Language Arts Unit Plan

 

Language Arts Unit Plan

Lesson Plan Templates

Mini-lesson for Monday

Standard: Grade 4 Theme: Short story Lesson Topic: Oral language and vocabulary Objectives: -Students should learn to communicate with others fluently -Students should advance their vocabulary and learn to use new vocabularies          Language: Literature skills         Content: Ensure the students are advanced in literature skills through asking questions to  know if they have understood literature work Learning strategies: Interactive strategy -Employ interactive strategy to determine if the students are capable of using new vocabulary words in oral communication Key vocabulary: Identify antonyms, synonyms and homonyms of certain words found in the text Materials: Written charts on different vocabulary words for students to read

Motivation:  Encourage other students to clap for those who have improved in vocabulary as well provide them with presents for having improved in oral language Presentation: Provide students with class work assignments and allow them to present in class Practice and application: Use core words knowledge and affixes in determining the unfamiliar words as well as apply figurative language such as idioms, personifications or similes Review and assessment: -Review if the student is capable of using vocabulary words and assess if the interactive strategy produced the intended results Extension: Provide additional information on the subject for further improvement on vocabulary

 

Mini-lesson for Tuesday

Standard: Grade 4 Theme: Short story Lesson Topic: phonics, word patterns and word analysis Objectives: -Students should be able to translate words correctly using phonics knowledge -They should progress in word patterns as well as improve in analyzing vocabulary words          Language: Comprehending literary skills         Content: Employ systematic steps that enable the students to identify and manipulate       speech sounds Learning strategies: Direct strategies -Employ  direct strategy as an instructional strategies for involving the students in active learning Key vocabulary: Word decoding, syllabication and word parts Materials: Literature books especially short stories

Motivation: Encourage and provide presents to those students who have advanced in interpreting words correctly Presentation; Students should be given class assignment testing their capability of word analyzing and present them in class Practice and application: -Use graphic organizers in clarifying the meaning of vocabulary words -Involve students in active practice and use of vocabulary words in language arts Review and assessment: -Assess the student in order to determine their compliance level throughout the learning process -Review in detail the work of students to determine if the direct strategy employed has achieved the intended objectives Extension: Extend the comprehending literature skills to the next lesson in case students have not understood well

 

 

 

 

Mini-lesson for Wednesday

Standard: Grade 4 Theme: Short story Lesson Topic: Fluency Objectives: -Students should be able to read smoothly and become familiar with vocabulary words -Students should express or pronounce words properly and keep the pace, intonation and rhythm relevant to the text.          Language: Communication skills         Content: Ensure the students have developed fluency and better communication skills Learning strategies: Experimental strategy -Employ experimental strategy to test if the students are able to pronounce words clearly and correctly Key vocabulary: Use new vocabulary words and determine the meanings, syllabication and the synonyms Materials: Use materials such as dictionaries and the internet if available to find out the meaning of difficult words

Motivation: Provide students with presents in order to motivate them to progress in effective communication Presentation: Give students assignments on reading texts and allow them to present them in class in order to determine their fluency in speaking Practice and application: Use automatic speech recognition technologies for converting spoken words into text and written charts thus allowing the students to read from the charts loudly Review and assessment: Review if the students are be able to read smoothly and are familiar with vocabulary words. In addition, assess if the experimental strategy has achieved the intended goals Extension: Extend the lesson to another week in case the students have not achieved the required goals

Mini-lesson for Thursday

Standard: Grade 4 Theme: Short story Lesson Topic: Reading comprehension Objectives: -Students should  advance their communication skills -They should improve their learning and reading skills          Language:  Reading skills         Content: Learn to pronounce words clearly and listen to instructions cautiously Learning strategies:  Indirect strategies -Employ the indirect strategy in order to enable the student to develop systematic reading skills Key vocabulary: Identify forms of vocabulary words used in short stories and structural elements used such as imageries, metaphors, rhythm and many others Materials: Reading materials such as textbooks and reading charts

Motivation: Encourage the students through congratulating them when they have read properly and help them to utter difficult words correctly Presentation: Present reading materials into the classroom and allow each students to read them Practice and application: -Allow each student to participate in class through reading loudly in order to determine if they are able to read as well as pronounce words well. Also, use organizational features Review and assessment: -Review if the students have improved their learning and reading skills and assess whether indirect strategy accomplished the intentional objectives Extension:  Extend the subject issue to the next lesson for further information if the necessary achievements were not accomplished

 

Mini-lesson for Friday

Standard: Grade 4 Theme: Short story Lesson Topic: Writing Objectives: -Students should advance in reading and writing of words clearly -They should know how to improve on hand writing as well as in spelling of written words       Language: Writing skills         Content: Ensure the students have developed better writing skills Learning strategies: Comprehensive strategy Key vocabulary: Use comprehending informational text to distinguish opinions from expository texts Materials: Provide students with writing materials such as exercise books and writing pencils

Motivation: Encourage students to keep practicing in writing skills everyday Presentation: Present the students with manuals, pamphlets and labels that indicate different  well written letters to emulate Practice and application: Provide class assignment by allowing each student to write comprehension and determine if they are able to write clearly Review and assessment: Review whether the students have advanced in reading and writing of words clearly as well as carry out assessment programs to verify if the comprehensive strategy obtained the required goals Extension: Extend the session to the next class lesson to ensure students have progressed in writing skills

 

Practicum Reflection

A synopsis of my observations in the reading classrooms

In my reading classrooms, the students improved their reading skills as well as advanced in their communication skills. Although some students were unable to read well, the majority progressed in reading skills; something that enabled them to appreciate the language art subject. This is because they found out that the subject is quite interesting especially when they learned how to read and pronounce some vocabulary words found in the short stories. This contributed to better performances by the students in my reading classroom. In addition, the indirect strategy that I employed in the reading classroom contributed greatly to achievements of the intended objectives. Hue and Li (2008) argue that the indirect strategy is vital because it allows the student to participate actively in knowledge construction thus development of systematic skills. With the help of the reading materials that I provided in the reading classroom, many students were able to read well. This contributed to drastic improvement in their reading skills and better performance in language art subject.

Ways through which they influenced my Language Arts Unit Plan

The students influenced my Language Arts Unit Plan in diverse ways. First, they encouraged me to improve and make adjustments for another better lesson plan vital for meeting their necessary needs. Adjusting the lesson plan is crucial because it enables teachers to determine the essential requirement that should be included in the lesson plan essential for improving reading skills for students thus making the learning environment conducive. Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer (2010) point out that a unit plan is a valuable data source for determining the effectiveness of the teacher’s instructions. In addition, it should be adjusted in order to enable the teacher in determining which content standards were addressed, when, how often and which information was left out or needs to be included. This is essential because it enables the teacher to pass vital information necessary to students.

Secondly, they influenced my Language Arts Unit Plan because I was able to list all the activities that were supposed to be covered in the reading classroom and assessed strategies vital for making change in the classroom. March and Peters (2008) point out that each instructor is required to enhance the unit plans using their creativity skills but some of the arising questions need to be anticipated. Therefore, students influenced my lesson plan through developing a special lesson plan for students with special needs. This is because I discovered that the few students who did not progress well in the reading classroom are those students with problems such as autism disorder issues. Thus, they influenced me to design for them an Individual Education Plan essential for meeting their needs.

A Reflection on the Language Arts Unit

The Language Arts Unit acts as a road map because it guides the teacher on what, when and how to impart essential knowledge to students (Vasquez, Hansen and Smith, 2010). Thus, the above Language Arts Unit Plan plays a vital role in helping the students to advance in their learning methods. This is because many students at the end of the week were able to read, pronounce words well, communicate fluently as well as write and analyze words correctly. For instance, when students write an original short story, they may be required to address the indicators that deal with the elements of the story, the narrative language, writing fiction and other language mechanics. This can only be achieved in case a clear lesson plan is designed. Thus, after I taught the language art unit using the above lesson plan template, I discovered that it is easy to help students achieve their needs. This is because I was able to make adjustments in some areas, which I discovered were not covered in the entire mini-lesson plans. Moreover, the lesson plan template acted as a manifestation through which I was able to motivate and inform the students who responded positively through improving their performance in language arts.

Strengths of the Language Arts Unit Plan

The Language Arts Unit Plan had diverse strengths. First, it acted as a road map for a better and successful performance from students in the classroom. This is because of the varied information, which was included in the lesson plan and the use of strategies that were incorporated in the lesson unit plan. Tactics such as direct and indirect strategies were vital because they helped the student to cope up in the learning environment and advance in their learning skills. Secondly, the unit plan enabled the students to acquire vital knowledge, communicate and examine worthwhile comprehension in depth. With the use of a Language Arts Unit Plan, the instructor can explore the interesting topics in many ways over a long period. This will make the students to view language subject as the connected and interrelated subject but not an isolated and divided subject (Nitko, 2001).

Thirdly, the lesson unit plan integrated and enriched the language reading processes together with speaking, writing and listening skills. This is because through the lesson unit plan, the students explored the language topic thus through these experiences, they were able to learn imperative knowledge. Lastly, the lesson unit plan enabled students to participate actively and learn more things regardless of their language development level or background. This is because the lesson unit plan was flexile since it was based on the needs and interests of each student. For instance, students who needed extra practice using a specific strategy and those who needed extra time for writing or reading benefited from the lesson unit plan.

Weakness of the Language Arts Unit Plan

The road to success requires practice and commitments as well as great thinkers especially when designing lesson plans or activities to be done in the classroom. Therefore, one of the weaknesses with the lesson unit plan above is that it is too general and it did not cater for the needs of students with special needs. Students with special needs require their own special lesson plan that will enable them to meet their requirements but the lesson plan addressed the whole students without taking into consideration the needs of special students. Moreover, the strategies that were employed in each mini-lesson plan could not effectively meet the needs of each student. This is because some students performed better when a certain strategy was employed and others did not perform better when the same strategy was employed.

What I would change and the things I learned about teaching from my mentor teacher

The things that I would change in the lesson unit plan include the learning strategies such as indirect, direct, interactive, comprehensive and experimental strategies. This is because these strategies do not favor each student in the specific classroom. Each student may perform better when certain strategies are employed hence I will make changes on them. In addition, I learned from my mentor teacher that in teaching, everything requires routine work. Students need to be trained and provided with a unit lesson plan because it allows students to be independent and understand exactly what they need to do in order to achieve success in education.

 

 

 

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. D., & Ertmer, P. A. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful

classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth.

Hue, M., & Li, W. (2008). Classroom Management: Creating a positive learning environment.

Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

March, J. K., & Peters, K. H. (2008). Designing instruction: Making best practices work in

 standard-based classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Nitko, A. J. (2001). Educational assessment of students. Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Merrill Prentice-Hall.

Vasquez, A., Hansen, A. L., & Smith, P. C. (2010). Teaching language arts to English language

learners. New York, NY: Routledge.