Integrated Instruction Plan

Integrated Instruction Plan
Content Area: English
MRS.RUTH GONZALEZ

Date: Thursday, March 24, 2010

Grade: Fourth Grade

Length of Plan: One day

Lesson Theme: What a Team!

Book: Hidden Surprises

Title of the story: Turtle Bay

Author: Saviour Pirotta

Concept: Introducing Vocabulary

Thinking Skill: Knowledge

Strategy: Exploration and Conceptualization

Integration: Science

Content Standards and Grade Level Expectations: Listening/Speaking

The student uses the English language to interpret oral input, construct meaning, interact with confidence both verbally and nonverbally, and express ideas effectively in a variety of personal, social, and academic contexts.

L/S.4.3 Listens and responds to complex instructions, complete statements, and answers and formulates the 5 W-Questions as well as how questions (who, what, when, where, why, and how) in formal and informal discussions.

L/S.4.5 Identifies, states, and paraphrases the main idea or topic and important details from learned concepts or read aloud of a variety of simple informational texts; uses transitions to tell, retell, and explain a story
using acquired vocabulary and appropriate language structure.



Objectives: Once the skill has been initiated and a series of activities have been performed, the student will demonstrate 70% mastery of the following skills:

1. Identify new vocabulary words with the aid of pictures and context.
2. Recognize the importance of acquiring new vocabulary words.
3. Write sentences using the new vocabulary words learned.

Materials:
1.Book: Hidden Surprise
2. flash cards
3. dictionary
4. transparencies
5. pictures
6. handouts
7. sand box
8. sentence stripes

Activities:
Initial:
1. Greetings and Date.
2. Reflection: Poem Dream Boat
3. Present skill: Vocabulary of Turtle Bay
4. The student will pick a word from a toy sand box and relate the word with a given picture. This activity will activate their previous knowledge.

Development:
1. The class will be divided in two groups. Each group will have a dictionary. The students will use the dictionary to look for the definition of the vocabulary words after presenting them in context.
2. The vocabulary words will be presented to the class in context using sentences from the story. (with the use of transparencies)
3. Once the words are presented the students will look for the definition in the dictionary and write them on the chalkboard.
4. After finishing defining the vocabulary words they will practice orally a fill in the blanks.
5. Students will apply the new vocabulary words learned by completing two exercises:
· Write new sentences using the new vocabulary words
· Identify a given vocabulary word in a picture.
6. Discuss the exercise.

Closing:
1. Have students write a reflexive journal on their experience of the reading selection read in class.
2. Draw a picture of the endanger animal from the reading selection; Turtle Bay and have student share their ideas.
3. Hand out homework.

Metacognition: What did we learn today?


Homework: Complete the crossword puzzle and find information about an
endanger sea animal in Puerto Rico.

Vocabulary Words:
1. message
2. wise
3. shore
4. eager
5. trained
6. bay
7. patiently
8. hatch
9. rough
10. litter

The Renaissance Man

Who ever said that teaching was simple? The movie "The Renaissance Man" takes you on a journey with an unexperienced teacher who discovers the beauty or art of teaching with all it's commitments and responsibilities. The movie begins with the dismissal of a big time ad man, named Bill Rago, for his tardiness at a meeting which cost his firm a $6 million contract. After enduring the rigors of the unemployment line, he finds a job as a teacher at an army base. That was all there was for him so he couldn't turn it down. He was assigned to teach reading comprehension to eight educationally-challenged recruits so that they can graduate. Since this was his first teaching experience, there is no structure set up for his class. He tells his students that it's a simple basic comprehension course. Since he doesn't have classroom materials, he begins an English conversational class by asking them to share why they decided to join the army. Without realizing it, he joinned the group closer than it had ever been and assigned an essay on that same topic. He also asked them to bring a book to the next class so that they can discuss what they were reading.

In the second class, one student asked him what he was reading and again without realizing it, he triggered the students' interest with his response. He used reverse psychology when he tells them that his book named Hamlet is about sex, murder, intrigue and incest. The soldiers were so amazed that they wanted to know more about it. So the profesor made copies of the book for the next class and assigned them to read and analyze it. He incorporates the learning theory of Constructivism. which is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that, by reflecting on our experiences we construct our own understanding of the world in which we live.

As students of a reading comprehension course , they had to learn to read and think but in Shakespeare's language (this was like a new language) They had to construct their own knowledge and this they achieved by actively participating in the class. There is one occasion where they ask the teacher to help them understand Hamlet. So the profesor uses the audio-lingual method where the students listen to each read and interpret what they read. Consequently, he catches the students interest again. I believe that Language Schemata was the key that opened the student's interest.

Once the students started to use their own learning styles, they were able to surprise the profesor with a rap singing dance which interpreted their understanding of the book Hamlet. Furthermore, each student was able to recite a part of the play successfully. At the end of the movie, they demonstrate dominance of the language structure in Shakespeare. Eventually, they graduated and dedicated their achievements to the profesor. The faith that the profesor had put into each and everyone of his students really paid off. Teaching is not an easy job but it is the most precious profession.

Journal - The Miracle Worker

The story of Helen Keller's life has deeply touched me. This inspiring movie definitely awakens our appreciation of dedicated teachers or miracle workers. The illness that hits Helen at infancy left her blind before she could speak. As she grew from infancy into childhood she was wild, frustrated and unable to communicate effectively. She relied on her senses, of touching and smelling everything. It wasn' t until she was motivated and challenged by a young teacher, named Anne Sullivan that her new life began.

Throughout the movie, a variety of language learning theories are detected. For instance, in the beginning of the movie, Miss Sullivan immediately begins to trigger Helen's knowledge by communicating with her through sign language. I believe that creativity was the key to Helen Keller's life story? According to Piaget's Cognitive Theory , the principal goal of education is to create men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done but men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers. She also follows Stephen Krashen's Theory when she ensures that Helen does not become anxious in language learning. She establishes from the very beginning a friendly relationship with her and strives at building a close one.

Eventually, Miss Sullivan began her task with a doll that the children at Perkins had made for her to take to Helen. By spelling "d-o-l-l" into the child's hand, she hoped to teach her to connect objects with letters. Helen quickly learned to form the letters correctly and in the correct order, but did not know she was spelling a word, or even that words existed. In the days that followed she learned to spell a great many words in this uncomprehending way. Anne based her instruction on a system of touch teaching rather than attempting to explain the properties of an object, she would allow her student to experience it directly. This scene of the movie takes us to another theory; the communicative language theory where the learner interacts and learns by doing. (John Dewey)

Nevertheless, it wasn't until Miss Sullivan was able to gain full control of Helen's discipline that she began to learn or comprehend to the fullest. At this point, B.F. Skinner's theory of behaviorism appears as Anne tries to constantly modify Helen's behavior by rewarding with positive reinforcements and punishing with negative reinforcements. Skinner further insists that all learning is a process of habit formation in which a stimulus creates a response and is reinforced to become a habit. After this, Miss Sullivan led Helen to the water-pump and pumped water onto her hand spelling out the word "water" on her other hand. After many repetitions of the word, Helen realized that the individual signs represented the letters that made up a word that was the name for the thing water, and that other things must also have a name. She proceeded quickly after this to master the alphabet. The movie ends when Helen finally understands symbolic language. To this day, Helen Keller and her teacher remain an inspiration to people thoughout the world.

In conclusion, as educators we need to observe and interact more with our students. They are natural artists because they allow their creativity to run free. Their imagination knows no boundaries and nobody should make them believe they "can't" do something. Ideas are limited only by the boudaries we have set with our adult imaginations. In most cases, children come to school in full possession of their "creative spirits". It is in our hands to create children who are capable of doing new things and believe in themselves.