IU1: The Learners, their Environment, and the Instructional Goal

Introduction

In 2010, students in Mr. Brown’s 8^th grade Social Studies classes were falling short of Social Studies skills and knowledge as appraised by the state test, STAAR. This instructional unit was developed to assist in closing that performance gap. The following sections are divided up by the learning environment, intended audience, overarching instructional goal, specific goal and sub goals, and the explanation of the specific goal to selected students and their reaction.

Learning Environment

The learning environment will be 12 straight weeks in Mr. Brown’s 8^th grade classroom in Fundamental Middle School, Anytown, Texas. The room is not air conditioned and houses all 35 students. The room was originally meant to house a maximum of 15 students.

Content Resources: Students have a combined 20 Social Studies textbooks, white paper, tape, staplers, scissors, pencils, and markers. In addition, there are 2 chalkboards and white chalk.

Technological Resources: Teacher has one Dell PC from 2005 complete with the Microsoft Suite.

Students will have a total of 3 hours per day for 5 days a week for 12 weeks in the summer months of June, July, and August. At the end of the instruction period (12 weeks in the classroom), students will test to demonstrate their learning of the performance gap information.

Intended Audience

Students are 100% Hispanic, come from low-income communities, and primarily speak Spanish. 85% of students are male and have repeated at least one academic year of school in the past 8 years. 65% identify as Catholic. 100% of students come from South Texas.

Students do not want to be in school during the summer. Most, if not all, of the students are being forced to attend. Mr. Brown will face active resistance to learning and his teaching. While all students are in the 8^th grade, their reading levels are from various levels.

Overarching Instructional Goal

Students will be able to score an additional 20 points on the Social Studies 8^th Grade STAAR Test compared to the score they received the previous year.

Specific Goal

At the completion of the coursework, students will be able to describe, identify, and illustrate the reasons the United States sought Independence. In addition, they will be able to describe various Social Studies topics in complex arguments comparing them to difficulties the U.S. faces now.

Explanation of goal to selected target audience members

The goal of the course was presented to 3 students who happened to come in early to register for the course. They were asked if they supported this goal. Student A, commented that the class sounds ‘really boring.’ Student B mentioned that he ‘just wants to chill’ this summer. Student C said, ‘whatever.’

This feedback further illustrates the need for rigorous and fun curriculum for these students who have fallen behind academically. While it is impossible to change the resources available for this course, the company has offered Mr. Brown a stipend to further motivate him to teach these students so that they can be successful.

Overall

 In 2010, students in Mr. Brown’s 8^th grade Social Studies classes were falling short of Social Studies skills and knowledge as appraised by the state test, STAAR. This instructional unit was developed to assist in closing that performance gap. Students will be able to score an additional 20 points on the Social Studies 8^th Grade STAAR Test. Mr. Brown has some challenging student participants but is positive that the stipend will help him achieve success in raising test scores.