ashleyruggieroblog.files.wordpress.com€¦ · Web viewNeeds Analysis. To conduct the needs assessment, a learning style questionnaire was given, informal interview as well as results

1Running Head: FINAL CURRICULUM PROJECT

Ashley Ruggiero

EDU655

Lesson Plans


Overview

In order to create an effective curriculum for an ELL student, the teacher must have a

clear understanding of the student’s learning needs, and factors that may impact the student’s

learning at home or at school. Using a needs analysis and situational analysis, the teacher can the

plan goals and outcomes, as well as lessons that will effectively help the ELL student succeed in

the classroom.

A Needs assessment is one way to figure out what a student needs and how to design an

effective plan for each individual student. Needs assessment can be taken in many different

ways. It can be through surveys, informal observations, questionnaires and other activities

(Gambardella, n.d.). Although there are many ways to create a needs assessment, they are all

working towards the same goal of designing effective plans for the student. With the information

provided from the needs assessment, the teacher can then plan effective lesson plans that will

meet the needs of the student.

A Situational analysis is one way to figure out what a student needs and how to design an

effective plan for each individual student. A situational analysis looks at factors affecting

academic settings and curriculum that may have an effect on the learning environment. Strengths

and weaknesses will be addressed through the analysis. With the information provided from the

situational analysis, the teacher can then plan effective lesson plans that will meet the needs of

the student.

A needs analysis and situational analysis can be used to develop goals and outcomes for

ELL students. In order to effectively set goals and outcomes for the classroom with learners who

are ESL, it is important to create goals that are measurable, have a desired outcome, specific to


the learner and also research based (Gambardella, n.d.). Using all the information gathered, a

three lesson sequential curriculum was developed for the ELL student.

Target Population

The target population for this needs assessment is a female first grade student. Her native

language is Spanish. Spanish was primarily being spoken at home, but now English is starting to

be the primary language at home. The student has a LAS Links level of 3, Intermediate level.

Looking more closely at the four areas (Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing), the student

scored the highest in Listening, Level 4 Proficient, and lower in Speaking, Reading and Writing,

Level 3 Intermediate. The student has a Fountas and Pinnell level of a level E, which is below

grade level for the end of the year. The student also made many miscues, making her rate 93%

accuracy.

Needs Analysis

To conduct the needs assessment, a learning style questionnaire was given, informal

interview as well as results from the Fountas and Pinnell Reading Assessment and LAS Links

assessment were analyzed.

A learning style questionnaire was given to the ELL student in order to investigate how

the student learned best. The questionnaire had 10 questions which varied from how the student

works best, where they work best, and when they work best. When the student needed to respond

to “I like to work at the table” the student responded no, but responded yes to “I like to work on

the floor.” The student continued the questionnaire by answering no to “I like to work by

myself” but answered yes to “I like to work in a group or with a partner.” The questionnaire

results show that the student likes to be moving around when learning, through either working on


the floor, or through movement. It also shows that the student prefers to work with other students

rather than working alone. The student would benefit from learning that involves movement as

well as cooperative learning activities.

An informal interview was given to the ELL student in order to investigate the student’s

personal interests and interests in school. When asked what the student likes to do for fun, the

student responded by saying, playing outside with her friends, drawing, and playing with her

dogs. When asked what the student liked most about school, the student responded with math

because the math centers are fun games. When asked what was challenging for the student, she

replied with reading and writing but reading is fun when you get to buddy read. After reviewing

the student’s responses, it is evident that the student is interested in dogs, drawing, math and

being social with her friends. The student stated the challenges are in reading and writing.

The results from the Fountas and Pinnell Reading Assessment (F&P) placed the student’s

current instructional level at a level E, which is below grade level for the end of the year of first

grade. When reading the student made many miscues making her rate 93% accuracy. When

asked to tell what happened in the story, the student struggled with giving details and retelling

the story in the correct order. The student also continued to be challenged by the comprehension

questions. Based on the F&P assessment, the student will need support with reading fluency and

reading comprehension.

In order to develop goals and outcomes, the student’s speaking, listening, reading and

writing proficiency scores were analyzed through the LAS Links assessment. The assessment

gave the student an overall score of level 3, Intermediate level. Looking more closely at the four

areas (Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing), the student scored the highest in Listening,


Level 4 Proficient, and lower in Speaking, Reading and Writing, Level 3 Intermediate. The

student is at an Intermediate level 3 stage. The student has the ability to communicate in English

across a range of grade-level appropriate language demands in both academic and social settings.

Although the student may make errors while communicating, they still have the ability to

communicate to students and adults. The student will require things to be repeated or worded in a

different manner in order for them to best understand it.

Results

Based on the results from the learning styles questionnaire, informal interview, results

from the F&P assessment and LAS Links assessment, it is evident that the student will need a lot

of support in literacy. The ESL teacher will need to create a plan in order to meet the student’s

needs in both reading fluency and reading comprehension. Goals will also include speaking and

listening skills in order to develop further proficiency in those areas as well. The plan should

include the student’s interests, which was gathered from the informal interview. The student’s

progress needs to be constantly monitored to make sure their needs are being met and achieved.

Situational Analysis

To conduct the situational analysis, an interview with the student and informal

observations were conducted. Based on the informal observation, much information was

gathered from her home life. The student stated that she lives with her mother, father and older

brother. She mentioned that all of her family speaks fluent Spanish at home. However, her family

is currently learning the English language, and have started to use it a little bit at home. She

described her home life as busy. She said how she is always going to her brother’s basketball or


baseball games and practices. She then continued to say how doing homework is hard because

she needs to rush to finish before they leave for one of the events. In addition, she mentioned that

reading at home can be challenging because she has no one to read to. She stated that her dad

works late and mom is getting dinner ready. When asked what the student likes to do outside of

school, she said she likes to draw, watch T.V. and go to the trampoline park. She also loves to

swim in her pool when the weather is warm.

Through informal observation, the student has not had a typical educational experience.

In kindergarten, her teacher suddenly left due to a medical emergency. With the sudden leave,

the principal had to quickly put in a long term substitute. The long term substitute had to then

create routines, make connections quickly with the students and understand the curriculum. The

student struggled with the transition of the long term substitute. She started acting out in the

classroom and had numerous write ups. A few months later, the classroom teacher came back,

however, routines and connections had to be reestablished. The student’s behavior started to get

better and back under control. In addition to the transition, the classroom environment has not

been typical for the student either.

The general education curriculum also is difficult for ELL students. Students are required

to read for 20 minutes straight while the classroom teacher pulls students for reading groups.

This can be difficult for the student because they may not have the stamina to read for that long

and the student struggles with reading, which creates more frustration.

Results

Through the interview with the student, it is very evident that her home life is busy. With all of

the activities that her brother does, and her father not being home, it can create a challenge for


the student to complete her homework and get help with it. She also mentioned how she had no

one to read to. With her parents not being available, it causes for many challenges. It seems as

though not enough emphasis is being put on her school work and reading. The teacher should

encourage the parents to make sure there is time to read with their child. Although the parents are

not fluent in English, reading books in Spanish will still help the child build other reading skills.

In addition, one of the strengths is that her family is learning the English language. Although

they are not fluent in English, the student stated that they are trying to speak more English. This

will help the student in the long run because the more she hears English and speaks it, the better

she will get at it.

With the classroom teacher leaving so suddenly and for a long period of time, caused a

disruption in the student’s learning. This is a loss for the student because the long term substitute

had to create routines and make connections with students, which takes time that could have

been spent on learning. Although routines and connections are important, students had just

learned the routine and made connections with their teacher. Then had to review them again,

when their teacher came back. The teacher needs to efficiently create ways for the students to

learn the routines so it no longer takes up valuable teaching time. The student’s had already

fallen behind in the curriculum due to the absence, that it is crucial the teacher makes that time

up.

Also indicated in the informal observations is how the reading curriculum creates

challenges for ELL students. Reading for 20 minutes straight is currently not helping the

struggling student. The teacher needs to implement buddy reading to help the student. The

students will still be reading, but this will allow for the ELL student to hear another student read

and also the student can help them figure out any unknown words. The students can then discuss


the book after they read it. This will help increase the student’s reading fluency and

comprehension.

The situational analysis has provided a lot of important information regarding the

student’s home and school factors that are impacting the student’s education. With the changes

being made, the student will be more successful in the classroom.

Using the needs analysis, situational analysis, the student’s LAS Links and Fountas and

Pinnell level, literacy goals were developed for a series of three lessons. Each of the lessons

build off on one another through a continuum, in order to support the student.

In Lesson 1, the goal is to develop the student’s phonemic awareness in order to become

more proficient in decoding words. As identified in the Fountas and Pinnell assessment, the

student is already proficient in knowing alliteration and identifying beginning sounds of words.

The next step would be to introduce the student to rhyming words. This will support the student

with decoding words. The literary outcome is that the student will demonstrate phonemic

awareness by recognizing and producing words that have the same ending sounds. To achieve

this learning outcome, the student will need to pair words together that have the same endings

and also create lists of words with the same endings (AEA267, n.d.).

Lesson One:

Title: Words with the same ending

Content Objective: The student will develop their phonemic awareness skills in order to

become more proficient in decoding words.


Language Objective: The student will know and demonstrate understanding of phonemic

awareness by recognizing and producing words that have the same ending sounds.

Curriculum Standard: RF. 1.2: Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables and

sounds (phonemes).

Key Vocabulary: Rhyme, -at words, -ay words, -an words

Essential Question: How can you use rhyming words to decode a word?

Lesson:

Initiation: During this time, the teacher will engage the student by activating their prior

knowledge on the subject. The teacher will engage the student by talking about Dr. Seuss books,

and discuss what they notice in the words of the books. The teacher will guide the student into

remembering and noticing that the words all have the same ending and rhyme.

Direct Instruction: As the student is noticing how the words have the same endings, the teacher

will explain to the student that that is called rhyming. The teacher will explain that noticing these

endings will help you discover and decode new words. The teacher will use the ending –at. The

teacher will create a list of words that have the ending of –at.

Guided Practice: The teacher and student will then take the time to work together to create

another list of words but with the ending –ay. The teacher will make sure to ask questions while

they are working to make sure the student is understanding what they are doing and why.

Independent Practice: During this time, the student will have the opportunity to practice their

new learning. The student will by themselves create a list of words that have the same ending of


–an. The teacher will use this time to observe the student. The teacher will take note of if the

student is confidently creating a list or if the student is hesitating.

Differentiation: If the student is excelling on their list, the teacher will have the student find

words with –an endings in a book and highlight the words. This will give the student an added

challenge of searching for words. If the student is struggling, have the student stop creating a

new list, and continue to add words to the previous lists with support. The teacher can also show

the student 5 different words, and have the student place the words into the correct list.

Closure: In order to wrap up the lesson, the teacher will recap with the student what was being

taught. The student can then share what they learned in the lesson and how that is going to help

them.

In Lesson 2, the goal is to continue the development of the student’s phonemic awareness

in order to become proficient in decoding words. As the student becomes more proficient with

rhyming words from the previous lessons, the next step would be to introduce the student to

syllables. This will support the student with decoding words. The literary outcome is that the

student will demonstrate phonemic awareness by being able to blend or segment words into

syllables. To achieve this learning outcome, the student will need to clap out syllables of words,

and identify what are the syllables in words (AEA267, n.d.).

Lesson Two:

Title: Syllables





awareness by being able to blend or segment words into syllables.


sounds (phonemes).

Key Vocabulary: Blend, Segment, Syllable

Essential Question: How can you use syllables to decode a word?

Lesson:


knowledge on the subject. The teacher will engage the student by asking if they have ever heard

of the word syllable. The teacher will write down everything the student knows about syllables.

Direct Instruction: The teacher will begin the lesson by clapping out the syllables in the

student’s name. The teacher will ask the student questions such as “what do you notice I am

doing?” Or “How am I clapping the words?” The teacher will explain to the student that syllables

refer to blending or segmenting syllables into words. The teacher will continue to clap out words

and show the student how to do so.

Guided Practice: The teacher will make sure the student knows how to clap out words, then

they will work together using a list of words to clap out words and draw a line on the word where

the word gets broken apart (mag\net). This will allow the student to identify where the word is

getting broken apart and be able to count how many syllables are in the word. The teacher will

make sure to ask questions while they are working to make sure the student is understanding

what they are doing and why.



new learning. The student will continue to clap out the word and also draw the line on the word

where they broke the word apart. The teacher will use this time to observe the student. The

teacher will take note of if the student is confidently creating a list or if the student is hesitating.

Differentiation: If the student is excelling, the teacher will allow the student to come up with

their own words to clap out and segment. The teacher can also provide the student with more

challenging words. If the student is struggling, the teacher will have the student continue to clap

out the words and not draw the line yet. The student needs to be able to hear the sounds being

broken apart before they can identify where on the word.


taught. The student will then share everything they learned about syllables and add it to the list

that was created during the initiation.

In Lesson 3, the goal is to continue the development of the student’s phonemic awareness

in order to become proficient in decoding words. As the student becomes more proficient with

both rhyming words and syllables, from the previous lessons, the following step would be to

introduce the student to onset and rime. This will continue to support the student with decoding

words. The literary outcome is that the student will demonstrate phonemic awareness by being

able to blend or segment words by the initial consonant or consonant clusters. To achieve this

learning outcome, the student will need to listen to a word and identify the beginning and ending

sounds. The student will also need to be able to hear two sounds and figure out what word the

sounds are creating (AEA267, n.d.).

Lesson Three:


Title: Onset and Rime




awareness by being able to blend or segment words by the initial consonant or consonant clusters


sounds (phonemes).

Key Vocabulary: Onset, Rime

Essential Question: How can you use onset and rime to decode a word?

Lesson:


knowledge on the subject. The teacher will remind the student of the previous lessons of rhyming

words and syllables. The teacher will engage the student by asking them what they remember

from those lessons because we will be using those strategies today.

Direct Instruction: The teacher will begin the lesson by saying “If I say ‘mmm’ and ‘ice’ what

word does it make when we blend them together?” The students will be able to answer. The

teacher will then say, “let’s take of the ‘mmm’ and replace it with an rrr instead. What word do

we have now?” The student will be able to answer. The teacher will then continue by saying

“listen to the word rice. What is the first sound? What is the last?” The teacher will then explain

that rice and mice have the same ending. The teacher will then show how to replace the


beginning sound with different letters to make new words. The teacher will also explain to the

student what the onset and rime are.

Guided Practice: Together, the teacher and student will continue to come up with other

beginnings to make new words. The teacher will also use different endings as well. The teacher

will make sure to ask questions while they are working to make sure the student is understanding

what they are doing and why.


new learning. Using SMARTBoard technology, the teacher will allow the student to use the

board to create new words. The student will be given ending words, and will have the

opportunity to drag letters to the endings to create new words. Using the technology will allow

the lesson to be interactive and the student will be able to hear the words through the program as

they are creating the words. The student will also need to records the words they are creating.

The teacher will use this time to observe the student. The teacher will take note of if the student

is confidently creating a list or if the student is hesitating.

Differentiation: If the student is excelling, they will be given more challenging ending sounds

and need to find beginning sounds for them. If the student is struggling, the teacher will work

with the student again with more guided practice. The student may need another refresher on the

previous lessons before they can work on the onset and rime.


taught. The student can then share what they learned in the lesson and how that is going to help

them.

Assessment


The teacher will use the independent practice time as a formative assessment on the

student. The teacher will be able to collect their work to formally see how they did on the

assessment. The teacher will also be observing and noticing how the student is working. The

teacher will be looking for if the student is struggling or if they are confidently working. This

formative assessment will guide the teacher on if she can move to the next lesson, which will

build off of this lesson. In addition to the formative assessment, a summative assessment will be

given to see how the student is reading. Since these lessons are based on word accuracy and

reading fluency, when the teacher gives the seasonal Fountas and Pinnell assessment, she will be

able to see how the student is doing. This formal assessment will provide much insight on the

student’s ability.


Questions for the Learning Style Questionnaire:

Brantley, Anna. (2011). Crazy For First Grade. Day 2. Retrieved from

http://www.crazyforfirstgrade.com/2011/07/back-to-school-2nd-3rd-day.html



Questions for the Informal Interview:


CreateTeachShare. (2014). Back to School….Already?! Retrieved from

http://www.createteachshare.com/2014/06/back-to-schoolalready.html


References

AEA267. (n.d.). Phonological Awareness Continuum. Retrieved from

https://www.aea267.k12.ia.us/english-language-arts/reading/phonemic-

awareness/phonological-awareness-continuum/

Brantley, Anna. (2011). Crazy For First Grade. Day 2. Retrieved from


Connecticut State Department of Education (n.d). State of Connecticut English Language

Proficiency (CELP) Standards. Retrieved from

http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/curriculum/bilingual/celp_standards.pdf

CreateTeachShare. (2014). Back to School….Already?! Retrieved from

http://www.createteachshare.com/2014/06/back-to-schoolalready.html

Gambardella, E. (n.d.). Unit 2: Language Assessment [online lecture notes]. Retrieved from Post

University ESL curriculum.

Gambardella, E. (n.d.). Unit 4: Goals and Outcomes [online lecture notes]. Retrieved from Post

University ESL curriculum.

https://www.aea267.k12.ia.us/english-language-arts/reading/phonemic-

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