ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

Describe the needs assessment and rationale for your unit of instruction:
Five of the students selected are currently working under an IEP. The other students have shown evidence of mental health disorders or are older than the average student in their grade. These students have not shown evidence of academic success in the past, and most have proven to be reluctant learner in the traditional academic setting. Upon analyzing the CAT/ Terra Nova II results from last spring, we discovered some interesting facts about the students that have been targeted for this project. One outstanding fact is that the group as a whole is 1.5 years below grade level. This includes two students that are performing 2 years above grade level in language arts, but are still below grade level in math. The lowest functioning student is performing at a level 3.5 years below his grade level on average. The language levels of the students range from 3.3 GE to 10.8 GE. There is a disparity between reading and language arts in 8 of the 10 students chosen. *See chart that is included with the student work samples. This project is designed to engage reluctant learners in a real life situation where their ideas, solutions, and skills will impact the end result and product. The students will use visual arts to create the video. They will use their math skills to solve real time problems encountered in their effort to plan the video and calculate the costs of production. They will use language arts skills to write scripts and directions as well as explore the use of a variety of media. Technology literacy will be learned through hands on experience with digital video and still cameras as well as computer editing of the video. A visual arts program provides a basis for positive personal growth and development. Students learn about themselves and their environment through experimentation and exploration of a variety of media and techniques. The students gain the knowledge and skills to creatively express their personal feelings in self-satisfying and unique manners. Through the visual arts program, students become aware of the arts of the past and present. Visual problem solving skills are developed as students creatively search for their own unique solutions. Through individual decisions inherent in the creative process, the students’ critical thinking skills are amplified.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: 1.  Students will understand that the math skills and language arts skills that they work on in school have a direct relationship to life in the real world.  2. They will discover that they have the power within themselves to solve everyday problems. 3. They will also be exposed to a future career choice that they may never have considered before.
Goal(s): 1. Students will use math skills to solve a real life problem and to develop communication and self-expression skills. 2. Students will use language arts skills in real life situations and to develop visual problem solving skills.  3. Students will learn how to use the equipment and process needed to make a video and to develop respect for and an appreciation of original expression in oneself and others. 4. Students will use technology to edit and produce the video and to develop interest and creativity through observation and hands-on experiences 5. Students will use technology to track the finances of the video project and to develop the basic skills in visual and tactile perception.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: 1. How will we know what it costs to make and distribute a video to remote CNS parents?  2. What do we need to know what costs are involved in the process of making a video?  3. How will we know if we have the skills necessary to create a video for parents?  4. Why do we need skills and knowledge to do a video project?  5. How are we going to decide who does what job and do we need any adult help?  6. How will you find help if you do not know how to go ahead?  7. How do math, language arts, visual arts, and technology relate to each other in this project? 8. I s your video design appealing to the viewer, does it flow or is it hard to follow? 9. Do the video clips complement each other and do they follow a theme? 10. Do the graphics selected for the video jacket illustrate the content of the video?  11. Is your message appropriate to your audience?
Objectives: 1. Given the information supplied by the consultant, students will calculate the fees, mileage, food, and lodging costs of the consultant with 85% accuracy. 2. Using catalogues and or online searches, students will estimate the cost of production supplies within $50.00 of the actual costs. 3. Given a list of CNS enrollees, students will use problem solving skills to create equations that are solvable with 85 % accuracy. 4. Given a scenario, students will compose a matching narrative using correct language mechanics with 90% accuracy. 5. Given the purpose and audience, students will brainstorm using a semantic web to associate at least 20 ideas. 6. Given a script, students will read it with enough volume and clarity to be heard at a distance of 20 feet from the speaker.  7. Given tape recorders, paper and pencil, access to a word processor, students will generate a one-page narrative with 85 % accuracy in subject/ predicate agreement. 8. Given a digital video camera, students will video and play back 10 minutes of video with 100% competence.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding? none
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?  1. A consultant will cost us $1500.00 a week. We need him/her here for two weeks. How much money do we need to hire him? 2. Circle of Nations School pays $.32 a mile for mileage to come to the CNS campus. How many miles is it from Minneapolis to Wahpeton and back? Round trip. See an atlas or map or check it out on line. Miles ______ What is the cost to CNS? ________ 3. If the consultant works with 160 during the two weeks with students, how much does it cost CNS per student?__________ How much does it cost per student per week? ____________ 4. What is the cost of the consultant per hour? 5. CNS provides a room at one of the local motels while the consultant is here. How many nights will the consultant need each time he/ she visits CNS? _____ 6. How many nights stay will the consultant need all together? ______ 7. While the consultant is here at CNS he/she will need food. The consultant will be given $30.00 a day for meals. How many days will he/she be here and how much money will be needed for meals? _______ 8. How much money will the consultant’s visit cost altogether? _______ 9. How much per student will that total be? _________ 10. CNS wants to send a DVD to every reservation education office that has students here. How many blank DVDs do we need to do this? ________ 11. CNS also wants to send the parents of the 5th, 6th, and 7th graders a copy of the video. How many blank tapes will we need to do this? ______ 12. Using a catalog or on line, find out how much blank tapes and DVDs cost. Then calculate how much money we will need to spend on blank media. _________ 13. What percentage of copies are on DVD and what percentage of copies are on video tape? DVD ________% Video________% 14. How much will it cost CNS to mail out the videos? ________ *hint: Call the post office to find out what it costs to mail 1 video and what it costs to mail 1 DVD. 15. How much will it cost to mail out all of the DVDs to the reservation education offices? ______
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?  1. Students will each demonstrate the use of the digital video camera. 2. Students will produce a 2 minute edited video segment for possible inclusion in the final product. 3. Students will gather information and then sovle the real life problems of financing a production of a video. Their data and work will be recorded and kept on file for future use. 4. Students will write scripts and narratives to accompany the video footage to be performed by some members of the group and recorded.
What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect?  1. Mock up purchase requisitions that show calculation of costs. 2. Paragraph written by participating students on at least one new thing they learned and why it was important to them. 3. Sample DVD / Video make by students. 4. Each student will have a checklist and a rubric to check over items needed. 5. Observations will be recorded during each class period.

Instructional Strategies

This project uses problem-based strategies as well as product-based strategies. They are intertwined to create a whole. The two strategies together meet a variety of learning styles so that students that may not produce their best performance using one method may excel in another. This is ideal for our students. Most have experienced academic failure in a usual classroom setting, using read, answer, and discuss methodologies. Our students are also classified as LEP. Product based methods are a more accurate depiction of what students actually do know because the communication barrier has been r