Section 1: Classroom Setting The setting is a 7th grade Social Studies classroom.

There are 25 students in this particular class, and is almost evenly distributed with boys and girls. The objectives currently being looked at in this classroom can be found at NCSCOS. For the particular lesson plan that follows, the students are working towards Competency Goal 1, which states that students "will use the five themes of geography and geographic tools to answer geographic questions and analyze geographic concepts." The class is 45 minutes long, and meets right after the students' lunch period, which is around 1 pm. The class has a schedule as follows: attendance, opener (current events or worksheet), lecture (interactive book or guided notes), completion of an assignment, and lastly assign homework. The students in the class have many strengths which include: knowing basic history, knowing how to learn in an area of content, are interested in the topic, and enjoy being creative with projects assigned. While the class is very diverse, it also has some basic needs. These consist of needing more in depth knowledge of the subject, developing more class skills such as note taking, and a more in depth guidance with their learning. As for the ability levels of the classroom, they follow what might be considered a normal "spread." For intellectual ability, 35% are below average, 55% are at average, and 10% are above average. As for the ability of the students when it comes to the relation of Social Studies, 40% are below average, 50% are at average, and 10% are above average. The social atmosphere of the classroom is a mixed one, comprised of students ranging from extremely shy to those who are extremely outgoing and talkative. The class has mid-level involvement when it comes to participating in class activities and lectures though. The maturity level of the class is on the low range, as they are going through puberty and maturity is a new

thing to them. Sometimes they are well behaved, and other times they act just like the middleschoolers they are. This class is very intuitive when it comes to 21st century skills, but can use guidance on how to better utilize them. The expertise of these skills is developing though, and it varies amongst the students. Key skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and working cooperatively in groups. While students as stated, have a general idea on how to utilize these skills, the work that they do and the activities they participate in in the classroom directly help them grow in their use of these skills. Students use problem solving skills in the assignments that they are given after the lecture is finished, critical thinking during the lecture when they decide how to interpret the information given to them and what to make of it, and lastly working in groups when they are assigned them for project work.

Section 2: Classroom Management Plan Rules:

Rule 1: Student will stay focused on the assigned task or speaker. Rule 2: Students are only allowed a bottle of water in the classroom. Rule 3: Students should be seated by the start of class and can be excused only by the approval of the teacher.

Rule 4: Students will keep all technologies turned off and put away in their backpacks during class time.

Rule 5 or The Golden Rule: Students will treat others as they wish to be treated.

Discipline Sequence:

Step 1: Verbal Warning Step 2: 15 Minute detention Step 3: Full lunch detention after student gets their lunch and brings it back to room Step 4: Phone call or Email to Parents or Guardian Step 5: Removal from the Room

The expectations for the class are that the students will respect not only the teacher, but one another as well. Students should come prepared to learn for the entire class period, and give the teacher their full attention. The rules will be posted in the front of the classroom on a poster so that they are always visible to the students. The class rules and expectations will be given to students on a handout at the beginning of the year. They will be gone over the first day of class

and sent home with the students for both them and their parents or legal guardians to sign. Students will return them to the teacher on the assigned date, and then will be kept in the front of their class binders. This way both the student and their parents are aware of the expectations of the class, and they will have the sheet as a reference if they should ever need it. Procedures that directly relate to the class period will be gone over at the beginning of the year as well. For bathroom use, there will be a girl and boy pass. The passes may be used for one student at a time. Each student is allowed one pass per week, and if the passes are not all used up by the end of the nine week, the students can use the equivalent number of passes they have left as points on their lowest assignment grade. Students may not make or take phone calls during the class period. If there is an emergency, students will be dismissed with a pass to the front office where they can call home. There will also be specific procedures when it comes to report cards and progress reports. At the end of the fourth week in the quarter, progress reports will be sent home with the students. The students are to have a parent or legal guardian sign them and then return them to the teacher the following week for a quiz grade. When report cards go home at the end of the nine weeks, an e-mail or phone message will go out to the parents informing them that their students will be bringing report cards home and to please ask for them if their student does not immediately show it to them. As for failure letters, they will be mailed home to the parents to notify them of their student's academic performance. The teacher will have personally notified students themselves in class so that they are not taken by surprise. For procedure regarding electronic devices, students should refer to the class rules handed out. If this rule is violated, the teacher will follow the discipline steps. Students are asked to remain in their seat throughout the class period, unless otherwise directed or permission is

given. Part of the expectations is that students are prepared for class, and this includes having extra writing utensils in case one stops working. If however, the student needs to sharpen an extra pencil, they should raise their hand and ask for permission. However, pencil sharpening is not allowed during a lecture, as it is a major distraction. Students should keep any trash that they have at their desk, until a break in the class occurs or at the end of the lecture. Lastly is the issue of tardiness. If tardiness becomes an issue with any student, they will first be spoken to and if that does not solve the problem then disciplinary action will be taken.

The following sections (3-6) contain the necessary components in helping a student with an SLD in Reading and Writing.

Section 3: Case Study Family Situation Sarah Parker is a bright and happy 7th grader and really enjoys school. She comes from a middle class family, and has a younger brother who is eleven and a younger sister who is 9. Her father works full-time as an IT Analyst, and her mother works part-time in retail while she and her siblings are in school. Her younger brother and sister are successful academically and socially. Sarah was tested and diagnosed with a reading/writing specific learning disorder (SLD) when she was in second grade. Her parents are extremely supportive of Sarah and ensure that she has all the help she needs both inside and outside of the classroom. Sarah works with a tutor three times a week in order to help with her dyslexia and writing complications.

Interests While Sarah has difficulty reading on grade level, she really enjoys reading what she can and loves to be read to. Sarah participates in Girl Scouts and takes piano lessons outside of school. She would really like to audition for a school play, but due to her difficulties in reading, has refrained thus far. Even though Sarah has a difficult time with reading and writing, she loves Math and is quite good at it. She enjoys assisting her younger siblings with their homework and takes great pride in what she is able to help them with. Strengths Sarah is very enthusiastic about her work and the activities that she participates in. She is a diligent worker as well, especially when her tutor comes over in the afternoons to provide her with additional help. Despite the difficulties she faces with her disabilities, she never gives up and constantly perseveres. With her schoolwork requiring extra time to complete, and having her tutor help her several times a week, Sarah has learned to become very organized with her work. Needs While there are many needs that Sarah has due to her disability, they are always met by either the faculty at her school or her parents. Sarah needs to have someone near her while in class in case she has any issues with correctly reading the text or assignment. Since she has problems with writing, Sarah requires either guided notes or a complete set from the teacher so that she can focus on the lecture and not trying to write it all down correctly. Lastly, even though her confidence is high, Sarah needs reassurance that the work she is doing is quality work because she often fears that it is not.

Cognitive Ability Due to her reading and writing difficulties, Sarah is behind on her reading and comprehension levels by a grade level or so. Other than this language barrier, Sarah has full cognitive abilities in all other areas. Academic Ability Sarah has outstanding academic ability. She is well organized, which helps ensure that she turns in all of her assignments on time. When given the proper assistance, she is able to learn the course material just as well as any of her peers. The same goes for her testing abilities. She excels in all of her assessments when she if given the proper accommodations. By regularly excelling in her assessments, Sarah is able to keep up with her classmates without falling behind due to her disability. Social Development Needs Sarah should not be seen as socially incapacitated due to her disability. She excels at verbal communication, and is extremely outgoing. Even though she may have problems expressing herself on paper, verbally she is never at a loss for words. As of now, there are no further actions to be taken in order to assist her social development. Primary Challenges Since Sarah has a combined reading and writing disability, she faces many challenges when it comes to achieving her goals. As far as her dyslexia goes, she faces challenges both with reading comprehension and the deciphering and spelling of words. These are major obstacles for Sarah when it comes to her reading level and ability. As for the writing portion of her disability, Sarah has several issues with her handwriting and placing her thoughts on paper. These are the

primary challenges that Sarah has to overcome in order to continue to excel in her coursework, especially in the Social Studies and Language Arts content areas. Section 4: IEP Components Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance Areas of Strength: organization, enthusiasm, thought-processing skills, social skills and verbal communication. Areas of Need: spelling, reading comprehension, handwriting, deciphering words, forming a cohesive paper that is well organized. Impact of the Disability: student is unable to achieve grade level reading comprehension and has difficulty with identifying vocabulary in text, student is also unable to write a cohesive paper that follows an orderly fashion. Annual Goals and Objectives Student is to progress in the areas of reading comprehension and vocabulary recognition. Benchmarks will be set based on her performance and progress throughout the year. Her current annual goal for reading is to progress through an entire reading level over the course of the year. Her objectives include reading a chapter book that is at least 100 pages and being able to correctly identify key elements such as plot and character relations, identifying key vocabulary words used at her current level of reading and comprehension, and being able to correctly spell common words used everyday. Reporting on the Childs Progress The student will have reports sent home notifying her parents of her progress every two weeks. The student herself will have weekly meetings with her resource teacher to discuss how

she felt about the work she accomplished during the week. Finally, the parents will meet with the student, the students teachers and resource teacher at their discretion to discuss the progress of the student. Offered Services Student will receive in class assistance from a resource teacher. The resource teacher will help the student with any reading comprehension issues that the student had with their class work, and will come to class to do this three times a week. Participation in General Education The students disabilities are not so severe that she needs to be removed from the classroom setting. She will remain in general education throughout the day. Accommodations on State and District Wide Assessment For the State and District tests, the student will receive extra time to complete their assessment, as well as the mark in book option. Transition Student will take additional classes to help assist her in overcoming her dyslexia and to further her improvement in her handwriting and thought to paper process. Section 5: Instructional Strategies and Classroom Interventions 1) Group work- By implementing group work in Sarahs class, she is always included in a group of peers that can help her compensate in the areas she lacks in due to her disabilities. She is able to gain an understanding of the assignment from her peers through verbal communication, and can ask additional questions if she still needs clarification.

2) Guided notes- It is important to provide Sarah with guided notes in class so that she does not miss out on the lecture by trying to convey her thoughts to paper and worrying about how something is spelled. Guided notes ensure that Sarah is able to give her undivided attention to the lecture, and not miss out on anything important. 3) Peer editing- While peer editing may seem intimidating for Sarah, it is a useful tool for her so that she begins to look for key things in her own papers as well. By grading a fellow students paper, Sarah is looking for things that should not only be correct in that paper, but in hers as well. This will help her remember the key items she needs when she writes her own. 4) Individual weekly goals- By assigning Sarah her own individual goals for the class, you can make sure that she is staying on track with her long term goals. She has something to work towards each week, and in the process is building her skills in the areas that are lacking from her disability. 5) PARS strategy- The PARS strategy is great one for helping Sarah with her reading comprehension. By implementing this strategy while she reads, she makes sure that she has all of the key points, and a thorough knowledge of the content. 6) SCROL strategy- The SCROL strategy is another useful one for Sarah. Using this strategy helps her outline what she reviews in a text, therefore knowing where key items are located for future reference. 7) POWER strategy- The POWER strategy can be used to help Sarah with her writing difficulties. When it comes to longer paper assignments, she would benefit from implementing the POWER strategy to help her not only gather her thoughts, but to plan out her paper as well.

8) COPS strategy- The COPS strategy is another helpful tool for Sarah when it comes to improving her writing. This can be implemented with the POWER strategy, as COPS ensures that she has followed the conventions of grammar and spelling in her work. Section 6: Alternative Assessment Methods Appropriate for SWD 1) Oral Report An alternative that Sarah would benefit from would be an oral report compared to the standard written test. She communicates effectively with verbal communication, and could take her test as an oral report. The teacher would prompt her with questions either from the printed test, or from the content in general, and Sarah could give her answer verbally and be graded in a manner that is based on her strengths and not her weaknesses. It would be a lot less stressful for Sarah as well since she would not have to take the time to decipher every word on the page. I think that other students would probably not benefit as much from this alternative as Sarah would. Many students become nervous when trying to recall facts to tell someone, and may not do as well as they might have on a written assessment. 2) Visual Report Another great alternative for Sarah is a type of visual report, perhaps along the lines of a portfolio. This would require a bit of creativity on the teachers part, but would ensure that Sarah is able to fully relay the information that she has learned. She could be assigned a number of creative activities that deal with the content, ranging from comic strips to flip books or even a scrapbook. The teacher would have to set specific guidelines though to make sure that this type of report would indeed test Sarahs actual knowledge

of the content she has learned. This assessment could be beneficial to Sarahs classmates as well. It is a great way for them to explore their creative sides, and actually be assessed while actively working on the assignments. Section 7: Lesson Plan: Rationale: It is important that students are able to not only research additional information to supplement what they learn in class, but to be able to compile them into a presentation that they can share with others. This lesson plan introduces how students will create their final project for a unit that has discussed the continent of Africa. Upon completion of this unit, students will have a better understanding of how to research topics and present them to an audience. State Objective: Competency Goal 1- Objective 1.01: Create maps, charts, graphs, databases, and models as tools to illustrate information about different people, places and regions in Africa, Asia, and Australia. Learning Objectives: When students have completed this project they will be able to (SWBAT)... -Identify Project guidelines. -Research a topic thoroughly. -Condense information that is found. -Design a scrapbook to display their knowledge. -Share knowledge about what they have learned. Required Materials and Technology: -blank maps of Africa (class set) -computers -textbooks -writing utensils -paper Instructional Strategies: Project based learning Group work Guided notes Example tutorial and handouts Scaffolding

Handouts for this lesson: -worksheet for opener -outline of tutorial; guided notes -guidelines and rubric The Lesson 1. Warm up (10 minutes) -map and culture review of Africa -go over country locations, major landmarks, etc. *During the warm-up students are activating prior knowledge by reviewing map locations 2. Introduction to the portfolio assessment (5 minutes) -hand out and go over the rubric and portfolio guidelines -explain checkpoints -provide a timeline for when things are expected to be due 3. Do a class tutorial on creating a map that students will utilize in their portfolios (20 minutes) -show students how to create a map legend -explain expectations as to how the maps will outline their project (serves as a table of contents essentially) *Teachers are creating scaffolding for their students by doing a guided tutorial with them. *Students utilize their problem-solving skills during this tutorial by figuring out how to correctly create a map legend based on what the teacher shows them. 4. Divide the students into groups (5 minutes) -assign with SWD incorporated throughout various groups and explain individual roles within the group 5. Allow group discussion and work (until class ends) -go around and guide groups as needed *In this beginning group discussion, students will be working on their ability to work cooperatively in a group by discussing how they plan on completing their project.

HANDOUT FOR STUDENTS: Mapping Your Way Through Africa After our study of the nations in the continent of Africa, you will plan an imaginary trip through three African nations. During your one week trip, you must plan a trip that will show: geographic diversity (different regions in Africa), visits to cultural, historic, and geographic points of interest, an understanding of the importance of the sites to the nation that you are visiting. To present you travel plans to the class, you will complete an electronic scrapbook showing the following: map of the nations you will visit pictures of the sites that you have chosen, and text that describes the importance of the sites that you will visit. The limits for this project include the time that you will have for your trip. Since you will be visiting three nations in seven days, it is unlikely that you would visit more that three sites in a single nation. You will limit your scrapbook to three pages or slides per nation. Beyond those boundaries, your creativity will be your only limit. Work will be completed using PowerPoint. Illustrations may be found from selected Internet sites, print or digital encyclopedias, Clip Art libraries, or original illustrations. Projects will be due: ________________. Rubric Information Accuracy Geographic Diversity Creative Display Technical Competence Developing (1-3) Little information is accurate. No regions identified. Little to none originality in design. Several major spelling and grammar errors. Proficient (4-6) Some information is accurate. One region from Africa identified. Little originality in design. Many minor spelling and grammar errors. Accomplished (7-9) Most information is accurate. Two regions from Africa identified. Mostly original in design. Minor spelling and grammar errors. Outstanding (10-12) All to majority of information is accurate. Three regions from Africa identified. Very original in design. None to few spelling and grammar errors.

Group roles: Reporter- record all the information for the scrapbook, type information Illustrator-complies all of the images and graphics needed for the scrapbook Researcher- oversees any findings or information gathered for the project Editor- help to facilitate work on the project as a whole and put the final project together, checking for errors Suggested formats for scrapbook: Make your scrapbook into a presentation using: http://prezi.com/ Make your scrapbook into a poster using: http://www.glogster.com/ Make your scrapbook into a blog: https://www.tumblr.com/ Checkpoints (when your group completes task, editor raises his or her hand and ask teach to approve of the progress made) -After completing research -After deciding on format -After making scrapbook -After editing scrapbook *Teacher would provide an evaluation sheet at each checkpoint for each member to complete based on their role. SWD would have a different evaluation sheet based on their strengths.

Rubric for Grading the Final Project Developing (1-3)

Proficient (4-6)

Accomplished (7-9)

Outstanding (10-12)

Information Accuracy

Little information is accurate. No regions identified.

Some information is accurate. One region from Africa identified. Little originality in design. Many minor spelling and grammar errors.

Most information is accurate. Two regions from Africa identified. Mostly original in design. Minor spelling and grammar errors.

All to majority of information is accurate. Three regions from Africa identified. Very original in design.

Geographic Diversity

Creative Display

Little to none originality in design. Several major spelling and grammar errors.

Technical Competence

None to few spelling and grammar errors.