Capstone Project Proposal s1

Capstone Project Proposal

Krisa Yurko

Wilkes University

EDAM 5039

January 31, 2010 Abstract

Each year the students in English 10 CP must complete a poetry unit, and each year this unit is met with negativity from the students. They dread the unit because they claim poetry is too difficult to understand, so essentially they are defeated even before they begin. Every year I try to change this unit to make it more effective, but it still always seems to fall short of my expectations. However, after completing the courses for this masters and learning the strategies of effective 21st century teaching, I am going to use them to infuse this poetry unit with more meaningful, authentic tasks. These tasks will be aimed at helping the students gain a deeper understanding of poetry, improve their higher order thinking skills, and use what they learn in new situations. This unit will last about six weeks and its success will be based on many types of formal and informal assessments.

Rationale

The rationale for this unit is for students to gain a deeper understanding of poetry so that they will be able to use their newfound knowledge in novel situations. They will engage in 21st century tasks that will improve their higher order thinking skills, as well as allow them to see the connectedness of what they are learning to other areas of their life and school. When this happens, they essentially will gain a more positive attitude toward poetry and their ability to understand it. Overall, this unit does not focus on one question or problem; instead it addresses the students’ negative attitude toward poetry and aims to change it for the positive while at the same time engaging them in tasks designed to improve their understanding of the unit’s goals and objectives. During this unit, students will learn various poetry terms and different types of poems.

They will be able to analyze and interpret them, as well as identify poetic elements in them.

Students will then apply this knowledge to songs of their choice and display their higher order thinking skills through a written essay and class discussions. Students will also take on real world roles, like music producer and teacher, while participating in group projects designed to deepen their understanding and improve their communication skills. In addition, students will complete an individual project in which they will demonstrate their understanding of various types of poems by creating original poetry. Knowledge will be gained through teacher and student led activities and assessments will be done through formal and informal methods.

Objectives

1. Student Centered: At various points in this unit students will be responsible to make

decisions about their learning. At one point they will be able to choose a song that is

both appropriate for school and interesting to them, and identify poetic elements in it and

connect them to the song’s theme or tone. In a separate assignment, students will choose

a poem that they like that relates to their assigned poem choice and decide how best to

present it to the class. These situations allow the students to find pieces that interest them

and will motivate them to learn.

2. Learning and Doing: Students will learn about different types of poems and various

poetic elements. As a class, we will practice reading, analyzing, and responding to

examples of the different types of poems. Then students will be asked to do similar tasks

on poems that they find both independently and in groups. 3. Facilitator: During this unit, I, as the teacher, will be the facilitator. I will help guide the

students throughout the activities and model appropriate behavior and skills for the

students. I will encourage the students to ask questions and share their ideas in class

discussions, as well as make sure that the students stay on task. Throughout the entire

unit I will try my best to make sure that the students are successful so that their negative

feelings toward poetry become more positive.

4. Flexible Grouping Configuration Based on Individual Student Needs: In this unit,

students will work in whole class, small group, and individual activities. For the small

group activities, some will be student choice and some will be teacher assigned. When

students take on the role of music producer and rewrite sections of a song, they will

choose whom they work with and what song they use. This will allow them to work on

something that interests them as well as with individuals they know they work well with.

For other activities, like when they take on the role of the teacher to teach the class, I will

assign groups based on diversity. Students of all abilities and talents will be mixed

together to make sure that each group truly represents the class as a whole. These various

groupings will ensure that students’ needs are met in a variety of ways.

5. Multiple Instructional and Learning Modalities to Include all Students: Students will be

given instruction through a variety of methods: lecture, hands on activities, self-directed

learning, small group instruction, and large group instruction.

6. Higher Order Thinking Skills: At various points throughout the unit, students will be

asked to analyze, interpret, synthesize, create, collaborate, and evaluate material. This

will be shown during discussions, projects, writing assignments, tests, quizzes, and

observations. 7. Collaboration: The collaboration that will take place in this unit will be student/student

and teacher/student. The student/student collaboration will take place during discussions

and projects. The teacher/student collaboration will take place during project work and

interviews.

8. Performance Based Assessments: Assessment will take place through discussions, group

activities, written work, tests, quizzes, and a final project. At the end of the unit the

students will also evaluate the activities and overall unit.

9. Technology Fully Integrated into the Classroom: In this unit, students will use the

Internet to find information and conduct research. They also will choose what

technologies to use for their final project that they will present to the class. Finally,

students will use the class wiki to participate in a discussion and share their ideas.

10. Teachers Addressing the Learning Styles of All Learners: Due to the variety of activities

in this unit, all students learning styles will be met. Each student will be able to use their

strengths and improve on their weaknesses. In addition, they will be able to learn from

each other at some point and experience learning styles that they may not have been

exposed to yet. This should keep their interest level high.

11. Learning How to Learn: There will be multiple ways for students to learn how to learn.

First, they will see me model appropriate learning techniques in the beginning of the unit

that they can use in the future. Second, they will be responsible for some of their

learning throughout the unit in both individual and group settings. And third, at various

points of the unit, students will be asked to evaluate their progress, focusing on strengths

and weaknesses, so that they can decide how to move forward to be successful. 12. Students Acting as a Professional in the Discipline: There will be two specific instances

where students will be asked to participate in authentic learning experiences and act as a

professional. The first one will be when they take on the roll of a music producer and

change song lyrics. They will work with one other person for this and the changes must

make the song meaning different in some way. They must rewrite it and be able to

explain how and why it works. The second instance will be when the students take on the

roll of teacher to demonstrate their understanding of the topics covered in the unit. For

this students will work in groups of no more than five. Each group will focus on a

different type of poem out of the six we will study and different literary elements. They

must pretend they are to teach a lesson to students about their topics.

Strategy

The following is an estimation of the poetry unit. It will last about six weeks, with changes being made based on students’ needs.

Week One:

1. Students will participate in an anticipatory lesson where they complete and discuss a

survey about poetry.

2. The poetry notes will be passed out and gone over.

3. Students begin working with an example of each of the six types of poetry being

taught.

4. Two of the six classes will participate in a wiki discussion dealing with a curriculum

related prompt that connects their learning to the real world. Week Two:

1. Students continue and finish working with an example of each of the six typos of

poetry being taught.

2. Project requirements are given and explained for the poetry project. Students are to

work on this independently and will create essentially a poetry portfolio. A due date

will be given for three weeks away. It will be handed in before the culminating

project is due.

3. Students are told to choose a song that they like and that is appropriate for school.

They are to have it ready for the beginning of week three (next week).

related prompt that connects their learning to the real world.

Week Three:

1. Students will work on their song independently. They will type out of copy and paste

their song lyrics into a word document. They will identify the theme and tone of the

song, along with two other terms from a set list. They will then write a short essay

that discusses how the two additional elements chosen help develop the song’s tone

or theme. (The progress of the above activity, will determine the start of the music

producer activity.

related prompt that connects their learning to the real world. Week Four:

1. Students will work either alone or with a partner. If they work alone they will use the

song they used for the essay, and if they work with a partner they may choose which

song to use from the two. They will then be required to think about the meaning of

the song and rewrite at least five lines so that the meaning of the song is changed.

They may change words, complete lines, and/or stanzas. A brief explanation must be

included that explains the changes and how it effects the meaning of the song. The

original song and the rewritten song must be turned in with the essay.

2. A poetry quiz will be given using a poem that the students have not seen before.

They will read it, interpret it, respond to it, and identify poetic elements in it.

3. A self-evaluation will be given to determine what the students feel are their strengths

and weaknesses, as well as what they enjoy and dislike in the unit so far. A

discussion will follow to see how the answers on this will help direct their future

behaviors.

Week Five:

1. The culminating project will be explained and groups will be assigned. These groups

will be given their topics and will have a chance to discuss their plan for the project.

2. Students will divide the work and work on their projects.

Week Six:

1. Students will continue working on their culminating projects.

2. Students will practice their presentations and present their projects to the class.

3. A self-evaluation will be given to help the students and myself with future activities. Inquiry: Students will need to focus their culminating project on the question, “How can we as a group best show our understanding of the topic and most clearly communicate that to the class?” Students will research poems and terms and create activities to teach the students the material.

Projects: There are three project type activities with this unit. One of them is an individual project in which the students become the poet and create original poems that demonstrate their understanding of different types of poetry. In another project they are given the choice to work independently or with a partner to become a music producer. In the culminating project students will work in groups and take the role of teacher.

Technology: Students will use technology in a variety of ways. They will use it for communication with the class wiki, they will use it for research and word processing with the song and culminating project activities, and they will use it for teaching in any way they see fit to best communicate their topics to the class.

Dynamic, Flexible Grouping: Students can choose their group based on interest and will also be given their groups based on diversity. These groups will be flexible because they will also break up into smaller groups as the members see fit to best meet the projects’ objectives.

Authentic Teaching and Learning Experiences; In this unit, the students will be engaged in a variety of authentic teaching and learning experiences. In each of the three projects described above, the students will be asked to take on authentic roles and complete relevant, real- world tasks to help them gain and demonstrate a deeper level of understanding. Resources

 English 10 CP textbook

 CFF laptop cart

 Internet accessibility

 http://www.gasd.org/Highschool/aliverio/poetry.aspx

 http://www.eng10cp.wikispaces.com

 Various websites

All of these materials are easily accessible in my classroom.

Desired Outcomes

Students will:

1. Understand and identify different types of poetry and various poetic elements.

2. Analyze, interpret, respond to, and create different types of poetry.

3. Conduct research using various sources, summarize the findings, and effectively present

it to an audience.

4. Use higher order thinking skills to participate in class discussions and complete authentic

projects.

5. Effectively communicate their understanding and ideas verbally and in writing.

6. Learn to work in groups to accomplish tasks.

7. Learn to manage their time to complete both in class and out of class

assignments/projects. 8. Gain a deeper understanding of poetry by being active participants in authentic and

relevant tasks throughout the unit.

The success of this unit will be measured by how well the students meet the above outcome and objectives. This will be assessed by observations, formal assessments, informal assessments, self-evaluations, and projects.