SAPA

Teacher Candidates Name: Rebecca Miller

School: Cub Run Elementary School Cooperating Teacher: Carey Boyer
Subject/Grade: 5th Grade Language Arts
School Year: 2016-2017
Directions: This form is a tool to assist teachers in setting a goal that results in measurable learner
progress. NOTE: When applicable, learner achievement/progress should be the focus of the goal. Enter
information electronically into the cells (the boxes will expand to fit the text).
I. Setting

In total there are 22 students in this class, 13 female and 9 males.

This is the higher of the two reading groups taught and therefore are
more independent in their work. They are ability grouped into two
different spelling groups, syllable juncture and affixes (on grade
level) and derivatives (above grade level). The majority of the class
is Caucasian, however, there are a few students with Hispanic (3)
and Asian background (2).
II. Content/Subject/Field Area This unit consists of 5 lessons covering figurative language. The
parts of figurative language that will be covered are simile,
metaphor, personification, hyperbole, and idiom.
SOL 5.4: The student will expand vocabulary when reading.
d) Identify an authors use of figurative language
Essential Knowledge: identify when an author uses language
figuratively.
III. Baseline Data
Overall the pretest went as I had expected it to go. I did not
expect anyone to pass on the first time, even though I did have one
student who did. I was not surprised to see that most students know
what a simile and metaphor are, and that they were unsure of the
rest of the figurative language types we would be talking about. I do
believe that some students may have not taken this test seriously due
to the fact I had several students score a 6% and 13% while the next
closest score to that was a 20%.
By seeing that most students already knew what similes and
metaphors were it reassured me that I could only need to spend one
day and be able to teach them together in one lesson. The remaining
three I think I will need to wait and see how the students do with the
initial lesson in order to decide how long to spend on them.
IV. SMART Goal (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-oriented, Timely)
Goal
Observable
Criteria
Measurement
Behavior
I would like to have 90% of my Correctly identify
Formative/Summative
Posttest
class pass the posttest with a
and create examples
assessment on simile,
passing score of at least 70% or of simile, metaphor,
metaphor, personification,
higher. I chose this because my
personification,
hyperbole, and idiom
pretest scores were scattered and hyperbole, and idiom
I only had one student gain a
score higher than 70%. This
goal enables all my students to
achieve a passing score.
SMART Goal Statement:

Students will be able to correctly identify and create examples of simile, metaphor, personification,
hyperbole, and idiom on their posttest on October 11, 2016 and score a 70% or higher.
V. Means for Attaining Goal
Strategy
Evidence
Target Date
Notetaking
Students will
October 6, 2016
accurately fill out
interactive notes on
figurative language
Interactive games that have
them identifying figurative
language

Students will be able

to correctly complete
various games
working with the
different types of
figurative language

September 28 - October 6, 2016

Creation of various figurative

language examples

Students will be able

to create an example
about each type of
figurative language
on their own

October 10, 2016

For my Student Academic Progress Assignment, I worked with a group of fifth grade
students at Cub Run Elementary School. I taught them about five different types of figurative
language (SOL 5.4d) over the course of a week. My goal was to have most of my class (90%)
class pass their posttest with a passing score of at least a 70%.
Pre-Assessment Analysis
I chose to give my students a written test for a couple different reasons. With fifth
grade being an SOL testing grade, I felt that giving them a written test would help them in
developing and practicing various testing strategies they have been taught thus far. This was
noticeable when many tests came back with key terms in a question being highlighted. I also
chose to give a written test because this is part of the reading a writing SOL. Not only did this
test require them to read, it also required them to use the knowledge they knew (or learned) to
complete the different parts of the test.

My test consisted of three different types of questions so it was not all multiple choice.
The first section was matching where students were given one of the definitions of a type of
figurative language and then they were expected to match it with the correct name of the type
being defined. The next section was matching. Students were given an example of figurative
language and had to identify what type of figurative language it was an example of by circling
the correct answer. The last section of the test was short answer. Students were given the type of
figurative language and instructed to give an example of it that was not already used on the test.
One of my goals when designing this test was to help all students with their testing. Not all kids
excel at multiple choice questions while others struggle with short answer. Each section of the
test had five questions and asked for a different component of each type of figurative language,
hopefully helping students in testing and any kind of anxiety they may have about a certain type
of test question.
The following bar graph represents all the scores from the pre-test. I had a very large
range of scores, which varied anywhere from 6% to 73%. Most of the scores were on the lower
end of that range, which did not surprise me. I was not expecting my students to know very much
about figurative language due to the fact it is usually a very brief unit and if they have been
taught before they have most likely forgotten part of the content.

One strength from the test I believe was that it gave students plenty of opportunity to
grow, especially the short answer questions. I was not expecting any students to be able to come
up with examples of figurative language on their own without being taught the types, but when
they were post tested I saw extreme growth in that particular section. A weakness I felt this test,
along with many other pre-tests, is that some of the students did not take it seriously. Most
students know that a pre-test will not hurt their grade and therefore do not take their time and
answer to the best of their abilities. Unfortunately, I do fill this happened for a few of my
students (Student O and Student V) based on what I know about the students, their personality,
and their academic levels. This is most likely a weakness for all pre-test and after seeing the
posttest scores I am not concerned for those students.
Means for Attaining Goal
My main goal for this unit was for my students to be able to define, identify, and create
five different types of figurative language. There were three main ways I planned on attaining
my goal. The first of these ways is spending time taking notes as a class and discussing both the

definition and several examples of each type of figurative language. I created a document for all
my students that was cut out and glued into their notebooks which gave them space to write the
definition and an example for a simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, and an idiom. The
other two ways that I used to meet my goal were used interchangeably depending on the topic.
For some of the topics I used interactive games to appeal to the more competitive and group
oriented students. I also used other writing activities that appealed to the more creative students.
By choosing these two types of activities to help obtain my goal, all students enjoyed at least one
of the types of activities while learning the content. By using these various techniques students
were able to work on their notetaking skills and practice what they learned in fun and interactive
ways.
The pre-test confirmed my beginning assumptions about the students knowledge of
figurative language. I believed that most students would have the basic knowledge of similes and
metaphors, but be unable to identify the remaining three types of figurative language I planned to
teach. Most of the students were able to define and correctly identify similes and metaphors as
opposed to personification, hyperboles, and idioms, however, I noticed that many were switching
similes and metaphors around. This did not concern me since I knew they had a background
knowledge of those two and by revisiting these students should have the clarification needed to
better understand similes and metaphors.
The pre-test helped with the pacing of my lessons by allowing me to feel more
comfortable with grouping similes and metaphors into one day and give the other three types a
day to themselves. At the end of the first lesson on similes and metaphors the students seemed
confident going into the practice game I had planned, but in grading the assignment that
accompanied the game I was shocked to see that many students did not know the difference

between a simile and a metaphor even after the lesson. After seeing the grades, I decided to
postpone the next figurative language lesson and go over similes and metaphors again. We went
over the definition of each and discussed examples as a class. I then passed back the worksheet
portion of the game and allowed students to choose five new cards to use to complete the activity
for a higher grade. I did not require students to do this, but I highly encouraged those who had
lower grades to take part in this activity. Of the worksheets I received back, many students
achieved significantly higher scores compared to their original score.
After looking at the pre-test I adjusted the remaining lessons to present the information to
the students as if they had never heard of it before. I noticed that most of the students who were
able to define the figurative language were not able to identify an example of it or they were able
to get an examples but unable to define it. This led me to believe that many of my students may
have just gotten lucky when making their best guess and therefore actually did not know the
different types of figurative language we would be talking about.
One teaching strategy I used every day was a short lecture about the type of figurative
language that would be covered that day. This usually took no longer than ten minutes of the
lesson, therefore allowing most of the time to be devoted to other techniques. While I am not one
to support lecture at the elementary level, I felt that using it sparingly in fifth grade is one of
many ways that will help them prepare for middle school. As these students progress into the
higher grade levels, lessons tend to be more lecture style as opposed to the more interactive
activities seen in the elementary school. I also believed this to be the best way to give students
the required information about each type of figurative language before transitioning into the
more creative activities a figurative language unit lends itself to.

I also incorporated a game into my first lesson on similes and metaphors. This strategy
was used in order to appeal to the more competitive students in my class. I have several very
creative kids, several very competitive kids, and several that are a combination of both. My goal
was to allow all the students to have at least one activity they truly enjoyed doing during this
unit. This game also had students identifying similes and metaphors which was part of my
learning objective for my students.
Creative writing was a strategy I used during the personification lesson. After teaching
students about this type of figurative language I wanted to give my more creative students a
chance to express their creativity in a writing activity where they personified their favorite
season. This activity allowed me to assess not only their ability to create examples of
personification, but also how well they followed directions. I was surprised to see how many
students did not follow the directions of including five examples of personification and
highlighting them. As I read their creative writings I made two stacks as I graded them. I made
one stack for the ones who followed directions and then I made a second stack for those who did
not follow directions and lost many points because the majority of the grade was based on having
five examples. I handed back the papers and allowed students to make corrections if the wished
and instructed them to read the directions carefully.
Another teaching strategy I used was the activity Think-Pair-Share. The students seemed
to really enjoy the activity other than having assigned partners. In order to save time, I assigned
partners by making them turn to an elbow partner which works very well with the classroom set
up. Many of my students did not like this because it meant that they were not with their friends,
however I did notice that these partner groups seemed to stay on task much better and have more
conversation that related to the topic as opposed to the typical conversations heard among

friends. I mainly chose the Think-Pair-Share activity for the way the activity is set up. It allows
students to have time to think about the topic before having to engage in any kind of group
discussion. The next step Pair is probably my favorite. By allowing students to share, and in
this case receive feedback, students gain confidence in their answers prior to the group
discussion. Having this confidence established prior to the class discussion allowed me to hear
from all my students and not just the ones who always answer the questions. To finish the day, I
had students select their favorite example to illustrate it. This day was about hyperboles, so there
were many interesting illustrations come in. After the illustrations were done, I had everybody
share their illustrations with the class which is another fifth grade SOL that many of the students
struggle with and will require ongoing practice as the year continues.
Analyze the Results
My goal was to have at least 90% of my class receive a passing score (70%) on their
posttest. In the graph below you can see that not only did all my students receive a 70% or
higher, but I also had five students receive a perfect score of 100%. My lowest student received a
70% which I was very pleased with considering they scored a 20% on the pre-test. For this
particular student this was a huge accomplishment. I was shocked to see that my goal was
exceeded and all my students scored a passing score.

The data in the bar graph show that all of the students were able to define, identify, and
create most of the, if not all, five different types of figurative language. As I was grading the tests
I noticed that it was the creation portion of the test that was giving student problems. As far as
the identifying and defining, if students missed any they would either flip simile and metaphor or
flip idiom and hyperbole.
Based on the data I would definitely separate similes and metaphors into their own days
like I did for the rest of the types of figurative language. Many of my students flipped the two on
the pre-test, but they knew them so I assumed keeping them grouped together would be fine.
After grading the posttest and seeing that for many of my students the same thing happened
again I would break them up into their own days before combining them. Another thing I would
change for the future is to give students more practice of having all five types being used at the
same time so that they can practice defining, identifying, and creating all of them on the same
day prior to the test. While I gave them a small project that had them creating them as a review
activity the day before the test, looking back I dont feel that I gave them enough practice at

having all the types combined into one activity. The only activity I might tweak for the future is
the personification activity. This activity really pushed my students limits. Some excelled at the
activity while others struggled. For the future I may have them write about a pet or stuffed
animal that is easier to personify, which will hopefully help students in the writing process.
Overall students seemed to grasp the concept of personification, but struggled to create it.
One thing I would like to do in the future is to incorporate more books into this unit to
demonstrate examples in literature. Looking back students would have benefited by seeing
examples of each type of figurative language being used in different types of stories and poems.
Overall I feel like this unit went very well and with a few corrections it has the ability to be a
great unit with interesting activities to enhance student learning.