Val's Mini-Lessons

Guided Reading Mini-Lesson #1

1) Rationale:

According to R.NT.02.05 of the Michigan GLCE's, second graders should be able to "respond to individual and multiple texts by finding evidence, discussing, illustrating, and/or writing to reflect, make connections, take a position, and/or show understanding." (Michigan Department of Education) By making text-to-text connections, students are demonstrating their in-depth understanding of the book in use. This is because they are being asked to reflect on what they have learned from the book, in an effort, to connect it to others. We are activating their prior knowledge by having them draw on outside texts with similar themes, characters, or other literary features. One of the comprehension strategies outlined in the Tompkins' text is connecting, which she describes as, "the linking of text or an element of it to another text [students] have read." The focus of this lesson is to familiarize students with making connections between texts, which she also mentions, is the most difficult connection to make since it requires higher-level thinking. (Tompkins, 2010) Students must learn how to make these connections, in order, to have strong comprehension skills.

2) List which reading skill/strategy is the main focus of your lesson:

Comprehension: Making Text-to-Text connections

3) Objective for this lesson:

Students will listen to the story, "Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon", and make a text-to-text connection between the book and another story they have read. Students will write thoughtful and descriptive connections between the two, making sure to state specific similarities between the characters, theme, or other features.

R.CM.02.01

Make text-to-self and text-to-text connections and comparisons by activating prior knowledge and connecting personal knowledge, experience, and understanding of others to ideas in text through oral and written responses.

R.NT.02.05

Respond to individual and multiple texts by finding evidence, discussing, illustrating, and/or writing to reflect, make connections, take a position, and/or show understanding.

4) Materials & supplies needed:

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell

Pencil

Paper

Whiteboard/Chalkboard

Whiteboard/Chalkboard Markers

5) Outline of Lesson Plan:

Introduction to the Lesson

- "Today, we are going to read Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon, by Patty Lovell. Instead of having each of you read it, I am going to read it to you."

- "Based on the title, what do you predict the text will be about? What do you think will happen? Why?"

-"While I am reading, I want each of you to pay attention to the characters. I also want you to think about the theme of the book. What do you think the author wants you to take away from reading it?"

- "Most importantly, as I am reading, I want you all to think about how this story relates to another story you have read before. This is called making a text-to-text connection. Any time you read a book and compare it to something else you have read, you are making a text-to-text connection. This is an important strategy to use, because it helps you understand what is happening in the story."

- "When we are done reading the story, each of you will write about the connection you were able to make between this story, and another story you have read."

- Using two different books that students have read before, the teacher may model this strategy to ensure that students understand how to use it properly.

Outline of key events

- As the teacher reads the story, they will stop and ask focusing questions, to make sure the students understand what is happening so far.

- More specifically, the teacher will stop and discuss Ronald Durkin after he is introduced in the story. "Do you think he is being nice to Molly? Why not? What is it called when someone mistreats another person because they feel bigger, better, or smarter than them?"

- Since the students have just finished a lesson plan on bullying, the teacher should include these questions to make sure everyone is on the right track.

Closing summary for the lesson

- "What did you think about the book? Did any of the characters change? How?"

- "How does this book relate to other books you have read? What is similar about the books?"

- The teacher will make sure each student explains a text-to-text connection to ensure that everyone knows what they will be writing about for the post-lesson assignment.

- Teacher will go over directions, giving the students 5-7 minutes to complete their writing.

6) Ongoing-Assessment:

- Students will create a chart in their notebooks that has a list of books they have read in the first column. The second column should list the text that they connected the initial book to. The third column should have space for the students to write a short summary of the text-text connection they have made.

- As students continue to read new texts, the teacher will continue to have them fill out the chart. With this repetition, students will become more comfortable with making connections, which will strengthen their comprehension skills.

7) Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson?

-I will make sure to clearly explain the directions to these students. Occasionally they do not listen to directions and then get lost through out the lesson in the whole group environment. Another aspect of support for these students is doing this lesson in such a small group. They often get lost in the shuffle of daily lesson plans and the teacher does not notice. In this small group environment they can both get the individualized attention they need.

REFLECTION:

            My students were very engaged in the book. My mentor teacher was thrilled about me using the book, because she felt it fit perfectly with the theme of building self-confidence (which is what she has been working on with the students). The students were very positive during the reading. Even though one student shouted out, “This is like Leave Me Alone”, I was excited that they were already making connections between this story and others they have read.

            When I finished reading the story, my mentor teacher came and asked the students more questions about the book. I appreciated her doing this because it made me feel more comfortable, and it let me know that she REALLY did think the students would benefit from the story. After she went back to the rest of the class, I went over the directions for their assignment. After talking with my mentor teacher, we thought that it would be better for the students to make their text-to-text connections using the Venn diagram templates that Mrs. D had. I am glad that chose to do this, because it allowed the students to make several contrasts and comparisons.

Guided Reading Mini-Lesson #2

1) Rationale:
Vocabulary is one of the main focuses of language arts. This lesson strengthens vocabulary because it requires students to activate what they already know about affixes. They can, then, use this knowledge to predict the meaning of new vocabulary terms. According to R.WS.02.10 of the Michigan GLCE's, students should be able to "use syntactic and semantic cues including reading context; picture clues; prefixes re-, un-; and suffixes -s, -ed, -ing to determine the meaning of words in grade-appropriate texts." (Michigan Department of Education) In this lesson, students will be introduced to new prefixes and suffixes, and their meanings, to help them reacg this goal.

2) List which reading skill/strategy is the main focus of your lesson:
Vocabulary

3) Objective for this lesson:
Students will describe qualities of character(s) in Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon (or other familiar text),  by identifying the descriptive vocabulary cards that characterize them. Students will use prior knowledge of affixes to identify word meaning, while learning new ones.

R.WS.02.10
use syntactic and semantic cues including reading context; picture clues; prefixes re-, un-; and suffixes -s, -ed, -ing to determine the meaning of words in grade-appropriate texts.

4) Materials & supplies needed:
Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell
Descriptive Vocabulary Word Sort Cards (Descriptive word on front, with definition and synonyms on back)

5) Outline of Lesson Plan:

Introduction to the Lesson
-Teacher will read Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon to students.
(Procedures for reading are outlined in Mini-Lesson #1)
-Teacher begins by letting students know that the activity they will be doing will require them to think about the characters in Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon,
-"Today, we are going to do work with descriptive vocabulary. Who can tell me what descriptive vocabulary is?"
-If students are unable to define this, teacher will break down the term. For example, "What does descriptive mean? If descriptive means to represent or describe something, what do you think descriptive vocabulary means?"

Outline of key events
-"You will be given a set of Descriptive Vocabulary Cards, along with character cards. Using what you have learned about affixes and their meanings, you are to sort the cards by placing the descriptive cards under the character you think it represents."
-"If you come across a word you do not know, try your best to predict the meaning. Then, flip the card over and read the written definition and synonyms."
-Teacher will take advantage of these moments by explicitly teaching the new word and the new affix to all of the students.
-Teacher will add the new affix to the class vocabulary list and encourage students to practice using it.

Closing summary for the lesson
-Teacher will go through the student(s) lists, to see how well they were able to complete the task.
-If the teacher comes across words that a listed under the incorrect character, the teacher will repeat the definition and explain the term using other synonyms and examples.
- Teacher can create a descriptive word wall, for students to come back to often.

6) Ongoing-Assessment:
-Teacher will have students write a short story using five of the descriptive words they just worked with.
-This will allow teacher to see if the students understand the meaning of the terms. In addition, teacher will see if students are able to use the vocabulary words in context.
-Based in the students' performance, teacher may need to clarify meanings. Teacher will make time to do this, if necessary. They will also answer any questions students may have, regarding the words and their meanings.
-Teacher will continue to do activities with students that allow them to practice with these affixes and vocabulary words.

7) Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson?

-I will need to clearly explain the directions to these students. If students are unable to identify the affix, I will help them. If students have a difficult time understanding the definition of a word, I will provide more examples and use he dictionary, if necessary.

REFLECTION:

            This lesson went a lot faster than I had planned. Since we used the same book we did in the first lesson, I did not have to re-read it. When I made the word sort cards, I did not realize how much time it would take to find words that were not too complicated, but that included various prefixes and suffixes. Luckily, I was able to find enough words that had affixes with similar meanings to the ones they have been working on already.

            During the word sort, the students were very excited. So, I had to keep asking them to quiet down so that I could go help them with the activity. One of them kept trying to look at the back of the card for the definition, because he wanted to “beat” everyone to the answers. It really helped to be doing the activity with them, because I was able to monitor their understanding, while making sure they used a dictionary when they need to.

            Overall, I thought the activity was a good idea. However, I feel that the lesson was too easy. Despite using new words and affixes, the words were still not challenging enough. This could have been because they were good at learning definitions, but I think it was more because the words were not complex enough. In addition, they may have been familiar with the words in spoken context, but not in writing. In the future, I will try to come up with more difficult words, or modify the activity. Since this was only a 10-minute lesson, I would follow up with a more challenging activity.