Aritz Cardenas

Dr. Sylvia Turner

MIAA 360
Spring 2014

Final Reflection for MIAA 360/370

How will my instructional unit designs allow me to effectively improve student learning
through a variety of grade spans?

As an educator, designing an effective, well thought out curriculum is essential to
improve student learning. In this course, I was able to demonstrate how designing
instructional units can expand student learning. By displaying my work through curriculum
analysis, Project-Based Learning (PBL) designs, intervention plans, professional
development plans, and lesson studies, I was able to demonstrate evidence on how student
learning can be achieved through proper planning. In each of these activities, I utilized
ideas and strategies from Beverlee Jobracks, The 5E Instructional Model: Engage, Explore,
Explain, Evaluate, EXTEND.
In this class, I was asked to analyze the IMP curriculum titled, The Overland Trail.
In this curriculum, I was asked to determine what Common Core standards can be aligned
from this curriculum; most of this curriculum is found on 8
th
and 9
th
grade mathematic
standards. One important step in which I needed to do with this curriculum was to identify
and align the learning trajectory to all of the grade spans (in other words, how does this
curriculum relate to the grade spans below and above it). This can help to build off of
standards that students learned in previous grades and allow to tap into schema (prior
knowledge). This is essential for me as this supplemental credential is for grade spans K-
Algebra. In addition, this curriculum analysis allowed me to identify the different levels of
cognitive thinking throughout the unit. In addition to that, I needed to identify the different
assessments and methods of differentiation found in the unit. After completing this
Overland unit, I was able to learn to look for each of these different factors when it was
time for me to create my own PBL units.
I believe that the creation of PBLs and Intervention plans allowed me to improve
student learning based on proper design. I was able to create 2 PBLs, one for a
kindergarten class while the other one for an algebra class. With both units, I was able to
utilize the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to come up with engaging units that
have students completing cognitive tasks. With each of my units, I created different
assessments and activities, which utilized different modalities. I planned different
questions to ask students which ranged in rigor and relevance. These PBL units touch on
several different standards and 21
st
century skills that are essential for student learning. In
addition to the two PBLs, my group and I created an intervention plan for a 7
th
grade class.
The unit, which focuses on the concept of integers, is a 10-day intervention that utilizes
different activities and assessments, which are engaging for students. The unit has students
utilizing visuals and participating in kinesthetic activities. By using the different modalities,
this intervention attempts to shorten the gap on a specific concept to promote student
learning.
My group and I also participated on a set of lesson studies, which had our group
design and teach three math lessons to students at different grade levels. We had to teach
each lesson, reflect on how the lesson went, and make adjustments to teach the lesson
again. I felt that each of the lesson studies went well (based on the overall scheme of
things). There were a couple of occasions that we felt like our first lesson as better than our
second lesson (specifically our lesson with the 7
th
grade class). Time management was our
biggest obstacle. The lesson plans utilized Jobranks five Es: engage, explore, explain,
evaluate, extend. Also, we created a professional development, which focused on cross-
curricular integration in the classroom to promote student engagement. In this
professional development, I go over a few ways on how you can integrate math in a non-
mathematics classroom and vice versa.