We Real Cool Poem by Gwendolyn Brooks - Essay Example

Behaviorism – Task Ruth Ramirez Western Governor’s LESSON PLAN Name: Ruth Ramirez GENERAL INFORMATION Subject(s): English Topic or Unit of Study: Literature – “We Real Cool” A Poem by Gwendolyn Brooks Grade/Level: 8th Instructional Setting: Students are paired for the writing task. Regular classroom setting; 25 students in class; eighty percent students are English Language Learners, predominately Hispanic, low income, at-risk students. 2 students are special education with an Independent Education Plan for mild behavior modifications. A teacher’s assistant is assigned to the classroom and a special education Resource Specialist is also available for assistance. STANDARDS AND OBJECTIVES English Language Arts Standards for California Listening and Speaking Strategies 1.2 Paraphrase a speaker’s purpose and point of view and ask relevant questions concerning the speaker’s content, delivery, and purpose. Speaking Applications 2.2 Deliver oral responses to literature Writing 2.4 Write persuasive compositions Lesson Objective(s): 1. Students will demonstrate comprehension of the poem by orally paraphrasing its meaning in their own words with at least 80% mastery. 2. Students will analyze the situation of the persona by discussing the meaning of the poem with at least 80% mastery. 3. Students will relate the themes in the poem to modern societal problems by writing a speech to be delivered in front of politicians, appealing to them to act for a drug-free state with at least 80% mastery. MATERIALS AND RESOURCES Instructional Materials: Copy of the poem Pad paper for writing Ballpen Pictures of street people doing drugs Resources: “We Real Cool” A Poem by Gwendolyn Brooks INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN Sequence of Instructional Procedures/Activities/Events (provide description and indicate approximate time for each): 1. Review/Assumptions Students already know the basic concepts in analyzing a poem such as persona, addressee and situation. They should know that the persona and the author are different. Although there are times when the situation in the poem relates closely with the experience of the author, it should be assumed that the author is thinking of another persona as his poem’s persona. 2. Anticipatory Set/Class Starter: Students will read the poem to themselves and will do a quick write to answer the prompt: “Who and what is the poem about? What do you think is happening in the poem, based only on reading it one time?” This will get students focused on beginning class, and will give them the opportunity to conduct an initial reading of the poem. They will have the opportunity to consider what they think the poem means based on their own prior knowledge, but without contextual information. Once context is provided later in the lesson, students will be able to compare their original thoughts on the poem with their more informed analysis. (5 minutes) 3. Presentation of New Information or Modeling: The teacher provides a brief introduction about the author, Gwendolyn Brooks including biographical information and background on the society in which the poet wrote. The teacher introduces this information by navigating through various parts of (and having students read aloud) the Norton Anthology of Poetry website as a whole class, using the projector screen (http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nap/we_real_cool_brooks.htm). The purpose of this introduction is to provide students with a context for the poem, and a basic awareness of the differences between today’s society and the time during which the poem was written. Providing information on the author exposes students to a famous author who is a minority, and knowing more about the poet gives students further context for analyzing the poem. The teacher then goes over the poem with the students, and has them share their original thoughts on the poem prior to discussing how their ideas have changed in groups. The teacher asks students to focus on what the pool players are doing in the poem, and what becomes of them during their discussion (10 minutes). 4. Guided Practice: During this part of the lesson students will connect the poem to current society by beginning to write a speech persuading politicians to work towards a drug free state. The teacher will continue to facilitate class discussion connecting the drug use (and negative outcome) of the youngsters in the poem to the problem of drug use in today’s society. Making this connection helps students see the relevance in literature, even if it was written during a different time period. The teacher models how to write a speech by showing students a persuasive speech outline (Appendix A) along with a sample of a completed online that teacher has done on a different topic. Though the teacher’s goal is to model how to use the persuasive outline format, she does not use the same topic as the students to avoid having them just copy down what she has used as a model. The teacher then explains that the exact purpose for their persuasive speech is to convince the audience (politicians) that a drug free society should be the goal of all political leaders. Students will begin an outline on a sheet of lined paper, using the prompting outline (Appendix A) as a basis for creating their own speech. They will write the teacher’s stated exact purpose on their own outlines, at which point the teacher will instruct students to think of three reasons to support their purpose. The teacher provides the purpose, rather than allowing students to choose, to help them become accustomed to arguing for topics they may not agree with. (check for understanding): Students will then share their three reasons with a partner, after which the teacher will call on a few students at random to share some of the reasons they have come up with to support the argument for a drug free state. The teacher will instruct students and provide examples as to how to phrase their purpose into a thesis statement. Students will write down their thesis statements (which may differ slightly). The teacher will again instruct students to share with a partner before calling on a few students to share their thesis statements with the class (15 minutes). 5. Independent Student Practice: Students will with a partner to complete the outlines for their speeches. Students will work with a partner within 1-2 levels of their own ability level, to avoid extreme disparities in ability that could cause one student to do most of the work. (10 minutes). 6. Culminating or Closing Procedure/Activity/Event: Teacher calls the whole class together and asks students to discuss with their partner what else they need to add to complete their speech outline. Students then complete a quick write listing what parts of the outline they feel they need to focus on the next day. Students should also note in the quick write any public speaking strategies they may be aware of that would be useful in delivering this type of speech. (5 minutes). Pedagogical Strategy (or Strategies): Partner work; Reader-response Approach Differentiated Instruction: Students with difficulties will be paired with those without difficulties, in the same way that those who are good in English writing will be paired with those who are not. The students are encouraged to think of three points to discuss in their speech but there is no requirement as regards the length of the speech. Student Assessment/Rubrics: The following rubrics will be used to evaluate the speech made by students: Criteria 1 2 3 4 5 1. The speech has a well-defined thesis. 2. The speech contains three main points that support the thesis. 3. The speech is persuasive; its main points are clear and true to the real-life scenario. 4. The speech is free of grammatical errors. 5. The speech is free from biases and fallacies; direct to the point and informative. “We Real Cool” A Poem by Gwendolyn Brooks the student is expected to score more than 25 out of 30 to be considered as one who has understood the analysis and evaluation of the speech. The Pool Players.  Seven at the Golden Shovel. We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon.  B.  Discuss how you could modify the lesson plan you provided to incorporate behaviorism. 1.  Justify a curriculum content modification in the lesson plan that incorporates behaviorism. Setting the mood of students is an important feature of the behaviorist classroom (Wheldall, 2012). Behaviorists try to avoid negative behaviors by reinforcing positive ones (Wheldall, 2012). In the given lesson, the teacher could say, “Today, we will read a cool poem. When we read, I want you to tell me what the author is saying and why I say it’s cool.” These statements give students a lead on what they are going to do; in particular, paraphrasing the lines of the poem. Taking into consideration the importance of reinforcements, the teacher may use them to promote comprehension and learning. These reinforcements may include positive remarks from the teacher and classmates in reading the poem and writing a speech addressed to politicians. The teacher may ask students to read the poem and put in some feelings when they recite. After which, the teacher should give positive verbal remarks like, “I like that,” “That was good,” etc. At the end, as students write and deliver their speech, the teacher could ask the students to give positive remarks about the speech. Considering the grade level and personality of the students, it is better not to give negative remarks to avoid criticism. Moreover, the teacher in the behaviorist classroom should act as a model to the students (Berry, 2009). Thus, the teacher should recite the poem first then let students read the poem after her. This ensures that students will recite the poem with appropriate pronunciation, tone, and emphasis, thus achieving better comprehension on the part of the students. Using serious tone towards the end of the poem, the teacher indirectly suggests that the poem contains a serious theme, which is the problem of alcoholism among the youth (Brooks, 2012). As such, reciting the poem first, the teacher could lead students to comprehend the poem’s serious message. 2.  Justify an instructional strategy in the lesson plan that incorporates behaviorism. Modeling is an important component of behaviorism (Berry, 2009). Through modeling, teachers will be able to emphasize the correct behavior that students should follow. This avoids negative behaviors from arising, and ensuring that the lesson would flow smoothly. In terms of skills, modeling helps to guide students to do a new activity or skill that they have not encountered before (Berry, 2009). In the given lesson, the teacher models writing of the speech by directly teaching students how to formulate the thesis statement, give the supporting statements, and add ideas to explain their points. Applying behaviorism, the teacher should teach the students how to formulate a thesis statement first, then give points to support the thesis. This is a way of guiding students towards an expected goal. Modeling or direct instruction should be done in front of the whole class. This means trying to come up with a thesis statement and supporting ideas using the classroom board, which every student can see. The students will offer their ideas, and the teacher accepts correct ones and writes them on the board. This also ensures uniformity of understanding and output. In the evaluation part, the students will choose the best speech and express their views why they like the speech. This part reinforces good behavior of those whose speeches were nominated. Being chosen should inspire them to write again on the next lesson/activity. For those whose speeches were not nominated, the chosen speeches will serve as samples or models to guide in writing a different task. C.  Analyze the effectiveness of incorporating principles of behaviorism into the lesson plan you provided. Principles of behaviorism should be part of every elementary classroom (Monchinski, 2008). Although not all activities or ideas are behaviorist in nature, it will help to incorporate behaviorism in some parts of the lesson. The reason behind this is that students in grade school are not yet mature and they need guidance in order to learn proper behavior and skills. Activating prior knowledge, providing models for activities, and giving rewards are some ways to incorporate behaviorism in the given lesson. Incorporating behaviorism into the lesson plan serves the teacher in three ways. First, by activating prior knowledge, the teacher will have the chance to check students’ understanding of the previous lesson. Likewise, by doing such, the students will feel the need to review past lessons, thus reinforcing good study habits among students. They will be inclined to think that past lessons should not be taken for granted; thus taking down notes, reviewing them, and even memorizing will help them get a better grade. Moreover, activating prior knowledge will make students see the link between the previous and the current lesson (Monchinski, 2008). Using principles of behaviorism, the teacher also provides model for learning a new skill. In the given lesson, students will be taught directly how to work on the thesis statement and subsections of the speech. This effort could guide students to perform the task appropriately and produce the expected output. Also, telling students what to do or what is expected to happen prior to performing the activity could lead them to write the best speech. The key is to condition learners to act as expected. Modeling and direct instruction also serve to promote positive behavior among students. When a teacher models how to write the thesis statement, all eyes will be focused on him/her and students need not to resort to other sources of information (i.e., asking students to do a research). Direct instruction helps in classroom management because compared to doing research, students are focused and well-guided in the behaviorist classroom. In the other, students interact with each other and take some time to finish the task because of too many distractions in the environment. Direct instruction in the teaching of thesis statement is recommended because unlike other topics, this one entails correctness and uniformity of students’ knowledge (Monchinski, 2008). Making the teacher the main source of information thus ensures that students will carry out their task accordingly. Similarly, if the teacher recites the poem for modeling, students will not laugh or make a joke out of what they will read; rather take the lesson seriously and easily comprehend the implications that the author wants to convey. Modeling and direct instruction are therefore some good aspects of behaviorism. Third, choosing the best speech maximizes the ability of the students to write. By recognizing their talent, the teacher can inspire students to make speeches or write essays later on. Such experience could lead them to become good critics, public speakers, news anchors or commentators, journalists, teachers, and other productive professionals in the future. Furthermore, choosing the best speech will let the teacher realize if the students really know what a good speech is. The task serves as an evaluation not only of the way students write but the way they judge a certain speech. Behaviorist activities that are incorporated in the lesson plan provided, conform with the ideas of Skinner of regulating behaviors or reactions to a given stimuli (Monchinski, 2008; Woollard, 2010). With modeling techniques, direct instruction and peer evaluation, a teacher can successfully achieve a focused discussion, establish a well-managed classroom, and develop good study habits among students. D.  Discuss how behaviorism could be incorporated into your instructional setting. 1.  Analyze the effectiveness of behaviorism in addressing specific learning behaviors in your instructional setting. Behaviorism is one of the most important learning theories that continuously shape educational history. Behaviorists believe in what Skinner proposed called “operant conditioning,” (Casas, 2011). This means that any stimulus is conditioned by immediate reinforcement or reward (Casas, 2011). In teaching, behaviorists usually lay down the rules to the students at the beginning of the year. This helps to avoid misbehavior. Teachers also use positive and negative reinforcements to affect students’ behavior. As such, it is imperative for teachers to know their students’ behavior and plan out reinforcements to influence negative behaviors and make them positive. Rewards that are meaningful to the students should be in place to strengthen positive behaviors, and rules must be set at the very start to avoid negative behaviors (Woollard, 2010). Classroom management is one aspect that a behaviorist teacher focuses on (Woollard, 2010). Students have different personalities but when they come to school, they act in uniformity according to the policies and regulations set by the school and its teachers. Establishing classroom rules is thus the first step to a well-managed classroom (More, 2000). Teachers should make it a point to establish rules at the beginning of the year and have them posted. Doing this will give them direction. In particular, classroom rules may be memorized by students and recited as part of routines. Rules may be posted on the bulletin board to remind students of their responsibility. In terms of assignments, it is best to make contracts for parents or guardians to sign. There should be an assignment notebook where students will write all their assignments. The teacher signs the assignment page, whether it was completed or not, and students will ask their parents to countersign the page so as to monitor students’ effort in doing their assignments. Practicing routines is another beneficial aspect of the behaviorist classroom (More, 2000). Routines help to make students become organized individuals. Students who learn routines in school will learn to keep a routine at home and eventually, in their professional field. With routines, performance and processes will be perfected. As part of everyday routine, students should greet the teacher and their classmates, check attendance by counting off (each should be assigned a class number), recite classroom rules, and report current news. The reporting of current events should be done in turns, based on the class number. These routine activities are supposed to prepare students for the day ahead, and to condition them to behave the way they should in school. Setting the mood of students is a must in the behaviorist classroom (More, 2000; Woollard, 2010). In every lesson, the teacher should always give students some idea on what to expect for the day. This gets the students in the mood for activities, games, etc. For example, if the teacher says, “Today, we will play a game.” The students will know how to behave or react, and they will respond accordingly to the situation. If some serious activities need to be accomplished, then the teacher could say, “Have you made a Diorama? Today, I will teach you how to make one.” This statement prepares the students to concentrate on making a diorama. Posting the days activities on the board helps set the tone of the day and students will know what to expect. Reinforcements also help to promote good behavior. Examples of reinforcement include praises, awards, tokens, prizes, etc. False praise should never be given, even when something is not perfect, a teacher can still say thank you for participating or I appreciate your hard work. On one hand, varying reinforcement could help to motivate students more; on the other, the teacher should still establish a system in giving awards, prizes, etc. In this regard, it would be best to have chips students will collect every time they do something good. These chips will be equivalent to some prizes, awards, or recognition of efforts. Reinforcing good behavior could promote positive behavior in the future, thus the teacher should always reward positive behavior of students. Managing behavior is the key to having a behaviorist classroom (Woollard, 2010; Ryan, Cooper & Tauer, 2010). Teachers should always exert effort and find means to promote good behavior and do away with the bad ones. Catching students doing the right thing in class reinforces for them that good behavior will be rewarded. Particularly, to ensure good classroom management, every teacher should establish and regulate rules, apply routines, set students’ mood to learning, and provide positive reinforcement of good behavior. References Berry, R. (2009). Assessment for Learning. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Brooks, G. (2012). We real cool. The Bean Eaters. New York: Literary Licensing, LLC. Casas, M. (2011). Enhancing student learning in middle school. New York: Routledge. Monchinski, T. (2008). Critical Pedagogy and the Everyday Classroom. New York: Springer. More, A. (2000). Teaching and Learning: Pedagogy, Curriculum and Culture. London: Routledge. Ryan, K., Cooper, J., & Tauer, S. (2010). Teaching for student learning: Becoming a master teacher. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Wheldall, K. (2012). The Behaviourist in the Classroom. London: Routledge. Woollard, J. (2010). Psychology in the Classroom: Behaviourism. New York: Taylor & Francis. Woollard, J. (2010). Psychology in the Classroom: Behaviourism. New York: Taylor & Francis. Appendix A PERSUASIVE SPEECH OUTLINE TEMPLATE LENGTH: 3-5 MINUTES TITLE: _____________________________, by _____________________ EXACT PURPOSE: To convince the audience that . . . (complete this statement) I. INTRODUCTION A. Attention Grabber: (Statement to wake the audience up / make sure they are listening!) (Although it is the first part of your outline, DO NOT begin your speech delivery by stating your exact purpose. The first thing you say should be your attention grabber.) B. Qualification: (Tell listeners your personal experience with your topic, making you qualified to affect their opinions about it.) C. Thesis: (Tell listeners what action you want them to take - OR - how you want them to think.) II. BODY A. Reason 1: (Tell one reason why listeners should act or think the way your thesis suggests.) i. EXAMPLE 1 - Support for reason given above. ii. EXAMPLE 2- Support for reason given above. iii. EXAMPLE 3 - Support for reason given above. TRANSITION SENTENCE: (Smoothly connect Reason 1 with Reason 2.) B. Reason 2: (Give listeners a second reason why they should act or think as you want them to.) i. EXAMPLE 1 - Support for reason given above. ii. EXAMPLE 2- Support for reason given above. iii. EXAMPLE 3 - Support for reason given above. TRANSITION SENTENCE: (Smoothly connect Reason 2 with Reason 3.) C. Reason 3: (This should be your STRONGEST argument. Tell listeners the most important reason why they should act or think the way you want them to.) i. EXAMPLE 1 - Support for reason given above. ii. EXAMPLE 2- Support for reason given above. iii. EXAMPLE 3 - Support for reason given above. SIGNAL THE WRAP UP! (Move smoothly from Reason 3 to the conclusion of your speech.) III. CONCLUSION A. Summary: (Briefly remind listeners why they should agree with your position.) B. Memorable Ending/Audience Challenge: (End with a powerful closing thought or recommended course of action.) C. Thank Audience for Listening Adapted from outline found online: http://sharepdf.net/read/7837/persuasive-speech-outline-template-3-point-format-length-3-5 Appendix b Grading rubric Criteria 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The objectives understanding Evaluation of the objective Application of the objectives Analysis of the objectives The student is expected to score more than 6 out of 8 to be considered for well understanding of the objectives. Read More