Standards and Backwards Mapping

I currently teach in an International School in Shanghai where the majority of students are non-native ELLs. For the past four years, I have been responsible for teaching grade 4 students. However, for the assignment this week, I intend to focus on grade one Common Core standards as I plan to teach at a school that follows an American based curriculum in the future. Subsequently, I will continue to teach in primary school in the future.

The standard that I will map out in this blog post is: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.1. I’ve restated this standard in my own words:

Students write a reflection on a book that they have read where they summarize and give their opinion about the book that they have read.

The following are 3 proficiencies that students will achieve within this standard:

1. Students will understand how opinion writing is organized.
2. Listen to other students give a speech in class and be able to articulate an opinion.
3. Read an opinion piece and write their own opinions about a common topic: (e.g. Which place do you like better: the beach or the mountains?)

Several assessments that will ensure that students have met the standard are:

1. Pre-assessment diagnostic: determine what are the students’ grammatical strengths and weaknesses.
2. Feedback on student opinions given by the teacher after the class has listened the Discovery Quests.
3. Assessment of student writing based on criteria of exceeds, meets, and working towards attainment targets.

Activities and learning experiences that students can engage in are:

1. Discovery Quests where students present an object to the class and give their opinion about the object.
2. Students learn how to use a graphic organizer to organize their ideas to prepare for writing.
3. Journal Writing Topic: Which place do you like better: the beach or the mountains?

Ideas for unpacking and teaching to the standard above were adapted from Los Angeles teachers’ lessons plans which can be found here: http://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib08/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/217/MELD%20OPINION%20CCSS%20LESSON%201ST.PDF

Furthermore, these proficiencies, assessments, and activities are also based on this infographic: