Lesson 3: Venn Diagram

· What did students learn and which students struggled with the lesson?

-In this lesson students learned what a similarity is and what a difference is. They made text-to-text and text-to-self connections. They learned what a Venn Diagram is and how to use it to compare books. The students compared the two books and the characters in the books to each other and came up with some very good ideas. A handful of students struggled with this lesson because they had been pulled out of the class and had missed some of the stories being read.

· What are alternate reads (interpretations) of your students' performance or products?

-I think the students made very good connections while we were making the venn diagram. If I was an outsider I would have been able to notice right away that they were more interested in the book Iktomi and the Boulder. I would think this based on the venn diagram because the majority of the ideas were related to that story.

· What did you learn about your students' literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?

-I learned that my students are very intrigued by Native American stories. The two books that I read captivated the students; they were very engaged in the books. I also found out that for many of them it was easy to find things that were similar and different. The students knew a lot about Native Americans to begin with. They knew about teepees and they were able to compare their own lives to the lives of the characters. They could point out that the clothing was different in the story than the clothing that they wear.

· When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?

-I will re-teach the material to students who need extra support this week. I will take them aside from the rest of the class and I will show them the venn diagram that the class made. I will then show them the parts in the book that the students focused on the most when creating the venn diagram.

· If you were to teach this same lesson again, what would you do differently and how do you think the changes would improve students' learning?

-If I were to teach this lesson again I would have done a sample venn diagram with the students on two books that they are very familiar with. I would have also done a lesson before hand on being able to find similarities and differences between texts. I think if I had done these two things more of the students would have been able to contribute to our venn diagram and they would have found more similarities and differences.

Lesson 2: The Quilt Story

What did students learn and which students struggled with the lesson?

· In this lesson the students learned how to look for details in a book. They made text-to-self connections. I asked the students to think about something that they love such as a blanket or favorite stuffed animal that they could not live without. I wanted them to be able to relate this feeling to the way the character felt in the book. I think the thing that the students struggled with the most was writing a sentence on the post-it note. Many of them still struggle greatly with their writing in general. Also, I gave the students a model of what I was looking for and many of the students wrote what I had said as a model. There were only a handful of “original” ideas.

What are alternate reads (interpretations) of your students' performance or products?

· I thought my students were really going to struggle with the text-to-self connections. I did not know if they were going to be able to see similarities or differences between themselves and the book. I guided them into what they should be looking for but they made the connections on their own. I modeled for them how they should be thinking and demonstrated how I would be thinking. I think the sentences that the students created are hard to read. The students are not used to writing without lines and many of the students are still working on their writing and are even still in the letter-string stage.

What did you learn about your students' literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?

· I learned that the students knew a lot about feelings. They made great text-to-self connections between the book and their own lives. I also learned that the students in my class are capable of writing in complete sentences. I stressed this concept to them numerous times before they began and also numerous times while they were working. I gave them examples of a complete sentence and of a one word answer. They all did very well with this.

When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?

· I will re-teach this lesson to students that need additional support in a small group setting during a free choice. This is the best time to pull students from the classroom so that they are not missing important lessons. I will take them to a quiet setting. I will re-read the book to the students having them pay close attention to the way the character feels. I will then discuss with them the importance of feelings and hope to get them to understand how the character felt.

If you were to teach this same lesson again, what would you do differently and how do you think the changes would improve students' learning?

· If I could do this lesson again I would have paused and thought aloud as I was reading the books, letting them know that I think it may have been a clue to the answer of the question. I also would have let them know my objectives before I read the book to them so they know what they should expect and so they know what they should be looking for and paying attention to throughout the book. I think this would have improved the students’ learning because it would have given more time throughout the book to know what details to pay attention to. I also would have let the students know to use a model as a guide, not to copy word for word. Many of the students wrote the exact model that I told them. If I had emphasized this concept I think more of the students would have had more original responses to the question.

Lesson 1: KWL

My first lesson of GLT was actually a 2 day lesson. On day one I read an informational text about what school was like during the pioneer days with my students and then we filled out the K and W sections of a KWL chart. The KWL not only tied into our social studies theme of the pioneer days, but also the field trip we were taking to a nature center the next day to continue learning about life 100 years ago. The goal was to think about what we already knew and generate new questions that we could take with us on the field trip. The next day after returning, we completed the L section and filled it with the new information we had learned. During day one of the lesson.

I was surprised by how much my students struggled to come up with information they already knew about the pioneer days, especially since just minutes before I asked them to think about what they already know we had just finished reading an entire book about the topic (not to mention the information I assumed they had in their brains from the 2 books the previous day). As we were reading they were having no trouble shouting out tid bits of things that they found interesting or different or surprising, but as soon as I asked them to raise their hand and share what they knew, I was hearing answers that were anything but relevant. They started telling me things about tornadoes and bugs, but nothing about what the pioneers wore, how they rode horses, hunted for food, heated their homes, etc. I was confused because as we read I had heard them say all of the exact things I was expecting and hoping they’d share at the end during our KWL discussion. I know that the students learned specific details about the lives of the pioneers at their homes and schools (mainly similarities and differences between then and now) but they were struggling with retrieving and sharing what they had learned.

The more I thought about the situation the more I realized that my students had had very few experiences with informational text before this and maybe they were processing their comprehension of informational texts differently than they did with narratives. I had never seen them struggle with discussions before but I realized all of them had revolved around fiction. I now realize that there are different strategies and even ways to use the same strategies for comprehending informational text verses narratives and to be more aware of that. If I were to do this again I would add to the K and W sections as we looked at the information in the non-fiction book and not wait until the end. Because my students seemed by the end to be almost overloaded with information, I think they would not only more easily reflect but also find it easier to share what they know throughout our reading during short comprehension breaks as we read.

(I teach my next two lessons this week.)

Lesson 3

· What did students learn and which students struggled with the lesson?

• Students learned about authors purpose and discussed ideas on why the big book “Jungle Drum” could have been written and also why the author did certain things with the text. For example the book had a lot of sounds the animals made written out. The student then chose an animal that lives in the jungle and they illustrated their own page and wrote a sentence about what “they heard” in the jungle and then they had to write the sounds the animal makes on their page to make a class book. I had to do more prompting when it cam to talking about the text in the book but the students thought of good ideas as to why the author may have written the book.

· What are alternate reads (interpretations) of your students' performance or products?

• From their responses about why the author wrote the book such as “so we can help animals”, and from their own illustrations of animals I can tell it is something that interests a lot of the students and it great to see them put time into the little project.

· What did you learn about your students' literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?

• They need more prompting when it comes to a more in depth discussion topic and it is not a topic I would have them discuss in partners or small groups yet. They do have ideas about word choice and my CT and I related it to their writing time.

· When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?

• During the work time on their illustrations if a student needed help with words and how to write sounds I helped them with sounding it out. This topic of word choice and looking at why the author may have used certain words or fonts or placement of words is something that will come up in later lessons as well, but for additional support I could just refer to the examples from the book and find other examples I could read during read aloud time in the future to have an additional discussion about the topic.

· If you were to teach this same lesson again, what would you do differently and how do you think the changes would improve students' learning?

• I did have another book I read aloud to the students where the author used similar techniques when it came to writing sounds the animals were making but I would have more prompts prepared ahead of time for this specific part of the discussion to really get them to think about the text.

Lesson 2

· What did students learn and which students struggled with the lesson?

• The students love when we get to read a new big book and the illustrations in this weeks big book were cut paper illustrations which was a focus for the discussion. The students discussed different types of illustrations they have seen in books such as pencil sketches, pictures, cartoons and watercolors. The students learned from each other about other books classmates have read or that we have in our classroom library with unique illustrations such as some students like really liked Eric Carle books, and many students agreed with a classmate who mentioned Particia Palacco since the student saw her last year as a visitor/speaker to their school. The one student who struggled is the student that usually has trouble focusing on a task, he was distracting to other students. (he has just been out on a behavior plan so hopefully that will help)

· What are alternate reads (interpretations) of your students' performance or products?

· There really are no other products besides the notes I jotted down during the discussion and the checklist of if students made some type of text to text connection or text to self connection. It could appear that if a student did not get a check mark on the class list that they did not participate at all which most likely is not the case especially since there was a think, pair, share time.

· What did you learn about your students' literacy practices that extend beyond your objectives?

· They were very observant of illustrations and knew a lot about illustrations and knew styles they liked as well as a few of the students knowing specific authors and illustrations and then other classmates agreeing with them or making a connection to a book as well.

· When and how will you re-teach the material to students who need additional support?

· The next day we will be talking about text in books and techniques authors use and that will be a good time to review what we discussed relating to illustrators before we move on to talking about authors. I can also leave the books out that students mentioned when we were talking about different types of illustrations so they can look through them again during independent reading time.

· If you were to teach this same lesson again, what would you do differently and how do you think the changes would improve students' learning?

· I could have had books ahead of time showing different kinds of illustrations instead of looking in the class library for some of the books as the kids mentioned them. I think it would have been fun to have them experiment with the different types of illustrations, maybe we all make some type of cut paper illustration like in the big book.