Dancing through the Declaration...Marzano

Marzano Lesson Plan 2:

I was excited to see that Marzano and I both agree on the idea of kinesthetic activities to facilitate authentic learning. As part of my poetry unit, students are required to memorize the preamble of the Declaration of Independence each year. A prospect many find daunting. This year, with the help of Marzano, I decided to try it a little differently.

Summary:
Utilizing kinesthetic movements as a mnemonic device.

Instructional Procedures:
1. Start with each student writing out the preamble and identifying words they don’t understand. 2. Look up the unknown words and add them to the vocabulary lists for the week. 3 Have the students come up with hand motions to help demonstrate the idea of the meaning of those words. For instance; my students decided that pointing to their eyes for the words “self evident” would denote that it’s so obvious that you should simply be able to see something that is “self evident.” 4. Continue on throughout the text identifying words and connecting them to a physical action that demonstrates the meaning 5. After all of the difficult words have been identified and categorized through movement, put it all together into a big, loud choral experience that allows students to “move” through the desired memorization.

Extensions:
Have students work as teams to come up with the “best” physical representations and compete for placement in the class’ final compilation of movement

Assessment Plan: Students must “pass off” the memorization in either a private or a classroom setting. Both instances are covered in the Utah State Core, so you could even utilize both manners of assessment and have them build off of each other, for instance: have the student pass of the memorization first privately and then have a final public presentation to follow.

(Marzano:Classroom Instruction that Work, pages 82-83)

Reflections: I couldn’t believe the difference in the ease in which my students memorized this beautiful passage. We reviewed it each morning right after the pledge. It was kind of elegant to follow the pledge with our very active version of the Declaration of Independence! I watched them enjoy the whole memorization process instead of finding it drudgery. By the time we were finished with the whole thing, my students had created a physical interpretation of the Declaration of Independence that will stay with all of us. Thanks Marzano!