Running head: ACTION PLAN 1

Signature Assignment: Action Plan

Gino Fragoso

TESP 502

Azusa Pacific University

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Abstract

This paper will examine a sample of five students in a third-grade classroom. It will discuss the

methods used to assess their learning styles and emotional intelligence. Using the results, a

lesson will be described in detail along with the implications that the diversity of the students

brings to the lesson to ensure their understanding. It will also compare the results of the students

with the results of the teacher and the implications those results have in the creation of the

lesson. The paper will then discuss how the lesson incorporates aspects of four different learning

theories. The paper will end with a reflection of how well the lesson worked and what changes

could be made to make it better. Conclusions suggest that through reflection lessons can be re

worked and learned from in order to better support learners of differing learning styles in the

future.
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Signature Assignment: Action Plan

The lesson described in this paper was conducted in a third-grade classroom in the Azusa

school district. The classroom has 26 students on roster but only 24 were present at the time the

lesson was given. Five of the students in the class were given multiple intelligence surveys and

emotional intelligence questionnaires. By gaging the learning styles of the students and the

degree with which they can learn together, a lesson plan was created which fit the learning styles

of the five students in the sample. The school is in a primarily low socio-economic school district

where as of 2017, 71.9% of students qualified for free and reduced meals and 22.3% of students

were English language learners (Alice M. Ellington Elementary, 2018).

Student’s Survey Results

To gauge the ways in which the students learn best, two different surveys were given to

the set of five students which included an English language learner (ELL) and a student with a

special need. To ensure the demographics of the students matched the given criteria the teacher

was asked to choose the students. The student with the special need was not given a condition

and therefore his special need was not considered in the differentiated instruction of the lesson.

Multiple Intelligence

The multiple intelligence questionnaire given to the students was “The Connell Multiple

Intelligence Questionnaire for Children” (Connell, 2005, pp. 87-88). The questionnaire used 56

questions divided into eight categories of seven questions each. The questions were designed to

gauge the level of each of the eight intelligences of the students. The teacher allowed me to pull

the five students for a total of one hour from their Friday computer room schedule. Due to her

classroom being in use by another set of students at that time the only location available to

survey the students was the library. The questionnaire divided the questions into eight areas, one
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for each of the possible intelligences; music smart, picture smart, word smart, nature smart, math

smart, body smart, people smart, and self-smart (Connell, 2005 p. 88). The numbered areas were

associated with each intelligence, meaning that the more boxes a student checked in a particular

area, the stronger the students learning would be in that intelligence. In the following graph, the

student data was summed up and displayed from left to right in the respective order listed

previously. As one can see from the data, the group of students demonstrated a strong preference

for nature smart, people smart,

and picture smart. For the lesson,

I had to take the same

intelligence test in order to have

the capability to compare my

data with the data of the student

sample. The following chart

shows the results from the

Connell questionnaire and

demonstrates the in intelligences

which the questionnaire deems as

my strengths. The questionare

rated my learning style as high in

picture and self smart. The results

speak for themselves. The

students and I have some similar

and dissimilar learning styles. On

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average we learn best with pictures and in individual tasks. The students biggest strength was not

one shared with me as they scored highly in nature smart and I scored average. The implication

of this discovery meant that the lesson would have to appeal to an intelligence similar to mine

while having aspects which could be considered a weakness on my part. Using the results of a

multiple intelligence survey McCormick and Scherer (2018) write, “teachers could encourage

students to accentuate their strengths as well as help their students learn to compensate for their

weaknesses or even teach them ways of remediating their weaknesses” (p. 217). To help the

students learn the objectives the lesson would have to be styled towards their strengths while

incorporating the other styles of learning to help them use the other styles of learning.

Emotional Intelligence:

Emotional intelligence gauges the student’s ability to “identify, understand, use, and

manage emotions in positive ways” (“Emotional Intelligence,” 2016). The students were

surveyed using an emotional intelligence test from a website which asked the students to

determine their emotional reactions in twenty different scenarios (“Emotional Intelligence,”

2016). Because the test was online based a bubble sheet had to be printed out so that the students

could record their own

results and I could tabulate

their scores afterward. The

survey had a score sheet at

the end which indicated the

level of emotional

intelligence on a scale of 1 –

80. The scores were divided

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into extremely low, a bit low, middle range, relatively high, and extremely high if they scored

less than 40, between 40 and 8, 48 to 60, and 60 to 68 respectively (“Emotional Intelligence,”

2016). As indicated in the results graph, all the students and I scored extremely high. This

portion of the questionnaire may be inaccurate, however, as the students were asked these

questions verbally and some answered verbally possibly affecting the answers of their

classmates. This emotional intelligence is based on the experiences of the children and the risk

factors in their lives. Schools are becoming increasingly aware of the impact emotional

intelligence has on learning, but the school can only do so much if the student is in a poor

environment at home. Medina writes, “the stability of the home is completely ignored, even

though it is one of the greatest predictors of future success at school” (2014, p. 78). The

importance of a positive home environment is further emphasized by Medina when he continues

to propose that parents take a course on how their children learn and marital courses “to ensure

the stability of the home” (2014, p. 78). Teachers have precious few hours in which to impart

knowledge and create a positive learning environment. This time constraint makes it all the more

important that students consider school a safe environment so that they can have a safe place

where their emotional intelligence can increase. Leaf (2013), talks about neuroplasticity and the

brains ability to change its structure through positive thinking (pp. 61 – 63). The brain is capable

of changing those habits but without proper support at home the amount of change is limited,

especially for a child who has little control over their lives. As teachers, we must create safe

learning environments that allow students to learn best through different strategies which begin

with getting to know the students. “More contemporary … theories of development emphasize

that children are a product of their environment but that they also alter their environment

(McCormick & Scherer, 2018, p. 3). Although children have little control over their lives they
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can still enact change in it by the way they choose to approach situations. But that resiliency has

to be nurtured and school is the primary way teachers can foster resiliency through their lessons.

Lesson Plan

The results of the multiple intelligence and emotional intelligence surveys had a large

impact on the lesson I taught the students. The lesson was taught to the entire class, not just the

five students from the sample. Although the results from the five students were given priority,

teachers need to be able to utilize all the different intelligences because in a classroom it is more

likely to have students who learn differently from each other. After subjecting the students to the

surveys, I spoke with the teacher about her upcoming lessons that were going to be taught in her

classroom. I wanted to tie my lesson into her unit. She informed me that they were going to

begin a unit on Native Americans which would be incorporated to all the different subjects. The

high level of nature smart, picture smart, and people smart results led me to decide on an art

lesson. After researching the common core art standards, I chose Art standard 2.1 which calls the

students to paint or draw a landscape (“Common Core,” 2010). I also incorporated literature

standard 2 which would have the students recount a story to determine its moral (“Common

Core,” 2010).

Learning Outcomes and Materials

The learning outcomes were to define the word “moral,” determine the moral of the book

The Legend of Indian Paintbrush, and create a landscape work of art. The lesson required

minimal materials that would not be found in a typical classroom. The book was the only thing

that would be required that would not be accessible in a typical classroom. The host teacher

recommended the book for the lesson which was checked out from the Glendora public library.
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Other materials required for the lesson were a projector, picture of the Azusa hills, paper,

pencils, dry erase boards, dry erase markers, and color pencils.

Introduction to New Material

The lesson would begin with defining the vocabulary “moral and landscape.” This would

introduce the students to the word and begin the process of scaffolding. As a classroom

management technique, the students would be taught to complete the phrase “SpongeBob

SquarePants.” They would be told that when I say “SpongeBob” they would answer

“SquarePants.” The lesson would continue with an example of a moral using the commonly

known story of, The boy who Cried Wolf. This story would be summarized, and the students

would be told that the moral of that story was not to lie, or people would no longer believe you

when you needed them to. After the book was read the students would be asked to retell the story

in sequence, this would conclude the introduction to new material.

Guided Practice

At the beginning of guided practice, the students would return to the word moral and

discuss what the moral of the book was for five minutes. I would then walk around to the

different talking partners and check for understanding. The talking partners would be the part of

the lesson that is geared towards the students who are people smart and do well in group

discussions while allowing the ELL students to partner with an English proficient student who

also speaks their native tongue. Although the student the host teacher identified as ELL was

seemingly proficient in using conversational English in my observation, I do not know the level

of academic English the student has achieved. The next part of the guided practice would require

the students to return to their desk and take out their dry erase boards and markers. I would

display an image of a landscape as taken from a drone of the Azusa foothills. The students would
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then sketch the outline of the mountains on their dry erase boards as I modeled sketching the

image by first outlining the image which would be displayed onto the teacher’s dry erase board

at the front of the class, so everyone could see. This part of the lesson would appeal to students

who are picture smart as they can see and hear what I am doing. It would also appeal to the

students who rated high in nature smart as they are observing and drawing nature. I would check

for understanding of drawing a landscape by also walking around the classroom and engaging

the students in short discussions about their landscape drawings and giving positive feedback.

Independent Practice

The independent practice of the lesson would have the students put away their dry erase

boards and markers, followed by handing out the white piece of paper that would serve as their

canvas. The students would also collect their clipboards and color pencils as they exited the

classroom and lined up outside. I would follow the student’s standard procedure as set by the

host teacher of lining up in two lines. The students would be walked to the field where they

could choose a direction to look at and begin drawing their landscapes. There, the students would

be told the expectations, that they would be working silently and concentrate on their own works

of art. The students would begiven a five and two-minute warning to complete their art work.

They would then be asked to collect their art supplies and line up in two lines for the walk back

to class. The closing of the lesson would have the students use their dry erase boards to quietly

check for understanding by writing what a moral is, then writing what a landscape is. This is how

the lesson was to be carried out as written, but as educators know, sometimes lessons need to be

changed on the spot.

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Closing

The goals of the lesson seemed clear to the students although pulling from two different

standards to bring art and literature together proved challenging because only a small portion of

the literacy standard was utilized. To differentiate my teaching style for the students I made sure

to walk around more to engage the students who were people smart in discussion. The quiet

drawing outside would appeal to students who are self-smart and therefore work better alone.

The lesson worked well for the ELL students because a landscape was shown, and the lesson

incorporated activities that required minimal language skills.

Learning Theories

Behavioral

The lesson reflected behavioral conditioning because of the classroom management

techniques used which can either elicit positive reinforcement in the form of praise, or negative

reinforcement in the form of getting in line quickly to remove wasted time which could be used

to draw during the lesson. “The occurrence of both these types of reinforcers following a

behavior increases the likelihood of that behavior” (McCormick & Scherer, 2018, p. 118). As

students learn classroom procedures, they are becoming aware of the expectations set on them by

their teachers and will seek the reinforcement of those behaviors. It is my job to make sure that

in the lesson, those good behaviors are being reinforced. If students are in a poor learning

environment that punishes their behavior due to a lack of set expectations on the teacher’s part,

then the students will think negatively about themselves. “The benefits of catching negative

thoughts like these cannot be emphasized enough. Not catching those thoughts will lead to a

potential spiral into confusion and carrying levels of mental despair” (Leaf, 2013, p. 73). If
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students are not yet equipped to catch these thoughts, then teachers need to be the example and

try to make sure those thoughts don’t occur.

Cognitive Constructivism

This learning theory focusses on the scaffolding of knowledge through experiences. The

lesson was scaffolded upon the student’s knowledge that books have morals by incorporating a

book of Native American traditions which allows the students to build upon previous literacy

lessons and find a moral in a Native American legend. Leaf (2013) discusses the importance of

experiences by discussing her theory of how thought affects the body by writing, “the symbolic

output level incorporates the five senses through which you express yourself and experience the

world, serving as the contact between the external world and the internal world of your mind” (p.

127). The way the students gain more knowledge in this theory is that they need to experience

what is trying to be taught. In this way, the lesson had the students create their own art work

which built upon their knowledge of art and stories and added learning about a culture, morals,

and landscapes.

Social Constructivism

The lesson reflected social constructivism by having the students talk in pairs about their

knowledge. Social constructivism focuses on knowledge acquired through interacting with a

group and discovering the knowledge for themselves. Students were allowed to discuss the moral

of the book with each other before having to discuss it with the teacher. In this way, they were

able to build knowledge together and the teacher acted as a facilitator of the knowledge to ensure

there are no misconceptions being reinforced. Medina (2018), writes “all babies gather

information by actively testing their environment, much as a scientist would” (p. 246). Even as
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babies, the students were trying to learn through exploration, the difference now is that they can

explore other people’s knowledge as well.

Humanism

The lesson reflected the humanism theory of learning by giving the students space to

motivate themselves while they were creating their landscape. Leaf talks about motivation as

something that can be improved through positive emotional reinforcement which can also raise

self esteem (2013, p. 98). A positive learning environment can have the same affect on the mind

of the students. The positive reinforcement of the student’s behavior can lead to self-motivation

and was demonstrated by the students in their attentiveness during the art creation. In the lesson

the students ended up going out to the front of the school, on the host teacher’s suggestion, and

choosing a small window where they held up their hands like a director would and choosing a

landscape scene that they wanted to work on for themselves. During this portion of the lesson the

students were actively engaged in their work. McCormick and Scherer write about possible

selves in that people need to have realistic goals to pursue attainable dreams (2018, p. 249). The

lesson incorporated this value in that the book read was about a boy who found what made him

special and I reiterated to the students that some of them have yet to find their own skill that

makes them special but if they keep trying new things with a positive attitude then they may find

it.

Reflection

In the lesson plan, portion of this essay I wrote about how the lesson was written and

supposed to go. I also made appoint to say that sometimes lessons can be written one way and

go another. Many parts of the lesson worked, although some were changed. The classroom

management portion was changed for the lesson because I realized that it would be better to
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reinforce the technique already used in the class of raising a hand with two fingers in the air

while the other hand raises one finger in front of the student’s mouths. This technique worked

well with the students and when the class was not paying attention to it then the waterfall

technique was used. This one has the teacher call out “waterfall” and all the students make

shushing sounds as the make a waterfall motion with their hands. The paired discussion did not

work because the students came to the conclusion of the moral faster than the five minutes which

I allowed and therefore began to talk about other things and get louder. Taking the lesson outside

worked great because instead of having the students make a landscape out of a common image

shown on the projector, they were able to face any direction they wanted and make their own

unique image.

The brain rule that had the most profound influence on my lesson plan was vison. “Vision

means so much to us because most of the major threats to our lives in the savannah were

apprehended visually” (Medina, 2014, p. 192). The student’s strengths as visual smart and nature

smart combined with Medina’s importance of vision encouraged me to choose an art lesson. The

nature smart aspect of the lesson remained visual because the students use their eyes to perceive

nature.

The lesson was successful for the ELL student because the lesson focused on two terms

for them to know and the book that was read was a children’s book with images that they could

follow. The student was not asked to read anything but instead write two definitions at the end.

The host teacher has been observed during certain lesson as telling the students that sometimes

spelling doesn’t matter, and she wants to see what they write and not how they spell. This was

the same thing I told the students when they wrote what moral and landscape means. For the

special need’s student, the lesson incorporated Medina’s attention brain rule. “The more attention
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the brain pays to a given stimulus, the more elaborately the information will be encoded–that is,

learned—and retained” (Medina, 2014, p. 106). The lesson was split into short intervals so that

the students would not grow bored. After the book was read the students were allowed to discuss,

then they transitioned to their desks, then transitioned outside. The outside portion was the

longest part of the lesson, but the students were engaged because they were given a choice on

how to make their landscape by deciding where they would focus on.

This lesson motivated me as a teacher because every time I go into a classroom and

present a new lesson I learn new techniques I can use in my future classroom. I worked hard as a

professional in the undergraduate program at APU and will continue to work hard in the graduate

program so that I can become the best teacher I can to my future students. I feel that I balance

my discipline in certain tasks but appreciate help getting a jump start. What motivated me to

present the best lesson was what always motivates me, the prospect of my future classroom. By

being motivated and engaged I model how students should be motivated to learn. To enhance

motivation, I would have liked to know the students better, but in 15 hours of observation one

can only know the students so much. McCormick and Scherer discuss motivation as being

“determined in part by present attempts at learning and performance, which in turn affect future

attempts at learning and performance and life pursuits as well as actual achievement” (2018, p.

249). Motivation is important because as students get older they have more opportunities to

either reinforce their motivation or loose it. Since it all builds upon each other then it should

motivate teachers to keep their students motivated in learning, so they have a better chance to be

successful academically and in their lives.

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Conclusion

The lesson described in this essay is just one of many lessons I have taught in a

classroom throughout my academic career. Gauging a students learning style is important

because it’s the best way to teach the child. By scaffolding on their learning strengths areas of

weakness can be built up along with the knowledge of each lesson. By choosing to tie my lesson

into the current unit, the knowledge gained will have a higher chance of being permanent.

Students need to be taught using pieces of each learning theory while still focusing on the

teaching style appropriate for the class to provide a sense of continuity and structure that schools

represent. I will continue to learn different techniques and grow my knowledge to become the

best teacher for my future and current students.

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Resources

Alice M. Ellington Elementary. (2018). In Ed-Data. Retrieved September 29, 2018, from

http://www.ed-data.org/school/Los-Angeles/Azusa-Unified/Alice-M_Dot_-Ellington-

Elementary

Connell, D. J. (2005). Brain-Based Strategies to Reach Every Learner New York, NY:

Scholastic Inc.

Emotional Intelligence Test / Quiz [Free]. (2016, December 08). Retrieved from

https://icebreakerideas.com/emotional-intelligence-test/

Leaf, C. (2013) Switch on Your Brain. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

McCormick, C. B., & Scherer, D. G. (2018). Child and adolescent development for educators

(2nd ed). [Kindle HDX version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

Medina, J. (2014). Brain rules, 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and

school. [Kindle HDX version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, & Council of Chief State School

Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards. Washington D.C.: National Governors

Association Center for best Practices.