Week 6 – Final Project

Lesson Plan Portfolio

Throughout the course, you have been demonstrating your understanding of differentiation and lesson planning for children with mild and moderate disabilities through the design of lesson plans in various content areas. For the Final Project, you will demonstrate competency in planning instruction for students with mild and moderate disabilities by developing a lesson plan portfolio that you can use and share with other colleagues, for work interviews, or for personal use.

Your Lesson Plan Portfolio will consist of the five complete, original lesson plans that you designed throughout this course. Each week, you received feedback from your instructor, and possibly from your peers, to continuously improve your differentiated lesson plans for children. Below there is a description of each part of the portfolio that you will submit this week as your Final Project.

Part 1: Introduction to your portfolio

Provide an introductory paragraph that explains the purpose of your portfolio and the competency you are demonstrating through your five lesson plans.

Part 2: Lesson plan portfolio

Use the feedback you received each week, along with what you have learned throughout the course, to revise each of the five lesson plans to ensure each component sufficiently addresses the required areas (below). Combine the lesson plans into one document to present your revised five lesson plans that reflect your competency in this area. Remember, each plan needs to specifically reflect the use of effective strategies for students with disabilities that are cited within the lesson plan. Although the Internet is a rich source of free materials and teaching suggestions, the entire plan within this portfolio MUST BE YOUR OWN ORIGINAL CREATION.

The following components are required in each of the five lesson plans:

1. Introductory information: Provide the lesson title, grade level, and subject area for the lesson. Describe the classroom for which you are planning the lesson (classroom setting, number of students, and include any other pertinent information about the classroom).
2. Students with mild/moderate disabilities in the classroom: Describe at least one learner with a mild/moderate disability who will participate in the lesson. Include the type of disability, the student’s individualized needs, and any pertinent information about the student(s).
3. Common Core State Standards and lesson objective: Explain how the specific learning objective for the lesson aligns with the Common Core State Standard that the lesson plan will address.
4. Assessment: Describe how you will assess student learning of the lesson objective.
5. Accommodations or modifications to be provided: Describe the accommodations you will use throughout the lesson to address the individualized needs of each student with a disability.
6. Teaching procedures: Describe the teaching procedures, including teacher input and modeling, guided practice, independent practice, and closure. This section must include strategies from the text or peer-reviewed articles related to effective strategies for teaching students with disabilities. You must cite your sources to demonstrate your knowledge of effective strategies. Additionally, the teaching procedures should integrate ways to promote self-determination into the lesson as well.
7. Checks for understanding: Discuss a minimum of three ways that you will check for understanding throughout the lesson to ensure students are grasping pertinent and central concepts in your lesson.
8. Reflection/self-determination: Reflect on how the assessment will help inform you of your students’ achievement of the learning objective, as well as how it will inform your future instructional actions. You will also reflect on how you will promote self-determination in each of your lesson plans. Finally, reflect on how the week’s learning contributed to your understanding of the lesson plan’s development specific to differentiating instruction for students with mild/moderate disabilities.

Part 3: Reflection

Imagine that you are applying for a job where you need to demonstrate competency in planning educational experiences for learners with disabilities. Using your lesson plan portfolio as evidence, write a one- to two-page rationale for how your portfolio demonstrates your strength and competency in this area. Use specific examples from your portfolio to justify your rationale.

Part 4: References

Provide a reference page that cites all sources used in the development of your portfolio, including all sources that were cited in each lesson plan.

Your portfolio should be approximately 16 to 27 pages in length (not including the title and reference pages). At least one to two peer-reviewed sources, which may include the textbook for this course, should be used and cited in each lesson plan (for a total of 5-10 sources). APA format must be used throughout the paper for in-text citations and references.