Chinese Zodiac
Sarah Margaret Lindsay
EDUC 536 : Learning Sciences & Instructional Design
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Table of Contents
 Learning Context/Environment
 Learner Experience
 Learning Model/Pedagogical Theories
 Learning Goals
 Learning Standards
 Learning Technology
 Technology
 Learning/media matrix
 Student Evaluation Rubric
 User Feedback
Learning Context/ Environment
 Third grade class
 Lesson is part of a thematic unit on China.
 Class has already been introduced to basic information on
China including its geography, people, industry and history
 Students will study the Chinese Zodiac Calendar to develop an
appreciation for Chinese culture and customs
 Philadelphia School District
 Aligned with mandated curriculum.
 Lessons will be experiential and diverse, building student
competencies in math, language arts, and social studies
Learner Experience

Overview: Students will be engaged in project to develop a Voice Thread
presentation to share with their classmates, other students in the school and
other schools, and their family on the subject of the Chinese Zodiac. Some
of the work will be individually completed and some will be completed
collaboratively in teams.

Students will investigate the characteristics of each animal and draw
conclusions about the folklore that people reflect the personality of their
birth year animal.

Prerequisites:

Basic understanding of China.

Students will interview family member to find out birth year and to get
a list of adjectives of how that individual describes himself/herself.
Learner Experience (cont)
 Before:
 Students are asked to write down adjectives that describe their
own strengths and weaknesses
 Using overhead projector and Kidspiration, Teacher conducts
KWL with students on what they know about the Chinese
Zodiac and what they want to know.
 Teacher will read “The Great Race” The Story of the Chinese
Zodiac by Dawn Casey.
 Differentiation: Teacher will allow those students who had
trouble with the story to watch the story in a PowerPoint
presentation.

The Great Race
 Teacher will show video titled “Happy Year of the
(Hardworking) Ox!”
Learning Experience (cont)
 During:
Individual Activity:
 Students will begin by drawing pictures of the Zodiac calendar, each
animal, and other characters from book for use in character map, the
templates, and Voice Thread (teacher to scan in) expressing their
individual creativity.
 Students will create a story map using Kidspiration, demonstrating
that they are able to identify key elements of the story (plot, theme,
etc) and understand the “zodiac legend.”
 Students will create a character map using Kidspiration of all 12
Zodiac animals, providing information they have learned from the
Great Race on the animals’ traits. Teacher will provide scanned
animal pictures. Students will visit web for more traits.
http://www.meaa.org.uk/factscny.htm
Learner Experience (cont)
 During (cont)
 Students will show at least four years for each animal (e.g.,
dog 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006), after teacher provides first
cycle (e.g., dog 2006)
 Students will identify the animal of their birth year from
map and write three sentence paragraph on why they agree
or disagree that they have the traits of that animal.
 Students will identify animal of their person’s birth year
from map and write three sentence paragraph on why they
agree or disagree that they have the traits of that animal.
(Template to be provided).
Learner Experience (cont)
 During (cont):
 Group Activity for Preparation of Voice Thread on Chinese
Zodiac
 Teacher will explain what VoiceThread is and show example
of one created about Dinosaurs. Dinosaur VoiceThread
She/he will explain that they are almost done the planning
and ready to create their production!
 Students will be broken up into four groups, aka
“screenwriters,” to complete four sections of Voice Thread
production, as follows:
1. Introduction to China unit, what we know, what we
want to know about Zodiac (from KWL).
Learner Experience (cont)
 During (cont):
 Group Activity for Preparation of Voice Thread on Chinese
Zodiac (cont)
The next three sections are what they learned.
2. The Legend of the Zodiac and how calendar works
(from Story Maps)
3. Animals of the Zodiac, and how their family member
resembles or does not resemble the traits of their birth
year animal (from Character maps)
4. Conclusions: this group will survey rest of class to find
out which famous person most resembles animal of its
birth year and report their findings. Group will
research web for celebrities birth year animals.
Learner Experience (cont)
 During (cont):
 Group Activity for Preparation of Voice Thread on Chinese
Zodiac (cont)
 Screenwriter teams will create storyboards, using
Kidspiration, for their section of the Voice Thread to help
them develop a script of what they will record.
 Teacher will demonstrate how to access VoiceThread.
 Students will create a account on VoiceThread.com.
 Students will upload their storyboards and record their
speeches.
Learner Experience (cont)
 After
 Students will present their Voice Thread to the school and
their parents at school night.
Learning Model/Pedagogy
 Teacher will use spatial representation, visualization and
graphic organizer model in project-based investigation of
the Chinese Zodiac.
 Constructivist Learning:
 Students will investigate Zodiac folklore from book and web
sources, discern traits of animals and people and use that
information to draw conclusions.
 Model meets specific reading, writing, and social studies
standards.
 Authentic, Contextual Learning.
 Students have a problem to solve that is meaningful to them
personally—what are their traits, and those of a family
member. Promotes dialogue with family member.
 Do they resemble those of their birth animal?
Learning Model/Pedagogy (cont)
 Visual Thinking
 KWL and graphic organizers help students understand
what they know and what they still have to figure out.
 Working through all years of Zodiac and ordering animals
correctly (Rat first, Pig last) can be mentally complex for
third grader. Graphic organizer allows for “effortless
structure.”
 Graphic organizer allows student to see bigger picture,
whole cycle in the case of character map.
 Collaborative Learning
 Students can learn from each other, and about each other
through Voice Thread collaborative activity.
 Reflective Thinking
 Student develops self awareness and insight from character
trait analysis and ownership of work through publication.
Learning Goals
 Learn about the Chinese Zodiac (*Lunar
Calendar*)
 Understand:
 Chinese calendar, unlike our calendar, follows
twelve year cycle, and is repeated continuously
 Each year represented by a different animal
 Personality of people is believed to be related
to their animal sign.
 Gregorian (our) calendar used today in China
but Zodiac calendar still used for festivals and
still important part of daily culture and
people’s beliefs (superstitions).
Learning Goals (cont)
 Develop:
 Appreciation for cultural diversity through study of the Chinese
calendar
 Understanding of number patterns so they can identify animal
that represents the year in which they were born.
 Ability to use adjectives to describe personality traits and ascribe
them to themselves and others
 Ability to summarize and make conclusions
 Know:
 What a symbol is
 Specific traits of the animals
Learning Standards
Learner experience for this lesson are based on PA State Standards
Reading, Writing,
Speaking, and Listening

1.1.3.G Demonstrate after
reading understanding and
interpretation of both fiction
and nonfiction text.

1.3.3.B Identify literary
elements in stories describing
characters, setting, and plot.

1.8.3.C Organize and present
the main ideas from research.
History

8.1.3.A Understand
chronological thinking and
distinguish between past,
present and future time.


Calendar time.
8.1.3.C Understand
fundamental historical
interpretation.

Illustrations of historical
stories.
Learning Standards (cont)
Mathematics

2.2.3.A Apply addition and
subtraction in everyday situations
using concrete objects.

2.6.3.A Gather, organize and
display data using pictures, tallies,
charts, bar graphs, and
pictographs.

2.8.3.A Recognize, describe,
extend, create and replicate a
variety of patterns…[…}.

2.8.3.F Explain the meaning of
solutions and symbols.
Learning Technologies
 PowerPoint
 “The Great Race” The
Story of the Chinese
Zodiac in PowerPoint
format tells the Zodiac
legend, making the story
come alive with
animations.
 Kidspiration
 KWL Chart: Visual
representation to
students of what they
know and want to know
Learning
Technologies (cont)
 Kidspiration
 Character Map

Year of animal

Characteristics they
symbolize
 Story Map

Plot, summary, characters,
problem, setting, moral, and
resolution
Learning Technologies (Cont)
 Kidspiration (cont)
 Storyboard: Template to be used to develop speech
for VoiceThread.
Learning Technologies (cont)
 Voice Thread

Collaboratively create oral and visual presentation that can be shared
with school and other communities about what they learned.
Learning/Media Matrix
 Overall the specific technologies used--web based graphic organizers
and web links--facilitate the learning experience by:
 Increasing student engagement with impactful features (such as
clip art, bold colors, varied fonts, voice recording), and the
ability to merge these artifacts with their own drawn images
 Allowing highly collaborative activities with Voice Thread’s
web-based social networking capability
 Meeting the needs of diverse learners, with more efficient,
versatile and flexible approaches than paper graphic organizers.

Kidspiration provides more or less scaffolding depending on user
needs
 Providing just in time information to students through web links
 Enabling communication with a larger community on what they
learned with Voice Thread.
Learning/Media Matrix (cont)

Constructivist Pedagogy: Just in time support


Authentic Practice: Learning is framed with essential questions.




Web links are used to further develop understanding.
You Tube video on Year of the Ox (2009) adds relevance
Visual Thinking: Use of images, graphic organizers, and models to see
“larger picture” and use multi-sensory channels

Microsoft PowerPoint help students visualize “Great Race”

Kidspiration provides variety of artifacts to help visualization

Voice Thread permits multi-sensory experience with pictures/voice.
Collaborative Learning: Synchronous/asynchronous communication

Working on Kidspiration together to develop scripts

Class posting together and independently on Voice Thread.
Reflective Thinking: Develop awareness, insight and ownership

Voice Thread provides opportunity to show what student has
learned to wide audience

Also, community/students can post to Voice Thread promoting
dialogue and reflection
Evaluation
Rubric for Graphic Organizers
CATEGORY Exemplary
Proficient
Developing
Arrangement
of Concepts
Main concept
easily identified;
most subconcepts
branch from main
idea
Main concept not
clearly identified;
subconcepts don’t
consistently
branch from main
idea
Most linking lines
in story map
connect properly;
most linking
words accurately
describe the
relationship
between concepts.
Linking lines in
story map not
always pointing in
correct direction;
linking words
don’t clarify
relationships
between concepts.
Main concept easily
identified; subconcepts
branch appropriately
from main idea
Links and
Linking lines in story
Linking Lines map connect related
terms; linking words
accurately describe
relationship between
concepts; hyperlinks
effectively used.
Evaluation
Rubric for Graphic Organizers (cont)
Graphics
Graphics used
appropriately:
greatly enhance
the topic and aid
in comprehension.
Graphics used
appropriately most
of the time; most
graphics selected
enhance the topic,
Graphics used
inappropriately
and excessively;
graphics poorly
selected and don’t
enhance topic.
Content
Reflects essential
information; no
misspellings or
grammatical
errors.
Reflects most of
the essential
information; fewer
than three
misspellings or
grammatical
errors.
Contains too
much
information;
contains
numerous spelling
and grammatical
errors.
Evaluation
Rubric for Graphic Organizers (Continued)
Text
Easy to
read/appropriatel
y sized; amount of
text is appropriate
for audience; b
Most text is easy
to read; amount
of text generally
fits intended
audience.
Font too small to
read easily; text
amount is
excessive for
intended audience.
Design
Clean design; high
visual appeal;
color used
effectively.
Design is fairly
clean, with a few
exceptions;
diagram has visual
appeal.
Cluttered design;
low in visual
appeal; lacking
color appeal.
User Feedback
Positive
Parent
Feedback
Student Improvement
Rabbit
Snake
•Followed rubrics
•Engaged in activity
•More collaboration in the
classroom
Dog
Works Cited

"Chinese Horoscopes -- National Geographic Kids." Kids' Games, Animals, Photos, Stories
and More -- National Geographic Kids. 07 June 2009 <http:
/kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/PeoplePlaces/Chinese-horoscopes>.

“Chinese New Year” Story of the Great Race. PowerPoint presentation. 6 June 2009.

"Chinese Zodiac for Kids." MEAA. 07 June 2009 <http://www.meaa.org.u
/factscny.htm>.

"Happy Year of the (Hardworking) Ox!" YouTube. 7 June 2009. <http:/
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtbHHleT-cQ>.

Haslam, Elizabeth L., Ph.D. “Instructional Media Design Matrix Online Learning.”
Document. Drexel University School of Education. 6 June 2009.

Kuk, Po Leung. “The Use of Writing Portfolios to Help Students Write Fables.” PowerPoint
presentation. 1983 Board of Directors’ College. 7 June 2009.

"Rubric for Graphic Organizers - Inspiration Diagrams/Concept Maps." A+ Rubric. 7 June
2009. <http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/inspirationrubric.html>.
Works Cited (cont)

"Technology Integration Matrix." University of Southern Florida. College of Education. 7
June 2009. <http://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/>.

3rd Grade Multicultural Curriculum Lesson Plan." The School District of Palm Beach
County. 7 June 2009. <http://www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/multicultural/curriculum
/Multicultural/3rd%20Lesson%20Plan.pdf>.

"The Chinese Calendar." Calendars Through the Ages. 7 June 2009.
<http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-chinese.html#anchor-chinese-year>.

Walker, Natalie. "Lesson Plan - Chinese New Year." TeacherLINK @ Utah State
University. 07 June 2009
<http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/Byrnes-celebrations/chinese.html>.

Wlazlinski, Mae L. "Teaching About Cultural Diversity." Electronic Magazine of
Multicultural Education Spring 2001. Eastern University. 7 June 2009 <http:/
/www.eastern.edu/publications/emme/2001spring/wlazlinski.html#Procedures>.