Reader's & Writers Notebook Lesson

Supporting Classroom Teachers in Practice

Reading Coach Candidate: Teacher :
Date : 02/26/2013
Lesson Focus: Reader’s Workshop/Book introduction
|Literacy research that supports the instruction (IRA 1.2) |
|This lesson: |Recommendations for future instruction: |
|This lesson reflected the beliefs of McLaughlin & Allen guided reading comprehension, where the | |
|students are taking part in a step-by-step teaching framework that encourages students to become |I really believe that Brittani included a great amount of strategies into this lesson that were |
|an active and strategic reader by providing explicit strategy instruction. This research |beneficial and engaging for the students learning. At this time I do not have any |
|encourages opportunities for engagement, and a variety of texts and instructional settings. |recommendations. |
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|Methods used in this lesson to promote learning (IRA 2.2) |
|Strengths/challenges observed in this lesson: |Recommendations: |
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|Strengths: Brittani did an outstanding job introducing the text using the anticipation guide. |Prior to asking the students to complete “thick & thin” independently, give prime examples of |
|This allowed for the students to use their prior knowledge, and opinions to make connections with|what you are looking for, and model the question being written. |
|themselves and other texts. Once the students made predictions as to what the text would be about| |
|based on the anticipation guide, she then introduced “thick & thin questions” which is a strategy| |
|that could continually be used throughout the text reading. Brittani thoroughly explained the | |
|differences of these two questions, asking the students using the key words. (Thin: when, where, | |
|who, and how many?) (Thick: why, these questions make you think more deeply about the concept and| |
|require you to make connections to the text). This allowed for student success when reading, as | |
|it was an engaging activity for the students to take part in. Students wrote “thick & thin | |
|questions” based on their book walk, the question included” | |
|What do you think the story is about based on the cover? | |
|Why is chapter 1 titled “Failure”? | |
|What do you think their culture is like? | |
|Where do you believe these people live? | |
|Where do you think these students go to school? | |
|Why do you think this will be a good book? | |
|Why is the title of the book “Three Cups of Tea”? | |
|What happens to Amira Morteson? | |
|Who are the main characters of the story? | |
|What if Greg actually found a school for his sister? | |
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|Challenges: | |
|The students were challenged to create three thick & three thin questions based on the book walk.| |
|It took a few minutes to encourage them to complete the task but worked diligently as they got | |
|started. Once they began working they were able to create several “thin” questions; however they | |
|were challenged coming up with three “thick” questions. At this time Brittani gave explicit | |
|examples of “thick” questions to motivate the students thinking. At this time, three questions | |
|between the two students were created. | |
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|Instructional grouping ( IRA 2.1) |
|Strengths/challenges observed in this lesson: |Recommendations: |
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|The group which we are working with includes a fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. All of the |I believe Brittani did an excellent job encouraging Eliza to reread the text, as she showed her |
|students have a passion for reading, yet need improvements specifically with their reading |the 10 ways to read from The Book Whisper. Though Eliza is reluctant to reread it, I believe you |
|comprehension, and writing abilities. Two of the three students were highly engaged in the text |can encourage her to do so, it obtain a better understanding of the text. |
|selected, anxious to begin reading right away. Brittani encouraged the students to find a | |
|comfortable spot to begin reading, allowing them to escape from the library, and immerse | |
|themselves into the book. | |
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|Challenge: | |
|One challenge was that Eliza had already read this text two years prior. Eliza disengaged, and | |
|wanted to select another book to read. Due to the problem Brittani encourage to reread the text, | |
|and to possibly skim through it to refresh her memory, and to answer any questions she may have | |
|had last time when reading. I noticed that Eliza asked what the definition of word illiterate | |
|was. This demonstrated to me that it would benefit to Eliza to reread this text because, it was | |
|such a predominate word in the text. Brittani demonstrated Miller’s ten way of reading, and | |
|demonstrated that it is ok to reread a book whether it is because you love the book, or to obtain| |
|a better understanding. | |
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|Instructional materials used in this lesson. Include how reading levels, interests, and students’ cultural/linguistic backgrounds are addressed |
|(IRA 4.1) |
|Strengths/challenges observed in this lesson: |Recommendations: |
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|The leveled text which was used was at a fifth grade level. The title of the text was “Three Cups|Brittani had over planned, which is outstanding in case the activities did not last as long as |
|of Tea”. This is a non-fiction memoir, which will introduce the students to the idea of a man who|that had, or if something she had brought did not work well. I recommend that she does this each |
|is committed to reducing poverty and promoting education for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. |time to ensure that the students are fully engaged throughout the hour sessions. |
|This is a culture which they are not deeply exposed to, and expressed how they would be | |
|interested in learning more. This book was also selected based on the students reading inventory,| |
|and how they had no much experience with this type of text. Other materials for this lesson | |
|included post-it notes for the “thick & thin questions” and “stop & jot”, an anticipation guide, | |
|a checklist for the teacher’s use to evaluate the students “thick & thin questions”, and a rubric| |
|for the writing piece. The students were provided with a reader’s and writer’s notebook during | |
|this time as well, where the students are respond to their readings, and reflect on what has | |
|taken place. | |
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|Challenges: | |
|Again because Eliza had already read this text, it has posed to be a problem until we agreed that| |
|she should reread the book due to her lack of understanding on key terms used in the text. | |
|Instructional books/multimodal formats used in this lesson. Include how reading levels, interests, and students’ cultural/linguistic backgrounds are addressed |
|(IRA 4.2) |
|Strengths/challenges observed in this lesson: |Recommendations: |
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|The book used for this lesson was “Three Cups of Tea”, which is of a fifth grade reading level. | |
|This is a non-fiction memoir, which was selected based on the reading inventory given to the | |
|students in the first session. This book will allow the students to learn about a new culture, | |
|which they have never been exposed to. This book allows insight of a girl’s life, within the | |
|Afghani and Pakistani culture. Brittani allowed the students to multimodal as they tapped into | |
|prior knowledge with the anticipation guide. This allowed for students to begin their thinking, | |
|discussing prior experiences and opinions. | |
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|Assessment of students and determining future instructional needs (IRA 3.2) |
|Analysis of assessments used, and appropriateness for determining future instruction: |Recommendations: |
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|Brittani in this session used several forms of assessment. The first type of assessment she | |
|included in her lesson was an anticipation guide. This allowed her to see what type of background|Brittani had brought a variety of assessments which were well thought out and planned. I |
|knowledge the students had, and what topics would need to be elaborated on. Next, the students |recommend that she fill them out as the students are completing the work if possible, so that she|
|used post-it notes for the “stop & jot”, and “thick & thin questions”. This allowed Brittani to |does not leave out any crucial information that will help to further plan the future lessons. |
|access the student’s questions and to see how deeply the students understood the text prior to | |
|their reading and during. This helped her to determine where their questions may lie within the | |
|book. She also included a checklist with an area for notes to see how the students did when asked| |
|to produce three “thin questions”, and three “thick questions”. Lastly, she included a rubric for| |
|their writing piece, where the students could self-assess themselves to produce their personal | |
|best first draft. I believe that these were all key components to further instruction. I used the| |
|information which she obtained from the lesson, to build my next lesson using the same text. I | |
|had found that the students lacked background knowledge about the areas of Afghanistan, and | |
|Pakistan which resulted in me creating a K-W-P-L chart to see what they do already know, and to | |
|find out what they would like to learn. I also believe that these forms of assessment were | |
|appropriate for this age group, as it made them responsible for their own work. It allowed them | |
|to have their own freedom as they worked independently without constant reminders from the | |
|teacher. These assessments also allowed for self-reflection and peer-reflection for Brittani and| |
|myself to use to continue instruction. | |
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|Modeling of reading/writing as life-long activities (IRA 4.3) |
|Strengths/challenges observed in this lesson: |Recommendations: |
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|To model the reading, Brittani began by reading the “Foreword” and the “Intro’ to the students. |Brittani modeled reading excellently as she read with good expression, accuracy, and rate. I |
|Here she modeled expression, rate, and accuracy. This was a positive role model for the students |believe that the activities which she had modeled with carryover into the students reading each |
|as they were given an example of what it was like to read at a good pace, to better their reading|time and encouraged them to higher level thinking. I recommend that next time, she allows more |
|comprehension. Brittani also demonstrated the importance of using context clues to determine the|time for the reading to be completed. |
|meaning of a word, or looking it up in the dictionary to build a deeper understanding. Brittani | |
|also demonstrated the multiple uses of post-it notes and how useful that can be. She recommended | |
|the students place the notes in their book as they come to an interesting fact, or to an area | |
|where they had a question to later discuss. This encouraged students to become active readers who| |
|are responsible for their own reading, and want to better their comprehension. Because this is | |
|such a simple task, I believe that this is something which the girls will continue to do in their| |
|classroom readings, as well as at home. | |
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|Challenges: | |
|During the silent reading time, it was the goal that the students would be able to complete both | |
|chapters 1 & 2 independently. Due to time restraints the students were only able to read to | |
|page four. | |
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|How the learning context motivated learners intrinsically/extrinsically (IRA 4.4) |
|Strengths/challenges observed in this lesson: |Recommendations: |
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