Chelsea Gose- Inquiry Two, Part A

Inquiry Two, Part A:

Discuss Your Target Area and ‘Core Practice’ for Guided Lead Teaching

Talk with your MT about your idea, and use the information you gained from Inquiry One to respond to the following guiding questions listed below.  Email your responses to your instructor before our Week 4 class (September 26) AND post them on your book club blog:

1.     Describe your target area for guided lead teaching.

My target area for guided lead teaching will be about details during reading and writing. I will specifically focus on writing instruction as my target area. During reading, I will focus on the details of the story, including: characters, setting, central message, etc. During writing, I will focus on “small moments” where they students learn to add details to their writing and write about one specific moment in time instead of just one big event that happened.

2.     Approximately how much time per day is allotted for your instruction in this area?

I will have about 40-45 minutes per day to teach each lesson.

3.     Which Common Core State Standard(s) will you work toward?

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.5 With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.

4.     How will teaching in this target area provide opportunities for students to learn important content and/or skills that relate to their lives?  In what ways does this learning include learning literacy, learning about literacy, and/or learning through literacy?

This unit will be important for my students because details are an important part of life. If they use more details in their writing and conversation, others will be able to visualize the story they are telling. It will help them convey their ideas in a clearer and informative way. The students are learning literacy because they are developing their writing and reading skills. They are learning about literacy because they will use different types of genres to guide them in their own writing. They will be able to point out the different aspects of details in a story. They are learning through literacy because they will be able to notice the details in their own writing and in the writing of their peers.

5.     What types of classroom talk take place within this target area? To what extent is the talk teacher-led, student-led, or focused on higher-level thinking? What norms for interaction would you like to build within your classroom as you teach in this target area (e.g., see ideas in Chapter 6 of Strategies that Work, the Berne & Clark 2008 article, or draw from some of the readings done in TE 402 on classroom talk)?

At the beginning of my unit, I will start with teacher-led conversations to introduce each new idea about detail. By the end of the unit, I hope to have more of a student-led atmosphere in the classroom. This goes hand in hand with the gradual release of responsibility. Eventually, my students will be independent writers and will need little to no assistance from the teacher to get their writing done, using the specific details I will be teaching them. I think it will be helpful for the students to share with a partner before doing their writing so they can talk about what they will be doing and brainstorm some ideas before they write their story. We would review how partners work together based on our anchor chart from Writing Workshop.

6.     Which ‘core practice’ do you want to work on developing/improving as you teach in this target area (refer to document “Resources for Developing Core Practices”)? How will focusing on this core practice contribute to your own professional learning?

I will work on developing/improving minilessons focused on learning needs. Focusing on this will help my own professional learning because I will need to get to know my students really well to see which details of writing I need to focus on for my unit. As a teacher, it is very important to know your students so you can plan lessons that are engaging and meaningful. It will also force me to narrow down my ideas to the most important things students need to learn in order to be better writers. I will do my best to make sure I don’t teach any lessons that will not improve their writing skills.

7.     What resources within the community, neighborhood, school district, school or classroom do you have to work with in this target area?

My mentor teacher, teachers in my school, and my classmates will be resources because I can bounce ideas off of them and have them look over my unit to make sure it makes sense and to offer me any suggestions. I pretty much have all of the supplies I will need to teach my lesson. My MT has lots of books on literacy that I will be able to use to help come up with more ideas for my lessons. The school curriculum has a literacy book called Treasure that I can also use. I will also use the school library to find books that I want to use during my lesson.

8.     What additional resources do you need to obtain?

I need to find books that we can do read alouds for that will demonstrate the different aspects of details in a story. I will also need to print out writing workshop paper for my students to use. I will also need large pieces of paper so I can make anchor charts for my students to reference when doing their writing.

9.     How will you pre-assess your students in your target area?

I will have my students do a piece of work about anything they want and just mention that they need to include details. From this, I will determine which details my students are familiar with and what “details” mean to them. I hope that their writing after my unit will include the details that we will be learning about.

10.  What else will you need to find out about all students in your class to help you develop lesson plans for your Guided Lead Teaching?

I would like to sit down and talk with my students individually to see how they feel about writing. I did this for 801 and it was really helpful to hear how they students feel and the specific things they enjoy about that subject. If there is a specific aspect of literacy learning that they don’t enjoy, I will try and modify my lesson to make it more meaningful and enjoyable for my students.

11.  What else do you need/want to learn about the ‘core practice’ to support your planning and teaching?

I would like to research it a little more and figure out what I will teach for my 10 lessons. I will try and find out what would be the most effective lessons so my students can improve their writing over the course of my unit.

12.  What concerns, if any, do you have about planning and teaching your unit?

I can’t think of any concerns at this time. I just really want my students to be able to develop and improve their writing skills. I think they will have fun with my unit!