The fifth grade writing test scores have been a major source of concern and focus within the

school over the last few years. There have been many interventions that have been used in an effort to increase the scores on this one particular measure. Obviously, one cannot prepare a student to perform on the writing test by solely preparing students to be proficient writers during the fifth grade year and thus improving writing abilities has become a focus throughout the school. When I spoke with the teacher I collaborated with, Ms. W, she brought this point up and talked anecdotally about the struggle the she sees her students having with writing. Ms W spoke about how she was particularly concerned with the issues that she was watching students have with creating sentences that communicate particular pieces of information that the students have learned. Because second grade has pretty limited data in that they do not take the CRCT any longer we had to look elsewhere for data on a standardized test that could guide us in our unit planning. We looked both at the nonfiction writing samples that the teacher had collected for their writing folders that follow them through elementary school and at the Scantron Performance Learning tests that they took in the fall. The Scantron test is a nationally normed test that is used to gage our students abilities and deficits at the beginning of the school year. One of the really great things about this test is that it is computer based and can very quickly create spreadsheets and graphs that show an individual student, grade or classes performance in a particular area. When we looked at this data for Ms. Wests class it was clear that writing sentences using conventions was an area that needed improvement. To address this need Ms. W and I decided that we would incorporate the standards that the students needed to cover in social studies as well as language arts. Because this is a real classroom and a unit that is being taught in the real world it was necessary to squeeze as much standards based content as we could into the time we spent on this unit. During this unit the students will have an opportunity to practice and practice and review their sentence writing skills and to learn about an important figure in Georgia history, Jimmy Carter. Learner profile: Ms. Ws class has 6 white children, 7 African-American children, 8 Hispanic children and 2 Asian children. Ms. W serves 8 children who are classified as ESOL, 0 children classified as special education, 3 children classified as gifted, and 0 children classified as EIP. In this class all of the students are reading on grade level, and 11 are reading above grade level.

Teacher : Roberts/West Date: 3/26/2013

Grade: 2nd Subject: Language Arts

Stage 1- Desired Results

Established Goals: AASL Standards: 1- Inquire, think and gain knowledge 1.1.6 Read, view and listen to information presented in any format in order to make inferences and gather information 1.2.3 Demonstrate creativity by using multiple resources and formats 2- Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge. 2.1.2 Organize information so that it is useful 2.2.4 Demonstrate personal productivity by completing products to express learning. 3- Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society. 3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use and assess. 3.2.2 Show social responsibility by participating actively with others in learning situations and by contributing questions and ideas during group discussions. GCCS: ELACCKW6: With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers. ELACCKW7: Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them). ELACC2L2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. SS2H1 The student will read about and describe the lives of historical figures in Georgia history. a. Identify the contributions made by these historic figures: James Oglethorpe, Tomochichi, and Mary Musgrove (founding of Georgia); Sequoyah (development of a Cherokee alphabet); Jackie Robinson (sports); Martin Luther King, Jr. (civil rights); Jimmy Carter (leadership and human rights).

Understandings: Students will understand that.. Proper use of capitalization, punctuation and spelling is important if you want to communicate effectively in writing. There are many different ways to communicate ideas and information using digital tools. Writing can be used to share information about information that you learn. Jimmy Carter is a humanitarian and important Georgian who has had an impact on the world. Related misconceptions: Proper grammar is not important to communication. The right way to present information in school is with paper and pencil. Important people all live and are from somewhere else.

Essential Questions: What does it mean to communicate effectively? How do we communicate using technology? How do we learn about the lives of others?

Topical Questions: How do I check my writing to see if I have use conventions correctly in my writing? How do I use Google presentations to share information? What important things did Jimmy Carter do? How do I use basic writing conventions correctly? How do I share information that I have learned?

Student will know. What a Google presentation is and how to use it What it means to proofread your writing The value of proofreading The value of clear communication of ideas Who Jimmy Carter is, information about his life, and why he is an important figure What a humanitarian is

Student will be able to Proofread their writings for the correct use of capital letters, punctuation, and standard spelling Create a slide show using Google presentation Relay information that they have learned in written form Communicate about the life and importance of Jimmy Carter

Stage 2- Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks: You will create an eight slide Google presentation about Jimmy Carters life and his contributions as a humanitarian. Each slide should have at least one sentence about Jimmy Carter and at least one photo or graphic which connects with the sentence. Self-Assessments Students will be asked to fill out an assessment rubric identical to the one that the teacher will fill out on themselves. Students will also be asked to fill out a survey about how much they enjoyed the activity and what might have improved their learning experience. Other Evidence: Student participation in group lessons Effort displayed in the creation of project

Other Evidence, Summarized

Stage 3 Learning Plan

Learning Activities: Why/Equip-Day 1- Why is it important to use correct punctuation/ spelling/ capital letters? Students will discuss why it is important to use standard grammar conventions and standard spellings. Students will read a short passage on the Smart Board that does not use standard conventions and will work together to correct the mistakes and discuss how much easier it is to read once the corrections are made. The class will review the basic rules about the correct use of punctuation and capital letters. The class will also review strategies that can be used to locate the correct spelling of a particular word. Teacher will give students proofreading checklists. Hook-Day 2- Students will explore the official Jimmy Carter website together as a class on the Smart Board and watch a movie of Jimmy Carter reading a book to school children http://www.jimmycarter.info/index.html. The class will then make a list of class produced notes about him on chart paper which will be posted in the classroom. Equip-Day 3/4- Teacher will read excerpts of the book Jimmy Carter by Anne Morgan and discuss the text with the students. The class will also be introduced to the pathfinder and will independently locate information there.

The class will add to the list of class produced notes about Jimmy Carter. Class will discuss what it means to be a humanitarian and the reasons why Jimmy Carter is considered to be one. Hook/Equip-Day 4/5- SLMS will teach a lesson about how to create a Power Point presentation and the class will work together to complete one or two slides of a presentation together on the Smart Board. Equip-Day 6/7-SLMS and Teacher will review the rubric for the project and will assist students as they create their slide shows. Tailor-SLMS and Teacher will be available to help students who are having difficulty. Accelerated students will be encouraged to expand their presentations with more text and/or more slides. Evaluate-Day 7-Students will self-evaluate their work Evaluate- Teacher and SLMS will evaluate Power Point presentations based on the rubric Organize-Students will use the rubric to organize their work