Needs Assessment

Question 1: What Do You Know?

               As I begin the lesson on the life cycle of a pumpkin, I do not know if the students have any knowledge about a pumpkin’s life cycle.  I do know the students have a basic understand of pumpkin which includes the pumpkin being used during Halloween for Jack-O-Lanterns or decorations for the holiday.  However, I know most of the students understand pumpkins are a form of food which they can eat in a number of different ways.  While some students may have an idea of where pumpkins come from, many will not understand how they grow.

Question 2: What Do You Want To Know?

               After listening to the story Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden by George Levenson, I would like the students to have a basic understanding of the life cycle of a pumpkin.  Based on the information gained from Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden by George Levenson and addition books provided, I would like the students to make a few simple assumptions about how a pumpkin will grow and decompose within its life cycle.  As the students watch their pumpkins grow and decay, I want them to develop a more defined idea of the life cycle of a pumpkin from beginning to end and back to the beginning.

Question 3: What Are Your Trying To Measure, Determine, or Define?

The learning objectives I want to measure, determine, and/or define with this lesson plan include:

1.      The students will be able to describe the life cycle of a pumpkin.

2.      The students will be able to describe how a pumpkin grows.

3.      The students will be able to describe how a pumpkin decays.

4.      The students will be able to identify the difference between the growth of a pumpkin and the decay of a pumpkin.

“A learning objective is the specific knowledge that a learner has to acquire about a concept or skill and the tasks to be performed” (Alonso, López, Manrique, & Viñes, 2008, p. 392).  Each of the learning objectives will be defined in order to deal with a specific piece of knowledge.  A learning objective should contain “educational contents, a ‘good problem’ for group problem solving that covers the concepts described in the educational contents, and evaluation exercises to evaluate the knowledge acquired by the learner” (Alonso, López, Manrique, & Viñes, 2008, p. 392).

               While each learning objective should detail what the learner will learn, if the learning objectives are not clear, it can be overwhelming for the students.  “Consider the additional cognitive demands confronting ELLs, who must tackle academic language and translate between their native language and English” (Fisher & Frey, 2016, p. 84).  Understanding the purpose of the lesson and the activities within is a must for all students in order for them to comprehend the material, content, and participate in social interactions.

Question 4: How Will You Collect and Record Information?

               Each student will receive the Student Observation Journals to record the results of the life cycle of a pumpkin.  The students will be able to include pictures, drawings, and descriptions of each stage of the pumpkin as it both grows and decomposes.  In addition, the students will be able to use other books, websites, and videos to document what they believe will happen with their pumpkin.  Once they have documented the purposed finding, using the different resources, they will be able to compare those purposed finding to the real time results.  The students could even cite the different sources within their journals.

Question 5: How Will You Report The Information You Collect?

The teacher will collect the student’s personal Student Observation Journals in each student’s portfolio.   In using the portfolios, “the students collect more than a diverse body of finished work.  In fact, they gather what we have come to call biographies of works, a range of works, and reflections” (Wolf, 1989, p. 37).  Since the students will be completing an observation journal with both pictures and words, the teacher will be able to see how the student illustrates the pumpkin’s growth, as well as how they detail the growth progress.  The students will be assessed on how well they documented the life cycle of the pumpkin from drawing to pictures to descriptive words.  In addition, the student’s will be assessed on how well they participated in the different discussions and reading sessions.

Question 6: Are All Interested Groups Included in Planning and Conducting the Needs Assessment?

               The teacher will again include the classroom staff in developing the appropriate activities in order to complete the assignment.  The teacher will consult the para-educators, special education and resource teachers, ELL and ELA teachers, and any extend staff within the classroom.  They will be asked to help develop of the lesson plan to ensure all materials and each activity is appropriate for all students within the classroom.  As the students complete their work and observations, the staff members will observe the students activities to be discussed with the different staff members within the classroom setting.

In addition, each member from the para-educator to extend staff will include comments about their observations of the students within each student’s mini-portfolio and class portfolio.  By including the special education and resource teachers, the ELL and ELA teachers, and pare-educators in the observations, each member will be able to their observations and suggestions for improvement within the portfolio.  Since the teacher will have to split his/her time among a large group of students, the addition support would ensure all students are being considered and observed at all times.  In addition, the extend staff will be able to ensure the work is not too easy or complicated for those with special needs from language to physical barriers.

References

Alonso, F., López, G., Manrique, D., & Viñes, J. M. (2008). Learning objects, learning objectives and                learning design. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 45(4), 389-400.                doi:10.1080/14703290802377265

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2016). Setting clear learning purposes for ELLs make the classroom friendlier by                clarifying your objectives. Educational Leadership, 73(5), 84-85. Retrieved from                http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=58696b00-   4226-4a4b-a3fe-804e456a308f%40sessionmgr105&vid=9&hid=121

Wolf, D. P. (1989). Portfolio assessment: Sampling student work. Educational Leadership, 46(7), 35-39.                Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED332166.pdf#page=363