Comprehension
Comprehension
Comprehension
Target Content/Lesson Topic: Speaking and Listening K-12 (comprehension and collaboration) Date: November 30th, 2023
This lesson is for a(n) __X__ whole class _____ small group _____ individual
Planning
Essential Question How are animals allies?
- What is the essential question that
this lesson addresses?
- What is the core purpose of the
lesson that includes the strategies
and skills necessary to accomplish
the deeper learning in the standard?
Sequencing Students have been working on their unit about animals as allies. As a class, they have read a variety of short
- How does this lesson fit into the stories within their textbook about animals (all with the theme of animals as allies), and these stories will help
larger unit of study? support them in the discussion of this lesson. The students are also currently doing a book club, where each of
- Focus on a logical/hierarchical them got to pick from a choice of novels, all of which have animals within them as well.
sequencing of skills (e.g., main ideas
before details, similarities before
differences).
State Learning Standards SL.6.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher led) with
List the complete, relevant grade- diverse partners on topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing one’s thinking clearly.
level standard(s). a. Come to discussions prepared and explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic,
text, or issue. Support analysis by making connections, paraphrasing, clarifying, or explaining the evidence.
b. With guidance and support, set specific norms and goals for collegial discussions (e.g., gaining attention in
respectful ways, actively listening, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
c. Pose and respond to specific questions with elaboration and detail by making comments that contribute to
the topic, text, or issue under discussion.
d. Review the key ideas expressed and demonstrate an understanding of multiple perspectives through
reflection and paraphrasing.
1
September 2021
Learning Target(s) and Learning LT: I can participate in a collaborative discussion, using textual evidence to support and express my thinking
Objective(s) clearly.
- Choose your learning target(s) and
objective(s) based on the relevant LO: Students will be able to collaborate in a class discussion where they will be building off of one another’s
state learning standard(s). ideas, and using textual evidence to support their thinking in a clear manner.
- Write focused targets and
objectives that describe the specific
learning outcome (what students
should be able to do as a result of
the lesson).
- Be sure they are stated in
observable and measurable terms
(e.g., ABCD+T).
Grouping We will be in a whole group for the beginning of the lesson in order to set the purpose for the lesson
Describe how and why students are and go over instructions. We will also be in a whole group as I model the strategy for the students and
grouped based on do some practice together.
- homogeneous, heterogeneous, Students will then have some independent time working with the strategy and will discuss what they did
randomized with an elbow partner. This allows students to practice on their own, while also having some support
- ability, interest, IEP goals, social or from a friend to discuss any difficulties that they might be having.
social-emotional, behavioral, Finally, students work independently to practice the strategy completely on their own.
language acquisition
The discission will take place as a whole class so that students can build off of one another’s responses
to the discussion prompt. And students will also remain in whole group to finish the lesson as we
summarize and share how the strategy helped them with the discussion.
Co-Teaching Strategy Mentor teacher will be present in the classroom and will help guide the discussion if necessary.
Does this lesson involve co-
teaching? If not, state N/A. If yes, A special Education teacher will be present to help assist students with IEPs who need additional support and
identify the co-teaching model and modifications.
what role each teacher will play.
-One Teach, One Observe; One
Teach, One Assist; Station Teaching;
Parallel Teaching; Supplemental;
Alternative; Team Teaching
2
September 2021
Differentiation Content:
Describe how you will meet The graphic organizer and the text-to-text connection strategy serve as differentiation with the content
individual students’ needs by because students can use their connections to support their thinking about animals as allies.
adjusting the content, process, We will also be reading most of Hachiko out loud as a whole class, which will help with
product, and environment based on comprehension.
their readiness, interests, and learning Students will be given sentence stems to support them within the discussion.
preferences.
Process:
Students will have time to discuss their connections with a partner.
Product:
Students can either share their thinking about animals as allies with the entire class, or they can share
their thinking with me independently.
Environment:
Students will be allowed to work in flexible seating around the room during individual work time when
they are making their text-to-text connections.
Accommodations and/or Modifications Required for Students in Special Education (Add rows as necessary.)
Student(s) Required Accommodation/Modification
3
September 2021
M -Specialized instruction in reading; will have extra support when rereading the text(reading the text with guidance)
T -Specialized instruction in reading; Will have extra support when rereading the text(reading the text with guidance)
B -Specialized instruction in reading; Will have extra support when rereading the text(reading the text with guidance)
--Specialized instruction in written language; will receive help structuring sentences within the graphic organizer.
D -Specialized instruction in reading; Will have extra support when rereading the text(reading the text with guidance)
--Specialized instruction in written language; will receive help structuring sentences within the graphic organizer.
Assessment
Formative Assessment The students’ class discussion about how animals are allies will be their formative assessment. While the
- How will you monitor student students are discussing, I will be taking notes on their level of participation, as well as the ideas that they are
learning throughout the lesson? sharing with the class. I will be looking for them to use the text to support their ideas, as for them to be able to
- Be specific about how your practice share their ideas in a clear and respectful way. I will have a rubric in which I am grading the students as this is
assessments connect directly with the occurring. The discussion will be out of 12 points total, and they can earn up to three points within the four
lesson objective. categories: participation, clarity, use of the text, and listening.
Formative Evaluation Criteria Not yet approaching 1 Approaching 2 Mastering 3
- What material(s) will you use to Participation Student shared one Student shared two Student shared 3 or more
evaluate learning? thoughtful response thoughtful responses thoughtful responses
- Attach a copy of your checklist, within the discussion. within the discussion. within the discussion.
rubric, observation criteria, or other clarity Student shared a thought When sharing a response Student presented their
measure. within the discussion, in the discussion, the response to the
but it was not clear/on thoughts presented discussion in a clear and
topic of the discussion. lacked some clarity organized manor.
Uses the text Student uses personal Student references the Student used specific
experience but does not text while sharing their examples from the text
reference any of the texts thinking but does not use to support their thinking
to support their thinking. specific examples. during the discussion.
4
September 2021
Listening Student showed Student was respectful Student was kind and
difficulty listening and and listening to their respectful, making sure
being respectful while classmates a majority of to be listening when their
their peers were talking. the time while they were classmate was speaking.
speaking.
Summative Assessment For the summative assessment of this standard, students could have a formal fishbowl discussion within their
How will students demonstrate book club groups, and within that discussion, they will be talking about certain key events within their books
mastery of the standard? involving the animal allies. Students will be graded on their participation in the discussion, the clarity of the
Note: This assessment does not have points they are making, their use of textual evidence to support their reasoning, and their respect while listening
to occur during/after this lesson but to their peers.
in upcoming lessons.
Summative Evaluation Criteria Students would be graded on a rubric similar to the one used for the formative assessment, however it will be
- What material(s) will you use to worth a total of 24 points.
evaluate learning?
- Attach a copy of your checklist,
rubric, observation criteria, or other
measure.
Procedures
Opening: Introduction and In order to introduce this lesson and activate their prior knowledge, I will ask them to remind me what
Connection to Previous Learning the theme of their unit is, and what stories we have read that relate to it.
● Anticipatory Activity (Hook) o I will be looking for students to tell me that their unit is about animal allies, and list some of the
● Activate prior knowledge. story stories within the textbook that we have read about animals, as well as their book club
● Be sure students understand books that are about animals.
procedures and instructions for I will then tell them that today, we are going to be reading a new story that relates to the theme of the
the lesson. unit, and that story is called “Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog”.
● Establish clear expectations. Students can make predictions about what the book might be about, and also how it might relate to the
● Model concept. theme of animals as allies based on the title.
The groupings/instruction/lesson Next I will describe the strategy we will be using while we read Hachiko.
progression may look different in different o Good readers use strategies before, during, and after reading that allow them to have a better
parts of the lesson! understanding of what they are reading. These strategies help with comprehension and allow us
5
September 2021
to create deeper meaning within the reading. We have used many different strategies so far, and
some of those strategies are making predictions, asking questions, annotating, summarizing, etc.
o Today, we are going to be reading Hachiko and using a strategy of making connections. While
we are reading, and after we read, we are going to think about other stories and books that we
have read that remind us of Hachiko. This is called a book-to-book connection. We will be
looking for common themes, ideas, or events that happen, and in doing so, we will have a better
understanding of the text. We will use a graphic organizer in order to help us keep our thoughts
nice and organized today.
I will then set the purpose for comprehension, and how the book-book connections strategy will help
support them in the post reading activity.
o We are going to be making connections between different books and stories during and after
reading Hachiko, and making these connections will help support us in the discussion that we
will be having afterwards. It will help us find things that each of these animal stories has in
common. In doing so, we will have more knowledge to answer the discussion prompt: Animals
and people can form unique relationships. How can these relationships affect both the
animal and the person? How are animals allies? We will be keeping this in mind when we
are making our connections.
During: Lesson Progression After explaining the strategy and setting purpose for comprehension, we will then begin reading and
In this portion of the lesson, you will practicing the strategy.
be letting go and letting students I Do:
engage in productive struggle; I will start to read Hachiko, and then when I come across something that I can make a connection to, I
engaging in gradual release (“I do, we will stop and do a think aloud about how that connection came about.
do, you do”), inquiry, guided or o “When Hachiko does___ it reminds me of when____ happened in the Jane Goodall story.”
independent practice, or other o “This made me think of the book___ because____”
learning methods. Please write what o “I also noticed_____ when I was reading the story____”
you are looking for in terms of: o “This also happens in____”
● Students’ thinking and how o “I can connect this to_____ because____”
they will start the lesson. I will also model how I would put this information into the graphic organizer for the students ( making
● Provide appropriate support note to say that graphic organizers are a great way to help us organizer our thoughts).
(not explaining how to do it).
● Provide worthwhile
extensions.
6
September 2021
● Provide opportunities for
students to engage in using
the academic language.
This is where you will be suggesting
or modeling specific strategies
and helping students choose which
strategy makes sense to them.
However, you must make sure ideas
come from students.
We Do:
I will ask for a student volunteer to then read some more of the Hachiko reading.
After we have read a few more paragraphs, I will stop the student and ask for volunteers to share any
connections that they may have made within those few paragraphs.
We will add any connections that the students made within the graphic organizer as well.
7
September 2021
Next we will come back together, and they can share their connections with the whole class of they
wish.
You do independently:
Lastly, students will finish reading Hachiko and independently make one more connection to their
book club books during and after they finish reading.
I will continue to walk around and monitor students during this time.
9
September 2021
The Reading Strategies Book (Strategy 7.11 Book-Book Connections on page 204)
10
September 2021
Book-Book Connections
What happened in Hachiko? Connection to what book/Story? How do they Connect?
Designing Strategy-Based Comprehension Instruction Reflection
When choosing a strategy and setting a purpose for comprehension within my lesson, I
was strategic in picking one that could be tied to the student’s unit and essential question.
Recently they have read some short stories within their text about animals, and they are doing
book clubs with books involving animals, all to lead back to the essential question, “How are
animals allies?”. This is why I chose the strategies based on connections. I wanted the students to
have the opportunity to find connections between the different texts that we have been working
with, and in doing so, it supported them in the class discussion about how animals are allies. I
made sure to introduce the lesson by describing to students why we use strategies while we read,
and then I made sure to describe how we would be using the strategy to support the post reading
discussion activity.
I think that the implementation of this lesson went very well. Students showed they were
engaged by being very active within the discussion, and they were able to make text-to-text
connections as well as going beyond the strategy and thinking of connections to movies and their
own personal lives. The students all diligently filled out their graphic organizer, which allowed
them to draw some conclusions about how animals are allies. I think that my graphic organizer
was simple and a helpful way for students to organize their thoughts. They were able to use it to
help give them ideas, but they did not read straight from their graphic organizer during our
discussion which I was pleased with. It was an indicator to me that by making connections, they
were able to better comprehend the theme of our unit. Each of the students participated in the
discussion when they talked to their elbow partners about the connections they made, and a good
majority of the class participated when we talked as a whole group. Based on feedback received
from my advisor, I will be more mindful to make sure that different students are sharing each
time. That being said, I was able to hear from each student as circulated around the room
listening to their discussions in partners, and they were all demonstrating the purpose for
When it came to incorporating my student’s literacy lives and interests, I noticed based
on my student interest survey that many of them have pets at home that are very important. One
student said that they treat their dog as a sibling, one student has three dogs, and another has a
dog and three cats. Many students also have shared that they like to read graphic novels from the
Calvin and Hobbes series where the character Hobbes is an animal. For those reasons, it was
very easy for me to fit these interests in the unit that we are currently working on with animals as
allies. They themselves have animals that they have bonds with, and they are interested in
reading about the alliance between Calvin and his animal best friend Hobbes. I think that
students were slightly more engaged as a result of this. I have a few students volunteer to share
out in the whole group discussion that tend to be hesitant to share, but because they were
interested in the topic and it is something that they have a lot of knowledge about, they were
more inclined to share. It is difficult to incorporate the discourses of every single student, but
next time I would try to incorporate something about sports because that was also something that
My mentor teacher and my advisor both gave me very positive feedback after teaching
the lesson. I think that for the most part, it went smoothly, and my expectations were clear for the
students. As I stated previously, my advisor noted that there were a few students that did not
chose to share out in whole group, so I would continue to work on different strategies to get them
involved in whole group conversations in addition to the partner discussions that we had within
the lesson. My mentor teacher noted that she liked how I concluded the lesson by asking students
if they liked using the strategy and how they felt it helped them, and she suggested that also
while concluding the lesson that I made it clear to students what they are doing with their graphic
organizers after the lesson is over. We has some questions from the students about weather or not
the activity was for a grade, or if it was for practice, so that is something that I will be more
mindful of. I was lucky enough to be able to teach this lesson in the second 6th grade class as
well, so I was able to immediately practice and apply the suggestions that I received after
teaching the lesson the first time. When doing so, the extra clarifications were helpful for
students, and I was also more mindful to ask for new student volunteers to share within our
classroom discussion.