Medaille College Department of Education

Learning Segment Prompts

Teacher Candidate’s Name: Priyanka Prasad Date: April 25th,

Subject/ Grade Level: Social Studies, Grade 1 Learning Segment Topic: Ay Ay Captain! Learning about Maps!

State your central focus and explain how your plans build on each other to help students make connections throughout the learning
segment. (edTPA Task 1, Prompt 1)

Central Focus: By the end of the unit, students will be able to identify the different parts of a map, and explain the importance of using
a map. Through the lessons, they will also be learning to read and create simple maps. The unit lessons build on each other to make these
connections throughout the segment. Each lesson builds on the last, and engages students in higher-order thinking by using Bloom’s Taxonomy.

This learning segment does this successfully by beginning with an engaging introductory lesson, using a Dr. Seuss story. The students are
familiar with this author as we read several of his books in class. We will then use group discussions on chart paper to discuss our learning from
the book, as well as remember facts about a map. This discussion will also talk about why we think a map is important and what purpose it
serves. Following the book, we will do a brain break using Jack Hartmann’s “Silly Pirate Song”. This will get students thinking about the
overarching “pirates” theme and give them a chance to stretch out. They will then be introduced to a powerpoint to discuss important parts of
a map. The purpose of the first lesson is to understand where students’ level of understanding is on maps, as well as introduce basic concepts of
a map.

The second lesson will dive a little deeper into maps and we will analyze a basic map together as a class, using information we learned
during the first part of the learning segment. This will allow students to work as a class and learn from each other, while giving me an
opportunity to take informal assessments through group discussion and observations. In the second lesson, students will also work as a whole
class to analyze a given map together. The theme of our unit is Ay Ay Captain, which focuses on pirates and a treasure map. In this lesson, I will
begin the class by starting with a Brain Break Song to introduce today’s activity, using Jack Hartmann’s “Goin’ On A Treasure Hunt”. This
will then lead to the next activity of analyzing a map together as a class (map of the classroom). This map will lead them to “treasure” in the
classroom, once they are able to work together to analyze it.

In the third lesson, we will move from remembering and understanding and start applying our knowledge of maps by creating our own
maps in groups.In this lesson, we will go for a class walk to very specific places in the school: the gym, the library, and the playground. As we
walk through each area, we will be engaging in group discussions and peer sharing about what are some key things we notice in each area of
our adventure, and what are some things we would see in a map of the room. Students will then be divided into 4 groups: The Library Pirates,
The Gym Pirates, The Playground Pirates, The Kindergarten Classroom Capturers. Each group will get a chart paper and some “treasure” that

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students will get to hide where X marks the spot. We will have the next couple of days to work on this group project. This project will allow
students to gain hands-on experience while working in a group to practise map making skills, and learn how to use the different parts of a map.
Upon completing these maps, students will get to present it, and we will get to try to locate their treasure as a class! For this lesson, I introduce it
using the Brain Break Song “We Are The Pirates”. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx79dLuqPwQ).

The last lesson in this learning segment will be a review of the parts of a map, as well as talking about the activities we have done
already and address any misconceptions or misunderstandings students have, and end with a formal assessment. After doing the review, I
will do a Brain Break using the “The Maps and Landforms” song. (Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kgpo_YD7xI). This
will be followed up with an independent activity which will be a worksheet and an interview with me. In this activity, students move up in
Bloom’s Taxonomy by using the knowledge they have now learned and applied, and create their own map. They will be creating and explaining
in this lesson.

Create an assessment plan that will describe how you will use multiple forms of assessments that will provide direct evidence to monitor
your students’ progress toward meeting the central focus of the learning segment. (edTPA Task 1, Prompt 5a)

This learning segment uses a variety of assessments to monitor my students’ progress towards meeting the central focus of the learning segment.
The learning segment begins with more free-flowing, less structure and informal assessments as the students are being introduced to the learning
material. This allows me to continue to monitor their progress, and adjust my lessons as necessary. It then moves to formal assessments with two
opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of maps, through both a group activity as well as an independent
activity.

In lesson 1, I use observations and group discussions to monitor student progress.

In lesson 2, I continue to use observations and classroom discussions, and think-pair-shares, to monitor student progress. This will include
anecdotal notes.

In lesson 3, students will be assessed on a group presentation of their group maps. This will be one form of a formal assessment, through the
use of group presentation and ability to create a map. This will also provide me with an opportunity to check students’ understanding of maps
and help correct any misunderstandings or misconceptions.

In the last lesson, students will be assessed independently through a formal written and oral assessment about the parts of a map and the
importance of a map, as they move up in Bloom’s Taxonomy, and create their own Treasure Map and get to have a 1:1 interview with me about
it.

Explain how the design or adaptation of your planned assessments allows students with specific needs to demonstrate their learning.
Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/support (e.g. students with IEPs or 504 plans, English
language learners, struggling or underperforming students or those with gaps in knowledge, and/or gifted students). (edTPA Task 1,
Prompt 5b)

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Early Introduction to Map Story for ELL students: ELL students will be given the story a night before so they have a chance to become
familiar with it. I will also give them an opportunity to read through the story with their ELL teacher the day before, during their specific ELL
class.

Modifications for our IEP student: will be provided a simple matching activity to do with both the Dr. Seuss story, and the parts of a map.
Instead of having to create his own map, he will be expected to match picture to picture in the map. (Ex: symbol of a park to symbol of a park,
symbol of a compass to symbol of a compass). One of his IEP goals is to match 2D objects to 2D objects and 2D objects to 3D objects. As such,
this activity will help him meet these IEP goals. He will also be using yes/no question cards to answer simple questions about a map. One of his
speech/language goals is to answer “yes/no” questions, so we will be modifying the learning segment for him to meet these goals.

Struggling Students: This learning segment offers struggling and underperforming students several opportunities to show growth in their
learning, and offers them multiple kinds of assessments. Offering the class opportunities to share in group discussion, allows students who have
difficulty succeeding in quizzes and tests to demonstrate their understanding. The learning segment also offers struggling students a solid
foundational introduction to maps and through the use of the group project assessment, struggling and underperforming students are able to
learn from their peers and show their understanding in new and creative ways.

Hands-on experiences, group work and oral and written assessment: Students are provided with hands-on experiences in this learning
segment so they are able to better understand the concepts and apply it to real life situations in fun and meaningful ways. The oral interview with
me allows them an opportunity to explain their thinking, for students who have different learning styles. This learning segment takes into
account the different learning needs and styles for all of the learners in the classroom.

Describe and justify why your instructional strategies and planned supports are appropriate for the whole class, individuals, and/or
groups of students with specific learning needs. (edTPA Task 1, Prompt 3b)

The class has 18 students. Of the 18, we have 1 student on an IEP, and 3 students with ADHD, and 2 students who are ELL. The class is
generally very busy, talkative and enjoys working in groups. They do well with think-pair-share activities and really enjoy hands-on
experiences. The class also has students who can be very quiet and shy, so providing them with opportunities to come outside of their shell, by
working in small groups and by discussing through think-pair-shares, allows them to feel more confident when presenting.

The learning segment is planned with the entire class in mind. It has an overarching theme of “Ay Ay Captain! Pirates” theme to make it
memorable and engaging for the class. It begins with an introductory lesson which ensures students have the foundational knowledge to be
successful in this unit. The lessons include several brain breaks, keeping the theme of pirates and maps in mind, to give students breaks as
needed. This is beneficial for the individuals who have ADHD and the student on an IEP as they need frequent breaks. The learning segment
also engages the different types of learners in the classroom, by incorporating a multimedia and hands-on approach to learning. It provides
students exposures to the different types of media, which is directly beneficial to the entire class, as well as our ELL learners. The use of
heterogeneous groups will allow for our struggling students to learn from their peers and feel more confident in their knowledge and

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understanding. Providing the group opportunities will also be beneficial to our more shy students. The lesson plans include: a children’s story,
Powerpoint presentation, interactive games, an “adventure walk”, an engaging treasure hunt, group discussions, chart paper talk,
think-pair-share, group activity and independent work and interview. The use of the different strategies and instructional practices allows
students to use different parts of Bloom’s Taxonomy and encompasses Vygotsky’ sociocultural theory, making it appropriate for the whole
class.

Support your instructional strategies through theory and/or research. (edTPA Task 1, Prompt 3)

The following are theorists that would support the instructional strategies being implemented in my lesson segment:

Bloom’s Taxonomy: Bloom’s Taxonomy suggests that students move through a series of different levels as they learn. As educators, it helps us
identify objectives for our students, and also create lessons that allow students to learn and move up through the different levels of complexity. It
begins with remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. In this learning segment, students get to experience
cognitive development in each of these areas as follows:
● Introductory lesson: Students get a chance to be exposed to maps and map parts. As a result, students will be remembering the things
learned in the Dr. Seuss story, as well as the Powerpoint presentation.
● We will then have a classroom discussion, which will allow us to make sure students have a strong understanding of these parts as well
as remember what was discussed.
● In the following lesson, students will be asked to apply what they have learned and analyze a given map to them. They will then need to
think about the things learned and apply those concepts to this task.
● In the preceding lessons thereafter, students are both evaluating and creating as they build their own maps and apply the concepts learned
in class.

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory: Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of children learning about their world through physical interaction.
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory suggests that learning is an essentially social process to develop higher psychological functions. Using hands-on
experiences and providing students the opportunity to walk through the school, interact physically with their learning environment and apply the
material to their physical world, students will be able to then develop higher psychological functions.

Marzano’s High Yield Instructional Strategies: are used throughout this learning segment.
● Nonlinguistic Representations (Yields a 27% percentile gain): In this, students create graphic representations, models or drawings to
participate in kinesthetic activities. In this learning segment, students get the opportunity to do this at various points, as they work on
creating a large map in a small group, on chart paper, and then again create their own map for their individual formal assessment. This
learning segment uses a very hands-on approach as it also includes class walks.

● Cooperative Learning (Yields a 23% percentile gain): Marzano suggests that teachers use small groups and apply strategy
consistently and systematically, while integrating roles and responsibilities, content and language being taught. In this learning segment,
the group work is very systematically placed, as students are placed in heterogenous, small groups for one part of the learning segment,

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 that requires them to work collaboratively and apply the strategies they have learned through our lessons.

● Identifying similarities and differences (Yields a 45 percentile gain): Marzano suggests that this is a high yield instructional strategy,
where students should be comparing, classifying and using non-linguistic or graphic representations. This could include thinking maps,
and T-charts. In this learning segment, students get to do this throughout the lessons. Following the introductory lesson, students work
through a whole class discussion as we classify the different parts of a map, and create a thinking map and T-chart on chart paper. In the
following lesson, students are also introduced to a non-linguistic, graphic representation of a map and are able to compare and classify in
both whole class discussion and using think-pair-share to discuss the parts of the map shown.
Describe anticipated common misconceptions students might have within your central focus and how you will address them. (edTPA
Task 1, Prompt 3c)
Students at this grade level may confuse the scale of an object with the number of objects, which is considered a misconception with
numerosity. As such, I will address this early on in the introductory lesson. I will address this by using a visual representation and providing
students with examples so they understand the purpose of a scale. Another misconception in this grade level is the colours on a map. It is
important to let students explore different types of maps and become familiar with things they notice that are similar. I will address the idea that
countries may appear to be any colour, but in fact are not actually that colour. However, I will point out that bodies of water are represented with
the colour blue. They will get a chance to practise this as they make their own map in their final evaluation. As well, during the last lesson, I will
make sure to review these misconceptions with students. Lastly, another common misconception is map symbols and that they may not actually
be a real-life picture, which can be confusing. For example, some maps indicate a hospital using a red cross. It is important that I show visual
examples for students to understand this concept and review it as well. By providing them hands-on learning opportunities to use symbols in
their own maps, this will provide students an opportunity to understand and avoid that misconception.
Resources:
Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement, by Robert Marzano (2001)
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/map-skills-elementary-students/?ar_a=1

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