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The Effect Of Limited Resources On Our Lives

How does having limited resources affect how we live?

Developed For
Third Grade Students
Fern Elementary School

By
Taylor Tamanaha
Student Teaching, Elementary
College Of Education
University of Hawaii At Manoa
Spring 2019

Table of Contents
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Table Of Contents 2
Unit Plan Framework
4
● Theme and Overview 4
● Compelling Question 4
● Enduring Understanding 4
● Prior Academic Knowledge and Student Assets 5
● Standards 5
○ General Learner Outcomes 5
○ Hawaii Content Performance Standards 6
○ Common Core State Standards 7
○ Standards, Benchmarks and GLO Overview 7
Narrative Overview 8
● Context For Learning 8
● Curriculum 9
● Instructional Modifications and Differentiated Instruction 10
● Academic Language and Language Supports 10
● Assessment 11
Overview of Implementation 12
● Reflection on Professional Growth 14
○ Professional Standards 15
● Reflection on Assessments 18
○ About My Pre-Assessment 19
○ About My Formative Assessments 20
○ About My Summative Assessment 22
● Student Learning Objectives 24
○ Pre-Assessment 24
○ Summative Assessment 29
○ Results 35
○ Comparison Between Pre-Assessment and Summative Assessment 36
Impact on Student Learning 40
● Lesson 1: 40
○ Instructional Plan 41
○ Supporting Diverse Learners 41
○ Monitoring Student Learning 42
○ Informing Instructional Practices 45
● Lesson 2: 46
○ Instructional Plan 46
○ Supporting Diverse Learners 47
○ Monitoring Student Learning 47
○ Informing Instructional Practices 50
● Lesson 3: 51
○ Instructional Plan 51
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○ Supporting Diverse Learners 52


○ Monitoring Student Learning 53
○ Informing Instructional Practices 54
Reflection on Student Learning and Documented Evidence 54
● Student A 54
● Student B 60
● Student C 65
References 71
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Unit Plan Framework

Theme and Overview

This is a Social Studies unit, integrated with English Language Arts (ELA) about the concept of
limited resources with a focus on natural resources. I have created this unit for the students in
my third grade class at Fern Elementary School. I selected limited resources as my topic
because it is something that affects the students in their everyday lives. I wanted to choose a
topic that I feel passionate about, as well as a topic that is essential for the students to
understand. Because natural resources are limited, I wanted the students to learn that it is
essential for them to take action to help protect, and conserve the natural resources we have,
and use to be good citizens. This unit was taught during March of the third quarter in the 2018-
2019 school year.

Compelling Question

The compelling question for this unit is “How does having limited resources affect how we
live?” I selected this compelling question as the focus of my unit because it helped the students
think about what limited resources are, and why it is important to protect and conserve the
resources we have. When I asked the students this question at the beginning of my unit, they
responded with “we can’t have everything we want”. However, I built on this background
knowledge by also teaching them that if we do not protect, and conserve our resources,
eventually, they will no longer exist (ex. trees, water). In addition, compared to many of the
other countries in the world, my students have much more resources available to them.

Enduring Understanding

The enduring understanding for my unit is “having limited natural resources is an issue that
affects our lives because if we do not protect, and conserve our resources they may no longer
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exist”. This enduring understanding relates to my unit because having a limited amount of
natural resources is an issue that affects our lives since without these resources, humans and
animals cannot survive. Without limited natural resources, everyone could have everything
they need and want. However, natural resources are not unlimited. Therefore, the students will
be able to apply this understanding daily when they are prioritizing their needs and wants, and
utilizing resources.

Prior Academic Knowledge and Student Assets

The third-grade students at Fern Elementary School had learned about needs and wants during
first grade. This is a key concept for the students to understand throughout my unit because in
order to learn the importance of prioritizing their needs and wants, they need to know the
difference between them. In addition, prior to teaching my unit, I taught a lesson introducing
sequencing events in stories. During each lesson in the story, the students will be either
learning about sequencing, or practicing sequencing events in a story. Another concept the
students have been introduced to is how to do, and check if their work is “quality work”. For a
few of my community building activities, I taught the students what quality work is by showing
them examples, and non-examples of sample work. Lastly, the students have had a lot of
practice with having class discussions, and doing turn and talks throughout the 2018-2019
school year. Those skills will be beneficial because there are a lot of whole class discussions, as
well as turn and talks incorporated into my unit.

Standards

General Learner Outcomes

The General Learner Outcome that I focused on in my unit are GLO #4 - Quality Producer which
is “the ability to recognize and produce quality performance and quality products”. (HDOE,
2019) Prior to teaching my unit, the students were exposed to examples, as well as non-
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examples of quality work. Throughout my unit, the students were taught, and expected to
utilize a quality-work checklist that I created for them when completing written activities, and
assessments.

This checklist included the criteria:

● neatness
● complete sentences
● correct spelling
● correct punctuation
● correct capitalization
● accuracy
● name/date
● all parts of the question answered

Hawaii Content and Performance Standards III, Social Studies - Third Grade

SS.3.8.2 “Explain that goods and services are limited because there are not enough natural,
human, and capital resources to satisfy everyone’s wants.”
In my unit, the primary focus will be on teaching the students about how having limited natural
resources affects the way we live. The students will not be covering human, and capital
resources in this unit. However, later in my reflection, I explain that I would teach the students
who exceed the expectations of my unit about human, and capital resources to deepen their
knowledge of the enduring understanding. The matching learning objectives are: I can
categorize resources as needs or wants, I can explain why it is important to protect and
conserve natural resources, and I can explain ways to protect or conserve a resource.
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Common Core State Standards, English Language Arts - Third Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3 “Describe characters in a story and explain how their actions


contribute to the sequence of events.”
In my unit, the students will be focusing on learning how to sequence the events in a story to
help them comprehend the text. The matching learning objectives include: I can explain what
sequence is, and I can explain how characters affect what happens in a story.

Standards, Benchmarks, and General Learner Outcome Overview

Benchmark Lesson #1 Lesson #2 Lesson #3

SS.3.8.2 Explain that goods and services are limited


because there are not enough resources to satisfy X X X
everyone’s wants.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3 Describe characters in a


story and explain how their actions contribute to the X X
sequence of events.

GLO # 4 Quality Producer


X X X

Nā Hopena A‘o: Strengthened Sense of Total Well-


Being: The students will demonstrate a strengthened
sense of total well-being by having enough energy to X X X

get things done daily, and engaging in positive, social


interactions through supportive relationships.
(Covered, but not assessed.)
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Narrative Overview

Context For Learning

Fern Elementary school is an accredited school consisting of a very diverse


population of students, and faculty members. The school is located in the district of Honolulu,
more specifically in the Farrington Complex. I specifically have been given the opportunity to
work with the third grade students in mentor teacher Casi Segawa’s classroom. The two largest
ethnicity groups “consist of first Pacific Islander students, and second, Asian students”. (Casi
Segawa, 2018) “For the 2018-2019 school year, there were 437 students enrolled in Fern
Elementary School”. (Casi Segawa, 2018) According to the Fern Elementary School website,
“the school was established in 1924 and named after the first Mayor of Honolulu, Joseph J.
Fern. Over the years, thousands of students have been educated in our classrooms. The Golden
Eagle was adopted as our mascot in 1995 and was named Manu, which means bird in Hawaiian.
There are 25 classrooms servicing students in grades Pre-K - 5th, with 34% of students being
English language learners, 84% at a disadvantage, and 10% in special education programs”.
(Fern Elementary Weebly, 2018) At Fern Elementary school “the ELA/Literacy Meeting Standard
Proficiency Percentage is at 26%, the Math Meeting Standard Proficiency Percentage is at 30%,
the Science Meeting Standard Proficiency Percentage at 33%, the Math Growth Percentage is at
48%, the ELA/Literacy Growth Percentage at 43%, and the Readiness (Chronic Absenteeism)
Percentage is at 15%”. (Casi Segawa, 2018)

These demographics aren’t so different in my specific classroom, going based off of the 2018-
2019 school year. We have a total of 21 students. The languages being spoken in the classroom
consist of English, Chuukese, Ilocano, Tagalog, and Pidgin. Six of the students had IEP/504 plans,
20 of the 21 students had specific language needs and accommodations, and 6 of the 22
students had other learning needs. Throughout this school year, my mentor teacher and I have
utilized the Wonders ELA/Literacy program, and the Stepping Stones Mathematics curriculum.
Each student and teacher had access to a laptop in school which were used often as a
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supplement to the coursework. In addition, we were lucky to have Mrs. Ermie as our class EA
during the 2017-2018 school year, and we also have her now, in the 2018-2019 school year. The
last thing I wanted to share is that the teachers for the third grade students continuously
collaborate in meetings to update their pacing map, which they utilize throughout the year to
plan their daily lessons.

Curriculum

In my field classroom, I have observed that like many other classrooms, a lot of the time in the
school day is devoted to English Language Arts, and Mathematics. Rarely, or never is time
devoted strictly to Science or Social Studies. Therefore, most of the time is spent on the
Wonders, and Stepping Stones curriculum. There is no specific curriculum being utilized for
Social Studies or Science. This makes it really difficult for my mentor teacher because she needs
to go and do research online to find curriculum she can print for her students, or she needs to
integrate her instruction with the Wonders Curriculum and create resources of her own. When I
asked Casi how much instructional time is spent on specifically Social Studies, she shook her
head and said “she couldn’t think of the last lesson she did with students that was Social
Studies based”. However, on the 2018-2019 Pacing Map, I noticed that there were many Social
Studies lesson subject options such as Geography, and History. One Social Studies lesson which
I saw was suggested to be taught during the 3rd or 4th quarter of the 2018-2019 school year is
a unit on Scarcity. This is the topic of my unit. I have utilized standards from the HCPS III, and
CCSS. These standards include: SS.3.8.2, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3. This unit was planned to
take 3 days to implement and complete. However, including review, and assessment time, the
students took 6 days to complete this unit. Although this unit was created to be completed in a
more timely manner, I do believe that scarcity is a topic that is was worthwhile for the students
to learn about. This is because it not only affects them in the future, but also now. The big idea,
or enduring understanding that I want the students to have from this lesson is “having limited
resources is an issue that affects our daily lives because if we do not produce, and conserve our
resources they may no longer exist”. (Taylor Tamanaha, 2018)
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Instructional Modifications and Differentiated Instruction

During each lesson, specific students were pulled out of the large group, to work in smaller
groups with me, and our educational assistant, Mrs. Ermie. When they were pulled out into
their small groups, they had the opportunity to ask any questions, and I provided these
students with extra repeated instruction to help them complete the assigned tasks. At Fern
Elementary School, small-group instruction is the most common instructional modification.
When creating my unit, I wanted to think of supports, and modifications that are familiar for my
students. Additional examples of some of these supports included vocabulary charts, and
modifications to the format of the formative assessments. For example, in lesson one, two, and
three, either the entire, or whole assessment was in the format of a discussion because 8 of my
21 students are struggling writers. Another modification I made to my unit was to provide my
students with sentence frames to help facilitate a meaningful class discussion. The reason why I
provided my students with sentence frames is because I wanted to focus on the content they
were learning about Social Studies, and English Language Arts… not the way that they speak.
However, if a student was exceeding the expectations of the lesson, then I would encourage
them to work on their communication skills, especially since that is a topic we are working on
for our community building activities.

Academic Language and Language Supports

Before teaching my unit, I wanted to make sure there were vocabulary supports to aid my
students. The first type of vocabulary support were pictures matching the definition for each
vocabulary word. The other type of vocabulary support were charts with each word, and it’s
definition. Both forms of vocabulary supports were hung in the front of the classroom so it was
available for the students to reference throughout the unit. At the beginning of each lesson, I
set aside some time to go over the academic vocabulary of the day (the students repeated the
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word, and it’s definition after me). In addition, when necessary, I provided the students with
sentence frames to use as aids during discussion time, and to complete lesson tasks.

Originally, when I created this unit, I wanted to teach the students the term “scarcity”.
However, I decided on leaving the terminology as “limited resources” because scarcity is a
concept that I feel would be difficult for all of the students to understand, that I feel would be
too much for them at this time.

Assessment

When I created the assessments for my unit, I wanted to think of assessments that aren’t time
consuming, and that cater to the academic needs of my students. At the time I taught my unit,
out of the twenty-one students in my third grade class, there were eight struggling readers, as
well as eight struggling writers. In addition, there were ten students who are English Language
Learners. However, the students have had practice having discussions daily, so I knew having
discussions as a form of assessment would give them the best chance of being successful on
communicating their level of understanding of the content. My pre-assessment only had two
questions. Question one was “is there enough natural resources to give everyone what they
want?” And question two was “if your answer to question #1 is no, how does not having
enough resources affect the way you live?” When the students completed this assessment, I
realized that I made a mistake with the formatting of this assessment right away, and should
have made the question be “how does not having enough natural resources affect how you
live?”

For my formative assessments, the students discussed the given questions, while I walked
around and took notes, and checked students off on a participation checklist. These discussions
were recorded so I could reference them later, or I was able to talk to each student and ask
them what they shared. In the student data analysis portion of this reflection, I give examples
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of some of the notes I took. I decided not to include pictures because it was very difficult to
understand my handwriting because I needed to take notes quickly.

For my summative performance task, the students answered the question “how does having
limited resources affect how we live? explain and give one or more examples”. This is the only
part of the assessment portion that the students needed to write an essay. But, I prepared
them for this essay by having a discussion reviewing this concept of limited resources prior to
having the students completing the summative.

According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, the highest level of learning takes place in the “create”
portion of the pyramid. (Bloom’s Taxonomy, 2018) Another asset that my students bring is their
artistic abilities. I also know that in previous art lessons, the level of student engagement
appeared to be high. With that being said, for my “taking informed action”, I wanted my
students to have the opportunity to advocate for a limited natural resource by creating a poster
displaying why a specific natural resource should be protected or conserved. When the
students finished their posters, they were hung around the school for other classes to see.

Overview of Implementation

When I first created this unit, I planned to implement it during the middle of the third quarter
sometime in March of 2019. Luckily, I planned the timing of this well because I was able to
teach the entire unit during my three-week solo, right before Spring Break (March 18-22).
However, the unit took double the amount of time that I anticipated. While teaching the
lessons, I realized that there were certain adjustments that needed to be made to some of the
activities, and assessments. I also came to the realization that some activities would take much
longer than others. As a result, the unit took a total of six days to be taught and assessed,
rather than three days.
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Overall, although the unit took longer to teach than anticipated, I felt good about the way I
planned, scaffolded, and made adjustments to each lesson to fit the needs of my students. I felt
that the extra time was needed, and well spent. I also thought the instruction was effective in
the way that it was tailored to the needs of the students. I provided support to the students
through small-groups, differentiated the instruction to reach all levels of learners, and made
the learning activities interesting and meaningful to engage all students. Below, I shared a brief
description about how each lesson in this unit was executed.

In the first lesson, I started off by reintroducing and reviewing what the difference between
needs (things we must have to survive) and wants (things we do not need) are. Although the
students had already previously learned how to differentiate between needs and wants, I made
a good call on reteaching this lesson because I knew how crucial it would be for the students to
have a solid grasp of the difference. By building on the student’s prior knowledge of needs and
wants through discussions, a video, and an activity where the students categorized pictures of
things as needs and wants, and review, all students were able to score an MP or higher on their
formative assessment. In addition to learning about needs and wants, the students were
assigned the learning task of reading “The Lorax” on their own, which is our primary story for
the first time. After I had the students read The Lorax, as a class we had a discussion about
what happened in the story. This activity was not assessed, but was done to prepare them for
the second lesson.

In the second lesson, the focus was on teaching the students about the concept of limited
resources, and why it is important to protect and conserve those resources by using the skill of
sequencing as a tool to comprehend the events in the story. During this lesson, we reviewed
what sequence means (order of events). Then, I had the students reread the story The Lorax.
After the students finished rereading the story, we worked together as a class to fill in the story
map (breaks down the story into characters, setting, problem, and solution). This story map
activity was incorporated as a tool for the students to use to help them complete their
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formative assessment task which was to have them write and draw something that happened
in the story, along with what character caused the event.

In the third lesson, we took what we learned from reading The Lorax, and applied this
knowledge to come up with ways to protect and conserve other natural resources. At the end
of the third lesson, I gave the students time to watch the movie The Lorax, and we compared
and contrasted the sequence of events from the book, and from the movie through a class
discussion.
Reflection on Professional Growth

When I think of someone who is a professional educator, I think of someone who is able to
deliver content to their students in a way that is meaningful, and engaging. To be a professional
educator means to be someone who is able to scaffold, and differentiate their instruction for all
levels of learners. A professional educator is able to create assessments that show a strong
alignment with the student learning objectives.

Standards are used as a tool to guide teachers on what content to create and teach to the
students. Teaching standards are used to create the student learning objectives of each lesson.
My mentor teacher once told me “the key to planning a successful lesson is to keep the end
goal in mind”. (Casi Segawa, 2019) This is so true, and is something that really helped me to
align the learning objectives with tasks, as well as assessments.

Throughout my time in the college of education, I have learned so much about what it means to
be a good educator. My mentor teacher showed me that professional educators aren’t perfect,
instead they are open-minded, and always working to grow and develop professionally. It is
about teaching the students to be problem-solvers, and critical thinkers.

I have gained so much insight on how to teach almost every subject, just by spending time and
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getting experience in field. My mentor teacher taught me that a good teacher is someone who
can prepare, and facilitate student-led learning. For example, when she teaches Math, instead
of working straight out of the Stepping Stones workbook, she finds one or two difficult
problems that align to the standard, and has the students work in small-groups to find the
answer to the question. She encourages them to find as many ways to solve the problem as
possible. Then, she has each group present their findings, and complete a reflection as their
formative assessment. Since my mentor teacher has started using this method of teaching
math, I noticed a higher level of student engagement, and an increase in their number sense, as
well as critical thinking skills.

Professional Standards

When creating this unit, the Charlotte Danielson component I selected to focus on is “Planning
and Preparation”. (Danielson, 2013) This domain includes “demonstrating knowledge of
content and pedagogy, demonstrating knowledge of students, setting instructional outcomes,
demonstrating knowledge of resources, designing coherent instruction, and designing student
assessments”. (Danielson, 2013)

When creating this unit, my first goal was to make sure it demonstrates my deep level of
understanding with the content (Danielson Component: 1a. Demonstrating Knowledge of
Content And Pedagogy). I wanted to show that I have enough knowledge of the content to
choose activities, materials, and standards that align well with my compelling question, and
enduring understanding. Although I feel like there is always room for growth, I think I did a
great job of integrating Language Arts, into a unit with a Social Studies foundation. First, prior
to teaching the students the academic vocabulary words “protect” and “conserve”, I
collaborated with my field supervisor to seek clarification on the difference between these two
words. Because I did that extra step, the rest of the lesson, as well as the activities involving
these terms, flowed smoothly. The students, and I were able to differentiate between the two
words. In addition, I felt that all three lessons were integrated well. I incorporated sequencing
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activities, or referenced the prior lesson on sequencing (Benchmark: CCSS.ELA-


LITERACY.RL.3.3), while teaching the students about limited resources in all three lessons. By
the end of the unit, the students were able to make connections between the text and how it
showed the importance of protecting and conserving resources. Most students were able to
share that in The Lorax, the limited resource being discussed were trees. Some were also able
to share that because there were not enough trees to give everyone what they want, the
humans, and animals suffered. The animals lost their habitat, and the humans were not
breathing clean air. The students understood that although the story, and movie The Lorax was
fiction, trees are a limited natural resource that needs to protected and conserved. I then built
off of this understanding to help the students realize that there are other limited resources that
need to be protected and conserved. Overall, I wanted to create tasks that are relevant, and
meaningful to their lives (Danielson Component: 1b. Demonstrating Knowledge of Students).
For example, because I know the students enjoy creating art, for their Taking Informed Action I
had them create a poster displaying a way to protect or conserve a natural resource. To support
the students, I strategically selected students who I predicted would have a difficult time
completing the learning tasks without any assistance. In my student data analysis, not all
students were selected to be in my small groups because they met or exceeded the learning
targets. Therefore, I felt the time would be better spent supporting the lower students. Instead
of spending extra time in small groups with the other students, I gave them suggestions on
expanding their understanding of sequencing, or limited resources (will be shared under
student data analysis).

My second goal was to set instructional outcomes that are attainable (Danielson Component:
1c. Setting Instructional Outcomes). At the beginning of the program, I struggled with creating
learning objectives. I found myself creating learning objectives that were difficult to attain
within the lesson timeframe. Moreso, often times the learning tasks did not align with the
objective. However, in this unit I have shown growth in this area. Each learning target is
simplified into kid-friendly language. My learning targets included: “I can explain how
characters affect what happens in a story, I can explain why it is important to protect and
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conserve resources, and I can explain ways to protect or conserve a resource”. After reflecting
on how the unit went, I felt that each lessons’ learning activities prepared the students for the
formative, and summative assessments. For example, I gave the students the opportunity to
read the story twice, and I had them fill in a story map. As a result, they did well on their
formative assessment with the task “write and draw something that happened in the story,
along with what character caused the event”.

As an educator, I think it is so important to be knowledgeable about the resources available to


aid you in creating curriculum (Danielson Component: 1d. Demonstrating Knowledge of
Resources). In my unit, I think I did a great job of utilizing my resources. While generating this
unit, I often found myself reaching out to my mentor teacher, and field supervisor for advice, or
to answer any questions I may have had. For example, originally the skill of sequencing was only
going to be taught in one lesson. However, after collaborating with my field supervisor, she
gave me more insight by sharing with me that a well-integrated unit would touch on the
connecting language arts standard in all three lessons.

Whenever planning a unit, it is so important to make sure that the base, learning activities, and
overall structure is scaffolded well (Danielson Component: 1e. Designing Coherent Instruction).
In this unit, I felt that the structure of the lessons was scaffolded well. The first lesson reviewed
and built on the student’s knowledge of needs and wants and the students had their first
exposure to the text; the second lesson taught sequencing, and the third lesson taught the
students about how to, and why it is important to protect and conserve natural resources.

(Danielson Component: 1f. Designing Student Assessments) When I first began the program, I
remember being terrible at creating assessments. I especially remember having a difficult time
creating assessments that aligned with the learning targets. Although this is something I am still
working on, I think that I improved quite a bit! I felt that throughout my unit the learning
activities, and learning objectives aligned with the assessments well. I also liked that I used
discussions as a formative assessment. This worked out well for me because when I checked
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students off the participation checklist, and took notes while they were having discussions, I
was able to ask clarifications, or for them to add more information to help them achieve their
best grade.
Reflection on Assessments

Assessment is when you measure a student’s understanding of a concept, or measure how


much they have learned. I find myself constantly utilizing assessment in my instruction.
Assessment provides the teacher with information about where the students are at. While
creating this unit, I utilized a pre-assessment, formative assessments, and a summative
assessment. When I assigned the pre-assessment, I was informed of where my students were
at. Then, each formative assessment gave me information about the depth of the student’s
knowledge. Formative assessments not only helped me to measure student knowledge, but
also if my instruction needed to be modified. Although this did not happen during my unit, if all
students don’t do well on the formative assessment, that is usually an indication that
something needs to be modified in the instruction.
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About My Pre-Assessment

Here is a photo of a blank copy of the pre-assessment.

At the beginning of unit, when I gave my students the pre-assessment, I learned that most
students had no idea what natural resources are, or how having limited resources can affect the
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way we live. Although I had anticipated this outcome since they have not yet learned the
content, this pre-assessment reassured me that I needed to spend time teaching the students
first what natural resources are, what limited resources are, and of course that having limited
resources affects the way we live. For example, to answer question one (Is there enough
natural resources to give everyone what they want?), most students wrote “yes”, or “yes there
is enough natural resources”. Only one student answered question one with a “no”. In general,
pre-assessments help you to see any misconceptions the students may have, and it gives you a
baseline.

About My Formative Assessments

In lesson one, my formative performance task was to have the students have a discussion with
a partner about needs and wants. While having that discussion, each student must be able to
state an example of a need or want and explain how they know it is a need or want. The
teacher assessment tool I used to measure student learning was a participation checklist, where
I also took notes. After reflecting on the results from this assessment, I came to the conclusion
that this lesson went well for most of the students.

In lesson two, my formative performance task was to have the students write down how the
characters affected the events in the story The Lorax. On the index card, each student must be
able to write and draw something that happened in the story, along with what character caused
the event. The teacher assessment tool I used to measure student learning was a rubric. After
reflecting on the results of the student’s performance, I came to the conclusion that overall, the
students did very well. The majority of the students received an “MP” (Meets with Proficiency)
because they were able to meet all the criteria on my teacher assessment tool including:
● The student completes all parts of the assessment correctly. (The student chooses one
character, and shares how that character affected the events in the story.)
● The student completes all parts of the quality work checklist.
○ Name
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○ Correct Punctuation
○ Correct Capitalization
○ Correct Spelling
○ Accuracy
○ Complete Sentences
Because over 80% of the students scored an “MP”, I know that the way the lesson was planned,
and executed was successful.

In lesson three, my formative performance task was to have the students have a discussion
with a partner about how a resource can be protected, or conserved. While having that
discussion, each student must be able to share how a resource can be protected and/or
conserved. The teacher assessment tool I used to measure student learning was a participation
checklist, where I also took notes. After looking over the checklist, and my notes, I know that
this lesson was also successful. However, this lesson had a lot less students who were
successful. A common mistake I noticed were that the students mixed up the definitions
protect, and conserve. Although I know the way I gave instruction on these words were clear, I
decided to review the meanings, with examples of these academic vocabulary words. For
example, one student shared with his partner “you can conserve trees from going extinct by
planting them”. However, the correct way to use this example would be “you can protect trees
from going extinct by planting them”. Although the majority of the students did well on their
formative assessment, completing this formative assessment showed me that I needed to
review the academic vocabulary, and give more examples of how to protect and conserve
natural resources prior to them completing their summative assessment. Their mindset needed
more concrete examples to be able to understand the definitions of these terms.

To conclude my thoughts on formative assessments, throughout my unit, and in the future… I


will use formative assessments to inform me on how I need to modify my instruction.
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About My Summative Assessment

Here is a photo of a blank copy of my summative assessment.

At the end of my unit, when I gave my students this summative assessment, I am proud to say
that they were able to demonstrate that they grasped the enduring understanding. The
enduring understanding is: having limited natural resources is an issue that affects our lives
because if we do not protect, and conserve our resources they may no longer exist. Throughout
Tamanaha, 23

my entire time in the program, this is the first time I created a summative assessment. It really
showed me how much growth the students made since assigning the pre-assessment
(baseline). The majority of the students exemplified their accurate knowledge of the enduring
understanding… however, I knew that I would need to review the concepts with the students
who did not get an “MP” during small-group instruction time.
Tamanaha, 24

Student Learning Outcomes

Pre-Assessment
Student learning objectives (SLOs) are created based on the standard you are creating the
lesson(s) for. The SLO tells the students, and teacher what goal to accomplish by the end of the
lesson. This is why there is a pre-assessment (given before content is taught), which is
implemented to create a baseline that shows how much progress the students make once they
are given the summative assessment.

The benchmarks selected for the SLOs:

● HCPS III Standard SS.3.8.2 - Explain that goods and resources are limited because there
are not enough natural, human, and capital resources to satisfy everyone’s wants.
● CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3 - Describe characters in a story and explain how their actions
contribute to the sequence of events.
● GLO #4 - Quality Producer
● Nā Hopena A‘o: Strengthened Sense of Total Well-Being: The students will demonstrate
a strengthened sense of total well-being by “having enough energy to get things done
daily, and engaging in positive, social interactions through supportive relationships”.
(Nā Hopena A‘o, 2015) (NOT BEING ASSESSED)

Prior to teaching this unit, the students should have already been introduced to the concept of
needs and wants. At the beginning of the unit, I asked the students “who has heard of needs
and wants, or knows the difference between them?” After asking that question, around fifteen
students raised their hand which informed me that they had already been exposed to the
content.

The students have also been introduced to sequencing, which is why it was not included in the
pre-assessment. The reason I included sequencing in this unit was to make sure all students not
Tamanaha, 25

only understand what sequencing is, but also how to sequence the events in the story to help
them with their comprehension of the text.

Each morning, we do a community building activity with the students where they learn various
life skills. One theme of the activities I taught them is to produce “quality work”. I began
teaching the students about what quality work does, and does not look like. Then, I created a
checklist for the students to reference and use to check their work.

This checklist includes:


○ Name
○ Correct Punctuation
○ Correct Capitalization
○ Correct Spelling
○ Accuracy
○ Complete Sentences

Because the students are familiar with this quality work (GLO #4) checklist, and were informed
of it prior to implementing my unit, I already expected them to achieve an “ME” on the pre-
assessment, formative assessments, and summative assessment.

The students were also taught an introduction to sequence (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3).


Therefore, this is not something I included in the pre-assessment.

The “targeted outcome” scores shown in the table below were based on my memory of how
well the students did when I gave instruction on the the quality producer GLO, and when I
introduced sequencing to them.

For benchmark SS.3.8.2, the student’s baseline data showed that they have little to no
understanding of how having limited natural resources affects their lives. I know this because
Tamanaha, 26

nineteen out of twenty-one students answered question one of the pre-assessment wrong.
Then, twenty out of twenty-one students either did not answer, or answered question two of
the pre-assessment wrong.

By the end of this unit, my projected learning outcome for students’ meeting proficiency will be
eighty percent for benchmark SS.3.8.2, as well as benchmark CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3 I
selected this percentage for benchmark SS.3.8.2 because although the students have not been
exposed to the social studies content yet, I believe that I can get most of the students to score
an MP with guided instruction and small-group support. I knew that there would need to be a
lot of small-group instruction because of the high amount of English Language Learners, as well
as SPED students.

The reason I selected eighty percent for benchmark CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3 is because when
the students completed the formative assessment when they were first introduced to
sequencing, the majority of the students were able to explain what sequencing is. With
instruction that builds on this prior knowledge of sequencing, I predict that the students will be
able to develop new skills that will help them to sequence the events in the story. In addition,
although some of the students are English Language Learners, they are still able to read
independently.

Benchmark Baseline data Targeted Outcome Outcome

I can explain Not Assessed WB 0%


what Not Assessed DP 10%
sequence is. Not Assessed MP 80%
(Only Not Assessed ME 10%
assessed in
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the formative
assessment.)
I can explain Not Assessed WB 0%
how Not Assessed DP 10%
characters Not Assessed MP 80%
affect what Not Assessed ME 10%
happens in a
story.
(Only
assessed in
the formative
assessment.)
I can explain WB 90% WB 0%
why it is DP 5% DP 10%
important to MP 5% MP 80%
protect and ME 0% ME 10%
conserve
resources.
I can explain WB 95% WB 0%
ways to DP 0% DP 10%
protect or MP 5% MP 80%
conserve a ME 0% ME 10%
resource.
I can Not Assessed WB 0%
categorize Not Assessed DP 0%
resources as Not Assessed MP 80%
needs or Not Assessed ME 20%
wants.
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(Only
assessed in
the formative
assessment.)
I can produce Not Assessed WB 20%
quality work. Not Assessed DP 20%
Not Assessed MP 50%
Not Assessed ME 10%

As shown in the visual above, I created a pre-assessment assessing only benchmark SS.3.8.2.
The reason this benchmark was the only one assessed is because the other benchmarks were
introduced, or taught prior to teaching my unit.

Above is a graph showing the results for SLO “I can explain why it is important to protect and
conserve resources”. Question one on the student’s pre-assessment was “Is there enough
natural resources to give everyone what they want”. The correct answer to this question is
“yes”; however, nineteen out of twenty-one students answered “no”. This student’s answer to
Tamanaha, 29

this question told me that they did not understand what it means to not have enough of
something.

Above is a graph showing the results for SLO “I can explain ways to protect or conserve a
resource”. Question #2 on the pre-assessment was “If your answer, to question #1 is no, how
does not having enough resources affect the way you live?” Like question #1, to answer this
question, the students would need to understand why it is important to protect and conserve
resources. For the students to demonstrate that they understand why it is important to protect,
and conserve resources, they would have needed to give one or more examples of a way to
protect or conserve a resource. Only one student wrote “Because we don’t have enough
resources, we need to turn off the water when we are not using it because if not we will not
have water anymore”. This is the only student who received an “MP”. Although he did not utilize
academic vocabulary, it was evident that he had background knowledge about this content
from outside of my class.

Summative Assessment
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SLOs are created to help the teacher, and student have the end goal in mind when creating,
assessing, and learning a unit. Overall, learning objectives guide the thoughts of the student,
and teacher. At the beginning of each lesson in my unit, the students and I go over the SLOs of
the day. These SLOs need to align with the assessment because if not, then that data collected
from their assessments is inaccurate.

Benchmark Baseline data Targeted Outcome Outcome

I can explain Not Assessed WB 0% WB 0%


what Not Assessed DP 10% DP 0%
sequence is. Not Assessed MP 80% MP 90%
(Only Not Assessed ME 10% ME 10%
assessed in
the formative
assessment.)
I can explain Not Assessed WB 0% WB 0%
how Not Assessed DP 10% DP 0%
characters Not Assessed MP 80% MP 90%
affect what Not Assessed ME 10% ME 10%
happens in a
story.
(Only
assessed in
the formative
assessment.)
I can explain WB 90% WB 0% WB 18%
why it is DP 5% DP 10% DP 10%
important to MP 5% MP 80% MP 62%
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protect and ME 0% ME 10% ME 10%


conserve
resources.
I can explain WB 95% WB 0% WB 18%
ways to DP 0% DP 10% DP 10%
protect or MP 5% MP 80% MP 62%
conserve a ME 0% ME 10% ME 10%
resource.
I can Not Assessed WB 0% WB 0%
categorize Not Assessed DP 0% DP 20%
resources as Not Assessed MP 80% MP 60%
needs or Not Assessed ME 20% ME 20%
wants.
(Only
assessed in
the formative
assessment.)
I can produce Not Assessed WB 20% WB 40%
quality work. Not Assessed DP 20% DP 20%
Not Assessed MP 50% MP 30%
Not Assessed ME 10% ME 10%

In the table above, for the learning objectives “I can explain what sequence is”, and “I can
explain how characters affect what happens in a story”, I am including the results from the
formative assessment, since it was not included in the summative. The reason I did not include
those objectives in the summative assessment is because the summative assessment question
was an essay question. By putting the ELA benchmark, and Social Studies benchmark together
into one assessment, I felt like the assessment would be too overwhelming for the students. In
addition, every student received either an MP, or an ME on their formative assessment for
Tamanaha, 32

sequencing. Therefore, I felt like there was no need to reassess the students on the same thing
since they already met, or surpassed my expectations.
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After reflecting on the student’s results on the summative assessment, there were a few
instructional modifications I wish I would have made. First, I wish that I taught the students
more strategies on how to check and make sure their work is quality work. For example, on the
quality work checklist, one of the criteria is “correct spelling”. I wish I would have taught them
to sound out the word to check if it is spelled correctly.
Tamanaha, 35

Another instructional modification I would have made is to spend more time reviewing the
academic vocabulary words. Because some of the words were very complex, I think it affected
the students’ progress on their summative assessment.

I do think that it was helpful to pull selected students to complete their learning tasks, as well
as formative, and summative assessments in small groups. This instructional modification
allowed students the opportunity to ask questions, have questions or instructions read to them,
and for me to monitor their progress to make clarifications as necessary. In addition, I think it
was helpful to have the students do most of the formative assessments in the form of a
discussion. By giving them sentence starters, they were able to effectively communicate their
knowledge of the content in a timely manner.

Results

As stated previously, the student learning objectives for the unit include:
● I can categorize resources as needs or wants.
● I can explain what sequence is.
● I can explain how characters affect what happens in a story.
● I can explain why it is important to protect and conserve resources.
● I can explain ways to protect or conserve a resource.

After reflecting on the students’ results, I am somewhat satisfied with the outcome. Although I
did not reach my targeted outcome for all categories (WB, DP, MP, ME), most of the students
made progress, especially on the Social Studies benchmark. However, if I were to do it all over
again, I wish I would have allowed the students to reference the vocabulary chart while they
completed their summative assessment. If the students were able to reference the vocabulary
chart during the lesson, they might have been able to improve their scores because I noticed a
big reason some of the students didn’t do so well is that they mixed up the words “protect”,
and “conserve”, or they did not know how to use it. I also think it would have been helpful to
Tamanaha, 36

provide sentence starters for the summative assessment... especially with the high amount of
English Language Learners.

Comparison Between Pre-Assessment And Summative Assessment


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As shown in the tables above, the students made a lot of progress since the pre-assessment.

When the students completed the pre-assessment, there were nineteen students who scored a
“WB”. By the summative assessment, there were only four students who scored a “WB”. Notice
that the ELA benchmark, and GLO #4 (Quality Producer) were not included on the summative
assessment. Overall, the results from the summative show me that the average score for the
students was an “MP”. There were a total of fifteen students who scored an “MP” or higher.
This means that seventy-two percent of the students passed, or exceeded the expectations of
the unit.

When I created this unit, I wanted the focus to be on Social Studies, but have it be taught with
Language Arts integrated. Since the students showed me that they mastered the skill of
sequencing on the formative assessment, I didn’t feel the need to include it in the summative.
The formative assessments in my unit really helped me to modify my instruction for the
upcoming lesson, as well as informed me on what content needed to be reviewed before my
students completed the summative. Analyzing data over time is important to do because it will
show you the student’s baseline, the formative assessments will tell you how to support the
student, and the summative will tell you how much the student has grown. In conclusion, when
I have my own classroom, at the beginning of the year I will try to learn as much about my
students as I possibly can so I have a general baseline of where they are at. Implementing this
unit has also taught me that there are so many ways to find out about what background
knowledge the students already have. Therefore, although it may not always be written, I will
try my best to gather information about the students’ background knowledge.
Tamanaha, 38
Tamanaha, 39

Above are pictures of the pre, and summative assessment. Notice that the format is different on
the summative assessment from the pre-assessment because the students already should have
known that there are not enough natural resources to give everyone what they want and need.
Tamanaha, 40

Impact on Student Learning

Lesson 1: What is the difference between needs and wants?

The pre-assessment was given to the students prior to the first lesson being taught in my unit.

In this lesson, the focus was to have the students be able to:
● categorize resources as needs or wants
● explain what sequence is

The compelling question for the unit is “how does having limited resources affect how we live?”
The enduring understanding for the unit is “having limited resources is an issue that affects our
daily lives because if we do not protect, and conserve our resources, they may no longer exist”.
This lesson was almost like a review lesson of concepts they either learned recently, or in
previous grades. About a week before I taught my unit, I introduced sequencing to the
students. The reason why I introduced sequencing to the students earlier is because I already
know that they have a difficult time comprehending the events in the story. Therefore, with
prior introduction, I felt that I was giving my students a higher chance at mastering the skill. The
students should have already learned about needs and wants in first grade. However, I decided
to review the concept because this background knowledge of needs and wants is foundational
to understanding how having limited resources affects our lives. The other reasons for
reteaching needs and wants is because our definition of needs and wants can change. For
example, if you live really close to school, you may not need a car or bike. However, if you live
far from school, you would need a car or bike to transport from place to place.

By the end of this lesson, I wanted the students to have a solid grasp of what the difference
between needs and wants are. I also wanted the students to understand that it is important to
prioritize your needs and wants so that you don’t waste resources (conserving). The last goal
for this first lesson was to make sure the students understood what sequencing is, since it is
Tamanaha, 41

something we would practice in lesson two. We also read the main text of the unit called The
Lorax, and discussed what events took place in the story.

Instructional Plan

The instruction, and learning activities in lesson one were effective because the students
achieved their SLOs. It was helpful to review the academic vocabulary with the students, as well
as give examples of items that are needs, and items that are wants. Then, the students were
able to practice differentiating between needs and wants by participating in the needs and
wants sorting activity. During this activity, the students had the chance to categorize cards with
pictures of items as either needs or wants. It was also beneficial to review sequencing. By
discussing what it means to sequence a story, helped to prepare them for lesson number two in
my unit. I also gave the students the chance to read The Lorax for the first time. When I teach
Language Arts regularly, I usually have the students read the story twice (on separate days).
This prepared the students for their close reading activities the next day. It was also beneficial
to have a discussion about what the text were about. That way, even if some students couldn’t
comprehend what they were reading, they now had another opportunity to understand what
the story was about. That way, the students can use what they know about the story, to
sequence the events.

The one activity that I felt was not helpful during the lesson was watching the video about the
difference between needs and wants. Although the video was not long, I noticed the students
becoming disengaged.

Supporting Diverse Learners

Because there is such a high amount of students who are English Language Learners in my class,
it was really important to choose language supports to help the students understand the
academic vocabulary. It was helpful to give the students examples of each word, or to use the
Tamanaha, 42

word in a sentence. It was not helpful to tell the students the definition of each word because it
is hard for them to visualize what something means. If I were to do it all over again, prior to
teaching my unit… I would have the students complete vocabulary journals for each academic
vocabulary word. Vocabulary journals are when the student picks a word and finds the meaning
of the word, a synonym or antonym, as well as draw a picture, and use the word in a sentence.
This is an activity that they do often during English Language Arts.

During this lesson, the differentiated instruction took place when I assigned students into
partners and groups with another student at the same, or closest cognitive level. The students
were in these small groups when they completed turn and talks, as well as the needs and wants
card sorting activities. That way, both students could participate and help one another. In
addition, when it was time to complete the formative assessment, I took the students who have
a difficult time reading, and read the questions to them.

Luckily, there weren’t any unexplained behavior or management issues that came up during my
lesson. There were a few times where I needed to remind certain students to focus, but other
than that, they behaved well. With that being said, the students in my class behave relatively
well. Therefore, when there are behavior or management issues, it is usually due to student
disengagement. Or, sometimes they are so engaged that they get really excited and have a hard
time containing their thoughts, and monitoring their own behavior.

Monitoring Student Learning

By the end of the first lesson, the students were able to differentiate between needs and
wants. They were also able to explain what sequencing is. Therefore, for lesson one, the
students made good progress. Their progress was monitored by taking notes on any
observations or questions that stood out. For example, after each part of the instruction, I did a
quick Thumbs up, Thumbs down formative assessment. After I taught the students about the
difference between needs and wants, I told the students “please show me a thumbs up if you
Tamanaha, 43

definitely know the difference between needs and wants, thumbs in the middle if you think you
know the difference between needs and wants, and a thumbs down if you totally do not
understand the difference between needs and wants”. Because all students showed me a
thumbs up, I asked some students questions to make sure they understood the difference
between the two. I also did the same kind of formative after we reviewed what sequence is.

Depending on how the students respond during the thumbs up, thumbs down formative
assessment, I use that data to decide whether the lesson should be retaught or not. In addition,
at the end of the lesson, I asked the students “Why is it important to know the difference
between needs and wants?” One of the students were able to share “it is important to know
the difference between needs and wants because that is how you know what you need”. This is
close to the enduring understanding “the students need to understand the difference between
needs and wants because if not, they will not understand how having limited resources affects
their lives”. But because the students were able to answer the compelling question, I just added
to their level of understanding by sharing that it is important they understand the difference
between needs and wants because they need to prioritize the resources they use in order to
save natural resources. After assessing the students’ progress on each of the benchmarks, they
had demonstrated their ability to sequence the events in the story, as well as their ability to
differentiate between needs and wants. Although the students met the learning objectives for
this lesson, they were not yet prepared to take the summative assessment because they need
to practice sequencing the events in a story, as well as learn about protecting and conserving
resources which is the content being taught in the last two lessons.
Tamanaha, 44

BENCHMARK: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3

This table was shown above because it was not assessed in the summative assessment. There
were nineteen students that met with proficiency, and two students who exceeded my
expectations.
BENCHMARK: SS.3.8.2
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This table was shown above because it was not assessed in the summative assessment. There
were four students who scored with a “developing proficiency”, twelve students who scored
with a “meets with proficiency”, and four students who scored with a “meets and exceeds”. The
students who scored a developing proficiency reviewed the difference between needs and wants
with me the next day, before moving onto lesson two of the unit.

Informing Instructional Practices

Based on the data, the students overall did very well on this lesson. Sixteen students either
met, or exceeded the expectations of differentiating needs and wants; while the other four
students didn’t do as well, and needed to receive support during RTI time. During RTI time, I
showed the students how to separate the items from the needs and wants sorting activity and
explained why each item belonged in each category. After teaching the students about the
difference between needs and wants in this lesson, I learned that I need to work on giving the
students more concrete examples of each (need or want). I also learned that the students are
not auditory learners. This is why it was helpful to have pictures of the objects, rather than just
saying words.

The students did well on sequencing. All twenty-one students either met, or exceeded my
expectations. I know this because the students were able to explain that it is “putting the
events in the story in order”. However, they did not get to practice actually sequencing a story
yet. The students also were able to share that sequencing is an important skill to master
because it helps them to comprehend a story. Although the students did not get the
opportunity to sequence the events in a story during this first lesson, they were able to pick out
key events, and use those events to summarize the text.

Lesson 2: How do characters affect what happens in a story?


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In lesson two, the focus was on teaching the students how to sequence the events in a story
that taught them about the Social Studies topic of how having limited resources affects the way
we live. During this lesson, the students reread the text The Lorax, and filled out a story map to
help them comprehend the story. Then, as a class we took the main events of the story, and put
them in order. We also had a discussion about what the story was about, and how it showed
the importance of trees being protected, and conserved. For the formative assessment, the
students needed to explain how a character affected an event in the story.

Instructional Plan

Out of my entire unit, I felt like this lesson was the most productive, and this was definitely the
lesson that I was most proud of. At the beginning of the lesson, I made sure to teach the
students the academic vocabulary words “protect” and “conserve”. These two words were very
important for the students to understand in my unit. Therefore, besides giving the definition of
each word, I gave the students concrete examples. For example, I stated “conserve is like when
you have all the lights on in your house, and you turn the ones you aren’t using off the
conserve, or save energy”. Then, I stated “an example of protecting something is like when you
have trash in the ocean, we clean it up because we want to keep the ocean clean, and protect
the animals who live in there”. In lesson one, I noticed that many students kept forgetting what
the instructions were. Therefore, to address this issues, I wrote the directions on the
whiteboard. This way, the students could reference these notes throughout.

During one portion of the lesson, I had the students come to the floor to sequence the events in
the story. When we sequenced the events in the story, we discussed which characters affected
the main events from the text. Although this went well, I wish I would have had a discussion
with the students about what might not have happened depending on the characters actions in
the story. In addition, when I closed the lesson, I wish I could have closed the lesson by asking
Tamanaha, 47

the question “what happens where there are not enough of something?”. This would have gave
me the opportunity to relate the activities we completed in class to the big idea of the unit.

Supporting Diverse Learners

During this lesson, I knew some students would have a difficult time reading the story The
Lorax independently. Therefore, to support struggling readers, I pulled them to my table, and
read the story to them. I do think this method was effective, however, I noticed that one of the
students I pulled had a difficult time focusing while I was reading to them. If I were to do it all
over again, I would have the students I read to have the text in front of them, and tell them to
follow along with me to increase focus levels.

Like the other lessons, I also had a vocabulary chart showing the definitions of each of the
academic vocabulary words. Although this was helpful for the students, I think this language
support could have been more effective by showing visuals of “protect”, and “conserve”. The
reason is because like I said before, these students are not auditory learners. They are definitely
more visual, and kinesthetic.

Fortunately, there were no unexplained behavioral issues that took place during this lesson.
The reason that the students behaved so well is because I set the expectations, and boundaries
beforehand. In addition, whenever a student misbehaved, I made sure to address them in a
way that was positive, and showed the other students what not to do.

Monitoring Student Learning

For lesson two, my goals were to have the students be able to explain why it is important to
protect and conserve resources, and to be able to explain how characters affect what happens
in a story. Before executing this lesson, I made sure to practice each activity to make sure it
would be meaningful, and useful for the students to help them achieve their learning targets.
Tamanaha, 48

For example, I read the story The Lorax, as well as filled out the story map to make sure that
would be a beneficial tool for the students to use on their formative assessment. While
completing these activities, I also thought of questions or supports the students would need
(ex. pulling students to read the text to them).

For the formative assessment, the students were asked to write and draw an example of how a
character affected an event in the story.

BENCHMARK: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3

As shown in the table above, nineteen out of twenty-one students received a “meets
expectations”, or “meets with excellence”, on their formative assessment on sequencing. Two of
twenty-one students were unable to meet the expectations, and received a “developing
proficiency”, or “well below” on their formative assessment. For the students who did not meet
the expectations, I worked with them during RTI time to summarize the events in the story, and
review what it means to sequence the events in the story. I also made sure to give these
students verbal feedback on their story maps, to help them explain how a character affected an
event in the story.
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BENCHMARK: GLO #4 - QUALITY PRODUCER

As shown in the table above, fifteen out of twenty-one students were able to achieve the
learning target. A total of six of the twenty-one students were unable to meet the expectations
for “quality work”. Although the students did not do as well as I had hoped as far as creating
quality work, looking back, I did not give them enough instruction, and support to help them
reach my expectations. I should have taught them strategies on how to check that their work is
quality work. For example, many of the students had spelling errors. A strategy I could have
taught the students is to sounds out the letters in a word to help them spell. But instead, I
expected them to already know what each word should be spelled like. This is why I included this
data, but I did not expect much out of the students.

After reflecting on how the students did during this lesson, I do think they were close to being
prepared for the summative assessment. Sequencing was not assessed on the summative
assessment. However, after reflecting on the discussions we had during this lesson, I knew that
the students needed to deepen their understanding of protecting and conserving resources. At
Tamanaha, 50

the end of this lesson, they knew the difference between what is meant to protect or conserve
a resource; but they could not come up with examples of how to protect or conserve a resource
which is the content being covered in the third lesson. .

Informing Instructional Practices

Based on the data, most of the students are making good progress academically. As shared
previously, nineteen out of twenty-one students received a “meets expectations”, or “meets
with excellence”, on their formative assessment on sequencing. Two of twenty-one students
were unable to meet the expectations, and received a “developing proficiency”, or “well below”
on their formative assessment. Most of the students were able to explain how a character
affected an event in the story; however, some of the students only described a character, or
event in the story. Although it was not assessed in this lesson, I do think the students did a good
job of explaining that goods and resources are limited because there is not enough to give
everyone what they want. They were able to take what they learned in the story, and apply it to
real-life. During a discussion, one student shared “In the story, the limited resource was trees.”
I built off of what the student said by explaining that The Lorax tried to protect the trees by
asking The Onceler to stop chopping them down. At the end of the story, Ted planted a Truffula
tree to help conserve the trees.

In the upcoming lesson, one thing i need to do is increase student participation and interaction
during class discussions. I should have asked more questions to give the students opportunities
to make connections with their own background knowledge. In addition, I need to work on
using more student-friendly language consistently.

Lesson 3: Why is it important to protect and conserve resources?


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In lesson three, the final lesson of my unit, the focus was on reinforcing the importance of
protecting, and conserving resources, as well as teaching the students ways to protect and
conserve various resources. The supporting question for the lesson is “How can I protect or
conserve resources, and why is it important?” I started the lesson by going over our learning
objectives, and reviewing the academic vocabulary. Then, the students and I had a discussion
about ways that resources can be protected and conserved. After, I had the students create a
poster showing a way to protect or conserve a resource (taking informed action). The formative
assessment for this lesson was a discussion. The summative assessment was given separately
the next day because I did not want to overwhelm the students.

Instructional Plan

This lesson had many activities that were successful. I thought that I did a good job of
facilitating the discussions by asking the students questions in student-friendly language. If I
were to redo this lesson, I would give the students time to do research on ways to protect and
conserve natural resources. I didn’t allot time for the students to do research during this lesson
because they were already reading about natural resources during their silent reading time
block. However, the students still had a difficult time coming up with ways to protect and
conserve resources, until I made a chart with examples of protecting and conserving various
types of natural resources. For example, for water, I drew a picture of someone turning off the
faucet while they were brushing their teeth (conserving), and a picture of someone telling
another person to turn off the water if they aren’t using it (protecting). However, after I made
this poster, the students had a easier time creating their own.

Supporting Diverse Learners


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In this lesson, the same academic language supports as the previous lessons were used. This
includes the vocabulary chart with definitions, and examples of the words “protect” and
“conserve”, as well as the use of sentence frames. When I asked questions, or facilitated
discussions, if the students were having a difficult time articulating their thoughts, I would
provide them with a sentence frame. For example, when one student was trying to explain how
trees can be protected, I told the student “start with: trees can be protected by ___________”.

As previously discussed, throughout the time of the unit being taught and assessed, I had the
students read collections of books on a website called “EPIC”. The collections I assigned talked
about protecting and conserving various types of natural resources. This task was given to the
students to help them prepare for this lesson, as well as their summative assessment, where
they would need to give concrete examples of how to protect and conserve a natural resource.
When assigning the collections to the students, I decided to give the students who were
struggling books, and resources that were easier to understand (ex. trees, water). Then, I
assigned the more challenging books, and resources to the higher-level students. This method
of differentiated instruction was effective because most students were able to participate in
the class discussion where we shared how resources can be protected or conserved.

Although the students behaved relatively well during this lesson, I did notice that the students
were having more side conversations than usual during the first part of the lesson where we
were sharing our ideas on how to protect and conserve resources, and while they were creating
their posters. After reflecting on why the students were having these side conversations, I
realized that in the beginning of the lesson, it was because the students were disengaged, and
didn’t know what to share. I knew this because usually when we have discussions, if a student
knows the answer, they usually really want to share. Luckily, I picked up on this right away and
gave more instruction to better prepare the students to have the discussion. As for the side
conversations while the students were creating their posters, I realized that it was not due to
student disengagement, but rather because they could not contain their excitement because
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they really love to do art. After looking at the students’ posters, this taught me that just
because the students talk doesn’t mean they aren’t engaged.

Monitoring Student Learning

The students did well on this lesson. Although there were a few rough patches, I was able to
adapt my instruction right away to better support my students. For this lesson, my learning
objective was “I can explain ways to protect or conserve a resource”. While the students
answered this question in partners, I walked around and checked the students off my list if they
were able to give one correct example of a way to protect or conserve a resource. Throughout
the entire lesson, the feedback given to the students was given to them mostly as a whole class.

BENCHMARK: SS.3.8.2

As shown in the table above, all twenty-one students were able to meet or exceed the
expectations in this lesson.

At the end of this lesson, after the formative assessment, I asked the students the unit
compelling question “how does having limited resources affect how we live?” The students
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were able to explain to their partner that having limited resources affects how we live because
we need these resources to survive. After we came back together as a class, we reviewed that
concept. Then, I explained to the students that we need to protect and conserve our resources
because if not, they may no longer exist. By the end of this lesson, I did believe that the
students were ready to complete their summative assessment. They were able to reach the
learning target. In addition, the students who did not reach the learning target in previous
lessons were given extra support during RTI time to help them succeed on their test.

Informing Instructional Practices

Based on the data from my observations and formative assessment, the students made a lot of
progress. Although they had, and still have a difficult time remembering the difference between
protect, and conserve, they still could name a way that a resource can be protected or
conserved.

Because the students met or exceeded the expectations for this lesson, there are not many
instructional modifications I would make. However, because the students still reference the
vocabulary chart to see the meaning of protect, and conserve, I will be leaving the poster up to
support the students as they complete their summative assessment.

Reflection on Student Learning and Documented Evidence

Student A

Student A was chosen because he has an IEP. He is considered a struggling reader, and writer.
He has a difficult time focusing during lessons, and independent work time. Throughout my
unit, this student had a difficult time with the content, even with extra RTI support time. At
first, he told me that he didn’t understand the words “limited”, “protect”, and “conserve” even
with me giving him concrete examples. Therefore, I decided that the best thing I could do to
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support this student would be to work with him during RTI time to help him make his own
connections with the academic vocabulary. In addition, because this student is a struggling
reader, the biggest form of support was working in small groups so he could receive more one-
on-one attention, as well as reading The Lorax to him since fluency was not part of the learning
target. Ron is also an English Language Learner (ELL).
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This is a photo of Student A’s pre-assessment. This student’s name is not blocked out because he
turned in his release form. The student received a developing proficiency (DP) on his baseline
assessment because he attempted the assessment. However, the answer to question #1 is no,
and he did not even attempt to answer question #2. This student scored a meets with
proficiency (MP) for GLO #4 - Quality Work, but I predicted that that is only because he only
wrote a few words.

This is a photo of Student A’s summative assessment. This student’s name is not blocked out
because he turned in his release form. This student worked really hard while I taught the unit, as
well as during RTI time. With enough support, he was able to score a meet with proficiency (MP)
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for benchmark S.S.3.8.2. Although this student didn’t write the answer to the first part of the
question, he was able to verbalize to me “if we don’t take care of what we have it will be gone
and we will die”. The student scored a WB for the quality work checklist because he didn’t have
five or more of the criteria.

This is a photo of Student A’s taking informed action poster that was made during lesson #3.
This student’s name is not blocked out because he turned in his release form. On this
assignment, the student scored a DP for both benchmark S.S.3.8.2, and GLO #4 - Quality
Producer, because he was unable to accurately show a way to protect or conserve a resource.
He also did not meet five or more criteria of the quality work checklist.

Summative Assessment
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Benchmark Baseline Grade Summative Grade

SS.3.8.2 DP MP

Quality Producer GLO #4 MP WB

Although Student A worked hard, he was unable to meet the expectations for the quality work
checklist. To meet the expectations for the quality work checklist, he needed to accurately
address five or more of the criteria. However, as stated before, I did not prepare the students
well for this which is why this data is almost useless to me.

Formative Assessments

Benchmark Formative Assessment Grade

SS.3.8.2 - Needs and Wants MP

SS.3.8.2 - Ways To Protect & Conserve DP


Resources

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3 - Sequencing MP

WB= Well Below


DP= Developing Proficiency
MP= Meets With Proficiency
ME= Meets With Excellence

The formative assessments really helped me to see where Student A needed assistance. He
participated in class discussions, and learning activities. In addition, because Student A is a
struggling writer, as well as an English Language Learner, for formative assessment #2 (where
the students had to share how the characters affected an event in The Lorax), I had him tell me
his answer, while I took notes instead. He told me “The Onceler affected the trees because he
cut them all down”.
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Student B

Student B was chosen because she is an English Language Learner with average cognitive
abilities. She isn’t necessarily struggling with any particular subject. Throughout my unit, she did
okay. She had the same academic language supports as the rest of the students. I wanted to
include her in this reflection as a control group because she is considered a “traditional
student”.

While teaching the unit, she was able to hit the learning targets. After reviewing my notes from
each lesson, I noticed that the student contributed to every discussion at the close of the
lesson. After each formative assessment was given, while I graded this student’s work, I looked
to see if there was any type of additional support she would need. However, because she met
the learning targets for each lesson, I did not think the extra support was necessary. The next
steps would be to deepen the students’ understanding by adding extra learning tasks. For
example, telling the student to provide more examples of ways to protect, and conserve
resources. You could also increase the level of difficulty by assigning the student more difficult
resources. For example, instead of finding ways to protect and conserve resources like trees
and water, you could have the student do research and learn ways to protect and conserve
resources like gas, oil… etc.

Summative Assessment

Benchmark Baseline Grade Summative Grade

SS.3.8.2 DP MP

Quality Producer GLO #4 MP MP

WB= Well Below


DP= Developing Proficiency
MP= Meets With Proficiency
ME= Meets With Excellence
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This is a picture of Student B’s baseline assessment. This student’s name is not blocked out
because she turned in her release form. On this assessment, she received a DP because although
her answers to both questions were wrong, she at least attempted the question for benchmark
S.S.3.8.2. However, she did meet the requirements for the GLO #4, quality producer.
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This is a picture of Student B’s formative assessment on Benchmark CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3.


Her name is not blocked off because she turned in her release form. This student received a
meets with proficiency (MP) on the assessment. The reason the student received an MP is
because she was able to accurately explain how a character affected one of the events in the
story. When I spoke with her after class, I shared that she could improve by sharing more
examples of how the character affected an event in the story.
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Here is a photo of Student B’s summative assessment. This student’s name is not blocked out
because she turned in her release form. She received a meets with proficiency (MP) on her
summative assessment because she was able to explain that resources provide us with the
things that we need to survive. She was then able to give one accurate example of how to
conserve a resource (electricity). She also received an MP based on GLO #4 - Quality Producer
because she was able to complete five of the criteria from the quality work checklist.
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This is a picture of Student B’s taking informed action poster. She received an MP because she
accurately displayed a way to protect water.

Formative Assessments

Benchmark Formative Assessment Grade

SS.3.8.2 - Needs and Wants MP

SS.3.8.2 - Ways To Protect & Conserve MP


Resources

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3 - Sequencing MP

WB= Well Below


DP= Developing Proficiency
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MP= Meets With Proficiency


ME= Meets With Excellence
Student C

This student was selected because he is one of the higher level students in my class. However,
he is an ELL. For my student data analysis, I wanted a low student, average student, and a high
student to compare data with. Student C presents little to no behavioral issues. Sometimes he
can get a little excited, especially when learning something new, but other than that he is
usually really good about staying focused, and on task. The instructional modifications made for
this student were similar to the ones that were utilized for the previous student. For example,
especially because this student is an ELL, I provided him with sentence frames at the beginning
of each discussion. In addition, at the end of each lesson, I asked him if he had any questions
and if there was any extra support I could provide him with. Besides the actual learning targets
in this lesson, I really wanted this student to work on getting comfortable with speaking in front
of his classmates. This student usually has really good ideas, but sometimes needs help with
articulating his thoughts. Therefore, contentwise he did very well… but moving forward I would
like to focus with him on GLO #5 - Effective Communicator.
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This is a picture of Student C’s baseline assessment. The student’s name is not blocked off
because he turned in his release form. Student C received an MP on his pre-assessment because
he answered both questions correctly. However, I did not give him a meets with excellence (ME),
because he did not explain that we need to save natural resources in order to survive
(Benchmark: S.S.3.8.2). This student received an MP on GLO #4 - Quality Producer because he
met five of the criteria from the quality work checklist.
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This is a picture of Student C’s formative assessment on Benchmark CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3.


The student’s name is not blocked off because he turned in his release form. He received an ME
on this assignment because he was able to accurately explain how a character affected two
events in the story. The students were only required to give an example of how a character
affected one event in the story. The student received an MP for GLO #4 - Quality Producer
because he was able to accurately use 5 or more of the criteria from the quality work checklist.
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This is a picture of Student C’s summative assessment. The student’s name is not blocked off
because he turned in his release form. Student C received a meets with excellence (ME) on his
summative assessment because he was not only able to explain that we need resources to
survive, but he was also able to give more than one example of protecting or conserving a
resource. Similar to the previous student, it would be interesting to give this student a resource
that is difficult to find ways to protect and conserve like gas or oil. After building a solid
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foundation in teaching this student about natural resources, I could deepen his understanding
by teaching him about human, and capital resources.

This is a picture of Student C’s taking informed action poster. This student received an MP on the
assignment because he was able to display one way to protect water.

Summative Assessment

Benchmark Baseline Grade Summative Grade

SS.3.8.2 MP ME

Quality Producer GLO #4 MP MP


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WB= Well Below


DP= Developing Proficiency
MP= Meets With Proficiency
ME= Meets With Excellence

Formative Assessments

Benchmark Formative Assessment Grade

SS.3.8.2 - Needs and Wants ME

SS.3.8.2 - Ways To Protect & Conserve ME


Resources

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3 - Sequencing ME
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References

Segawa, Casi. (2019)

Common Core State Standards. (2019, March). English Language Arts Standards. Retrieved

from:

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/

Hawaii Content & Performance Standards III. (2019, March). Hawaii Content & Performance

Standards III Database. Retrieved from:

http://165.248.107.74/hcpsv3/search_results.jsp?contentarea=Social+Studies&gradecourse=3

&strand=&showbenchmark=benchmark&showspa=spa&showrubric=rubric&Go%21=Submit

Hawaii State Department Of Education. (2019, March). General Learner Outcomes. Retrieved

from:

http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/TeachingAndLearning/StudentLearning/LearnerOutcomes

/Pages/home.aspx

Fern Elementary School. (2019, March). Fern Elementary. Retrieved from:

https://www.fernschool.k12.hi.us/

Bloom’s Taxonomy. (2019, March). Center For Teaching. Retrieved from:

https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/
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Charlotte Danielson Framework. (2019, March). Charlotte Danielson’s Framework For Teaching.

Retrieved from:

http://www.k12.wa.us/TPEP/Frameworks/Danielson/2011_Danielson_SMART_Card.pdf

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