Alec Heist SPED 405 Taylor 11/29/2012 IMA Assignment Earlier this semester I gave a lesson on Election Day

for a ninth grade U.S. history class on the Electoral College. The following is said lesson plan and will be the one that I modify for this assignment.

2012 Presidential Election: The Electoral College

Name: Alec Heist Class/Subject: 9th Grade World History Date: 11/06/12 Student Objectives/Student Outcomes: Students will be able to understand the process of the Electoral College and apply this knowledge to create their own predictions for this 2012 presidential election. Students will engage in current events and politics with an understanding of historical developments in American politics. Content Standards: 14.A.4 Analyze how local, state and national governments serve the purposes for which they were created. 16.B.5b (US) Analyze how United States political history has been influenced by the nations economic, social and environmental history. Materials/Resources/Technology: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2012/ecalculator Map Contest Assessment Activity PowerPoint Desktop Computers (in classroom) Teachers Goals: To engage students in the election outside of the classroom To actively involve all students throughout the lesson with technology and differentiation

To allow students to walk away with knowledge about the Electoral College and our countrys political election system Time: 5 min Start of Class: I will begin the class with Mr. Bacys normal trivia question after the students settle into their seats. Introduction of Lesson: After previewing the days agenda, I will present the students with some pre and post questions while we watch an introductory video on the Electoral College. Lesson Instruction: After the video, which will be paused every once in awhile for clear understanding, we will reconvene as a class and go over what was said, while answering any questions the students had. I will then deliver a brief PowerPoint lecture/discussion on the electoral college, how it works, and its history. This includes an examination of student understanding while we look over multiple political cartoons involving the Electoral College at the end of the PowerPoint. Assessments/Checks for Understanding: Discussion Questions during the lesson instruction will serve as the first check for understanding (PowerPoint). This includes the picture analysis and video questions. I will then go over the Electoral College map on CNN.com, showing how each state can change and how one can individually adjust the states by clicking on them. We will split up and each student will fill out a map with what they think the election will end like. This involves red, blue, and swing states. They will use the computers in the classroom and the map on CNN.com as a guide. The winner will get a prize after the election results are in. Closure/Wrap-Up/Review: We will then reconvene and briefly review the main points of the lesson. Students will turn in an exit slip that records their answers from the map assessment. Self-Assessment: I will be having my peer evaluation done on this lesson which will allow for deeper self assessment, as will my cooperating teachers feedback. I will reflect all aspects of my teaching and strategies due to the multiple evaluations I will receive. Were the students engaged in the material? Did the map activity result in students participation outside of class?

5 min

15-20 min

15-20 min

5 min

N/A

The following are my lesson considerations for I/M/A:

Lesson Considerations for I/M/A | Considerations Lesson or Unit Plan Details

What is the big idea being taught?

The main idea of the lesson is for my students to understand the process of the Electoral College and to engage in current political events.

How will I present the information to the class? I will begin to present the information to the class by watching a short introductory video on the Electoral College, along with a formative assessment that will be on the board involving a few short questions to check for student understanding mid way through the video. A brief discussion or answering of any questions the students may have will follow the video before I will move into the PowerPoint presentation. The presentation will provide a more in depth look of the Electoral College process and some of the history behind it. At the end there will also be a few political cartoons that relate to the Electoral College that will provide me with another check for understanding. The students will also get to have a more hands on learning experience by being presented the information through a CNN.com Electoral College map that they can choose which candidate will receive which swing votes, as well as an exit slip that records their predictions for the election later that night. The most accurate one will receive a prize.

What activities will the students engage in? The main activities the students will engage in during this lesson are being participatory during the video/lecture portion of the class, but most importantly, during the large Electoral College map prediction activity. The students will color in a map with what they think the election will end up as. This mainly gives the students an engaging activity to participate in involving swing states and the election.

What materials will the students use? The students will use the computers in the classroom, and the map on CNN.com as a guide, for the swing state map activity. The winner will get a prize after the election results are in. They also will use maps that will be provided, as well as crayons within the classroom.

How will they demonstrate understanding by the end of class? The students will demonstrate understanding through multiple formative assessments and checks for understanding. The questions during the video, my observation of their class participation during the lecture/discussion, and their map project/exit slips that they turn in.

What homework will I assign? There will be no actual homework but the lesson is designed to have the students engage in the election due to the prize incentive that goes along with the activity. If a student picked Obama to win ___ number of electoral votes, then the objective is that the student will pay attention to the election that evening or the following morning, which in some areas, would be more beneficial than a stereotypical homework assignment.

The original lesson was designed for diverse learners and I feel that it is a good lesson to begin with for students who have and dont have disabilities. At times this made it difficult to easily select an accommodation, modification, or intervention; though, this is probably pretty realistic to what teaching is going to be like and there are always ways to try and help students learn further. As you can see from above, the lesson only has three main parts which disallows

for a variety of key areas, but I feel that the areas addressed in the interventions, accommodations, and modifications are beneficial to the students with disabilities. To begin with, the first key area of the lesson that I would address for Natalia would be in regards to the lecture/discussion, PowerPoint presentation. Due to Natalias difficulty with reading at grade level and her anxiousness when it comes to being called on in the classroom, I will provide her with the PowerPoint slides ahead of time at a third grade reading level so she is able to understand the material. This way she will continue to be on grade level for the content area, but has the help she needs when it comes to her reading capabilities. The presentation is originally written at a higher reading level than she is capable of understanding and if she has this accommodation ahead of time, and brings it along to class, she will be able to maintain pace with the presentation. The discussion that goes along with the lecture may cause Natalia anxiety, so if she feels more comfortable and on pace with the lesson, she may be more inclined to participate and her anxiety will decrease. She should be able to go over the print outs with her special education teacher in her reading instruction and homework help class. I will attempt to monitor Natalias participation progress in a table that keeps track of how often she participates in class. Monday (Day of week) Yes (whether there is an accommodation used) 2 (# of participation) Tuesday No Wednesday Yes Thursday Yes Friday No

This table is specific to her participation and whether or not the accommodation addresses this issue; however, I would make other similar tables that would record whether or not the accommodations were effective in helping her struggles with reading at grade level. The second key area that I will focus on for Natalia will be the map activity. This activity will be pretty beneficial for Natalia considering there isnt too much reading, its content related, and its not something that she has to present to the class. However, due to her ADHD, she may get off task due to the freedom that the students have working individually throughout this part of the lesson. The students are going to be working on computers on their own in the classroom and from what we have seen from previous similar activities, the students can get a bit rowdy and talkative. The lack of online restrictions that the school has could also cause a problem, for all students, but especially for Natalia who gets distracted easily. This is why this key area needs to be addressed. To combat the possible lack of attention for the assignment, I would give Natalia an additional accommodation where she gets an extra day to complete the assignment. This additional day may not correlate as well with the rest of the class because the election will be complete, but we will have Natalia get her swing state vote count at least, so she can engage in the election that first evening and participate in the festivities the next day and whether or not she will win the prize with the correct vote count. But the completion of her colored map can be turned in the following day so she doesnt feel pressured to finish, which will hopefully decrease her stress and increase her focus throughout the in-class activity. She can complete her map at home the following evenings and/or have her special education instructor help her within her homework help period during school day. To monitor Natalias progress I would try and use evidence that shows whether or not she was turning in her assignments on time less/more often with/without an accommodation that provides Natalia with extra time.

Below is a fake example where receiving 5 points is gaining full credit for the homework assignment.
6

4 With Accommodation Without Accommodation 2

0 Assign. 1 Assign. 2 Assign. 3 Assign. 4

This same assignment would be modified a bit differently in regards to Angels unique circumstances. The first key area would be on the PowerPoint presentation, but can also be attributed to the entire lesson considering the broad nature of this focus. The PowerPoint presentation is full of detail and historical context regarding the Electoral College, which will require some background of civics in U.S. history. Due to Angel being a grade level behind in this content area, this area may cause him big problems because he never understands the background concepts of what democracy, congress, or swing states are. This is why I chose to use an intervention with Angel; this specific intervention can be viewed as both academic and behavioral if it succeeds. The intervention would take place every Tuesday and Thursday after school from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. in which I would try and catch Angel up on the content of Civics and U.S. History. I would use the McGraw Hill American Civics and Government intervention

plan that can be purchased online at https://www.mheonline.com/program/view/4/6/1847/0077044436/. Hopefully catching Angel up on the content will not only increase his engagement in the classroom since he has been nonresponsive and lethargic recently, but will also help him when he may be struggling with his bipolar disorder. In any situation when you understand what is going on around you, in this case knowing and comprehending the material being presented to Angel, it is much easier to balance emotion, even the unfortunate, extreme emotions that Angel has to cope with. Data is extremely important in all aspects of helping students with learning disabilities, but especially when it comes to interventions. I would make a graph that would help me keep track of Angels progress and whether or not the interventions were benefiting his education and increasing his content knowledge.
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Quiz 1 Quiz 2 Quiz 3 Quiz 4 Previous Chapter (No Intervention) Current Chapter (With Intervention)

If this chart were real, it would show that the data recorded on Angels quizzes would show that the intervention is most likely working due to the increase in quiz scores the more meetings that

Angel and I had. There are also other charts that you could use that could balance if his increase in content knowledge has helped his attendance, such as:

Angel's Absences
3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Angel's Absences

According to this graph, ever since the interventions were applied in week four of the semester, it seems that the additional help is allowing for Angel to possibly want to attend class more because he is doing better and feeling more comfortable with the material. Though, it is important to keep in mind that his absences may be related to his bipolar disorder and factors that are out of his control such as family issues, rides, etc. Once Angel has this basic understanding of elections, democracy, the U.S. style of government, and so on, he will hopefully be able to understand the more complex ideas that go along with a more traditional socially scientific idea in the Electoral College. This increase in understanding is designed The second key area to focus on for Angel is not really a specific area, but the lesson plan as a whole, but specifically the discussion and activity portion of the lesson. Angel has been ridiculed by his classmates in the past for acting out in class and since the discussion section and map activity allow for a more student lead atmosphere, these are possible points in

the lesson where Angel may act out and have confrontations with fellow students. The plan is to give Angel an accommodation where he gets an outline of the days class the day before hand so he knows what to expect in the upcoming class. I will have weekly outlines for all students, but this would be in more detail, allowing for Angel to prepare and hopefully provide for an incentive to come to school if I properly create engaging and exciting lessons. This would include a detailed outline and an optional activity for him to do for one portion of class, each day. Due to his spontaneous behavior, the option to read the PowerPoint slides in the hallway and then receive feedback from myself when the rest of the class starts on the mapping activity would benefit Angel on days in which he may feel more depressed, lazy, or tired. While gaining access to a computer lab to work on his portion of the map activity during that time would benefit Angel, and the rest of the class, if he is having a more excited, manic, or even confrontational day. Now, let it be clear that I do not want to remove Angel from the classroom and not include him in the social aspects of the learning environment. On some days maybe instead of reading a handout I would have a different activity for him to do or watch a video on the computer within the class. The key is that he is given options due to his bipolar personality, which would allow him to learn to the best of his abilities, which would decrease classroom outbreaks and confrontation, which would consequently decrease ridicule from his peers. This, as well as Angels attendance, would also hopefully be positively affected by receiving an outline ahead of time with the possible options on it. In monitoring Angels classroom outbreaks, I would use a simple tally chart to see if the accommodations were working. WEEK 2 3 7 4 4 5 2 6 2

6 Class outbreaks/confrontations with other students

This is a simple way of keeping track of Angels confrontations with other students, speaking out in class, disruptions, etc. Simple, yet effective because its easy to read and when it came time to show parents, administrators, or anyone at an IEP meeting, you could show them the following graph for even more understanding:

Series 1
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Series 1

In Cowens case, I would first focus on the video portion of the lesson as the first key area. The video has good visuals and is very engaging, but it does speak relatively fast and can get confusing if you get behind. Due to Cowens accident, he has been disorganized lately, which often leads to him getting frustrated. If the video throws him off at all, I dont want him to get angry or give up entirely so I would provide Cowen with an accommodation that gives him the video we will watch in class and maybe a more elementary video regarding the same topic, in this case the Electoral College. In the case that he doesnt have time or chooses to not watch the video, I will also give him a handout that has bullet points on what the video is discussing. This way if he has trouble keeping up or wants to look ahead, he can utilize the handout. This will not

only decrease his frustration and keep him more organized, but the classroom management aspect will also increase without Cowen getting upset or frustrated. This would be a bit more difficult since it is a more unique scenario, but if I continue to give him handouts to keep him organized and on task, I could try and keep track of his classroom outbreaks or personal frustrations during class in a table, like so: Week Three Four 5 Five 3 Six 2 Seven 1

5 Personal Frustrations/Classroom Confrontations

If these were true, it would be noted that on week four Cowen began receiving his accommodations and that they would seem to be affective in this regard. The second key area that would be addressed for Cowen would be regarding the map activity. Though the activity is engaging and fun, navigating the website and completing the activity online can be confusing for someone who has had a traumatic brain injury and gets disorganized. Cowen had been getting lost in his tasks lately and this activity has a high possibility of confusing him which could possibly lead to him navigating the web or giving up on the activity entirely. That is why I would change my expectations for Cowen and provide him with a modification regarding this assignment. It is a small modification but I would allow Cowen to just list which swing states he thinks Obama or Romney would receive in the election that evening, which I could provide him with handouts that were similar to the online activity, but werent as complicated. He then can calculate the total number of votes that each will receive and this way he will also be participating and comprehending the lesson, but will not have to be punished just because he has trouble keeping focus due to his injury. This would also decrease the time in which Cowen would have to spend on the assignment. Even though it did

not state it takes him long to complete activities, it does discuss the brain injury, being disorganized, and getting frustrated, which all could cause him to possibly take longer to complete an activity of these characteristics. To monitor Cowens progress, I would continue to use the monitoring tool from his first accommodation and keep track of his behavior because it relates to both. Though, I would also try and sit down weekly with him and see how he personally feels about receiving both the accommodations and modifications. This isnt as tangible but I would record what we discussed and we would both sign and date it to make it official. This way Cowen decides if receiving videos or getting different activities were decreasing his disorganization and frustration. Depending on how he feels, my observation, and my data, we will determine whether there needs to be additional changes.