Evaluation of Instructional Project

School: Redland Middle School Teacher(s): Reading Specialist, Young (LMS), Flaherty (LMS Intern) Grade: 7th and 8th graders Subject area: Reading Comprehension (identified low-level readers and ESOL students) Beginning and ending dates: Monday November 4th through Friday November 8th. Objectives (As a result of the lesson(s), what will the students know/be able to do?): Students will research information on a chosen animal using online resource tools. Students will identify a minimum of three topic areas in which to research (habitat, life cycle, physical characteristics, etc.). Students will identify a minimum of four facts for each topic area. Students will use note taking skills to identify facts on graphic organizer. Students will complete writing skills by writing paragraphs for each topic area. Students will use online resource to select and download appropriate photos of their chosen animal topic. Students will learn and use Glogster (online presentation tool) to create a glog of their animal. Summary of project: Students will choose an animal to research. Students use online resources to research and learn about their animal. Students are utilizing note taking skills in documenting information. Students use writing skills to create summary paragraphs about their animal topics. Students use current technology to create presentation/report/project. Resources used: Encyclopedia Britannica online World Book Online Glogster What worked well? Having multiple teachers in the room, even with a small class was invaluable to assist and prompt students as they did the various tasks. Using Glogster as presentation tool was popular with the students. They enjoyed the experience and learned a new skill. If you were to teach this unit again, what would you do differently? I would have the students use Word to type their paragraphs using the notes taken during the research days. This would allow them to still practice their writing skills, but also to have a tool that can assist their spelling and grammar. As ESOL and low-level readers, this was a struggle for the students. It would also save time, since students could then copy and paste the paragraphs directly into their Glogster instead of typing it after writing it. We would build in time to share the Glogsters with one another. What evidence do you have that students met the stated objectives? Students completed a graphic organizer for their research and note-taking assignment. Students completed a graphic organizer used to assist them as they wrote descriptive paragraphs. Students created a Glogster. What is the most important thing that you learned through this experience? Collaboration can be really wonderful when it is true collaboration. When the teachers involved bounce ideas off one another, constantly reflect on how things went each day, making changes to better serve students needs, and then examine extensions, its a really amazing experience.