Demonstration Lessons

Name: Amanda Schumaker Date: May 26, 2015

Classroom Location/Teacher: Grade 2 Topic/Subject: Reading

Curriculum Standards

SOL(s): 2.8h – Summarize stories and events with beginning, middle, and end in the correct sequence.

Essential Question(s): What does the word sequence mean? Why is it important to be able to put events from a story in order after reading?

Lesson Objectives: The student will be able to retell, list, and illustrate, important events from the story in correct order from beginning, middle, and end after listening to a read-aloud fictional text with 95% accuracy.

Assessment of Objectives: The teacher will assess the students’ understanding of sequencing events from a story by administering a “Story Board” worksheet. The student will independently write and illustrate events from the story in order after listening and discussing main events from the text.

BEFORE (Content, Viewing or Listening):Teacher:

1. The teacher will do a picture walk of the story “Silly Goose’s BIG Story” by Keiko Kasza. TTW read a blurb on the back cover of the book to the students.

2. TTW ask the students, “If I asked you to tell me what happened in the story when we were done, where would you start and finish (beginning or end)? Why?”

Student:1. The student will discuss and make predictions of the story based on the picture walk and blurb read by the

teacher.2. TSW brainstorm and discuss where they would start and finish explaining events from the story.

DURING (Content, Viewing or Listening):TTW read aloud the story to the students with dramatic expression. While reading, ttw ask students to summarize the main events from the story up to that point in order. TTW encourage students to participate when reading parts of the story in repetition.

AFTER (Content, Viewing or Listening):TTW ask students to think, pair, share about the events from the story. TSW retell the story to a partner while putting the main events in sequence.TTW ask a student to now explain why it is important to tell the events in order rather than out of order – discuss.TTW ask a set of partners to verbally share what they came up with during think, pair, share time when retelling the story.TSW fill out a story board by writing and illustrating events from the story in sequence from beginning, middle, and

end.

Resources & Work Samples:

Reflection:

1. Why did you model this lesson? I met with the teacher, and she said that she just covered sequencing skills. She told me that the children needed more practice with the skill. She wanted me to find a worksheet or graphic organizer that would provide a visual of the process of sequencing a story after reading to strengthen comprehension skills.

2. What instructional techniques did you choose for this lesson and why did you choose them? I made sure to activate the children’s prior knowledge before reading to help them make connections and start thinking about the text to gain focus before reading. I asked them about the meaning of sequencing to make sure they understand what it means and the importance of putting events from a story in order when retelling. I had the children think, pair, and share their thoughts to get discussions and ideas flowing from one student to another. I found a graphic organizer for the students to work with to provide a visual of the sequencing process.

3. Was there an important aspect of the lesson you hope the teacher understood? If so, what was it and why was that so important? I hope the teacher learned that you must engage the students before, during, and after a story. I see so many teachers jump right into reading a story without activating the students’ prior knowledge. Most of those same teachers do not have an in depth discussion about the text during or after the story, and they expect the students to be able to perform seat work using a skill that they have not truly learned, practiced, or mastered.

4. How would you encourage the teacher to use or implement this technique into her instruction? I made a copy of my lesson plan that I made for this lesson, and I provided her with a copy to review. I highlighted the before, during, and after sections. I explained that it is important to use all parts (B/D/A) no matter the reading skill that is being covered during that lesson.

5. How would you continue to support this teacher in her instructional methods? I told this teacher that I would be willing to come back and teach another lesson or even come and watch her teach using the B/D/A teaching method. I plan on doing some research on the B/D/A reading method, and sharing the research about this best practice with the teacher for future references.

Name: Amanda Schumaker Date: May 27, 2015

Classroom Location/Teacher: Grade 4 Topic/Subject: Reading

Curriculum Standards

SOL(s): 4.5c – Identify the main idea.

Essential Question(s): What does main idea mean? (Mostly About) Why is the main idea of this page / story?

Lesson Objectives: The student will be able to identify and explain the main idea of the story and/or a given section of the story when asked verbally or prompted to answer a written question with 98% accuracy.

Assessment of Objectives: The teacher will assess the students’ understanding of the main idea from a story by administering a main idea and supporting details graphic organizer. The student will independently write about the main idea and details from the story in order after reading and discussing the nonfiction text.

BEFORE (Content, Viewing or Listening):Teacher:

3. The teacher will do a picture walk of the nonfiction story “Hot Shots” from Scholastic Coreclicks. TTW play an audio blurb to activate the students’ prior knowledge.

4. TTW list important vocabulary words on the board (slopes / molten / magma / scolding) for the students to write, make predictions, and hunt for throughout the story.

5. TTW write the words ‘main idea’ on the board and ask the students if they know what ‘main idea’ means when reading a story.

Student:3. The student will discuss and make predictions of the story based on the picture walk and audio blurb read by

the Scholastic researcher.4. TSW list vocabulary words and make predictions about the meaning of the words.5. TSW brainstorm and discuss the meaning of main idea and why it is important to know what the story is

mostly about.

DURING (Content, Viewing or Listening):TTW play the audio of the nonfiction text. TTW take time to discuss nonfiction text features during each section of the story.TSW hunt for vocabulary words while reading, and they will stop to discuss and answer questions throughout the story. When a vocabulary word is found, the student will write the definition on the back of the paper after discussing the meaning and the way it was used in the text.TTW ask the students to identify the main idea of each section of the nonfiction text before moving onto the next section.

AFTER (Content, Viewing or Listening):TTW ask students to think, pair, share about the main idea of the story. TSW retell the story to a partner while putting emphasis on the main idea and supporting details.TTW talk about how supporting details help ‘prove’ what the main idea is. TSW fill in the main idea & supporting details graphic organizer independently.

Resources & Work Samples:

Reflection:

1. Why did you model this lesson? The teacher shared her latest Student Growth Assessment with me. We looked through the data, and we both decided that the students needed help understanding main idea.

2. What instructional techniques did you choose for this lesson and why did you choose them? I used a technology driven nonfiction text because that is the type of text these students use when testing the reading strategies that they have learned. I had them fill in a graphic organizer after reading to organize their thoughts and identify the difference between the main idea and the details that support the main idea.

3. Was there an important aspect of the lesson you hope the teacher understood? If so, what was it and why was that so important? I hope the teacher learned how to identify a need for the students based on data. She did not understand all of the aspects of the data form before we sat down together to look over it. I wanted her to see how easy was to take a skill that they have not mastered and perform a remediation lesson based on that skill while incorporating other important reading skills such as nonfiction text structure and vocabulary building.

4. How would you encourage the teacher to use or implement this technique into her instruction? I encouraged the teacher to print and study her class data after each growth assessment (beginning, middle, and end of year). I offered to help her read and understand data in the future.

5. How would you continue to support this teacher in her instructional methods? I found research articles on progress monitoring and the importance of differentiating reading instruction based on the needs of the students. I explained that data can be used to remediate whole group and small group.