There are several factors I would use to determine the success of my detailed lesson. The first would be brief conferences during in-class exercises, as well as observation of how students reacted to discussion and examples. If students seemed to be confused or struggling, something would have to be changed before future use of the lesson. Secondly, student success on the homework assignment would indicate how well I had accomplished the lessons objectives. Thirdly, I would take into account students' reflections on how the process went for them.
In order to evaluate the success of the unit as a whole, a final collaborative meeting should take place during which the classroom teacher and I could share overall impressions of what worked and what didn't. This could also serve as planning for how the unit would change for the next year, or if it would be used at all. During this discussion, students' end-of-unit reflections would definitely be a focal point. Looking at examples of student work and grades for the unit would give a good idea of how well students actually constructed new knowledge and understanding.
I would be sure to keep a portfolio of student work and reflections. It should include not only work from the lessons I taught, but also examples of student notes and final products to show how my lessons contributed to student performance overall. Evidence of this kind would help prove that my program plays an essential role of in the school learning environment.
I would also include written comments from the classroom teacher with whom I had been collaborating. Hopefully, this unit would have strengthened the teacher's appreciation of what can be gained from a collaborative relationship and increase the likelihood of our working together again.
Items that might be included in my portfolio:
- Examples of student homework: data sheet, article
- Completed lesson reflection questionnaires
- Copies of student notes
- Copies, photos, or other representations of final group products
- Examples of unit reflection journal writing
- Comments from collaborating teacher
Field Test Results
From Julie Vander Pluym, elementary teacher and Masters student in Education:
I cannot imagine how much work this must have been! It looks great! Good for you....
I really like the KWHL- do you think they have enough roon to write in the spaces?
As far as the keyword diagram, I would give examples in some of those spaces for what may be a "big" and "small" way to adjust a specific keyword.
This is so much info! I am so totally impressed.
The only thing that realistically could be a possible problem with this unit is the overwhelming amount of info. For project purposes I think it's great, but I'm not sure that a 6th grader could digest all of the info. There is so much there, any teacher could do an awesome unit with this as a guide! You may not have time to do this... and probably don't need to, but if the instructions were broken down a little more, that may help. There is a lot on each page.
The Assessment and Reflecton page is great!
Honestly Jennifer, the things that I mentioned are so minor in the scheme of this project. I love it. I am bookmarking it! Let me know if there is anything else specifically that you want feedback with.
Julie
From Heather Bouillet, special education teacher and mother of three school aged children:
WOW!! This looks great. I was a little confused on the keyword diagram in step 3. I wasn't clear on the first step titled synonyms. Was greenhouse effect the synonym for global warming in your example? I had to look at this a few times to see how this worked.
[I adjusted this based on Heather's comments.]
I had questions on the persuasive letter section of the unit. Would the children already know how to write the persuasive letter? Would they know how to use the new information in their letter? What are they trying to persuade him to do?
Lesson plans and materials are great. Very student friendly. I like that you used examples that would interest the students during the plagiarism and summarizing lessons.
Heather