Running head: REPORT ON INSTRUCTIONAL UNIT 1

Report on Instructional Unit

Rylie A. Motley

Student ID: 000773846

Assessment Code: JPT2- Part B

Michelle Costanza

September 29th, 2017

Table of Content

Summary of Instructional Problem ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3

Findings from Needs Analysis …………………………………………………………………………………………….… 3

Instructional Goal Statement……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4

Discussion on Why Instruction Could Address this Problem ………………………………………………………… 4

Overview of Learner Analysis …………………………………………………………………………………….………… 4

Discussion of Instructional Unit Design ………………………………………………………………….………………… 6

Discussion of the Design Theories Used………………………………………………………………………………….. 7

Discussion of Instructional Strategies Used …………………………………………………………………………….. 8

Evaluation of Instructional Unit ……………………………………………………………………………………………..… 8

Discussion of the Feedback ……………………………………………………………………………………………….… 8

References ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…… 9
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Summary of Instructional Problem

Overview of Instructional Problem

According to Washington’s English Language Arts Standards, third grade students are

expected to determine the main idea and supporting details of grade level text. Third grade

students in my class at Issaquah Valley Elementary School struggle to identifying the central

message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details.

Factors contributing to the instructional problem of students not correctly identifying

the main idea of a grade level text are lack of background knowledge, lack of vocabulary and

fluency, lack of monitoring skills or actively reading, and lack of critical thinking skills. Many of

my students also come from non-English speaking homes, therefore they lack the access and

daily practice to these skills in English. Another contributing factor which affects students’

academic growth in this area is the lack of parent or guardian support outside of the classroom

due to many single parents or working family homes.

Currently 16/28 or 57% of my students are not able to correctly identify the main idea of

the text and refer explicitly to the text in order to explain how it is conveyed through key

details. I would like for at least 26/28 or 93% of my students to read a grade level text, identify

the main idea of the passage, and refer explicitly to the text for key details to support the main

idea 100% of the time.

Findings from Needs Analysis

My needs analysis clearly demonstrated an instructional problem regarding the

instruction of correctly identifying the main idea and supporting key details of grade level text.

Both the student pre-assessment and the teacher survey specified that majority of third grade
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students are struggling with this concept and the need for additional explicit instruction is

necessary. More explicit instruction will allow students to confidently read passages and master

this concept and the grade level state standard.

Instructional Goal Statement

Following the unit of instruction, students will complete a post assessment. Given a

grade level reading passage, third grade students will read the passage, identify the main idea

of the passage, and refer explicitly to the text for key details to support the main idea. The

ability to identify the main idea is a higher-level skill that students develop as a foundation for

success as they embark on many other critical skills in later grades to come of their educational

career.

Discussion on Why Instruction Could Address this Problem

There is a definite need for additional instruction on determining the main idea of a

grade level text and supporting it with key details. There is already a reading curriculum that

the district provides which touches bae on main idea, but additional instruction is definitely

needed. The factors contributing to the instructional problem are lack of background

knowledge, lack of vocabulary and fluency, lack of monitoring skills or actively reading, and lack

of critical thinking skills. By creating small groups based on academic level and breaking down

each of these concepts in small group instruction students will be benefit tremendously.

Overview of Learner Analysis

Issaquah Valley Elementary School is located in the heart of downtown Issaquah. This

school was one of the original elementary schools in the rapidly growing district comprised of

now fifteen elementary schools. Issaquah Valley serves almost six hundred and fifty students in
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grades kindergarten to fifth grade. There is an average of four to five classes pre grade level

with about seventeen to twenty-eight students in each class. Issaquah Valley elementary has a

diverse population, with many students coming from Hispanic backgrounds.

I am going into my second year of teaching at Issaquah Valley Elementary in Issaquah,

Washington in a third grade classroom with twenty-eight students. I have a pretty even mix of

boys and girls with thirteen girls and fifteen boys ranging from ages eight to nine years old. Of

my twenty-eight students, I have three students who have been identified with specific learning

disabilities. Most of my students are at or above grade level, but I have a group of five students

who I am working very closely with to approach grade level. I teach my students all subjects,

reading, writing, math, science, and social studies every day although my students do leave for

their specialist (gym, music, library, computer lab, and art) for thirty minutes a day.

Skills students need to accomplish this goal are to read a grade level passage, monitor

reading and decode words they are unfamiliar with, comprehend basic elements of the text

such as characters, setting, problem, and solution, and critically think about the text. All of the

skills students will learn with this goal will assist in advancing them along their educational

career in reading into middle school, high school, and even college.

There is a range of prior knowledge across the students in my classroom. All students

are able to read, although there is a group of five students who are approaching reading at

grade level and three students who identify with learning disabilities and are reading two grade

levels behind. All students are able to read their appropriate text and identify specific elements

of the text such as characters, setting, etc. The second grade Common Core Standard related to
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this goal is students can identify the “main topic” of a multi-paragraph texts, so students have

prior knowledge on this concept.

All of my students bring an abundance of their own unique characteristics into my

classroom. These unique characteristics make our learning community an outstanding melting

pot. My student’s attitudes towards learning vary across the classroom. The majority of my

students are very motivated to learn and achieve success across subjects. Although there is a

small group of students who get overwhelmed and loose interest very quickly. Because of this, I

am constantly trying new and fun ways to keep my student’s attention and interest. This keeps

their interest peeked and keeps a positive attitude towards reading in my classroom.

There is a variety of accommodations that happen in my classroom, specifically for my

three students who have learning disabilities. The accommodations range from extra time on

assignments, to one-on-one instruction, to additional resources such as graphic organizers to

keep their thoughts organized. Also I do a lot of verbal assessment for these students, rather

than written assignments.

Discussion of Instructional Unit Design

Discussion of What Learning Theories Support Instructional Strategies

Due to the nature of the classroom, the Common Core Standards, and the requirements

of the district, the Constructivist Learning Theory is the best approach to this unit. Students will

learn to work collaboratively in the classroom which will prepare them for later grades to come.

Also, working safely within a small group setting, students will be better prepared for

independent practice of the skill. Lastly, my classroom along with many other classrooms at
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Issaquah Valley are about creating and building, which is the basis of the Constructivism

Learning Theory.

Discussion of the Design Theories Used

In cases where there were existing materials for the lessons, such as our Making

Meaning Curriculum or ActiveBoard flipcharts, a backwards design approach was used in order

to construct the lesson based on the existing content. With these lessons, I began with the end

in mind designed the steps leading up to it. I asked myself “what is it that I want the students to

accomplish by the end of this lesson” and “how can they demonstrate their knowledge of this

skill”. This then led me to a learning target or objective for the lesson.

In cases where I did not already have materials for the lesson I began with the

instructional goal or objective for the lesson and designed the remainder of the lesson from

there. These lessons align with Gagne’s nine events of instruction and the Dick and Carey model

of instruction. The Dick and Carey Method was used for the planning of this instructional unit.

Instruction is easily enforced with student’s success and meeting their literacy goals. Students

are learning in sequence, mastering one skill at a time before moving on to the next. This

develops confidence in literacy within the student and ensures mastery of the concept and

subject. By building on prior knowledge, students are engaged from the onset of instruction

and the relevance to real life scenarios allows for ease of transfer from one concept to another.

(Moore, 2005.)

Discussion of Instructional Strategies Used

The instructional strategy for this unit is the Dick and Carey five step instructional

component model. All of the lessons were broken down into the five major learning
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components which are preinstructional activities, content presentation, learner participation,

assessments, and follow-through activities.

Evaluation of Instructional Unit

Feedback on Instructional Unit

Feedback on this unit was gathered through interviews with subject-matter experts, my

team of third grade teachers as we as the IVE instructional coach. Together we went through

the unit using a checklist for instructional unit evaluation and engaged in rich conversation.

Each of the evaluators was provided with a copy of the unit and was given the opportunity to

review the unit beforehand at their own convenience.

Discussion of the Feedback

I received very valuable feedback on the unit and all of my coworkers who reviewed it

said they look forward to reflecting on it in the future. The most valuable feedback came from

two teachers on my team who have both been teaching third grade for at least twenty-five

years. They suggested a few changes. They suggested I start the unit with a “pre mini-lesson”

that focuses just on the student’s background knowledge and what they already know about

determining the main idea of a passage. They said that a lack of background knowledge is

definitely a contributing factor to your instructional problem, so why not spend some time to

see what they actually know. They also suggested some books to use in my small group

instruction that they know have helped students become successful with these skills in the past.

Another piece of feedback which I really appreciated came from my instructional coach.

She suggested towards the end of the unit once students have really practiced the skill, using

my class set of iPads with the Epic app. This would integrate technology and increase student’s
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motivation and engagement. I can assign students certain books based on their reading levels

and they can read the text and practice a specific skill or use this as their final assessment of

determining the main idea of the whole text with key supporting details. I look forward to

continuing to modify this unit and make it the best I can.

References

Moore, C., (2005). Instructional Design Methods. Instructional Design Central. Retrieved

from [Link]