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RATIONALE
The planning of a reading comprehension lesson needs to indicate a clear learning intention, a sound understanding of the students learning
abilities and the knowledge on what, how and why certain strategies or concepts need to be integrated into the lesson. This rationale discusses
the reasoning behind the choices of both texts as well as incorporating particular research that has informed, shaped and challenged the planning
of the two literacy lessons focusing on comprehension of the set texts.
Reading comprehension comprises many elements. It involves developing learning and understanding, obtaining and using knowledge,
monitoring understanding and developing insight (Lowe, Hannett & Martens. 2009). Through a balance of modelled, guided and independent
experiences, reading comprehension strategies can be effectively promoted (Silveril, S. 2006). With this underlying approach in mind, the
comprehension, instructional and thinking strategies incorporated into the lessons, have been explicitly chosen to develop in the students, ways to
think and make sense of what they are reading. The particular texts selected are imperative to developing these skills and are needed to
confidently and effectively enable proficiency scaffolding.
The texts referred to in the lesson plans meet the needs of the students, the intended literacy objectives and comply with the parameters of the
Australian Curriculum. To promote literacy development and a stronger engagement by all students, all chosen texts were non-fiction (White, L
2009). The short clip to be shown in the first lesson, aims to immediately capture and engage the attention of year 4 students with the fast-paced
action of a predator hunting its prey. The print-based text, Wolves and our ecosystem (Oatmen, M., & Butler, K. 2015) to be used in the first
lesson was purposely selected as an introduction to the second lesson, in the screen-based text which depicts the effects food chains have on the
ecosystem. This employment of multimodal texts assists in expanding students understanding of the ways in which texts explore and represent
issues and ideas (Michaels, W. 2006). Additionally, using these two texts back to back helps students gain a stronger knowledge base as a
springboard for the next lesson.

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The 4N/M database displayed a majority of the students at the Level E progression point of Linking and Combining Information in paragraphs.
Therefore, the comprehension strategies Summarising and Questioning are aimed at extending that cohort of students. Cochrane, V. (2014)
states that both of these strategies assist in building critical readers/viewers, helping them to further develop and consolidate the skills of
summarising and questioning the meaning and purpose behind different texts. With the knowledge that these comprehension strategies best suit
the needs of the students, instructional and thinking routines that would coincide closely with the chosen strategy are to be implemented.
In the first lesson, the instructional Read Aloud strategy is employed. This allows the modelling of the process of identifying key ideas within a
text. Additionally, it enables the functions of a non-fiction text to be exemplified and the process of identifying unfamiliar words within the book
recognised. Questions will be posed throughout, assisting students in their understanding of the learning intention and purpose behind the
intended strategy as well as keeping students engaged (Silveril, S.2006). The thinking routine of 5 Very Important Points, supports the
comprehension strategy perfectly, and acts as a foundation for the task of writing a summative paragraph. To conclude the lesson, students will
be asked to share their summaries and peers will be encouraged to provide warm and cool feedback. This approach allows the teacher to identify
whether the students have met the success criterion and understood the comprehension strategy.
The second lesson consists of the instructional strategy of Interactive Reading. This allows the screen-based text to be stopped at certain points
to focus on the visual and linguistic semiotic system that supported the learning intention. The use of questioning throughout the lesson will again
be used to facilitate discussion, scaffold a deeper understanding and assist in making inferences by drawing on prior knowledge and experiences
(Nayton, M. 2014). The Thinking Routine of Think, Pair, Share allows collaboration for students to work off of each other and extend their
questioning skills.
To cater for all learning abilities beyond that of the majority identified in 4N/M a separate learning group is incorporated into the lesson plans.
Subban (2006) states that differentiated instruction presents an effective means of addressing learner variance and helps to avoid the drawbacks
of the one-size-fits-all curriculum. To ensure that the class works towards a common literacy purpose and will be able to have a shared discussion

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at the end of the lesson, the same text for both the whole class and focus group has been used. However, a smaller piece of the main text will be
given to the group of identified students to facilitate the same kind of skill development but allow their particular needs to be catered for.
Additionally, the use of open and closed-ended questions to help support and develop student thinking and understanding of the comprehension
strategy and thinking routine has been incorporated. In the first lesson, the focus group (Group E) will be supported through guided reading which
will aid the assessment of the focus points within their progression level and assist the teacher in focusing on students individually (Fisher, 2008).
In the second lesson, the focus group will be included in the whole class interactive reading because this type of task supports the focus group by
enabling questions to be posed and clarification to be sought when needed at regular intervals.
Through careful analysis of both print-based and animated-screen-based texts and the comprehensive structuring of the two lesson plans the
groundwork has been set to develop students into becoming critical readers/viewers. All applicable texts and strategies have been incorporated
into the lessons to help achieve critical readers and the inclusion of the identified focus group ensures that the needs of all students are to be
addressed.
Word Count: 883.

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