Step 3: Instructional Strategies

1. Graphic Organizers
Importance: Graphic organizers are useful in this unit because they help students
organize information. In a unit discussing civic responsibility and comparing ideas of
candidates, a graphic organizer is a useful tool for students to organize ideas and help
them make conclusions about ideas.
Resource: Graphic organizers can be used in many different settings. Students
organizing skills improve and retention of content increases when this method is used.
(Whittingham, p.1).
Modification: If graphic organizers have too many categories or the categories are
difficult to understand, students can have difficulty filling out the graphic organizer. By
creating an easy to follow graphic organizer and explaining the directions in a step-bystep procedure, students should be able to easily follow and fill out the graphic organizer.
2. Speeches
Importance: Students at the elementary level need to be able to clearly communicate
ideas and thoughts through speech to others. Students will create a platform which they
will run for and give a speech to their classmates to talk about their stances on different
topics. Students must be able to clearly talk to their class about what they think and why.
This is a useful tool in this unit because students are able to see how giving speeches to
people can be a good persuasive activity.
Resource: Communication training is vitally important for elementary school students.
Communication skills help children develop healthy interpersonal relationships, evaluate
mediated messages, and learn to present themselves in effective and competent ways to
others. (Edwards & Edwards).
Modification: Students who are self-conscious about speaking in front of others or have
a fear of public speaking may have a difficult time with this strategy. There are many
different recording software options that students could use to record their speech in
private and show to the class later or privately to the teacher.
3. Exit interview
Importance: I would apply exit interviews to this unit by allowing students the
opportunity to discuss with the teacher what they learned during the unit. Students who
do not do well on paper tests will be able to express their knowledge about the subject.
Resource: One-on-one interviews can be used effectively to assess students, especially
when the professor wants to control the negotiating environment to test for certain skills
and to assess students using an array of methods that do not overly bias grading towards
students with strong writing skills. (Fuller) file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/8Interviews_as_an_Assessment_Tool-FINAL.pdf

Modification: Students who have problems recalling information immediately in-themoment may struggle with this strategy. To modify this activity, I would give out the
questions before the interview and allow students to write out answers to the questions to
study before going into their interview.
4. Skill Inventory
Importance: During this unit, students would do a skill inventory over themselves to
judge their knowledge of the subject. Students would do this half way through the unit
as a formative assessment to check on their understanding. This is a useful pedagogic
tool in this unit because students should be able to judge where they think their
understanding is in reference to the unit goals.
Resource: I have used this tool in individual sessions to start discussions with students
about what they need help with and---equally importantly---what they are already good
at. We compare how I see their strengths and weaknesses with how they see them, and
use this information to come up with a plan of action. This really helps focus our efforts
and gives them hope. (Mendoza).
Modification: Students who are not able to judge where their understanding is at in
reference to the unit goals may struggle with this strategy. These students may need
prompting questions to drive their thinking about their skills. Students who may not be
adequate writers and cannot express their ideas on paper may struggle with this
strategy. Students may need a verbal skill inventory asked by the teacher in private.
5. Searching reliable resources
Importance: Students need to be able to search for reliable resources. This skill is
important in social studies to be able to decide fact from fiction or bias. I would apply
this skill to the unit in every part of researching. This is a useful pedagogic tool in this
unit because students will be using this skill during all aspects of social studies in the
classroom.
Resource: This article discusses the importance of teaching students to find reliable
resources and has four lesson plans showing how to teach students this skill.
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2010/11/reliable-sources-and-citations
Modification: Some students may not have the ability to tell which resources are
reliable. Some sites may look legitimate and students may have problems double
checking facts. To modify this strategy, I would have an activity where I have students
examine different websites. I would personally choose the sources. One site would be a
false site and one site would be a site with real facts. I would show students how to
analyze the sites for facts and how to double check the resources.

Sources:
Edwards, C., & Edwards, A. (2009). Communication Skills Training for Elementary School
Students. Communication Currents: Knowledge for Communicating Well, 4(4). Retrieved
December 4, 2014, from http://www.natcom.org/CommCurrentsArticle.aspx?id=934
Mendoza, L. (1014, January 1). Self-Assessment for Elementary Students. Retrieved December
4, 2014, from http://www.schoolcounselingfiles.com/elementary-self-assessment.html
Whittingham, J.L. (2008). Economics is for everyone: A FETCHing graphic organizer. Social
Studies and the Young Learner, 21(2), P1-P4.
http://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/publications/yl/2102/Pullout.pdf