ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

In March of 2002, our school’s senior class took the North Dakota State Assessment. In the content standard 1 in the area of reading, 13% of our students were in the novice level of gathering and organizing information. Most of the students (47%) were in the partially proficient level. Only 13% fell into the advanced level and 27% were at the proficient level. The October 2002 results of the same standard showed more students at the top and bottom levels of performance. The percentage of students in the novice level increased to 21% and the percent in the advanced level increased to 16%. The proficient level and partially proficient level were equal with 32% at each level. Yes, the percentages do add up to 101%, but that is what the content standard summary report stated. When compared to the state percentage of students at the advanced or proficient level, Minto High School seniors were below the state percentiles during both March and October 2002. Since many students “dread” writing research papers, I decided to focus the unit on writing and delivering an informative speech. Teaching the skills in the tenth grade gives the students the opportunity to develop and cultivate good habits before their senior year. I hope to create excitement by encouraging topics that are relevant to a sophomore in high school. Also I believe that by having our class be the intended audience, some students’ fears about public speaking will be alleviated.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: I want my students to be able to gather information and gain knowledge of that information enabling them to inform others. Goal(s): To inform an audience (our class) on a chosen topic using public speaking skills and presentation software. To learn about a topic that is interesting and relevant to a high school student. To develop speaking skills that will be desirable by an employer.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: Why would my audience want to know about my topic? How can I learn more about my topic?How can I effectively “teach” the audience about my topic? How could I better organize or deliver my speech? Objectives. Given the opportunity to deliver an informative speech, the student will demonstrate effective communication skills, as measured by a rubric completed by teacher and peers. Given the opportunity to deliver an informative speech, the student will demonstrate knowledge of PowerPoint software, as measured by a rubric completed by teacher and peers. Given a written informative speech divided into sections, the student will be able to accurately label the introduction, body, and conclusion with no errors. Given access to an online database, the students will be able to find five sources on their chosen topic. Given access to the Internet, the student will successfully evaluate at least four out of five sources as measured by a checklist completed by the student. Given the opportunity to deliver an informative speech, the student will demonstrate appropriate body language during the presentation, as measured by a rubric completed by teacher and peers.

Assessment

What quiz and test items e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding; By using a quiz, students will be assessed on their knowledge of speech organizational patterns and delivery methods. What academic prompts e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding; Students will develop a list of questions that they need to answer by using their research. Students will write a response validating their choice of research material. What performance tasks and projects e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding? ; Students will write an outline during the planning process. These outlines will be evaluated using a rubric. The students and I will write this rubric together. Students will deliver an informative speech using a PowerPoint presentation. This will demonstrate knowledge of the topic, effective communication skills, and knowledge of the software. The students and I will also write a rubric for evaluating the presentation. Not only will I complete the rubric during the presentation, but 2-3 additional students will also evaluate each student. This will give the students practice in recognizing the important components of a speech. What other evidence e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect? ; Students will review their presentations on video and complete a self-evaluation rubric and response.

Instructional Strategies

Project-based learning naturally lends itself to this unit. The final project will be a “performance” presented to the rest of the class. By letting the students choose their own topics (and at the same time stressing relevancy), students will be able to make connections to real life concerns and events. This will also help them take ownership in their individual projects. Students will be involved in higher-level tasks. Major components of this project include researching a topic, learning about that topic, and teaching (or informing) others. Students will be developing skills that are useful in the “real world.” They will gain confidence in their public speaking skills, they will be able to gather information, and they will be able to disseminate that information.