How Can We Make a Difference?: Project Team Planning | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA G4:M4:U3:L6

How Can We Make a Difference?: Project Team Planning

In this Lesson

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

  • W.4.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
  • SL.4.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can develop a plan with my project team outlining how we will contribute to the class's project to address an issue in our community. (W.4.10, SL.4.1)

Ongoing Assessment

  • How Can We Make a Difference?: Team Project Plan (W.4.10, SL.4.1)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Reviewing Learning Target (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Project Teamwork: Developing a Plan (50 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment 

A. Pair Share: Project Team Debrief (5 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Accountable Research Reading. Select a prompt and respond in the front of your independent reading journal.

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

  • In Work Time A, students work in groups to complete a project plan for their team. In small groups, they think about how to contribute to the class's response to the issue identified and project planned in the previous lesson. This lesson also provides students with the practice to responsibly manage their own time.
  • Due to time, this is the only lesson allotted for work on the class's project; if necessary, find time outside of the ELA block for students to prepare for and carry out the class project. Consider the placement of this lesson within the overall unit and with regards to the class project--it may be moved later in the lesson sequence, depending on the needs of the class project. Recall that the project must be completed by Lesson 13 so that students can begin writing a press release sharing the class project and its impact on the community. Consider using the How Can We Make a Difference?: Project Checklist to track tasks to be done before, during, and after the project.
  • This lesson and the tasks on the How Can We Make a Difference?: Team Project Plans are intentionally flexible and should be modified to fit the needs of the class project. Consider how the teams and tasks fit for the class project, and modify as needed.
  • Students focus on working to contribute to a better world as they plan how their team will contribute to the class's project to take action in their community. They also focus on working to become effective learners by identifying a habit of their choice to focus on as they work in their project teams.

How this lesson builds on previous work:

  • In Lesson 5, students worked as a whole class to develop a project to take action about an issue in their community. In this lesson, they split into teams to plan specific aspects of the class project.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

  • Students may need assistance managing their time to complete their team's project plan. Consider giving each team's tasks an allotted amount of time, and providing timers for teams to use to stay on track.

Assessment guidance:

  • Consider using the Speaking and Listening Informal Assessment: Collaborative Discussion Checklist when students discuss whole group in Work Time A (see the Tools page).

Down the road:

  • In the next lesson, students will begin to plan a PSA that raises awareness about the issue in their community.
  • Recall that students will begin working on the press release describing their class project and its impact in Lesson 13; ensure students are given ample time to complete their project before that lesson.

In Advance

  • Pre-determine project teams using students' exit tickets from Lesson 5.
  • Review the How Can We Make a Difference?: Team Project Plans and make any changes (e.g., adding specific tasks and providing contact information for community leaders) based on the class project.
  • Post: Learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • Continue to use the technology tools recommended throughout Modules 1-3 to create anchor charts to share with families; to record students as they participate in discussions and protocols to review with students later and to share with families; and for students to listen to and annotate text, record ideas on note-catchers, and word-process writing.
  • Work Time A: Prepare technology for students to use in their planning. This will vary based on the needs of the teams. (Example: The Advertising team may decide to contact the local newspaper to advertise the class's event, or the Community Involvement team may need internet access to look up contact information for community partners.)

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 4.I.A.1, 4.I.A.3, 4.I.C.10

Important points in the lesson itself

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs by allowing them to participate in project teams and discuss specific ways they can contribute to making a difference with their class. Because students are working in small groups, ELLs are given many opportunities to develop oral language and are held accountable for their contribution to the team. Participating in this kind of purposeful teamwork can be especially empowering for ELLs because it provides them with a unique opportunity to share their practical talents and skills. 
  • ELLs may find it challenging to participate in the team discussion and share their ideas confidently during Work Time A. Prepare students for this discussion as much as possible before the lesson, and prioritize their preference for teams in order to maintain high levels of motivation. Create supportive groupings, ensuring there is at least one strong reader in each group (see Levels of support and Meeting Students' Needs).

Levels of support

For lighter support:

  • Challenge students to use Conversation Cues with other students in their project team to promote productive and equitable conversation and to enhance language development.

For heavier support:                

  • Consider meeting with students to discuss which team they will be on and the How Can We Make a Difference?: Team Project Plan sheet before the lesson. Clarify the purpose of the project plan, define any unfamiliar vocabulary, and encourage students to sketch the meaning of the questions and any words in the margin as reminders to them once they begin working in their teams. This builds students' confidence and increase their participation during planning with their project teams.

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): Before students begin each activity, continue to support information processing by offering explicit prompts for each step students will complete, and invite students to verbally restate the steps they will follow.
  • Multiple Means of Action and Expression (MMAE): Continue to help students monitor their own progress by asking questions that guide self-monitoring and reflection during each learning activity.
  • Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Continue to foster collaboration and community by providing prompts that guide students in knowing when and how to ask classmates or teachers for help. 

Vocabulary

Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T); Vocabulary Used in Writing (W)

  •  contribute (L)

Materials

  • How Can We Make a Difference?: Action Plan anchor chart (begun in Lesson 5)
  • How Can We Make a Difference?: Project Checklist (one to display)
  • Working to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
  • How Can We Make a Difference?: Team Project Plan (one per student in each project team)
    • Advertising
    • Community Involvement
    • Gather Resources
    • Organize Logistics
  • Working to Become Ethical People anchor chart (begun in Module 1)

Assessment

Each unit in the 3-5 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize their understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Reviewing Learning Target (5 minutes)

  • Direct students' attention to the How Can We Make a Difference?: Action Plan anchor chart and review the plan the students developed in the previous lesson.
  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning target and read it aloud:

"I can develop a plan with my project team outlining how we will contribute to the class's project to address an issue in our community."

  • Underline the word contribute and remind students that it means giving something for a purpose.
  • Remind students that in the previous lesson, they worked as a class to decide on an issue to address in their community and begin planning a project to take action, and ranked the project team they would prefer to be on.
  • Turn and Talk:

"Based on the learning target, what do you think you will be doing today?" (We will be planning specific details about how our team will contribute to our class project.)

  • Display the How Can We Make a Difference?: Project Checklist and tell students this is a list of tasks that must be done as the class plans its project, during the project, and after the class finishes the project. Read the steps under the "Before" heading aloud. Discuss with students which steps have been completed and check them off.
  • Read the steps under the "During" and "After" headings aloud, clarifying the steps as needed. Tell students they will refer to this checklist throughout the project.
  • Remind students of the corresponding habits identified on the Working to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart:
    • "I take care of and improve our shared spaces and the environment."
    • "I apply my learning to help our school, the community, and the environment."
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with motivation: (Reviewing Issue in Pairs) Invite students to review the issue the class chose to address in the previous lesson in pairs. Ask:

"What is the issue? Why is it important for our class to take action?" (MME)

  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: (Reinforcing Comprehension with Something Familiar) Reinforce comprehension of the word contribute by inviting students to think of a familiar way they contribute to the class. Ask:
    • "How do you contribute to our classroom community? Why is contributing important?"

Provide the following sentence frame for support: "I contribute to our classroom community by ___________. Contributing is important because __________." (MMR)

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Project Teamwork: Developing a Plan (50 minutes)

  • Move students into their pre-determined project teams:
    • Advertising
    • Community Involvement
    • Gather Resources
    • Organize Logistics
  • Distribute the How Can We Make a Difference?: Team Project Plans. Tell students they will use these plans to guide them as they think about the details of their class project.
  • Invite students to review the questions on their project plan as a team.
  • Direct students' attention to the Working to Become Effective Learners anchor chart, and invite them to read the habits of character on the chart to themselves and to choose one to focus on as they work with their project teams.
  • Remind students that as they are working in groups, they will need to decide who is going to do what as they plan. Encourage them to play to their strengths. Provide an example: If one of them is more comfortable speaking with adults than the rest, he or she could call a community partner while the other students in the group could focus more on finding contact information for these community members.
  • Circulate to support students in developing their team's project plan and stop the whole group to discuss common issues as they arise. Provide frequent time reminders.
  • If students finish developing their team's project plan before the end of the work time in this lesson, invite them to think about their next steps and to begin carrying them out.
  • When 10 minutes remain, refocus whole group. Within their teams, invite students to discuss their team's next steps and record these steps on the back of their team's project plan.
  • Use a checking for understanding technique (e.g., Red Light, Green Light or Thumb-O-Meter) for students to self-assess against the learning target and how well they worked to become an effective learner.
  • For ELLs: (Strategic Grouping) Create teams with varying levels of language proficiency. Alternatively, group students according to home language.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with strategy development: (Modeling and Thinking Aloud: Developing a Plan) Consider inviting two confident students to help you model and think aloud the process of discussing and developing a plan. Model discussing an item on one of the teams' project plans with the group, and then writing information on the planning sheet based on that discussion. Encourage the rest of the class to ask questions, and clarify any confusion as needed. (MMAE)
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with expectations: (Checking In) At the end of Work Time A, briefly check in with students to be sure they understand the role of their team and what each student is expected to contribute. (MME)
  • For students who may need additional support with self-regulation: As students work on developing their plans, support time management strategies by using a timer. (MME)

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Pair Share: Project Team Debrief (5 minutes)

  • Invite students to find a partner who is in a different project team. Think-Pair-Share:

"What did your team accomplish today? What was your contribution to this accomplishment?" (Responses will vary.)

"What are your team's next steps? What will be your contribution to this?" (Responses will vary.)

Conversation Cue: "Who can tell us what your classmate said in your own words?" (Responses will vary.)
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with organizing ideas for verbal expression: (Sentence Starters) Consider providing sentence starters for students to use when sharing in partners. (Examples: "One thing my team accomplished today is ______. I contributed by ____________." "The next thing my team needs to do is __________. I will [help/contribute] by __________.") (MMAE)
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with monitoring their own learning: (Revisiting Learning Target) Revisit the learning target introduced in Opening A. Invite students to rephrase it with specific examples. (MME)
  • For students who may need additional support with sharing ideas verbally: Before sharing with a partner, invite students to jot down their responses to the questions. (MMAE)

Homework

HomeworkMeeting Students' Needs

A. Accountable Research Reading. Select a prompt and respond in the front of your independent reading journal.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with written expression: (Oral Response) Read aloud, discuss, and respond to your prompt orally with a partner, a family member, or a student from Grades 3 or 5, or record an audio response. (MMAE)

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