Massachusetts Curriculum Maps and Lesson Plan Essay

June 21, 2022 by Essay Writer

Comparative Analysis

The two Massachusetts curriculum maps in English Language Arts/Literacy and Life Science have similar content, especially in assessment of the learners’ ability by testing their memory, creativity, and factual description of the content. Besides, the informal and formal assessments and scoring guide to be used in the lesson delivery are the same. The above instructional objectives in these curriculum maps summarize the Bloom’s hierarchy of cognitive learning (Bean, 2009). In correspondence, the respective lesson plans of each map adopt a practical, interactive and inclusive learning. These lesson plans encompass on the proximal development and content goal actualization for English and life science. The objectives of the maps are important in training learners to not only understand concepts in the syllabus, but also to orientate them to the basics of self expression, confidence, creativity, and qualitative analysis (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010).

In lesson planning, Zone of Proximal Development concept holds that a student acquires concepts first through social interaction with others, and then interpersonally where those concepts are internalized. The standard goal of these maps helps the teacher to position and categorize students in different groups. Basically, this goal is aligned towards relevancy and simplified understanding of the approaches the educator intends to use when imparting knowledge (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010). Interestingly, since the two maps are drawn in Massachusetts, their content, sectional organization, and education standards are similar. However, the content goals defined in the English curriculum map are essentially intended for knowledge of the subject and not application as is the case in the life science map. Reflectively, the content of the topic in the life science lesson plan functions on the periphery of practicality and relevance in line with the primary objectives (Yasnitsky, 2011).

The corresponding Lesson Plan

The two lesson plans are systematically structured to maximize level of learner engagement. The lessons plans present clear, practical, and focused approach in delivering the lesson content through the STT format. In the two lesson plans corresponding to each curriculum map integrate flashcards, cue-response drill, and brainstorm strategies to teach the learners on proper mastery of the content. Through the whiteboard, the two lesson plans apply the Presentation-Practice-Production approach to ensure that the STT is maximized (Yasnitsky, 2011).

Bloom outlined the hierarchy of cognitive objectives of learning; from simple to complex as knowledge (remembering information), comprehension (ability to acquire meaning from the information), application (ability to use the information), analysis (ability to break information into parts to understand it better), synthesis (ability to consolidated materials together to create something new), and evaluation (ability to check, judge, and critique materials) (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010). These aspects have been internalized in the two lesson plans, despite belonging to different topics. For instance, the two lesson plans adopt a practical, interactive, and inclusive learning to minimize impact of any delivery impediment.

Educational strategies are the instructional methods and learning activities that are used in imparting knowledge and skills to the learners. The rationale part of the two lessons explores the conceptual framework of each curriculum map. The elements of visual presentation and communication strategies are explored. However, the life science lesson plan is more comprehensive because of the wider topic coverage than the English lesson plan.

In summary, the two curriculum maps and their corresponding lesson plans promote inclusive learning process that reinforces positivity in self expression, interaction, presentation of set goals, and evaluation criteria.

References

Bean, J. (2009). Student attrition, intentions, and confidence: Interaction effects in a Path Model. Research in Higher Education, 17(4), 291-320.

Ertmer, P. A., & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, A. T. (2010). Teacher technology change: How knowledge, confidence, beliefs, and culture intersect. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42(3), 255-284.

Yasnitsky, A. (2011). The Vygotsky that we (do not) know: Vygotsky’s main works and the chronology of their composition. PsyAnima, Dubna Psychological Journal, 4(4), 400-450.

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