Target Area, Elizabeth Gutowski

1.     Describe your target area for guided lead teaching.

My target area is an author study of Kevin Henkes’ books. It will focus on story elements and cross-text connections.

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

40-60 minutes are allotted each day per reading.  However, this time is usually split fairly equally between instructional time and independent reading.  So, I will have about 20-30 minutes per day for this unit.

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

Common core standards I will work toward during this unit are:

·         RL.3.1. Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

·         RL.3.3. Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

·         RL.3.7. Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).

·         RL.3.9. Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series).

Michigan GLCE’s I will work toward during this unit are:

·         R.NT.03-05.05 respond to individual and multiple texts by finding evidence, discussing, illustrating, and/or writing to reflect, make connections, take a position, and/or show understanding.

·         R.NT.03.03 identify and describe characters’ thoughts and motivations, story level themes (good vs. evil), main idea, and lesson/moral (fable).

·         S.DS.03.02 discuss narratives, conveying the story grammar, and explain why the story is worthwhile and how it is relevant to the storyteller or the audience.

·         R.CM.03.03 compare and contrast relationships among characters, events, and key ideas within and across texts to create a deeper understanding by mapping story elements, graphically representing key ideas and details, and asking questions as they read, including a narrative to an informational text, a literature selection to a subject area text, and an historical event to a current event.

·         R.NT.03.04 explain how authors use literary devices including prediction, personification, and point of view to develop a story level theme, depict the setting, and reveal how thoughts and actions convey important character traits.

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 target area teaches two sets of important skills that are beneficial because they will help facilitate comprehension.  Students will learn to compare and contrast texts and also to identify story elements.  Both of these skills will help students comprehend what they are reading.

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)?

The types of classroom talk I would like to include in this unit include whole group, small group, and pairs.  I would like some talk to be student-led but I will have to build up to that because my students are unfamiliar with that type of classroom talk.  I think the discussion will be focused on higher-level thinking when students make connections between texts.  Norms I would like to build include: listen respectfully while others are talking, ask questions, critique ideas (not people), and encourage everyone to participate.

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?

The core practice I want to develop as I teach this unit is writing about reading. This will contribute to my own professional learning because I am curious about this core practice and how writing can help students take away as much as possible from reading.  I am also very interested in integrating literacy instruction, weaving reading and writing together.

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

I have checked out Kevin Henkes books from the local and school libraries.  My mentor teacher has given me a small folder with reproducibles such as venn diagrams and story element charts.  She also gave me a resource book about effective read-alouds.

8.     What additional resources do you need to obtain?

Additional resources I might need to obtain are some teacher resource books about cross-text connections and/or story elements. I will also look into the resources available from Kevin Henkes’ website.

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

I designed a pre-test to gauge students’ knowledge of text-to-text connections and story elements.  I will ask students to demonstrate their knowledge of these concepts using a book we are currently reading in class. 

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 also want to find out about students’ beliefs about themselves as literacy learners.  I will administer a general reading survey to gain knowledge of students’ beliefs about themselves as literacy learners and their interests and motivations as literacy learners.

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

I want to learn more about the kinds of writing students can do about reading. I don’t want students to write in the same way throughout the unit.  I will investigate different ways to write about reading.

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

I am somewhat concerned about planning this unit without a curriculum guide to build off of.  I am familiar with extending and tailoring lessons from a curriculum guide but for this unit, I am designing each lesson from scratch.  I am planning on having several conferences with my mentor teacher about my lessons before I teach to help me with this concern.