Appendix J

1
Appendix J

• This Authoring Cycle Project is a PowerPoint
  presentation that Beth Osborne Johnson and I
  developed in EDU 545.
• It shows my understanding and application of the
  curriculum development process in alignment with
  district, state, and national standards.
• It addresses following standards. NETS-T
  standards I.A, II.A, II.B, II.C, II.D, II.E,
  III.B, III.C, III.D, CTTC 1A, 1E, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2E,
  4C, CCCT 1.1A, 1.1B, 1.2A, 1.2B, 1.4A, 1.4B,
  1.4C, 1.4D, 1.4E, 1.5A, 1.5B, 1.6A, 1.6B, 2.1A,
  2.1B, 2.1C, 2.2A, 2.2B, 2.2C, 2.3C, 2.3F, 2.3G,
  2.4A, 2.4B, 2.4C, 2.5A and 2.6B.

2
Grade 5Colonial America Unit

• The Authoring CycleBy Beth Osborne Johnson and
  Martin Waltuchfor EDU -545
• Professor Leslie Ricklin

3
Overview- Grade 5 Progress through American
history

• Students begin by learning the original 13
  colonies, in chronological order. The
  information for each colony includes
• The original settlers
• Religion
• Major industries and hardships.
• After learning placement and information about
  each colony
• Students explore colonial life by researching
  colonial trades.
• Students then split into two groups to form
  towns.
• Each student is assigned a trade and
  responsibilities
• Towns must have meetings to ensure their towns
  success in terms of food and all areas of
  necessity covered.
• Students must use all of the information they
  learned to write a letter back to England from
  the New World.

4
CT State Standards

• Content Standard 1 Historical Thinking
• Students will develop historical thinking skills,
  including chronological thinking and recognizing
  change over time contextualizing, comprehending
  and analyzing historical literature researching
  historical sources understanding the concept of
  historical causation understanding competing
  narratives and interpretation and constructing
  narratives and interpretation.
• Content Standard 2 Local, United States, and
  World History
• Students will use historical thinking skills to
  develop an understanding of the major historical
  periods, issues and trends in United States
  history, world history, and Connecticut and local
  history.

5
CT State Standards continued

• Content Standard 3 Historical Themes
• Students will apply their understanding of
  historical periods, issues and trends to examine
  such historical themes as ideals, beliefs and
  institutions conflict and conflict resolution
  human movement and interaction and science and
  technology in order to understand how the world
  came to be the way it is.
• Content Standard 4 Applying History
• Students will recognize the continuing importance
  of historical thinking and historical knowledge
  in their own lives and in the world in which they
  live.

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Colonization-Authoring Cycle

• Uninterrupted Personal Engagements
• Reading of Colonial Trade Books- (see resources)
• Virtual Field Trip to Williamsburg
• Town Planning

• Collect Ideas
• Research colonial trades and responsibilities

• Life Experiences
• Family Discussion of heritage
• Family History class share

• Exploring Meaning Constructs with Intentional
  Others
• Set up town and responsibilities
• Town meeting

Reflection and Revision

• Invitations to Further Engagements
• Look at original documents from our town,
  including original settlers
• Attend a town meeting to see format and
  styleDiscuss the need for rules and laws
• Move into Revolutionary War

• Examining the Operation of Sign System Processes
• Share letters
• Self evaluation of letters and town plan

• Presenting and Sharing Meaning with others
• Students write letters describing their trade
  and colony to England
• Towns share their plans with each other

7
Life Experiences

• Family Discussion of Heritage
• Students will discuss with family members where
  their family came from and originally settled in
  the United States. They will record their
  history and share it with the class.

8
Uninterrupted Personal Engagements

• www.history.org

• Virtual Field Trip- Colonial Williamsburg
• Students will explore the ideal colonial town.
  They will see and read about important colonial
  trades
• Reading of Colonial Trade Books
• Students will research colonial trades through
  books
• Town Planning-
• Students choose appropriate trades and begin to
  plan a successful colony.

9
Collect Ideas

• Students research their colonial trades and learn
  their responsibilities. They are often
  surprised to learn that tradesmen often perform
  multiple roles in a town. For example,
  blacksmiths were often also the town dentists.
• Students share their research Their fellow
  townspeople and learn about how much tradespeople
  rely on each other.

10
Exploring Meaning Constructs with intentional
others

• Set up town and responsibilities following
  guidelines provided by teacher.

Creatinga colonyguidelines
11
Town meeting-

• Students will discuss in their towns what they
  have learned about their trades and decide
  whether they think their tradesmen will do enough
  to provide for a successful colony.

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Presenting and Sharing meaning with others-

• Students write letters from their colony back to
  England following teacher instructions and rubric.

Rubric Sample
13
Examining the operation of the sign system
processes

• Students self evaluate letters using rubric
• Students share their letters with others
• The letters are shared not only with members of
  the class but are also read to Grade 3 classes
  who are working on a unit in migration.

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Possible Accommodations

• Extended time for projects
• Chunked assignments for easier processing
• Books at readers reading level for research
  portion of projects
• Computer access for typing letter
• Other accommodations are possible depending on
  the disability of the learner

15
Reflection-Beth

• The colonization of America is often romanticized
  through books and movies. Through this unit, 5th
  graders are exploring together and discovering
  just how much hardship and toil there was to
  creating a successful colony.
• The students are also asked to look at American
  colonization from a more personal point of view
  when asked to write the letter. Often the
  student asks why they are writing letters when
  the families of the writers could just be with
  the author of the letter. We have to discuss
  lack of finances and the hardships that this
  aspect forces upon the new settler. The students
  gain a much greater appreciation for their
  ancestry.
• As the students work together to try and create
  a successful colony they must scrutinize over the
  details. They begin to realize that a carpenter
  is no good without a blacksmith, as nails are
  necessary for boards. They discover that nothing
  can be accomplished unless they are able to farm
  and hunt. The look closely at the environment in
  which they choose to settle. They realize that
  no idea is set in stone and no decision is
  unchangeable.
• The authoring cycle approach to this unit allows
  to students to revisit and analyze different
  aspects of colonial life. The use of different
  mediums provides

16
Reflection-Beth continued

• the students with content rich materials that
  reach out to every type of learner. The learning
  becomes very personal as the students take on the
  identity of a colonial townsperson performing a
  trade.
• The unit also exposes students to the power of
  conversation and debate. The wonders of
  technology are explored as they embark on their
  virtual field trip and the idea of collaboration
  and team work are stressed throughout the unit.

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Reflection-Martin

• Following John Deweys view of learning from
  experience, we organized interrelated
  activities, using the Authoring Cycle approach.
  By doing this, fifth grade students are able to
  connect their life experience to colonial life on
  a variety of levels, giving them a better
  understanding of the colonial experiences of
  early settlers and the choices they had to make
  to succeed. Integrating available technology,
  such as a virtual field trip and researching
  Internet resources, we provide the students with
  materials, appealing to different types of
  learners.
• In their research of colonial trades and
  responsibilities, students gain a greater
  understanding of the interdependence of the early
  settlers. They learn to appreciate the need for
  collaboration and cooperation, without which the
  colony cant survive.
• By writing a letter back home the students are
  able to reflect, in the form of a personal
  narrative, on their experiences as colonists. By
  relating the colonization as a personal
  experience, the students are able to connect with
  the material. It is no longer something that
  happened long ago, it has a meaningful immediate
  reality. In this way the learning becomes a
  firsthand experience, and this is the Authoring
  Cycles intention