Jonathan Paul Loomis

April 19, 1999

Psychology of Education

Dr. Fox

Lesson Plan Take Home Test: "Our Oregon Trail"

  1. My Lesson Plan

    1. Objectives

    1. Unit Objectives: Students will be able to answer the following questions:

      1. What was the Oregon Trail? (Cognitive - Knowledge, Analysis, and Synthesis)

      2. Why is it important to us? (Effective - Analysis, Evaluation)

      3. What impact did it have on America? (Cognitive and Effective - Knowledge and Evaluation)

    1. Lesson Specific Goals:

Students will be able to compare their own life experiences with those of the travelers on the Oregon Trail.

    1. The Plan: (Note: students will have already done some study of the subject)

Grade: Fifth

Subject: Social Studies / US History

Min.

Activity

5

The teacher leads the class in singing a song about or from the Oregon Trail.

5

The teacher asks for questions about the Trail's history and asks a few of the class to make sure that previous material has been adequately absorbed.

10

Students free write in their journals about a trip they have taken, real, imagined, or figurative

15

Students share their stories at their tables.

5

Using a few pointed questions, the teacher leads a class discussion in such that the students will realize that any journey can be a reflection of the Oregon Trail.

15

The teacher gives each student a stage in a figurative journey, such as completing a science project. Then, s/he asks the students to line up in such a way that they demonstrate the journey. The teacher will refer to one end of the line as Oregon and the other as Independence.

Home Work

Students will prepare a short song, skit, presentation, dance, or whatever to demonstrate how a journey they have relates to the Oregon Trail.

  1. This plan in relationship to an instructional model.

This particular plan is best represented by Borich and Tombari's model of instruction.

    1. Structuring: In the beginning the teacher uses a song to catch the students' attention.

    2. Modeling: S/he then goes on to have the students write and share about their own experiences. These are examples of eliciting production and retaining their attention. Also in the Modeling stage the teacher leads the students to a new understanding of the Oregon Trail.

    3. Coaching: In the Coaching stage the teacher has the students apply this new concept to an example but is present to make sure that the example is reinforces the desired concept.

    4. Fading: In this last stage, the teacher has the student prepare their own example and apply the new concept on their own.

  1. Classroom Management Philosophy

    1. Physical Classroom Setup

      2. The desks (if there are desks) are lain out in such a way that they form "tables" of four to six desks each. There is space on one side of the room for presentations to take place where everyone can see, and a long stretch of space somewhere in the room where students could line up wall to wall.

    2. Possible Behavior Concern

      3. The most important behavioral concern that I can imagine would be if students were off task when they are supposed to be either writing their journals or sharing what they wrote with their classmates. The temptation will be very great at this point to forget about the Oregon Trail and to focus instead on social matters. This is not altogether a problem so long a the students are writing and sharing their work in such a way that their minor chit-chat does not disrupt the flow of the lesson. However, if the teacher notices that a few students are getting clearly off-task, s/he should move over to that table and engage them in conversation about the subject. In short, the teacher would model what the students should be doing by doing it him/herself.

    3. Classroom Management Philosophy Summary

I firmly believe in the Humanist approach to classroom management. I believe in anticipating problems before they happen and maneuvering so a to prevent them. I am not opposed to allowing students to make mistakes or to learn from bad experiences but some behavioral problems are clearly not ones from with a student will learn a desirable lesson. When problems do occur I believe it is because the teacher is in some way not addressing the needs of the student, or that the student does not empathize with the desires and needs of the class and the teacher. When this is the case, the teacher needs to interject his/herself into the situation and interact with the student in such a way as to learn how to adjust the lesson so that the material and the student can effectively meet. In the case of a major problem, I once again lean on the humanist approach. I would remove the student from the social "table" setting and have him/her perform the work outside of the teacher's benevolence. A major infraction would only be a problem that is a result of a student choosing not to follow rules or instructions that s/he knows and understands, not for being bored by material that is either too easy or too difficult.

  1. Ability Grouping and Instruction

    1. The advantage of in class and between class ability grouping is that the students are on a more level playing field in a standard academic sense. They generally have an even reading level and are able to produce written work at about the same pace. For the traditional teacher this makes ability grouping very attractive because it means lessons can be streamlined for one particular level of student. The disadvantage of ability grouping is that it is generally based only on reading and writing ability, or perhaps math ability, which constitute precious few of the various talents students posses. It would be terrible for a student with incredible musical ability to develop a sense of inferiority just because of a reading deficiency.

    2. My particular lesson plan would work well in a mixed ability class principally because I was careful to make sure that it included opportunities for students to display many of Gardner's intelligence. Among those I included are:

    1. Linguistic (speaking and writing)

    2. Spatial (forming a line)

    3. Environmental (the line again and possibly the presentation)

    4. Kinesthetic (possibly in the presentation)

    5. Interpersonal (sharing in groups, class discussions, and working together to form a line)

    6. Intrapersonal (using a personal experience to relate to the material)

    7. Musical (singing at the beginning of class and possibly in the presentation).

  1. My Lesson Plan's Relationship with the Cognitive-Constructionist View of Teaching

    2.  

    Cognitive-Constructionist view of the classroom

    My hypothetical class and lesson plan

    What is learning?

    Learning is when students organize new schema form themselves, especially when based on experiences.

    Learning is when students develop new schema using their own examples but guided by the teacher.

    Role of the teacher

    The teacher provides the opportunity for students to experience new things in such a way that they will build new schema.

    The teacher provides an experience such that students will learn a specific new schema and then acts as a coach on how to utilize this new knowledge.

    Role of the student

    The students actively do the things the teacher gives them to do and as a result build new schema.

    The students actively interact with the material, the teacher, and each other such that they build new schema.

    Role of peers

    Peers interact with the student in specific roles. Ex: initiator, recorder, checker, etc.

    Peers play their natural roles unless the teacher gives a student an assignment that is specifically meant to expand that student's abilities.

  2. Motivational Theories

    1. Summary of the Self-efficacy Theory

      2. Self-efficacy argues that students do or do not do their work because of they way in which they judge themselves. If they judge themselves as able to complete it, it will get done, if they judge themselves as unable, they will fail. The theory outlines four causes for a particular judgment: past success or failure, the teacher's influence, reactions to their own subconscious reactions, and reactions to the attitudes of peers.

    2. Application of this Theory to My Lesson Plan

The self-efficacy theory would be relatively simple to apply to this lesson because the lesson involves so many different skills that students are bound to be good at. At some point in the lesson almost every student should be able to find something they enjoy doing and are good at. Because these things, which the students will judge themselves to be good at, are incorporated into the lesson, the students will naturally feel that the lesson itself is accomplishable. As the students watch their peers react positively to the lesson this will also influence them, as will the teacher's encouragement.