Instructional Design Project Alicia Ray East Carolina University

Instructional Design Project A Ray

Introduction Instructional Objective: Upon completing small group remediation with Mrs. Ray, students will be able to solve word problems directly related to sum of interior angles with 80% accuracy.

Learner characteristics: All learners involved are fifth grade students who missed all sum of interior angle word problems on the mock EOG. These students are 10-12 years old; 2 boys, 1 girl. All three students are Hispanic and have difficulty deciphering word problems on a regular basis. The instruction will take place in my classroom for 45 minutes. An additional 10-15 minutes will be required to do a quick assessment of learning.

Learning Context Analysis (Needs Analysis) This instruction is necessary because the North Carolina Standard Course of Study requires fifth grade students to be able to correctly solve word problems using the formula for sum of interior angles. Geometry is 25-30% of the NC Math EOG for fifth graders (North Carolina Public Schools, 2006), and this type of word problem makes up about 40% of the geometry goal. It is a highly tested item. Obviously, if they are missing all of this type of problem on the mock End of Grade Test it is a skill that needs to be retaught.

Learner Analysis The three learners involved were chosen based on their Mock EOG test scores in this particular area. Students who missed all six word problems related to sum of interior

Instructional Design Project A Ray angles needed to have small group re-teaching of the skill with the teacher. The six questions are the first six under Word Problems. The typical learner in this particular

small group is Hispanic, 10-12 years old, with reading difficulties. Two of the students are labeled EC (exceptional child) as LD (learning disabled) in Reading, which carries over to word problems in our math class. Each of these students took a Modality Strengths quiz at the beginning of the school year. Each of them is kinesthetic learners. Because of this, I believe they need to actually do the problems over and over in order to internalize the process.

Task Analysis In a typical word problem, students can follow the flow chart in order to correctly answer the question. The Subject Matter Expert, in this case, is my mentor teacher, Jodi Southern. She taught fifth grade math for 10 years before becoming an Instructional Specialist. She is now an Assistant Principal. I could serve as the SME, but I wanted someone elses input on the matter. For this task analysis, I created the steps and asked her to check over the flow chart to see if anything was missing. We fixed a couple missing pieces and the flow chart is now complete. See final page for flow chart.

Instructional Strategy My selection of learning strategy is a small group with me. I feel that these students really need small group, and even one-on-one time to get adequate attention to detail from me. The learner analysis and needs analysis led me to pinpoint this particular skill because it is highly tested. It is also a skill in which students can learn how to approach the word

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problem and be able to continually perform similar skills to solve similar word problems correctly. Word problems are a difficult concept in all grade levels, as many students do not even know where to begin upon reading them. Working on word problems with these specific students will enhance their ability to solve word problems in other areas as well. I feel that a pencil-paper technique is best for these particular students because they need to be able to show that they understand this concept and will be able to perform well on the EOG next month. The fact that they are also kinesthetic learners leads me to a pencil-paper technique as well.

The motivation for this concept is both intrinsic and extrinsic. Students realize that the End-of-Grade testing will be in May and they want to do well, both for themselves and for their school. There are many rewards for passing the End-of-Grade tests, especially in fifth grade, as it is their last year in our elementary school. If one does not pass the tests, they will be remediated and unfortunately, will miss the majority of our field days, field trips, and economics project. Students look forward to the end of fifth grade for these particular events.

Instruction Before we begin any instruction, I give these three students the same problem and allow them to go individually to the computer lab to use Smart Recorder to solve the problem on Smart Notebook software. These students solve the problem while speaking into the microphone the exact steps they used. They walk me through their process as they work the problem out. Then I watch these to determine the problem area. I use this information

Instructional Design Project A Ray to begin my instruction the next day and to trouble-shoot the problem areas for each individual child.

On the day of instruction, we begin by focusing on reading the word problem to understand what it was asking. Then we underline key words in the word problem and decide on an operation(s). We use the flow chart to follow the process step-by-step. The students and I work through a problem together first. We find the sum of interior angles of the given polygon using a song to remember the formula. The song is to the tune of This Land is Your Land and reminds the students that the formula is (n-2) x 180 with n = number of sides on the given polygon. The song is as follows: N minus two times One hundred eighty Thats the sum of interior angles You need to know it To pass the E O G N minus two times one eighty Then we list our known information. Now, we draw a picture of our polygon and fill in the given information. We place question marks for the missing information to remind ourselves of what we are trying to find. We decide to subtract the given information from the total sum of interior angles. Then we decipher the question to decide where we go from here using the flow chart. Once we have worked through a problem or two together, I allow the students to discuss another similar problem on their own, with minimal to no help

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from me. Some of the biggest obstacles in solving these problems are knowing the correct number of sides for each polygon and remembering the sum of interior angle formula.

We continue this approach until students are able to complete a word problem with no additional help from peers or me. Students will complete as many sample problems as needed until they master this skill. Once students show mastery, they will go back to the computer lab to solve the initial problem again, using Smart Recorder. This can be used for other groups later on in my review, which will also increase motivation to learn.

Assessment and Evaluation Evaluation will occur frequently during this 45-minute small group remediation. Upon completion of each type of problem, I evaluate formatively. Observation and following the flow chart also serve as formative evaluation. Each of the three students participating in this small group is being formatively evaluated. There will be no true summative evaluation as we will continue work on this skill throughout the remainder of the year. I will be looking for students to continue to improve this skill with word problems and sum of interior angles. Upon completion of the small group remediation, students are given the six word problems they missed on the mock EOG. They solve each of them, showing all work, and underlining and drawing the diagram as they have been taught in remediation. As mentioned in the instructional objective, students are expected to correctly answer 80% of these questions. Upon completion of instruction, I had two students make the required 80% or higher. One actually answered all questions correctly. The other made an 87%. My last student only made a 50%, so I am continuing to work with him daily. We continue

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to follow the steps of the flow chart. If he has the flow chart in front of him, he uses it as a job aid and does well. However, if the aid is removed, he forgets where he is within the problem.

These results can be used in the future as I plan to create a small group for those students who struggle with word problems in general. Many of the strategies we are using, such as underlining key words, rereading the problem, and drawing a diagram, can be used in all word problems. My seeing their successes and their short-comings will help to better focus future groups.

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Word Problems The following are examples of word problems that were used in instruction. A parallelogram has one angle measure of 37. What are the other three angle measures? What are the angle measures of an isosceles right triangle? In a pentagon, there are three right angles. The other two angles are congruent. What is the measure of each of the other two angles? What are the angle measures in a regular octagon? What is the sum of interior angles of a decagon? A rhombus has an angle measure of 110. What are the other angle measures? A hexagon has three angles that add up to 495. Whats the sum of the other angles? One angle in an isosceles triangle measures 40. What are the angle measure possibilities for the remaining angles?

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Instructional Design Project A Ray References Southern, Jodi. 2011. Personal Interview. North Carolina Public Schools. (2006) North Carolina Public Schools. Retrieved April 21, 2011, from http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/ Brown, A & Green, T. (2011). The Essentials of Instructional Design: Connecting Fundamental Principles with Process and Practice, 2nd edition. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

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