I.

Instructional Analysis
1.
Description of the major tasks (steps) and sub-tasks
Our client, 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Mathews, has sought out the assistance of our
instructional design team to help her students become more fluid writers in language
arts, and across all content areas. She challenged us to create a self-paced online
lesson to help students produce clear and coherent writing in which the development
and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience (Georgia
Department of Education, 2011). Our client would like her students to be able to
produce creative pieces in the three types of writing (opinion, informational, and
narrative). Our task is to formulate an instructional goal with a scope not so
extensive that it cannot be delivered within a two hour lesson format. It must,
however, be holistic enough to engage and excite developing writers of various
levels, targeting one key area of writing mastery, derived from the state of Georgias
4th grade English/Language Arts Writing Standards.
Therefore, we want to be able to measure student creativity and plan to include
various strategies in our on-line Writing Wizardry course for students to accomplish
this. This lesson will be infused with various engaging strategies addressing multiple
learning styles and writing levels. Students will encounter guided discovery,
providing a high level of interactivity and writing practice (Clark & Mayer, 2008).
Dick & Carey (1996) suggest that a goal statement should include a short description
or statement of the learner, what the learner will know and be able to do, the context
in which the skills and knowledge will be applied, and the tools that will be available
to learners.

Lesson goal: Produce properly constructed, descriptive writings.

Domain: Cognitive Type of Learning: Intellectual

Major lesson task: Create a descriptive narrative using descriptive detail and
clear event sequence

1. Subordinate Skills
Goal: Produce properly and constructive writings

Process
o POWER:
Plan
Organize
Write
Edit
Revise
Product
o Word Fluency (able to translate thoughts into written words)

Content (Organization: good beginning sentence, clear ending, and logical

sequence)
o Conventions (correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, and legibly written)
o Syntax (use mature vocabulary, 7 up sentences, ex: I like dogs. I like dogs
because they like to run and play.)
Purpose
o Opinion (Supporting point of view with reasoning)
o Descriptive Narrative (Clear sequence of events)
o Explanatory (clear ideas within the introduction, body, and conclusion)

II.
Learner Analysis
1. General characteristics that may impact the learner experience (eg: gender,
age, ethnicity, education, work experience, attitude etc.)

Student gender, age, ethnicity:

Based on our meetings with our client Mrs. Mathews, she has a diverse group of students in
the two classes that she teaches. The population is as follows: There are a majority of male
students, 54% of males and 42% of females. The students ages are 9 and 10 year olds;
96% African American, 3% Hispanic, and 1% Caucasian. There are 78% of students that
are on grade level in majority of their subjects, 9% of her students are borderline and/or are
not performing on grade level in the majority of their classes. 5% of students are gifted and
participate in Program Challenge; and 8% of students are in co-taught writing classes with
IEP accommodations. A large number of her students are categorized as EIP and are in
the Early Intervention Program at Burnett Elementary. Lastly, she has 2% of ELL (English
Language Learners). These are some of the major reasons our client wanted us to provide
her with a creative writing course that is kid-friendly and differentiated to meet the various
levels of all her learners.
Student education, work experience, and attitude:
Mrs. Mathews has great concerns regarding her students various experience levels with
writing. The upcoming statewide exams (Georgia Milestones) require students to produce
constructed responses to questions in all four (4) content areas as well as to write across
the curriculum. It also requires a higher depth of knowledge in which students will have to
explain, justify, question, and provide evidence for their answers. Many of the students are
not writing proficiently- at the fourth grade level (ie: ideas, organization, word choice, style,
voice, and using figurative language). They severely lack creative writing abilities. They
have little to no experience using technology with writing. She did inform us that the majority
of her students can formulate complete sentences (subject and predicates), construct basic
paragraphs (to include indenting and some conventions), and incorporate accelerated
vocabulary words in their writing pieces.

There are others that can also write an introduction, body, conclusion (beginning, middle,
and end) for a given topic. She expressed a need to increase these numbers and extend
their writing skills to developing and effectively communicating their ideas, completing
narratives, opinion, and informational writing. She would also like us to provide her with
ways to motivate her students and create a desire for writing. Not only are her students
lacking in some ability and skills, they lack enthusiasm and a genuine interest for writing
(her students perceive writing as boring, tedious and unnecessary).
1. Specific entry skills e.g. prerequisites skills and attitudes that learners must
possess to benefit from the instruction.
In order to benefit from the Writing Wizardry online course, Mrs. Mathews students will
need to possess the following knowledge/skills to benefit from the instruction:
1. Access to technology (computer internet access)
2. Skills/ability to navigate through the website
3. Basic paragraph writing skills (Mrs. Mathews students do possess some basic
writing skills)
4. Understanding/knowledge of story elements
5. Knowledge of the various writing genres (poetry, science fiction, informational,
historical fiction, biography, mystery etc)
6. Basic formatting knowledge for narratives, informational, and opinion writing
7. Basic research skills
2.

Special needs:

Mrs. Mathews informed us that all of her students do not have access to technology at
home therefore, using this online course during class time is imperative. She will need us to
design a course that is self-paced and contain interactive lessons of reasonable length. She
stressed having tiered and differentiated course assignments that provide a variety of
choices based on ability levels.
III.

Context Analysis:

1. Description of learning or instructional context

The learning will take place at Burnett Elementary School in Mrs. Mathews classroom. Mrs.
Mathews class has a writing center which includes information on the various types of
writing (narratives, opinion, and informational), colorful posters outlining the writing process,
hamburger paragraph graphic organizers, and a technology cart with thirty (30) laptop
computers for students to use. Students can work comfortably at their desks while writing
as well as when using the laptop computers. There are also four desktop computers for
students to use in the computer center, also located in Mrs. Mathews classroom. This selfpaced online course will be differentiated and tiered. Students will have to complete leveled
writing assignments prior to moving on to the next leveled module/content area (reading/ela,
math, science, social studies). They will be provided with a rubric/checklist to guide them as
they work through their writing. This will also ensure that they have met all of the criteria in
order to proceed to the next content area writing assignment.

2.
Description of transfer context (where the learned skills will be used after
instruction)
Writing skills students acquire from this online course will be used in Mrs. Mathews 4
grade classroom to meet the requirements and provide evidence of learning per the
Common Core Georgia Performance Standards. Students will use these skills to construct
brief responses related to content areas on the Georgia Milestone online Assessment for
fourth grade. These skills will also serve as a foundation for the next grade; middle school;
equip them for college career readiness performance (CCRPI), and beyond. Writing is
essential and students will use it in their everyday lives.
th

IV.

References:

4th Grade English Language Arts Common Core Georgia Performance Standards [PDF
document] (2011). Retrieved from https://www.georgiastandards.org/CommonCore/Common%20Core%20Frameworks/CCGPS_ELA_Grade4_Standards.pdf
An, Y. (2013). Task Analysis [PDF document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Web
site:
https://westga.view.usg.edu/d2l/le/content/872269/topics/files/download/12529204/DirectFil
eTopicDownload
Clark, Ruth C. & Mayer, Richard (2008). e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven
Guidelines for Consumer and Designers of Multimedia Learning (3rd ed.). San
Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (2015). Retrieved from
http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/4/
Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J. O. (2014). The Systematic Design of Instruction (8th ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Stephen L. Isaacson Portland State University. Simple ways to assess the writing skills of
students with learning disabilities. This article is adapted for LD OnLine from a similar
article by Isaacson published in The Volta Review, 1996, Vol. 98, No. 1, pp. 183-199.

4th Grade ELA Writing Standards

ELACC4W1: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
a. Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are
grouped to support the writers purpose. (DOK 3)
b. Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details. (DOK 3)
c. Link opinion and reasons using words and phrases (e.g., for instance, in order to, in addition). (DOK 2)
d. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented. (DOK 3)

ELACC4W2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information
clearly.
a. Introduce a topic clearly and group related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting
(e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension. (DOK 3)
b. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and
examples related to the topic. (DOK 3)
c. Link ideas within categories of information using words and phrases. (e.g., another, for example, also,
because).
d. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic. (DOK 2)
e. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented. (DOK 3)
ELACC4W3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique,
descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
a. Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event

ELACC4W4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task,
purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in Standards 13 above.)
ELACC4W5: With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning,
revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language Standards 13 up to and
including grade 4.)
ELACC4W6: With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and
publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills
to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.
sequence that unfolds naturally. (DOK 2)
b. Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.
c. Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events. (DOK 2)
d. Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. (DOK 2)
e. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.(DOK 3)