include a time-to talk for students, group sections, listening grammar, and audio-visual tools. For example, the book suggests educators can map learners by taking turns to talk; thus, the educators can identify patterns, which can then be used in differentiation to ensure that each learner is effectively taught. The lesson is also organized using the Herbartian approach (Ramakrishna & Sawhney, 2012), which includes an Introduction, Foundation, Body of New Information, Clarification, Practice and Review, and Closure. The research included is findings from other researchers, and it's mainly in the tips subsection. This notwithstanding, the section includes other models of teaching that have been proven to be effective. The scope and sequence suggest mapping of learners and taking turns to identify patterns among learners.
The last section is the book is the language section. This section provides educators with skills and evidence0-based skills and strategies that can be used to realize the Common Core State Standard on language learning. The section also provides educators with useful tips that educators can implement in the classroom to ensure that they achieve the learning goals. Several instructional activities are provided in the book. These include time-to-talk for learners, brainstorming, handouts, prompt and practice, and proving. These instructional methods are dependent on the average level of the learner in the classroom, as educators have the option to choose whichever, especially when seeking to achieve differentiation. The lesson is also organized using the Herbartian approach (Ramakrishna & Sawhney, 2012), which includes an Introduction, Foundation, Body of New Information, Clarification, Practice and Review, and Closure. The content in this section is banked with research findings from previous authors. Also, reading through the content not only in this section but through the entire book, it is clear that the lesson plans have been formatted as per the Readers and Writers Workshop (Biondi, 2012). This is a best-practice model that involves an instructional method that is workshop-oriented. Thus, it empowers learners to work independently through a gradual release of responsibility from the educator who models for the learner's directed activities. The scope and sequence for this section revolve around including fun and games to the complex text, which is required for the Common Core State Standards. Additionally, it empowers educators to confidently adopt the Common Core State Standard to the needs of their learners to realize lesson goals.
In designing the two lesson plans below, the planning checklist and the sample lesson plans provided in the book were very resourceful. The book by Davis (2013) contains very practical ideas in lesson planning. Consequently, there is not a single section in this curriculum guide that was irrelevant or inferior for the designing of the two lesson plans below. The usefulness of the curriculum guide is mainly because of its relevance to the core goals of lesson planning, the requirements for meeting the Common Core State Standards, and it is brief and to the point without and irrelevant additional information.
Part II: Lesson plans
1. Reading lesson plan for grade level K
Time frame: 1hour 30 minutes
Overview: the lesson uses the book Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature, to introduce and teach the topic's main concepts and content.
Common Core State Standards:
· Informational Text, Reading, Standard 2: through support and prompting, identify the main topic and content of the text, and retell
· Informational Text, Reading, Standard 4: prompt, support, ask, and answer a question from the text
· Informational Text, Reading, Standard 5: front cover and back cover identification, and title of the book
· Speaking and Listening Standard 2: read aloud, confirmation of text understanding by a question and answer session with clarification.
· Language, Standard 6: use of conversational words and phrases, reading, and responding to a text (Davis, 2013).
Goals:
· Learners listen attentively to book being read aloud
· Learners identify the main topic of the book, through guidance
· Learners talk about main details linked to the main topic, through guidance.
Required background information: No particular information is required for this lesson
Materials:
Copies of the book Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature
Model art activity as per agenda item 4 below
Agenda:
1. Introduction – Introduction of the book and asking students to identify images/texts on the covers.
2. Read aloud – read aloud through each page, pausing accordingly to carry all students along, and asking them to identify spiral shapes
3. Entire class discussion
a. Guide the class to identify what the main topics are.
b. Guide the class in a discussion to retell the details that are key in the book
4. Art activity – bring out and display for the class the prepared art activity
5. Conclusion – the artwork is to be displayed in the classroom for a period of, at least, one week.
Assessment – evaluation of the art activity.
2. Grade 4 writing lesson plan
Subject: English Language Arts
Materials: Computer Devices, Active Internet connection, the Educreations Interactive whiteboard, Popplet App, and Brain Pop App.
Objectives:
Learners to apply the process of writing to plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish written text with correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and devoid of typing error
Learners use a prewritten text and inquiry tools to create information and answer question through sketches, mapping tools, wood processors, and graphic organizers.
Hook:
Using a digital tool, e.g., interactive whiteboard, learners will illustrate and record a brief presentation where they will share important qualities about them. After learners will pair with a classmate and share. The educator will walk around the classroom and guide students as required.
Direct instruction
Using a digital tool, e.g., the App Popplet, the educator will model how to create a mind map. Using one of the student's names as an example, place the student's name at the center then add bubbles to help develop ideas for the story. In the process of developing the mind map, the educator will encourage students to think about the topic to match with their minds. The mind map is to be referred to throughout the writing process to keep track of the thought process and the purpose of the writing activity.
Guided practice
After modeling, learners will now begin working to develop ideas of their writing pieces. The modeled mind map will be in display for learners to refer to when needed. Educators will encourage learners to create ideas that are not included in the modeled mind map. As students continue with the event, the teacher is to walk around and help students as required.
When students are done, they are pair again and share their mind maps. In case new ideas are generated in the sharing events, students will be open to add them into their mind maps
Independent practice
Students will be required to add others, at least three, ideas on their mind maps to encourage them to continue brainstorming for their story. Also, students will be required to watch the writing process, e.g., "The Writing Process" Brain Pop available on the Brain Pop App. After watching, students will complete the Quiz and get a score from the App.
Wrap-up
After learners have completed the Popplet, they will save the image on their device and import it to the Interactive whiteboard. Students will then record on their devices, why they think the writing activity, and their mind map models are important. Students will then be selected randomly to share with the class their work. Students will be reminded that the mind map will be helpful when learning on the writing topic for the generation of ideas.
References
Biondi, L. (2012). A Major CCSS Resource [Review of the book Common Core Literacy Lesson Plans: Ready-to-Use Resources 6-8, By Lauren Davis]. Middle web. Retrieved from https://www.middleweb.com/4982/a-major-ccss-resource/
Davis, L. (Ed.). (2013). Common Core Literacy Lesson Plans: Ready-to-Use Resources, K-5. Routledge.
Ramakrishna, A., & Sawhney, M. S. (2012). Constructivist Lesson Planning: Theory and Practice. RESEARCHERS ORGANIZATION BILASPUR (CG), 121.