Comprehensive Instructional Design Plan 1

Comprehensive Instructional Design Plan

Use Infographic, PowToons, and Cartoon to improve Writing

Evodia Mbosi

University Of West Georgia

MEDT 7490, Spring, 2017

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Client: Teodora Eaton, is a Middle School Special Education Teacher in Cobb County School

District. Ms. Eatons email address is Teodora@cobbk12.org. She teaches all four content area,

Social Studied, Math, ELA, Science and behavior management in a small group setting all day.

She has a total of 5 students in the classroom and is supported by a paraprofessional.

Target Audience: The students are in 6 grade and their age range is between 11-13 years old.

Instructional Problem:

This is Ms. Eatons first year teaching and she has difficulties ensuring that her students

transition from one activity to another smoothly without any assistance. Her students have

difficulties transition from one activity to another, and they also hate to write. When given a

writing activity, her students would write a single sentence and that would be the end of their

writing. She has tried many strategies to help her students gain interest in writing to no avail.

Although her students are in 6th grade, their writing level ranges between Pre-K first grade. She

is still to find strategies that would help them engaged in writing activities in the classroom

independently and also transition between activities without assistance. From Ms. Eatons story,

her students have the abilities to write but just dont like to write because they are not motivated

and interested in writing. It is important to also note that Ms. Eatons students due to their

disability, they may never be able to write at grade level but need to be motivated and

encouraged to become better writers.

Problem one: Transition from one activity to another.

Problem two: Unmotivated Writers.

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Instructional Model:

The instructional model that I will use will be Merrills First Principles of instruction. According

to Merrills first principles of learning, Learning is promoted when new knowledge is applied

by the learner. The teacher needs to be consistent in teaching the new skill to the student and as

time passes by, the teacher gradually diminishes guidance so that the students can become more

independent. I will start this process by making sure that I identify the problem task, activate

prior knowledge, demonstrate the skill, and integrate what has been learned in the classroom to

their daily life, Dow (2013).

In addition to Merrills model, I will use differentiated instruction. Since Ms. Eaton

teaches students with special needs (Autism, Mild intellectual Disable etc.), it is important to use

different learning strategies tailored towards the learning needs of the students. Each student

functions differently and is on a different level of intellect that is why differentiated instructional

would be a better option because it will provide them with more than one learning strategy. The

instructional models mentioned above is applicable to every student and it also promotes

engagement and maximizes student success.

Description of the Redesigned Project:

As I listened to Ms. Eatons concerns, I immediately thought that visual reminders would be

great for transitioning. One strategy I could use to solve this problem was to create a visual

schedule for the students. I will use Piktochart to create an infographic poster of a visual

classroom schedule. Each student will own a mini copy of the poster. It will be glued on their

desk for easy access. A large copy of the poster of the schedule will be stapled at the most visible

and accessible area of the classroom. I decided to use an infographic because it's colorful
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appearance quickly calls the attention of students. The words are accompanied by visual cues

which make it easier for every student to read and understand.

Students will practice repeatedly how to transition from one activity to another by

following the transitional cues on the poster. Merrills research reveals that many instructional

products completed by students fail to provide practice beyond remember-what-you-were told-

questions and rarely are focused on real-world problems (2007, 69). These students should

understand why they are learning the skills and how important it is in real life situations.

The next problem indicated by Ms. Eaton was the fact that her students are not good

writers and they are not motivated to write. The solution to this problem is to help students

become interested in writing by using writing activities that are engaging and encourage

interactions amongst characters. I thought that using Pixton and PowToon to supplement the

traditional paper, pencil writing strategy would create a more positive attitude and increase

motivation. According to Apple and Kikuchi (2007), computer-based materials that allow

students to have control over content can result in benefits such as being student-centered,

motivating, increasing self-reliance and autonomy, and allowing for real world tasks.

Since Ms. Eaton and myself have the same planning periods, I decided that I will teach

Ms. Eaton how to open and used a free Pixton and (or) PowToon account for all her students.

Then we will teach her students how to use these sites for writing activities and completing other

assignments. What I liked about these sites is that they are easy to use. From Ms. Eatons

conversation, her students prefer completing activities on the computer and she presently has

access to four computers in her classroom and an iPad which makes it easier for each student to

have access to technology during writing activities. Students will be taught how to become more
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creative writers by using cartoons to create comic strips, infographics , and PowToon to express

their thoughts or share their story.

I believe that using Pixton or PowToon will be a great idea to boost student writing skills

and also motivate them to gain interest in writing. Pixton is a way for students to engage in the

world of comics and to express themselves through creating and sharing their own comics.

According to Apple and Kikuchi (2007), technology provides a powerful visual writing tool

through the use of any web browser, making it easily accessible for all learners. Students will be

given the opportunity to convey their ideas (story) through the use of visual demonstrations

instead of only words. Students are encouraged to develop writing ideas, but they have to

connect their comic to the lesson and also make sure that the lesson is aligned to the standard.

Ms. Eaton will be able to monitor students work and publish them in the student gallery where

they can see others post and comment.

Methods of Evaluation

After a few weeks of consistent practice and implementation of the above strategies, Ms.

Eaton will gradually redraw any form of prompts once that students have made progress.

Students will be given the opportunities to transition from one activity to another without

assistance by simply following the steps learned. They will also be asked to write create a comic

strip by using Pixton or pontoon to show how to transition from one activity to another during

the entire school day. Students will be provided a short rubric to help guide them through the

process and to keep them on track.

Explanation
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I think that the artifacts that I developed are the correct ones because all the information

and strategies used were tailored towards meeting the needs of my client. I had a problem at hand

and I was required to provide a solution to the problem. Ms. Eaton my client has a challenging

group of students that need specialized learning strategies to help them succeed in the classroom.

From my learning in this class, I understood that students learn in different ways. As a teacher, it

is always important to look for learning strategies that will make learning more engaging and

interesting. Students need to be motivated to learn and learning only takes place when the right

learning tools and strategies are used based on the learning preferences of the target student. The

use of cartoons, infographic and comic strips in my artifact was to show my client how to use

technology in the classroom in a productive manner.

Technology help to bridge the gap between visual and textual literacy. This class has

taught me to be creative in my teaching. I have learned to make technology in the classroom an

integral part of the learning process. This artifact is meant to showcase (share) some of the

wonderful ideas that I have learned in this class with other teachers. I have learned how

important it is to use Merrill four principles activation, demonstration, application, and

integration According to Merrill effective instruction involves all four of these activities

repeated as required for different problems or whole tasks (2007, 63). Teachers are often too

quick at skipping some of this steps without giving students the opportunity to go through the

entire process and to use alternative ways of meeting the needs of every student.

Address ACRL visual and Literacy competency standards:

The goal of this artifact was to provide solutions to my client and based on the ACRL,

students are required to demonstrate understanding by integrating visual information with other
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information in print. According to the complaints of my client, her students had difficulties

transitioning from one activity to another and are not interested in writing activities. From my

readings and what I have learned in this class, students are engaged when they are visually

entertained and actually enjoying creating their own visuals to represent what they are learning.

Teachers are required to provide students with the tools needed to show what they have been

taught and this same tools will be used to prepare these students for the real life situations. The

use of visuals alongside words was a great idea of meeting the needs of my client's students.

Reflection

The initial thought of completing this assignment was frightful. My first instinct was how do I

start? Then, I decided to approach Ms. Eaton a newly hired teacher and I asked if she needed

any assistance in her classroom. She said yes and she told me that she needed strategies that

could help her student transition better and also help them become more interested in writing.

I was so happy to be of help because I understood how chaotic a classroom is when

students dont follow a transition plan. It was very hard for me to put every idea I had in mind on

paper. I wanted it to be perfect and to be helpful. I decided to create visual pre-requisite skill for

her transition activity. This was to help her students understand why it is important to follow the

schedule. I also provided Ms. Eaton with a reward point option. Students like treats and will do

everything to earn a treat after completing the activity successfully. Then, I thought that students

will be more motivated to use technology and so I decided to use cartoons,infographics, and

PowToon to help keep students engage and also improve their writing. The entire process was

difficult because not all the computers function the way we wanted and not all the students

followed the instructions or directions. They were sometimes distracted by the different tools,
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were often off task, multitasking instead of completing work. In all, it was really great to learn

how to use and integrate multimedia strategies in the classroom.

References

Apple, M., & Kikuchi, K. (2007). Practical powerpoint group projects for the EFL classroom. The JALT

CALL Journal. 3(3), pp. 110-122.

Dow, M. J. (2013). Meeting Needs: Effective Use of First Principles of Instruction, 29(8), 8-10.

Merrill, M. D. First Principles of Instruction: a Synthesis. In Trends and Issues in Instructional Design

and Technology. 2nd ed. by R.A. Reiser and J. V. Dempsey. Pearson Education, 2007.