Compare and Contrast Decades of the Twentieth Century - Author: Cheryl Kopyt - This Learning Experience will address the ELA Standard # 1, Read, write, listen and speak for information and understanding. It will also address Social Studies Standard # 1 Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the US and New York

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Title of Learning Experience: Compare and Contrast Decades of the Twentieth Century

Author: Cheryl Kopyt , New Hartford Central School

LEARNING CONTEXT

Describe the purpose of the learning experience, including:

The learning standard(s) and the specific performance indicators from the standards documents on which the learning experience is based;
A description of the connection to instruction in other curricular areas or where this experience fits in the school or course curriculum; and
What students need to know and/or be able to do to succeed with this learning experience.

This Learning Experience will address the ELA Standard # 1, Read, write, listen and speak for information and understanding. It will also address Social Studies Standard # 1 Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the US and New York.

PROCEDURE

Tell us about the procedure, including:

What the students do; and
What the teacher does.

Students will have investigated and researched a decade of the 20^th century. They will have used reference materials from the library as well as CD rom encyclopedias, the Internet web sites and personal interviews of relatives who can give personal accounts of the past. They would have selected photos, a song and some slogans or anecdotes to help describe their decade in a Hyperstudio stack. These facts and stacks are then shared with the class. This work is done as preliminary to the Learning Experience.

Students will then select from the facts they have collected as a group, events from the different categories in two decades that are being compared. The two decades are chosen at random from cards the teacher has made, to assure a variety of decades are used. Using a graphic organizer they will take notes to be used to compare and contrast the two decades using these categories outlined as a basis of the comparison. They will then write a composition that compares the two decades using the categories identified. (Political, economic, social, literary, and scientific,.) Students will use a computer to word process and write their entire composition using the five steps of the writing process. (Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Publishing.) This will include the use of editing and revising checklists to review writing skills.

INTRUCTIONAL/ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATIONS

Describe the procedures used to accommodate the range of abilities in the classroom, such as:

Instructional modifications made; and
Physical modifications of the classroom setting.

There was one student who is assigned to the Resource Room for Language Arts each day. This assignment was taken to that teacher who helped the student accomplish this composition. The student had the use of the library resources with the help of a Resource Room Teacher. They will have extra time in their Resource room to write the compare and contrast essay.

MATERIALS & SUPPLIES

Identify the materials, supplies and equipment needed to successfully complete this experience:

For the student, and
For the teacher.

Students will need a variety of reference materials such as This Century and The Twentieth Century book sets as well as CD rom encyclopedias, and other print and non print materials from which to take notes for the preliminary work. An alternative could be that the teacher selects the items to compare and contrast and gives the students the graphic organizers filled in. Computers with a CD drive will be used for the CD rom encyclopedias, Internet access, etc. will be needed for the research. For composing they will need a graphic organizer to use to compare and contrast the decades, a rubric to focus them on their task and checklists for revising and editing.. A computer with a word processing program such as Claris Works or Microsoft Word and a computer are needed to write, edit and revise the document.

Teachers will need the same equipment and materials as the students.

ASSESSMENT TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

Describe the:

techniques used to collect evidence of student progress toward meeting the learning standards (e.g., observation, group discussions, higher analytical questioning); and
tools used to document student progress (e.g., scoring guides, rating scales, checklists, projects, taped performances).

A rubric will be used to assess the compare and contrast essay. There are four task components that will be assessed for the Language Arts standard. (See the attached.) Students will be rated on a point scale with 16 being an exemplary paper.

TIME REQUIRED

For each aspect of the learning experience, state the amount of time for:

planning
implementation; and
Assessment.

The preliminary research will require about 3, forty minute, class periods to accomplish. The work involving collecting data on a graphic organizer for comparing and contrasting the decades will be another class period. The writing should be one class period and the revising and editing, another two class periods. The final draft one more. Since the writing process should not be attempted in one day, five classes of 20 - 30 minutes should be used with students orally reading their work as well.

STUDENT WORK

Send samples of student work that reflect the diversity of students participating in the learning experience

Student work includes all the steps of the process. Samples are included.

REFLECTION

Comment on the learning experience, including:

how it might better meet the needs of ALL learner;
how it might better support student progress toward attainment of the learning standards;
how to expand the connections to other learning standards; and
how it reflects current scholarship in your field and "best" classroom practice.

In retrospect, I think I need to examine the importance of the events the students included in the discussion of the decades. Some very critical events were lacking in the presentation and summary of the decades. Also, there were errors in facts and events listed. I would take more care with accuracy of facts and importance of events, in the future. I thought of generating a list of events and facts from the decades or the entire century to be included wherever they occurred.

Also, it would be interesting to break apart the scientific, cultural and political events into smaller categories. ie. Scientific into medical, technical, transportation: Political into US and World: Cultural into music, literature, fashion, etc.