Inquiry 2 part A - Core practices

My Core practice is Comprehension Strategy Instruction and Assessment.

1.     Describe your target area for guided lead teaching.

Reading for meaning and print strategies. In this unit we will work to have the students pick “just right“ books as well as learn strategies to figure out words and to understand their stories.

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

Readers Workshop 9:15 – 10:30 everyday

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

R.WS.01.07 use strategies to identify unknown words and construct meaning by using initial letters/sounds (phonics), patterns of language (syntactic), picture clues (semantic), and applying context clues to select between alternative meanings.

R.WS.01.08 use syntactic and semantic cues including picture clues, word chunks, and the structure of book language to determine the meaning of words in grade-appropriate texts.

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?

Students will learn strategies that allow them to better understand the text they are reading. They will be able to use this skill in all aspects of their lives. The students will learn literacy by practicing reading their “just right” books. The students will learn about literacy by learning and implementing strategies for literacy learning. Through using the strategies, students will learn the content in the literacy selections they read.

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)?

Teacher-led at the beginning when teaching the students different strategies. Then the studendts begin using the strategies independently. The learning process for choosing “just right” books is also scaffolded, however the responsibility eventually gets turned over to the students. I think a norm for this unit I would like to utilize is the sticky note strategy. This strategy helps students monitor their inner conversation and easily realize when there is a breakdown in understanding.

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?

Comprehension Strategy Instruction and Assessment. Focusing on this core practice well help my own professional learning by allowing me to see what strategies work best for particular kinds of learners.

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

Classroom library, resource library, SMARTBOARD, Beanie Baby Strategy bookmarks, CAFÉ board

8.     What additional resources do you need to obtain?

CAFÉ reference book (for teachers)

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

Classroom discussions based on comprehension of texts, “exit slips” – written understanding of a particular aspect of a text.

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?

DRA scores for all students, we are in the process of testing all students. These scores will help my MT and I be able to group the students based on levels.

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

I think to effectively aid my student’s comprehension and learning I need to learn more about the types of questions to ask when checking for comprehension.

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

My main concern is being able to create adequate accommodations for my ELLs. This unit will be difficult for them since many of them are at a –A reading level.