Brian

Hackney
INTC 5160
Instructional Design and Development
Design Document Final Draft

Part 1

Needs Analysis

For a needs analysis, the first question asked should be, “What problem exists or
what change is being requested?” The problem I see that exists is that middle school
students lack the ability to synthesize information, create original thoughts or ideas about
topics, and present information to an audience. After speaking to my principal about areas
of concern with our middle school students, he agreed that the students lack the ability to
“think about the way they think”. In fourth and fifth grade students are taught repeatedly
to site the text, use text evidence, find examples from the book, etc. While I agree this is a
critical skill, students are not coming into middle school with the ability to then use the
information from the text to create their own ideas about characters, themes, social issues,
and so on. When I asked my sixth grade class to create Google Slide presentations about a
monster or mythical creature they had researched, 90% of the students read directly off of
their slides and were not able to answer questions about their topic or have a discussion
about it. This is the problem I think needs to change: the students’ ability to gather,
synthesize, and present information organically and efficiently.

Task Analysis

Now that the problem has been identified, the question then becomes, “What is the
task that individuals need to be able to accomplish or perform?” Ultimately, I would like for
my students to be able to present information to an audience that is a synthesis of their
own ideas coupled with research or text evidence as opposed to finding information and
reading information off of a screen or note cards. I want to instruct my students how to
have a conversation about the topic or idea they are discussing. This would not be teaching
them an entirely new skill. They have opinions on things that they like and can have
conversations about topics that are interesting to them with their friends. What will be new
to them is how to have those same conversations or discussions about topics that might not
be as interesting but are instead classroom assignments. The key components of this task
are 1) being able to collect information relevant to their topic or idea (research a time
period or geographic location, themes or social issues discussed in a novel, character traits
and behaviors, etc.). 2) Be able to take a step back and look at the information to see the big
picture (What am I noticing about social norms of the Deep South in the early 20s? What’s the
best way I could describe this character to someone who has never read this book?). 3)
Selecting the right web 2.0 tool to help organize and present their ideas efficiently and
effectively.
To effectively know if the student is able to complete this task, the student should be
able to present their information in a conversational manner and more importantly
participate in a question and answer about their ideas. For example, if the student is
presenting on a specific character from a novel, the student should know the character well
enough to answer a question such as, “How would Ponyboy (from The Outsiders) react to a
recent events regarding children being separated from their parents after crossing the
border?” If the student had completed the key components of this task they might reply
with something like “Well I know Ponyboy lost his parents at a very young age and
struggled most of his life. He was very close with his two older brothers and came close to
being split up from them after what happened in the novel. He’s a very tough kid when he
needs to be but also very much relies on his brothers for support and comfort. I think
Ponyboy would be heartbroken for the families being separated at the border since he can
relate to losing his parents and almost having his family dissolved.” I think by the student
showing how that character would react to a situation that is outside the book, they are
showing that they can see the big picture regarding that character and synthesize how they
might react to situations given their past and character traits.


Learner Analysis

The intended audience for this instruction would be middle school students, grades
sixth through eighth. The common traits these students possess is that they are all in the
same age range and are all taught the same curriculum at each grade level. There is roughly
the same amount of female students as male students in the middle school. One of the
differences among students is their socioeconomic status. Many of our students come from
wealthy families, which has afforded them significant opportunities for things like travel
and other activities that create life experiences. Since we are a Choice school district,
families outside of our town can choose to send their child to our school. Most of the
families that send their child from another town are not as wealthy. This can become
apparent if students are doing research on a geographic location and a student chooses
Hawaii or Spain because they traveled there last summer and other students haven’t
traveled outside of the state.
There are some differences in ability levels as well. Some students are advanced and
perform well above grade level expectations while others are classified as special education
and receive help from in-class support teachers. Motivation ranges among students as well.
A survey in the beginning of the year showed that literature is not a favorite for more than
half the class. Even though it is not their favorite subject most students will try hard in the
class to get a good grade. Some students love school and love every subject, some like
school but hate literature (which is my subject) and some students just generally dislike
school and are hard to motivate at all. This is really where the technology would play a big
part. Since students have different preferences on how they like to organize their
information and thereafter present it to an audience, my hope is that by allowing students
to explore a variety of web 2.0 tools to find one that fits their style of expression they will
be more motivated and engaged in their assignments.

Part II

After the needs, tasks, and learners have all been addressed, the most important
thing to do when designing instruction is to determine your learning goals and objectives.
These will serve as the framework for instructional delivery. This unit of instruction is
designed for middle school students in grades six through eight. The learning goals and
objectives of this design document are:

§ Goal: Students will demonstrate ability to think critically and analyze characters
in a novel
• Objective: Students will be able to identify character traits and supportive
text evidence from a novel
• Objective: Students will be able to select a web 2.0 tool to help organize and
present their ideas efficiently and effectively
• Objective: Students will be able to formulate a thesis statement about a topic,
idea, or character found in a novel


The overall purpose of this instruction is for students to improve their critical
thinking skills and synthesis of information. I believe that the learning goal and objectives
listed above accurately reflects this intention. The objectives were created using Bloom’s
Taxonomy and reflect levels of understanding. Students begin the instruction by listing
information (knowledge) and by the end should be able to formulate a thesis (synthesis).
Each objective is a higher level of understanding in accordance with Bloom’s Taxonomy.
When students have completed the instruction they should be able to present their original
ideas using a technology tool of their choosing. They should also be able to engage in a
discussion about their idea and defend their idea if necessary.

Assessments

Formative and summative assessments will be used throughout the period of
instruction. There will be a pre-instruction writing prompt asking students to pick their
favorite television character and describe what it would be like to spend a day with them.
What would they do? How would that character act throughout the day? What would they
think of your friends or where you live? The purpose of this would be for students to think
about a character they are familiar with and imagine how they would act when they are not
in their natural environment. Most middle school students will not be able to fully
comprehend their character’s point of view. Their writing should be a paragraph or two
and I would use this to identify where students seem to struggle the most. Do they have
difficulty describing their character’s personality? Are they simply describing what they do
on a normal day but are including their character with them? Are students really putting
themselves in their character’s shoes and thinking about how they would feel being in an
unfamiliar environment?

 The first objective, identifying character traits, will be assessed informally. As
students read, they will be asked to think about a trait they are noticing in their character.
They will answer an open-ended question asking them to identify one character trait from
any character in the novel and provide three examples of text evidence that support their
character trait. This can be done on paper or through a Google doc, which can be shared
with the instructor.

The second objective, selecting a web 2.0 tool to help organize and present their
ideas, will be assessed next. This will be a more formal assessment. All students have their
own Chromebook for daily use. Students will explore a number of different tech tools
online that they might use to present their ideas to the class. Prior to instruction, the
teacher will assemble a list of a wide variety of tech tools for students to explore (Animoto,
PowToons, StoryboardThat, etc.). When students are comfortable with a tech tool of their
choice, they will select their favorite activity to do outside of school and create a 1-2 minute
presentation. I think having students select something they spend a lot of time doing
ensures they have a lot of knowledge of the topic and will be heavily engaged in the
development and presentation.

The third objective, formulating a thesis, will be the culmination activity and will be
a summative assessment. The students will be given a real-world event, it could be a school,
community, or global event, and they will be asked to create a 4-5 minute presentation
explaining how their character would react to that event. There will be a writing
component to the final presentation completed the day before presentations are given. The
students will also be asked follow up questions by either the teacher or class, which will
give the students another opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of their character.
By doing this, the student will demonstrate high levels of understanding of their character’s
personality. They can put themselves in their character’s shoes and see the world through
their eyes. By asking the students to think about their character engaging in a real world
event, they are generating their own original ideas since that character has never
previously been in that situation.


Part III

This unit of instruction will take about 3-4 weeks to complete, depending on how
long it takes students to complete individual assignments. The instruction will
predominantly take place in a learner-centered, open-ended learning environment. There
will be some necessary direct instruction but most of the activities are self-exploration or
group collaboration. The technology used is identified in each lesson it is utilized.

Goal: Students will demonstrate ability to think critically and analyze characters in a novel

Objective 1: Students will be able to identify character traits and supportive text evidence
from a novel

Activity 1: Identifying Feelings & Traits
Students will answer the questions, “what is a feeling?” and “what is a character
trait?” (Feelings come and go, but character traits make up the person that you are.) In
groups, students will create one list of feelings and traits. On Google Classroom there will
be a premade document with drag and drop boxes and columns for FEELINGS and TRAITS.
Each group will make their own copy and insert their list of feelings and traits into the
boxes. Whoever opens the document can share it with the rest of the group so everyone can
help create the drag and drop boxes. Once all the groups have created their lists they may
share the documents with other groups and compete to see who can correctly separate the
boxes into their respective columns.

Activity 2: Annotating with Post-Its
As students read (either independently or with a partner) they will write notes on
post its. They will be asked to write down things they are noticing about their character,
the way they act, things they say, etc. In the classroom there will be a bulletin board with all
different types of “post its” for students to reference to if they are unsure of what types of
things they should be noticing and jotting down about their character. Towards the end of
class, students will review their post its and try to pick out three that have something in
common between them. As they are called on, the students will stick the post its on the
blackboard and explain why they grouped those ideas together. The point is to get students
to begin to see themes in characters, being brave, being curious, being clever, etc. Students
will keep Post-Its organized in a section of their notebook designated for Post-Its. This will
serve as a learning artifact that they may refer back to throughout this process.

Activity 3: “What’s My Name?” Game
Students will be asked to think about one of their favorite characters from a movie,
TV show, or book that they know very well. They cannot share with anyone the name of
their character. Instead, students will participate in a game of “What’s my Name?”. Each
student will have to see how many of their classmates’ characters they can figure out.
Students will only be allowed to describe themselves by how their character acts, things
they feel strongly about, how they interact with people, or any other distinguishing
characteristic than their name. This exercise is meant for students to get into their
characters head and really try and figure out how they think and do the things they do.

Activity 4: Box and Bullets
Students will independently complete an assignment requiring them to select a
character from the novel they are reading and identify one character trait. They will also
need to provide three example of text evidence to support their idea. A good strategy for
identifying traits will supports is to use a box and bullet method in which students write
their character trait in a box and list their supports as three bullet points below. This will
be completed on a Google Doc and shared with the teacher. This activity is also their first
assessment.

Objective 2: Students will be able to select a web 2.0 tool to help organize and present
their ideas efficiently and effectively

Prior to beginning this objective the teacher needs to create a list of different tech tools
(Thinglink, Powtoons, PowerPoint, Vyond, Emaze, etc.) with links to their respective
websites. The list can be shared via email or Google Classroom.

Activity: Tech Exploration
In groups of four or five (pre-selected by the instructor), students will each select a
different tech tools to explore for 5-10 minutes. They may watch a tutorial on the website
or find a tutorial on YouTube about the tech tool. They will take notes as they watch, noting
likes, dislikes, or “cool features” and then participate in a group discussion briefly
explaining what they discovered. The group will do another round of this so they can all get
information without having to explore every single tech tool on the list. This activity may
take two days to complete.

Activity 2: Tech Tool Selection
Students will create a list of five tech tools they found interesting that they want to
explore more in depth. They will also note one feature of the tools that they found
particularly interesting. This activity will be independent. Students will take time to check
out more of the features of their tech tools and may watch more specific YouTube videos
about how to use that tool. By the end of the activity, they will select one tech tool with
which they feel comfortable.

Activity 3: Favorite Hobby Presentation
This activity will be an assessment. Each student will create a 1-2 minute
presentation, using the tech tool they selected, describing one of their favorite things to do
in their spare time or a hobby in which they have a high level of interest. Presentations will
be shared with the teacher and projected on SMART board or screen projector.

Objective 3: Students will be able to formulate a thesis statement about a topic, idea, or
character found in a novel

Activity 1: Thesis Statements- The Good and the Bad
The teacher will use direct teaching to discuss with the class what a good thesis
statement looks like and how to create one by showing a YouTube video explaining this
topic. The teacher will show examples of good and bad thesis statements using Google
slides and give explanations for each. The class will then use their chromebooks to search
good and bad examples of thesis statements, which they will read to the class. The class will
vote whether they think it’s good or bad and give reasoning for their decision. This will
create an understanding of what a thesis statement is and what a good thesis looks like.

Activity 2: Team Talk- Developing Thesis Statements
In groups, students will read their character trait and evidence of text support to
each other. Once everyone has read their character trait statement, they will all help each
other create thesis statements about their characters. Each group will be provided with a
handout that will have tips for constructing a good thesis statement. Students can use this
as a checklist to help create their statements. Example of character trait, “Ponyboy is very
brave. In the novel it states that….” Example of good thesis statement, “In the novel The
Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy will do almost anything he can to fight for and protect
the people that mean the most to him.”

Activity 3: Independent Writing Explanation of Thesis
The students will work independently to expand on their thesis statement. They will
write three paragraphs in a Google Doc defending their thesis. This will require them to
possibly find more examples of text evidence but will also make the students begin to think
deeper and analyze their character. Since they are making such a bold statement about
them they will need to provide reasoning to go along with their text evident. This activity
will take 1-2 days and will be considered the writing portion of the summative assessment.

Activity 4: Final Presentation of Character Analysis
The students will create a 4-5 minute presentation on the tech tool they have
previously selected. Each student will be given a real world scenario in which they will
have to place their character. Their challenge is to decide how the character will react to
the situation and must provide a rationale for their decision. Students will also participate
in a short impromptu Q and A about their presentation. By doing this, students are showing
a strong understanding of their character and will demonstrate the ability to create original
thoughts about a well-researched topic.



Part IV


In order to evaluate this instructional unit you have to ask yourself, “what are the
key components that I want students to take away from this instruction? What skills or
abilities do I ultimately want them to be able to display?” As previously stated, ultimately, I
would like for my students to be able to present information to an audience that is a
synthesis of their own ideas coupled with research or text evidence.

This instructional unit has been designed so that the activities will guide students to
be complete two main tasks. First, I want them to be able to gather character information
from a novel and create a thesis, or big idea, about that character. Next, I want them to
know that character well enough that they can confidently express their thoughts about
how their character would navigate through a hypothetical situation. If the students were
able to do both of those tasks, I would find this instructional design to be successful.

The first evaluation would take place after activity 3 in the first objective. The
students will have just completed the “What’s My Name?” game. I would survey the class as
a formative assessment to gain feedback about how the students felt participating in the
activity. I feel it is important to evaluate at this time so that if interventions or reteaching
need to occur I can make the necessary changes early. Also, if the students express a high
level of satisfaction with the game, I can possibly create similar activities to continue their
high level of engagement. Since this is the first evaluation, I would create a Google form
with no more than 2-3 questions asking what they thought about the game, if they enjoyed
the game, if the game helped them to think about their character on a different level, etc. I
want to make this first evaluation private so they don’t feel pressure to be vocal until they
have gained more confidence with these new skills.

The second evaluation will come later in the instruction. Activity 3 for the third
objective asks students to create a thesis statement about their character with text
evidence to support their thesis. This is a writing assignment and will be evaluated as a
constructed response using a rubric aligned with the desired goals. The data from the
scored rubrics will be used as a formative evaluation. I used a constructed response
because I want to gauge the academic knowledge this time instead of the students’ feelings
about the assignment.

The next evaluation will take place at the end of the instruction as they present their
final presentations. This activity asks the students to use the knowledge of their character
to show how they would react to a situation they would never find themselves in. The
second task that this instructional unit was designed to achieve was for students to
synthesize information and create original ideas using knowledge they have gained.
Although this is at the end of the instruction, this would be formative assessment because it
is really evaluating how well they have mastered the second task. I would use a
performance rating aligned with a rubric to evaluate students on their final presentation.

 The final evaluation will be summative. I will conduct a survey with students asking
if they would feel comfortable discussing aspects of their projects in a focus group as
opposed to one on one with the instructor. If students agree to participate in focus groups I
would have them walk through their process for creating their final project. My hope is that
students will be open to the focus groups because I think it is important for people to hear
how their peers think and process information. Even if some students don’t want to share,
at least they can hear how other students are explaining their process. I also think students
will be more comfortable in a group conversation rather than one on one with the
instructor. This is not an explanation of the tech tool they used and the steps to create their
presentation. This would be for students to reflect on their thought process and to explain
how they used knowledge they gained from the novel to create their thesis statement. It is
meant for students to verbally express how they generated their own thoughts about their
character navigating a hypothetical situation. This would be the true evaluation of this
instructional design model. For a student to take a step back and be able to breakdown
their method of synthesizing information would be the ultimate success because the
process they explain can then be repeated for almost every assignment in any class.