Applied Lesson Plan: Developmental Cognitivism

Title: "Busy as a Bee"
Source: http://www.col-ed.org/cur/lang/lang42.txt
Author: Lorraine M. Tanaka, Sierra Grande Elementary, Blanca, CO
Grade: 5 Grade
Subject: Language Arts

Materials Needed:
1. Uncut fruit (Strawberry, Kiwi, Pineapple, Honey Dew, Apple, Grapes, Cherries, etc)
2. "Quick as a Cricket" by Don Woods
3. "The Reading Teacher's Book of Lists"
4. Crayons
5. Drawing paper
6. Writing paper

1. Stage-based learning:
Before I start the similes lesson I would definitely take into account what level my students are at in their learning. I think that this concept is simple enough that pre-operational students would be able to grasp parts of the concept but they would not be able to grasp the whole idea and that would probably confuse them completely. Because this lesson will be taught to fifth graders (10-11) most of the students will be past the pre-operational stage and in the concrete-operational stage; some students would still be in that pre-operational stage and so that excessive amounts of repetition would be perfect so that they are able to better understand similes.

2/3 Uniqueness of Individual Learning & Experience that Involves Action:
Each of my students will come to this lesson with their own background and some may have already learned about similes. However because of the way I am approaching this lesson students’ with previous knowledge will not get board and students that do not have the background on similes will be able to connect and effectively learn the material. During this lesson there will be many times that involve action. In the beginning students will get to handle fruit with all 5 of their senses. We will then do a writing activity and they will write their own books and poems. By having the repetition occur in so many different ways the students will be able to learn about similes in their own unique way.

4. Necessity of Social interaction:
During this lesson students will have many different times for social interaction. They will do small group work when they are put in groups of three and make simile sentences. During our fruit activity they will be working as a class and as they complete their stories they will be sharing them with that class. These multiple interaction opportunities will give students a chance to get answers from fellow students without making the student ask the question in front of the whole class. Students will also be able to hear ideas from other students and learn to respect the ideas of other students.

• Adaptation (avoidance):
Because I think that it is a simple concept I need to make sure that I am not getting impatient with the students or trying to force the idea on the students. In the video in class the dad tried to force the idea on the little girl and she only said what she knew her dad wanted to her. If I try to force my students to learn the content they will start saying and writing what they think I want them to write and they will not learn the content the way that they should.

• Disequilibrium/cognitive dissonance:
In order for the students to truly learn there must be disequilibrium. Students will experience disequilibrium while they are coming up with the many different similes they will have to write. This will force them to add new schemas and connect these new schemas with old ones.

• Schemas:
Symbolic schemas will be used as the students write similes about fruit, write group similes, and write similes in their stories and poems. Different student’s schemas will be reached in different ways and that is why we will be making so many different connections throughout the whole lesson. This will help the students connect the similes in their daily lives to the lesson.

• Discovery or Guided Discovery Learning:
Guided Discovery Learning will be used throughout the whole lesson as students write their own similes about fruit, write group similes, and write the similes in their poems and books. This is Guided Learning because the students are doing hands-on activities and I am not telling them what a simile is they are learning for themselves.

• Classification:
At the end of the lesson I will give the students multiple similes and non similes. Each student will then tell whether it is a simile and if it is not then they will turn it into a simile.