Savela - Target Area

1.     Describe your target area for guided lead teaching.
My unit will be focusing on the fantasy genre through the books of author Chris Van Allsberg (Jumanji, Polar Express, etc.)

2.     Approximately how much time per day is allotted for your instruction in this area?
I will have about 60 minutes per day for instruction.

3.     Which Common Core State Standard(s) will you work toward?
These common core standards were given to me by my MT that the staff decided to focus on at a professional development day.

Reading Standard: Reads and comprehends a variety of literary texts independently and proficiently.
Writing standard: Writes narratives with appropriate sequence and details.
Speaking and Listening Standards: Demonstrates active listening skills.

4.     How will teaching in this target area provide opportunities for students to learn important content and/or skills that relate to their lives?  In what ways does this learning include learning literacy, learning about literacy, and/or learning through literacy?
In fifth grade, the language arts curriculum is broken up into genre units. For example, the students are currently working on a poetry unit. Realistic fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, and mystery will all be covered as well. By focusing on the different genres, students are able to identify themes and characteristics of each

5.     What types of classroom talk take place within this target area? To what extent is the talk teacher-led, student-led, or focused on higher-level thinking? What norms for interaction would you like to build within your classroom as you teach in this target area (e.g., see ideas in Chapter 6 of Strategies that Work, the Berne & Clark 2008 article, or draw from some of the readings done in TE 402 on classroom talk)?
The beauty of using a variety of Chris Van Allsberg books is that we can use different kinds of classroom discussions on a daily basis. Even though the books are written by the same author, having a new book everyday provides opportunity to switch up the discussion style on a daily basis. I am inclined to start the two week unit with teacher led discussions and then have the students work into, what Berne and Clark called them, small group, peer-led discussions.

6.     Which ‘core practice’ do you want to work on developing/improving as you teach in this target area (refer to document “Resources for Developing Core Practices”)? How will focusing on this core practice contribute to your own professional learning?
Genre Study
Visualizing
Questioning
Responding to the reading
*These will be covered for sure (as of now) with more likely to be added

7.     What resources within the community, neighborhood, school district, school or classroom do you have to work with in this target area?
I know that the library has multiple copies of a few of Van Allsberg’s books. I would have to refamiliarize myself with Hope’s literacy lab because I cannot recall if they have classroom sets of picture books.
My mentor teacher has some posters that go with some of the books I am interested in sharing. She will prove to be a good resource.

8.     What additional resources do you need to obtain?
At this time, I do not know of any additional resources I will need.

9.     How will you pre-assess your students in your target area?
As far as pre-assessments go, there has been some testing done this year to check students’ comprehension and fluency when it comes to reading. As far as their idea of their knowledge of fantasy is concerned, it may be beneficial to have a survey or a discussion to find out what they know.  A common misconception is that fantasy and science fiction are closely related even though there are stark differences. Careful attention to details like that would be vital during pre-assessment.

10.   What else will you need to find out about all students in your class to help you develop lesson plans for your Guided Lead Teaching?
If at some point the students are going to be broken up into groups, it is important to know which students work well together and which ones should be separated.

11.   What else do you need/want to learn about the ‘core practice’ to support your planning and teaching?
Maybe a little more scaffolding on how these can be modeled in the classroom. I feel confident that my mentor teachers and course instructors are knowledgeable and can help me out when I ask for assistance.

12.   What concerns, if any, do you have about planning and teaching your unit?
Other than the common jitters of planning the first unit, I do not have any major concerns at this time.

Annotated Notes

Emily Sponsler's Annotated Notes

* = Pseudonyms

*Swin:
-Wrote concept map down quickly and efficiently showing he knows how to follow instruction
-First to raise hand for question "What challenges is this man facing?".  Answered in complete sentences.
-Has his hand raised for every question
-Answered "How did they use quartz in the story?" with, "They make a fire.".
-Raised hand repeatedly for the second story's questions also.


*Amy:
-Wrote concept map down
-Quiet showing she is not disruptive
-Rarely raises her hand
-Sleepy looking- arms folded on chair with head resting on it; arms folded on desk with head resting on it
-Looking over story again; Raised hand for "What did he hear".
-Diligently reading "Our Village"

*Leya:
-Did not listen to story on tape; Was not involved in discussion; Struggles with writing and reading

*Ray
-Focused on the story "Island of the Blue Dolphins" as shown by her answers to questions; Was excited to answer questions

*Harry:
- Used the word "heroine" which was an Amazing Word two weeks before; He said main character was an example of a heroine because she is an example to us and believed in herself; Shows he is building knowledge without explicit instruction

Unit Plan Target Area

Here is my filled in version of the Target Area template. Sorry for the weird spacing!

1.     Describe your target area for guided lead teaching.

            I will be teaching a multi-week unit about the fantasy genre to my students.

2.     Approximately how much time per day is allotted for your instruction in this area?

            There is a 90 minute block reserved each day for Language Arts- most of this time will be taken             up by my instruction.

3.     Which Common Core State Standard(s) will you work toward?

            RL Grade 5, Number 2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem             reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

            RL Grade 5, Number 9: Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (e.g., mysteries and             adventure stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics.

             RF Grade 5, Number 4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

4.     How will teaching in this target area provide opportunities for students to learn important content and/or skills that relate to their lives?  In what ways does this learning include learning literacy, learning about literacy, and/or learning through literacy?

            The fantasy genre is not one that fifth grade students have had a lot of experience with. They are             familiar with many books that fall into the fantasy category (Harry Potter, Jumanji, etc.) but likely             have not had much previous instruction on the topic. Expanding their genre knowledge will help             students build a greater basis for their literacy learning in both reading and writing. Discussing the             skills that fantasy writers use to create magical places and characters will boost students’             imaginative techniques and hopefully inspire their literacy learning.

5.     What types of classroom talk take place within this target area? To what extent is the talk teacher-led, student-led, or focused on higher-level thinking? What norms for interaction would you like to build within your classroom as you teach in this target area (e.g., see ideas in Chapter 6 of Strategies that Work, the Berne & Clark 2008 article, or draw from some of the readings done in TE 402 on classroom talk)?

            There has been a fair amount of discussion about genre in language arts so far this year.             Students are aware of the basic differences between fiction and nonfiction, as well as the             meanings of classifications like horror, mystery, and realistic fiction. All of the books in the             classroom library are labeled and organized according to genre (including fantasy novels). The             talk about the different genres has been primarily teacher led, with my MT asking students what             types of books they are familiar with. Students have been able to provide concrete answers when             asked questions about genre differences. As we spend the unit working on fantasy and             comprehension, students will work both individually and with a partner or small group to build on             the comprehension skills and have meaningful conversations about what they are reading. I             would like to build a feeling of familiarity and comfort within group discussion settings.

6.     Which ‘core practice’ do you want to work on developing/improving as you teach in this target area (refer to document “Resources for Developing Core Practices”)? How will focusing on this core practice contribute to your own professional learning?

            The core practice I would like to focus on my fantasy unit on is comprehension. I have noticed             that many of my students are good readers and can read independently for long periods of time             without much complaint, but sometimes struggle to recall what they read. Many of them also tend             to seem distracted or zoned out during reading time in language arts, leading me to believe that             they may not understand all of the material that is being discussed. Focusing on comprehension             will help me learn how to monitor students during reading while also teaching them to monitor             themselves. Additionally, I will learn how to carefully select texts that will (hopefully) keep             students interested.

           

7.     What resources within the community, neighborhood, school district, school or classroom do you have to work with in this target area?

            The school has a literacy lab with sets of many varieties of books. Several of these sets contain             books from the fantasy genre at various reading levels. Using these books, I will create 5-6 book             club groups that will each read a different fantasy novel. We have taken inventories of student             interests and gotten a feel for what types of subjects interest them and I will use this information             to assign book groups, while also being mindful of reading levels.

8.     What additional resources do you need to obtain?

            I need to spend more time in the Lit Lab and get a better idea of what books are available for             book clubs. I would also like to see what materials are available for genre studies- charts,             worksheets, etc. that can be used at the beginning of the unit to introduce the idea of fantasy.

9.     How will you pre-assess your students in your target area?

            The students were previously given an inventory about their interests. This was a good indicator             of what types of novels they might be interested in. At this point in the school year, we also have             a good idea of each student’s reading level and the way they work with others. Prior to assigning             book club groups, I will pay attention to the way the students respond to the fantasy genre and             the previous knowledge they may or may not have. In addition, I would also like to give some sort             of comprehension pre-assessment to find out their tendencies for comprehending texts.

10.   What else will you need to find out about all students in your class to help you develop lesson plans for your Guided Lead Teaching?

            I will need to find out if any of my students have previously read any of the books that I select for             book clubs. I would also like to know if they have any background knowledge that relates to any             of the book topics.

11.   What else do you need/want to learn about the ‘core practice’ to support your planning and teaching?

            Chapter 6 of Strategies That Work was a good resource about the different methods and             minilessons that can be used to teach and monitor comprehension. However, I would like to             explore more ways that students can use to keep track of their own comprehension while reading.             I want to use a variety of strategies while we are doing book clubs in class to get a good feel for             what works well and what does not. I will also need to come up with a couple comprehension             minilessons to teach at the very beginning of the unit.

12.   What concerns, if any, do you have about planning and teaching your unit?

            The main concern I have at this point is about setting up and running the book clubs. I know that             they are a lot of work and I’m a little bit nervous that I won’t be able to keep up with it. I have             never taken on a project quite this big in a school setting so I feel like it might be hard to jump in             to.

Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills

     Let me start off by saying, there was a large amount of useful information in all of the chapters and I am going to narrow my focus down to the first chapter, Be efficient and Integrate Basic Skills. Routman discusses how, as teachers, we have become hung up on teaching reading and writing skills in isolation without providing real purpose for it. Such as emphasizing teaching verbs but not why and how we use verbs in the whole. The research provided in the book shows that isolated skill instruction does not help “turn kids into writers (or readers)” (143). Instead she says to first, focus on developing children sense of purpose for writing by having them write about something that interests them and reminding them to write for their audience. 

      To follow her advice, teacher's themselves must be avid writers and have editing skills. One large part of the plan described was the teacher modeling and explaining how they write and edit their paper as they go along to show that writing is a messy process and not a linear one. The reading also pointed out when students are over concerned with perfection, their writing suffers. I have often seen this in classrooms I have helped with. This is why showing how messy the process of writing can be is helpful to students.

 

     Another expertise the teacher would need is how to work with standards, school curriculum and reading programs such as Reading Street. My mentor teacher is required to use Reading Street and it has the “rigid requirements”, as described in the text, that stifles students' voices. It has many activities in the chapter that are isolated and do not involve student input. My main concern about this is if your school requires you to use this program or others like it, where is the room in your curriculum to keep writing as a whole instead of parts?

     Routman has studies that show writing needs to start off as a whole with particular skill sets shown along the way and brought back to the whole. The reason is students will understand the purpose of writing and can see the big picture. The reading also showed that standards are met and remembered much better with this method. “I tell teachers, I will teach your students how do all that is required, but the easiest and most efficient way to do this is to first engage students in writing about topics they care about for a reader who matters to them” (149).

What Can I Do?

I am absolutely speechless by the appropriateness of the Kersten and Pardo article to the teaching world I perceive. Near the end of my undergraduate education, it felt at times like I was no longer being taught how to teach to individuals, but instead how to teach for standardized tests. Reading Finessing and Hybridizing has made me very hopeful and excited for the content of graduate school!

The biggest dilemma I have always feared as a prospective teacher is a forced curriculum like that of No Child Left Behind described in Finessing and Hybridizing. While I have always felt a premeditated resistance to such unnatural teaching solutions that hinder professional educators from doing what they above all else are qualified to do, I never considered such methods of coping like what Celina and Emily adapted. After all, I cannot expect to be hired or keep my job if I appear to be the very stubborn and resistant person that I actually am.

However, what I can do as a teacher is to accept the ever-changing policies being made for education, and with the help of a supportive staff, make an abiding curriculum that works. From that, I can be the creative and innovative teacher I know I'm capable of becoming with the goal in mind of creating an effective curriculum that integrates requirements with methods developed through my own experiences. In fact, in my internship I am being faced with this learning opportunity, however, I do not expect to make any progress on this goal.

Due to low standardized tests scores, my placement school has needed to adopt a new reading program (in fact, it sounds very similar to the one in the article). It has caused a lot of adjustments for my school because it required giving one teacher the sole responsibility of implementing the program and teaching reading and language arts, while the team's second teacher assumes the teaching of every other subject. While I expect very little differentiation from how the program was designed to be implemented by my MT, and little wiggle room for my own lesson planning as a result, I am very interested to see the program in action as it was designed. After all, how can I justifiably resist something I don't understand and have never given a chance?

Finally, what I believe to be the resounding message of the article and what I and everyone else must do is become more politically aware and involved. It is simply not acceptable to allow education reform to continue down this regressive path. My goal as a teacher is to change the world from both inside the classroom and outside.

(Continued) So, I woke up this morning with every intention of giving my post a little more substance and thought, but then I heard about the Chicago teachers strike. I'm hoping you all find enough meaning in this post as is to respond because now I'm really distracted.

Regarding the approaches I will use to effectively teach reading and comprehension, I think this topic is especially relevant to someone like me who has always preferred maths and sciences. How will I teach reading comprehension skills? First and foremost, I need to learn to explicitly say how my comprehension thought process works with frequent modeling. Not just telling my students how, but showing them! Modeling will especially help when I encourage students to connect with their texts. I am a firm believer that if a student feels connected with what they are reading, it will generate interest and they will want to learn. I especially liked how Harvey and Goudvis recommend having several thorough "anchor" lessons for reference so if a student is unsure of what skill to use you can just remind them of that anchor lesson when the skill was initially taught and practiced.

Also, journaling has always interested me and I would like to implement some sort of daily/weekly journal assignment where students can demonstrate their comprehension by having a place to ask questions and record answers, make predictions and connections, and reflect on the whole process for their own records and as an informal assessment for me.

Overall, though, I am mostly preoccupied by the Reading Street basal being used in my internship school. I will be very interested in seeing what it consists of and how it encourages comprehension. Even the format and design of the lessons is a complete mystery to me. I'm curious to see if, like the Finessing article discussed, this reading program tries to unnaturally separate reading and writing. In my mind, I agree with Emily in that the two really should be taught hand-in-hand. Then again, what do I know as an almost-teacher?