Rationale Statement

My lesson was constructed in a specific way as I chose to base it off of the SIOP Model and many teaching philosophies and theories we have studied.  The lesson was adapted to benefit visual learners, oral learners and aural learners.  As a visual learner, I found it important to display that map at the front of the room on the board.
I chose to have my students work in pairs, alone, and all together as a class because of the Interaction concept of the SIOP model.  One feature states that grouping configurations support language and content objectives of the lesson.  Working in pairs allowed for learner-leaner interaction, which provided opportunity to practice speaking with each other and clarify ideas.  There are also times in the lesson where the entire class is working together.  Other times, the students work alone, such as when they are instructed to list as many states as they can. This provides for a wide variety of grouping configurations.

Working in pairs also promotes cooperative learning.  Cooperative learning is when students work in pairs or small groups to help one another complete a given task.  Shrum and Glisan state that cooperative learning often produces high achievement, increases retention, and develops interpersonal skills.  This is why I chose to have the students work together on filling in the map. 

The building background concept of the SIOP model states that providing background knowledge of the given material will allow the students to grasp the concepts easier.  Providing background knowledge is important for this reason.  This is why I chose to involve the students’ states in which they live in (mostly Michigan, but some students are from other states in America) now that they have moved to America.  Students most likely know which state they live in or were born in, know where it is on the map, and know what it looks like.  This ensured that they at least knew one state and were able to make connections with their home state.  It also pulled in their attention to want to know how to “walk” there on the large map.

One feature of the building background concept focuses on emphasizing key vocabulary.  It states that the students should be immersed in words by rich language environment that focuses on words and draw their attention.  The repeated exposure to the names of the states and the four directions masters this concept.

Peck states that children are more likely to play with language than adults and that children can be more effectively engaged through stories and games.  This is why I chose to make games out of the lessons.  I involved games such as whoever could write down the most states correctly got a prize, and the running around the room to the four directions/corners and walking around on the map.  This made the classroom more playful for the students while they were learning information at the same time.