Katie’s Final Notebook Action Plan:

What are at least three steps you will take in the fall to get to know your students as learners and as people?

1.  The first step I would take in the fall would be to do an icebreaker in conjunction with my MT with the students.  An example would be what we did at the beginning of the semester with the “What would you bring if you were stranded on a desert island?” 2.  I would also introduce myself to the parents and ask for their input on their children.  Either during a fall open house (if they have one) or through a note sent home, I would ask them to describe their child at home and in previous classrooms. 3.  I would then ask the students themselves how best they learn material.  For instance, I may do a questionnaire or survey (for only me and my MT to see), that would give us a sense of who our students are.

What are at least three steps you will take in the fall to learn about your school and its surrounding community?

1.  I will first tour the surrounding community of my school in order to get a sense of the area. 2.  I will also discuss with my MT activities and other things that are important to the school and surrounding community so I can engage in those activities. 3.  Another thing I will do is to attend district events, for instance high school football games and school wide events.  This will help to be seen and known in other ways besides just my individual classroom.

What are at least three steps you will take in the fall to learn about your literacy curriculum?

1.  I think the first and foremost thing will be to ask my MT what system they use for literacy in the school. 2.  With this information, depending on how in depth my MT goes, I will research and request materials that we will be using to familiarize myself with the curriculum.  3.  I will also use these materials against the common core or GLCE’s for my grade in order to get an idea of importance pertaining to literacy.

If you were writing a letter to introduce yourself to your students' parents and families (which you should all do), what are three things you would want them to know about you as a person and/or a teacher?

1.  I would first want them to know that I am excited to start a new experience and I am looking forward to having this experience with their child. 2.  I would like them to know that I have lots of experience working with and observing all different age students in and out of the classroom. 3.  Then I would also like the parents to know that I am a very determined and organized person and am always available to discuss my teaching and learning with them.

Once you get to know your students as people and as learners, what are three concrete strategies you will use to differentiate instruction?

1.  Once I know my students, I will help to group the students according to their learning styles and levels.  (Seating arrangements or literacy groups)   2.  I will then create activities within literacy centers targeted specifically for each level or grouping of students. 3.  I will also create assessments using different strategies, so everyone has a chance to excel and show the most knowledge they can.  (Written, verbal, etc.)

Revisit your work in this class (blogs, logs, New Literacies, etc.) and the topics covered in this class (leading discussions, comprehension, writing, emergent literacy, and so on).  What is the one area that we have talked about this semester that you feel you need to grow in the most?  What are three specific steps you will take to foster that growth?

Topic:  Comprehension 1.  I will research more specific strategies for teaching comprehension explicitly for elementary students.  This will include book suggestions and strategies for students to use on their own. 2.  I will also discuss these strategies with my MT to get their opinion on them, as well as to listen to their ideas and strategies for teaching comprehension. 3.  I will then plan to teach comprehension lessons with my students in order to gain experience and learn by doing.

Reflect on your learning in the course.  What are three pieces of knowledge, insights or beliefs that you have gained from this course specifically that you would want to pass on to future TE 402 students?

1.  Don’t choose to use controversial topics and stories simply because they are on controversial issues.  Make sure the issues relate to your class specifically and will help them.     2.  Literacy can be incorporated into every subject in the classroom.  Keep an open mind! 3.  Using literacy centers can be one of the most beneficial strategies in a students learning if done correctly.

Letter to Parents

(Hey sorry girls I posted this on our Math blog yesterday! Whoops!---Thanks Julia :) )
My focus student is more in the medium level reading area around the children in the classroom. He has a hard time getting through some words (sounding out or blending sounds) and he becomes frustrated and becomes very negative on himself. His parents would be considered in the lower class, which would be taken into account while structuring a letter and thinking of ways to support this child's learning. If I was interning I would constantly moderator his growth over the course of the years and think of ways to support the level he is at and have this continued in the home environment. Here is a letter I might send home (or even better-meet with his parents about in a comfortable meeting after school). I am going to use the fake name of Jeff. I believe a letter to parents should always have positives and show students strengths-not just immediately going into what he needs to work on.

To whom it may concern,

Jeff is always very excited to be at school. He enjoys drawing, working on art projects, and sharing with his peers all the accomplishes he makes during gym class. Jeff has many strengths in the classroom such as: following daily routines, working through addition problems, making predictions for science experiments, and shows great knowledge of reading comprehension. I have noticed that Jeff struggles in specific reading areas of word knowledge and self-regulation. While reading Jeff has trouble recognizing practiced sight words as well as sounding out the words/letter sounds. This is effecting his overall fluency of getting through the passages. When these word challenges occur he says "I can't do it" or shows he is upset. I would like to work with Jeff more on his reading skills in the classroom as well as his self-regulation. The practices I use in school can also be implemented by you as parents. To help with his word recognition, practice sight words consistently. I would be happy to send home a list of the words we are working on in the classroom and also words I noticed Jeff having trouble with. You can make this experience fun by making a game out of it or even just putting the words on note cards. We do these practices as a whole class everday! To support sounding out words practice breaking apart the words and saying the individual sounds of the letters. This will help him understand how he can discover what a word is by break apart the individual sounds and blending them back together. Everyday I work with each child individually to read a passage during this time I will work with Jeff on these letter-sound skills. Lastly to support his self-regulation, when Jeff correctly identifies a word or get through a passage I praise him! By using encouraging words before, during, and at the end of a passage it will build his confidence. I will be supporting all of his skills in the classroom through these practices and encouraging him to enjoy reading as much as possible. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to ask. Have a wonderful day.

Sincerely,
Ms. Kay

Julia Parzyck Mini Lesson #2

TE 402 READING LESSON PLAN

Reading Lesson Plan #2

Your Name: Julia Parzyck Grade Level: Kindergarten

Date lesson was taught: April 10, 2012 Number of Students: 1

1) Rationale (What evidence do you have that your focus students need to learn this skill/strategy?):

• Comprehension strategies help children understand, remember and communicate what they read. These strategies also help children link what they read to their prior knowledge. It is important for students to comprehend what they read because comprehension is essential in understanding and remembering the text. For students to become independent readers and thinkers they need a lot of practice reading and using comprehension strategies to strengthen their comprehension. Students need to learn how to predict what is coming next in the text, they need to learn how to question the text and question themselves during reading, and they also need to access their prior knowledge all while simultaneously reading. Children need to know the steps good readers use to make sure they understand text. Students who practice this and become strong readers will be in control of their own reading comprehension become more purposeful, active readers. For this lesson the student will focus on the concept that many times stories have a sequence of what happens first, next, and last. Students should understand that stories and plays have a sequence or order that illustrates what happens first, what happens next, and what happens last. Being able to arrange events and ideas in sequential order closely relates to the ability to comprehend a story. The awareness that events occurring in sequential order can be related to each other helps to bring meaning to a story.

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

• The focus of this lesson is comprehension (order of story)

3) Objective for this lesson (performance, condition, criteria):

• After listening to the story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, the student will sequence seven events from the story by matching the correct food eaten with the day of the week written on the board and understand that a story has a beginning, middle, and an end.

4) Materials & supplies needed:

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• Days of the week cards
• Calendar
• Pictures of food the caterpillar ate
• Whiteboard

5) OUTLINE OF LESSON PLAN (Provide a bulleted list of ideas):

• Introduction to the lesson (List what you will say to help children understand the purpose of the lesson? How will you help them make connections to prior lessons or experiences? How will you motivate them to become engaged in the lesson?) (5 minutes)

· “Today Student D we are going to learn about beginning, middle, and last, and also learn about the days of the week!”

· “When we read stories, there is always a beginning, a middle, and an end and it is important to understand that stories a lot of the time go in order from beginning, to middle, to end”

· “We also will be learning about the days of the week because the story we read goes through one week and we need to know the days of the week because that is an important skill to have, especially going into first grade!”

· I will make connections from this lesson to others by telling Student D that we go over the days of the week every day in class and that we also talk about how stories flow when we read them

· I will make a connection by telling Student D that when we talked about writing in our journals it should have a beginning, a middle, and an end and that it is the same when we read and we need to notice those things while we are reading to fully understand the story

· I will motivate Student D by using a fun, exciting voice and informing him that learning the days of the week and reading this story will be a fun activity that he and I can do together!

• OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (Include specific details about how you will begin and end activities; list how you will teach students what the strategy is, how to use the strategy, and when to use it; what questions you will use; how you will help children understand behavior expectations during the lesson; when/how you will distribute supplies and materials) (12 minutes)

· I will begin the lesson by showing a calendar to Student D

· I will ask Student D what the days of the week are (Monday through Sunday) and what the day of the week today is

· I will then make sure Student D correctly understands the days of the week and go through them by pointing to each day and saying the name

· I will then tell Student D that we will learn more about the days of the week by listening to the story about a very hungry caterpillar and his order of events during the week

· As I read the story I will ask Student D what might happen as each day comes up and what predictions he might have for the story

· During the reading I will also have pictures of the food the caterpillar eats and hold it up every time the caterpillar eats something

· When I am finished with the book I will ask questions pertaining to the order of events in the book;

o What happened at the beginning of the story, the middle, the end?

o What was the reason the caterpillar got so fat?

· When we are finished talking about the book I will have Student D match the picture of the food with the day of the week he ate it

· This will show me that Student D was listening to the story and understands the concept of beginning, middle and last

· I will inform Student D that remembering the sequence of events in a story is very important and it helps us understand the story better

· The materials will be distributed after I read the story and give instructions on how to the activity

• Closing summary for the lesson (List how you will bring closure to the lesson and involve children in reflecting on their experiences. How will you involve them making connections to prior lessons or prepare for future experiences? What kind of feedback do you want from them at this time?) (7 minutes)

· I will bring closure to the lesson when Student D has finished sequencing the cards

· I will inform Student D that I want him to retell me the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar the best he can using the cards

· I will then have Student D retell me the story the best he can

· After Student D retells me the story I will emphasize that because he told the story himself he will remember the story a lot better now and that he did a very good job remembering that the story had a beginning, middle and end

· I will also tell him that knowing the days of the week is so important because we work on them every day in the classroom so working on them today will really help him out

· I will also tell Student D that now when he writes in his journal he will need to think more about including a beginning, a middle, and end, like in the story we just read

6) Ongoing-Assessment: (How will you know the students are progressing toward your identified objective? What will you observe for and/or take notes on to help you plan follow-up instruction?)

• I will know my student is progressing towards the objective if he understands the days of the week better and that a story contains a beginning, a middle, and end
• I will observe how my student orders the sequence of events from the story and the type of questions he may have during the lesson. This will help me plan for follow up instruction because I can see if my wording or organization is too confusing or complex for my students and can then cater my lesson for a better fit

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

• This student has a very hard time concentrating during lessons and I will make sure I keep him focused by using very animated, exciting speech to keep him excited and also provide a chance for him to move around a little bit during the sequencing part of the lesson to get his body moving
• This student is very high achieving and I will make sure to challenge him by digging deeper with my questioning if the lesson seems to easy for him

Reflection:

• What did you notice about your students’ participation and learning in relation to your objectives?
• I noticed that my student was very attentive during the lesson because I told him that he would need to be concentrating on the foods the caterpillar ate for the day. He was also a lot quieter and did not move as much during the lesson as he does during regular class periods. I was not sure if it was because it was a different setting or that it was just him and I but he seemed to really be listening throughout the whole lesson. He did a very good job during the activity as well. He was able to match most of the foods correctly to the days of the week and had no trouble understanding the directions of the activity. It did get confusing when day 6 came around and the caterpillar ate all different kinds of food and he had to ask for assistance but other than that he did it all on his own.
• What were the strengths and limitations of your lesson for supporting your students’ learning?
• The strengths of this lesson was that it was challenging for my student but he was also still capable of finishing it and understanding the concepts of my objective. He was able to understand that a story has a beginning, middle, and an end and he really understood that he needed to pay attention to certain parts of the story and that’s what I was really trying to emphasize. The limitations to this lesson would be that it could be very challenging for other students that are not as high achieving as Student D. I know in my other mini lesson I said I should not underestimate my students but I my MT thought that Student D being the highest achieving could do the best at it and he still had some complications. I think I could change the lesson to be simpler and maybe take remembering the exact days of the week the caterpillar ate what to just remembering the things he ate and the sequence of the story and how he goes from small to big to a butterfly.
• What did you notice about yourself as a teacher?
• In this lesson I noticed that I have a lot of patience and I pride myself on that because I am usually a very impatient person. It was taking Student D a long time to work through some of the days of the week and while he was trying to figure out what food he ate when I was being very patient and waiting for him to ask me questions. I believe it is so important, especially in younger grades that a teacher has patience because sometimes it takes students a long time to get a grasp on an idea or finish something and it is important that as a teacher you let them finish it instead of finishing it for them or providing an answer.
• What questions do you have?
• The main question I still have is what are some other techniques when teaching comprehension? I had a difficult time coming up with a lesson on comprehension because it seems like a difficult area to teach, do you explicitly teach the strategies or do you somehow weave them into the lessons?

Julia Parzyck Mini Lesson #1

TE 402 READING LESSON PLAN

Reading Lesson Plan #1

Your Name: Julia Parzyck Grade Level: Kindergarten

Date lesson was taught: April 10, 2012 Number of Students: 1

1) Rationale (What evidence do you have that your focus students need to learn this skill/strategy?):

• Students need to be exposed and develop and understanding of concepts about print at an early age to become successful readers. Books are organized, with a cover, spine, title, and author, and reading in English flows in a particular and consistent direction, left to right and top to bottom. When young students successfully point to or otherwise track the print as someone reads aloud, they demonstrate their understanding of orientation and directionality. It is important for students to learn these basic skills in order to understand how to read and even begin to read. Without concepts of print students would not understand how a book is even to be read so it is of extreme importance that concepts of print are understood at an early age. This focus student needs to learn this skill in order to become a strong reader. I often see this student holding the book incorrectly, beginning at the back of the book, and reading from left to right which if continued will only lead to confusion of a story and frustration that she does not know how to read a book. Concept of print is very important because you need it in order to be able to read and know how to read. It is essential to conventional reading and writing and improves as reading and writing skills do. Instruction relies or assumes on concepts of print, for example, it is assumed a child would know where to begin reading but not all children will know. Concepts of print allow teachers to learn about children and see what they already know and what they still need to learn about print.

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

• The focus of this lesson is concepts of print

3) Objective for this lesson (performance, condition, criteria):

• Student will use their previous and new knowledge to show they understand concepts of print by correctly identifying parts of a book (front cover, back cover, spine, title, author,) and how the book is correctly held and used and contains pictures along with text by presenting and discussing it to the teacher after a discussion about concepts of print and a reading of a book.

4) Materials & supplies needed:

• Big Mama’s by Donald Crews

5) OUTLINE OF LESSON PLAN (Provide a bulleted list of ideas):

• Introduction to the lesson (List what you will say to help children understand the purpose of the lesson? How will you help them make connections to prior lessons or experiences? How will you motivate them to become engaged in the lesson?) (3 minutes)

• “Today Student J we are going to learn about books and the special parts of books!”
• “It is important that we know how to use a book and take care of it so we can keep it for a very long time and when we read it correctly we can enjoy the book!”
• “When we know how to read a book then we can use our imagination anytime we want and can read lots of and lots of books and improve our reading, because reading is very important in school.”
• I will help my student make connections to prior lessons by telling them that when we know the parts of the book and when we know how to read a book it helps up become better readers and reading is important in every part of the classroom
• I will motivate them to become engaged in the lesson by using a happy, upbeat voice and telling them that “when you know how to read a book we become strong readers and reading is very important and very cool. Reading is SO important in school and I want you to become a good reader because I know you can do it!”

• OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (Include specific details about how you will begin and end activities; list how you will teach students what the strategy is, how to use the strategy, and when to use it; what questions you will use; how you will help children understand behavior expectations during the lesson; when/how you will distribute supplies and materials) (10 minutes)

· I will begin my lesson by having Student J sit next to me on the floor and I will hold Big Mama’s by Donald Crews in my hands

· I will tell my student that it is very important for her to listen to the lesson because what I have to say is VERY important and will help you in first grade!

· I will tell Student J that when we read a book we hold it a certain way and demonstrate how we hold the book

· I will then show Student J that there are different parts to a book and have her repeat them to me after I went over them and point to each part

o This is the front cover (show cover), the spine (show spine), the back cover (show back cover), the title (show title), and the author (show author)

· I will show the student that inside the book we also have special parts to the book

o We have words (point to words) and we have pictures (show pictures) in this book and when we read we read left to right (show left to right)

· I will ask her to then show me the parts of the book by holding the book herself and if she does not remember every part I will tell her to show me that particular part

o Where is the cover? The spine? The title? Etc.

o How do we hold the book? Which way do we read the book? Can you show me with your fingers?

· I will then read the book demonstrating how to correctly read from left to right using motions with my fingers and pointing out the pictures

· I will then tell Student J that we need to know the parts of the book and how to read a book because otherwise we might read it the wrong way and not understand the story! I will tell her that when we read we always read left to right and we read every day so it is very important to understand this

· My student will understand the behavior expectations during the lesson because I gave them at the beginning of the lesson, this student rarely has behavioral issues so I feel I will not have to do much outlining of my expectations for her as I might with other students

• Closing summary for the lesson (List how you will bring closure to the lesson and involve children in reflecting on their experiences. How will you involve them making connections to prior lessons or prepare for future experiences? What kind of feedback do you want from them at this time?) (2 minutes)

· I will bring closure to the lesson by again going over the parts of the book and having her say them along with me

· I will make sure to reiterate the importance of knowing how to hold a book and the parts of the book and that it will help her become a stronger reader

· I will tell her that in first grade the teachers expect students to know the parts of the book and how to read a book because in first grade you begin to do a lot more reading so to make sure she practices showing the parts of the book and practices reading as much as she can

· I want my student to understand the importance of concepts of print and I want her to know the parts of the book and how the book is held and used

6) Ongoing-Assessment: (How will you know the students are progressing toward your identified objective? What will you observe for and/or take notes on to help you plan follow-up instruction?)

• I will know if the student is progressing toward my objective if she can best to her ability show me the parts of the book and show me how to hold and read a book after the discussion
• I will observe Student J’s initial understanding of the parts of the book and how the book is used and held and base my questions on whether she understands them from the beginning or not
• I will also observe how Student J reacts to my instructional approach and if she can stay engaged during the lesson and what she takes from it to help plan follow up instruction

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

• Student J will need some academic assistance during this lesson and will need me to talk slowly and use simple language that is loud and clear for her to understand
• I will make sure my instructions are understandable to avoid any confusion
• She is also a very quiet student and I will make sure I provide a comfortable environment where she feels free and open to talk to me

Reflection:

• What did you notice about your students’ participation and learning in relation to your objectives?
• Student J showed great participation within the lesson. She exceeded the learning objective and used some of her prior knowledge to help her along. She did not know all the parts of the book but she did know what the spine and front cover was, she also asked questions to help her further understand the parts. She asked me if all the other sides were considered spines as well and I had to specify that the spine is where the book is held together. She did an excellent job in this lesson and participated further beyond what I had expected. I noticed that she used her prior knowledge also when realizing that there was only one name under the title and that it meant that the author was most likely the illustrator as well.
• What were the strengths and limitations of your lesson for supporting your students’ learning?
• The strengths of my lesson was that it was very simple and to the point. There was no major area of confusion and the student could easily understand what I was trying to get at. The weakness of the lesson was that it could have been longer and I could have used multiple texts to show that all books has a spine, cover, back cover, etc. instead of just showing one book. Also I could have asked the student to show me the parts initially to gauge how much she already knew instead of showing her first them repeating after me.
• What did you notice about yourself as a teacher?
• I noticed that should not underestimate my students and that they may know a lot more than what I believe they do. My MT and I discussed who would benefit from this lesson and we decided on Student J and I do believe she did gain from this lesson but she also knew a lot more than I thought she did. It is so important to understand my students’ strengths and weaknesses but I also need to make sure I am not misjudging my students. Although Student J may be a lower achieving student in other subjects she does very well with Language Arts and I really began to notice this during the lesson. I will not make sure that in the future I truly understand my students the best to my ability.
• What questions do you have?
• The question I still have is when do you begin to introduce concepts of print? Right away or do you wait? Also do you keep going over those parts of the book every time you read to remind the students?
• Another question I have is when you are introducing concepts of print do you make it a big lesson, or an introductions lesson/mini lesson before doing a lesson on a book or a lesson about reading?