Grade: all
Subject: Literature

#3531. The Cause & Effect Model

Literature, level: all
Posted Mon Jul 25 19:01:59 PDT 2005 by Adriane R. Crawford (Adriane1012@aol.com).
Mesquite ISD, Mesquite, USA
Materials Required: teacher-selected and/or student-researched resources, paper .pens or pencils
Activity Time: 1 Week

The Cause & Effect Model "The Little Engine That Could"

Teacher Name(s): Adriane R. Crawford
Date: July 24, 2005
Grade level(s): All
Content Areas: Literature & History

Description/Abstract: Plot makes us aware of events not merely as elements in a temporal series but also as an intricate pattern of cause and effect...Surely our sense of the menaing of experience is closely tied to our understanding of what causes what, and it is the business of plot to clarify causal relationships. William Kenney

Timeline: 1 Week

Goals/Content and Cognitive:
One of the primary goals of the models discussed is to have students become acive participants in the learning process rather than passive recipients of information.

Links to Curriculum Standards:
State standards are embedded in the TEKS, published in 1998. The TEKS also serve as curriculum guidelines for elementary and middle school programs and for high school courses in the arts, career education, ELA, FACS, health and PE, languages other than English, math, science, social studies, and technology. A typical TEKS document contains lists of knowledge and skills that students should master at each grade level or in each high school course.

Guiding Questions:
"Why do you think the little blue engine was able to pull all thosw dolls and toys and present over the mountain?" and "Why was such a litle engine about to do something that bigger engines had said they could not do?"

Assessment:
Have constuctive discussions. During the discussion have the students to jot down their ideas on paper. The teacher is the facilitator. The students will be involved in ongoing assessment by having class discussions. Students will assess themselves through the ability to answer of discuss the topic.

Learning Connections:
Most if not all students have read "The Little Engine That Could" The difficulties the students might have is during the class discussions (agree or disagree). The curriculum connection I can make in this lesson with other topics that I teach is that this model can be used in all subjects.

Learning Activites or Tasks:
The model will help the students with writing ceatively, writing critical essays, producing themes and making predictions.
Teaching Strategies:
The teacher will put a chat on the board. The numbers indicate sequence.

Management:
My student will work in the classroom in groups. But once they fell comfortable they will then work individually. I will modify according to the students IEP's. There will not be a lot of technology used if any.

Materials and Resources:
teacher-selected and/or student-researched resources, paper, pens or pencils

Lesson Evaluation and Teacher Reflection
Questions:
Was this lesson worth doing?
In what ways was this lesson effective?
What evidence do you have for your conclusion?
How would you change this lesson for teaching it again?
What did you observe your students doing and learning?
Did your students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing?