1. Describe your target area for guided-lead teaching.
I will be taking over the "yellow" language arts portion of Reading Street which focuses on vocabulary and spelling tests. I will also be planning a two-week poetry unit for writing that I'm allowed to stray loosely from RS.
2. Approximately how much time per day is allotted for your instruction in this area?
It differs for each class, but it will be approximately 20-30 minutes a day. Sometimes less.
3. Which Common Core State Standard(s) will you work toward?
W.5.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grade 5 on pages 28 and 29.)
W.5.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
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?
This unit, according to reading street, has very little to do with poetry. It is more about developing the students writing through the writing process of pre-writing, revising, editing, etc. I'm going to try and include those elements, but also incorporate the importance of poetry. Poetry can be fun and funny, artistic and pleasurable. It can be anything. I want students to enjoy the process while they're learning. I think a student-friendly rubric will help student keep on-task while the guidelines keep loose.
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)?
I see this unit starting everyday with some teacher-led discussion of poetry. We will probably discuss the different poetry styles, and how example poems includes those various characteristics. Then I want to transition to individual writing where the discussion will be one-on-one in a conference with me. Then, once students have a start, we can transition into partner work to begin the revising process. This pattern will probably repeat daily building up to completing their poetry book.
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?
In a poetry unit, a lot of opportunity for conferencing can occur while students are independently writing. I intend to take a lot of time circulating the classroom and meeting with every student to help them in their writing process. In particular, I want to meet with students who need the writing assignments modified. Meeting with them first will allow this differential instruction in a subtle way, while still allow every student to participate in the poetry writing unit.
7. What resources within the community, neighborhood, school district, school or classroom do you have to work with in this target area?
By the time I begin writing this unit, students will likely be preoccupied with the changing season. I hope to use fall and the approaching Thanksgiving holiday to inspire potential poetry writing. I will also try to include a poetry-specific word wall for my lesson that will help remind students of the new writing characteristics they've learned.
8. What additional resources do you need to obtain?
I need to find some interesting and exciting poetry to read to students! The reading street poetry is the least interesting content I've ever seen. As an adult, I could not even get through one page of their recommended instruction. So exciting poetry, an audience to help me practice on delivering it, and maybe a barret hat. Yeah.
9. How will you pre-assess your students in your target area?
If I needed to assess them, I would probably just do a poetry inventory to gain their opinions on the subject and ask if they know of any types.
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 be taking over the "yellow" language arts portion of Reading Street which focuses on vocabulary and spelling tests. I will also be planning a two-week poetry unit for writing that I'm allowed to stray loosely from RS.
2. Approximately how much time per day is allotted for your instruction in this area?
It differs for each class, but it will be approximately 20-30 minutes a day. Sometimes less.
3. Which Common Core State Standard(s) will you work toward?
W.5.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grade 5 on pages 28 and 29.)
W.5.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
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?
This unit, according to reading street, has very little to do with poetry. It is more about developing the students writing through the writing process of pre-writing, revising, editing, etc. I'm going to try and include those elements, but also incorporate the importance of poetry. Poetry can be fun and funny, artistic and pleasurable. It can be anything. I want students to enjoy the process while they're learning. I think a student-friendly rubric will help student keep on-task while the guidelines keep loose.
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)?
I see this unit starting everyday with some teacher-led discussion of poetry. We will probably discuss the different poetry styles, and how example poems includes those various characteristics. Then I want to transition to individual writing where the discussion will be one-on-one in a conference with me. Then, once students have a start, we can transition into partner work to begin the revising process. This pattern will probably repeat daily building up to completing their poetry book.
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?
In a poetry unit, a lot of opportunity for conferencing can occur while students are independently writing. I intend to take a lot of time circulating the classroom and meeting with every student to help them in their writing process. In particular, I want to meet with students who need the writing assignments modified. Meeting with them first will allow this differential instruction in a subtle way, while still allow every student to participate in the poetry writing unit.
7. What resources within the community, neighborhood, school district, school or classroom do you have to work with in this target area?
By the time I begin writing this unit, students will likely be preoccupied with the changing season. I hope to use fall and the approaching Thanksgiving holiday to inspire potential poetry writing. I will also try to include a poetry-specific word wall for my lesson that will help remind students of the new writing characteristics they've learned.
8. What additional resources do you need to obtain?
I need to find some interesting and exciting poetry to read to students! The reading street poetry is the least interesting content I've ever seen. As an adult, I could not even get through one page of their recommended instruction. So exciting poetry, an audience to help me practice on delivering it, and maybe a barret hat. Yeah.
9. How will you pre-assess your students in your target area?
If I needed to assess them, I would probably just do a poetry inventory to gain their opinions on the subject and ask if they know of any types.
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'm already aware of a few students who have IEPs requiring help with writing and spelling. I want to use the students writing project that they are currently working on to determine who may need additional help in writing. For them I may try to get my MT and parapros to help, or get computer access for them.
11. What else do you need/want to learn
about the ‘core practice’ to support your planning and teaching?
I need to look up some specific suggestions for how conferencing can be used to push higher achieving students to produce more advanced poetry, as well as what tactics can be used to get students to simply start the writing process. Maybe some pre-writing strategies would be helpful to have on hand. I also need to come up with what I'll be looking for during conferences to record who is progressing towards my CCSS.
12. What concerns, if any, do you have
about planning and teaching your unit?
My biggest concern is in how I can cover what Reading Street contains, which my MT is a stickler about, while making it actually interesting and fun. Reading Street is the worst requirement on the planet. My MT says I can stray away from it so long as I'm still covering everything it is teaching.
