Target Area 9/24

1.    Describe your target area for guided lead teaching.

My target area will be comprehension.

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

Depending on the day, 30-45 minutes.

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

RI.2.1. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

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?

Comprehension is one of the most important aspects of literacy. Students must be able to read a text and understand what is going on, who is the story about, where are they, how are they feeling, etc. They need to master this strategy to get through life. A simple example would be reading signs while driving. A person must read the sign and comprehend what it is telling them so they are aware of their surroundings. Comprehension is an umbrella to many other areas of literacy. Vocabulary and writing are two important parts of literacy that can only be understood with basic comprehension skills.

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)?

My classroom community uses several ways to talk. There is a good balance between teacher-led lessons and student-led lessons because we have some high level students that are able to model for our lower level students. It has been a great way to get the students talking to each other and respecting others opinions. Students like sharing ideas and feel comfortable doing so. They feed off each other and encouraging them to learn from each other has built an awesome support system. We also allow students to share their graphic organizers when they have completed it accurately or we want them to share their ideas on how they found the answers to the parts of the organizer. Comprehension usually involves a read aloud and a graphic organizer model, which is done by the teacher. Then we have the students do the same thing in one of their centers. They work together and support/teach each other by talking about what they know and don’t know about the story. They learn different strategies from each other, like looking at pictures to tell what happened, or re reading pages to find character names.

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?

I want to focus on finding important events in a story and summarizing. I also want to work on writing about reading because this strategy will help my students find important events and make it easier for them to summarize. Finding ways to effectively teach my students these strategies will contribute to my own professional learning. I want to try new things and see what works best for each individual student. I want to do my best to meet my students needs.

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

I will be focusing on using fiction stories found in our classroom library, as well as the school library. I will be using our basal book, Treasures, that includes both stories and themes for lessons. Guided reading books will also be used to make sure the students comprehension is improving (this is a weekly objective already). I am hoping to do this twice within my unit plan time period.  

8.    What additional resources do you need to obtain?

I will be using online resources for creative ideas on leading lessons. I am hoping to find fun activities for the students to understand the importance of comprehension and activities that allow them to understand and improve at their own pace. My field instructor has also mentioned working with me to help me find reliable resources and ideas for my lessons. I really want to try some new things and experiment with comprehension instruction.

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

My students do centers on a daily basis. One of the center involves them listening to a story and filling out a graphic organizer. We also have a center where they can choose a story out of their book basket, read it, and fill out a graphic organizer. I will be using these to assess the students and see where I really need to go with my lesson planning. I want to try different things so they are not bored. Graphic organizing is a concept that is very hard for my class to grasp, and they really need the practice to improve their comprehension levels.

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 have a pretty good idea of where my students are at with their comprehension levels just from working with them. My teacher has also been leading guided reading groups. Students have been grouped by both their reading and comprehension levels. This is great because I am hoping to see an improvement in their level of comprehension. I want to find out more ways to make their learning fun. What do they really enjoy doing on a daily basis and how can I use it?

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

I want to find fun ways for them to work on writing about reading. Sticky notes may be a little too small fro my students, unless I can find bigger ones. I think my students will really enjoy this and it will make them feel older. They always see me marking pages with sticky notes and it will be beneficial for them to understand how it works so they can improve their organization on thoughts and ideas.

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

I am nervous about having dull lessons. They are so used to being read to or filling out graphic organizers. Yes, this is a big focus for my unit, however, I want it to be fun! I hope I can find activities that work for my students.