Task 1: Planning Instruction and Assessment

Planning Commentary
Complete the Planning Commentary template and provide your responses to each of the prompts below in no more than 9 total single spaced pages (including prompts). If you are prompted to provide any explanations that can be found in your lesson plans, refer to the appropriate page(s) of those plans. 1. Content Focus o Summarize the central focus for the content you will teach in this learning segment. The central focus of the content that I will be teaching is: identifying the difference between fiction and non-fiction texts, and using details to describe the characters, setting and major events in a story. 2. Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching For each of the categories listed below (a-d), describe what you know about your students prior learning and experiences with respect to the central focus of the learning segment. What do they know, what can they do and what are they are learning to do? Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/support: a) Academic development (e.g., prior knowledge, prerequisite skills, ways of thinking in the subject areas, developmental levels, special educational needs) a. Prior Knowledge: Student know the difference between a book that tells a fake or fantasy story to a story that has real facts. Students also have seen a Venn diagram before and know that it is used to separate facts. Students were exposed to a Venn diagram the week before during a math lesson. Most students already know how to compare two things to each other. b. Prerequisite skills: Students are able to compare two different stories or books. Students also know how to follow directions for new projects. Students are also able to participate in collaborative learning. Students can share their ideas with their peers and are able to communicate to the teacher what they are thinking and what they have learned. c. Ways of thinking in subject areas: Students can connect what they learn from these lessons and apply it to other content areas. By using a Venn diagram or a graphic organizer such as a web the students are learning skills that will help them with their reading and comprehension in all content areas. The students in this class are ones who enjoy learning and can connect what they learn in one subject to another. Students in this first grade class think of all the possible ways to answer the questions. Some students in this class are at a disadvantage due to a language barrier, which limits their participation and understanding of lessons. d. Developmental levels: The students in this first grade class are at three different developmental levels. The first level consists of two ELL students along with five students whose reading and comprehension levels are very low. The second level consists of eight students who are about grade level in reading and can comprehend what is read to them. When it is up to those students to read on their own they tend to focus to much on the reading and forget about understanding what they are reading. The third level consists of about 6 students

2011 Stanford University Generic Handbook for use in 2011-12 academic year

whose reading level is above grade level. These students can comprehend just about anything that they can read. e. Special Educational needs: This first grade class has two students that are in a self-contained classroom all day. These students will not be in the classroom during these lessons. There are two students who have IEPs for social reasons. One of these students struggles to read and needs extra instruction, When the student are asked to partner up or talk to their partners he is paired with a student that understands the discussion question and is able to help him understand what we are learning. During the activities on Monday (Lesson plan 1) the students will be drawing what they believe belongs in a country or a city. This student will enjoy this task, he will need direction on where to write the words that he will be asked to write.

b) Academic Language development (e.g., students abilities to understand and produce the oral or written language associated with the central focus and standards/objectives within the learning segment) a. Oral or written language associated with central focus: The academic language in these lessons consists of: Venn diagram, compare, story web, organize, fiction, fantasy, non-fiction. The majority of my students will grasp the concepts of story webs, Venn diagrams and comparing. Many of the students already know how to compare. Students will be completing a writing piece on the last day of this lesson segment. The prompts of: I like fantasy/fiction stories best because, and I like non-fiction stories best because, will be used to guide the students into an opinion piece.

c) Family/community/cultural assets (e.g., relevant lived experiences, cultural expectations, and student interests) a. Relevant lived experiences: The students in this first grade class come from all different backgrounds but all live in the same community and are all part of the free and reduced breakfast and lunch program. Since I do have a couple of ELL students they may have experienced something different than the other students. These experiences may consist of traveling to their native country. Some of the students live in single parent homes; this is an experience that is different than the typical dual parent household. Something that all of the students can relate to is that they all live in the city of Des Moines, this directly relates to the first lesson, where we learn about this differences of being raised in a city to being raised in the country. (Lesson plan 1) Some of the students have moved to Des Moines from a more rural area of Iowa. This is an experience that these students can share with the class to help their peers learn more about living in the country. b. Cultural expectations: Some cultures may have traditions or ways of respect that may be unfamiliar in the United States of America. Ex: Some Asian countries believe eye contact is disrespectful, while some African countries believe that smiling is a form of disrespect. My classroom does not have any cultural expectations in it. Respecting students cultures is something that I will always do in my teaching career no matter where I am. c. Students interests: The students in this classroom are truly students who love to learn. The students like to share what they already know and are eager to listen and learn something new. The students will find it interesting to learn about something a type of living that they are not that familiar with. All first graders

Generic Handbook for use in 2011-12 academic year

enjoy coloring and will be excited that they are going to be able to draw what they see in the city and what they see in the country. (Lesson plan 1) d) Social and emotional development (e.g., ability to interact and express themselves in constructive ways, ability to engage in collaborative learning, nature of contributions to a productive learning environment). a. Ability to interact and express in constructive ways: This first grade class loves to talk and engage in meaningful conversations whenever prompted to or when the opportunity presents itself. The way that our classroom is grouped the students are placed in pods of four. Each pod has students from each academic level. This allows for meaningful collaborative learning as well as presents the option of students with high ability to take on a role of being the teacher to the rest of their pod. Before sharing the students are asked to talk with their partners about the discussion questions. Doing this before sharing allows the students to practice what they are going to share. This also lets the students collaborate and work cooperatively together to come up with response that will best fit the question. b. Ability to engage in collaborative learning: This class has no problem at all with working collaboratively. The entire class gets along and is mature enough to be trusted while working in groups. Collaborative learning takes place all day in every subject and lesson. When the students are working on projects or assignments at their desks they are sitting with their pods, which automatically forces them to engage in, working with their pods as well as discussing what they are working on. c. Nature of contributions to a productive learning environment: When given a discussion question the students are asked to talk to their partner for 10-15 seconds about what they think the answer is and why. The majority of the class always contributes positive ideas as well as answers that are directly related to what we are learning. There are a couple of students who fall in the struggling learners category that sometimes contribute idea, answers or thoughts that are not related to the topic that we are learning about. One of the ELL students in my class also falls under the struggling learner group, this students responses tend to be off topic and do not relate to the content we are learning, even after talking with his partner before sharing. 3. Supporting Student Content Learning Respond to prompts a-e below to explain how your plans support your students learning of content related to the central focus of the learning segment. As needed, refer to the instructional materials you have included to support your explanations. Cite research and theory to support your explanations. a) Explain how your understanding of your students prior learning, experiences and development guided your choice or adaptation of learning tasks and materials, to develop students conceptual understanding, fluency in skills or procedures, and reasoning/problem solving skills. a. Prior learning: Gauging what my students already knew allowed me to either make the lesson more in depth or make it an introduction lesson for the students. All of the students have read a fiction book as well as a non-fiction book. I knew that they would enjoy a lesson that involved these two types of books. Something that I had to pay close attention to be whether or not the students have learned about Venn diagrams. I knew that most of the students have seen them before just from observing lessons that my mentor teacher taught. The Venn diagram lesson is the first lesson, it is also a whole group discussion piece. Having a whole group discussion allows me to teach the whole class at once. When teaching a whole group lesson I have to make sure that all students understand

Generic Handbook for use in 2011-12 academic year

what is going on by asking them to give me a thumbs up, side thumb, or a thumbs down sign. By asking this frequently I am able to see how much more explaining I should do or if I need to work with these students individually. The story web activity is also a whole group lesson and will require the same tactics. b. Experiences: The majority of this class went to this school for kindergarten. This helped me in knowing what the students have experienced in their prior learning. I know that the students have been exposed to both fiction and non-fiction books. I also know that they have seen Venn Diagrams as well as story webs. Whether or not they used them a lot in kindergarten I still know that they have been exposed to them. c. Development: This class has a mix of learners meaning that when the students are working at their desks (Lesson plan 1 and Lesson plan 3) I will need to confirm whether or not the students are grasping the content that we are learning or if they need more instruction. d. Fluency in skills and procedures: The skills that are needed for the assignments as well as the group discussion are skills that the students already possess. It is the students job to adapt those skills to fit what we are learning. They will be adapting without even realizing it. I know what my students are capable of which allowed me to come up with lessons and activities that I know my students were able to understand. b) How are the plans for instruction sequenced in the learning segment to build connections between students prior learning and experiences and new knowledge? a. Prior learning/experiences: The lessons are sequenced by genre. The first day (Lesson plan 1) is strictly focused on learning about non-fictions books. The second day (Lesson plan 2) is focused on learning about fiction books. The last day(Lesson plan 3) is a lesson where we learn how to bring all of the information together and organize it into a format that is easy to navigate. I know that my students perform the best when they are not overloaded with information. It would have been too much for the students to learn about fiction and non- fiction in the same day, along with two different types of organizers. While that would have been an efficient use of time it would not have been beneficial to the students. By building the lesson like a tower I am able to make sure my students are understanding the different genres and organizers, then at the end we pull everything we learned together and make one big organizer along with write why we enjoy a certain genre. b. New knowledge: By building the lessons on top of each other the students are able to recap from the day before and add to their knowledge. I also use a Venn diagram the first day as well as the last day. This allows students to reactivate what they learned earlier in the week. This also gives the students who are struggling with the concept of a Venn diagram another chance to learn about it. c) Describe common errors or misunderstandings within your content focus and how you will address them. - Some common errors are using academic language from other lessons and applying it to what we are learning. The students are always eager to share and use words that theyve learned over past lessons. When the comments do not directly relate to what we are going to be learning about I will normally show the students what that student is talking about. I never want to shut a student down, if they mention something about reading or text features, etc, I will be sure to show the students what they are talking about and then transition into what our focus is. d) Explain how, throughout the learning segment, you will help students make connections between facts, concepts, skills/procedures, and reasoning/problem solving strategies to deepen content learning.

Generic Handbook for use in 2011-12 academic year

a. Facts: The neat thing about these lessons is that the students are going to be telling me where to place facts of stories. The first lesson (Lesson plan 1) has the students telling me where to put facts in a Venn diagram. The second lesson (Lesson plan 2) has the students telling me where to put facts in a story web or concept map. These graphic organizers show the students how they can organize the facts that they are learning. It also creates something for the students to look back at to remember the facts that they learned. b. Concepts: Using the different organizers shows the students a new tool that they will begin to use to help them understand the concepts of stories and books. c. Skill/procedures: The skills that the students are learning deepen the content learning because they are retelling facts and then applying what they learn to drawings and writings. They are taking in the skills four times. This repetitive learning makes sure that the students understand what they are learning about. The procedures are something that will be taught again through out the year, such as giving the student graphic organizers to fill out on their own. d. Reasoning/problem solving: By participating in whole group discussions about the books that I will be reading to them the students are able to listen to others students thoughts and answers. By listening to their peers they may hear or think about something that they didnt think about before the group discussion. This deepens a students understanding greatly because they are able to listen to other students understanding of the topic. e) Describe any instructional strategies planned to support students with specific learning needs. This will vary based on what you know about your students, but may include students with IEPs, English learners, or gifted students needing greater support or challenge. a. The classroom seating is designed to have students of all levels sitting together, this allows for all of the students to feed off of each other and allows for collaborative learning. b. There are three ELL students in this classroom. Two of the students are fluent in English and are at grade level or above grade level abilities. One of the students struggles in academics due to the language barrier. This student will need extra attention during their assignment time. The two students who are fluent might need extra help in remembering the vocabulary (Venn Diagram, Story Web). Giving these students extra attention will not be difficult since I will be walking around the classroom during their assignment time. c. There are two students who have social IEPs. One of these students struggles with academics and will need me to help him during their work time at their tables. The other student is at or above grade level and will have no trouble with these concepts at all. Again, giving these students extra instruction will not be difficult since I will be walking around the classroom.

4. Supporting Student Understanding and Use of Academic Language Respond to the prompts below to explain how your plans support your students academic language development. a) Identify the key academic language demand and explain why it is integral to the central focus for the segment and appropriate to students academic language development. Consider language functions and language forms, essential vocabulary, symbols, and/or phrases for the concepts and skills being taught, and instructional language necessary for students to understand or produce oral and/or written language within learning tasks and activities.

Generic Handbook for use in 2011-12 academic year

a. Academic language: The academic language in these lessons consists of: Venn diagram, compare, story web, organize, fiction, fantasy, non-fiction. It is integral that the students learn this language because it will better benefit their learning after these lessons. The graphic organizers that will be used in this lesson are organizers that the students will continue to use through out the years in school. b. Language Functions and Forms: The terms used through out this lesson segment are words that the students will continue to hear and use during schooling. Beginning to use this academic language now will give these students time to really understand what it means as well learn how and when to use this language. c. Essential vocabulary: Since these lessons do build off of each other I will be using vocabulary from the day before in some cases whether it is in reviewing or adding to what we are learning for that day. This vocabulary consists of words that will be used over and over again. This is why it is essential vocabulary because it is essential to the students progression in school because they will continuously hear and use it. d. Symbol: The symbols used in this lesson are graphic organizers. These lessons will introduce and use a Venn diagram as well as a story web. e. Phrases: N/A f. Concepts/skills: Students will be learning how to use graphic organizers as participating partner and whole group sharing. The whole group and partner discussion has the students using the academic language that relates to what we are learning, therefore helping in their learning and understanding. g. Instructional language: When I am teaching I need to be sure to explain the vocabulary and makes sure that my students understand what it means. If students need more instruction then I am more that willing to help them until they understand the language. b) Explain how planned instructional supports will assist students to understand academic language related to the key language demand to express and develop their content learning. Describe how planned supports vary for students at different levels of academic language development. a. Instructional Supports: First I will tell the students what we are learning about and what is going to help us learn it (Venn diagram, story web). They will be hearing me say the vocabulary words; the students will be using the words in partner discussion as well as in group discussion. This is three ways that they will be using and hearing the vocabulary. When the students are working at their tables I will again be able to monitor if they are understanding the concepts and using the language that they have learned. b. Varied Supports: The main supports in this classroom consist of the way the students are grouped in the classroom. The grouping plays a big role in the students understanding. Since there are all different level learners at the table and normally two of the learners are a little above grade level or a lot above grade level this allows for the lower students to ask question and learn from watching and listening to their group members. i. Low: These students will need extra support and some may not understand the language that they are being asked to use. I will focus more attention on those students when I am walking around the classroom during work time. These students may need me to teach them in a different way. Their academic language will be developed over a great amount of time and repetitive instruction. ii. Middle: The middle students will be able to understand what we are learning and may feel iffy on the academic language that we will be

Generic Handbook for use in 2011-12 academic year

using. If needed I will instruct them during there assignment time. Time is something that these students may need a little more of. iii. High: These students will fully understand and be able to use the language with ease. If needed I can challenge the students by having them come up with an organizer or adding some more details into the organizer that we created. 5. Monitoring Student Learning a) Explain how the informal and formal assessments were selected and/or designed to provide evidence you will use to monitor student progress toward the standards/objectives. Consider how the assessments will provide evidence of students conceptual understanding, fluency in skills/procedures, and reasoning/problem solving skills, a. Informal: Informal was decided because it is something that I can do quickly and with ease. Listening to the students during group discussions and one on one will be something that can be completed on a checklist. These informal assessments will be what I use the most to determine whether or not the students understand what we have learned. Since most of the lessons are whole group except for the mini activities before or after the main lesson. b. Formal: These assessments are more so to show me that they can separate fiction from non-fiction (which is the central focus) not to tell me if they understand what a Venn diagram or story web is. c. Conceptual understanding: Again paying attention to student responses in both whole group and during one on one time I will be able to tell if the students understood the concept of the lesson. I will also be looking at their writings that they turn in to tell if they are able to describe why they like a specific genre. d. Fluency in skill/procedure: Again the student responses as well as what they are turning in. e. Fluency in reasoning/problem solving: N/A b) Describe any modifications or accommodations to the planned assessment tools or procedures that allow students with specific needs to demonstrate their learning. All of the students are capable of completing any of the tasks that are described in the lesson plans. Some of the students spelling and handwriting makes it difficult to read and tell whether or not the completed the assignment correctly. This is when I would have the student read their writing to me. I would then write their answers directly on their page so I know what they were thinking and what they said.

Generic Handbook for use in 2011-12 academic year