Cory Bieber ESR 501 October 26, 2012 Planning Commentary 1.

Content Focus and Standards Summarize the central focus for the content you will teach in this learning segment. Describe the standards that relate to this content. For this learning segment I will be focusing on our Literacy block. This includes writing, word work, reading mini lesson, daily 5 rotations, and guided reading groups. This weeks mini lessons will be centered around story mapping and our benchmarks are as follows 2A1aS/U Recognize the difference between author and illustrator and 2A1aS/U Differentiate between main characters and other characters. These benchmarks are pulled from the AUSL Reading Pacing Guide for Grade 1. We use the pacing guide to help us know that we are on the right track and while the pacing guide does provide at least one objective for each week, I will usually create my own objectives for each lesson.

Success Criteria for Content Focus: See the Danielson Framework- Domain 1a 2. Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching For each of the categories listed below (a-d), describe what you know about your students prior learning and experiences with respect to the central focus of the learning segment. What do they know, what can they do and what are they are learning to do? Be very specific about how you have gained knowledge about your students. What sources of data have informed you? What teaching experiences have informed you? a) Academic development (e.g., prior knowledge, prerequisite skills, ways of thinking in the subject areas, developmental levels, special educational needs) While all students in my class are learning at different intervals, it is important to that we try to group them with students at about the same speed as them. For each subject we have small groups and we have used different assessments to create those small groups. For example, our word work small groups were formed using the information we obtained from a Words Their Way spelling assessment. Students with similar results on the assessment were placed together. Our Guided Reading

small groups are derived from their BAS learning levels. While we dont have set groups of students all reading at the same level, similar levels are grouped together so that instruction can be best modified for them. Our Math small groups are ones that we dont use as often as we should but the data we used for those groupings came from the MAP testing. Our students span a wide range of skills. Some students are reading at a third grade level (BAS level M-N) and students who are well below grade level and reading at a level A. With this in mind it is important to be sure that I do my best to explain concepts for all grade levels present. I have found that extensive modeling for the lower leveled students helps them to grasp the content and gain a better understanding of the expectations. One of the greatest challenges when working with our lowest leveled students is their inability to read the directions. For this learning segment the students will be expected to fill out a story map and I foresee difficulty with reading the section headings by my lowest students. I try to make it a point to give them strategies to decipher the words. For example I can ask them how would I know which word is characters and many will be able to answer that characters starts with a c. All of our lowest readers can identify letters and letter sounds, which is a strength that I can utilize. b) Academic Language development (e.g., students abilities to understand and produce the oral or written language associated with the central focus and standards/objectives within the learning segment) We try to be very intentional about the language we used with our first graders. The students are going to mimic the language that the teacher uses and also mimic students who are praised for their answers. Our biggest push has been to get them thinking of other answers (not just examples given) so as to push them towards their own individual thinking. We use intentional language especially during reading mini lessons. This is where students are soaking up so much information and trying to mimic those who are providing answers. I will ask them very specific questions at first and then lead towards higher level thinking

questions. For example we might start off by filling in a story map together, which has specific answers, and then we will move into discussing whether every book has every part of the story map. We might also talk about how there can be more than one problem in a story. I have to challenge myself to constantly check for understanding with every student and make sure that they are using the intentional language like we did in the lessons. I foresee some of my students having difficulty filling out the entire story map independently. They are expected to fill out this story map during their Daily 5 stations at the Read to Self station. The students will be using familiar books that we have read during read aloud and discussed so that even the students who are unable to read the books can fill out the story map successfully. I also allow the students to draw pictures in order to clarify their answers. c) Family/community/cultural assets (e.g., relevant lived experiences, cultural expectations, and student interests) I am constantly trying to relate academic material to the students lives. I try to put it into perspective for them and use examples that they will understand. Likewise, I try to explain things that might be unfamiliar. For example, we read A Chair For My Mother as a read aloud and the book mentions momma receiving tips at work. We stopped for a second so that I could check that the students understood what tips were. Many of my students dont attend restaurants where they would leave a tip for the waiter or waitress so I explained the concept to them. These are concepts that may be repeated in other books as they continue reading. It is also important for students to understand some of these concepts in case they need to use them for their story map. I understand that I cant help them understand every unfamiliar concept and that this may hinder some of their comprehension. Prior to the story map lesson we have been discussing the elements of a story. We have broken down each section of the story and they have some background knowledge of each section of the story map.

d) Social and emotional development (e.g., ability to interact and express themselves in constructive ways, ability to engage in collaborative learning, nature of contributions to a positive literacy learning environment). With first grade this is not a hard topic to reach. Most of our students walk in the door each morning and have some kind of story to share with you. Whether it be about what they did over the weekend or about their trip to the laundry mat with their mother the night before. They are eager to share everything, even when they dont know it might not be appropriate for school. As I mentioned in my answer for 2(c), we have tried to allow the students to use writing as an academic outlet to tell us about themselves and their experiences. Many times we have to ask them to save their stories for writing so that everyone can get a chances to share. One of the skills we have been building for the first part of the school year has been the students ability to self-regulate their learning at the stations. It is important that they can build this skill so that I can work with small groups and be sure that students are still on task at their stations. The assessment for this lesson will be framed as a game for the students. They have been constantly filling out story maps in the same order so I wanted to make sure that they are gaining the knowledge. I decided to put a number from 1-6 in each section of the story map and provide each student with a die. They have to roll the die and whichever number they roll is the box that they fill out first. This keeps them engaged in the assessment and they are challenged to fill out the entire story map while they are at the station. e) Learning strategies: what instructional and learning strategies have been effective for your students? How do you know? Hands on activities have been the most effective for our students thus far. They are still so young and sitting on the carpet or at their desks for extended periods of time just doesnt work. They get antsy and restless and then their attention is not with you. They work much more effectively when they know they are going to have a chance to get up and be active learners. We did a story sequencing lesson using a ball with the words beginning, middle, and end written on it. Students stood in a circle and if the ball was rolled to them they would hold the

words facing them and state the beginning, the middle, or the end of a story then roll it onto someone else. The students were very engaged because they knew they would get the chance to participate if they were showing their excellence in the circle. When I was thinking of how I could adapt the story map lesson to be more engaging I decided to use the die to make it seem like a game to them. They think that if they can successfully roll the die and fill out each section they have won the game. The game aspect of the assessment will keep them engaged. Success criteria for Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching: See Danielson Framework Domain 1b 3. Supporting Student Learning Respond to prompts a-e below to explain how your plans support your students learning related to the central focus of the learning segment. As needed, refer to the instructional materials you have included to support your explanations. Cite research and theory to support your explanations. a) Explain how your understanding of your students prior learning, experiences and development guided your choice or adaptation of learning tasks and materials, to develop students' abilities to successfully meet lesson segment outcomes. The number one thing that I think of when planning learning tasks is how explicit I need to be when modeling for the students. This is the youngest grade I have ever instructed and I tend to take for granted how direct I need to be with instruction. I learned very quickly that the best thing to do is to model exactly what we need to have done. I had made adjustments as during lessons and my mentor has helped me to make adjustments to my instruction. My mentor also posed the challenge to us that all we dos are interactive. This means that the students are up and doing things or have the opportunity to participate in a game or activity. I am constantly searching for resources online and looking for creative ways to implement my lessons. I decided upon the story map game and before students are asked to complete the task alone we will play a round together on the carpet so that the expectations are clear. I will cold call students to come up and roll the die and then

fill out the corresponding section of the story map. The students like having the opportunity to come up and model for their classmates and it also solidifies the expectations when they receive praise for modeling correctly. b) How are the plans for instruction sequenced in the learning segment to build connections between students prior learning and experiences and new content skills and strategies? Most of my instructional plans are derived using the AUSL pacing guide for grade 1. I have found that many of the reading strategies that we have implemented are strategies that they have learned in kindergarten as well. We have been adding depth to the strategies and really reinforcing them. I also then connect my I do and we do to the skill they will then use for the you do activity. I always involve students in the activities and ask them to help me describe the strategies in words that they can understand. I will be taking this same approach for the story map learning segment. The objectives will be pulled from the Grade 1 pacing guide. The I do and we do will explicitly model the expectation for the you do portion of the lesson. Since we have already taught the elements of a story this will be a culmination of all of those previous lessons. My assessment will be deepening their knowledge by pushing them to complete the story map in a random order based. c) Explain how, throughout the learning segment, you will help students make connections between skills and strategies in ways that support their abilities to deepen their content learning. Our reading mini lessons provide strategies for students to become better readers. We are constantly enforcing how good readers use the reading strategies to build their comprehension and make them stronger readers. Our upcoming week will consist of story mapping and identifying key parts of a story. This will help students to break down books at their appropriate grade level to better comprehend them. The anchor chart that will be displayed for the students will read Good Readers can complete a story map and it will be in the same format as the worksheets that they will independently fill out. We will also enforce that by being able to complete the story map it is helping you build a greater understanding of the

story you are reading. I will also explain to students that a story map will help the to retell a story and explain it to someone who hasnt read the story before. d) Describe common developmental approximations and misunderstandings within your content focus and how you will address them. Students will have to identify the difference between main characters and supporting characters and this will be difficult for first grade students to understand. We will need to put in context for them how to identify the difference. To many of my students a character is a character. I will have to constantly model that some characters are more involved in the story than others. They are familiar with characters but I am worried that picking out the differences will be confusing. Main characters and supporting characters will most likely need to be split into two different days so that we can focus on the aspects of each. e) Describe any instructional strategies planned to support students with specific learning needs. This will vary based on what you know about your students, but may include students with IEPs, English learners, or gifted students needing greater support or challenge. When prompted to read independently and identify main characters or supporting characters, students will read at their BAS reading level. This will allow students to be able to complete the tasks no matter their reading level and will push those students who are reading at higher levels. I can also vary the exit slips based on their BAS level. Success criteria for Supporting Student Learning: See Danielson Framework Domain 1e 4. Supporting Student Understanding and Use of Academic Language Respond to the prompts below to explain how your plans support your students academic language development. a) Identify the key academic language demand and explain why it is integral to the central focus for the segment and appropriate to students academic language development. Consider language functions and language forms, essential vocabulary, and/or phrases for the concepts and skills being taught, and instructional language necessary for students to understand or produce oral and/or written language within learning tasks and activities.

I plan to be intentional with my language during the lesson. Story mapping is important for students to be able to comprehend a story. It is important to use language that both pushes the students academically and is simple enough for them to understand. The parts of a story map are all things that we have previously taught it will be a matter of putting them all together. It will be key that they remember the terms character, illustrator, author, title, beginning, middle, and end. These are all terms that have been taught before and they will need to use them to create our story map. b) Explain how planned instructional supports will assist students to understand academic language related to the key language demand to express and develop their content learning. Describe how planned supports vary for students at different levels of academic language development. When planning for lessons I always have a my copy of Blooms Taxonomy Wheel. Many of the provided objectives use lower level thinking verbs but I like to use the higher order thinking verbs to explain what students will be accomplishing in the lessons. Each groups objectives are the same but the depth might be different depending on their learning levels. When students are working in their guided reading groups, the high frequency words and vocabulary words are different. The high frequency words that they are asked to identify will vary based on their reading levels. Much like their focus during word study varies on their levels. I wont use the exact same language when working with the high group as I would with the low group. This is to ensure that each group is benefitting from their lessons and being pushed at their own levels. When working with the lower reading levels I will be vey explicit. For example when asking, Who are the characters in the story? I may follow up by asking who is in the story and who is the story about? With my higher level readers I may ask them to tell me what characters means and then answer the question. I may also focus on the main characters with the lower groups and both man and supporting characters with the higher groups.

Success criteria for Supporting Use of Academic Language: See Danielson Framework Domain 1e 5. Monitoring Student Learning a) Explain how the informal and formal assessments you select and/or designed will provide evidence you will use to monitor student progress toward the standards/objectives. Consider how the assessments will provide evidence of students use of content specific skills and strategies to promote rigorous learning. For reading the most common assessments that I do are to check in with as many students as possible as they are independently reading during our Daily 5 stations, or I provide them with an exit slip to fill out at the Read to Self station of the Daily 5 that can provide me with a quick snapshot of their learning from the lessons. For the upcoming week I plan to implement the exit slips for them to fill out and leave in a basket at the read to self station. They will create a story map similar to the one we do as a group during the lesson. I will provide students with a template to create their own story map. I will be able to go through the exit slips and find out which students still need more support on the reading strategy and which ones are ready to be pushed to the next level. Those students who need more I may pull aside to give a quick refresher and to find out what their difficulties with the strategy are. b) Describe any modifications or accommodations to the planned assessment tools or procedures that allow students with specific needs to demonstrate their learning. In order to allow students with specific needs to demonstrate their learning I can allow students to choose books at their own level or even allow students to draw a picture in addition to words to convey their learning. I may also make it a point to check in with students who I know need extra support before they are set off to the stations on their own. I only have one non-writer and he receives his literacy instruction from our special education resource teacher. In the event that he is in our class for the lesson I would make it a point to ask him yes or no questions (which he is more comfortable answering) to find out what he learned from the lesson. Success criteria for Monitoring Student Learning: See Danielson Framework Domain 1f

What Do I Need to Write? A. Analyzing Student Learning: 1. Summarize student performance in narrative and/or graphic form (e.g., table or chart). Number of Correct Number of Students 6 1 5 4 4 6 3 5 2 2 1 7 0 2 2. Discuss what students appear to understand well and where they continue to struggle, including any misunderstandings, developmental approximations, confusions, or needs (including a need for greater challenge). This assessment posed quite a challenge for me during analysis. The students only had 12 minutes to complete the task because it was assigned for them to do at a Daily 5 station. I had to keep in perspective that all of the students may not have had time to finish all 6 boxes and that each student would have rolled different numbers, thus having different boxes completed. In order to keep the grading standard I assessed the students on the number of boxes correctly completed out of 6 which made for rather low results. 3. Consider common patterns across the class as well as groups of students with similar strengths or needs. Cite evidence to support your analysis from the 3 student work samples you selected. I did find that most of the students who only completed 2 or 3 boxes did have the correct answers in the boxes. I also know that a student who is highly focused and motivated to complete the task would be able to because some students did have time to successfully complete each box. For example Jakya was my one student who was able to complete every box and each box was correct. She is one of our highest readers and she is also able to self-motivate. She is very competitive and I feel that the game aspect really motivated her to finish. In contrast, Heaven is a student who is reading on level and she was only able to complete 3 of the boxes, all of which were correctly filled out. The final sample I chose to analyze was Majaris work. He is a student who is below grade level and has been targeted by our LLI program. He completed 2 of the boxes in the allotted amount of time and only one box was correct, the box that asks to identify the Title of the book and the Author.

This shows me that he at least knows how to identify the Title and author on the front of the book but probably struggles beyond that. 4. Refer to your learning progression analysis you created from your student work samples. Describe individual learning strengths and weaknesses of your high performing and your low performing student. After analyzing the students work I found that many of my high students, although they may not have finished each box, they were correctly filling out the boxes that they did have time for. This included not only correctly copying the Title and Author on the front but also characters and concepts that were found in the story. My lower leveled students were able to successfully copy the Title and Author of the book but beyond that confusion seemed to set in. Students who were on grade level were able to fill out about half of the boxes and the ones that were completed were generally correct. For example, Heaven, who is on level filled out 3 boxes and each was correct. I may consider allowing more time to complete the assignment next time or ask students who didnt finish to complete it the next day during rotations so that I can get a better analysis of the student learning. 5. If applicable, describe evidence from the student work samples that demonstrate the extent to which students are able to understand and/or use the language associated with the identified language demand (vocabulary, function/form, and instructional language) in ways that develop literacy skills and strategies. All levels of students were able to demonstrate their knowledge of the key vocabulary terms (characters, setting, problem, solution). Even the students who are below grade level knew where to find the title and the author and some used inventive spelling to attempt to explain the problem and solution if they rolled that number on the die. Although he didnt finish his answer I know Majari was on the right track for his answer for the setting of Peters Chair. He only had the word his but the setting of the book is Peters house so my guess is that he meant to write his house. Success Criteria for analyzing student learning: Student learning analysis is aligned to relevant standards Focuses on patterns of student understandings, skills, and misunderstandings in relation to identified standard and learning objectives. Analysis uses these patterns to understand student thinking and is accurately supported by work samples. Identify areas of strength in predominantly weak performance and/or areas for improvement in a predominantly strong one.

B. Feedback to Guide Further Learning: Submit evidence of your feedback to the 2 focus students (e.g., written directly on work samples, in audio files, a time stamp reference for video clip(s) in the Instruction task)? If submitted via video, provide the time stamp here. 1. How did the feedback you provided to each of the 2 focus students address the individual students needs and learning objectives? Reference specific evidence of submitted feedback to support your explanation.

For feedback I provided a quick note on each students paper including the number of boxes correct out of 6. On Heavens paper I made the note that each box she filled out was correct but that I want her to push to get all of the boxes done. For Majaris paper I reminded him to work quickly because I know that this is a student who is easily distracted when working in a small group. While students were rotating the next day I tried to get a quick conference in with as many students as possible to ask them some questions about the boxes that they did not complete. The notes from my conference can be found in light pink on the pictures. I simply recorded the answers that the students orally provided to me. When I conferenced with Majari, who is a below grade level reader, he had a rough idea of the boxes that were left empty but only gave brief answers and was not sure of the solution. He also could only remember Peter as a character from Peters Chair which might be why he couldnt remember the whole problem. Without the other characters the problem is tough to decipher. During Heavens conference she was able to tell me all of the answers that she didnt complete. Heave reads at grade level and she listens and comprehends well during our read aloud time. She also didnt hesitate to provide her answers and took a short amount of think time before telling me her answer. 2. What opportunities were or will be provided for students to apply the feedback to improve their work, either within the learning segment or at a later time?

Students will be allowed to apply their feedback the next day during Daily 5. We are finishing up our focus on story mapping and the students will have 2 more days of practice filling out their story maps. On Fridays the students have extra time at their work stations so they should be able to successfully fill in each box on Friday if not Thursday. 3. (Optional) Using evidence, how well did your language supports or scaffolding promote academic language for students with varied language levels? Success Criteria for Feedback to guide further learning: Feedback is clear, specific and accurate, helps the student understand what s/he did well, and provides guidance for improvement. Describes how students will use feedback to develop their abilities. Describes how teacher will use feedback to evaluate their own abilities. C. Using Assessment to Inform Instruction For the prompts below, consider what you know about your students and the effectiveness of your instruction when designing next steps. Be sure to connect your next steps to your analysis of the student performances. 1. Based on your analysis of student performance in the assessment, describe next steps for instruction for the whole class. Based on the evidence from the class I will consider having a mini-lesson on the importance of working quickly when at the Daily 5 stations. We display a sense of urgency to the students and I think it is imperative that students display that same urgency. I may also consider taking my lowest group of students and working in a small group with them to complete the task. They may benefit from extra we do time to support their learning. 2. Describe any individualized next steps for the 2 focus students. Majari would be one of the students that I would consider for extra we do time. He works very slow in small groups and can easily get off task when working independently. The small group instruction will benefit Majari so as to keep him on task for this assignment. For Heaven I would allow for extra time to finish. She knows the answers but I think the time crunch really got to her. I would consider breaking the assignment into two days of rotations for her so that she can successfully complete all parts. 3. Explain how these next steps follow from your analysis of the student performances. Majari was only able to complete the box where he copied the title and author, which tells me that he only completed the box that had the answers provided for him. When it comes to finding the answers within the text he needs extra support which could be provided for him during a small group lesson. Heaven was able to orally tell me

the answers that she did not complete, which tells me that she needs more time than just one day of rotations (about 10 minutes) to complete this assignment. Success Criteria for Using Assessment to Inform Instruction: Provide targeted support to individuals and groups to improve their performance relative to the standards and learning objectives assessed. Next steps extend student learning beyond what was assessed in the learning segment.