Article Critique

104 Pages·2012·0.73 MB·English

CALIFORNIA STATE I'NIVERSITY SAN MARCOS
PROJECT SIGNATURE PAGE
PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT
OF THE REQI.NREMENTS FORTHE DEGREE
MASTEROF ARTS
IN
EDUCATION
PROJECT TITLE Integrated Butterfly Life Cycle Unit: Transitioning to the Califomia Common Core
Standards through the use of Art and Writing Across Curriculum
AUTHOR: Bailey Gesiriech
DATE OF SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE: August 6,2012
THE PROJECT HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE PROJECT COMMITTEE IN
PARTIAL zuLLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FORTHE DEGREE OF
MASTEROF
AR1S
1Ji)
Laurie Stowell, Ph. D
PROJECT COMMITTEE CHAIR DATE
sFr
ErikaDaniels, Ed. D
PROIECT COMMITTEE MEMBER
PROJECT COMMITTEE MEMBER SIGNATURE DATE
Running head: INTEGRATED BUTTERFLY LIFE CYCLE 1

Integrated Butterfly Life Cycle Unit: Transitioning to the California Common Core
Standards through the use of Art and Writing Across Curriculum.
Bailey Gesiriech
California State University San Marcos
INTEGRATED BUTTERFLY LIFE CYCLE 2
Abstract
With the new Common Core Standards scheduled to be fully implemented into California
schools by 2014, there is a need for transitional curriculum. This project includes a 3-4
week, 13 lesson unit plan that uses writing across curriculum and art to teach second
grade students about the life cycle of a butterfly. This unit integrates language arts, art,
and science and meets the current California State Standards in language arts, art, and
science, the new California Common Core Standards, and ELD Standards in every
lesson. The point of such a unit is to provide curriculum that California teachers can use
immediately to help the transition from the current California Content Standards to the
new California Common Core Standards, as well as into the future when the Common
Core are fully implemented.

Keywords: art, California Common Core, integrated curriculum, language arts, life
cycles, science, writing across curriculum.
INTEGRATED BUTTERFLY LIFE CYCLE 3
Table of Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 2
Chapter 1: Statement of Problem ........................................................................................ 5
Purpose ............................................................................................................................ 6
Preview of Literature ...................................................................................................... 8
Methodology ................................................................................................................. 10
Significance................................................................................................................... 11
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 12
Definition of Terms....................................................................................................... 13
Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................................ 16
ELA Common Core Standards ..................................................................................... 16
Benefits of Art in the Classroom .................................................................................. 19
Writing Across Curriculum........................................................................................... 22
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 24
Chapter 3: Methodology ................................................................................................... 26
Design ........................................................................................................................... 26
Participants .................................................................................................................... 27
Instruments .................................................................................................................... 28
Procedures ..................................................................................................................... 28
Evaluation ..................................................................................................................... 31
Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 31
Chapter 4: Project Presentation ......................................................................................... 32
Project Cover Page ........................................................................................................ 32
INTEGRATED BUTTERFLY LIFE CYCLE 4
Project Table of Contents.............................................................................................. 33
Project ........................................................................................................................... 34
Unit / Lesson Plans ....................................................................................................... 43
Resources ...................................................................................................................... 94
Chapter Five: Recommendations ...................................................................................... 95
Lessons Learned............................................................................................................ 95
Project Implementation Plans ....................................................................................... 96
Implications for Teachers ............................................................................................. 96
Limitations of Project ................................................................................................... 97
Future Research or Project Suggestions ....................................................................... 98
Summary/Conclusion .................................................................................................... 98
References ....................................................................................................................... 101
INTEGRATED BUTTERFLY LIFE CYCLE 5
Chapter 1: Statement of Problem
The national Common Core Standards have begun to be implemented across the
country and the goal is that by 2014 they will be completely implemented by all 45 states
and 3 territories that have officially adopted them (corestandards.org). In addition, the
testing of the California Common Core Standards will begin in 2015. California’s
legislature approved the California English Language Arts (ELA) Common Core
Standards in August of 2010. Many people involved in California education wonder how
these standards compare to our current California ELA State Standards and what effects
they will have on curriculum. Although a study done by Porter, McMaken, Hwang, and
Yang (2011) showed differences between the two, it is still unclear how they are going to
affect how students learn and how teachers teach. This change is causing a need for new
and/or improved curriculum. Such curriculum needs to include effective teaching
strategies while attending to the changes in standards.
Art has been shown to help students in the classroom in many ways. It encourages
students’ socio-emotional development by helping them form their own identity
(Brouillette, 2009). Art inspires students to become life long learners while learning to
take risks, to wonder, and to feel confident in school (University Advancement, 2012).
Because the arts are often included but rarely taught, students are missing out on the true
benefits they offer (Hatfield, 1999).
Another effective teaching strategy is writing across the curriculum. Writing
across the curriculum has shown to enhance students’ comprehension and retention of
material (Knipper & Duggan, 2006). “But writing to learn is useful for much more than
information retention and raising test scores; it helps students reflect and think critically
INTEGRATED BUTTERFLY LIFE CYCLE 6
about content.” (Gammill, 2006, p. 754). The value of writing is vast. It not only helps
students understand content in the classroom, but it also helps them understand
themselves on a deeper level. Through writing, students can discover what they know
about the content, their language, themselves, and their ability to communicate all of this
to many different audiences (Knipper & Duggan, 2006). Along with being a great
teaching tool, writing across the curriculum is required in the new California Common
Core Standards (Moustafa, 2012). These two teaching strategies are combined in the unit
plan that is this project, to meet the new California ELA Common Core Standards along
with the current California State Standards in language arts, art, and science in order to be
used immediately and in the future.
Many publishers have begun to create curriculum that includes the new Common
Core Standards and ideals. Many teachers and school district personnel are analyzing and
enhancing current curriculum to determine what can still be used and developing new
curriculum that will meet the California ELA Common Core Standards. The purpose of
this curriculum is to join the effort of updating and enhancing current curriculum to
include the new California Common Core Standards, while also using art and writing
across the curriculum to guide my unit plan.
Purpose
The purpose of this project was to take currently taught second grade science
curriculum and create a unit plan around it based on the new ELA California Common
Core Standards and the current California State Standards in science and art so that it can
be used immediately and well into the future. This unit will be able to be used in public
schools throughout California.
INTEGRATED BUTTERFLY LIFE CYCLE 7
The Standards leave room for teachers, curriculum developers, and states
to determine how these goals could be reached and what additional topics
could be addressed. Thus, the Standards do not mandate such things as a
particular writing process or the full range of metacognitive strategies that
students may need to monitor and direct their thinking and learning.
Teachers are thus free to provide students with whatever tools and
knowledge their professional judgment and experience identify as most
helpful for meeting the goals set out in the Standards (corestandards.org).

Like all standards the new Common Core standards focus less on how students need to
learn about a topic and more on what they need to learn. Teachers can implement art
standards into the classroom that had been disregarded due to the lack of time and the
stress of teaching to the test. Although the stress of teaching the more tested standards
will not go away, this unit will help implement art into science and language arts
curriculum. The unit created for this project used the opportunity offered by these new
standards to implement the current California art standards effectively and efficiently into
the classroom in order to help students succeed. Using art in the classroom helps students
connect with the topic and has proven to help students retain information (Halpine,
2004). Art, along with other subjects, can help create a classroom community where all
students feel welcome, important and because students often spend more time in the
classroom then they do with their own families, this inclusion is crucial for emotional
development.
INTEGRATED BUTTERFLY LIFE CYCLE 8
This unit shows how the new California ELA Common Core Standards (CCCS)
can be used with the current California State Standards in the classroom now, during the
transitional period, and into the future. This Life Cycles science unit consists of lessons
that include higher-order thinking, art, and writing across curriculum while addressing
the ELA California Common Core Standards as well as the current California State
Standards in language arts, art, and science. Teaching science through literature, writing,
and the arts created a well-rounded curriculum where students were supported and
inspired.
Preview of Literature
The literature reviewed for this project was broken down into three themes. The
first theme is the Common Core Standards and how they compare to the current State
Standards in California. I will be looking at analyses already done that compare the two.
The second theme is about the benefits of including art in the classroom as a teaching
tool. The third theme in the literature review is writing across the curriculum and the
benefits of incorporating different subjects into the same lesson, integrating curriculum.
These three themes create a student centered, art friendly, second grade curriculum that
meets both the current California Standards in science, language arts, and art as well as
the new ELA Common Core standards.
Many analyses have been done related to the new English Language Arts
Common Core Standards showing how they compare to current State Standards across
the country and the overall consensus is that there are many differences (Porter et al,
2011). One of the biggest changes will be a shift from memorization and evaluation to
analysis and higher order cognitive demand in both math and ELA (Porter et al, 2011).
INTEGRATED BUTTERFLY LIFE CYCLE 9
Another big change is the added focus on verbal and written elements of presentation and
language study, while the focus on reading comprehension and phonemic awareness
decreases slightly. The new ELA Common Core Standards have an emphasis on
technology, as well as writing in science and social studies. Because of these differences
there is an immense need for curriculum that is aimed at not only meeting these new
standards, but also helping students and teachers transition to them seamlessly.
The main goal of this transitional, integrated curriculum is to use two research
based teaching strategies to provide a unit that can be used immediately, because it meets
current California State Standards in language arts, art, and science, as well as into the
future, because it meets the new ELA California Common Core Standards that are
scheduled to be implemented in 2014. The first teaching strategy used in this unit is using
art in the classroom everyday. Studies have shown that including art in the classroom is
one of the best ways to reach all students. Whether it is helping students with positive
socio-emotional development (Brouillette, 2009), higher level thinking skills or even
improving student’s feelings about school as a whole, art is helpful in the classroom and
should always be used as a teaching tool (Bolak et al, 2005). Art in the classroom can be
underestimated greatly. Through a project called DREAM (Developing Reading
Education with Arts Methods), teachers enrolled in a one-week summer workshop that
trained them “to use visual arts and theater activities to improve students’ reading and
language arts skills” along with follow up coaching by artists throughout the school year
(University Advancement, 2012, p. 11) produced results that were astounding. The third
and fourth grade students were able to improve their reading test scores by almost 90