Lesson+Analysis+&+Assessment

 =Lesson Analysis & Assessment (Example)=

PART 1: Lesson Analysis
__Content Area/Topic__:Content Area/Topic: Science/Geography (Tornadoes)

Title of Lesson: [|Twister! What to do in a Tornado]

__Intended Audience__: 3rd-5th grade in elementary school

__My GPS for which I would adapt this lesson__: S4E4. Students will analyze weather charts/maps and collect weather data to predict weather events and infer patterns and seasonal changes.

S4CS1. Students will be aware of the importance of curiosity, openness, honesty and skepticism in science and will exhibit these traits in figuring out how the world works.

===Give a summary of the strengths (2+), weaknesses (2+), and the changes (2+) you would make to tailor this to your class.===
 * ==The lesson...== || ==Indicators== || ==Your Review Comments== ||
 * Works toward appropriate goals. || * Content and technology standards are mentioned.
 * Standards seem appropriate to grade level and content area.
 * Objectives align with standards.
 * Tasks focus clearly on obtaining the objectives. || There are no GPS standards, probably because this is a //national// lesson, however there are connections to the National Geography Standards, and this lesson clearly addresses two of them. The standards are highly appropriate to the content area, and they lend themselves well to an alignment with the "characteristics of science" requirement, giving students the opportunity not to simply learn about science, but to //do// science. The tasks focus clearly on how weather occurrences, particularly tornadoes, shape the earth's surface and the affects on humans and their habitats as well. ||
 * Requires the use of higher order thinking skills and "new" literacies. || * Students are asked to do more than memorize or understand.
 * Media, visual, communicative, technological, mathematical, and/or other nontraditional literacies are addressed. || The plan does use higher-order thinking skills, eventually asking students to predict when they think tornadoes are likely to strike a certain area and why. There are also some levels of creativity and application when in groups the children are asked to design brochures about tornado safety for family and friends. Unfortunately a majority of the questions are memorization or understanding, with some application. The lesson does require computer with internet access for investigations on the web, and each student is provided with Xpeditions outline maps of the United States (from National Geographic). The book //I survived a Tornado// is presented and told from a young boy's perspective, bringing real-world attributes to those in the elementary school classroom. Throughout the lesson, groups will be accessing various websites. ||
 * Integrates the learning goals. || * Communication
 * Production
 * Critical Thinking
 * Creativity
 * Content
 * Problem-solving
 * Inquiry/research || Students must communicate with each other in small groups and with the class as a whole in order to fulfill the assignment; They will be working together to create safety brochures for family and friends, as well as exploring web sites in groups about tornado safety. The entire class has a discussion on the book //I Survived a Tornado,// which is quickly related to the assignment. Students work together on coloring their maps, indicating which areas of the country are most likely to experience tornadoes. Web sites such as National Geographic, Scholastic, American Red Cross, and even USA Today are explored for the topic of tornado safety. Throughout the lesson, groups are answering (and asking) questions about the signs of a tornado, what to do if one occurs, supplies needed, where to take pets and the safest place in the home to be. ||
 * Includes a variety of resources. || * Students have choices of materials at different levels.
 * Materials are available in a variety of modes (e.g., graphics, sound, text, video) and media (e.g., books, films, photos, computer). || This plan calls for both written and visual materials, presented in a relatively traditional manner. There are variations throughout the lesson from web sites, to coloring maps, making predictions, listening to a story, and a creative assignment that includes designing a safety brochure. There is room for improvement, in that students could watch a video or fim clip that covers the different //types// of tornadoes one is likely to see and how to spot them. ||
 * Engages all students actively in authentic tasks. || * Students have roles/tasks to perform throughout the lesson.
 * Connections are made between the task and real life.
 * Students must actively search for answers to essential questions. || Students are working in groups and have assigned tasks and duties they must do before coming togtheer again as a whole group. This allows time for discussion with classmates, researching the questions given and bringing something new "to the table" in the full class mode. I definitely see how connections are made to real life throughout the entire lesson. The children are continuously asked to put themselves in the position of witnessing a tornado, what things to look for, warning signals, safety measures, and the brochure they are designing is clearly intended for "friends and family", making it obvious that it is possible to encounter a tornado no matter where you live. There are questions posed throughout the lesson that students must actively search out, primarily involving geographic tendencies of weather patterns and safety procedures. ||
 * Uses technology effectively, efficiently, and as a learning tool. || * The technology makes the task more authentic.
 * The technology makes the task easier to accomplish.
 * The technology helps the students learn faster than without it.
 * The technology is secondary to the content and goals. || I believe the technology included here (searching out answers on a variety of web sites) does provide authenticity to the lesson. Rather than the teacher simply standing up and lecturing for two hours, the students are investigating on their own. They are also learning that the internet is a useful tool for searching out valuable information, and that this can be found in more than one or two places. If the class had to go to the library to do research (which is what we use to do years ago), it would have taken up //far// too much class time and they probably wouldn't have found near the information that they did by visiting the websites. It also gave students more of a "vested interest" in the answers they found, because the information wasn't just given to them to copy down, somewhat mindlessly. It is knowledge they will remember. They had to actually "go out and get it", do the footwork- investigate, possibly even weed through material that was redundant or unnecessary. Surely this is what science (and pretty much most of the subject areas) are all about. While technology was important, I don't see that it overshadowed the lesson content and goals. What it managed to do was be a means to an end, and a very good one- it provided information faster and certainly more efficiently than the class would have been without it. It wasn't a replacement so much as an "enhancement" to the material. ||
 * Addresses the needs of a variety of students, including ELLs (English Language Learners) and students with physical or other challenges. || * All students can access task instructions.
 * All students can access task materials and resources.
 * Students have different ways to accomplish the same objectives. || Some of the reading might be a hindrance to ELL's, but by working in groups this may alleviate problems as many of the students are helping each other and working together (which could, in the end, be a great benefit for ELLs in learning). A number of the activities involve coloring, drawing, making connections, and discussions, all of which might be a nice bridge to reach children who are ELLs, and the differentiated instruction of the various tasks will also be an asset. Students with physical challenges should benefit from the small group environment, where each child will have the opportunity to have a multitude of tasks suited to the differing and unique needs of the classroom. ||
 * Includes appropriate assessments. || * Assessment is aligned to the standards and objectives.
 * Assessments are fair for all students and not based on one ability (e.g., writing).
 * Assessments allow students to show what they know/can do rather than what they cannot. || The assessment "suggested" is for the students to create their own "Tornado Safety" brochure for family and friends that includes pictures explaining all that was learned about tornadoes and tornado safety procedures. This is a nice overall portfolio of the lesson, however it doesn't really cover the material the students covered involving the geographic characteristics of weather, or the mapping elements to predict which areas will be hardest hit. This might have been a nice area to include in the brochure. What is good is that the brochure can be written, drawn or told through pictures, so a problem with writing or language would not impede a student from meeting the objective. This does give students an opportunity to display what they know and have learned about tornadoes and is actually a good thing for families to have who might not be familiar with the particulars of tornadoes. ||

__Strengths__: I very much like this plan. The first thing I liked about it was the topic. Children in the 3rd-5th grade range love "danger" or exciting topics and this kind of real-life subject will surely peak their interest right away. It will be something they //want// to know more about, and it's a great place to include technology in the mix because the students will already be doing investigations and exploring on their own. Another strength I see is that it has a broad selection of teaching devices interwoven into the lesson, touching on technology and computers, art, books, stories, creating brochures, investigating as a group, discussions involving the whole class, even making predictions. It is, in its own sneaky way, teaching the children to become scientists- to question and explore, then question some more. By having them go to many different websites, the students are exposed to similar material told in a variety of ways. Another strength I see is that it is a real-world lesson that the children can relate to. Even if they've never seen a tornado, they have undoubtedly heard of them and know how destructive they can be. Knowing all the safety procedures, where to be and where not to be, even knowing where and when they are likely to form, is knowledge we will all need to have.

__Weaknesses__: I don’t like that this lesson didn't show a video or a clip of some of the different kinds of tornadoes (maybe from storm chasers or even the movie //Twister//. This would have been, in my opinion, a great way of pulling it even closer in to the investigation and given the groups something else to discuss. It also would have been a great hook to begin the lesson with. Rather than telling students why tornadoes occur more in "tornado alley" of the U.S., it might have been interesting to simply ask the question and leave it unanswered until toward the end of the lesson, giving students something else to think about amongst themselves. Often we will be more intent on investigating something if there is an answer we really //want// to know about.

__Changes__: The web searches were very informative for the students, but I could also see room for a smartboard demonstration- even a short one- that graphed tornadoes and had the children make predictions and fill in the graph as they got more information. This would have incorporated math into the plan. Rather than simply finishing up with a booklet on safety, the teacher could have also included something on the class website about tornado safety with contributions from the different groups on what new things they discovered.

PART 2: Assessment

 * Assessment #1**: Formative
 * **Assessment Method** || **Purpose** || **When Used** || **Instrument (**include written, attached, or hyperlinked on this page**)** ||
 * //Pre-test// || As the teacher, I need to understand what my students already know about this topic. I am also interested in what things they would actually //like// to know about the topic, as this will make the lesson far more interesting to them if they are exploring the answers to their own questions. I think it would be good to give this test after the lesson/unit, and see how much their answers had changed. This would be a nice addition to the safety brochure they will be making at the end (which would have a rubric). || At the beginning of the lesson || [[image:http://www.wikispaces.com/i/mime/32/application/msword.png width="32" height="32" caption="Twister!" link="http://cid-b4e235fc7e5787e9.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!B4E235FC7E5787E9!106.entry"]] Twister! Tornado Pretest ||

Goody Gumdrops
 * Assessment #2**: Summative Peformance Assessment
 * **Assessment Method** || **Purpose** || **When Used** || **Instrument (**include written, attached, or hyperlinked on this page**)** ||
 * //Rubric// || This instrument, which we would create together as a class, should serve to both guide the student in the making of their flag video, as well as help them to self-evaluate upon completion. Additionally, when peer-evaluating, they will use this instrument to assess classmate's work. It serves the function, then, of also giving us a common set of criteria from which to assess. || During the presentations of the flag movies. || [[image:http://www.wikispaces.com/i/mime/32/application/vnd.ms-excel.png width="32" height="32" link="http://azurekitty.wikispaces.com/file/view/flag_rubric.xls"]] [|flag_rubric.xls] ||