LEARNING INNOVATION LAB PROJECT

Initial Analysis of Challenges and Opportunities

Student Flips Teach the Basics of Literary Devices

Prepared by Carla Surber April 7, 2013

Initial Analysis
Student Flips Teach the Basics of Literary Devices Introduction
In order to meet the ninth grade ELA literary analysis standards (both CST and Common Core), students need to be able to recognize and identify the literary devices used by authors for a specific effect/purpose. Knowing and remembering these devices is a low-level Blooms Taxonomy skill, and provides the perfect opportunity for flipping classroom instruction. In other words, if students can explore and learn the basics on their own, then class time can be used to analyze and critique the use of these devices, rather than teach what these devices are and do. This instructional unit plan provides for small (3-4) student groups to create the flip and share this basic information with their classmates through an Edmodo post. Posts are viewed as homework, class discussion and activities focus on interpretation and evaluation of the works being studied, and assessments measure not only a students ability to recognize the devices, but interpret and evaluate their use.

Analysis of Problems and Opportunities

Description of the Educational Context

In order to perform the literary analysis called for in the California as well as Common Core standards, students must be able to recognize and remember various literary devices used by authors to create a particular effect and for a particular purpose. Although several of these devices are taught across grade levels, students rarely remember the names of these devices, and often fail to recognize their use, thereby preventing them from comprehending increasingly complex pieces of literature. Using class time to re-teach these devices, however, is onerous, and tends to trap the learner in a cycle of relearning the intended material thereby preventing them from the deep critical engagement called for by the standard. As a result, most student literary analysis essays do not become more sophisticated as they progress through the grades. Teachers and students need a means by which students can be reminded of the literary devices without sacrificing class time so that inclass work can focus on deeper engagement.
Learners

1. Sociocultural The unit trial was done with 32 Honors English 9 students. Eighty percent of these students are Latino, and 20% are white. Of the 80% Latino students, all are non-native speakers of English, but only 20% are currently designated English learners. 2. Technical All but one of the students has internet access at home, but all of the students have easy access to Google Chrome Books and the internet in the after-school program. In addition, Chrome Books are available during class time in the classroom. All students have created accounts for and are competent users of various Web 2.0 tools including, but not limited to, Prezi, Voicethread, Google Drive, and Edmodo. 3. Informational All students are proficient in searching for materials on the internet. They are, for the most part, able to distinguish useful and credible sources for creating presentations. This teaching and learning occurred in the previous semester when the students were engaged in a Project-Based Learning expedition. Furthermore, this particular project required that students refer to their textbook descriptions of the literary devices, and from there they could pick and choose information for their presentation that they found on the internet. Their selection criteria involved ensuring that the information was in alignment with the textbook, but it could have been worded or presented in a way that the students found more accessible than the textbook materials.
Evidence that Instruction is Appropriate as a Potential Strategy

As stated earlier, an inordinate amount of class time is spent re-teaching low level skills such as identifying and recognizing various literary devices. The substantive difference between a seventh grade ELA class and a ninth grade ELA class is not the various literary devices, but the complexity of the work being studied, and hopefully the depth of student engagement with the material. In order to get the most out of class time to help students achieve this depth, a means of helping students review the skills associated with literary analysis needs to be developed and used. While it seems simple enough to assign reading from the textbook, it is obvious from student preparation to discuss, write about, or answer test questions that they either do not read, or do read but dont make meaning from the reading. An engaging flip could provide an excellent opportunity for students to review in a non-traditional way, and hopefully result in higher student engagement and achievement. There exists a plethora of evidence to suggest that flipping works in science and math classes. This unit plan proposes that well thought out flips for the English language arts classroom could also help students master low level skills so that they can be more successful on actual course content.

Justification for Instructional Product Chosen to Meet Learner Need

Because all of the students involved in this unit plan have access to the internet and devices, are experienced collaborators, and have experience using Prezi and Edmodo, it seemed logical that the students could create the flip products that would benefit all students in the class. Additionally, the information needed to create the presentations was readily available to students in their textbooks, making it a relatively easy and quick homework assignment for the collaborative groups to create. Viewing the products via Edmodo, while taking Cornell notes to record information, allowed for engagement of multiple senses as well as repetition, thereby increasing the possibility that students would remember the material. The fact that students could return to the presentation at any time in order to prepare for an upcoming assignment or quiz also proved beneficial.

Proposed Sources and Methods of Data Collection

Sources of Data

Data for this Initial Analysis was collected and analyzed from two sources. First, student quiz scores provided information on how successful the students had been in analyzing the use of the various literary devices for which they had been provided flipped instruction. Second, students were surveyed on the helpfulness of the flips.

Findings
Quiz Scores: In general, quiz scores were high and provided evidence that students understood the use of various literary devices. Specifically, 92% of students chose the correct answer of The themes of both stories describe how war can destroy families and friendships, suggesting that they understand not only what a theme is, but how themes from two different sources can be similar. On the same quiz, 80% of students chose the correct answer of Both the Republican sniper and Songsam experience an internal conflict because of war, suggesting that they understand how a similar theme is driven by a similar conflict in two different stories. In order to be conclusive, there should have been a control group who did not have access to the flips, but the above mentioned quiz results suggest that the flips were successful in helping students review literary devices, especially since no class time was used to review the concepts. Survey: The students who participated in this flipping experiment were asked to take an anonymous survey regarding the effectiveness of the flipped presentations as a learning and study guide. Below is a summary of their responses:

1. 87% reported that creating a presentation helped them learn a particular literary device. 2. 77% reported that viewing and taking notes on a presentation created by another group helped them learn the material and prepare for the quiz. 3. 81% reported that they felt well-prepared by the presentations for an upcoming quiz or test. 4. 71% reported that they believed I should continue to use this approach to review literary devices with future classes. 5. 42% reported that they took advantage of the fact that the presentations stayed posted on Edmodo to review them multiple times before a quiz or test. The data strongly suggests that further developing this instructional strategy would be worthwhile and has the potential to support students in deeper and more meaningful engagement.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Summary of Findings To be collected and reported later

Goals
User Goals Instructional Goals

`References
These are just placeholders for my research:

1) http://dtm10.cep.msstate.edu/Rits_191/Rits_191_Beach_5.pdf

http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc149663/m2/1/high_res_d/thesis.pdf

Appendices

Interview Questions

Subject Matter Resources

(manuals, articles, etc.)

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