Concept Attainment

In concept attainment, students are looking at examples of words or pictures and categorizing them into groups.  This is a more specific categorizing of what things are and what things aren't.  In such cases, students will learn what choices follow school rules and what choices do not.  It could include simple attainment ideas as living vs non living things.  

The teacher will display the examples to students.  Students will hypothesize which category to place objects in.  The teacher will explain the categories.  

Possible Lesson Plan Ideas:

#1 Amphibians Vs. Reptiles.  In my first lesson I want students to create a PowerPoint of the characteristics of amphibians vs reptiles.  In a PowerPoint graphic organizer students will create a list of characteristics and animals after going over them on the SmartBoard with the teacher.

#2 Classroom DOJO.  This school year I was inspired to use Classroom DOJO as a management system.  At the beginning of the year our class will go over what actions describe positive behavior and the opposite of these behaviors.  As a class we can decide together on these behaviors and create a list together on the positive behaviors and need work behaviors.  

#3 I have been looking for a good reason to integrate Microsoft Excel into a lesson to teach students how to use this software.  This would be an excellent tool for getting kids to list the characteristics of what makes a good Utah Citizen, versus what doesn't make a good Utah Citizen.  It also teaches them the basics of creating an Excel sheet.

Concept Development Model

In this model students are grouping concepts and ideas to understand the relationship that they hold. This model has certain advantages over other models when it comes to putting groups of words together.

Steps:

1. Listing 

2. Grouping

3. Labeling

4. Regroup

5. Synthesizing

Lesson #1 - Shapes and Angles

1. Listing - In this lesson I would have students use PowerPoint to have students create all the different types of geometric shapes on the program.
2. Grouping - Students will sort the shapes according to similarities.  They will separate them onto different PowerPoint slides.
3. Create a label for the groups - Students will title the slides according to the reasons they grouped them.
4. Regroup - After a discussion on angles, students will regroup the shapes. 
5. Synthesizing - Students will type a sentence to summarize why they've sorted them into these groups.

Lesson #2 Greek and Latin Roots

1. Listing - The teacher will present a list of words that have greek and latin roots.  Students will use Padlet to type in the words.
2. Grouping - Students will group words according to the patterns they see.
3. Labeling - Students will type up a label for what they think the words could mean.
4. Regroup - After a discussion about roots, students will organize them according to the Greek or Latin roots.
5. Synthesizing - Students will type a summary on why they've regrouped the words and how the roots affect the word.

Lesson # 3 Science

1. Listing - The teacher will introduce the subject of fossils.  Students will use the gliffy website to write down as many words as they know.
2. Grouping - Students will organize the word bubbles into groups.
3. Labeling - Students will label the groups of words and connect them together.
4. Regroup - After a discussion on fossils, the students will regroup them according to fossil types, time periods, and animals.
5. Synthesizing - The students will type a summary and connect the bubbles together through connecting lines.

Vocabulary Acquisition Model Blog

The Steps in the Vocabulary Acquisition Model are:
1. Pretest knowledge of Words Critical to Content
2. Elaborate on and Discuss Invented Spellings and Hypothesized Meanings
3. Explore Patterns of Meanings
4. Read and Study
5. Evaluate and Post test

Idea #1
Language Arts, Imagine It Story

1. Pretest knowledge of Words Critical to Content - A PowerPoint would be displayed on the SmartBoard to introduce students to words.  The PowerPoint would include a visual image to help differentiated learners attempt to spell and define the word.
2. Elaborate on and Discuss Invented Spellings and Hypothesized Meanings - Students will have a whole group discussion.
3. Explore Patterns of Meanings - On the SmartBoard words would be organized according to their greek or latin roots.  The teacher and students would move these word patterns to help understand the meaning of the word.
4. Read and Study - Students will read from their Imagine It Books the Warm-Up-Vocabulary story with the newly learned vocabulary words.
5. Evaluate and Post test - Students will create their own greek/latin root vocabulary word presentations on PowerPoint.

Idea #2
Science

1. Pretest knowledge of Words Critical to Content - Before presenting a science unit, the teacher will need to present new vocabulary.  The pre-test would start with a fun pre-test game on Kahoot using iPads. 
2. Elaborate on and Discuss Invented Spellings and Hypothesized Meanings - The students will have a whole group discussion with the teacher on what the words could mean.
3. Explore Patterns of Meanings - The teacher will display an illustration online of the water cycle and point out the vocabulary words, afterwards, the teacher will direct students to online illustrations in which the vocabulary words are displayed. For example: The teacher will have students explore a water cycle illustration to see how the vocabulary words are being displayed. 
4. Read and Study - In this case, I would use my flipped classroom design that I created on Canvas to teach students the science vocabulary words.
5. Evaluate and Post test - Students would use the flipped classroom G.R.A.S.P. assignment to complete their activity.  

Idea #3
Math

1. Pretest knowledge of Words Critical to Content - Vocabulary words would be introduced through a YouTube video on the actual math subject.
2. Elaborate on and Discuss Invented Spellings and Hypothesized Meanings - The students would use Answer Garden on iPads to discuss what they think the word means.
3. Explore Patterns of Meanings - The teacher will show the YouTube video of the math concept to the class so they can see the words used in a math problem.
4. Read and Study - Students would receive math problems with the vocabulary words in them.
5. Evaluate and Post test - The teacher would prepare a quiz using the classroom clickers that uses the specific vocabulary wording.

Initial Course Goals

This school year it is my goal to integrate simple and meaningful changes into the way I teach and manage my classroom.  It is my goal this school year to become a proficient educational designer.  I want to do more than just be the average school teacher; I want to be an artist of educational design. 

Goal #1 -- To change my classroom management system into a thriving positive student centered environment.

Goal #2 -- To create assessments using technological tools and components.

Goal #3 -- To integrate auditory readings into my language arts program.

Goal #4 --To integrate school district technological tools into math and language arts program.

At the end of my school year, I want my students to feel that their experience was positive and tech driven by as many as possible tools that are available.  I also want to use these tools as ways to prepare students for end of year exams.