Chambers 1

Kate Chambers

ECI 541

Dr. Huffman

24 April 2016

Scaffolded Reading Experience Project

I. Introduction

A. Background Information:

Context: I am about to begin a new unit, Risking it All, with my two 8th grade literacy

connections classes. This language arts unit has strong cross-curricular ties as all of the topics

and texts relate to key moments in history and/or current events. We will begin the unit with a

focus on the horrors of Nazi Germany and World War II, which the students have previously

learned about in 7th grade social studies, and we will engage with real and fictional characters

who have risked it all to help others or to change their world. After a few weeks, we will move to

looking at current events relating to human rights violations around the world and real-world

heroes who fight injustice despite danger. I have been putting together a diverse text set which

includes different types of visual and digital media, poems, plays, speeches, informational

articles, and novel excerpts.

My total class sizes for my 8th grade classes are 12 and 11, although many times we work

in groups of 4-6, depending on the lesson and needs of the students. For this SRE plan,

instruction will be whole group with opportunities for whole group, small group, and individual

practice. I am confident that my students will be able to handle these activities with whole-group

instruction (instead of our more typical small-group instruction) due to the hands-on nature and

large amount of scaffolding. Every student in these classes has an IEP, is reading and writing
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below grade level, and has been placed into this setting for language arts to get the most support

with foundational skills while also working on the general curriculum. Our class period is 60

minutes each day, and our classroom is set-up to accommodate whole-group, small-group, and

independent work. We have 12 student desks arranged in group tables where I can lead the class

in whole group instruction. We also have two large tables at opposite ends of the classroom

where my TA and I can work with small groups. Students can also work at their desks, on the

floor, or at one of the 4 desktop computers as needed. Our classroom has a document camera and

a projector which connect to a Smartboard, as well as several long white boards along the walls.

Text: This SRE plan begins with day 1 of our new unit, as students are being introduced

to our unit theme and topics for the first time! My SRE project will focus on supporting my

students with reading and understanding the first part of our text set, an excerpt from The Book

Thief by Markus Zusak. This is a beautiful and complex novel set in Nazi Germany during World

War II. The level and length of this novel does not make it a good fit for my current classes to

read it in its entirety, but I have carefully chosen what I feel to be some of the best parts of the

novel to share with my students because I think the language is magical and the story gives a

glimpse into a rarely seen viewpoint of this time period (that of German citizens). I do plan to let

them know that this is one of my own favorite books, and that it is my hope that some of my

students may become intrigued about the book and want to read it on their own in the future.

The specific excerpt I will be using for this SRE is in Appendix 1. I have bolded words

that I think my students may have a difficult time understanding.

Quantitative measures: In looking at this excerpt quantitatively, the Lexile level is 610,

placing it at a middle school level (Lexiler Analyzer Results). According to

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Readabilityforumlas.com, the text is about a 6th grade level, fairly easy to read, and appropriate

for 10 and 11 year olds, or 5th and 6th graders (Text Readability Consensus Calculator).

However, these quantitative measures do not take into account the intense gravity of many of the

topics addressed in this book, including vivid depictions of death and genocide.

Qualitative measures: Much of the language in this book is abstract and would be very

difficult and inappropriate for younger students. I would argue that this book would not even be

appropriate for middle school students if it was not taught with proper scaffolding and emotional

support. This specific excerpt is full of figurative language which is typically challenging for

students. Some of the vocabulary and concepts are difficult and require scaffolding, such as the

understanding that Liesels father was a Communist and that this was the reason for his

disappearance. There is also a disturbing theme that Liesel is starving and living in a place where

she cannot go to school, and this is supplemented by the hint of Nazism when Liesels dark eyes

are described as dangerous, and not the color of eyes you wanted to have in Germany at that

time. In addition, at the end of this excerpt, one of Liesels housemates is taken away for

questioning, never to return. These are all dark concepts that can be disturbing for students.

Therefore, teachers should be careful to use this with students of an appropriate age and maturity

level, as well as being intentional with scaffolding throughout the teaching of this book.

Reader and Task: I am aware that I will need to carefully scaffold the activities in this

unit. Although my students should have learned about the Holocaust in 7th grade social studies,

according to the state curriculum, many of them dont remember much about it, based on

informal conversations Ive had with them during class. I feel as though they will understand this

time period better when given the opportunity to engage with a variety of quality texts through

our Risking it all unit. I believe it is important for my students to understand the events of this
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time period, including multiple perspectives, and make connections to their own reality, and that

will guide our focus throughout the unit.

I cant say yet whether I know if my students are interested in the text, because it is such

a specific topic that we have barely discussed so far this year. However, they know that the some

of the other 8th grade language arts classes read The Book Thief earlier this school year and I

know they will appreciate having a turn to read it as well. My experience with these other classes

(where I am a push-in resource teacher) was that the students were very interested in the topic

and text when given appropriate scaffolds and were eager to learn more. I am confident that my

students will feel the same way once we begin our unit.

B. Philosophical/Theoretical Rationale

I plan to use a variety of grouping methods during this unit to make sure students are

exposed to a variety of opinions and perspectives. I decided to be more intentional with active

engagement as a way to accommodate diverse learners. I am choosing to have my students

engage in lots of informal, expressive writing to help them generate ideas, create a record of

thoughts and feelings in response to what they are reading, and explore their own lives and

concerns in relation to what they are reading and learning (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, 2014, p.

291). The prereading strategies Ive chosen will be motivating because my students enjoy

activities that allow them to have choices, move around the room, talk to each other, and write

informally without worrying about conventions and spelling. In addition, many of my students

do well with literal comprehension but struggle with text that requires the reader to make

inferences. They also need more practice with text that is full with figurative language. My

students are mostly able to understand figurative language itself, but dont always apply that
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understanding to the larger meaning of the text. I want to give them meaningful practice with

close-reading with a text that demands multiple reads and active thinking to understand it.

II. Lesson Plan

A. Instructional Objectives:

Reading Literature 8.1: Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what

the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

Reading Literature 8.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development

over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot;

provide an objective summary of the text.

Reading Literature 8.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,

including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word

choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

Reading Literature 8.10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including

stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of grades 68 text complexity band

independently and proficiently

Writing 8.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection,

and research.

Writing 8.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and

revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-

specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

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Speaking and Listening 8.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-

one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues,

building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly.

B. B-D-A Phases:

1. Prereading (BEFORE): To engage students in our unit theme, Risking it All, I will

be using a combination of the Inside/Outside Circle and Block Party activities, both of

which are new to me. I learned about Inside/Outside circle from a teaching video about SIOP

which we watched for this class, and I learned about Block Party from the CMAPP instructional

guide for this unit. This lesson will get students moving and out of their seats, actively engaged,

which seems to help many of my students learn. I will have many quotes related to our theme

posted around the room. I will give them several minutes to walk around silently and read the

quotes. After a few minutes, they will need to grab a favorite or interesting quote and bring it

back to their spot in the circle. Each student in the inner circle will read the quote to the student

across from them (in the outer circle) and give a brief commentary about it (what they think it

means, connections they have, why they picked it, questions they have, etc.). The outer circle

partner should listen and respond as desired with at least one response (I will have a list of

possible sentence starters posted on the board for students who get stuck, things like I agree

with you because I disagree with you because That is interesting because That

made me think of I wonder Do you think). When the inner circle partner has

finished what they want to say, they will say PASS and the outer circle partner will do the

same sequence.
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I will then have everyone return their quote to its original spot and take a few minutes to

find another quote to bring back. I will have every student in the inner circle move one spot to

their right and that will allow everyone to speak with new peers for the second round. While

students are discussing, I will be walking around and monitoring student engagement and

understanding as I listen to their conversations. I anticipate this will take us about 15 minutes in

total, but will adjust as needed since I have not tried this strategy before.

Once we have completed this activity, I will have students find a spot of their choice

around the room (at their regular desk, standing against a filing cabinet, sitting at one of the

tables, sitting or lying on the floor, etc.). I try to have flexible seating when possible because I

know it can be hard (and boring) for students to have to sit in desks all day. Because this is a

privilege that can be taken away, the students usually are on their best behavior. Once students

are settled, I will give them the choice of 3 free-write prompts to respond to in their journals for

10 minutes. I will have these prompts posted on the SmartBoard and will read them aloud and

discuss them to clarify for understanding before we start writing. (1. Copy one of the quotes you

chose and write what you think it means or connections you can make. 2. What is a risk you have

taken, and what was the outcome? 3. Identify someone you respect for the risks they have taken

and explain.) Students are expected to write silently the entire time, and they may do more than

one prompt if they want to do so.

After 10 minutes, students will return to their usual desk seats to share out in partners,

and then in groups, and finally we will discuss whole-group (a total of about 5 minutes). Though

I have used the free-write strategy before, it is new to me in this context because I am thinking

the quality of the writing will be impacted by the Inside/Outside Circle and Block Party

activities. I am interested to see if my students are able to write more, and more easily, after
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engaging in these activities. I am also curious if more students will be willing to share out after

writing since they will have had so much scaffolding with the topic of the writing and time to

share ideas with their peers. Both the block party and free-write activity were adapted from

CMAPP. I learned the inside/outside circle technique through one of the teaching videos we

watched for this class as well as through directions on The Teacher Toolkit (Inside/Outside

Circles; SIOP Model for Teaching English Learners - Lesson Delivery).

On day two of our unit, we will make the bridge from Risking it All to The Book Thief.

I have decided that we will read the Book Thief excerpt before I get into the details about the

history of WWII and the Holocaust. My students definitely prefer to have to figure things out,

rather than me giving the answers. Therefore, Im going to have my students do some predictions

with scaffolding to see what ideas they can get about WWII based on these activities.

To activate my students prior knowledge before we read the Book Thief excerpt, which is

full of figurative language, I am using a resource from Scholastic Action online, which is a

subscription resource paid for by my school. We will watch a brief video on figurative language

that is engaging and a little silly to activate and build background knowledge and interest. Then

we will complete the accompanying practice sheet. I will model the first practice item using the

document camera, and then model the second and third with student suggestions. Then I will

have students work independently or with the people around them to finish practice items 4-6

while I walk around and observe and assist as needed. When I see that most students are done, I

will return to the document camera and model practice items 4-6 with student input. This gradual

release of responsibility and then checking-in after seems to work with my students. For the few

who may struggle more with a concept, they have the support of their classmates, me and my TA,

and the model on the document camera. I anticipate this will take us about 15 minutes.
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For the next part of class on day 2, I am going to introduce a few vocabulary words. I

have picked out four words from the Book Thief excerpt which I think will be new or difficult for

my students: undernourished, communist, temped, and eventuated. I am going to tell them before

I introduce these words that they come from the reading and that I want them to try to predict

what the passage is about, based on the meaning of the words. This is a critical thinking activity

that may be a little overwhelming for some of my students but I know other students will get

them and can model the thinking process for the class. We used this strategy with a text in the

beginning of the year and they really enjoyed it. However, the vocabulary used for this strategy

at the beginning of this year was more familiar to them (embarrassed, 7th grade, crush, etc.) and I

think the current assignment will be more challenging.

I will introduce the vocabulary using the website Quizlet. I love Quizlet because it allows

you to make easy virtual flashcards with a related image to help the students remember the word.

However, I am going to try something new to take this a step further. I plan to print out the 4

vocabulary flashcards and place them in a baggie at the center of each table so my students can

have something to manipulate with their hands. This always seems to increase their engagement

in a lesson. I got the baggie idea from the teaching video we watched where the teacher placed

items in a bag to help students think critically about A Bad Case of the Stripes. I will give the

students five minutes to work in groups to make predictions about the story based on the

vocabulary words. I am hopeful they will also use these flashcards as a reference tomorrow when

we read the excerpt from Book Thief.

I will give the students about 5 minutes to work with their groups to review the

vocabulary words (including the picture clue and definition for each word) and to try to come up

with predications about the story. Then I will pass out the prediction guide and go over the
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directions on the document camera. The prediction guide is not a strategy I have tried before, but

I have seen other teachers do something similar. I created this document myself (see Appendix

2). Next I will ask students to work with their groups to fill out the prediction guide. Each

student will have their own copy to keep them accountable. Each group will have copies of The

Book Thief for the students to examine as well as the four vocabulary manipulatives. However, I

am not allowing students to open the book- instead they will need to be detectives and look

closely at the front and back covers to make their predictions. I think this will take us about 10

minutes. Once we are finished, we will discuss and then I will show them the movie trailer for

The Book Thief as a closing activity (about 20 minutes for prediction guide, trailer, and

discussion). This trailer is also one of the resources from Scholastic Action.

2. Reading (DURING):

On day 3, we will read the Book Thief excerpt! I have decided to type up this excerpt so

that each student can have a printed copy. This will help my students focus and comprehend the

text since they can use the close reading/annotating skills weve been working on. I dont always

require my students to annotate, but I will let them know that this text is very abstract and

complex and requires extra effort, so we need to use our strategies to fully understand it. I have

bolded the vocabulary words that I chose ahead of time to focus on for this excerpt, and I will

remind students that they can use the vocabulary manipulatives in the baggies if they need

support with those words while reading. However, I will also have students highlight or

otherwise note words they are not sure of, as this is a strategy they are familiar with using and

will help me to see how challenging the overall vocabulary of the text was for them.
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Before students read, I will do a quick review of the vocabulary words from yesterday,

the prediction guide, and figurative language. Then I will display the annotation expectations on

the board for students who get stuck while reading. I will let students know that I will be giving

them a comprehension assessment after reading so they should give their best effort to

understanding and remembering when they read. After this, I will have students take about 15

minutes to do a silent and independent very close reading of this excerpt, including meaningful

annotations for every paragraph. I will walk around and monitor how they are doing and see if

they seem to be getting it. I am also curious to see if they remember to refer back to the

vocabulary words that are inside the baggies if they need support while reading. This will be the

first time they have had this resource during a close-read.

3. Postreading (AFTER):

In this lesson, I plan to kind-of blend the during reading and post reading stages.

Once students have finished reading and annotating independently, I am going to try a guided

reading procedure. This will be my first time using this strategy. I plan to have students flip over

their papers when they have finished reading. Then I will have them write anything they

remember from the story on another sheet of paper, without looking back at the story. After a

minute or two, when students seem to be finished writing, I will use the document camera to

create a collaborative group list of what the class remembers. As our textbook states, I will write

down each suggestion, whether it is true or not. I will have students add new suggestions to their

personal lists as we work together as a class.

Once the class has come up with as many details from the story as they can remember, I

will have them flip their paper back over and we will do a quick close read of the story together.
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I will model my annotation and thought-process using the document camera and the students will

be adding to their annotation as we go if they did not meet the requirements for annotating on

their own. I will assess how well students remember and understand the vocabulary words in

context by writing an explanation of the meaning over each word (with their help) and going

over how that meaning affects the story. The students will also call out to add their ideas and

questions for each part and this will guide our discussion. Furthermore, we will be fact-checking

against our list and making corrections as necessary.

As stated in our textbook, I think this activity will remind my students how close-reading

and annotating can help them to understand and remember what they have read. I anticipate that

my students who do the most annotation and take the longest to work through the story

independently will perform better than students who rush through, and I will be monitoring this

as we go through the activities. I will also open up a quick discussion about this when we have

finished re-reading as a brief after-reading activity and self-evaluation. Finally, I will ask

students if they can predict a connection between this text and our unit theme.

D. Assessment: I plan to assess student learning through a variety of informal measures,

including a review of student work samples during and after each class as well as notes made

during observations. Specifically, I will review student performance on the figurative language

worksheet, the prediction guide, and the annotations made during the close reading of the

excerpt. I will also assess learning through on-going observations of small group and large group

discussions.

III. Reflection
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Plan: I think my SRE plan is strong because it incorporates strategies that will be fun and

engaging for my students. I am hoping that it speaks to a wide variety of learning styles and is

just challenging enough for optimal student success. One area of improvement I see is that I am

not differentiating the activities within the group to address different reading levels. However, I

think the literacy strategies are strong enough that all my students will benefit from these

activities. I anticipate that my students will respond very well to this plan, although I am a little

worried that the text might be too difficult or abstract for them to understand.

Implementation: I loved doing this SRE with my students. It was a lot of work to plan

and I was nervous about stepping out of my comfort zone with so many new activities, but I

think that made it even better. My students were engaged throughout all three days and I know

they have a strong foundation in our unit theme and topic as we continue through this unit. I will

absolutely use all of these activities again in the future. In my initial reflection, I was worried

that some of my students would not be able to understand the text. Now I feel strongly that even

if they did not 100% understand the text when they read it independently, they understood it well

by the time we worked through it whole group, and I know it was good practice for them to be

challenged by such a difficult text.

One thing I would change about my SRE is that my students were mostly in their seats

during days 2 and 3. They were barely in their seats at all on day 1 and the energy in the

classroom was amazing. In the future, I am going to do my best to mix up my activities so they

have at least one kinesthetic activity per class period. I also did not include small group work in

day 3, only independent and whole group work, and I would change that in the future to

accommodate more learning preferences. Something I plan to add this week is to have my

students do a quick survey about their engagement and enjoyment for each activity, as well as a
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rating for how effective each activity was in helping them learn. I love using quick surveys in my

classes to get the student perspective. Because I use them often and make changes in our class

based on the results, my students believe they are listened to and are willing to answer honestly.

References

CMAPP WCPSS: 8th ELA Unit 3: Risking It All. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2016, from
http://cmapp.wcpss.net/guide/instructional/id/6932/ref/9739
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Inside/Outside Circles. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2016, from

http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/inside-outside-circles

Lexile Analyzer Results. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2016, from

https://lexile.com/analyzer/results/3900015/

M. (2012). SIOP Model for Teaching English Learners - Lesson Delivery. Retrieved April 24,
2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVGbz4EqyGs

Quizlet. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2016, from https://quizlet.com/133938228/book-thief-

vocabulary-excerpt-one-flash-cards/

Scaffolds for Critical Thinking. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2016, from
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/scaffolding-critical-thinking

Scholastic Action. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://action.scholastic.com/

Text Readability Consensus Calculator. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2016, from
http://www.readabilityformulas.com/freetests/six-readability-formulas.php

Vacca, R. T., Vacca, J. L., & Mraz, M. (2014). Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning
Across the Curriculum. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Zusak, M. (2006). The Book Thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Appendix 1

Excerpt from The Book Thief (p. 31-32)

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Upon her arrival, you could still see the bite marks of snow on her hands and the frosty

blood on her fingers. Everything about her was undernourished. Wirelike shins. Coat hanger

arms. She did not produce it easily, but when it came, she had a starving smile.

Her hair was a close enough brand of German blond, but she had dangerous eyes. Dark

brown. You didnt really want brown eyes in Germany around that time. Perhaps she received

them from her father, but she had no way of knowing, as she couldnt remember him. There was

really only one thing she knew about her father. It was a label she did not understand.

*** A STRANGE WORD ***

Kommunist

Shed heard it several times in the past few years.

Communist.

There were boardinghouses crammed with people, rooms filled with questions. And that

word. That strange word was always there somewhere, standing the corner, watching from the

dark. It wore suits, uniforms. No matter where they went, there it was, each time her father was

mentioned. She could smell it and taste it. She just couldnt spell or understand it. When she

asked her mother what it meant, she was told that it wasnt important, that she shouldnt worry

about such things. At one boardinghouse, there was a healthier woman who tried to teach the

children to write, using charcoal on the wall. Liesel was tempted to ask her the meaning, but it

never eventuated. One day, that woman was taken away for questioning. She didnt come back.