Instructional Design Overview

 

Subject, Level of Instruction and Intended Audience

 

This writing course is designed for 3rd graders using a blended learning model with a project-based learning component. The unit of focus is writing personal narratives. 

In addition to 3rd graders, the staff and administration will also be the audience for the course. I would like to pilot this course and I will be getting their feedback on the usability of the course.

 

Key Instructional Documents

 

Fink’s 3 column table

Course Outline

TEKS

 

 Competency Based Learning and Outcome Based Learning

 

This course is mainly competency based learning because writing is a process. Students will have ownership of the learning because it will be their writing, topic, and voice. The learning environment will support student agency by giving them choices and having them engage in authentic learning. Students will record a story telling podcast after writing their personal narrative. The course will focus on student’s goals as writers. Students will have the opportunity to use a rubric to check off their goals and self monitor in order to take ownership of their own learning. Part of taking ownership for their learning will be to complete the online components in the LMS independently. The course will have many scaffolds like sentence stems, descriptive words, and graphic organizers for students to use to help themselves when stuck with writing. 

 

This course is also outcome based because it follows the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. In 3rd grade students are expected to plan a first draft by selecting a topic, purpose, and audience using a range of strategies such as brainstorming, free writing, and mapping. The draft should be focused and structured with engaging ideas and relevant detail.

 

Design Approach

 

To design the course, I used Fink’s 3 column table to begin using a backwards design approach. 

I thought of the essential outcomes and what I wanted students to learn and be able to do at the end of the unit. During the design phase I planned the outcomes, activities, and assessments based on five categories. All categories are important, but focusing on the human dimension and caring and the learning how to learn brings COVA into the course. Personal Narrative writing is a great place to find one’s voice as well as having choices of what to write.

 

Specifically, I chose writing because it is an area that students need much guidance with at the elementary level. If parts of the unit are asynchronous, then time is freed up to confer with students while other students have time to help themselves, or help each other when they collaborate on activities. Many of the scaffolds, graphics, and videos will be provided online in the google classroom. This will give students ownership of their learning. 

 

Balance of Assessment Of/For/As Learning

• Pre-write personal narrative and final draft narrative

• Activities in google classroom 

• Podcast production with peers

 

Deeper Learning

 

To deepen student learning, students will have an opportunity to find their voice and try different literary devices. They will peer edit and learn to give feedforward. Students will collaborate on making a podcast to tell their stories. Writing and finding one’s voice is deeper learning. Communicating stories in different media is another way to publish and make the learning authentic. 

 

Who Controls the Learning?

 

The writers, or students, will have a choice of writing topics and how they want to express themselves. It must be a personal narrative, and because of that the learning is controlled a bit by the facilitator. In this course, the instructor will be a guide to provide mentor texts, model using literary devices, provide scaffolds, and confer with students to give feedforward. Writing lends itself to giving students ownership and an opportunity to find their voice.  There are plenty of opportunities in the course for student-led learning.