Take Control of the Teaching Standards

Taking Control of the Teaching Standards

This blog post is well timed as I'm writing it, refreshed after the Thanksgiving holiday break. Whatever I am teaching seems to bring up the life lessons that are a needed refresher, and this topic of taking control of the teaching standards is a great place now in the school year. From the beginning my motto and also fallback mode has been to prepare--as an educator I can tell the days that go smoothly are those in which I have grounded myself in the purpose of the lessons and also feel intentional about how I will be throughout the day. When I know the focus it is easier to get things on track. Of course there are those days, even when you've thoroughly prepared, that everything seems to be going array. You know, that's okay too. It's important as the teacher to also model flexibility and the good old breather break--for everyone. 

The standards are a heavily invested in agreement of what to teach children--and it is an essential guidepost for both the overall year, units and everyday learning. Therefore it is important to break them down into manageable steps. And a standard is not necessarily something a student can master in a day. These are stepping stones that need to be repeated, reminded of and connected to new learning. Our brains are amazing instruments, and one of the fastest ways to grow new pathways and develop new skills is by repetition. 

Therefore when lesson planning I take into careful consideration how to connect the daily lesson to prior knowledge (schema) and other content we are learning in class. When students can have that cross-content connection they become more apt to think outside the box and think critically. Therefore for each lesson I start with thinking about the BIG ROCKS. What? This metaphor is often used in terms of life balance--if your time is a container and you have activities to fit inside it; if you place the big rocks in first (greatest priorities), and then the sand or filler after, then it all fits in. If you however place the filler in first, there is no space for the big rocks. As my grandma always reminded: Keep your priorities clear!

My priority is to teach, to teach essential language and the strategies for students to decode language. For I fundamentally believe that reading provides opportunities.

So let's look practically how to dissect standards to extract the BIG ROCKS, and how to emphasize and utilize academic language during a lesson. Below is a lesson plan, in preparation of teaching Benchmark Reading Unit 7. As you can see there is a long list of standards, but I knew from connecting the dots (highlighted verbs from each standard), that my students must be able to identify and explain their thinking. Therefore I wanted to create repetitive prompting that could be used not only in this lesson but repeatedly this week. As an artist as well, I'm always looking for ways to add in some creativity--and to allow that for my students as well. Prior to the lesson plan are the supporting visuals and materials utilized to develop this repetitive academic language.

My cat was a fan of this stem. If only she knew how to read, then she'd  be happy.

Resident’s Name Kyra Christopherson

Subject/Anticipated length of the lesson 25-30 min. In total (divided into two parts)

Grade K

Date 11/27/17

Title:  Holidays & Celebrations (Intro and shared reading)

Academic Content Standards (Connected to Benchmark lesson): RI.K.2: With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text. RI.K.5: Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book. RI.K.7: With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what noun an illustration depicts). RI.K.10: Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding., answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood. SL.K.1b: Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges. SL.K.2: Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details requesting clarification if something is not understood. SL.K.3: Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood. W.K.2: Use a combination of drawing, dictating and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic. W.K.8: With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. L.K.1a: Print many upper and lowercase letters. L.K.1e: Use the most frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by, with

Student Objective(s)/Learning Target(s):  At three distinct times students will be able to...          (Launch and listen) ask what, when, where, why and how questions; share what they know about holidays and keep a conversation going with classmates           (Shared reading) use fix-up monitoring strategy, identify the title of a text and read with expression.           (Writing) to identify key details in a text, write a key detail and use prepositions.

Assessment

How will you know that all students met the objective(s)/learning target(s)?

Pre-assessment:  What knowledge do students already have related to the objective of the lesson?  What evidence have you collected to support this?  How will you connect prior knowledge to the lesson? Prior to Thanksgiving break we had spoken about special days--holidays in which we celebrate people and events. During this more formal introduction I will be listening and watching for connection to previous understanding and personal experience. We will begin by watching Holidays and Celebrations short video, which presents the essential questions: Why do we celebrate people and events? Then Think, Turn & Talk about what holidays they like to celebrate. When they are asked to share example (whole group) I will record on paper. Informal assessments will be drawn from how students turn & talk, their engagement and expression in reading with the shared reading (prompted).

Formative Assessment(s):    How do you intend to check for understanding throughout the lesson and what instructional decisions will you make based on the evidence you collect? Our formal assessment whole group will be from eliciting responses in our collaborative conversation about the key details from “The First Thanksgiving.” We will also have a writing portion thereafter in which each student work/understanding will be visible.

Summative Assessment(s)    When you look at your lesson objective(s), how will you will you find out if students learned what you intended at the end of the lesson/unit? I will notice who and how students follow directions--is it the first time? Do they need reminders? Who seems to really be engaged and following along? Students will have learned this lesson objective if they are able to respond in connection to the topic and follow strategies with prompting.

Using the Context for Learning

Think about the students in your class who may need different strategies/supports, accommodations, or

modifications to support instruction (e.g. students with IEPs, 504 plans, ELL, struggling readers, underperforming students, gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students).

Learner Needs: *Attention redirections for gifted and students with IEPs. Have them sit next to friends who have been kind, exemplary models. * ELL students who will need extra clarification.

Describe how you will adjust/modify instruction for one or more need you have identified. *Changed name for confidentiality * Lucas has been continuing to touch kids during group time so to have a specific seat that I have spoken with him about prior to the lesson (he’s a gifted student). For *Anna and *Aaron I will give them small prompt cards (and index card with the stems) for them to use during the turn & talk. This will be set up prior to the lesson so that they are given time to practice speaking the stem language.

Academic Vocabulary

What terms and/or concepts will students need to know in this lesson? Repeat/Directions How will you teach this vocabulary?  Repeat--I will repeat and use a non-verbal, directions I will also use a Tucker hand signal that we consistently use for expression, communication, assertiveness and thinking. I encourage students to ask questions if a word is unclear--many are becoming familiar and comfortable asking.

Academic Language:  function, forms, frame

What academic language function is required in this lesson?  (seek information, inform, compare, order, classify, analyze, infer, justify/persuade, solve problems, synthesize, evaluate) Students are seeking information, comparing and identifying throughout the three parts of this lesson.

What language form(s) will support the language function?  Consult your academic language functions/forms chart to complete this section. Identify and retell

Include one sentence frame you expect students to be able to complete if they have mastered the objective(s)/learning target(s).  I like to celebrate____because ____ (when students identify a holiday they celebrate, I will hold up the identify card), and whole group chart: I learned that ___ (place the identify card). One key detail is ___ (place the retell).

Materials Needed for Entire Lesson

Consumables i.e. construction paper, craft sticks, water, paper towels	Non-consumables i.e. geoboards, buckets, beakers, large maps, puzzles	Digital Technology i.e. Smartboard, iPads, CD player	Students Provide i.e. crayons, pencils, math book, notebook	Paper Documents i.e. prepared worksheets, templates, blank maps
	Mentor read aloud & shared reading Benchmark texts
	Listening Rules Poster

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks

Time 10 minutes	Frontloading, the Anticipatory Set, the Launch:  What attention grabber/hook will you use to get students into the lesson?  Consider establishing relevance, asking higher order thinking questions and using hands-on experiences that draw in your students and get them excited and ready to learn. Teacher will . . . Students will . . . . Connect to previous lesson (Visit from a Veteran) and personal experience with a holiday break. Introduce: View video, hold Turn & Talk (I like to celebrate____because ____) and whole group share out (3-5 students). Then we will have a shared reading of Veterans day, learning the Fix-Up strategies--or what I call “Read ahead” strategy. Skillful readers can figure out something that confuses them by reading ahead. Then they stop and reflect (model). Reflect on what we learned last time, and begin to think of retelling personal experience. Students will listen, identify and connect to essential question. Students are listening to this new reading strategy and then will be asked to practice along.
Time 10 minutes	The Instructional Sequence Steps: Preview the Genre/Read Collaborative Conversations/Share Wrap-up with reinforcing the strategy Teacher will . . . Students will . . . . Display “The First Thanksgiving” and ask students to share observations--is it informational or fictional? Why? Read the text expressly (captions too). “The purpose was to listen to how the first Thanksgiving happened, now that you’ve heard the story you can say a detail about the first thanksgiving. Remember to listen to what your classmates say so that you do not repeat the same detail.” Record shared details on chart. Point out observations deciding whether it is informational or fictional--and stating why they thought that. Students listen and reflect about how the first Thanksgiving happened. Students retell details of the story and closely listen to what their peers say as not to repeat.
Time 10 minutes	Closure:  How will you involve students in closing the lesson (i.e. revisit and assess progress toward meeting the objective/learning target)? Teacher will . . . Students will . . . . Recap: “Today you practiced skills of a good reader, you learned if you are confused, then read ahead. You also learned how to identify a key detail and share it by retelling. You learned lots of skills today just like the pilgrims learned lots of new skills when they came to America. Students listen and then sketch a key detail they learned about in “The First Thanksgiving.” Writing a message about their illustration. Students get to share writing and read to a buddy Whole group conclusion. “Very good, very good, YAY!” (Cheer), personal reflections.

You see, taking control of the standards doesn't have to sink you as a teacher, they can be the stepping stones to help you and your students bridge that learning gap. Just remember--jump to the 

BIG ROCKS!