Behaviorist Lesson Plan #1

To do the first of the required lesson plans the student will use a variation of the Madelyn Hunter Lesson Plan Design.

Madeline Hunter was an internationally recognized educator who devoted much of her career to an analysis of what makes instruction effective. she identified instructional principles in the areas of motivation, reinforcement, transfer, rate and degree of learning and retention which can be used effectively by teachers to promote learning. in addition, she studied many other factors which affect instruction such as hemisphericity. much of her study and research was done while she was the principle of ucla's laboratory school now known as Seeds UES.

    Dr. Hunter's research showed effective teachers have a methodology when planning and presenting a lesson. Hunter found that know matter what the teacher's style, grade level, subject matter or economic background of the students a properly taught lesson contained eight elements that enhanced and maximized learning. the elements referred to as lesson design, target teaching or clinical teaching have stood the test of time-still used today in most teacher colleges and as reference for judging teacher effectiveness in many school districts.

Here is the eight step design:

Here is a design format based upon the principles:

Here is a Sample Behaviorist Lesson

 

Instructor:

Date:

Unit:

Objectives: By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to demonstrate working knowledge of words and their definitions through sight and comprehension of the subject matter. Word list will include 10 words from the story “Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse” by Leo Lionni. The words will be as follows: mouse, house, pebble, lizard, round, found, squeak, quickly, cautiously and mysteriously. The student will correctly identify 7out of the 10 words.     By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to answer several types of questions about the story “Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse” based on Bloom’s Cognitive Domain. The student will be able to answer at least one of two questions from each of the following categories:   1.      Knowledge: How well the student can relate to the characters and their experiences. Can the student can identify the shift in the characters wants and identify the cause for the change.   2.      Comprehension: How well the student can construct a set of circumstances given the theme of the story and predict another type of ending before the actual reading of the story.   3.      Application: How the student interprets the motivational components of the characters actions to solve their problems.   4.      Analytical Thought: Assisting the student in understanding the process of problem solving by looking at each part of the problem and all of the alternatives.   5.      Synthetic Thought: The student will be able to demonstrate the reasons why it was better for Alexander to remain real and change Willie instead.   6.      Evaluation: The student will be able to judge the quality and quantity of ideals and values held by the characters of the story based on standards of internal and external criteria.

Standards:    Language Arts: The student uses the reading processes effectively:   LA.A.1.1.1, Predicts what a passage is about based on its title and illustrations.   LA.A.1.1.2, Identifies words and constructs meaning from text, illustrations, graphics and     charts using the strategies of phonics, word structure and context clues.           LA.A.1.1.4, Increases comprehension by rereading, retelling and discussion.

Materials: 1.      Book: “Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse” by Leo Lionni 2.      Projector and transparent copies of pages with illustrations and text or a CD book that can be used on a computerized projection system, pointing device 3.      Word seek puzzle exercise sheet 4.      Blackboard and chalk 5.      Art supplies (crayons, scissors, glue, colored paper).

Anticipatory Set:  The teacher will ask aloud if the students know what a mouse is, if they can describe it, if they are afraid of them, if mice are living creatures, if they have any toys that are like mice, if they have ever read a story that was about a mouse. The teacher will then show a copy of the book that is going to be read, provide a brief introduction about the author and will inform the class that a projector will be used to tell the story so that everyone can see the illustrations from the pages and will be able to read the words.

Input: 1.      The teacher will allow a brief period of time for discussion between page turns focusing on the current content as the students need/ask. 2.      When the story has finished, the teacher will entertain an in-depth discussion about living things. 3.      The teacher will encourage students to correlate events in the story to experiences and/or knowledge of their own. 4.      The teacher will review the words from the word list. 5.      The teacher will have the students write the words in a spelling journal with the definition.

Modeling:   1. The teacher will construct a word seek puzzle for the student to complete in class for a grade. Prior to handing out the puzzle, the teacher will write all of the words (6-12) on the board for the students to see. The teacher will define the words and ask for students to repeat the words as defined in different ways. The puzzle page will contain definitions of each word at the bottom; the words will have to be found by the student and matched to their corresponding definition. Students will be allowed to work in groups on the puzzle.   2. Students will engage in a drawing activity where they will recreate their favorite page/part of the story. The teacher will demonstrate how to draw a simple mouse and will provide a collection of images as cutout sheets for the students to enrich their compositions. It is important that each student attempt to draw a mouse for this activity. The illustration will include a written passage that will narrate the subject matter of the illustration using at least one of the words from the word list. The student will be encouraged to complete this activity in class as an independent exercise but will be allowed to do it in pairs or take it home if they choose.

Check for understanding:  The teacher will engage in a questioning skills activity to verify comprehension. The teacher will ask two questions for each area. The areas to be covered will include:   1. Memory skills: Can the student recall events and ideas from the story? “What were the names of the mice in the story?” “What was the item that Alexander had to bring to the lizard to have his wish granted?” 2. Translation: Can the student express key concepts of the story from alternate perspectives? “How do we usually react to real mice?” “How do we react to wind-up mice?” 3. Interpretation: Can the student identify values of the characters and facts of the story using definitions and generalizations? “Which mouse is the real live mouse?” “Why did Alexander want to be a wind-up mouse?” 4. Extrapolation: Can the student predict alternate outcomes for the characters and explain the change of events in the story? “Have you ever wanted to be like someone else?” “Why did Alexander think that he would be happier if he was a wind-up mouse like Willie?” 5. Application: Can the student identify the available solutions that the characters chose from and can they apply the situation to a similar event? “How did Alexander think that he could help himself and Willie? ”What did he do about it?” 6. Analysis: Can the student appreciate the importance of the relationship between the characters well enough to understand the problem they encountered? “Why do you think that Alexander wanted to be a wind-up mouse?” “What were the factors that made Alexander realize that there was another solution that would be better for him and Willie?” 7. Synthesis: Can the student form a hypothesis based on the elements of the story and re-create it using different characters and settings? “What were the reasons for Alexander’s wish to change himself into a wind-up mouse?” “Why do you think that Alexander changed his wish?” 8. Evaluation: Can the student decide if the characters were doing the right thing and validate their opinion based on their perception? “If Alexander were a wind-up mouse, would he be able to enjoy the same freedoms that he has as a real mouse?” “Do you think that Willie was happier being a toy or being real?”  Checking through structured activities: 1. The teacher will monitor the puzzle page as students progress through the finding of words and matching to definitions. The teacher will address any questions or inconsistencies at this time. The teacher will reintroduce the story if necessary to clarify meaning to the student(s). 2. The teacher will have another opportunity to ascertain comprehension when the student presents their artistic creation as based upon the story. The student will be asked to retell their favorite part of the story and to point out important features of their pictures. 3. The teacher will conduct an empathetic exercise where the student can make a choice for Alexander or Willie based on their own understanding of the possibilities and the consequences. This will be a writing exercise where the student can pretend to be one of the characters from the story and choose the best option for that character.

Guided Practice:   The teacher will have/conduct: 1. Storytelling for imagery 2. Discussion for questions, answers and elaborations 3. Word introduction for word recognition 4. Definitions of the words to encourage understanding 5. A word seek puzzle activity to enhance comprehension   6. The student will keep and update a spelling word journal that will include definitions of the words.

Independent Practice: The student will engage in an artistic activity that can be done independently in class. The purpose of the activity is to have the student select a favorite event from the story and recreate it artistically on paper for recall and presentation with/for the rest of the class. The teacher will begin the activity by providing brief instruction as to how to draw a simple mouse. Student will make their own scenes using their own cutouts, drawings and lettering to tell about their favorite part of the story. The student will include a written passage of at least one sentence that will narrate the illustration on the page. The student will be allowed to take the activity home if they so choose. The student will be allowed to look over the book for ideas and to discuss their ideas with other students and their teacher. The students may be allowed to work in pairs on this activity if they so choose. This activity will be presented for a grade

Closure: 1.Teacher will be able to demonstrate, through each planned activity, that the students have a working understanding of wordage used to describe an environment. 2. The lesson will introduce language arts concepts and science concepts to assist the students in understanding what is fiction and what is fact.