S17: Blog 6: Cat Week

This past week in ELA was known as what my CT affectionately refers to as “Cat Week” because it’s the week where students read the text “Cougars” and learn all about this particular type of big cat. My fellow resident, and favorite co-teacher, Sara and I took the lead in planning the lessons for this week. The lesson took place over three days, as Monday was spent finishing the student’s space LDC (as discussed in Blog 4) and Friday was a day off from school.

Something that I have been focusing more on lately, across subject areas, is how to better differentiate lessons for my students. This led to differentiation being a focus for these three days of lessons about “Cougars” where students would be focusing on standard LAFS.5.RI.1.2 which states that students need to be able to determine main ideas and key details within a text, as well as be able to summarize a text. This was a standard that, when we looked at data from a recent practice FSA test, that we knew all of our students could use some more practice with.

Sara and I decided to break the text into chunks and have students of the same reading level read the same sections of the text. On Day 1 we planned for students to read their section of the text and determine either one or two main ideas from their section. On-level students would have to come up with the main idea(s) on their own while our struggling students would be presented with a multiple-choice question from which they would identify the main idea. On Day 2, the focus would be more students to find key details to support their main idea(s). We again differentiated this task by having some students identify key details on their own while other students were given a multi-select question to answer. This type of question presented students with five or six details and asked them to choose the ones that best supported their main idea. Day 3’s focus would be having students summarize the text and then produce a final product to demonstrate their understanding of the text and mastery of the standard. Sara and I planned new groups, these ones of mixed ability, that students would break into on Day 3 to work together to create a book about cougars that could be given to a primary-aged classroom. Each student would be responsible for creating a page or pages about the information from the section of the text they had read. Students would also get to create an illustration for their section of the book.

Because Sara and I took the lead in planning these lessons, we also got to take the lead in teaching the lessons, excluding Day 3 because we were in class rather than in the field during our ELA times. Because of my lifelong love of reading, I’ve always found myself more at ease when teaching reading than in math or science. Across the days of the lessons, Sara and I made the decision to begin by modeling what the students would have to do that day using the very beginning of the text. On Day 1, I read aloud this section of the text to my students and delivered a think aloud where I decided that the main idea of my section was that “Cougars live in many different places.” I then explained to my students that they would be doing the same thing with their section of the text, which was listed for them on the graphic organizer that Sara created for them to write their main ideas and details. One thing I wish that I had done differently at this point was to also have written directions to display on the Promethean Board for my students, as I found that I had to repeat my directions several times to individual students once I had released them to their group and/or independent work. While students were working, I circulated the room, taking note of what students were identifying as the main ideas of their sections, as Sara and I had taken the time to plan what we thought students would pick out.

On Day 2, I began the lesson by modeling again, this time picking out details that supported the main idea I had stated the previous day. Some of these details include that “Cougars live in eleven western United States” and “Cougars also live throughout Mexico, Central America, and South America.” To have students more engaged at this point, I had them tell me which details I should underline. I then released students to their independent/group work of finding details that supported their own main ideas. This time, I ensured to have reminder directions written on the board, along with the question I wanted students to answer as an exit ticket/ HOT question, which asked them to explain how the details they picked out supported their main ideas.

I chose to collect the students’ graphic organizers when they were finished for the day so that I could spend time reviewing them to see which students had been successful at identifying main ideas and details, and which students still needed more support. I used a checklist to track which students had been able to correctly state or choose their main idea(s) and key details. I found that all students were successful at identifying at least one main idea and two key details from their section of the text. Some students who had been asked to find another main idea and more details were not always successful. I noticed that they often just expanded upon their original main idea, rather than identifying a new, separate one.

While I was not present for Day 3 of the lesson, I was able to view the summaries that my students had written. I also able to see the work they started on their books, although this will have to be an ongoing project because we ran out of time!

FEAPS: 1a: Aligns instruction with state-adopted standards at the appropriate level of rigor

1d: Selects appropriate formative assessments to monitor learning

2c: Conveys high expectations to all students

2d: Respects students’ differing needs and diversity

3a: Delivers challenging and engaging lessons

3b: Teaches literacy strategies across the curriculum through explicit instruction

3f: Employs higher-order questioning techniques

3h: Differentiates instruction based on assessment of differing needs and diversity of students

4d: Designs and aligns formative assessments that match learning objectives

4e: Designs and aligns summative assessments to determine mastery of learning objectives

4f: Uses a variety of assessment tools to monitor student progress

5d: Collaborates with stakeholders to support student learning